I hope this is not going to go like mess.

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Chapter 20: Fleeing

-With Bladebreakers And Rick-

Everyone looked at Rick like they had seen a ghost. There was no way vampires existed, but here Rick was telling them straight to the face that he, Kai, Christian and many others were a bloodsuckers.

'You are seriously nuts if you think we believe that! I think that's your excuse for every bad thing that you have ever done. And if that was true, why did you tell us? To blackmail us like with Kai?!' Tyson asked very angrily. He didn't believe a single thing that came from Rick. Although Tyson wanted to believe that Ray had not known about their murders just like Rick had said.

'Believe what you want. It's not my business,' Rick sighed and walked closer to the window, 'and as for your question there, I told you because Sir told me to. It looks hiding it for now is waste of time.'

'Huh?' Tyson was puzzled.

'Do you mean those monsters that you killed just now?' Bruce asked and kept Tyson back at the same time. He was afraid that Tyson was going to launch himself at Rick and if him being a monster himself was true… Bruce didn't want Tyson to get hurt.

'Pretty much. You saw from TV how things are bad in China too,' Rick looked outside of the window, 'And looks like they are not better here either.'

'What do you mean?' Tyson asked, pushed his dad's hand off and run to the window. Others followed and watched outside with wide eyes. Streets were filled with monsters and they looked really menacing in the dark. People were running away and locking the doors but monsters just pushed themselves in.

'Shit man, it's like world's about to end,' Ruy quickly closed the window and pushed more furniture in front of the broken door.

'What are they?' Kenny asked with stuttering voice.

'Ghouls,' Rick kept his arms crossed and kept looking through the cracks on the door. He was most likely waiting for Kai and Sara to appear.

'And how do you know that?!' Tyson yelled again but before Rick could even lift a finger Max spoke up.

'Wait the fuck second!' Max shouted with sad and scared eyes.

'I'm confused but I want to know one thing. If what you are saying is true and that you are a… vampire and said that you don't kill humans unless you have to… Why did Kai then kill Blade Sharks?' Max asked.

'Because he's not in control of his nature yet,' Rick sounded annoyed but he did give them answers despite that.

'In control?' Tyson pondered.

'As you know, Kai was just turned into one of us by Sir, his older brother, to prevent him from dying. As result, he simply needs time to get used to his new powers and nature itself. At the very beginning he was totally out of control. A simple stress, annoyance, heat from the sun could tricker his, what humans call a monster side.

And since Kai was taking part in the tournament in China as you, Sir told him to quit for the moment, until he's in total control and his emotions don't cause him to do something he would regret later. It took couple of tries but Kai finally left the tournament,' Rick talked a lot more than usual. He usually was quiet one on the back of the group.

'What tries?' Bruce asked.

'He lost control of himself couple of times and killed innocent people. Like that small girl you have heard about. Ryder who killed that friend of yours was one of his victims,' Rick replied quickly.

'How… How is he now then?' Tyson asked more calmly than before. Rick glanced at Tyson for a moment before closing his eyes.

'Little better but not good enough. Blade Sharks are good example of this,' Rick said.

'Emotions again?' Kenny asked.

'Sara might know since she was there. Look, I know you have million questions about everything but we don't have much time anymore,' Rick tried to change the subject. He had seen ghouls number increase on the streets more and more. They might have to look for another place to stay but Kai and Sara need to be here first.

'Wait. One more thing. What did you mean by Sir told you to tell us something that is big secret to you? And even telling someone to give up on their dream?' Tyson asked.

'Because Sir can simply erase everyone's memories after ghouls have been dealt with. And that's why I'm also answering your questions now. You forget everything later anyway,' Rick answered. Before anyone could protest to that ghouls crashed in through the window and door again.

'Oh bullocks! You monsters are breaking my dojo!' Ruy complained and got only angry growls back.

'There are too many! Kenny screamed. They backed against the wall a bit and Tyson grabbed a wooden sword like the one his grandfather was holding.

'Humans,' Rick sighed and raised his hand up and stopped every ghoul inside the house and outside. Tyson and others looked in amazement and stared at the frozen monsters.

'What did you do?' Tyson looked at Rick who was still keeping his hand up.

'If you must know, one of my abilities is to stop time around me or around someone else for certain amount of time,' Rick walked closer to the ghouls and took a thick wooden stick again. While keeping ghouls frozen he hit them with ease and quickly. Every ghouls turned to dust after the hit. Tyson decided to help a little and hit few on his own.

It took them about 20 minutes to make place safe again for a while.

'Fuck. That never gets easy,' Rick shook his hand. It had been a while from last time when he had to stop time longer than ten minutes.

'Okay. I believe you are freaks!' Tyson declared, 'Does every one of you have abilities like that?'

