After swimming kilometers across the ocean, thirsty, I finally managed to reach the shores of Shanghai, China. With nothing at hand but my powers, I began to wander through the city and search for food.
Rats and pigeons were what I usually used for my alternative source of animals, as they are easy to catch and less likely to evade a vampire. I learned that if even a vampire gave them food, they would still come from time to time. They were the most practical animals by far, but of course, if most vampires preferred human blood and vegetarian vampires animals, predators or herbivores, my menu was the worst of the worst. But I only cared about staying fed when I could, and when you're a nomad like me, there are no luxuries.
Many times, I also caught seagulls, which had just as strange behavior as rats and pigeons. Fish, when feeding on them, were the only ones that made me "feel at home," as their blood had the taste of the fish's flesh I consumed when I was human.
After wandering through the city and scanning places to see if there were vampires, I tried to ask myself who was chasing me. The Volturi were clear; my actions alerted them, and they probably want to punish me. But what about the others? They wanted me alive. Will they use me as a bargaining chip? Do they want my weapons? I have my theories, but I had to find out who they were first. The only thing I could fix was my mask in a warehouse.
Little by little, I ventured out of urban areas and into Mongolia, the land of Anastasia's converter, called Od. Od was a bloodthirsty guy, simple, and enjoyed battle, but he taught me how to fight and gave me tips for nomadic life, although he never liked me, always seeing me as a weakling, surely because of my size and my finer build.
"He ate his words." I thought when I remembered how I killed him with the dagger; he had never expected any weapon that could kill a vampire.
As the wind from the steppe moved the sand and my hair, I turned around, alarmed by a phone signal coming from behind me, so I set out to decode and scan the device's data.
As I began to see the silhouette behind me, the data showed me that the phone had been manufactured in Chile and had made calls to other countries, such as South Africa.
"Could it be?" I wondered.
And there, emerging from the sandstorm, with his typical mane, his leather jacket, tall, athletic, slim body, and his always torn jeans with his boots and his piercing and intimidating gaze, although not for me.
"Nacho!" I shouted.
His gaze changed from seriousness to confusion, ending in a certain sadness. Nacho approached me, and he looked at me, this time with his amber eyes, my dear cousin had changed.
"Damn you. Why did you call me?" He says and then gives me a hug, sobbing deeply.
I was confused. "That I called him?" I thought. "When?" But nothing mattered to me; he was here, and he seemed to have forgiven me.
"I'm sorry, cousin, I was unfair to you; I was so hurt by what happened in the village that I didn't respond to any reason."
"Don't worry." I told him. "I completely understand; I myself didn't know what to do, and I still think about it."
He let go of me, looked at me, and said, "What are you up to?"
I told Nacho all about my journey from Antarctica, Father Rafael's documents, the possible existence of what could be the "Holy Grail," and my recent tense encounters with the other vampires.
"Oh cousin, how dense. I went through a whole crazy journey too. Are you going to look for that book in those ruins?" He asked, looking very excited.
"Well, yes, but I warn you, vampires are following my steps. I think you should go back to Tomás." I asked him.
Nacho looked towards the horizon as the sandstorm dissipated, and then he said to me.
"I don't know, cousin, I'm not ready to see the blonde. She's beautiful, stunning, I won't deny it, but just thinking about her makes me want to kill someone again. I imagine it must be even more difficult for you, for what she did to you and your family, plus all that toxic love affair you guys had."
I contemplated the landscape and began, "I think I should turn the page on that already. What's done is done, and there's nothing that will change what happened, for me, for her, for all of us."
As we walked, we continued chatting. Nacho told me he was still in touch with Tomás. He didn't want to talk to Amalia, but he respected my decision to spare Anastasia's life.
Then we sat on some rocks, and as we contemplated the night, he began to tell me what he had been doing after our separation.
"I ventured into the mountains, and then I decided to wander through the most dangerous neighborhoods in several countries further north. I practically feasted on all the gangs, traffickers, and other people who were the worst of the worst. If you knew, cousin, I saw horrible things. Human trafficking, innocent people used as drug mules, child abuse, clandestine places for prostitution, and things I wish I could forget." Nacho touched his head, looking at the ground to pause, and I put my hand on his shoulder.
I understood him perfectly. I had done the same thing as him, but I never drank from anyone. Still, I attacked my singer while massacring a mafia group, and in my outburst of anger, I slipped with her, and she died.
"Babies! Girls!" He looked at me, with his trembling hands. "I had heard it, but never seen it! It enraged me, cousin, a tremendous feeling of helplessness. I hadn't understood you, but now that I've seen it with my own eyes! I massacred them all, that damn scum, I feasted on all those cockroaches!"
He took a pause and then, after a breath, continued, "In Mexico, I came across a group of mobsters; I think they did it all, they were cartels. I had been observing them and tortured several to extract information. One cartel fell after another, and I realized that I was falling into an uncontrollable spiral. So, one time, looking at myself in the mirror, I saw myself, with my mouth full of blood and my crimson eyes. It was clear that I was no longer in my right mind. I was no better than any of those newborns who attacked the village, much less than the blonde, who had made our lives miserable. I remembered you, how you went through the same."
We hugged. Many times we have to fall to really realize our mistakes and start to change. Nacho had a very difficult life; his father, my uncle Jose, was an alcoholic and very violent. His mother abandoned them when my uncle died, driving drunk, so Nacho was practically raised among all of us, hence his difficult and rebellious behavior.
