"Akira," I called out and the dirty blonde appeared right beside me. It is quite commendable that she could hear me when I was here under the ground.
"That is really convenient," Iwaguchi-san said while whistling.
"What did you call me for Kazuki-sama?" Akira asked me in a respectful and emotionless voice.
Only one hour more was left for the sun to set and we all were standing in a big hall-like place. The bustling and talking of the other vampire hunters could be heard here and most of them were eyeing me and Ai. Natsumi-san said that she had some work to do so she is not yet here and I was looking around when I heard a very worryingly familiar voice from behind me.
"Kazu-chan~" I heard and the next thing I knew, I felt two soft sensations on my back along with some weight.
I did not need to look behind me who it was because I could just tell it by the voice and the darkened expression on Ai’s face.
"Ama, can you get off my back now?" I asked the woman but she did not get off. "Please get off my back."
"If you said please, then there is no way I can’t say no to you~," she said and got off my back and I let out a sigh before I turned seeing Ai giving a death glare to Ama.
"I am going to ask this once," Ai said in a cold voice while looking at Ama with lifeless eyes. "Who…on earth are you?"
The people standing around us took two steps behind while they felt Ai’s killing intent seeping out of her and the vampires took some more steps behind. She did say that vampires were more sensitive to sensing bloodlust and killing intent when I told her to not use her ability anymore.
I explained to her about my talk with Ethan and she agreed to it which was a relief. She said she could easily use something called "command" which basically was a technique more than an ability when a strong vampire lets out all their bloodlust and keep the weaker ones under their control. It was apparently something even nobles did to keep their minions in check.
I quickly got between the two because right now I didn’t want to see any blood being shed before the attack even happens.
"Ai, this is Amantha Heilberg, she is a doctor here and was the one who was appointed to me," I quickly explained to her but life was not back in her eyes.
"Doctor or not, no one acts so overly familiar to MY Kazu-kun," Ai said in a cold voice and looked up at Ama. "And she has the audacity to do it right before me? Someone is asking to be killed."
"A- "
Before I could say anything, Ai disappeared before my eyes and I looked back and she was right behind Ama. I extended my hand to stop her but it was stopped by Ama who was still smiling and bend towards the side dodging Ai’s attack.
"Looks like I forgot to tell something about myself," Ama said and then got on her hands doing a cartwheel and stood up again. "I was a special class hunter before I became a doctor here. The bar for that is a lot higher than being a hunter."
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
"Wh- "
I wanted to say something but I did not have time for that so I quickly restrained Ai. She was struggling to get out of my grip but luckily I was somehow overpowering her in strength. I really thank Ethan’s blood for this because if I did not do it, Ai would have gone on a rampage right now.
"Ai, calm down," I said and looked around at the amused faces of the people watching us. She doesn’t really care when she does things like these.
Ah, damn it.
Even if Ai is on a total rampage, there was one thing she could never resist.
I made her turn around to face me and smack my lips against her. I always thought when I saw this in anime just how stupid it was, but looks like it actually works. Her eyes widened and she stopped struggling and moving around and started kissing me back.
She really doesn’t care where we do this.
"Oh my, so this is the cute girlfriend of yours you always talked about," Ama said interrupting both me and Ai.
I let go of her lips leaving her behind in a blushing mess and stared at Ama blankly. At least Ai calmed down so that was good for me.
"What was the big idea of running and hugging me?" I asked her and she giggled but didn’t say anything. "So…are you here to hunt vampires or take care of the injured?"
"Both actually," Ama said. "My main purpose is to tend to the injured but if there would be need of more hunters, I would be out there playing with those vampires."
"She was one of the best we had before she became a doctor," Iwaguchi-san said to me.
"Even if I was, Natsumi-chan was so much stronger than I couldn’t even compare to her," Ama said placing her hand on her cheek. "She sure was a monster."
"Who are you calling a monster?" a voice came from behind Ama which startled her and she jumped into Iwaguchi-san’s arms since he was the closest to her.
Natsumi-san was standing right there with her arms folded before her chest blankly staring at us. Ama got off Iwaguchi-san’s arms and I could tell that he was being showered by jealousy and death glares from other males present in the room. Poor him I guess.
"Natsumi-san, what took you so long?" Ai asked her.
"I had a final check at the security of the place and that everything is set in place. Apparently, I know best about this place they said," she said and pouted a little. It was the first time I saw her like this and it was honestly really cute.
