Kings of Awakening Vampires and Purebloods (33 page)

Victor could no longer keep the secret, “Yes, Albedo you are different, that you already know. Your parents are Purebloods.”

Albedo thought about all those years they said nothing to him, living life as a human.

“They used to work for me, just like Angelione and Sonia. They were the previous Black Reapers. When they had you, they decided to retire. Angelione was their student then Sonia came along later on. So when they left, they took their place.”

He had no idea his parents gave up their position to raise him.
So my parents were Black Reapers huh
? “How many members are there?”

“The organization in consisted of four Reapers, you haven’t met the other two yet.” The King walked around the room. “Albedo, I need you, this kingdom needs you. To protect this kingdom we need the strength of the Black Reapers. You, Dante and Axil are so young but yet so strong, talents like that don’t come along easily. The three of you have reached a level of strength that would take other Purebloods years to gain.”

Albedo didn’t know what to say, his talent has been recognized by one of the highest kings in this world.

“The reason that Aleister is after you is because you were born with a special ability. What that ability is, we don’t know.”

He still had questions for Victor. Why was he having dreams of him calling him Dawson? Why was he able to learn to fight so quickly? It felt so natural. He was able to unleash a power that would take a Pureblood a thousand years to achieve, the Elder. 
He knew that Victor wasn’t going to give him anymore answers.

“So now you know the truth Albedo. It wasn’t your parent’s idea to hide it from you. But we had no choice but to do it after we learned he was looking for someone with your type of ability. He is a canny one; don’t let him plant seeds into your head. Don’t listen to what he tells you, it’s all a lie.”

It
had
to
be
, thought Albedo.

“So my parents are Purebloods huh!” he smiled, “I figured as much.” He was calm now. “So what kind of ability did they have?” asked Albedo.

“That’s something you have to ask them yourself!” said the king.  

“Were you the one who sent that report to me?”

“Yes,” said the King. “I was confident that you would do what felt was right.”

“What if I had failed?”

“I thought of that, I took a big risk by leaving the situation to the three of you. But at the end it paid off.”

***

“S
o
how did it go?” asked Sonia as she waited outside for him.

“We talked, he’s a really a nice guy, I can see why people love him,” said Albedo. Only Albedo would call a High King a nice guy.

That night Albedo and Sonia stayed up to watch the lighting. The next day he woke up and put on his brand new clothes. He met with Sonia and Dante in the hallway and they made their way if front of the castle where Axil and Angelione were waiting for them.

“At last, I get to use my skill,” said Dante. Today he had on his white vest and long white pants. He wanted to know disparately what his first mission was going to be about. They walked to Angelione who was holding a black envelope with a seal of a
feather in his hand, just like the one on Sonia’s masks. Angelione fixed the glasses on his face, opened the letter and started to read it at loud.

“My name is Frank and I’m asking for the King’s help. I am the head captain of the Humans’ Special Division in north Inferno. Lately there have been sightings of corpses coming back to life and killing the town’s people. Our men are not equipped to deal with this kind of situation, we desperately ask for the King’s help.”

A chill went through Albedo’s spine,
another one managed to enter Inferno
. Albedo did not understand how another one got into the human’s territory. Vincent had managed to get in thanks to his special unique abilities, able to turn himself invisible. The Xs on the other hand were mysteries.

“We’re leave in the morning, so make sure everything is ready,” said Angelione. 

***
 

 
          
 
The-bloo
d
rain was something Dante had been waiting for, and it rained at the perfect time too. It was the middle of the night and the rain covered the sky while the moon reflected its bright color. With the blood-rain Dante could rejuvenate his strength. Him, Axil and Angelione were outside of the castle feeding their thirst. They were going on a mission and they needed to make sure they drank enough blood. 

“Drink up, it won’t rain for another while,” said Angelione gulping a huge chunk.

Throughout the kingdom people were outside with their buckets, filing their blood supplies. It would be bad for someone to go thirsty and go after a human. They knew blood only came maybe twice a month if they were lucky, stocking up was critical. Owners of restaurants filled their many buckets to make their famous blood soup and blood duck. The blood business was big in Nacune and these owners knew how to make a profit. They provided their customers, who seem to can’t get enough of blood with as much as they needed. Some had hundreds of jars outback in their restaurant. Even the castle’s maids filled up their jars for the army and the king.

The last thing anyone wanted was to run out of supplies.

“Where’s Albedo? He’s missing all the fun,” asked Dante.

“Sonia left to wake him up,” said Axil.

                                                                       ***

Soni
a
walked into Albedo’s room and noticed how deep he was sleeping. She smiled as she saw how peaceful he looked.  “C’mon let’s go! Wake up, Albedo,” she said as she opened up the curtains.
What a hard sleeper
, she thought.

She opened the window now and the smell of the blood rain entered the room, waking Albedo up.

“What’s with all the commotion?” he asked as he put the cover back over his head. As much as he loves blood he loves sleep just as much.

“It’s time to feed, I know you’re hungry,” said Sonia.

“Thanks but I already ate.”

She jumped on his bed and took the cover off him. Albedo heard the sound of a loud thunderstorm, only then he realized it was raining. So
nia sat on his bed with a smile. Her legs were crossed underneath her as she rested back on her heels, as she stared at him. Everything she did she looked beautiful.

“It’s time for…. Blood,” she said.

