Kings of Awakening Vampires and Purebloods (51 page)

This guy is sick
, Albedo hated to see what Drake was doing, he was taunting her. Like a savage animal playing with his prey, once it had been caught. The prey decides what the next move will be. Drake was a cruel man.

“Ah, I know!” he said with an excited face. “I’ll kill you!”

Albedo and the others heart stopped in surprise. Was he really going to kill her, right there and then, for stealing a few loaves of bread
?

Dante looked at Axil in bewilderment and said, “He must be joking around!” 

Axil knew Drake wasn’t playing around; the law for stealing was punishable by death in this kingdom. He had remembered when he himself was going hungry and thought about stealing also, but had stopped.

The woman could feel her heart starting to beat faster; she held her chest in pain. The pain was too much for her to bear. Blood began coming from her nose and her children started screaming for their mother. Sonia and Angelione could not help at all. Interfering with another land’s affairs without permission would result in war. Conalian was a small kingdom compared to Atnius, but the other kings would not allow it. No kingdom should interfere with another ones affair without permission; this was part of their alliance. They bit their lips in anger. Time and time again, they witnessed men like Drake on a mission. And time after time there was nothing they could do to help. Dante and Axil understood Sonia’s and Angelione’s position, and chose to follow it too. But Albedo would not stand for it! He walked over Drake and said;
              “HEY!!!” Drake took his eyes away from the woman, when he moved his head, his face met Albedo’s fist. Albedo landed a powerful blow that startled and pushed Drake away from her. Drake started to bleed; his mouth was covered in blood.

Sonia was surprised
, Albedo, you really have gotten a lot stronger
. But of course her first thought was what have you done Albedo? She had seen this anger in Albedo’s eyes before. It was the same anger he felt when he saw what they did to Ethan and his mother.

Angelione wasn’t too happy about Albedo’s action.

“Stop this now, or I’ll kill you!” said Albedo with a look of impulse; he could feel it, the impulse of the killer-lust. 

The w
oman was scared; her heart had skipped a beat. Albedo took gold from his pocket and gave it to her. “Thank you young man; you have a kind heart.”

Drake got up and wiped his mouth, he walked closer to Albedo now. Albedo stood his ground, ready for Drake to fight him. He looked into Albedo’s eyes and he smiled, and then laughed. “Relax, why are you so serious? I wasn’t going to actually kill her. I just wanted to see what you would do, and I must say you passed my test.”

A test? This guy plays with people’s lives and said it’s all a test
. 

“You see Albedo, if Aleister does that to one of us, I need to know you would jump in and help. There’s only room for the fearless in this mission, anyone who is feeble will die by Aleister’s hand.”

Angelione and the others knew Drake was lying, if Albedo had not stepped in, Drake would have killed the woman. He would even kill her children.

“Let her go free, let this be
a warning to you and the others,” said Drake.

She was freed; she took her children and headed back home.

“Well I can’t go out like this. I need to clean my nose.” Drake left to clean his face.

“I wish I was the one who got to punch him, just his face alone disgusts me,” Albedo heard Dante say. Albedo knew he could have started a war, but his emotions got the better of him.

Angelione however felt differently, he walked to Albedo and grabbed him by his shirt. Albedo looked as if he was in a different world; it wasn’t until Angelione started talking that he came back to his senses.  “What were you thinking?! Do you know what you could have done?!  You can’t interfere with others affairs, you could have started a war!” scolded Angelione.

Sonia had nothing to say, she knew what he did was the right thing to do. Even Angelione wanted to do it, but he had chosen to put his emotions aside.

“You did the right thing Albedo; you did what we all wanted to do, but we were too blinded by orders. That woman would have died if you had not helped her,” said Sonia.

“Are any of you listening to yourself? What he did could ha---”

Before Angelione could finish, Dante interrupted, “Master, what he did is what you taught us to do; to follow our heart and do what is right.”

Angelione had told them that, just like Dragan had taught him.

“What he did was foolish and stupid. He doesn’t follow orders and does as he pleases.” He looked at Albedo and said, “Let me remind you that you are not a Black Reaper. You’re only an apprentice and your job is to assist if needed, and observe. Is that clear?!”

Albedo nodded his head saying
yes.

After a few minutes of yelling from Angelione, Drake returned and was ready to start the hunt for Aleister. “My my, you have strong arm Albedo, I hope you can use those against Aleister.” said Drake.

Angelione stood in the middle of those two, trying to avoid a fight.

Drake now lay out his plan to catch Aleister. “We’ll split into two teams, Sonia and Angelione and then Dante Axil, Albedo and I.” Drake’s plan was to split up; two teams would have a better chance of finding Aleister faster. “Plus of course a couple of my men will scour the area, any sign of Aleister they will come and find us.”

Angelione did not like the idea, Albedo and Drake on the same team was not a good idea. “Is that such a good idea? It would take all of us to fight him. By splitting up, we create a weak spot, it would be better if we remained a team,” said Angelione.
Drake or these two rookies have never fought Aleister before; they don’t know how strong he is. All of us fighting would give us a better fighting chance.

“I agree with Drake, splitting up will give us a better chance of finding him. If anyone one of us spots him, we won’t go after him alone, we’ll come find the other team.” All four agreed that splitting up was the best plan.

Angelione had no choice but to give in.
It doesn’t really matter if we’re in two teams anyway, because Aleister is looking for Albedo and Albedo alone. If he sensed anyone around him he’s not going to show himself anytime soon. So I guess for now I’ll let them run around in circles looking for him
. He looked at Albedo.
It’s you that he wants Albedo, and when he finally calls for you, I’ll be ready.

