Kings of Awakening Vampires and Purebloods (36 page)

“Stop this!” shouted Albedo. 

One hit Ethan in the head and the second one hit his arm as he just stood there and took it. These rocks were about the size of an apple, and were very sharp. Albedo continued on his attempt to stop the people. He thought they might have listened to him since he was a Black Reaper. Ethan’s forehead started bleeding; the blood ran down his face.  Albedo could no longer watch as he stepped in front of him to shield Ethan from the rocks. He stood in front of Ethan with his arms spread out and shouting at the people to stop.

“Why are you protecting me?” Ethan wanted to know why Albedo would risk his life for someone he hardly knew. He was used to being mistreated like this.

A rock hit Albedo on his stomach, his arm, and his head. Albedo had not attempted to block the rocks that were coming his way.

“Why are y
ou people doing this?! STOP IT!” yelled Albedo.

Ethan watched in disbelief, wondering why a stranger would protect him.

Axil and Dante showed up at last, and quickly rushed to help. Axil was ready to fight, even if it was an unfair match with the humans. With his fist ready to punch the next person he saw, he said, “Let me handle this.”

“Axil, no, these people are scared, let’s not give them any more reason to hate us,” said Dante.
He saw Albedo’s face that was marked with the scars from the flying rocks.
He just stood there and took it
. “Get out of here all of you!”

The people were howling and angry.

Dante needed to come up with a plan to stop the people from throwing the rocks. His right hand begins to steam from his ice and the people saw it and began to get scared.  “Leave now or I will freeze all of you!” Dante threatened them. With that the people stopped and began to scatter at last.

Albedo turned to Ethan and said, “Are you all right?”

Ethan could see the bruises on Albedo’s face and placed his hand on his face. “Don’t move.”

Dante and Axil watched the light emitting from Ethan’s hand. His healing ability was different from Dante’s, his healing was faster and he was better at controlling it than Dante was. 

So I was right, he is one of
us
, thought Axil.

“Does it hurt?” asked Ethan.

The pain only hurt a little. Albedo was a Pureblood, his physical body can endure much more; the real pain he was feeling was not physical, but emotional. He hated how much the humans hated Ethan, it hurt. Albedo knew the feeling of being alone, but Ethan’s pain was much deeper than his. If the others back in Inferno had found out he was a Pureblood, would they have treated him just like Ethan? And then he thought about Natalia. How she had become his friend after finding out what he was.

“Let’s leave this place before something happens,” said Dante.

They left the market in a hurry. They walked Ethan back to his house, afraid that others would keep coming after him.

Ethan looked at Albedo and said, “You’re an idiot, you know that?” 

“Is that why they hate you so much? Because you’re a Pureblood,” said Dante.

“They don’t know what I am. Because I live in the woods they assumed that’s what I am,” respond Ethan.

“You and I aren’t different you know,” said Albedo.

They arrived at Ethan’s house and sat on the front porch. Ethan went inside and brought them something to drink.
A couple minutes later he came back to join them.

“So how long have you been using your ability?” Dante wanted to know more about Ethan’s ability to heal just like his. He had noticed that Ethan’s controlling over his healing was much more controllable than his.

“Ever since I can remember, when I found out I could heal, I was scared. I didn’t know what vampires or Purebloods were. In north Inferno that kind of talk is kept to a minimum.”

“It’s the same in the
south,” said Albedo.

“So how did you know to drink blood?”

“When it rained, the aroma smelled so good, that I knew I had to drink it.”

Albedo wondered.
It wasn’t until the power of the Elder had awakened inside of me that I started smelling the blood-rain
.

Dante sat there rocking in his chair with his arms crossed behind his head. “You know the two of you are very alike. Both grew up not knowing if you were a Pureblood. Both grew up amongst the humans.”

“I suppose you’re right,” said Albedo laughing. He noticed Ethan started to laugh as well.

“C’mon Axil, we need to let master Sonia and Angelione know about this.”

Axil and Dante left to report, while Albedo stayed behind.

***

Soni
a
and Angelione were told of what happened as they sat with Frank in his private room. His son Michael sat by his side. Dante and Axil stood next to Sonia, hoping she would stop them from attacking if Michael started to disrespect them.

“Do you see Father? Why are we standing here when we should be going after Ethan? We all know what he’s capable of. He’s one of them,” he pointed towards the four. “And it’s obvious he’s the killer,” said Michael.

One of them
? Thought Dante. Dante’s imagination ran wild as he started to think of different ways to make Michael suffer.

“Is it possible that you’re not seeing the full picture son?” asked Frank.

Michael was convinced that Ethan was the killer. After all, he was the only Pureblood in the town. “If you won’t take care of it, then the town’s people and I will!” announced Michael.

“Patience my son, that’s a lesson you’re yet to learn.”

Michael thought his father’s ways were old and his own were the future.

“There’s no way
its Ethan, when they threw rocks at him, he didn’t even defend himself. If it wasn’t for Albedo he would probably have stood there until their arms got tired,”

said Axil.
 

Angelione, Sonia, Dante, and Axil left to see Ethan. When they arrived at his house, he was still outside talking with Albedo. They had been
talking for about an hour now. Their friendship had grown in a short amount of time.

Angelione came closer to the
house; Albedo could see something was in his mind. He had known people long enough to tell when they had something they wanted to say.

“We’re here to investigate you Ethan. I hope you will cooperate,” said Angelione with a rope in his hand proceeding to apprehend Ethan.

