Chapter 34
"We will part ways here," said Ethan when he arrived at the intersection at Sala St. "We will take the route from Fenton St; you can take State Highway 30."
Liam nodded, directed at Federica, who pretended not to look at him. Ethan pulled Federica's arm to continue their journey. He hated that the atmosphere was so awkward now, and the girl beside him was more silent than responding to his words.
Ethan took the cell phone and earphones and handed them to Federica, making the girl raise an eyebrow.
"Come on, you're not in a good mood, Fed. Some songs can calm you down," suggested Ethan
Federica smiled faintly. "I'm fine, Ethan."
"But not your face. I don't like seeing a girl's face gloomy like there's no light at all," said Ethan, putting his cell phone back into his bag. "Uncle Aaron said, falling in love isn't always fun, Fed. Sometimes, you have to fall until you're destroyed. That's why I don't like falling in love."
Federica chuckled. "Seriously? Don't you like Gessy? Paula?"
Ethan gaped and laughed out loud amidst birds calling to each other in Fenton Park. Ethan took off his glasses and glanced at Federica. "Am I too handsome to spread cheap rumors like that?"
This time, it was Federica who couldn't hold back her laughter. "You're crazy. They're talking about you with Gessy."
"Gessy and I are just friends," said Ethan.
"N—"
"I like you," Ethan interrupted, making Federica immediately silent.
Her ears suddenly rang at Ethan's statement. He couldn't form the right words to reply to Ethan's sentence beyond his expectations. Federica looked away, feeling a dilemma even when her feelings still couldn't accept other people. When she heard that statement, Federica wished that the person beside her was Liam, not Ethan. But Liam just left without any clarity.
There was no sound between the two of them. Federica preferred to look down at the gravel and rotten leaves on the ground. Ethan scratched his hair, feeling stupid for saying he liked it when Federica was upset. But Ethan also didn't want to waste the opportunity; he was too afraid that Federica would drown in her feelings for Liam.
"Ethan," Federica spoke without looking at Ethan because she was nervous. "I...."
Before she could finish her sentence, Federica heard a strange sound. She stopped making Ethan furrow his eyebrows. Federica put her index finger to her lips, signaling Ethan to be quiet.
Federica slowly took a knife from her back trouser pocket, and at the same time, an arrow shot towards her. Luckily, the girl avoided it, but the arrow managed to scratch her right cheek, leaving a laceration.
Blood seeped down to her shoulder. Without realizing it, Blake came and injected wolfsbane liquid right into Ethan's carotid vein, making the man scream violently. Ethan collapsed with a burning sensation all over his body, his eyes glowing yellow with his fangs forcing out. Blake quickly kicked Ethan's body like a log until it hit a redwood tree. Ethan just fell, making Federica scream. She didn't even know whether Ethan was dead or just unconscious.
The girl attacked Blake to stab the vampire's heart, but Blake managed to fend her off. Blake managed to pick up the remaining blood that had seeped down Federica's cheek with her left hand. He licked it with great pleasure. The taste of Federica's blood is very different from the others. It's so sweet and fitting. And for a moment, the blood gave another sensation to his body. There is a euphoria that cannot be expressed through words alone. Blake felt himself being reborn. His irises burned with lust for the girl's increasingly tempestuous blood.
"Your blood is so sweet, Fed," said Blake, then kissed the trail of blood on his left hand. "Are you someone I've been looking for all this time?"
Federica swallowed hard, looking at Blake's scary irises. The red irises darkened and turned black. Federica ran as fast as possible, entering deeper into Fenton's path without knowing where to go. Her adrenaline suddenly increased; she didn't want to die today. Unfortunately, she felt Blake's strength was much more significant when the man managed to grab her shoulder.
Federica's right foot reflexively ran away but stopped when she saw two kicking Blake until the pale body flew far away and hit a tree. In the next second, Federica turned to run away but stopped when she saw two familiar vampires grinning.
