Vampire Nightlife

The spiders went down into a heap of corpses, each one dragged by Matthew who didn't even seem bothered by the entrails on his cloak.

Philip looked a little sick and close to vomiting, meanwhile Anthony was counting the body of the spiders.

"Ooh, that's gonna get us a bit of a hefty price." Anthony said.

"You only killed like one or two." Philip frowned and covered his mouth.

"But I did say that I hired Matthew as my bodyguard though right? So technically—" Anthony's gaze trailed on the gore on the young man's body and cleared his throat. "Technically, I'm just so very proud of him and you too, Lukas. Lukas?"

To them, it seemed like Lukas was standing still for no reason—but the truth was that he was discussing things with Drusilla and it didn't look good.

Lukas glanced over his shoulders. "Hey, maybe we should go and head back first after all?"

"Are you sure?" Anthony said.

"Well, Matthew here has to clean up and everything. And oh—maybe some injuries? The medic was left there right with the guy who cut off his thumb right?" Lukas said.

Was Lukas the type of guy to run away?

No. He was the type who had his head on his shoulders and if Iolathane who was with some other officers from the Bureau of Defense was in some sort of danger and hadn't returned—well, he wasn't going to head there by himself for no reason.

"W-well, okay, sounds good!" Philip agreed, wanting to get back to the van and maybe resting his head for awhile.

"Alright—"

"What about the corpses though? What if someone else claims them?" Matthew said. "I'll drag them back."

"You don't have to do that. I'm gonna get sick." Philip started backing away, dragging Anthony with him.

"It's gonna be four testimonies against the other, heck, I'm sure that the medic and our guy at the van will testify too." Anthony said, wincing at Philip's grip, but also stepping away.

Lukas glanced at Matthew's direction and tried to look at him for real this time. There were some unexpected folks out there with incredible strength.

Lily… she had been one of those with great strength and sweet personality. It was a thing.

But now really wasn't the time.

With three against one settled on heading back to the van, Matthew had no choice but to come back with them and Lukas made sure he came with.

'Am I going to alert the others when we get back? I'm sure that the medic will be able to call for backup and things like that. You're sure about something dangerous in the air, right, Drusilla?'

"I wouldn't have said anything if it's something that you could have taken care of by yourself." Drusilla said.

'Okay, I trust you.' Lukas said as they turned back to the way they came from. And yet, instead of feeling safer as they headed back to the entrance of the Dark Forest… somehow Lukas couldn't help but feel like something worse.

And then he saw it.

Saw her.

The van was turned over like some toy, its window glasses shattered with debris all over. The medic's body was crumpled up and withered in a way that made him seem like his entire life was sucked out of him.

And then there was the Vampire who lost his thumb.

He was standing in the middle, mouth wide open and his eyes practically glowing.

And right in front of him was the entity made of nightmares and blood.

Lukas' blood, to be specific.

"What the heck—" Matthew immediately covered Philip's mouth and shushed him. He started dragging the man backwards.

Anthony was already backing away, crossbow in hand but this time, a look of unsureness in his face if he was going to hit the creature.

Or if it would even work at all.

A torrent of strange emotions swept across Lukas as he saw the entity that once was Rhea, he tried to reach out a hand and opened his mouth to speak.

"No. Don't. Do you think you can control that thing? If you don't—just run away now." Drusilla sharply warned him in his head and he quickly glanced at the others who were already retreating away.

Lukas clenched his fist as the life force of the Vampire was being siphoned away, he took one last look and then quickly ran away, returning back into the forest.

Anthony, Philip and Matthew were waiting for him, but didn't even speak a word. It was hard to communicate with just their expressions, but instead of going down the paved road of the Dark Forest—they immediately slipped into the woods itself.

Someone stepped on a branch and broke it, and the Nightmare quickly turned around to look, but then saw nothing.

Once the Nightmare finished consuming the life force of the Vampire in front of it, it found itself temporarily abated and satisfied with a fullness that extended all over itself, but the feeling vanished completely after a few seconds and it grew starving once again.

It wasn't enough.

It wanted more and more.

The insatiable appetite for energy made it turn towards the forest. It sensed the life of a multitude things in the forest, an entire feast of energy just for the Nightmare to devour.

However, there was also something that made it uneasy. A strange energy within the forest, running into it that even made a ravenous beast hesitate as if there was something dangerous as well.

Something almost familiar, as if it was a kin from ages in the past. Never to be spoken, only to be kept in its state of rest to prevent danger from spreading across the world once more.

…and yet the Nightmare thirsted and hungered, and soon enough it decided that if there was something powerful in the forest, then all it needed to do was to consume everything else to grow and match it.

And so it did.