The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 69: Just Another Problem

Alex scanned the meeting room, scratching his head since he still couldn’t figure out what was happening.

Instead of going to sit down, he approached Luciel and Melisa.

"Hey, what is this all about?" Alex whispered into Luciel’s ear, wanting to know what he signed up for.

"I’ll tell you after the meeting," Luciel replied, leaving his friend in the dark as the punishment for being late.

"I believe that the three of us should be enough," Scarlet commented, crossing her legs.

Jack didn’t have the happiest expression on his face. He let out a sigh and rested his chin in the palm. "I still can’t let you go, it’s too risky."

"But with a vampire on our side, we should be able to avoid most dangers." Scarlet opposed, quickly glancing at Luciel before looking back at Jack.

Luciel nodded when Scarlet faced his direction, confirming what she had just said.

He was confident in his senses, so far they never failed him. In fact, they were working better than he wanted them to.

"That’s exactly what I’m worried about, traveling with a vampire will bring a disaster."

"You know it, Jack, we will die one way or another. You can’t stop me." Scarlet argued and while she didn’t like the idea of traversing with the vampire as well, it was still better than traveling alone. Besides, she doubts that Luciel would dare to turn against her. He already had a chance to do so and he didn’t take it.

"Fine..." The head hunter said through his teeth, knowing full well that there was no way to talk her out of this.

"Any objections?" Jack asked, staring at the hunters who were chatting among themselves.

Their wariness was justifiable, but the palpable feelings of relief couldn’t be ignored.

"Moving on, I need to bring your attention to the recent events," Jack continued, taking the hunters’ silence as a no to his last question.

’I’m surprised that he is mostly accurate.’ Luciel thought while listening to Jack explaining the situation with the kids in detail. Some parts were slightly wrong, but he didn’t make Luciel and Melisa sound like villains.

While he was talking, the hunters would still throw occasional glances toward the vampires with doubt written all over their faces, but Luciel wasn’t bothered by them.

"With that, I need to warn you all about the increased amount of zombies, vampires, and the undead." Jack finished, playing with his fingers.

"Sir, if I may," Helen said, raising her hand. She had a theory about why this might be happening.

"Go ahead."

"I hypothesize that with humans seeking refuge in shelters, the increased scarcity of accessible prey has driven more vampires to wander the streets in search of sustenance," Helen explained, "After all, their behavior isn’t so different from human survival instincts."

"And how do you propose we deal with this problem?"

"There are multiple solutions to the problem," Helen started, explaining their possibilities.

The first one was by creating a trap and luring the vampires inside with the smell of blood, they could also attract zombies as well, but it would need a well-crafted containment to prevent a possible breakout.

The second solution she proposed was training the civilians, giving them basic knowledge to protect themselves, at least until the rescue team would arrive.

And lastly, Helen suggested an alliance with the werewolves. They usually weren’t hostile toward humans and based on historical data, as natural predators, they were maintaining an ecological balance by preying on vampires and undead creatures.

"I suggest using a mix of those proposals for the best results." Helen finished after taking a small break to catch her breath.

Listening to his wife explaining how they could control the vampire population made Luciel slightly uncomfortable. The way she talked about vampires sounded like he was just another specimen to be studied. Another problem that had to be solved.

"I’m afraid that creating a trap might take too much resources." Jack pointed out. Not only that, but it also had chances of failing. With their current manpower and more problems on the horizon, it was too risky.

"But I am willing to accept the training of civilians and werewolf alliance." He added, writing down some notes before raising his head.

"Is there anyone who objects or has another solution?"

Everyone stayed quiet again, there was nothing to add or ask since everything was being portrayed short and simple. There was no room nor time to complicate things.

Luciel glanced at Melisa who got a little closer to his body. Her hands seemed to be shaking just at the mention of werewolves.

"You all right?" Luciel asked her, being aware of her phobia and unpleasant experiences with the werewolves.

"No... The werewolves... You can’t negotiate with them." She spoke quietly, her lower lip trembling.

"What do you mean?"

"They are gluttons. Worse than vampires. Once there will be no food left, they will turn against the shelter." She explained, moving backward a little, but she hit the wall.

Luciel widened his eyes after hearing Melisa’s words and it didn’t take him much to believe her. From his previous encounter with the werewolves, he could see that they were more than just the beasts.

