Chapter 37
- Lily-chan, please, bring me that test tube; Martha-chan, can you heat that pink solution inside that flask? Thank you.
When they had moved to that city, at first, the two vampires couldn't get their bearings in Elena's lab: there were thousands of test tubes and hundreds of pinkish blends, and after a couple of months they had got used to it, finding Elena's instructions to be useful; for example, saying "that" usually meant the last object she had touched, but how to find out which? Easy: she would use nail polish several times on the same day, since it kept on getting ruined due to her uninterrupted experiments and activities, so she would often not wait for it to dry before returning to work.
Then, when Martha found, among a dozen flasks with a pink solution, the one with the fresher traces of nail polish on the surface, she grabbed the container with caution, placing it on the fire of a Bunsen burner: the colour soon faded to an indigo colour, a change that was enthusiastically observed by the vampire.
Her older sister, meanwhile, had delivered a test tube containing a green powder to Elena, who had poured it into a strange and boiling mixture: the same overflew shortly thereafter and the woman moved away along with the girl.
- Excuse me, miss Elena, but what exactly was that - Lily whispered softly, taking off her glasses to clean the lenses soiled by the red smoke.
- I'm trying to make a potion that can make Mary-chan's lung work longer - the doctor explained, examining the liquid obtained: pitch black, as opposed to her expectations-Damn, this is not good...
Elena's gaze wandered into the room, stopping on the calendar and the wall clock: there was not much time left...
Mary darted as fast as she could with her bike, along the cemented roads, before making a sharp shift to the right, right into the forest.
- Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-MARY-CHAN?! - Ryan screamed terrified, clinging to her as much as he could and thanking the Creator that he couldn't feel any pain as he jerked brutally at each hole, natural bump or what else.
- Shortcut - the other explained very briefly, barely avoiding fir tree's robust trunk.
The boy cracked a smile that was unconvinced and not at all reassured; he raised his head to the sky, observing the clearness and the blue colour that was so unusual for the coming end of November: it seemed almost as if the sky was betraying them, pretending that the situation was calm and without dangers in sight. He couldn't explain it, but something told him that many things would have gone wrong.
He was so distracted by those negative thoughts that he didn't hear Mary's warning and suddenly found himself twirling in the air, after hearing a strange sound of broken bones or branches, and he ended up on the ground, seeing his friend in the distance slow down and turn around towards him, frowning behind her protective lenses; but there was something wrong and, focusing more closely, he realized that his body was lying on the ground, with a broken branch not far away.
That was why he couldn't lift himself up on his arms to get up...!
- Eeehm... Mary-chaaan, it would be kind of you if you helped me...
The girl slammed a hand against her forehead, brushing her hair in an annoyed gesture and, resting her bike against a huge boulder, reached him to take his head into her hands, a little horrified, holding it as far as possible from herself .
- I'm not radioactive, honey - Ryan muttered as he returned to his body. Black-purple tongues came out of the headless neck and, as soon as his head was close, they hung up to those coming out of the latter and after a loud sound he straightened up, stretching, under Mary's shocked eyes.
- Come on, Mary-chan, didn't you use to dissect those dead fishes found on the beach...
- THOSE WERE JUST FISHES! - she replied, slapping him on the head.
The boy nodded, pretending not to be convinced and laughed as he received a fist on his arm, following her to get back on the bike; suddenly they heard an animal-like cry.
Mary fell silent, trying to identify the creature which had just screamed.
- Better hurry - Ryan suggested - I don't want Grim Reapers to make me one of them.
The girl nodded and set off.
- Ladies, this way, - Theo exclaimed cheerfully, guiding a group of about eleven-year-old girls to the ladder leading into the structure working as a refuge according to the evacuation plans (i.e. the inside of a hill, consisting of a massive and resistant rock ingeniously dug out); the girls jumped and hurried in the direction indicated.
The wizard was looking at them while tenderly chuckling, and for a moment he saw in their place his four kohai, years before, hurrying to the school building, late because of Claire, who would wake up very late; his eyes were full of nostalgia and he allowed himself another moment of distraction to rub his temples, before returning to his duty.
Meanwhile, Mark was listening to the sounds and all the voices in the surroundings, focusing in particular on those of his loved ones; if his friend had passed by chance beside him, he would have realized from the redness on his cheeks that he had heard the Ellen's voice, busy elsewhere hindering their enemies with her sister Angela and other companions: the girl's determination and her combative and proud personality, typical of her family, had replaced the half-wizard's possible worry with the love and admiration.
