In a small market district within the city, four young men with crimson eyes stood on the roof of a thirty foot tall building. Three of them wore matching black cloaks and they were discussing something with the fourth, who stood a couple feet away.

"Rel, we'll ask nicely one more time. Join us. Your strength is wasted just sitting around on the sidelines. With you in our ranks, we will be able to make significant progress against the Crowns." The youth at the head of the trio said.

Rel scoffed and shook his head.

"All the Crowns care about is establishing themselves at the top of the pecking order by uniting all the other clans under their banner. I don't like it, but at least they intend to keep the peace afterwards. On the other hand, your Blood Clan wants nothing more then to start a war!"

The young man from the Blood Clan smiled.

"Don't you know the history of our race? The progenitor and king almost succeeded in leading our people to conquer the world, but was stopped due to the intervention of God's Army. However, before he died, he managed to defeat God and sever his connection to the mortal plane, sending his army back to the Celestial Realm. Don't you understand what his intentions were? He sacrificed himself so that his followers could finish the job! Without God's protection, the humans won't stand a chance against us!"

While the three members of the Blood Clan had eyes filled with fanaticism at the prospect of a war, Rel showed nothing but disgust.

"Out of all the other vampire clans, the Blood Clan is truly the most foolish. Back then things were different, today humans outnumber us at least a hundred thousand to one. The previous generations understood this and intentionally laid low until our species faded into myth. Even your Blood Clan contained themselves until the previous generation leader took over. We may be biologically superior, but they can still kill us. If we go to war with them, it will only lead to the extermination of our entire race! You think I want to help break the peace our ancestors built for us? Of course not! That is why I will never join the Blood Clan!"

The faces of the three youths from the Blood Clan turned serious. 

"Fine. If that's the case, we can't risk a powerful vampire like you falling into the hands of the Crowns now can we? Kill him!" The head youth shouted.

As soon as he gave the command, the two Blood Clan members beside him pulled out a handful of knives. Without hesitation they threw them at Rel, each one aimed towards a vital part of his body.

Rel stood still as the swarm of knives flew towards him. He let out a short sigh and lifted two of his fingers. A glowing red sigil appeared on the ground and a demonic looking bear with bright yellow scleras for eyes emerged. The bear let out a low growl and defected the majority of the knives away with a swipe of its paw. A few of the knives stuck into the bear's skin, but did not cause any significant damage. It then rushed forward and knocked the two vampires down with a hard tackle.

The two Blood Clan members recovered quickly. They each took out large daggers and rushed towards the bear. Vampires had physical capabilities that far exceeded that of ordinary humans, so predatory animals such as bears were of no threat to them. However, the bear summoned by Rel was different. It was imbued with mystical properties that made it much stronger than that of regular bears. As they exchanged a few blows, it became obvious that the bear summoned by Rel possessed the advantage.

While his two companions were dealing with the bear, the head of the Blood Clan envoy maneuvered around the side and lunged towards Rel with a dagger of his own.

"The Sifr Clan specializes in summons. With this kind of fighting style, it is only natural that they would be weak in close combat! Die!"

Just as the blade was about to pierce Rel's chest, the young Blood Clan leader felt a strong hand grip his wrist. The grip intensified and he cried out, dropping his weapon.

"You are right. Quite a few of the Sifr Clan's members are terrible when it comes to close combat. Unfortunately for you,  I'm not one of those few." Rel smiled.

Pulling him in, Rel delivered a hard punch right into the youth's face, shattering his nose and scrambling his brain. Disoriented, the youth took out another knife and with what little strength he had left, stabbed it into Rel's stomach.

Rel dropped the youth and took a big leap back. He pulled out the knife and threw it to the side. A small amount of blood dripped from his stomach, but the wound had already started to heal. Even though it was only a minor injury, Rel was now more alert than ever. That was because when fighting vampires from the Blood Clan, even the smallest spillage of blood could be turned into a weapon.

