Kings of Awakening Vampires and Purebloods (29 page)

“We have ways to deal with them.” L got up and walked by the edge of the balcony. As he looked down he could see the many servants Absolute had. He watched them with their hollowed eyes and skinny arms and legs. He wondered if Absolute even fed them. Were they his slaves? L had no time for that; he didn’t care what Absolute did with his private life. He just wanted the man’s answer.  L continued on talking, “It’s true the High King of Alvichi took his land back from us, which was our mistake. We underestimated his capability
. They have a female warrior who gave me a burn I will never forget. Her fire was one of the most powerful Crimson Flames I’ve ever faced, even stronger than the one they call Aleister.”

Absolute saw L’s face for the first time truly. It was marked with a third degree burn on the right side of his face, reaching all the way to his neck. It was quit
e nauseating to look at. Absolute was glad he wasn’t the one who had to face the Blue Crimson Flame. He had read that no Pureblood could regenerate after being hit with it. It was so hot that they say it’d eat away your flesh and take away your regeneration ability on the spot you were burned.

It took Absolute a couple seconds to say, “So you believe the one they call Aleister is one of them? It’s true that he’s one of the elite Purebloods, but the last time I checked he lost to Dragan a
few decades ago.”

Hearing the name Dragan had change L’s attitude. “Don’t speak his name in my presence!” He smacked his fist into the balcony and a piece fell off.

Absolute had his hand on his chin letting out a small chuckle. “Oh my! Did I hit a nerve?” he said with his head tilted to his right.
So, they really did fight
.

It sickened L to bring this man into their Society, but he had orders from up top and had no choice. He looked at Absolute in disgust and said, “If I could kill you right now I would have already. The very thought of allowing someone like you into our Society is absurd.  But you see someone higher up than me wants you to join us.”

Absolute wondered who the leader might be, not even caring that L has the desire to kill him. The thought of being killed didn’t even faze him at all. “So if I don’t join then I guess I’m as good as dead huh? I know how the society operates, if they recruit someone and they don’t join, then the person recruiting, which is you will kill me, is that it?” Said Absolute with much calmness.

The thought of killing Absolute ran through L’s head, he nodded with excitement and wanted Absolute to say no. If he does, then at that point his subordinate could not say anything to him, if he kills Absolute. This was their rule and he had followed it. By killing Absolute it would say the man had declined their invitation and L had the means to kill him. L’s hand had a strong grip, his hand started to itch and sweat, he was ready to take out this abomination of a Pureblood.

The two men stared at one another and neither one flinched. Both had that intense look in their eyes. Absolute stood up and as usual he had that smile on his face. The wind suddenly stopped hollowing and even the sound of the smallest animal stopped. The sound of the crickets ceased in fear of being heard by these two men. They hid in the smallest hole to hide their presence, not wanting to be a prey of these two.

Absolute started to laugh and said, “You have that intense look in your eyes just like I do. “

That look on Absolute’s eyes meant he wasn’t joining. Good. With that, L charged fast, he was really fast! But Absolute had seen through his movement with his bright red eyes and blocked L’s left punch.  At that moment the wind roared almost like an animal. Gusting and whipping like a lash. Their strength had collided in mid point, releasing a massive force. The balcony trembled.

His arm feels like steel
. Absolute could have sworn he heard his hand crack a little. “Oh my, you’re not half bad!” said Absolute as he blocked L’s punch. “If I was a normal Pureblood my arm would have been crushed by now!” Absolute was right, L’s arm felt like iron. It was like punching a steel wall. “How brave of you all to sneak into this kingdom; not only that, into our meeting.”

L at last said, “We have those with great talents.” He used his enormous strength to try and push Absolute back, but Absolute was holding his own.

“Mr. L how could you?”

L was baffled for a second, but said, “What so ever do you mean?”

“You come to my house and attack me without even hearing my answer. You don’t have too much etiquette now do you?”

Again L hated that happy smile, but L smiled a deviant one and his right hand was ready to finish Absolute off. With one blow to the head he could finish him off. His right fist was powerful enough to do so, just one good hit and he would amputate Absolute’s head from his neck.

“I’ve wanted to join for as long as I can remember. My father, the man that I hate, and the man that I aspired to be, was one of you.”

Damn! This was not the answer L wanted to hear, but he had to acknowledge it. He had to follow the rules or his head might get cut off.  L slowly removed his fist from Absolute’s fist and moved back a little.
He closed his big heavy coat and was ready to jump down from the balcony; he looked back and said with a dark smile, “We’ll be in touch.” He jumped down and made his way to the gate and left.

Absolute watched L walk away and felt a pain in his hand. The moonlight reflected L’s dark skin as he walked out the gate. Absolute examined his arm and saw it was bleeding. He gave an angry look as L was walking away; he smiled and licked his arm with blood running down from it.  He laughed and gazed at the moon while his blood dripped on the balcony. “What do you know, things are finally getting interesting!” He opened the door that led to the kitchen and yanked his arm down, he heard it crack. L had actually cracked his arm! He wondered how strong this man was. If the society had strong members like L then Absolute wanted to be a part of it. Now Absolute needed blood to regenerate his broken arm fast. It looks like one of his servants is going to have to die tonight.

First Mission!

“Wh
y
would Aleister go after Albedo of all people?” asked Angelione.

He and Sonia stood by the bridge and watched the water roaring as the waves circled around each other. He watched Sonia stuffing more sweets into her mouth as always, cake, cookies, candy anything with sugar. It was a good thing she wasn’t a human, because by now her teeth would have decayed away.

“He wants something from him. It’s as if he was teaching him something. Aleister is powerful and smart. Angelione, what if everything up to now was his plan? Think about it, before Vincent came into the picture, Albedo was just an ordinary boy, who thought he was a human. But seeing Vincent trying to kill me awakened something inside of him.” 