So much that, through his thoughts, he was sending her messages of encouragement...
And God only knows what Ellen had answered him, to make him blush even more.
The icy breeze blew softly, caressing Morten's blond hair; from a very high wall enclosing the bay, he leaned against it with his back, folding his arms, and he observed the people gathering on the beach, focusing especially on Isa wearing the clothes and accessories that for years had traditionally been worn by priestesses and priests whenever they would gather to meet the island's Dragon.
The wizard sighed bitterly, remembering the last time he had seen his family gathering for the very same event, many years before being massacred during that attack...
Isa seemed calm, more than he would have expected her to be: probably because she was confident in the Dragon's abilities and therefore certain that the situation wouldn't have taken drastically a turn for the worst; this had put him in a good mood, since among the things he endured less was the little witch's demoralized attitude.
Having been a Rose classmate, as well as her teammate, he had been used to see her family a lot, so he was the one who knew Isa best: he had seen her grow up, and he considered her like a sister, like Finn, who was also the amber-eyed girl's best friend.
He moved away from the wall, closing the zip of the black leather jacket, feeling cold, and went down a few steps of the stairs that led to the beach, stopping to admire the colours of Isa's clothes, and of the shiny and sparkling beads which some women were adorning her hair with; his hazel eyes moved on the sea waves, calmly moving, and he breathed in the air impregnated with saltiness.
Yes, he really loved his home.
Ari looked at some framed photographs hanging on the wall of Mr Flyer's office, who was communicating by telephone with his wife, to learn news from the Demon World; some portrayed the whole family, before the Glass Lady had left for her mission, others just the twins, sometimes in the company of their friends.
All those that had also included Rose had been eliminated, probably hanging once there where the rectangular marks of some paintings had remained.
He sighed, wondering for the umpteenth time how they hadn't noticed anything weird in that traitor's behaviour in all those past years: neither him, nor Isa, nor the rest of her family, nor her friends, nor the twins; and at that moment, he was suspecting that other members of the city were also traitors...
- Ari - Mr Flyer called him back to reality; the young man turned his dark eyes to the brown ones with a green spot, serious and awaiting updates.
- Apparently the Demon Lord is responsible for the whole mess... learning only after more than seventeen years about Cordelia's death wasn't helpful at all at keeping him good - he sighed, brushing his hair – Moreover, killed by her and Karlheinz's own children.
- I guess he raised all this disorder to blame that man - the other supposed, letting out a grunt of annoyance and disgust.
Mr Flyer nodded, adding that at least there had been no worse: the lunar eclipse could have taken place simultaneously in the Demon World and in the human one, influencing Karlheinz's powers and consequently weakening the barrier he had created to keep in captivity the First Bloods' last survivors, the two Tsukinami brothers; they would have taken advantage of it to look for their descendants, discovering that the only person alive was Yui Komori, a vampire human who possessed Cordelia's heart, whose mother, the late wife of the Demon Lord, was the Tsukinami brothers's aunt.
Ari, a little confused, considered there was also the Glass Lady, Cordelia's eldest sister.
Mr Flyer was silent for a moment, before looking at him and revealing that the blood of a First Blood could be inherited only by the four sub-races (vampires included); since his wife was a demon, it was impossible that this blood flowed in her body.
The ex-teacher asked if Karlheinz was doing something useful.
- The last time he tried to do something useful, he made a mess - was her answer.
The two men let out an exasperated sigh, expecting storms.
- SHUU! MOVE THAT DAMN ASS AND HURRY UP, FUCK!
Some girl in the vicinity who was holding an opponent from attacking her colleague glared at Subaru, horrified by his vulgarity; the albino blushed violently and looked away, muttering something, and then kicking Laito in the shin after his comment about him being lucky that Isa hadn't been too shocked by his rudeness.
Shuu stood up wearily from the bench, protesting that he needed to rest for a couple of minutes, every now and then.
- With "every now and then" you mean every three minutes?! - Subaru snapped irritably, with a vein throbbing painfully on his forehead.
In the meantime, Laito's eyes had glimpsed a red flash in the sky.
- Guys... I saw something...?!
The vampires jumped back just in time before being hit by a huge luminescent scarlet ball, which soon became opaque and crackled; it broke into pieces as if it had been made of glass, revealing inside a red-haired, muscular man covered almost entirely with tattoos depicting witches at the stake and the tortured bodies of vampires and demons.
