Note- I've re read over this chapter many times now and I've realized Allen is coming off as slightly insane. That's not the point I'm trying to get across, he is struggling to suppress his Noah, as well as trying to cope with his past- both aren't working. I'm trying to figure out how much I should actually stay with the plot of the anime, please let me know in reviews ^^

Chapter 21

"V..Vampire?"

The crowd surged forward, the front row revealing ropes and sinister expressions. Allen smiled placidly as the ropes bound his limbs and chest tightly, as he heard Lavi yelp when the same thing was happening.

Allen looked up to his captors, suddenly hit by a wave of memories and nostalgia… These people are just as judgmental and superstitious as those from my birth town….I want to give these people a 'present' as well once I'm finished with my mission.

Allen chuckled darkly, officially creeping out Lavi, who was in the same position as the younger exorcist, but couldn't imagine what he was thinking about to make him actually laugh in the kind of situation.

The crowd reached what looked like the town hall before dragging the bound exorcists inside and propping them up on chairs, exposing them to the entire audience. To Lavi's surprise, the entire crowd bowed down, and seemed to be almost pleading for them to slay the 'vampire'. Being a bookman, Lavi couldn't help but doubt the existence of a real vampire, but the stories the towns folk told caught his attention.

"I am the chief of this village' Georg. The truth is.. Since a long time ago, there has been a vampire living in this village. His name is Baron Crowley. He never shows himself during the day, and sometimes at night you can hear terrible screams coming from his castle. It's said that those go enter never come out alive. "

After a long pause, Lavi decided to interrupt "No way, a vampire living in this day and age?"

The leader shot him a look, as if daring him to continue his statement. Lavi gulped then said "Sorry, please continue."

The leader shook his head slowly before continuing "But as long as we never got close to the castle, Crowley was never a danger to any of us. Crowley and ourselves quietly lived near each other, his castle and our village separated. Until that day, that is…. It was near to midnight, when the whole village was bathed in silence. It was interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream, which made the whole village awaken, and grab their torches to see what was going on. The group of us wandered out to the forest surrounding the Baron's mansion, where we found him sucking the life out of one of the villager's eldest women. He drained her body completely, before it turned to dust right before our eyes. Ever since then, Crowley has continued to assault our villagers, bringing the total victims to 9."

Allen tried to contain a dark chuckle, he knew he couldn't laugh out loud at their losses, but he found it hilarious when they looked so serious not to mention distraught when the commented that nine people had been killed. He found himself smiling sadistically as he tried to count how many people he'd killed over the last 3 years…. Too many he concluded with a sigh.

Allen's amusement did not go unnoticed by the crowd, nor by Lavi who was studying him carefully. Allen realized that all eyes on the room were upon him so he decided to make an announcement

"We will help you 'exterminate' this vampire, as we were planning on going to the castle anyway. I Suggest we get going, it would be helpful if we were untied."

He smiled innocently, as the crowd couldn't help gasp at his ambition in awe. Lavi didn't seem all that exited to be slaying a vampire in the dead of night, but it was better than that old panda tagging along he concluded. The villagers proceeded to accept Allen's demands, untying the exorcists immediately, before leading the way to Crowley's castle.

The journey was agonizingly slow for Lavi, the thought of a real life vampire gave him the creeps, as he couldn't help but notice Allen's excitement.

Truth be told Allen was ecstatic about fighting a vampire, not in a long time had he ever fought anyone with powers anywhere near his own. Yes some of the other Noah could hold a candle to him, but they never fought with each other seriously, and if Allen's suspicions were correct he may be able to use the full extent of his abilities in a proper fight with this 'vampire'. That thought by itself pleased Neah, as well as Allen which made him chuckle softly to himself.

Realizing Lavi was looking at him suspiciously Allen broke the silence and commented "I was just thinking that there's no way a vampire really exists right?" As he lied through his teeth and he added as much innocence and worry in the sentence as possible. That performance shouldn't have fooled the ears of a bookman, but if Lavi wasn't fooled he clearly didn't show it.