'Obviously. Even Kai has but they haven't developed yet. Not enough for him to control them by will anyway,' Rick answered and took his phone out texting Sara where they were.

'He did say Christian can erase people's memories,' Kenny reminded.

'I said I believe they are freaks. Vampire part takes a lot more to understand,' Tyson said back.

'Tsk, humans,' Rick muttered and read Sara's message.

'What the heck do you mean by that?' Tyson asked but Bruce grabbed his shoulder, 'Dad?'

'He might mean exactly what he says Tyson,' Bruce said.

'You believe they are vampires? Seriously?' Tyson stared at his father with big eyes.

'After what I just saw, yes,' Bruce nodded.

'At least one you is smart,' Rick said when they heard a knock on the other side. Rick pulled a dresser a side for a while to let other two inside. Tyson and others saw Sara literally carry Kai inside who was unconscious.

'What happened?' Tyson asked.

'I had to knock him out. He was totally out of it,' Sara simply said and laid Kai down on the ground.

'Do you have blood with you?' Rick asked straight away and Sara looked shocked for a slight second before taking out Kai's bag.

'Here,' she said and gave it to Rick who opened the bottle after kneeling down next to Kai as well. Tyson stepped closer too. He did have worried look on his face while his eyes showed distrust towards Rick mostly. He just couldn't believe the fact that vampires existed. According to Rick Ray didn't know about Kai's past killings but did he know about Kai being vampire? Max and Kenny stepped closer too while they watched Rick pour blood in Kai's mouth.

'Any change you can explain why he went out of control again?' Rick asked annoyed.

'I think I'm partly at fault here. We argued and I guess Kai's emotions went too high again. I should have known that this could happen. I didn't like the idea of leaving,' Sara answered like no one else was around them.

'Sir must have seen this coming too,' Rick took the bottle away and wiped the blood drops away from Kai's lips.

'What do you mean by that? Is that some kind of ability too?' Max asked quickly.

Rick answered without looking back, 'Of course if you must know. Sir can see what happens in the future.'

'Do they know that…' Sara began.

'We are vampires? Yes. I told them with Sir's permission. We have to go now to safer place once Kai wakes up,' Rick said and stood up.

'Like where genius? Do you expect us to fucking follow you killers?' Tyson cursed.

'I don't fucking care what happens to you humans,' Rick narrowed his eyes and it shut up Tyson quickly.

'I do suggest however to go somewhere safe until this is over. Besides, I think Kai would want you humans to be safe and Sir knows that too, although he hasn't said anything about it,' Rick continued with more calmly.

'Why? Like you said we are just humans to you and we just met Kai too,' Tyson asked.

'Kai is very big idiot and still holds onto his human morals, unlike his siblings or me. At any rate, I think you don't want to die either way,' Rick reminded.

'I'll go with you! I don't want to die!' Kenny exclaimed along with Max. Tyson did agree with them but he just hated Rick and his gut. And now Tyson knew the very reason why he felt like this about him from very first time he met Rick. It was very simple. Rick didn't care about humans in the first place and treated them like food and because Kai wasn't like him or his siblings, he treated Kai badly. Just like Tyson had seen in China for very first time.

It was another reason not to like Kai's older brother either even though he had apparently saved Kai's ass many times from death and rapists.

'You… you said Kai killed that Ryder dude, right?' Tyson recalled.

'You told them about that too?' Sara glanced at Rick who just shrugged.

'Ryder's head was taken clean off if I recall correctly. You have only said that Ray followed Kai and got killed. Then Kai killed Ryder. Is that it?' Tyson asked. He needed some kind of sign of Ray's friendship towards Kai or… anything else to that matter. Ray had taken a picture of himself and Kai and it had been taken a while back and according to Rick's stories… it was before Kai was turned into vampire. And that would apply that Ray didn't know about vampires.

'That was pretty much it. Your friend didn't know about us and Kai wanted to keep it that way. That kid was stubborn though and followed Kai to our place where he was met with Ryder at the end of everything who was hunting us,' Sara revealed a little more this time.

'Hunting?' Tyson questioned.

'There are vampire hunters too, just for your information. That Ray kid tried to protect Kai from Ryder and got shot instead. Kai went out of control and killed Ryder. Kai would have killed us as well but Sir stepped in. Like I did today,' Sara said.

'Ray… he really cared for Kai a lot. Why didn't he tell us about Kai then? We would have been his friend too,' Max asked.

'Who knows,' Sara said bluntly and quickly, since she couldn't answer them. Obvious reason was that they had simply forgotten Kai entirely. She turned to Kai when she heard grunting. Sara and others saw Kai opening his eyes and sitting up.