- It's not obvious that he's a hunter, huh - Laito ironically exclaimed, backing not because intimidated, but because he wasn't exactly the type to engage in battles: he was a peaceful person (unless it was about torturing maidens...).
- Shut up, pervert - the albino muttered, clenching his fists and watching the man carefully, ready to face him; Shuu, noticing his readiness, muttered if it wasn't the case to teleport himself elsewhere and avoid that nuisance.
As he said it, he saw a metal object shooting at him, ducked with a reflex of his body that had perceived the danger: that man had just tried to hit him with a huge hammer, which was thick and had a quite rather long and strong handle to support its weight; the three vampires glanced at each other and, unconsciously thinking of the dozens young people who could have fallen to the ground killed by that weapon, decided to intervene.
However, they didn't have time to move a single step that Finn had suddenly landed on the hunter's face with her feet; they heard broken bones' cracks and the man fell to the ground, his face turning blue due to the witch's powerful attack, who jumped back, straightening and nodding to the three brothers to reach the Mukami who arrived shortly thereafter, at some stairs where other people were hurrying.
They exchanged another look and followed the sign, reaching the other four, Yuuma commenting at Shuu that he had missed the chance to see him fight; suddenly, Azusa jumped.
- Finn...! Be careful...!
The witch's eyes widened: she was turning to approach the others, after verifying that she had effectively stunned the opponent, when she saw the hammer hit her straight in the stomach: she was violently thrown against the wall behind, cracking it due to the force that had hit her and falling to the ground on her hands and knees, coughing badly.
The youngest Mukami screamed something unclear to Finn's ears, as she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, standing on her feet; she ignored the pain and took off her jacket, then shook her hands and focused on her powers: luminescent blue lines covered her skin adorning it with arabesques.
The enemy rushed towards her for another hammer blow: the witch held her breath and grabbed the weapon's head under the vampires' amazed eyes and the man's bewildered ones; Finn tugged at the weapon to unbalance him to his left, she went forward, taking the handle in her hands, and kicked him away in the torso, causing him to lose his grip.
The enemy didn't make it in time to recover that he was knocked out by his own weapon, used by the witch; the blow was so powerful that he bounced on the ground for several meters before slamming against the wall of a garage, partly destroying it.
Finn finally exhaled, letting the huge hammer fall to the ground; the lines disappeared and she staggered towards the vampires, immediately approached by an anxious Azusa who touched her everywhere: no one, except him, could cause her bruises or wounds...!
- Hey, are you okay, dwarf? - Yuuma addressed her.
Shuu chuckled as soon as the giant swore in pain after receiving a kick on the knees by the tiny girl, who was sulking at that nickname, squeezing her beloved vampire's body, who was pleased by the crushing feeling and that she was okay, despite exhausted.
And then they heard the piercing scream that froze their blood in their veins and which they immediately recognized belonging to Isa: Subaru felt his heart in his throat.
Fuck!
Morten wasn't the type to swear too often, but at that moment it was the only word that his brain could repeatedly suggest, like a broken radio, staring at the scene in the bay in front of him, leaning against the wall to avoid collapsing because of the shock.
Until a few minutes ago, dressed and jewelled to perfection, Isa had presented herself before the sea, firm, and, with bare feet embellished with a pair of coral rings and an anklet of lapis lazuli, she had walked on the water, focusing on her powers, her skin covered by orange lines; she had spoken words in an ancient language and the sea waves had risen to create a sort of water cocoon, which had then melted revealing the Dragon's long and majestic body, with its shining cerulean scales and kind pale pink eyes.
And then, there had been a white flash across the air, and the Dragon's head had fallen into the water, dyeing it with its dark green blood, and Isa had let out a so terrifying scream that Morten had felt his guts writhing.
Comrades were rushing, fighting the enemies who had suddenly arrived, and the wizard had observed all of it quiet and wide-eyed, unable to move; finally, seeing Isa struggling in the water trying to reach the Dragon's head, he knew what he had to do.
He swallowed and jumped down, with the help of his own wires, ready to face any obstacles and determined to recover the Dragon's head, whose body had been swallowed by the sea, to a safer area...
In the meanwhile, tens of meters from the forest, two young people were escaping on a motorbike from a couple of Reapers and a demonic creature.
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