This was something Angelione had to take into consideration. Sonia was right; it wasn’t until a
few months ago Albedo thought he was a human. He also wondered why his master, Dragan and Cecelia, had not told Albedo about their past. He had remembered meeting Albedo once when he was much younger. It was a rainy day and Dragan had just told him he was leaving the organization. Angelione was upset and wanted to know why he would leave like this? At that moment Angelione saw a young boy hiding behind Dragan’s black cloak with curiosity. Dragan smiled a smile, one that Angelione had never seen before. It wasn’t a smile like when he was using his Elder to fight, when the adrenaline took over him. It was a feeling whole and peaceful inside, starting a family type of smile. At that point Angelione knew his master would never return to the finest organization this kingdom has to offer.

Angelione stopped day dreaming and said, “It’s very rare for a young man to possess the power of the Elder at a young age. But it’s not impossible, master Dragan had done it and so did King Victor also, even Cecelia. We have to take into consideration that Albedo wasn’t born to any ordinary Purebloods.  At one point his father’s strength matched the King himself, a High King. Many Purebloods live
d to pass a thousand years old, but only a few can achieve the Elder’s power.” He fixed the falling glasses on his face.

Sonia paced and moved around the bridge backward and forward with one hand on her chin thinking about what Aleister wanted from Albedo, what was the connection? Then her hand was back in the bag of sweets and she stuffed more into her mouth. Vincent was one of Aleister’s servants just like Dmitri is, so this was no coincidence. Aleister wants something more from him. Sonia wanted to tell Angelione about Albedo’s dream, but how would he react to this news?
  

“Maybe you’re right, Angelione
. Albedo was born to two powerful Purebloods. Maybe somehow Albedo had inherited their power.” But even so it still didn’t explain him having nightmares of Aleister.

“Sonia, do you remember I told you that master Dragan once fought Aleister?”

She nodded and said, “Yes I do.”

“What if Aleister is after revenge?”

“That can’t be right, because if he was after revenge then Albedo should have been dead by now.”

Angelione rubbed his head, trying to make sense of all this. It’s true that Dragan defeated Aleister, but that was a long time ago. Does the mighty Aleister hold grudges? 

              “Let’s try not to think about it too much,” said Sonia who wanted to clear her mind.   

                                                                                            ***

Soni
a
and Angelione noticed how the friendship between the three warriors had grown. Sonia wasn’t too surprised, that’s what made Albedo special to her; he could make friends with anyone he met. They all crowded in Albedo’s room which wasn’t that big. Dante sat on the chair, with the chair turned backwards, resting his arms and chest up against the back of the chair.  Axil stood by the window, Sonia was next to him with a man next to her that Albedo had never seen before. Albedo had heard stories of how brutal Angelione’s training is from Dante.  In addition to the little details Sonia had given him about her having a partner. Albedo wanted to meet the guy, he had heard a lot about him, but never had the chance in the past. As he looked into his eyes, he tried not to stare.  He noticed that he was taller than Sonia.  He looked at his tall slim stature and tried to size him up as a fighter based solely on his build.  

“You must be the famous Albedo I’ve been hearing a lot about; a pleasure to finally meet you.”
He’s all grown up
.

Albedo shook his hand, and instantly Angelione’s glasses almost fell off his face.

Angelione examined Albedo and thought he resembled his parents. He looked confident and plucky; he had those powerful arms like Dragan and those killer eyes like his mother. Deep down Angelione was kind of happy that Dragan had left the Organization. He wondered if he should go say hi to his old master but decided not to. He hadn’t seen him in a long time. Dragan had chosen to live a life of peace and happiness and he didn’t want to remind him of that old life.

“Master Angelione, Master Sonia, so how was the mission?” Dante knew it was top secret but he figured he would try anyway.

                 “I need you guys to be ready soon. You are heading out to your first mission,” said Angelione unexpectedly.

Dante and Axil looked at each other in astonishment and felt joy inside of them. How long have they been waiting to prove their strength and the hope of one day becoming one of the Black Reapers?

   Dante was still skeptical and said, “A real mission? No babysitting or training?” 

    
                “That’s right, a real mission, and think of it as part of your training. You too, Albedo,” said Sonia who noticed Albedo wasn’t sure if he was part of the mission. “You guys are ready for a mission if you ask me, the Reapers’ apprentice finally heading out to the world,” she said in mocking tone this time.

Albedo was happy to hear those words; this was his chance to leave Inferno at last. He wanted desperately to see the outside world, to see this light bulb that emits light. He wanted to see castles and not just the imaginary one from hearing stories or reading a book, or the one close to the mountain, which was real old and small. A castle without a king is unauthentic to him. He wanted to meet a real king and see how the vampires’ and Purebloods’ world operated. There was so much he wanted to see and he wanted to leave now.

“Master Sonia, are we going after Aleister?” asked Dante. He knew what was on Albedo’s mind. Since they have been spending time with each other, Albedo had been telling Dante about his fight with Aleister.

“Sorry but no, that’s a high level mission you aren’t ready for yet,” said Sonia.

Albedo did not seem too excited about the news; he wanted to go after Aleister. Sonia told him Aleister was off limits for now. He had disappeared again, and no one could find him. He couldn’t be found unless he wanted to be found.

“What’s the matter Albedo? I thought you would be exited to hear the news. Don’t you remember you told me once you wanted to see the outside world? Why do you so suddenly want to go after Aleister?” Sonia could see it in his face; he wanted desperately to go after him.

Albedo remember that day, it was the day he and Sonia went to the beach for a break after a long day of training. “Yea it’s just---,” Sonia cut him off before he could finish. “The time will come when we get the call to go after him. Until then, try not to worry about him alright?”