Chapter 1
“Did you just say she is dead?” he asked flatly, lounging in the recliner.
Being the most powerful being on earth, the messenger’s quavering voice from outside the door had been loud and clear to him. Still, this couldn’t be right. His woman could not be dead. She was beautiful, and kind, and had brought comfort into his endlessly torturous life. She was immortal, like him. She could not be dead unless somebody killed her.
“Did you not hear what I asked?” He rose to his feet slowly.
The messenger scrambled outside, apologizing profusely before he gave him a confirmation.
Red sparks filled up his eyes, reflecting on the ancient metal wares on the cabinets.
“Who killed her?”
“A–a hu–man woman–”
“A human woman,” he muttered to himself, facing the night through the window.
Who this human woman was, mattered little to him. She was a nobody, a disgusting creature who crushed his beloved life. Any sin that deserved punishment would never go unpunished. He would make sure of that. As he stepped closer to the window, the stone floor beneath his feet trembled, in response to the darkness arising inside him. The messenger fled, his footsteps rushing away.
The magical landscape did not register to his dead eyes even though he was looking at it. For so long, he had been a beast with little to no emotions. Perhaps dark emotions he might have, but nothing positive he possessed, such as warmth, kindness, caring, and love. When someone challenged him by committing an unspeakable sin, a crime, he would go above and beyond, turning the earth upside down to crush down the sinner.
This human woman was a sinner, and he would make sure she got what she deserved.
Danica sneaked a peek at the kissing couple at another table. They were unaware of her watching them. A human man and a vampire woman. She forced herself to calm down.
Leaning back in her chair, she scrolled her smartphone screen as though she was bored out of her mind. This entire ordeal felt like a mistake. She had not been prepared enough. Look at the clothes she was wearing: a faded shirt, a boring coat, and jeans, in a fancy restaurant like this? She was sure she’d look pathetic; she stood out like a sore thumb.
If the couple hadn’t been so busy with themselves, they would’ve noticed her. Taking a more careful look though, they were doing more than just kissing. They apparently thought the small partition covered them enough. Their hands were all over each other and her fangs had sunk into his shoulder.
Blood-sucking in public…which was not illegal, but this vampiress was different.
Danica inconspicuously felt the pistol at her belt. This night was going to be dangerous, really dangerous. She might not get out of this alive.
The couple separated. The vampire whispered something to his ear, and he nodded, his eyes glazed. He was young, good-looking, and rich. He cleared the bill, stammering and fumbling horribly, and the server didn’t bat an eye, just like all the patrons.
She was the only one scared for the guy’s life. He was going to die tonight, without her interference.
When they left the restaurant, she followed. The man was stumbling, already suffering from anemia. Everyone seemed to think he was simply drunk. He wouldn’t be the first victim of this vampiress.
Every few meters, she had to take cover and hide herself. One suspicion and she was dead. Because she could not let this man die, and she’d have to risk her own life for his. Though he was a stranger to her, it was her job, her responsibility to save some lives, by ending some other lives.
For a while, she had been thinking about the tattoo half-revealed on the vampire woman’s chest. Tattoos could sometimes give away important clues, and yet she still could not put her finger on it. It appeared to be a black semicircle surrounded by something red.
They arrived at the parking lot. Facing away from the couple, she pretended as though her SUV door was stuck. It tended to be stuck often. This place was so dim and she wasn’t sure the surveillance cameras worked. The vampire might decide to end him here. No…she decided otherwise. She was going to lure her prey to a secluded place.
The vampire took the driver’s seat.
She waited half a minute before she drove after the red sports car. They were speeding fast to the edge of Umbre City. She was trying her best to not be conspicuous in chasing them. She was hoping her old, black SUV would blend in with other vehicles, but the more miles they covered, the fewer vehicles there were.
At last, they were the only ones remaining once they got to a long road sandwiched by sprawling cornfields. Lamp posts were not enough to light up the shadows. One could scream her heart out, and nobody would hear it. Their car was parked under the darkest part of this dark area, under an oak tree.
Setting her eyes straight, she rolled her car past them and parked a hundred meters away. She took off her coat which would only get in the way. After making sure the semi-automatic pistol and the revolver were loaded, she took a wooden dagger out of the glove compartment. She had made these bullets coated in wood herself, and she could use the dagger for the final kill.
