It’s Monday, about a quarter to six in the evening. We’re outside the village chief’s house. I follow Anne along the village street toward her house. I’m about half a meter behind her. Anne is wearing long sleeves and carrying an umbrella to keep the rain off. She strolls along unhappy, like she owns the street and everyone has to pay her a glance whenever they saw her stunning beauty.

I can’t really relaxed. I can hear my own heartbeat, and my breathing changes because of her. She keeps moving her hands as she walk, her butt twitches left and right. I’m trying to look without getting caught. Hoping to get a closer look of her voluptuous body. Anne knows I did like her back at last year village gathering, but she only gave me a vague answer.

"I thought we'd go to dinner," she said. "It's been awhile since we've gone out." Technically we had never gone out to dinner.

Oh, we had eaten together in the town east of the village but it was only once and that time involved other people from village and ended in a violent incident.

I searched for the words, but they’d gotten shy. "What's the occasion?"

"Does there have to be a special occasion for me to take you out to dinner?"

Yes "No."

“Come grab a bite with me."

A beggar holding a cross-shaped necklace represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, praying loudly “Let there be Light, with the might of the Order of Nine, give us blessing and protect us from the clutches of evil creatures!” The necklace greatly predates, in the north, the introduction of Templar that created by the Order of Nine from the Temple of Solomon. It goes back to a period of human civilization where the land had spawned many agencies to deal with vampires. 

All of them had been in business a lot longer than the Templar. The Mercenary Guild, The Blade of Asgard, and finally The Temple of Solomon. The Order and it’s Templar made it their mission to guard humanity against all threats of foul creatures of the darkness and they did just that, not concerning themselves with politic. I had worked for the Order at some point and left under less than amicable circumstances.

Back to the topic, the cross is supposed to have been used not just for its ornamental value, but also with religious significance and also the real one is enchanted by The Order themselves. It represented the apparatus used in kindling a sacred fire upon contact with a vampire.

"Hey," she said, her clear blue eyes smiling at me. Behind her, I rolled my eyes.

"What's up?" I asked her.

“...Nevermind.” Anne said. She’s gone when we hit her house. I turned to the door and watched Anne walk through it. This part of village is deserted. I have a clear view in both directions. No Templar running down the street in metal armor. It’s mostly villager houses here, but all the houses are closed.

I didn't linger. I take off after her. I headed straight for the wetern part of the village, to my house. I’m fast, a hell of a lot faster than a beast trying to chase a prey down, but I’m not quite as fast as a vampire that plague our land.

I threw the locks with fumbling fingers. The key went in, I twisted, the door opened. the night-light from the window gave just enough illumination to allow me to avoid stubbing my toes on unfamiliar furniture. I hadn been here long enough but it’s hard to memorize the place.

I grabbed my towel from the table and rub it over my drenched hair, glad I hadn’t worn my best clothes. I sat in my armchair, stretching my long legs to cross at the ankles. The floor was hardwood and cold against bare feet.

Staring up at the clock in the corner of the room. The hours seemed to drag by, the night time hours growing longer. Or perhaps it was just the absence of the Templar.

Nobody knew what the vampires’ plans were now that the Templar was abandoning our village. The village chief hadn’t told any of us. I didn’t care, as long as I never had to go outside the house again except for Anne sake. I wasn’t sure if the vampires would suck our blood and slaughter us, or whether the abductions were to continue as usual.

Somehow, I suspected the latter. But it didn’t concern me, I’d already tired of living in constant fear of the unknown. If I’m lucky then I’ll become a livestock and if my luck is rotten then I’ll get to experience a painlful death.

Our world was beset by vampire waves. They flooded us at random, killing us human and leaving the walking dead in their wake. One moment you had Templar protecting your place, they would vanish, and the Templar would hunt them down.

Sadly the consequences of the vampire waves didn't always vanish with them, many innocent get dragged into these killing after they become an addict. The Templar will also hunt them down.

Personally, I don’t have anything against those vampires. They’re just another kind of addict. “Addict” That’s how we called the infected people. Even most of them started out as human and gradually become a living dead.

I tied my blond hair back at the nape, my shoulders tensing. “I may need to leave this house.” I glanced at the row of footsteps behind my door, maybe a couple addicts.

“I should leave this village, but Anne...” I muttered, sounded sligtly concerned.

I was fierce and a dangerous warrior, as a Knight Templar I was trained in war, especially against foul creatures. My main job was slightly different, to protect the one of the nine leading council, the Order of Nine. I feared no man. But a Vampire? Well now, that was another story. That is one of the reason why I quit and throw away my life as a Templar and live in this village.

Knock

Knock

There was a knock at my door.

I swallowed my saliva.

I scraped back my chair and stood. I cast wary glances over my shoulders. Even in this day and age, vampires were a scarcity in the south, so I kept myself hidden behind the door. I didn’t want to alert them, although their vampiric perception probably gave me away.

I swallowed the last of my saliva before opening it

“Get out.” My focus remained on the two vampires clad in black. Fire flashed in my emerald eyes. “Or I’ll destroy you.” Power all but danced on my sword with the threat.

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Silence

Alone in the house, me and the vampires stared at each other for a moment.