Lavi instinctively placed his right hand, twitching only inches away from his hammer, indicated he was prepared for a fight. Allen couldn't help but laugh to himself again, but then stopped abruptly thinking he might come off as insane.

Lavi couldn't help but he curious about Allen's eye and scar, not once had he mentioned any cause for either to either the Order or himself, and of course this only aggravated his already obsessive curiosity about the young exorcist. Those words that Allen had said, for some reason they haunted him, not only when he saw him, but in his dreams. 'if a bookman who was currently 'acting' as an exorcist, knew something vital that could help the order, or had suspicions of something that could destroy it, would they tell anyone' something about those words, but Lavi knew they had a deeper meaning. At first he shrugged them off lightly, but now….there is just something about Allen, he didn't know what but as a bookman, he could tell that those words would change the course of history in one way for another, for the better or for the worse he couldn't tell.

The villagers trotting in front of the exorcists stopped suddenly, causing both teens to stumble into their backs earning many displeased grunts. Georg raised his hand, pointing at the large gate that stood before them. It was almost 20 feet high, made of what looked like iron. It had eerie sculptures carved into the front, the first and foremost was of a face that resembled that of a level 1 Akuma. There was a slight rustle on the right hand side of the gate. So slight no regular creature should have been able to hear it, but Allen was no regular creature, in an instant, he stood facing exactly where Crowley lay hidden, deciding what to do with the 'vampire'.

Allen sighed heavily, because of his inhuman hearing, he knew that Crowley was no vampire, he just possessed an innocence fragment. It seemed to be a parasitic type, judging by its hum, it was not very developed.

Allen grinned maliciously, separating the only Akuma in the crowd from the rest to see how the 'vampire' would react. The Akuma was only a level 1 and was still in its human skin so the crowd wasn't that curious as to why one of the teenagers was having a private conversation with her. Once separated from the crowd, the Akuma looked around in fear.

It was built to detect when a Noah was present and to always follow their orders, and this level one's programming was screaming that there was a Noah right there and to listen. The poor level 1 not having a consciousness of its own, just blatantly followed the townspeople here, unable to pull itself away from its hidden master. It was because of this, that it followed the orders that the exorcist was giving it, as it could not tell who was the Noah in the crowd and would rather die here than face the wrath of an angry Noah if it attacked the wrong person.

Allen walked back to the front of the crowd, telling the Akuma very distinctly not to move from its current position. It shifted uncomfortably in its human skin, fear evident on its human face. Allen chuckled darkly, any minute now…. And just like he predicted, he heard the sounds of the vampire approaching.

Allen admitted that he was fast, well compared to any other exorcist he'd seen, but not nearly fast enough to match his own speed. Lavi looked around with wide eyes, he was sure he'd heard something rustle in the bushes…but that could just be his own paranoia playing tricks on him.

Instead, he lined himself up with Allen as the exorcist seemed to know where the noises were coming from. There was a flash of darkness, and in less than an instant, the Akuma Allen had singled out had been taken by Crowley, and was now being drained of her life. Lavi swore that in an instant before Crowley had ambushed them, he saw Allen's kind smile turn into a sadistic grin and his eyes flash a brilliant gold….

No that can't be right.

Lavi thought to himself, pushing that thought to the back of his mind then turned to face the vampire. The villagers shrieked in terror, as they all sprinted back to town as fast as they could, leaving Lavi and Allen to deal with the baron.

Lavi prepared for the offence, instantly grabbing his hammer as it tripled in size. Allen chuckled darkly before asking "Damn I was looking forward to a good fight, you're gonna have to be faster than that…"

He seemed sincerely disappointed, as Lavi's jaw dropped in exasperation… Allen was not only TAUNTING said vampire but insulting him too?

Crowley released his jaw from the Akuma, who collapsed to the ground. He turned slowly to face his unwanted guests, seeing the Red-haired one's position; he was the one that would be aggressive. It was strange, the white-haired kid seemed to be mocking him, but not making the slightest move on offence that was actually scaring him.

