I stood there in the darkroom all by myself waiting for the others to arrive. I thought that everyone was done with their work already but looks like they were not. The room was neither too big nor too small.
It was an empty room with a big table in the middle and I was standing next to the table in my usual spot. This was where we were always called to a meeting so it was nothing out of the usual for me. I stared at the black ceiling but I could see through the dark and the ceiling had nothing notable about it.
"Missed me anyone?" a cheerful voice came from beside me and I turned to see a familiar figure standing there.
"What took you so long?" I asked her and she pouted.
"Hey, I did not take that long! Everyone else is yet to arrive here so don’t scold me!" she said in her usual annoying tone. "I am not late, you are too early."
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"And here I thought those four hundred years have done something good for your brain but looks like there is no cure of stupidity," I said letting out a sigh.
"What? You are looking for a fight?" she said and I blankly stared at her and let out my bloodlust.
She soon started shivering and finally shut up. There is a great difference between a four hundred and a five hundred years old noble so it was better for her to not do anything. I looked around the room and yet, not everyone was there. Maybe I just got more punctual as the years passed, yes that has to be it.
I am the oldest among the twelve of us so it was not much surprise. The others just lingered around each other’s age being ten-twenty years older or younger than each other.
"Took you all long enough," I said without turning to the four who arrived late as always. Their callous attitude really seems to get on my nerve and I feel like killing them all right now.
"What is the problem with that Ricky? It’s not like everyone else has arrived. You can scold the one who came at the very end," the noble with bright red hair and blue eyes said.
"Adam, even if you are not the last, punctuality is really important," I said to him and he shrugged his shoulders.
"We are immortal, the time has stopped for us so it doesn’t really matter," he said and I let out a sigh.
"Just what kind of people am I stuck with?" I muttered to myself.
The other three, Jack, Susy, and Lucy just stood there beside Adam and did not say anything. The four were friends and turned each other into vampires so it was not a surprise that they were together right now. The cheerful and annoying one, Ine stared at them with an annoyed gaze but they shrugged it off.
We were now waiting for the other six and right then, one after other arrived four of them.
"Sorry, I got late. The novices really liked me being around," said a woman in an alluring voice.
"Did they like you being around or you liked the attention they gave you?" I asked raising my eyebrow. "I really wonder."
"Oh, my~ is Ricky perhaps jealous? Don’t worry, you have a special place in my heart~" she said in an alluring voice but it did not get a reaction out of me. "No reaction? Aww, too bad I think then."
"And what excuse do you three have?" I asked them and they looked at each other and nodded.
"Feeding," they said in unison.
"Did you just use your ability and ring them in with you Hiroto?" I asked and he started sweating. "I thought so and the Zeke twins are stupid just like Ine. Really, grow up you all."
"We are already four hundred years old, how much do you want us to grow up?" Hiroto asked.
All that was left was to wait for Leo and Akira and knowing them, it was probably that Leo was late and Akira was just beside him the entire time. Leo was the vampire who killed Akira’s old "master" and claimed her as his and she did not object at all to it. Her expressionless face was something I never saw a change at all because I did personally knew Leo really well. I was the one who turned him under Father’s commands.
We just stood there waiting for the two and waiting and waiting and soon it had been half an hour but there was no signal of either Leo or Akira. This made me a little worried because even if Leo was kind of big-headed, he would never be this late. He was really punctual usually.
Even if Leo were to be this late, Akira would have probably told him about that and he knew that he dare not make me and Father wait.
What happened?
"Hey aren’t Leo and that expressionless chick too late?" Adam said gaining everyone’s attention.
"Exactly and I am sure Ricky will never scold them if they were this late," Ine said and puffed her cheeks.
"I don’t think we should worry about that right now," the woman, Asuka said placing her hand on her cheek. "I am more worried about Leo-kun and Akira-chan right now. They normally are never this late, they are usually very punctual."
"That is what I am thinking," I said.
"Unfortunately, both of them won’t be coming back," an unfamiliar voice came from the dark.
We all looked at the person talking and saw there stood a man with an average height and black hair and dark brown eyes. Everyone got in their defensive stance seeing the man and glared at him as their eyes started glowing red. From his heartbeat, he should be a human.
"Who are you?" Jack growled at the man and his fangs were protruding out and were really sharp and ready to dig in the man’s neck.
"Now, now, my children. You still have not gotten used to this little trick I do for you. But it is really fun for me so I don’t mind it at all," he said, and then his face started to distort and slowly his entire body started changing shape and our eyes widened. "Maybe you will recognize me if I am in this form."
"Father!" we said in unison and got on one of our knees and bowed down respectfully and also out of fear.
He was someone no one here would even dare to stand up against. It will just be simple stupidity. We all were shaking in fear as to what he might do to us because we have seen him angry only once in our presence and I better not remember those memories.
"Now, now, don’t bow down like that. A child should respect his father in their heart and not bow down in front of him like that so stand up and raise your head," he said and we did as he said.
"F-father," I said since right then, I was the only one who had enough guts to talk to him and I was the oldest too. Being older really sucks. "What did you mean when you said that Leo and Akira would not be coming back?"
"It was truly unfortunate," he said lowering his head and said in a sad tone. "I could feel it, my heart told me that Leo had been killed and the innocent Akira has a new master, the person who killed Leo."