'What happened?' Kai rubbed his head roughly. Sara informed Kai about everything with quick story and about what Rick had told Tyson and others. At the end of it, Kai stood up and didn't look at Tyson and others but Tyson grabbed his arm.

'Wait. We don't blame you. Ray wanted to protect his friend to the end, protect you,' Tyson said.

'How could you not blame? Because of me you lost a friend as did White Tiger team. Besides, I'm not even… human anymore,' Kai pulled his hand away.

'Because Ray trusted you. Besides, you didn't want to kill anyone in the first place if you wonder about those. Rick did tell us about the process about becoming a vampire,' Tyson tried to explain.

'That's just an excuse. I…' Kai said when they heard another crash and screaming. This time it came outside. Bruce ran to the window and saw more ghouls coming.

'Talk it out later. We need to leave. The whole town must be filled with these things,' Bruce warned and headed to check the backdoor. At the same time, Kai turned to Tyson.

'I'll say this only once to all of you. Nothing you say can justify what I have done no matter whatever the reason is. Once everything is over, you'll forget about me and that's it,' Kai stated firmly. He hated to admit but everyone had been right from the start. They had warned him about being among humans from the beginning.

Kai decided to keep his distance to Tyson and others more than ever now when it came to personal questions. Why did he ever go to the party last time in the first place.

'Say what you want dude but I won't do that! You must know this but you said it yourself you hated Christian! And we can see you don't fit along them in the first place!' Tyson started but Max and Kenny pulled him away.

'We don't have time for this now!' Kenny said just when ghouls broke in. Rick stopped the time again and ghouls stopped.

'Go already!' Rick yelled. Everyone followed Bruce who was at the backdoor already with worried look. Ghouls were everywhere.

'Sara, can you turn everyone invisible?' Rick asked quietly while keeping his power up.

'If everyone is touching each other and we keep quiet,' Sara answered.

'You heard her,' Bruce said and grabbed Tyson's arm. Max took his, Kenny Max's arm and so on. Kai took Sara's arm and Rick Kai's shoulder.

'Dad, go in front and lead us to BBA building. Let's try that first,' Bruce said. Ruy moved in front of Sara who took a hold onto elderly man's arm. Bruce touched Rick's arm to complete the line.

'We have to move quickly but quietly. I can't keep us unseen forever,' Sara reminded and activated her own ability. After they had walked away for few meters Rick stopped his own ability. Sara managed to hide their presence as well and they headed quickly towards the BBA building. Bladebreakers bit their lips or tongue to keep quiet if ghoul came too close like it had seen them.

'Fuck this shit. Are we there yet?' Tyson asked anxiously.

'Shh! Shut your mouth. You're too loud,' Sara warned him with a glare. Bruce tightened his hold to reassure Tyson a bit. They continued walking and finally BBA building came into their view.

'There it is!' Tyson raised his voice yet again and this time ghouls turned around, confused, but they looked at straight at them even though they were invisible.

'Oops…' Tyson chuckled a bit but no one was laughing.

'Argh! Just run for it!' Rick ordered and they went. They let go of each other and began running towards the building. Sara had turned off her ability and allowed everyone to just run and not keep a hold onto someone. Many ghouls surrounded them and stopped them into their tracks.

'Grab something and hit their guts out!' Bruce grabbed few pipes from the ground as people run past them. They were running right back to the way where Tyson and others came.

'Couldn't the fucker just stop time here?!' Tyson shouted and ignored the look Rick gave him.

'Tyson! Just do it!' Bruce threw them pipes and sticks. Yelling like crazy they run forward, hit ghouls that stepped in front of them and pushed them away. For every ghoul that turned into dust, three more appeared.

'This… isn't… getting us… nowhere!' Ruy panted as he stood next to Bruce and Kenny.

'This is fucked up!' Tyson cursed.

'Language dude!' Ruy yelled.

'Grandfather! Now is not the time for that!' Tyson protested.

'You can shut up too! Go!' Sara added annoyed as she helped Max up. Bruce looked around him and saw only one corner which looked empty.

'Run that way!' Bruce pointed towards the corner. Everyone followed suit with quick breaths and yelling. They witnessed many dead bodies and saw ghouls killing others. It was a massacre.

'Little more boys! We have to ran past these blocks!' Bruce engouraged others. Other people were running towards it as well. Bruce looked behind him before continued running with Ruy right behind him. Kids were right behind the elderly, Max, Sara, Kai, Kenny were next to pass the corner with big gaps between them. Tyson the other hand was so concentrated on running that he didn't notice few ghouls near the alley and inside the building.

'Aah!' Tyson halted his when ghouls jumped in front of him.

'Get lost you fuckers!' Tyson tried to attack them but his hit missed. Ghouls had dodged this time and Tyson was cornered now.

