The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 68: The Meeting

Helen opened the door and entered the meeting room, with Luciel behind her.

’Good thing I hid the color of my eyes.’ He thought the moment he had placed his foot inside the room, causing everyone to go quiet.

There was a long table in the middle with twenty seats, and the current fourteen hunters occupying the seats stopped with whatever they were doing.

All eyes were on Luciel and some hunters even went towards their weapons, excepting him to lash out at any moment as the scene of the night he turned still went around their heads.

"You go and sit down. I prefer standing at the moment." Luciel crossed his arms and leaned forward, whispering into Helen’s ear.

"Are you sure?" Helen asked, looking at Luciel before glancing at the hunters, feeling a heavy atmosphere.

"Yes, I’m sure."

"If you say so." Helen shrugged before going to sit down, placing her hand across her abdomen as she felt slightly nauseous.

Luciel sighed and went to lean against the wall with one foot resting on it.

He had his head down, with his eyes closed as he started to snooze until the meeting started, ignoring the whispers around him.

Before, everyone treated him like the hero he was, but today, they only care about cutting his head.

Hearing the door open, Luciel raised his head slightly, opening one eye to see who had arrived.

Seeing that it was just Scarlet and Melisa, Luciel closed his eye and went back to rest.

"Why does a meeting need to be so early..." Melisa complained, covering her mouth as she yawned.

"It’s 3 pm. Not my problem that you guys are nocturnal." Scarlet sounded indifferent as she spoke, glancing at Luciel before going to sit down next to Helen.

"So, did you tell him?" She whispered into her ear, looking at Luciel from the corner of her eye.

"Not yet. We had a situation with a vase." Helen shook her head, still trying to decide what would be the best way to approach him.

Hearing the conversation between Helen and Scarlet piqued Luciel’s interest, causing him to peak once more.

’Tell me what?’ He raised his eyebrow, trying to get some clue from their conversation, but nothing specific was being mentioned.

"Did you manage to get some sleep?" Melisa asked Luciel as she yawned at the same time, covering her mouth.

She stood right next to him, also leaning against the wall as she kept a watch on the hunters.

"Barely, I would if not for this stupid meeting." He clicked with his tongue, glancing at more hunters who were coming in.

"I feel you," Melisa replied, yawning once more, observing how the hunters occupied almost all seats.

The last hunter who had arrived was Jack. As he approached his chair to sit down while Luciel kept observing his movements, sending him a glare.

"Seeing how everyone has arrived, we can start with a meeting," Jack announced after clearing the throat and fixing his necktie.

Jack shuffled through his documents and took out a piece of paper, but just when he was about to start, one of the hunters stood up abruptly, slamming his hand onto the table.

"Sir, with all due respect, explain to us. Why aren’t those beasts locked up?" The hunter raised his voice, pointing toward the two.

Everyone else was nodding their heads in agreement. Vampires had no place to walk among them, even if one used to be a hero.

Hearing the question, Helen looked behind her shoulder, her eyes falling on her husband.

She gulped after seeing him frown, and she could have sworn that his eyes flashed vibrant red for a moment.

"That is also a part of today’s meeting, but if you want to know more, you better ask Helen Ashford and Scarlet Willison." Jack delegated the task to the other two.

He shared the same opinion as the rest of the hunters and he didn’t want to take the blame for this.

All hunters turned their heads to glare at Helen and Scarlet, demanding an answer.

"Ask them after the meeting," Jack added, raising his voice and straightening his back. He didn’t want to waste time on something that could be done after everything had been said.

Hearing Jack’s authoritative voice, the hunters stopped to chat among themselves but still threw occasional, unpleasant glances toward the two girls.

"Anyways..." Jack started after the situation had calmed down, explaining the topics of today’s meeting.

The first topic was the number of new arrivals, specifically talking about the number of kids that had arrived and their health status.

He thanked everyone who participated in the rescue mission except Luciel and Melisa.

"As for the next topic, we need to discuss the shortage of food." Jack continued after saying the estimated number of survivors.

"Currently, we only have enough food for a week." He added, glaring at hunters who started to exchange words with one another again.

"What do you propose we do?" One of the hunters asked, with her hand raised.

"He wants us to go outside and scavenge for food." Luciel cut in, reading Jack’s intentions. It was an obvious thing to do.

Even if this was their only option left, Luciel didn’t like this idea. Sooner or later, the food in the area would run out as well and they would starve again. It wasn’t a permanent solution.

"Sir," Helen raised her head, also having something to say, "Why not have a small group of hunters head toward another colony and ask for help directly since we can’t establish communication?"

"It’s too risky." Jack tapped his fingers against the table. It was a long way and many dangers were lurking in the dark.

It was also questionable if the other colony would accept their plea for help.

"I’m up for it." Scarlet put her hand in the air, sounding serious as she glared at other hunters, waiting for more of them to agree to this.

They couldn’t survive this without taking risks and they would die anyway if nothing was done.

"Anyone else?" Jack asked, not being surprised that no one wanted to volunteer except Scarlet.

Luciel sighed after seeing that no one wanted to do this. Even if those hunters decided to stay and protect the people, they were still afraid to risk their lives.

"I’ll do it." He announced, not wanting to do this simply because it sounded like a troublesome task, especially with Scarlet, but he didn’t want all those people to die from starvation.

All eyes were on Luciel, but surprisingly, no one complained this time. In fact, they were glad that they weren’t the ones going on a suicide mission.

"Is someone else planning to join?" Jack asked, debating if he should let those two go alone.

He didn’t care what would happen to Luciel, but Scarlet. She was strong, but slow when it came to chanting her divine arts. If they came across another zombie hoard, they would not survive.

"I’m sorry, but I cannot let the two of you go alone."

Right after Jack spoke, the doors snapped open.

"Sorry, I’m late, sir!" A hunter, wearing a white suit with golden details, quickly spoke, breathing heavily while sweat covered his whole body.

"This guy will join us as well," Luciel added, pointing at Alex who almost tripped.

"Wait, what?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow, wondering what he have missed.

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A/N: I apologize for being late with uploads, life was chaotic... As a small token of appreciation, an apology, and the fact that it’s my birthday today, you can expect a tiny mass release in the following days 😁🔥