Vampire Hunt

by Aiko Kitagawa

  "Not bad." Lord Albarea muttered with disdain, before laughing manically, his voice still rang at every direction. Gunnar was not amused, swinging his broadsword at every image of the cackling maniac. He was determined to grab the imbecile by the throat and squeeze the pathetic life out of him even if it took all day.

  "Go for his heart,"yelled Ava, "we've seen it before, the gem shard he holds that transformed those hounds into monstrous beasts."

  "You think he's drawing life energy from someone held captive?" cried Eden in astonishment.

  "Oh darling, you've got it all figured out have you, really. This is but a fraction of our power, you can't stop us now. Even if you killed me, it has already begun."

  "I will end you!" she yelled, streams of electricity ran across her arms before exploding into a brilliant, blindingly bright energy that entrapped her foe.

  Part III

  Five years ago

  It was spring and the field of color was in full bloom. Soft petals tickled her face as she played among the flowers. Giggling to herself, Ava rolled over to face the welcoming blue sky. She broke into a smile as the warm, embracing rays of the sun showered over her. Though her body ached, she knew that the entire sky was open to her. From a short distance away, Kaden smiled at the sight of her tiny frame and her dark hair, fanned out across the lush grass. He made long strides toward her, grinning at the thought that she was now sprawled out, relaxed, not unlike a kitten on a lazy afternoon. He wondered if her ears were still as fluffy as he remembered them.

  “There you are, Avey.” he murmured, bending down to his knees, poking a long finger to her cheek.

  At the sound of his voice, her eyelids fluttered open. They brightened at the sight of him and his tired, scarred eyes.

  “Kaden, you’re back!” she cried out, unable to contain her surprise or excitement as she sprung up and hugged him tight. Kaden chuckled and lifted her up to spin her around. She had grown much since she was a child, not only getting taller, but her hair was now grown to her waist. He ran his hand through her long, black locks, ruffling her fluffy ears.

  His smile fell when he noticed that her eyes were bloodshot. Then he noticed the marks on her sun-kissed skin.

  “Are they hurting you?” he said, his brows furrowed and eyes darkened.

  With shaking hands, he laid them on either side of her face. A flash of sadness across her face and then it was gone, she reached up on her tiptoes to pinch his cheeks. His eyes were bone dry and unreadable.

  “Father just wanted to test how far my powers would go” she smiled up at him with tired eyes, stroking his cheek, “he said I could help with the war, we could reduce casualties and free ourselves from the Ai Nua once and for all.”

  “This isn’t right Avey, I know that no matter what I say, you’ll stand your ground on this. But there has to be some other solution than one that slowly kills you?” he remarked angrily, slamming his fist against the earth. He called himself a fool as he remembered the day he left Azurian grounds for the battle against the Azah. That was when they had first experimented on her.

  Frustrated, he broke his gaze from her and looked to the side. A white ball of fluff, no, a lop-eared bunny not bigger than the size of his palm laid just behind her feet.

  “You’re scaring Flopsy!” she cried, as she bent down and scooped the tiny creature into her arms. “Kaden, I’m tired. Let’s talk about this later, okay?”

  “Alright,” his voice grew quiet, “who’s your little friend?”

  “Flopsy,” she looked up at him sweetly, stroking the bunny laying against her chest, “I found him just outside our walls, and he was way skinnier at the time. Now he’s fatter than Floss.”

  “That cat’s still not dead?” he laughed, eyes widening in mock-seriousness.

  Rolling her eyes, she turned away from him and reached for a little picnic basket. With mischief twinkling in her eye, she grabbed one of the rice dumplings and tossed it at him. In one swift move he caught it deftly, choking with laughter at her pointed look. “I’m joking, but really Avey, at the rate you seem to feed your pets and friends all the same, I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten ill.” he laughed, patting her on the head.

  “I was quite the skeleton when you found me outside your walls.” he continued, gently picking the leaves out from her hair, ”I’ll never forget that day, you were just a little girl, and tomorrow you’ll be nineteen already.”

  “Mmhm,” Ava smiled, repeating his words quietly, “Nineteen.”

  For a while they just sat in the tranquillity of the open meadow.

  Sighing, she broke the silence, “Kaden, what am I to you?”

  Surprised by the question, he stared at her for a while, before replying, “You are my favourite person in the world, Avey. You are my best friend.”

  He left out the only friend part, because he considered Callisto a friend, as well as Baldr, as well as other mercenaries of Azure. Even if they were just part of the same faction and while they were his brothers in arm, he would not open up to them when it came to matters of the heart. Ava shook her head from side to side, and said, “How do you feel about me?”

  Confused, Kaden spoke the truth.

  “I love you, Ava.”

  Elated by the turn of events, her eyes shot up to look into his. He was telling the truth, otherwise he was a practiced liar. But she doubted that he would lie to her about something like that.

  “You love me?”

  He nodded.

  “Ever since you were a babe.”

  Her joy deflated at that.

  “Oh. That kind of love.”

  He tilted his head to the side quizzically, and asked, “What kind of love had you hoped for, Avey?”