"W-what?" I said and clenched my fist as anger started boiling up in me.
"I know you are angry Ricky but don’t let that get to you so rejoice, since I know who and where the killer of Leo is," Father said and I looked at him with widened eyes. If there was someone who knows everything about this, it was him. "His name is Shiba Kazuki."
As the words left from his mouth, everyone in the room stiffened and our bloodlust started pouring out intensely. Shiba Kazuki or what vampires call him now, the faker was the one who killed Leo. He was a matter of interest for Father since he wanted his blood to offer it to the lord of the night. The vampire which turned him.
"As you all know, I have great interest in Shiba Kazuki and I would like to offer his blood to the lord of the night, my, no, our queen who is in deep slumber right now," Father said and his eyes started glowing bright red. "I still remember properly when I saw her as she turned me into a vampire. The blood she put in my veins, those luscious long black hair and striking red eyes. Ah~ it was the best thing I had ever seen. Along her was our king who helped me get back on my feet. I am really grateful to both of them! To their kindness even if I was a member of the church and I later got to know about our king’s problems," he said in ecstasy. "So, bring Shiba Kazuki to me and I will take care of him."
"So Father, are we not supposed to kill him?" Ine finally got the courage to ask him.
"No, not yet. You capture him and bring him to me and also if you meet a half-vampire with white hair and mismatched eyes, bring her along with Shiba Kazuki," he said and I raised my eyebrow.
Father was the fourth vampire to ever step foot on this land and was also the first vampire to be turned by the lord of the night which meant that he was more than eight hundred years old. Somewhere we cannot even think of reaching as of now and I know only a few things intrigue him so why did he mention a freak? They don’t even have a long life span.
"Father, why do you want us to bring a freak with the faker?" Susy asked him but quickly shut up looking at him smiling. Though it was a smile, he did have a lot of bloodlust pouring out of him right now.
"Susy dear, we don’t use such unorthodox words here so please refrain from using such terms," he said and everyone in the room gulped. "As for your question, she and Shiba Kazuki are head over heels for each other so I can just use them against each other."
"But why do that if we capture them?" Asuka asked.
"That is something I have to think about, you shouldn’t ask me too many questions. I am not obligated to tell you all, now am I?" he said and we all gulped again. "As I thought. Also, the VEO knows about the attack happening tomorrow."
Everyone in the room lost their composure and started sweating. If the VEO knows about the attack then they would have definitely started working on ways to counter us. One of the main things about this attack was the element of surprise but now that it had been known about then…
"The attack will still happen tomorrow," Father said and our jaw dropped.
"But Father, shouldn’t we do it earlier like today or a bit later?" I said my thoughts out loud and Father disappeared and appeared right before me.
I felt a hit on my face and got thrown across the room. I crashed into the wall and coughed out some blood. My cheek was red and I am pretty sure I cracked my neck. If I were not an immortal, I would have been killed by this.
I looked up seeing Father standing before me with the usual smile on his face and he bends down and holds my head up by my hair.
"What I said is what you will do, kids should not be disobedient and should listen to their father," he said and I slowly nodded and closed my eyes knowing what was going to happen.
"Ahhhh!" I shouted as I felt a sharp pain in my eyes.
Father lets go of my head and I cover my eyes with my hands as they slowly started regenerating and quickly got back to normal. I opened them and they adjusted to the light and I looked around seeing Father no longer being there and let out a sigh of relief. I am grateful that he did not gouge out my eyes like the last time.
"You deserved it," Ine said while Asuka helped me stand up. I am kind of grateful to her. Well, she is my wife so it was kind of not out of the usual.
"Are you alright Ricky?" she asked me worried and I nod my head. She traced her cold hands over where Father stabbed my eyes slowly and it felt nice. "You shouldn’t have talked back to Father and you know that don’t you?"
"I do but…" I said and looked at her and everyone else. "I think we are going in for a suicide mission."
The atmosphere darkened as I voiced out my opinions meaning everyone had similar thoughts. Asuka held my hand and I looked at the rest of them. We know each other for a long time and know everything about each other’s abilities and capabilities. This might be a battle where we may not survive till the end.
I let out a sigh and took a deep breath.
"Anyway, we cannot go against Father’s words because death is my better than his punishment if we don’t do as he says," I said and they all nodded their head. "But remember this everyone, no matter what happens, I won’t be abandoning anyone of you. That is what I can promise you all."
"You are saying it as if we will die before you, it can be the other way around too and I am definitely leaving you behind," Ine said throwing her hands in the air and everyone chuckled at her answer.
"I don’t think there is much we can do right now, go do whatever you want and remember to bring the novices with you tomorrow," I said and they all nodded and head out of the room.
Soon, it was just me and Asuka there in the room and I stared at her as she wrapped her arms around me. I brought her face closer and placed it against my chest and started rubbing her back.
"You know if you are going to die, I am going to kill the one who killed you and die with you too, don’t you?" she asked me and I chuckled.
"I remember that weird oath you made me read," I said and looked at her and kissed. "But, I will make sure something like that does not need to happen and if it does then I don’t think I could do anything about it."
Now, all we can do is wait for tomorrow’s sun to set.
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