From a distance, she could neither hear nor see a movement in the red sports car. This vampire had killed half a dozen people that she was aware of. Young, handsome males were her type of prey. But, she wouldn’t mind killing a pathetic huntress, in between.
She had to trudge through the corns to prevent herself from being seen. Sweat poured out of her, trying to not make a single noise, and these plants tended to rustle loudly. Half an hour had passed when she reached the edge of the field and crouched down.
She cursed herself inwardly, seeing the vampiress was sucking his blood, and his eyes were already closed. Danica had been hunting her for some time, and was she late yet again? Angry with herself, she closed her eyes briefly before she raised her hand holding the revolver. It was loaded with ordinary bullets, the ones that could break the window.
They wouldn’t kill the vampiress let alone injure her, but these were the only choice. In her left hand was the pistol, which she would use right after. She’d have to be fast, so damn fast. One shot at the window, and another shot to follow the first bullet to kill the vampire.
She breathed in and out as quietly as she could, and pulled the trigger.
“BANG!” The glass shattered.
Instantly, the vampire swiveled around right in her direction. An alarming speed as expected from a vampire. She was about to break through the window in that single blink.
‘Damn it!’ Danica pulled the trigger of the pistol.
The wooden bullet pierced through the pale neck.
While the vampiress was momentarily incapacitated, she sprinted to their car. Upon opening the car door, the clawed hand stretched out, ripping her shirt and yanking her hard.
“I’m not your everyday vampire, little insect,” rasped the vampiress.
The shot at her neck had not even injured her enough. While she was stunned for a split second, she was slammed against the open door, hard enough that nearly cracked her spine.
The door broke down, and she found herself on the ground.
Swallowing her pain, she fired another shot, which only hit the arm. She tried to get up.
The vampire was faster than her; she grabbed her collars and shoved her against one wheel. Guns flew out of her hands. Clutching her neck with her clawed fingers, she sat down before her. The face that many human males had fallen for. Between them, people would consider the vampire to be the innocent one.
“Humans are like pests. I crush them every day. You’d just be plus one.” She choked her.
She could not breathe and the back of her neck stung. The vampire was right; she was definitely not an everyday vampire since she had been shot twice and she could muster still strength.
With all her strength, Danica wedged her fingers beneath the cold ones. She tried to distract her. “I–don’t–think–you’re–impressive.”
The vampire snarled, her grip nearly breaking her neck bone. Black spots entered her vision. With the last strength, she thrust the wooden dagger up. The vampire’s glowing eyes widened. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the white flash turned gray.
Hand relaxed around her neck. The body flopped to the ground.
Coughing hard, she rushed into the car and checked the man’s pulse. He was dead.
With a heavy sigh, she dialed the emergency ORP number and made a report.
The Other-race Police were supposed to take care of non-human criminals: vampires, shifters, ghouls, faes, and so on. Except that they rarely did their job well. They’d even make trouble for bounty hunters like Danica, if they found them annoying or they thought the ruffians were touching their authority. They’d summon the poverty-stricken hunters to courts, and often they would not approve the bounties.
But, this vampiress was not on the wanted list. Danica would not be paid for it, which would normally make the situation worse. But since there was a dead body that was covered in the vampire’s DNA, there shouldn’t be any trouble.
After making the report, Danica crouched down by the gray body and slightly slipped her dress down. She needed to see the tattoo which had been bothering her for some reason. In its entirety, it was a black-rimmed circle surrounded by red stars. Now it looked even more familiar.
As she took a picture of the tattoo, her stomach grumbled. She had had a small plate of salad and had drank water back in the fancy restaurant because she couldn’t afford any of their main dishes or drinks. She trudged back to her car, instead of waiting for the ORP. Not to mention, she did not want to wait for them. There was one particular officer she wanted to avoid.
At a quaint roadside diner on the outskirts, she ordered pasta, garlic bread, and orange juice. The diner was small and was nearly empty, with grimy windows and half-cleaned tables. The place that would offer cheap food. Waiting for the food, she couldn’t stop thinking about the dead man she couldn’t save and the ink on the culprit’s chest.
She decided to do an image search. Often, the search engine would give her irrelevant images and data, but this time was different. The results popped up. Some were tattoos and others were on different objects. She read the top result, and her appetite for food disappeared.
She covered her face and cursed. “I’m screwed.”
It was the emblem of the Eclipsis family: the royal family that ruled all vampires. While a vampire having the emblem tattooed could mean different things, she couldn’t help worrying this might mean something serious.
