The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 49: Mirror to the Soul

"What’s up with you guys? Why didn’t you go with Scarlet and Alex?" Helen asked the two who were waiting with her in front of the factory while Scarlet and Alex were probably already engaged in a fight.

"We were just worried about you. You know, if Lu- Ouch! What was that for?!" George glared at Dash who hit him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Don’t say his name in front of her, especially not while on the mission." He whispered into Dash’s ear, pointing toward Helen’s teary eyes just at the mention of her dear husband.

"Sorry..." George apologized, looking towards the ground, feeling guilty about mentioning Luciel’s name. He was a good husband, friend, and leader.

’At least I got her attention away for not going inside the factory.’ George looked aside, feeling a sense of relief as well.

’Good one George, but looks like we can forget about the deal with this group of vampires.’ Dash thought, feeling bad about Helen.

If someone were to find out that they had been working with the enemy and in which way, they might face a destiny that would be worse than death.

"No, it’s fine guys, I’m doing all right." Helen’s voice sounded weak, like she was about to cry any moment now.

She lifted up her glasses, whipping away tears that started to appear on her eyes before going to open the passenger doors on a car in which her and Alex had arrived.

"Don’t worry, I’m sure that he’s still somewhere out there, we’ll find him." Dash reassured her, walking towards her alongside George.

"Yeah, he’s a strong guy. I’m pretty sure that he would raise up from a grave to save you." George added, patting her on the shoulder.

"T-thank you guys." Helen smiled gently, looking at her two party members while sitting in the passenger seat inside a car.

She wasn’t even supposed to be here on the field, but she insisted on coming with them today since she wanted to gather some samples from the ground, water, and dead bodies, trying to find out a possible source of the zombie plague that harassed the colony.

Helen sighed, refusing to lift her head up as she held her wrist tightly, "I just can’t bear the thought of that monster pretending to be him, tarnishing his legacy..." She admitted, feeling angry at herself.

Luciel helped her so much, but she had nothing to give him in return, she couldn’t even give him a proper rest.

George and Dash exchanged some looks, not knowing what to say about this or how to cheer her up.

"Buckle up guys! We are moving out!" Scarlet ordered with a strong voice that echoed all around her as she exited from the factory.

She was dragging the female vampire by her long, thick, curly ginger hair. At least she was still passed out.

"W-what happened here?" Alex asked, being, right behind Scarlet. They were gone for only half an hour and Helen looked like she would burst into tears any moment now.

"Don’t worry, we were just talking about Luciel..."

"Ah..." Alex clenched his teeth, feeling guilty about hiding Luciel’s secret from her.

Helen still thought that Luciel had turned into a mindless, aggressive bloodhound while in fact, he was one of those miracles that actually turned into a full-fledged vampire.

Alex wanted to tell Helen the truth so much, but he was afraid of her husband.

If Luciel would ever find out that Alex decided to tell her the secret without his permission, he would suck him dry, till the last drop of his blood.

"And what did you bring?" Helen asked, pointing at the passed-out vampire in Scarlet’s grip.

"Her? Alex told me to spare her. I am still not sure about his decision, but she might tell us more about the missing children." Scarlet lifted up the ginger-haired vampire so she could get a better look at her face. ’Now where did I see you?’

"Wait, so you did not find the missing children?" Helen sighed, she thought that this was it, but it looked like they were on square one again.

"No, but we did find a clue!" A hunter in a white battle suit answered, having a small on his face, happy that they found a trace, but they were still a long way to find the children.

"We found three vampires inside. They were weak and we did a small interrogation before killing them." Scarlet started to explain, walking towards the back of her car to take out black iron chains with golden details.

"Apparently, while they were chasing this female, someone broke into their hideout, killed their leader, and took the kids. Could be a hunter or the culprit worked with this one." Scarlet wrapped the chains around Melisa’s wrist and legs before throwing her on the ground, waiting for her to wake up.

"And if she really was with the guy who took the children, then... She might know where they are!" Helen concluded, finally feeling a little bit better. They finally had a lead that they could follow to find the missing kids!