They stood at the door, eyes fixed on my neck, shriveled brain crowded with fantasies of blood. Its hunger for blood charged the air. Addict are born lusting after the blood of the living, and here I were arrayed before them like a buffet.  

I muttered, “It’s your funeral,” I dashed forward. The air tensed as my power dissipated and gathered around my body, a white light embraced my sword, radiating the dark room.

“Come, Your prey isn’t that dangerous.” Though what did they know? I had been training for a century. my skill set might be deadly.

Light seared my eyes. I ran straight to them, then stab the addict in the eyes, a simple technique that had served me well in the past, but I didn’t manage to kill it with the first strike, they snap awake and their anger made them more aggresive instead. I cursed roundly at my Templar Instructor.

The one in the front thrust his long clawed paw-fingers at my chest while the one behind me took a mighty slash at my head, but I block them with the edge of my sword, our deep booming clash reverberated around the room. It ringing inside my skull. My shoulder banged into a door frame, and the sound of bones crackling filled the room, but I grit my teeth and just kept going.

They are just a trifling addicts, an infected. But their strength combined is not below mine.

Once again, their claws made some mess, the hard sharp edges screeching as they cut through stone hard wall. I sucked in a deep breath. My blond hair hung in my face. You could just imagine those claws cutting through flesh, like a hot knife through butter.

“It’s okay, I can do it.” I whispered, though my lungs were on fire.

I recalled a killing technique from my memories, [Blessed Wrath]. But I’ll be suffering from the aftereffects of the skill. Though, it seemed like that is my only option. Thin white lines sparked at the corner of my vision, then a bloodcurdling howl split the air.

One hour later.

The door swept open on a gust of wind. A figure crackled through the room. Anne stepped inside.

“I wasn’t expecting you today,” I said. Anne almost never came to visit my house, especially not in the evening.

“Are you alright?” She asked me with face full of worry after glancing at the two headless vampire clad in black.

My back leaned against the wrecked stone wall. Beyond my sitting place, the room looked like the aftermath of a huge storm, wrecked beyond recognition. A sea of shattered glass and the remnant of furnitures spread all over the living room.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I wipe the blood that dripping to my neck from the corner of my lips, “You looked happy.”

“I’m in a good mood.” She loosened her robe, allowing it to slide down her shoulders and reveal her sexy underwear.

Breathing steadily, I held her gaze, taking in her dark beauty in the middle of the night. Her long green hair, captivating eyes, tender lips. How I used to yearn for this woman. She’d once been my vision of ideal wife. But now something is wrong with her, yes it’s the teeth. She has a pair of sharp teeth and crimson eyes.

My heart seized. How had I forgotten her beauty? Her face? Her eyes?

Oh my god.. this is.. a vampire trait? No it can’t be, my Anne...

“Anne, is that you?” I sucked in a sharp breath, almost coughing on it. I hope she’s just someone impersonating her, but deep down I know that it was her. I know her better than anyone.

I couldn’t help but despaired as the door slammed shut behind her. Even from across the room her scent of blood whispered toward me. Drown me deeper into despair.

I coughed some blood, unease tickling my nape. “What did you just say?” Every instinct I owned flared to life. “What the hell’s going on, Anne?”

She stood up, roughly unbuttoning my shirt and throwing it aside. She crawled up to me, kneeling. I remained still. She manifested a sharp teeth and ran it across my neck, leaving a line of blood. I barely flinched.

My lips tightened in my paled face, “You told me not to go back to my house, and asked me to have a dinner with you. I should’ve listened. I should’ve...”

“Feeling dramatic, rogue?” her lilting voice grabbed me around the throat and squeezed. I can’t protect the one I love anymore, she has turned into a vampire. The human enemy, which also supposed to be my enemy.

“I believe I’ve asked you not to call me rogue.” My gaze on her figure. I’d missed those green hair, translucent skin and blue eyes that had become crimson for certain reason.

I closed my eyes and remembered Anne. The girl who’d once owned my every thought and breath, whom I would have done anything for. The girl I’d sworn to love for all eternity.

“Anne, I miss you.” It wasn’t often that I reminded myself of the life we used to have. The happiness we’d exchanged. The memories we’d made. But now I did. Perhaps it was because the vision of them was still fresh in my memories, her voice still ringing in my ears.

I hug her slimy waist. Anne leaned forward, and kissed me. She tasted like blood, and the feel of her lips on mine made me forget the pain on my neck, the drip of blood drenched our lips. The kiss had lasted only a couple of seconds, but it might as well have been an hour.

Then the darkness engulf me.

***

Ten days later, The Vampire Castle.

Shroud Forest-Southern part of Kilin Continent.

Her eyes widened just enough for him to doubt her intent. “I need time, Gustav.”

“I’ve given you a thousand years, Anne.” Why the hell was she trying the innocent approach with him? He knew her better.

“...”

“Sis, I told you hundred years ago I was coming.” He’d meant to fly across the continent to meet his sister, but war had intruded, human was restless lately. Many Templars deployed to hunt our kind, so as a pure blood, he must intervene in the war. Being the pure blood vampire often took a heavy toll.

“I need more time. Just a bit more, to prepare ...”

“Prepare for what?”

“My champion.”