  He refused to hope that she could feel the same way for him as he did for her. But looking at her now, seeing the red flush flood her face and move down her neck, he wasn’t so sure. His heart filled with hope, while his head tried to squelch it. She glanced quickly up at him from under her lashes. “Another kind …”

  At this, the hope in his heart swelled so much that it could not be suppressed.

  “What kind is that, Avey?” he asked, hoping she would admit the type of feelings he held for her.

  She bit her lip, making his body clench with desire that for the first time, he was not ashamed to have.

  “The kind of love that a man has for a woman. Not a child…”

  His heart soared. “Is that what you want, Ava?” he asked, excitement filling him.

  She bit her lip again, and he touched it with his finger. Her eyes shot to his and she nodded.

  “Yes,” she reiterated, touching his hand with her own, desire blazing in her eyes. “Is that what you want, too?”

  Without a word, he pulled her to him and their lips crushed into a passionate kiss.

  Deft fingers untie the remaining of his drawstring pants. He whimpered as she fondled his erect, weeping manhood; her cold hands moved up and down his shaft in long, slow strokes. He palmed her breasts; they were small and fit snugly in either of his large, calloused hands. She murmured his name, moving both of her hands to sit on either side of his face. “Good girl,” he whispered between slow kisses, “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this.”

  She smiled against the roughness of his stubble, moving away from his lips to plant a kiss on the tip of his nose. He chuckled, ruffling her hair before crushing her tiny frame to his chest. They stayed, locked in an embrace for a long time. She could feel his pain; the hardness of his cock sat against her belly, never waning. “I want you too,” she whispered, teasingly reaching for his manhood.

  Elation filled his being as he heard the words leave her mouth. He pushed two calloused fingers into the wetness between her legs. Mewling, she clung onto him like a lost little girl would, a little girl who had found the warmth and safety she had so long craved for.

  Wrapping her hands around his wrist, she guided his fingers out of her wetness, aching at the loss. She moved her head down, tracin
g the veins of his engorged cock before licking cum off its weeping head. He gasped in pleasure. “Please don’t tease.” He grunted out, running his fingers through her wavy black locks.

  With that, her little mouth enveloped his shaft, while pumping the base of his cock in a tight grip. With one hard squeeze, his breathing turned ragged as a rising panic filled his chest. Large hands ushered her away from his manhood, “Enough.” he pleaded.

  Smiling sweetly up at him, she pressed he lips to his, the warmth emanating from her tingled his belly even more so. Not being able to control himself anymore, he grabbed his aching, erect manhood and positioned himself between her legs. Half-lidded, lustful eyes watched as he wrestled with an urge to take her completely.

  He pushed into her with a tenderness, and the gentleness reflected her in eyes as she stroked his cheek was enough to set him over the edge.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” he murmured, sweat dripping down his brow.

  “It’s okay,” she cooed, kissing both his eyes as she moved her hips encouragingly, “I want all of you inside of me.” He took a breast into his mouth, sucking at it as he pushed into her with harder, desperate strokes.

  Her heart was thumping erratically as she slipped across town. Soon, she was close to their quiet little spot under the old oak tree, shading them from the summer’s heat.

  Her head snapped up and her dark brown eyes met his before they drew down his body. There he stood with a limp and a crooked smile, radiating with optimism. As he took two painful steps toward her, a choked whimper escaped her as she realized that there was blood all over the front of his shirt. Before she could speak, he held up his hands and headed her off.

  “Avey, it’s not mine!” he started just as she made a beeline for him. She launched at him and he caught her deftly as her hands frantically ran over his face and body. Fingers latched onto the buttons of his bloodied shirt, beckoning him to remove it.

  “Well, aren’t you in a feisty mood?” he said, grinning, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter at her baffled expression. A playful push came to a half-aggressive shove, and the two of them were laughing, rolling down the hill.

  With blades of grass in their hair, they laid together in contentment.

  There were many simple things that the two of them enjoyed, and comfortable silences was one of them. The second was certainly the rice dumplings that she made, skilfully wrapped in lotus leaves; they were fragrant and chewy, just how he liked it. After gobbling up the rice dumplings, he turned to face her.

  “Ava, come with me to Dreden.” he murmured, cuddling her closer.

  “What?”

  “Come with me, I’ll show you that there are other ways that you can help.”

  “But Lamia isn’t done with the experiments yet.”

  “I’m going to be honest with you, Avey,” he murmured, concern in his eyes, “your stepmother is a crazy woman, and I’m worried sick. How long are they going to make you suffer?”

  “Kaden,” she murmured, “Because of the experiments, they were able to-“

  “I don’t care about their lousy excuses,” he cut her off softly, “I care about the people of Azure, and most of all, I care about you.” He cupped her face in his hands as she stared at the ground.

  “A lot of oddities have been happening lately, and it’s made me question my loyalty to the Azure elders. Especially when it comes to what they’ve been doing to you.” he continued. Her eyes flicked back up to his and she saw the love reflected back in his eyes.

  “You carry a lot of guilt that really isn’t yours.” he whispered, the sadness in his eyes bore into her soul as he gently stroked her cheek, “There are many ways that you can help the people of Azure, and being experimented on until your health degrades, isn’t one of them.”