"Correct!" Alex gave her a thumbs up, looking at the chains around Melisa’s hands that were burning into her skin.

"Yeah, except that she’s passed out." George pointed out, walking towards the female vampire.

He kneeled down and poked her cheek. Her body was so still that someone might think that she was dead.

After poking her a few times, Melisa’s eyes snapped open, causing George to scream in pain, falling onto his butt.

"She’s awake!" Dash announced, trying not to laugh at the scene that happened in front of his eyes.

"And hungry!" Helen added, taking a step back once she saw the vampire’s eyes starting to glow vibrant red.

She couldn’t explain how, but after working with them for so long while doing her research, she started to recognize the look in vampire’s eyes and the hidden meaning behind them when they started to glow.

Their eyes reflected their emotions - the more intense the feeling, the brighter the glow they gave off. But she could also tell when they were hungry, angry, happy, and so on. There was just something inside them that gave everything away.

They could also control, in a way, when they wanted their eyes to lighten up, usually for intimidation or when trying to manipulate someone’s mind.

During her research, she also discovered that vampires were very emotional creatures, more than humans, but no one believed her about that theory since most of the humans could only see their violent nature. If Helen would be the same as four years ago, she would have a hard time believing in that theory too.

"Great, so how are we supposed to get some information out of her?!" Alex stomped his foot on the ground, acting frustrated so his relationship with her wouldn’t get discovered, but he just might have dug his own grave.

’Fuck...’ He thought when he saw all eyes on him, including the wild, starving vampire. "I’m going to become her snack aren’t I?"

**** 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Alex?!" Melisa released his wrist from her mouth once she finally came back to her senses.

’What happened...’ She shook her head a little, trying to recall the latest events before passing out.

"Hi..." Alex greeted the female vampire before he collapsed to the ground due to huge blood loss in a short amount of time.

The gig was up the moment she called his name, at least now no one would bother asking him some questions for a while.

"What is going on? Who are you people?" She asked, feeling distressed while something was burning her wrists.

Raising her hands to see what was causing this uncomfortable sensation, she saw some kinds of chains that were being wrapped around her hands.

The same kind of restraints were going around her legs as well, but it only had a prickling feeling since there was no direct skin contracted.

"Hey, calm down, we just want to ask some questions, all right?" Helen quickly got in front of Scarlet before she could say a word.

Intimidating this vampire was the last thing that they should do. It looked confused, but you could talk to her, which was a good sign.

"And why should I listen to you?" Melisa retaliated, trying to break free from the chains, but they seemed to be unbreakable.

’What is up with this those stupid chains!’ She thought, glaring at them, trying to figure out the trick.

"Look, you better tell us what you know, or I’ll personally chop your head off." Scarlet took out her sword, pressing the tip against Melisa’s neck.

"We saved you and have your life in our hands. Tell us what you know and you might get a chance to live. It won’t be nice, but at least you’ll have your head on your neck."

Scarlet sent her a chilling glare as she threatened, making a small cut on Melisa’s neck to show her that she was not joking around.

"Scarlet!" Helen shouted, going to hit her behind her head, "What did you do that for?" The vampire was already distressed more than enough, just agitating it even further won’t help the situation.

"Helen... If you dare to hit me one more time, I’ll show you what it means to get a good kick in the butt." Scarlet said those words as slowly as she could, making her point straight. She wasn’t in the mood for jokes right now.

Scarlet’s words piqued Melisa’s interest once she heard a name that she was supposed to be searching for and seeing the woman wearing a lab coat, she must be it.

"Did you just say that her name is Helen?" She asked, scanning the scientist from head to toe.

"Yeah, Helen Ashford, why?"

"Oh shit!"

The three girls looked at each other when they heard Melisa’s reaction. She found the one that she was looking for and it turned out that she was sharing Luciel’s last name.

’Wait, could she be his wife?! Darn it, why didn’t I just tell him everything?!" She felt responsible for holding back some information. Her stubbornness managed to get the best of her.

"Tell us what you know!" Both Helen and Scarlet asked at the same time, forgetting a small dispute they had just a few seconds ago.

After getting a little bit out of character, Scarlet cleared her throat, straightening her back.