[color=red]Bad language, small amounts of violence[/color=red]
Chapter 3
Arthur’s eyes slowly fluttered open, much to the demise of his fatigued body, and scanned the new environment he was in. He seemed to be moving, as once in a while, the whole room would shiver and quake as if it had hit a pothole.
So maybe a car? But no—this is too large, so possibly a van? He thought to himself.
Arthur was shivering violently, as he was petrified—possibly the police had captured him again and he was going to return to that hell-hole?!
However, as Arthur’s worried eyes continued to scan the interior of the van, he realised that he was laying down on something similar to a hospital bed, whose legs were firmly attached to the ground. Up above, on the ceiling was fluorescent rectangular lights, which did a good job at illuminating the approximately 5 meter long and 4 meter wide compartment. Slowly getting up, and firmly gripping the side of the bed, Arthur looked behind him to confirm his belief that it was indeed a van. Two steel doors, currently closed of course, were present. Looking in front of him, was a small metallic desk attached to the wall, as well as several computer monitors, and a computer tower, which wired and bleeped. On one of the monitors was- what Arthur presumed- a camera mounted on the roof of the van. Currently they were driving way too fast down a wide high way, which was scarcely populated at such a time. According the sky, it must have been midnight. The camera had a 360 degree view, so the monitor was split into 4 different 90 degree sections, which illustrated each quadrant in a high definition. Behind the van, was the fading city scape of one of Tokyo’s most populated area, Chiyoda, and down south to the Koto district. On the second monitor was a congregation of graphs- ranging from line graphs and pie charts and such, with detailed labels and flowing information. The text was too small to see from Arthur’s position. And on the last monitor was… a picture of Arthur?
What the hell? W-why does he have… Arthur’s inner-voice trailed off as he squinted his eyes and tried to read the information below a mugshot of his face. All he could make out was physical descriptions of himself.
He planned….
Nearly toppling to the floor from another bump, Arthur held tight to the railing positioned on the right wall and crawled across the floor when he looked to his left and his jaw dropped open.
The wall had 5 rails, each possibly 3 meters long, fitted to the brim with various guns. Assault rifles, bolt actions, handguns- even a rocket launcher was attached by small locks on the sides! The guns also jiggled with every road bump, which disturbed Arthur. Just when he was about to reach his hand to feel the guns he heard the voice of someone, probably driving, which caused him to jump.
And with the noise, was music in the background.
“What is love?” The voice was blatant and Arthur immediately recognised it as the figure who had escorted—no carried- him out of the prison.
What the hell is he on about?
Then Arthur heard the figure sing badly along with the music behind his voice.
“~Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more.~”
The singer paused as he let the music play along, to its main chorus.
Arthur chuckled awkwardly and then knocked on the front wall of the compartment, which had a small door and passageway.
Without waiting for response, Arthur opened the door by its handle, and clambered onto the left passenger seat right next to the driver.
“Oh, seems like your awake kiddo.” The figure said, his identity still concealed by the oversized hat on his head.
Seems like he has no shame to his bad singing.
The figure reached out his hand and turned down the music, as he adjusted the driving wheel and made a sharp turn to the left, taking them of the highway and onto a more suburban road, with medium sized houses. The streetlights had just turned on as it had gotten darker much more slowly since it was summer. Even in the interior of the van, Arthur still felt warm.
Looking at the windshield and the windows to either side of him, were shaded dark and looked thick- presumably another special material.
Next to the driver’s wheel, and on top of a small storage compartment was a bobble head that bounced according to the car’s turbulence. On it was a figure that Arthur recognised from an old movie, he had saw when he was 12, with his…parents… Quickly Arthur dismissed the thoughts, and looked over the figure, who strangely looked similar to the figure next to him.
Something about a monster slayer? No—vampire slayer!
“Wait—don’t tell me that,” Arthur started as he looked over to the figure who was already smiling and looking over to him as well.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Hey, you should be looking where your driv-!” Arthur stared in horror as he heard the beeping sound of a truck which raced towards their van. Meters away from impact, without breaking eye contact with Arthur, the figure swerved the van in
a perfect S shape, to avoid collision.