'Shit!' Tyson managed to curse when ghouls were literally kicked away. Tyson saw Rick do some kind of martial art kick one after another.

'Move it!' Rick grabbed Tyson and pulled him inside the alley. It was no surprise that ghouls followed them.

-With Others-

At the same time others had their own share of troubles. Bruce, Ruy, Max and Sara managed to get past the biggest horde of ghouls they encountered. As they were running through the gap along with few other people, Kenny fell down on his stomach. His foot had been caught by a stick on the ground,

'Kenny!' Max yelled but saw Kai grab Kenny by the shirt of his collar but unfortunately they had run the other way too because of the ghouls that were running even faster than before.

'Kenny! Kai!' Max yelled as Bruce grabbed Max to pull him inside the BBA building. Officers let them inside and locked the doors immediately. Max sat on the ground panting and with tears in his eyes. Bruce looked around and also noticed that Tyson was missing.

'Did Tyson fall behind too?!' Bruce panicked.

'Looks like that Rick kid isn't here either,' Ruy noticed.

'What? Tyson and Kenny will be killed out there!' Max yelled panicking and Bruce grabbed Max by his shoulders and kneeled down.

'Calm down. We saw Kai with Kenny. And if I listen to my gut, I think Rick is with Tyson,' Bruce explained.

'But they are not even humans…' Max managed to say the last word quietly.

'And that's exactly why Tyson and Kenny will be alright. We have seen Rick's powers a bit already. And he did say that Kai wants to keep us safe and Rick obviously follows Christian's decision on that,' Bruce continued.

'Tyson might be safe but what about Kenny?' Ruy asked them and Max and Bruce turned.

'Girl… Sara. Didn't you tell us that Kai can't control himself?' Ruy spoke quietly since they were surrounded by cops, survivors and many other people.

'Pretty much. And we do know he posses same powers as Christian but…' Sara begun.

'He can't control them. Great,' Bruce stood up. If he was honest, he felt the same way as Max at the moment. He had momentarily forgotten the fact that they had not only killers with them but unnatural beings, vampires. And seeing Rick treat humans like garbage in general worried him a lot. He could only hope that Christian had ordered Rick to stand down. He suddenly recalled the things they had heard about them from their own mouths even. Christian manipulating his own siblings, friends to the point of control and ignoring human life.

This was going to be a difficult thing to ponder on and even to hide. Bruce glanced at Sara who was still holding on the bag. It had bottles with blood in them.

'Excuse me,' officer walked next to them.

'Yes?' Bruce replied flustered.

'We are writing down names to see how many people are inside this building. Who belong with you and who was left behind? It looked like two boys didn't manage to come inside,' officer said.

'Yes, they were and there was two more a while back,' Bruce answered, 'This is my son's friend Max Tate. This is my father Ruy Granger and I'm Bruce Granger. My son… Tyson Granger fell behind a while back with an acquaintance of ours.'

'Acquaintance?' officer asked with calm expression.

'This is Sara Queens and her little brother, Kai Hiwatari and my son's other friend Kenny Saien were the once who didn't manage to come inside. My son is with a boy named Rick who we just met. We haven't asked his last name yet,' Bruce replied.

'None of you know his last name?' officer asked worryingly.

'No,' Sara shook her head. Bruce decided to follow her lead for now. It wasn't like they were lying but Sara was if they had known each other for centuries. She must have heard Rick's last name somewhere. Bruce did try to remember that had Rick told them his last name at all when they met first time but he couldn't recall it. Officer luckily left it that and didn't ask why Sara's last name was different from Kai's. If them being a vampire was true, it wouldn't be surprising why she told them the officer a fake last name.

They had told them that even Susumu had been a vampire and that meant Hiwatari family was really old and Kai was the latest one to be turned. If they police would search for Sara Hiwatari, they would get a very big shock.

'I'm going to inform other shelters about them if they reach other places,' officer left them alone after that. Soon enough though Dickenson appeared and gave everyone a hug. Before anyone could say anything Bruce told Dickenson what had happened and left the vampire stuff out which was very obvious to the others. It worked also as a sign to other keep quiet.

'Let's hope they stay safe. China is even in worst state than Japan. Many countries are closing the borders and discussing are made what to do with us who are not ghouls,' Dickenson informed them.

'What can we do now?' Max asked.

'We'll have to wait and see,' Bruce said sitting down followed closely by Max, Ruy and Dickenson. Sara sat too with a stern face and she took out her phone. Bruce could tell she was worried about Rick, Kai and even Christian in China. Bruce pondered how strong Christian was since he was the leader of the vampires they had seen at least and how many more there were. World was falling a part and no one among them knew how to stop it.

I hope you enjoyed it. Fanfic site is not sending me notifications but I'm manually checking in. :)

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