Albedo walked to Angelione with his chest high, “Wait what’s going on, Sonia you don’t really believe he’s the one do you?” Albedo wondered if he was going to have to fight his teammate. Could he really fight all of them with the help of the Elder? Can he really fight Sonia, the woman that he was in love with? 

Ethan could see Albedo was going to do something irrational that he was going to regret. “Fine, I have nothing to hide, so go right ahead.”

Albedo thought they were making a mistake.

Sonia looked at Albedo and said, “Sorry Albedo, I know you think he’s innocent, but right now all evidence points to him.”

“Why can’t you see he’s innocent? Why am I the only one who can see that?!” said Albedo.

Sonia could feel him bleeding inside, she wanted to believe him, but other than Ethan, they had no other Pureblood to investigate. By now Angelione had all the evidence he needed to know. 

Angelione was getting ready to go inside the house.

“Angelione wait,” said Albedo. “I know you think he’s a Bloodhound, but I felt his presence with the power of the Elder when we first got here. You said it yourself, a Bloodhound can’t be sensed.”

              Angelione looked at him angrily and said, “You’ve been keeping vital information from us?! That’s not how we Black Reapers communicate on a mission!”

Sonia, now standing next to Albedo to defend him, said, “Oh really Angelione. If I remember correctly you did the same thing to me when we were chasing Aleister.”

Angelione hated that she had challenged him like that, but he knew she was right to get angry. “Look Albedo, I did say we ‘might’ be dealing with a Bloodhound. But even if we’re not, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a killer in our hands.”

Angelione and Albedo squared eye to eye. Dante wondered whose side he was going to be on if they got into a fight. Axil just wanted to fight and didn’t really care who he fought. 

Ethan quickly said, “If you want to see for yourselves then by no means go ahead.”

Angelione and the others walked inside Ethan’s house. The house was clean from the floor to the ceiling. The quaint wooden house appeared to be very neat and warm with lots of windows providing a good amount of natural light.  It was a moderate space with the kitchen, family room, just a couple bedrooms and a single bathroom.  The furniture was very comfortable sitting alongside the fireplace.  Angelione noticed a room with candlelight; he made his way to it. Inside the room he noticed that an old woman was laying in the bed with the cover over her. There was one window in her room but it was nailed shut with plywood. Next to the bed on the table were natural remedies, water, and a small face towel.  There was a slight aroma in the room, apparently oils, herbs, and other ingredients that made up the remedies on the table.  She was asleep and breathing heavily, as if she was in pain.

Ethan rushed in behind Angelione, “Get away from her! Can’t you see that she’s sick?”

“Ethan, who is this woman,” asked Angelione, to which Ethan did not answer.

“Ethan please, who is she?” asked Albedo.

Ethan had grown to admire Albedo. He was the only one he could talk to. “She’s my Mother,” he said with a sad face. “She has had a heart condition since I can remember. It’s been getting worse every year, I tried to heal her but it doesn’t work.”

Dante’s eyes changed. “That’s the same disease that killed my brother,” he said lowly.

Axil stared at his friend as he left the room with anger in his eyes. Dante wanted to be alone for a while and he had recognized that. Axil had remembered Dante talking about his brother to him. How he had died from a heart disease.

“Your mother is a dying isn’t she?” said Angelione.
This kid made all these remedies by himself?

“Yes she is, my mother lost the ability to talk, there’s not much she can tell me. I’ve been taking care of her ever since,” said Ethan.

“That’s so sad,” said Sonia with a lump in her throat.

“Ethan, where did you learn how to make these remedies,” asked Angelione.

“I read old books, but these remedies don’t work on Purebloods. I thought we Purebloods were immune to disease.”

“Not quite,” said Angelione. “There’re
one or two disease out there that can kill us, like this one.”

***

Dant
e
was outside thinking of his brother, the memories had flushed back into his mind with the pain in his heart. He had trained his body to become stronger for his brother’s dream, the dream he could not live. As Dante drifted in deep thought, he heard a noise coming from the woods. Out of the woods, he could see something moving towards him. As they got closer he could see clearly now; unable to peel his eyes away from their ghastly towering features. Their rotten flesh had faintly peeled off in a couple places. “Zombies!” as much afraid as he was, he was in a state of emotion, ready to release it on anyone he saw. They attacked him; these zombies were not as they’re portrayed in stories. They were fast and strong; ugly too. “Come and get it!” Dante’s arms had a sword of ice that was connected to his arms, created from his ability. The zombies rushed towards him and he sliced them in half with his ice-swords. These zombies were fast as they swung their sharp nails in hopes of slicing him.

“Zombies!” said Axil.  Axil was headed to check on Dante and as he opened the door he saw the swarm of zombies.  “Look! Guys we have company, zombies!” He got the attention of the others as they looked on and noticed Dante fighting the zombies.  He wasted no time and went to the aid of his best friend.

The others looked outside of the window in astonishment.

“Do you still believe that Ethan is the killer?” said Albedo.

Angelione simply answered, “Ethan, do you have any fighting experience?” not even bothering to apologize to Albedo or Ethan for accusing him earlier.
We have another Pureblood in our hands.

“Yes, a little,” Ethan replied.

“Angelione and Sonia will keep your mom safe, I’m going out there,” said Albedo.

“Albedo wait!
” said Sonia. It was too late; Albedo had already stormed out the room.

“I’m going now, keep my mother safe,” said Ethan.
He left out the room.

“Sonia, keep the door closed,” said Angelione as he stood outside with his sword. He watched the gory creatures breaking the windows in the next room, making their way inside. Angelione swung his sword back and forth and said, “None of you will pass!” He was ready do cut any of them who tried to get through.