“That’s right, kiddo. Im your friendly neighbourhood Vampire Hunter! But if that alias is a little too long, I guess you could call me…Hmm… What did the press used to call me a few years back?”
“Ahh! Diamond Hound! Or D.H for short.”
Arthur stared at the ‘Diamond Hound’ for a few seconds and then his heart beat suddenly accelerated. Diamond Hound? The legendary and infamous villain who went against the law to do whatever he pleased? One of the last few hated Merc members who the QDDIT hated?
“Y-your that criminal I saw in the news!” his voice filled with terror.
…
“Hahaha!”
Diamond Hound burst into laughter, as he heard the response he got.
“Very good! Seems like the propaganda has gotten to the young fol as well, heh?" Diamond Hound responded.
“P-propaganda?” Arthur asked.
D.H smirked and continued, “Kid, the news has become corrupt and has been for the past 10 years. The rich kids up north and west in Asia, as well as the states, don’t want us Mercs hangin’ about, do they? Unlike the QDDIT, who are bound by laws and ‘morals’- which by the way are about as fucked up as you can get- we choose to do it our own way, so that we don’t have to join in on the massive cluster-fuck of corruption.”
“Corruption?
The QDDIT and the law isn’t corrupt! They’re the ones taking demons of the streets!” Arthur retaliated.
“Are you a fuckin’ idiot, kid? The United Duo-Specius Allegiance- head of QDDIT- is what funded your imprisonment! Whether they knew how bad the prisons are or not, they still contributed to your misinformed arrestment! They’re the reason why
you spent 4 years in that hell hole!”
Arthur’s eyes lit up in shock, and then glazed over as he clenched his fists and his eyes lost the colour they regained momentarily after being rescued. And just now, he realised how much he opened up to this strange Diamond Hound. How he had possibly revealed his true and utter personality- which went completely against what he vowed to do after being tortured, by double 0, due to the false accusation.
Open myself to no one. Believe nothing. Trust only myself.
D.H saw this and smiled to himself, “After learning the truth, it makes it hard to trust anyone, huh, kiddo? But it’s good that you’re like this. Don’t you think?”
Arthur didn’t respond. Perhaps it was stubbornness or just him making sure he didn’t compromise his vow.
The two were silent, as the van continued its journey by taking the 3rdexit at the roundabout and driving by a cargo yard and a dock by Arakawa River.
“Kid do you know why I rescued you?”
Flashbacks of the prison suddenly grasped at Arthur and he had to stiffen his entire body to prevent them from arising again.
“I rescued you,” He paused and then continued, “Because you and me; we’re alike. We both had things taken from us, and we both want ‘em back. Luckily for you though, you can get yours back- but for me…” He paused and then shook his head, dismissing the thought.
“Anyways, I just want you to know that you have two options of now. I can stop this van, and you can get out and be free to do whatever you want, hopefully find some orphanage that will take you in and partake in a normal life, befitting someone of your age.”
“Or?”
Arthur’s voice was weak and trembling.
“Or, you can come with me and become my disciple.”
“Why would I do that?!” Arthur struck out, his voice faltering.
“Why would I go back to a life of pain and misery, every single day?! Why would I want to end up with my family and… and…”
Arthur broke out crying as he drove his shamefully red face into his hands. He hated it so much. He hated it how his life turned out this way; that his parents died, and he was stuck with some random stranger, who merely decided to rescue him, on a whim’s decision. All by chance and luck.
“Because, Im your pathway to revenge.”
***
OK, I dont know what the fuck is up with royal road's new update but when i copy my chapter from microsoft word, i have to manually make every sentence fill out each line (If that makes sense) so it takes a hell of a lot of time for me to edit. Hopefully they fix this soon, otherwise Im gonna have to stop uploading until they fix it.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed this week's final chapter. Peace.