The word blood rang into Albedo’s head like the loud thunderstorm outside. It was as if the loudness outside was telling all the vampires and Purebloods to feed.

Sonia wondered how he could sleep during all that noise.  He hadn’t drunk blood since eating that duck at the restaurant, and he had been training with Sonia, which had been draining his energy.

“You don’t have to drink the blood-rain… you can have mine if you want,” said Sonia. She remembered that day when Albedo didn’t want to drink blood from the rain. She cut

a small hole in her hand and offered it to him. Albedo turned around and looked deep into her eyes and could feel the sympathy there. Was he too proud to drink blood like everyone else? He was a Pureblood and blood is essential now. He did drink blood from the duck soup, so what’s the difference? He was now debating with himself if he should do it. He grabbed her hand gently and was about to bite her hand, he could remember how delicious her blood tasted the last time he bit her. He pushed her han
d to the side.

“I am a
Pureblood. I will feed like everybody else.”

She followed him outside to where Axil and the others were feeding. The rain outside, there was so much of it pouring down.

Albedo walked over to Dante and didn’t know how to act.

“Well don’t act like you’ve never fed from the rain before,” said Dante who noticed Albedo looking curious.

Albedo looked throughout the castle; he could see every vampire and Pureblood on the street feeding their lust. Refilling their buckets of blood, while children playing outside. In Inferno, when the blood-rain comes, all the humans locked their doors and didn’t dare to go outside. To them the blood-rain was an “abomination” as they called it. Albedo touched the rain falling on his cheeks. This liquid was less thick than flesh blood. He hesitated to taste it. Sonia watched him carefully, pretending not to notice. He stuck his tongue out and truly tasted the blood-rain for the first time in his life, committing the greatest taboo the humans could think of. But he knew he had to stop thinking like a human, he was a Pureblood now. To the humans this was unnatural, but to vampires it was a natural way of life. “Hmm, hmm,” for goodness sake it was delicious, not as good as Sonia but it was drinkable. Sonia smiled. She remembered the first time the guy drank her blood and how scared he was to do it, how inhuman he thought it was. And now here he was enjoying the very thing he despises. Albedo could feel his strength coming back, Aleister and the Xs had drained all his energy. The duck soup had blood in it, but it was mix with water and other ingredient, taking the away what he really need from the blood. The blood-rain was mix with nothing else, giving him his full strength back. For some reason he felt ashamed, this was something he was going to have to get used to. He drank all he could and went back to the castle.

Sonia looked sad; she thought it must be hard for him to jump into their world so suddenly. 
It’s going to take time for him to fully except what he is.
 

***

Thei
r
first mission was something the three had been waiting for. The time had now come for them to prove their training had paid off. This was the time to prove they were ready for the field. Axil and Albedo had to wake Dante up. Axil explained to Albedo that Dante hated waking up early in the morning, just like Albedo did, but today he was so excited that he did wake up early. They were all preparing now, they had their bags of clothes and a few hours ago had drunk from the blood-rain. They left to meet with Sonia and Angelione.

“Are the three of you ready for your first mission? It gets dangerous out there,” said Sonia.

  Dante did not care how dangerous the mission was. He wanted to go and be a hero, to meet beautiful ladies.

“Remember you three,” said Angelione. “
Keep your eyes open when you go on a mission. What can look like the truth can be a lie, a suspect may appear to be an innocent man, and the same goes the other way.” He noticed Dante not paying attention to him. “Hey, are you listening to me?”

Dante was not interested in what Angelione had to say. However, Albedo and Axil were, they wanted to know everything.  A few minutes passed by a
nd they all got on their horses. Albedo rode behind Sonia as he had yet to learn to ride a horse. Dante of course laughed but all the others stared at him as if to say it’s not funny. They left the castle and rode throughout south Inferno and from there headed north. South and north Inferno were surrounded by mountains; from there they had to pass the forest. Even though Albedo lives in Inferno, he has never been or tried to go to the other parts of it. He saw so many trees that he thought he was going crazy after a while.

             
Traveling from the castle to north Inferno was longer than Albedo had anticipated. The mountain made it constantly impossible for their horses to go faster, making this trip longer. It will start getting dark in a few hours, creating new shadows and dark patches around him. Albedo wasn’t too fond of sleeping in the woods at night, he felt as if eyes were watching him. On their journey they stopped and ate from the food they had brought with them. Angelione told them the town was up ahead from the map he had brought with him.  They made it deep in to the forest, their bodies were sore from riding almost all-day. At last they could see fire from up ahead, the town was there.

“The town is just up ahead, we’re almost there.”

As they made their way to the town, before they reached it, they came across an old house in the forest. It was made of wood and had two chairs on the porch. This house brought back memories to Albedo; his house was in the middle of nowhere as well.

“Why would anyone live here? If you scream, who would hear you?” said Dante sarcastically. Dante started to laugh but Albedo did not find it very funny. He loved that it was nice and quiet.

              Axil gave Dante a small bump to the shoulder, reminding him that Albedo lives in a place like this.

Albedo started hearing a chopping noise, he looked over a couple feet from the house and there a young man was chopping wood. The axe in his hands moved up and came down, splitting the wood in half. As he was about to chop his next wood, he noticed the five strangers staring at him. He had the same look Axil had on his face most of the time. The young man noticed the five strangers’ clothes and thought they were strange. No humans dress like they do.