Nacho continued, "I swore to myself never to become like them, like those who killed our family, never again, and from there, I haven't tasted human blood even once." He finished saying.
After spending a moment together, he took a sigh and said to me, "So cousin, do we continue with your adventure? I've come too far, and I have no idea where I am, I just have these coordinates you sent me, and I've been from here to there. A family of vegetarian vampires in Alaska was very kind and helped me find a way to cross the strait and gave me this map. With the map and guiding myself by the coordinates, I found your scent and began to follow your trail. You know, I'm very good at tracking."
As I watched him pride himself on his skills, I realized that the signal must have been sent when I accidentally connected with the satellite in Antarctica.
"Well, whatever. I have nothing else to do, so I'll accompany you. Pinky and the Brain?"
Nacho shakes hands, and we high-five. "Let's go, Pinky!" I said.
Nacho pauses and asks, imitating a high-pitched voice, "What are we going to do tonight, Brain?"
I clear my voice and try to use a deeper one, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"
We laugh and get up. We start using the rest of the night to go faster; as we run at full speed, Nacho tells me:
"Now seriously. What are we looking for?"
I laugh and tell him, "A very ancient book, or an object, I don't really know, but it should be close."
We start crossing a mountainous area, and I notice that there are remnants of columns and other types that seem to be statues scattered all over the place. We keep moving, and Nacho carefully observes what appears to be a kind of effigy with a woman's bust, and he begins to touch its contours suggestively.
"Seriously, cousin? Stop fooling around, and let's focus; we're in the right place, but I don't know what we're looking for."
Nacho burst into laughter and followed me. We wandered around the area until we came across what seemed to be a statue of a winged being, resembling some sort of demon.
I noticed an inscription and tried to put on the mask to decipher what it said, but I only managed to extract the word "Asakku." Nacho also noticed it but didn't understand anything, so he asked me.
"Do you speak Egyptian? What kind of writing is this?"
"It's not Egyptian," I said. "It's cuneiform script."
Nacho touched the letters and said, "They look like Chinese characters."
"It's the ancient language of Babylon; I don't speak the language. I connected to a server and translated it."
Nacho noticed a hole in the contour of the statue and commented to me, "There's a cave inside! Let's check it out."
Before I could stop him, Nacho suddenly moved the statue, revealing what seemed to be an entrance to a cave or a strange temple.
"Wow, it's like we're in Indiana Jones!" he exclaimed.
We entered the cave slowly, and it became darker and darker until our vampire vision was limited. Nacho turned on the flashlight of his phone and said to me as I looked at him, "What were you expecting? A torch? If a mummy comes, we'll give it everything we've got," he laughed.
We continued slowly because we noticed that the cave was moving slightly. When we reached the end, we found a kind of desk and a very old book. Nacho was about to touch it, but I stopped him.
"Don't touch it! We could destroy it!"
As dust and sand slowly fell from the ceiling, and Nacho wiped his mouth after getting some sand in it, I took out two plastic bags since I didn't have gloves and carefully tried to store the book and seal it in one of those bags.
"Let me know if you see anything interesting," I asked him as I tried not to breathe in front of the book. Nacho wandered around with his phone, which was running out of battery. I pointed to my bag, and he managed to take out a flashlight.
"At least I don't see any mummies, but I think I found something very interesting here!"
I furrowed my brow as I stored the book in the bag and went to where Nacho was pointing, and there I could see a beautiful portrait of someone who clearly looked like Anastasia.
Nacho began to laugh while I contemplated the painting; honestly, I felt like taking it with me.
"Haha. Is it some admirer? He even made her a portrait! Incredible," he joked.
As I tried to take and admire the painting, a stone block fell from the ceiling.
"Let's go," he said. "This place is coming down."
The stones began to fall, and we quickly left the place. When we turned around, the entrance was sealed.
"It must have become unstable after you threw the statue around like a plush toy," I said.
"Pff! I found the entrance; I was excited, cousin! But we have the important thing, right?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
Nacho looked at me with wide eyes and said, "It can't be! You wanted to take the blonde's portrait! Don't tell me you're in love with her?"
I looked away and confessed, accidentally letting out a small smile.
"It's... Complicated."
Nacho furrowed his brow and teased me, "Omg, The Stockholm syndrome is strong on this one. You're messed up in the head, cousin, no no no, tell me it's not the blonde. And what about the anime girl?"
"She's with someone else," I simply said.
"Hahaha," he laughed as he clapped his hands and rubbed his stomach. "You might have bad luck in love, but you've got plenty of options, huh?"
"Alright, Nacho, let's talk about that on the way," I said. "There's a lab nearby; we'll go there. I can review the book more calmly there, and we can repair the weapons."
"I want the dagger! What? Did they break?!" he asked with curiosity and concern.
"No, it's still usable, but they can't ignite; they got wet, and the saltwater damaged the circuits."
"Look at the genius. Why didn't you make them waterproof?!" he exclaimed as he laughed.
"I was going to! I was going to do it in Japan, but... Enough, let's go and talk there!" I finished.
"Alright, Brain, I'll follow you, let's go!" he said.
"Alright, Pinky, let's go!" I replied.
Finally, we headed to Kazakhstan; there was Dr. Petrov's secret laboratory, where I could repair my weapons, but above all, I would review the book to see its contents and if there were any hidden messages within it.