  She hugged him closer, smelling his hair. He smelled of tangerine peel and candy-coated dreams. But she was the daughter of the most powerful man in Azure, a clan that has suffered for decades under the ruling power of Ai Nua, and with that came many responsibilities. Candy-coated dreams, who had the time for that when her people were suffering? But her heart did long for them. She did long to see the outside world.

  “How can you help the people of Azure if you’re dead?” he continued, nudging her face with his nose.

  She was silent for a while, then she slowly nodded. “Alright, I’ll come with you.”

  He smiled, pulling her to him. They laid, legs intertwined as they softly explored each other’s bodies.

  The autumn leaves were gleaming in red and gold as she glanced out her window. They had talked about their trip to Dreden for a while now, and today was the day.

  Without hesitation, she sprang into action as she took two steps toward her bed. Reaching under it, fingertips collide with leather and she wrapped her fingers around its handle before swinging it onto satin bedsheets. Just as it landed with a soft thud, the locks to her door flicked open. “Ava, dear-“ her stepmother’s voice wavered mid-sentence and then her eyes widened for a second after her mind had processed what her eyes took in. Before her, a dishevelled Ava stood before her with a leather suitcase laid on the bedcovers.

  “What on earth are you doing!” the flustered older woman cried incredulously as she gracefully set a tray of tea down. Her controlled etiquette was contrary to the flustered look on her well-aged face. “I just want to go outside for a while, outside of Azure,” murmured Ava as beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. Her face was ashen but her wide eyes were bone dry and utterly unreadable. “Please darling, we’ve gone over this before!” the woman whispered harshly as the corner of her lips downturned but soon waned, replaced by a tight smile.

  “Kaden and I have been planning to go on this trip-“ she spoke quickly and nervously before the patronizing gaze and up tilt of her mother’s chin cut her off and she closed her mouth like a goldfish.

  “You cannot abandon your people now! We are so close, I would just need to test a few more things and-”

  “I just want to go on this trip with Kaden, please.”

  “Kaden!” the word rolled off the woman’s tongue contemptuously, “That insolent mercenary? Stubborn child, you have to put these idealistic thoughts aside or someday it will be the death of us all!”

  “Mother-“

  “I am not your mother. Your father sure loves to remind me of the fact. Your real mother was his favourite after all.”

  “…”

  “Ava, are you listening to me?” her stepmother’s voice reverberated through her head.

  “How can you be such an ungrateful child? Do you know how hard your siblings are suffering? My Johann, my poor baby. You on the other hand, were born with extraordinary power.” stated the older woman, matter-of-factly.

  “What you have going for you, would be considered a blessing!” she rattled on, bitterly. Turning her back on the crying girl, she strode towards the door.

  Ava awoke with a start; her bedraggled hair clung to her forehead as she let out a shaky exhale.

  Blinking wearily, she turned her head toward the cell window and silently observed the gleaming moonlight filtering through the steel bars. At that moment, the afternoon’s events hit her like a ton of bricks and she could feel the sadness in her heart grow tenfold.

  She could still hear the words ringing in her ears, the cursed words pouring out of the guard's mouth. “Under your father’s orders, we are to take you to the cell on level five.” said the guard. Her heart stopped upon hearing the man’s words. Even though she had never openly rebelled against her father’s wishes before, she never would have imagined him to make such an order against her will and freedom.

  Her screams reverberated against the walls. Each scream shattered his heart and the rage in him grew tenfold.

  “I’ll kill you!” he screamed, flames of fury surrounding his body, ready to combust unto the robed men who surrounded him. “You can’t keep her here like a prisoner!”

  They continued to chant as the ground bene
ath him lighted up in a peculiar symbol. Vanquishing his flames, they encased him in their conjoined power, paralysing him from the leg up.

  “Child, do not stop what must be done.” they said in unison.

  “She’s your daughter, you twisted old man!” he spat venomously, craning his head back to look at the man with the dull, deadened eyes.

  “Yes, Ava is one of many children of mine with extraordinary gifts, but also a jinx of a child that killed her own mother.” The man responded calmly and coolly. ”The least she could do is to be useful for our nation. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have more important matters to attend to.”

  “What should we do with him, master?”

  “Put him in the same cell as Ava, and you’re free to experiment on him as well.”

  “I’m sorry, Kaden.” she whispered into the darkness, her voice cracked and hitched as she said his name.

  Kaden was curled up on the cot, his knees drawn to his chest. He was pale with dark circles around his eyes, but it was the tremors in his arms and legs that made her want to cry. She knelt beside him, trying not to notice how chapped his lips were or the ragged breaths he took, more like spasms than actual breathing.

  “I love you Ava.” he breathed, coughing out a bright crimson. The sight of his body squirming in pain tore her heart apart.

  Their chanting continued as his body convulsed violently. They were extricating his power, and it flowed towards the orb; it was made of energy, life energy. It stood before her and continued to pulse, indifferently to her lover’s screams. Her heart stopped as she watched Kaden’s eyes rolled back and his body fell to the ground with a thud. At the sight of his body, ragged like a broken doll, an overwhelming animosity bubbled up inside her.