He shrugged it off, turning to face the Red-head as his hammer was now almost the size of a building. He lunged, slightly off balance, attempting to squash Crowley like it was a simple game of 'whack-a-mole'. Crowley smiled, seeing the hammer come within inches of his face, and then biting down on its pointed end.

It was simple really, the red head was off balance enough as it was and as Crowley shifted the weight of the enormous hammer, he was thrown into the air, smashing into a nearby tree with a sickening 'crunch'. Crowley smiled, he could tell just by that sound that at least 2 ribs were now broken. He turned his gaze to the white haired boy who was…..was sitting down? He wore a bored expression, drawing figures in the dirt.

This enraged Crowley even further, deciding to take the kid by surprise, he moved with incredible speed, and was at the boys side within a second. To Crowley's horror, everything seemed to slow down when he reached the kid, as he noticed he was softly humming to himself. The boy looked up thoughtfully at Crowley, giving his an innocent smile, which soon turned into a sadistic smirk. It was then Crowley saw it, his eyes which were previously shimmering silver, flashed a brilliant gold, making Crowley unable to shift his gaze away from the glinting orbs. Crowley still felt like he was moving in slow motion, he was now within inches of the boy who seemed un phased. What worried Crowley the most is that he seemed completely unaffected by the slow motion.

He stood up at a normal speed with a mocking grin plastered on his face before whispering into the 'vampire's' ear "Filthy exorcist, run."

Crowley was left with his mouth left wide open as he felt regular time returning. He crashed to the ground, only to feel himself being pinned face down by the boy who was now on top of him.

"I'll count to 5. It's no fun catching pray who aren't running for their lives…" He whispered, Crowley wasn't sure what it was about this child, but his instincts were screaming at him to escape while he still could.

"4.." the numbers were coming in an almost soothing tone, as the child seemed to hum each one with enthusiasm.

"3…" Crowley felt himself running out of time, using the last of his strength, he managed to escape the boys hold hearing faintly

"2.." he grabbed the woman he had attacked earlier, dragging her with him as he ran off into the night.

"1…" Allen looked disappointed that the 'vampire' had gotten away. It was a shame really; this guy wasn't nearly a match for Allen. Sighing, he plodded over to where Lavi had hit the tree.

Lavi had watched the previous encounter stunned, he wasn't sure what had happened, but it had to be recorded. Once he regained consciousness, he saw Allen sitting in the dirt, drawing figures.

In the next instant, Crowley was by his side, about to bite him, but Lavi swore he saw it again, Crowley's face twisted with horror as Allen's eyes flashed golden again. Another flash of white light, and it was revealed that Allen had Crowley pinned to the ground. From this distance, he couldn't hear what Allen was saying, but Crowley ran off with the villager towards the castle. Allen walked over slowly, helping Lavi up off the tree and making sure he was fine before continuing into what looked like a courtyard.

It was filled with hordes of demon statues, all facing in dangerous positions towards the main walk way. Lavi shuddered, as Allen shrugged at this 'vampire's' weird taste. Once they reached the front door of the castle, it swung open with the slightest touch, creaking loudly it only added to the eerie atmosphere.

Allen was the first to stride in; making sure Lavi was alright to follow. They had been walking for a little over a minute, before Allen decided to 'explore' leading them to a long hallway which felt somewhat nostalgic. Allen could feel it, Neah pushing and tugging at the consciousness of his mind, fighting for control. Allen grabbed a nearby ornament for support, leaning on it ever so slightly.

To Allen's surprise, the ornament slid down opening a large section of wall that looked like the entry to a dungeon. Allen cautiously approached, hearing Lavi's equally intrigued whispers behind him.

Allen turned around instinctively; he could sense an Akuma drawing closer. Out of the corner of the hall, a tall blonde woman appeared, dragging a coffin behind her before spotting the two uninvited guests. Allen couldn't help but smirk as he saw the level 2 Akuma approach.

Good..Mor..ning.

She looked down at the two exorcists in horror, unable to believe what she had just heard. Her jaw dropped as she muttered breathlessly "….Noah…"

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