"Heh heh... You've lost Rel." The youth slowly sat up with blood dripping down from his broken nose. He had recovered slightly, but was still far too weak to even stand.

Wiping the blood from his nose, the youth held out his blood stained hand and a flurry of tiny red needles shot out. 

Rel was very quick on his feet. He darted from side to side and dodged every single barrage sent at him. Some of the needles that missed hit the tiles on the roof, splattering blood all over it. As Rel continued to dodge, he did not notice that he was getting closer and closer to the drops of blood that leaked from his stomach from earlier. 

"You fell for it!"

When Rel stepped on the drops of blood that fell from his wound from earlier, the youth ceased his assault. He chanted a short incantation and a thin jet of blood shot from under Rel's feet into the wound in his stomach.

"Shit!" Rel cursed. 

Rel slowly felt his entire body weakening. His feet started to lose their nimbleness, his muscles began to sore, and his mind began to slow. Even his magic reserves were starting to decline from whatever curse the young man from the Blood Clan cast on him.

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Knowing he stood no chance until he found a way to remove the curse, Rel jumped off the roof. He staggered slightly from the fall, but this did not stop him from running as fast as he could deeper into the city.

As Rel's magic levels began to deplete, the summoning started to destabilize. The bear's strength began to drastically decrease and it started to fade in and out of existence. In its current state, it was no match for the two Blood Clan members, who took it out in the matter of seconds. After defeating the summon, they regrouped with their leader who was still sitting on the ground.

"I managed to seal away his power. He should be no match for either of you now. He fled further into the city, track him down and kill him."

One of his companions nodded and jumped off the roof, running deeper into the city with speed that surpassed a prime athlete. The other stayed behind and helped his leader to his feet, swinging his arm over their shoulder before slowly following behind.

Rel ran as fast as he could through the dark city streets. It was already an hour past midnight so he didn't worry much about having his identity exposed. At the moment, his speed had degraded to that of an ordinary human and he was starting to lose stamina.

[Damn it! All I need is a bit of blood and I can gather enough strength to summon something to get rid of this curse!]

Even with most of his abilities sealed, Rel's senses were unaffected. Sniffing around, he picked up a faint scent of human blood that he was certain was from a human wandering the streets.

[A human! They're not that far either! Just a couple blocks away!]

While Rel was overjoyed that he found a human to feed on, he also detected the scent of a vampire closing in on him. He knew it had to be one the Blood Clan members and sprinted as fast as he could towards the human scent.

A few blocks away, a girl with long black hair and bright turquoise eyes was walking down the street with a tired expression.

"I can't believe there was so much to help clean after that party. Dad is going to kill me for coming home so late. Mind as well start thinking of excuses..."

Clop clop clop~

All of a sudden, the girl heard footsteps that seemed to be getting closer and closer relatively quickly. Judging by the frequency of the steps, it sounded like someone was running towards her.

"Crap. Who could it be at this hour? I really should've asked someone to walk home with me. I was so worried about how mad dad would be that I left right away."

The girl had nothing with her, not even a bag. Running over to a nearby tree, she plucked off a large branch. The footsteps were very close now and she immediately turned in the direction of the sound, holding the branch in front of herself like a sword.

A couple meters away was a young man around her age. He was hunched over and panting as if he had just ran a marathon. He had black hair and pale skin, but what stood out the most were his crimson red eyes.

She pointed the stick cautiously at the exhausted youth. While she was a bit scared deep down, she did not show it, maintaining an air of calmness and control. Unfortunately, this act was easily seen through by Rel who possessed superhuman senses.

[I can tell from the sound of her heartbeat that she is scared. With the current circumstances she probably thinks I'm some sort of sexual deviant. Good thing she's alone or things would've been a lot more difficult. Okay, that sounded pretty bad. Whatever. I gotta hurry before those Blood Clan members get here.]

"Hey... Can you help take me to the police station? I got hurt and I don't think I can make it on my own." Rel revealed the hole in his stomach, which had started to bleed again due to his reduced regenerative abilities.