They didn’t speak, but they still showed intelligence and emotions. But they only saw him as food. Their predator-prey relationship was worse than the one vampires - humans had.

If this alliance lives, it could bring destruction in another form.

"I have an objection." Luciel looked up with his hand in the air. He had a sharp, cold look in his eyes as he spoke: "Werewolves are more unpredictable and unreasonable than vampires. Siding with them might mean certain death."

"Care to elaborate?" Jack asked, glaring at him along with the rest of the hunters who weren’t happy about having a vampire go against their word.

"I had a few encounters with them. They are wild and more aggressive. Stubborn. An encounter with one would mean death rather than an alliance."

"He’s telling the truth!" Melisa stepped in after seeing doubtful expressions on the hunters, starting to explain her own experience with them while excluding the fact that she was human. That fact could only bring more complications to the current dynamic.

After Melisa finished talking about her past encounters, Alex spoke up as well, describing the encounter he had while being with Luciel and how they tried to kill him as well, despite being a human.

"Wait!" Jack said right before Alex could finish since something struck his ears, "Why were you with Luciel that night?" He asked, knowing that till now, there was no report about Luciel’s location, yet this one was fighting against the werewolves with him.

"Well..." Alex nervously scratched his cheek, avoiding eye contact while Luciel had an angry frown written all over his face as he stared at his friend for slipping up.

"If the situation wasn’t so dire, I would already cut your head off for siding with a vampire..." Jack sighed in defeat, not knowing what to do anymore.

On the battlefield, it seemed like their friendship had died the moment Luciel had bit him unless all of that was an act.

After hearing all this, a long debate took place, with one-half siding with the vampires while another half still thought that they should seek an alliance with the werewolves, saying that vampires’ reluctance might be because of prey-predator nature.

"What do you think, Helen?"

All eyes were on Helen, waiting for her answer after everything had been said.

Gulping, Helen glanced over her shoulder, looking at the trio that was leaning against the wall before facing the hunters in front of her.

"Allying with the werewolves-" Helen stopped for a moment, gazing at her hands that were resting on the table before looking up, "-is too risky in the current situation."

Luciel clicked with his tongue as Helen said those words and looked aside. He could hear her heartbeat speeding up and the subtitle signs in her voice. She too thought that they were overreacting when it came to werewolves.

’The only reason she said that was because of me.’ He looked aside with a frown, not knowing how he should feel about this.

"That sounds reasonable." Jack nodded, agreeing with Helen, but there were still some who thought that siding with the werewolves was the better option.

After some more discussion and when everyone calmed down, Jack allowed Melisa and Luciel to take the stage to explain why are they here.

Luciel was the first one who started to talk, from the beginning when Kai got bitten and Melisa took over when it was time to explain the importance of her brother.

Given how shaken Melisa was while talking and Luciel’s past, some hunters decided to trust them while some didn’t, causing a rift between the two sides.

Without any sign that the argument between the hunters would stop any time soon, with more and more joining the other side who was against siding with the vampires, started to make Luciel’s blood boil.

He clenched his fist, hitting the wall behind him and creating a small dent with bloodstains.

"If you guys see me just as another monster, so be it, but remember, without me, you wouldn’t even get a chance to argue about this." He growled, with his eyes starting to glow vibrant red through his third eyelid, shattering his disguise.

The room went silent as Luciel spoke, his words carrying a specific amount of weight. He glared at the hunters while a faint, gray mist started to cover the floor before he finally walked outside the meeting room and down one of the hallways.

He retracted his eyelids and allowed his fangs to appear since he didn’t feel bothered to hide his appearance anymore.

’Those bastards.’ Luciel thought before raising his fist that was covered in blood from punching the wall earlier.

He brought it closer and licked his blood that was flowing out, but it healed a minute later.

"Luciel! Wait!" Helen called out, running after Luciel, afraid that he might really turn against humans as she said previously to Scarlet.

"Luciel!" Helen shouted after he didn’t show any intention of stopping.

"Stop!" She yelled, speeding up her pace so she could grab his sleeve.

Luciel stopped to walk once Helen grabbed his arm. He glanced over his shoulder with cold, vibrant red eyes, looking down at her.

Seeing Luciel’s chilling gaze, Helen froze for a moment, letting go of him as she could only see a predator behind those eyes.