"Ouch," I said as I felt Ai stomping my foot.
"I mean, I just destroyed this place only twice when they pissed me off, that doesn’t mean I know everything about this place!!" she said a bit annoyed.
"So, forty-five minutes more right? Before the sun sets and this begins," I said and everyone nodded and got ready. I looked at Akira and she tilted her head. "Are you sure you will be assisting us in this? They were your allies before."
"It doesn’t matter to me, I have already decided to follow Kazuki-sama so I won’t let such feeble matters get to me," she said shaking her head.
"I see."
Honestly speaking, Akira’s behavior is just too out of place. Normally, I don’t think anyone would have so easily accepted this proposition which also makes me think. If something similar to Leo’s situation happened to me, will she do what she did back then too?
I honestly don’t know since Akira is one personality I can’t really understand properly.
I looked back up at the stage which was in the hall and the sounds of footsteps reverbed in the entire hall. Everyone’s eyes fell on the person who was on the stage. His face was stern and he was releasing an intimidating aura which quickly made the hall silent.
Now that is authority.
"Vampire hunter of the VEO, I have come here to address to all of you," he said in his usual voice. "You all know what you are here for and are here due to your own choice so I want to make this clear to you all one more time because this is really important."
Everyone in the room gulped as they knew what was coming next.
"You can die," James said without a hint of sadness in his voice. "This is something you are definitely aware of. You were aware of this the moment you chose this profession but the attack today which is going to happen is nothing like anything most of you have witnessed. There are almost seven hundred vampires which are going to invade this building and we are only a mere two hundred so the odds are definitely not on our side. You can get injured and the situation is dire so if there is anyone who wants to withdraw from this, you are free to leave. We will escort you to safety and I assure you that. So, please step out of you don’t want to take part, this is your last chance."
He scanned the entire crowd but not a single one of them moved. Maybe it was out of fear? Maybe not? But what I did see was some different expressions on the faces of the people presents there.
They were smiling
Out of excitement.
For some reason that was an expression that was plastered on their face uniformly. Not a single one had a look of fear on their face.
"So now that you are staying then get ready to give up on your lives. I cannot assure any of your safety and from this point on, it is in your hands now. Now everyone get in your places since there is some time left for the sun to set."
The people started scattering around. We were already given a proper rundown of the entire place and the only way to enter was either breaking in through the building floors or the main entrance. The underground floor could only be accessed by the keycard which is the problem.
We still did not find who the snitch was.
But defending the place was really important that we couldn’t do anything about it even if it can really harm us. We don’t know who and where the snitch is.
I opened the door and got in along with my team. We stared at the screens and my eyes were glued at the ones showing it on the outside view and the main entrance.
"Are you sure that all the surrounding areas have been locked up?" I asked Natsumi-san and she nodded.
"Yes, money and connections with the government can do wonders honestly," Natsumi-san said and I looked back at the screen.
All the teams were soon in their places and I checked around on last time. I was already in my battle suit and was wearing it under my clothes and the same went for Ai. What I really want to know is that how will the vampires invade the underground floors?
The moment they enter they are bombarded with UV lights which can burn them down to nothing.
There were a total of 122 teams we had on our sides and there were total of 23 floors of the VEO. The upper floors have been blocked off and no person has entered there since morning but there is something I am still worried about.
The snitch.
The thing is that we are not even sure if it is just one person who is the snitch or more than one. The fact that it is not found out makes it even more worrying for us. Things can easily go south if there are backstabbers in the allies and it seems like even James understands that who was stationed with Ama on the infirmary and research floor.
Wait a minute.
"Didn’t James said that he has a daughter?" I muttered.
"She is adopted by him," Iwaguchi-san said. "We found her in one of the missions and both her parents were dead but they saved their child. So James decide to adopt her because he had a soft spot for children."
"That is surprisingly sweet," Ai said.
I looked back at the screen and the sun was slowly setting. Just a few more minutes and we will be in a little war with vampires.
Everyone was ready and looking at the screens and I raised my eyebrow.
"They’re here, I can sense the air," Akira said and I nodded while I stared at the screen.
Right outside the VEO building, there was a big hoard that appeared as if out of nowhere. Hundreds of pairs of red eyes were staring at us and the mic from the cameras could pick up the horrific growls they were making. Ten figures stood out from the hoard who were standing right behind them.
I quickly zoomed on their face and send the images to everyone else and a little smirk formed on my face.
Now, let the war begin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------