The girl was hesitant, but upon seeing the hole in Rel's stomach she began to walk over to him. However, she kept the stick in her hand, knowing exactly where to stab if things were to go wrong.

"Alright. Put your arm around my shoulder, I'll walk you there." She said lifting one of his arms.

"Thank you." Rel muttered.

As soon as she grabbed his arm, Rel maneuvered around her and dug two sharp fangs into the girl's neck. He was so quick that the girl only had time to blink her eyes once. She wanted to drive the stick into the wound in Rel's stomach, but her entire body was paralyzed. Even her voice was mute and she eventually lost consciousness from blood loss.

"Found you!" A cold voice called out from a few feet away.

The Blood Clan member who had gone ahead locked his eyes onto Rel and began to rush towards him.

"Just in time." Rel gently put the girl down and snapped his fingers. The air distorted and a black crow materialized above his head. The crow let out a gawk and a thin transparent barrier spread throughout the area. Afterwards, Rel brought his palms together and a red sigil that was even larger than the one he used on the roof appeared on the ground.

"Come out boy! I need your help!"

Black flames ignited the markings on the sigil and a black dog that was twice the size of a lion emerged. It let out a terrifying roar that caused the Blood Clan vampire to take a few steps back. If Rel did not set up a soundproof barrier before hand, the roar would've woken the entire district.

"Shit! He has his powers back!"

The vampire who was chasing Rel began to run away, but it was no use. The black dog was like a shadow and immediately closed the distance with a single step. It pounced on the fleeing vampire and mauled him into a bloody mess. After killing him, the dog consumed the remains until there wasn't a single trace of him left.

A few blocks away, the leader of the Blood Clan trio frowned and told the companion carrying him to stop.

"What is wrong?"

"Your brother is dead... It doesn't look like it was from a hard fought battle either. The blood tracker I placed on him dissipated the moment he stopped moving. This must mean that he found Rel, but was killed immediately after."

"Impossible! Didn't you seal his powers away with the Blood Bond curse? How did he take out my brother? Could it be reinforcements from the Sifr Clan?"

The leader pondered the thought, but then shook his head.

"No. The only scents I'm picking up are that of him and a human. He most likely drank the blood of this human and got a temporary boost from it. Enough to summon something to break the curse and kill your brother. If this is true, we don't stand a chance. Let's retreat for now."

The youth carrying the leader grumbled, but obeyed, turning around and the two of them disappearing into the night.

--------------------------------------

Rel rubbed the black dog's head with a warm smile on his face.

"Good job boy. I'm sorry I haven't let you out recently, but I guess that's a good thing. I promise to bring you out more in your camo mode over the next few days alright?"

The dog barked with affection before igniting its entire body with black fire, which quickly dissipated into the air. Once it was gone, Rel snapped his fingers and the crow that was maintaining the barrier disappeared as well.

Walking over to the unconscious girl he had fed on, Rel had an indecisive look on his face. He had drained the girl's blood to the point she passed out, but her life was not in danger. Given a good night's rest, she would be back to normal.

"Objectively I should kill her to tie up all loose ends, but in a way she saved my life. What should I do..."

Briefly assessing his body, Rel realized that his powers were back to their peak capacity. He theorized that the curse might have been temporary, but still decided to look more into it once he was back home. 

Looking back at the girl before him, Rel let out a sigh and performed another summon. A small silver snake manifested and slithered across the girls neck. It dripped a few drops of venom from its fangs and the bite marks on her neck closed up without leaving behind a single scar.

After healing her, Rel carried the girl to the nearest police station and placed her by the doorstep. He knocked on the door a couple times and then walked away.

"Now we owe each other nothing. I'm pretty sure she won't have any memory of what happened tonight. Even if she does, it would be fogged and clouded as if she woke up from a dream."

On the way home, Rel frowned as he passed by a clock shop that showed the current time. The time was 4:00 AM.

"Great... School in just a few hours."