"Hello, little fox," said the female vampire, who had a shoulder-length cut and was dressed all in black.
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Liam looked up at the sky and then looked back when a gust of wind hit his skin. He felt very restless momentarily as if someone was forcing him to return to square one before parting ways with Federica's team. His irises scanned the surroundings, trying to find anything suspicious. But, there was no one except the bushes and the sound of leaves rustling on trees and birds chirping.
"What happened to you?" Gessy asked, looking at Liam.
"There's something strange," the man said.
Gessy looked around and then shrugged her shoulders. "No one but us, Liam. Maybe that's just how you feel."
Liam fell silent while thinking hard. His inner voice screamed for the man to go to the starting point. A few moments later, he felt someone lurking. Liam reflexively turned his head and a horde of servants charged in the next second.
"Oh, shit!" Gessy cursed as she took out a gun and fired bullet after bullet at the servants.
The sound of gunfire was so loud that the birds perched on the trees flew away. The bullets in Gessy's gun were running low; it felt like there was no time to reload. He also pulled a silver knife from his trouser pocket.
"G! Watch out!" Liam shouted when a servant was about to pounce on Gessy from behind.
The girl spun around to avoid the attack and then stabbed the servant right in the stomach. Blood was seeping out, but the servants seemed impervious to the pain. He attacked Gessy again, trying to tear her neck; Gessy dodged by kicking the servants chest until it bounced away.
"Oh, God!" Gessy exclaimed, amazed with herself. She turned her head as the servants were about to attack her again, and with a swift movement, she thrust the silver knife right into the servant's heart.
Meanwhile, Liam prefers to pull out the servants' hearts one by one, causing them to collapse, lie on the ground, and become ashes. Occasionally, he would tear the servant's neck, making Gessy, who saw it, shudder in horror. Liam grabbed the last surviving servant and then tried to look for signs of ownership on the servant's body.
"Who is your master?" Liam asked, lifting the servants of a man dressed in a white T-shirt with a slightly smaller stature than him.
The Servamps shook their heads reluctantly to answer. Liam became furious and threw him on the ground and ripped out his heart without further ado. The Servants were killed instantly.
Liam thought for a moment; the scent of their blood was slightly different from that of other servants when he had kissed the servamps' hearts earlier. He threw away the heart carelessly and then approached the servamps' body. He tore off the white t-shirt that was stained with blood to look for signs. It was impossible for other vampires not to leave marks of ownership on their prey's bodies.
"What are you doing, Liam?" Gessy asked.
Liam didn't answer and chose to examine the dead body. He turned the servant's body around. There's no sign there. Then he tried looking at the bodies of other servamps but the results were the same. Their bodies had no markings at all.
"This is strange."
Gessy frowned and then squatted on Liam's right side. "What do you mean?"
"All servamps have a mark of ownership of their master, G. But.... look at them," Liam said, pointing to all the servamps' bodies scattered on the ground. "None of them have it."
"Maybe their master didn't give a sign on purpose, Liam. I don't know either," said Gessy. "Do you think someone wants to kill us?"
"G, can you continue this journey?" Liam asked, looking straight at Gessy.
The girl shook her head hard. "No, I don't want to. What if the servamps attack me if you're not around, huh? We're a team; if you go, I'll go too, Liam."
"But-"
Gessy pointed the knife at Liam's neck with a sharp gaze. "I don't like arguing, okay? We're a team; there's no you or me alone."
Liam nodded while moving the knife away from his neck with his left index finger. With a quick movement, he broke Gessy's neck, causing the girl to collapse instantly. Liam dragged Gessy's body to lean under a tree.
"Sorry, G. I can't involve you now," said Liam as he got up. "Our opponents are not ordinary vampires that you can stab with a silver knife," he muttered, looking far away at the path he had taken. He already remembered who the vampire was, who never gave any sign of ownership—a vampire who doesn't hesitate to suck his brother dry.
Zoe... she's even more sadistic than Blake...