                                                                  ***

“Soni
a
, stop, we have to talk,” said Angelione.

They had split away from the others in pursuit of Aleister. Angelione saw his chance to talk to Sonia at last. Last time he tried to talk to her she had left him standing by himself. He wanted to give her time for her mind to grasp the truth at last. She wanted to ignore the truth, not wanting to hear what Angelione had to say.

“We have to talk about this, you can’t ignore it forever.”

“You want to talk? A guy who barely has a conversation with someone,” said Sonia cynically.

“You have to stop walking away from me and try to accept the truth, what he is.”

She stop walking away from him and said, “I know!” there were tears in her eyes, it was painful for her to accept the truth, but she would have too. “You think I don’t know what he is? I am well aware of it! Every day I worry Angelione! What if he becomes like Aleister? What if his memories come back? Then what? Will we lose the Albedo we know and love? Will Dawson take over?” she wanted to shed tears for him.
She was worried that she might lose him to Aleister’s wicked way. His past was calling out to him. Slowly he was losing his grip, he was changing and she had witnessed it.

Angelione grabbed her, but not forcefully, trying to make her feel like she was not alone. “I know it hurts Sonia, you’re not the only one who cares for him. His
parents raised me as his son. Imagine how Axil and Dante will feel when they learn the truth. Imagine how he’s feeling, everything he knows is a lie. We have to be strong for him; one day he’s going to need us more than ever. You especially, have to be strong for him.”
The first step is to accept the truth, and you finally did.
Angelione allowed her to cry on his shoulder, which was eccentric of him, but he felt this situation needed it.
I can’t believe master Dragan and the King has been keeping this secret for so long
.

                                                                           ***

“
We’v
e
been looking all day, every time we find a track of Aleister, he’s gone again,” said Drake.

“This is getting us nowhere; we’re running in circles. Aleister is playing with us.” Albedo could feel Aleister only wanted him to come, this was getting them nowhere.
I have no choice, I have to separate myself from the others; it’s me that he’s after
.

              Drake sent Dante to get Sonia and Angelione to decide on a new tactic. He looked at Albedo and said, “That fog has crippled our beloved kingdom.”

This morning Albedo had noticed the thick fog was gone. He looked at Axil, who looked as if he was lost in space.
This must be hard for him, coming back to his land after all these years to find it like this
. Axil wasn’t one to express his emotions too often, but Albedo could see the sadness in his face.

“Tell me about the noble family, do you know… where they’ve gone to?” asked Axil.

“Who knows,” said Drake. “They left about three years ago when the fog came through.

Nobody really knows where this fog came from really, but whe
n it did, it drove away one of the Great Noble Families. Leaving this land to rot and perish. Without their name and their factories, this land started to perish away as you can see. Thanks to this fog, our land can no longer produce; it’s as if death has touched us himself.”

             
A fog that eats away the land’s ability to produce
, thought Axil.

Albedo had heard enough now, it was time for him to leave.

Drake noticed him trying to take his leave and said, “So how about it, Albedo? Until Sonia and Angelione come back, how about we see which one of us is the best warrior?”
Now that most of your friends are gone, I can finally have that fight with you that I so desire to. I’m not really interested in finding that fool they call Aleister. I wanted to fight you the moment I saw you.

Albedo stopped, he knew it was a matter of time b
efore Drake asked to fight him. Albedo approached him and they locked eye to eye. Albedo felt it, his killer-lust wanted him to fight, he tried to fight it but the desire was so overwhelming him.

“You’re not thinking of fighting this guy are you? He’s a psycho, just say no.” Axil could see Albedo had the same look as Drake in his eyes, two dogs wanted to square off.

“It’s alright, Axil. I think it was a matter of time before him and I clashed.”

“I must say, there’s something different about you, I can’t get a grip on it,” said Drake.

Albedo attacked him, but Drake was fast, faster than Albedo thought. He delivered a

blow to Albedo’s left cheek. Albedo felt the punch, not only was he fast but he was strong also.

Drake smiled; this was his pay back for what happened earlier.

              “It hurts doesn’t it? Don’t worry, it will only hurt even more,” said Drake.

Albedo used his flare, which caught Drake off guard. H
e dodged it just in time. Albedo used his flare again, Whoosh! Drake jumped up now, part of his clothing was caught by Albedo’s fire.

“That was a close one!” said Drake.
He licked his lips, enjoying every minute of this battle. “This fight is more exhilarating then I thought. I have to remember to try not to kill you.”

Drake attacked with a punch
now, but Albedo dodged and while in mid-air he delivered a blow to the back of Drake’s neck. Albedo could feel it, the adrenaline was running through his blood vessels, and he loved every minute of it.

“Can you feel it Albedo
?! You love this as much as I do! I can see it in your eyes. You and I are not so different after all, are we now!”

The thought of being compared to Drake was preposterous, he was nothing like him.

“Are you trying to insult me? You and I are nothing alike, you’re a monster.”

Axil wanted to step in and stop the fight, but both loved it; it would have been a crime for him to stop it. He himself was enjoying watching the fight. This had brought back memories
when he used to fight in battle-arena. 
Well, as long as they don’t kill each other.

Albedo got closer for an
attack; he stopped and could now feel his heart beating faster in pain. It got so painful that it felt like his heart was ripping out as if someone was grabbing it and squeezing it. He fell on the ground, grabbing his chest in pain. Albedo was now starting to understand Drake’s ability. Now he needed to find a way to stop it, a weakness he could use against him. He noticed Drake wasn’t moving; he was standing still as if he was meditating. Drake had not moved since he started using his ability.
For him to use his ability, he needs absolute concentration
.