The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 72: Where To?

"Please... Take a seat so we can continue." Jack said to the two, sounding dead inside as he felt utterly defeated.

Helen nodded and went to sit down, despite the heavy atmosphere. She wanted to stand next to her husband, but her legs were heavy while a nauseous feeling gnawed at her.

Luciel glared at the few empty seats but turned his head away and walked toward his previous standing area.

"What did we miss?" Luciel approached Alex, wanting a quick rundown.

"I’ll tell you after the meeting." Alex grinned, not wanting to reveal the topic since Luciel refused to do so when he asked for what he signed him for.

Luciel glared at Alex, he wasn’t in the mood for jokes right now in the situation where everyone pretty much wanted him dead.

"That’s what you get by keeping information from me," Alex stuck out his tongue at Luciel, hitting his shoulder with his elbow, making him roll his eyes in annoyance.

With nothing left to do, he crossed his arms and decided to pay attention to Jack who was assigning roles to the hunters for their next mission. The meeting was coming to an end.

Some were tasked with forming teams with the hunters that weren’t invited to the meeting to go and scout for food, while other hunters would take care of the defense and support, finding survivors and such.

After that, Jack proceeded to announce the team that would investigate the missing people, something that Luciel had missed while being away.

"Helen, can you maybe help out? Scarlet can fill you in later." Jack turned to look at Helen, giving her a quick rundown of the topic she had missed while being away.

There were some reports about one or two people going missing each night and he wanted to reach the bottom of this.

’Missing people?’ Luciel scratched his chin, wondering what that might be about. Could be a work of vampires, but that didn’t sound right unless they got desperate and somehow managed to infiltrate.

"I’ll see what I can do," Helen answered, already thinking how would she do this, and then her eyes fell on Melisa. Vampires had more olfactory receptors than dogs and while she was here, maybe she could put her to good use.

"Good, well then, I’ll call out the final team and their mission."

The last team that Jack had announced was Luciel, Scarlet, and Alex, tasked with making contact with another colony and asking for help.

"Wait, what?!" Alex widened his eyes, looking at Luciel who turned his head away, having an evil smile drawn on his face while pretending like his friend didn’t exist.

"Why would you sign me up for that?!" Alex asked through his teeth, placing his hand on top of Luciel’s shoulder and forcing him to face him.

"You...!" Alex clenched his fist, going to punch Luciel in the face, but he quickly blocked him by grabbing his hand.

"Too slow," Luciel commented, glancing at the others who didn’t pay them much attention since they were far back.

"You are dismissed," Jack said for the end, getting up from the table and picking up his papers. He was among the first ones who exited.

While everyone was rushing to get out, Luciel, Helen, Alex, Scarlet, and Melisa decided to stay and discuss what would they do next.

"So... What’s the plan?" Alex asked, approaching the table with the other two.

"First we should go and get Melisa’s brother so Helen can take a better look at him." Scarlet was the first one to speak, making everyone look at her, not because she took the lead, but because she put a vampire as her priority.

"Then we should do it fast. We can head there today at midnight." Luciel added. He wants to get over this quickly since he wants to hurry and start with their other mission so he won’t have to be here for a while.

"At midnight?" Everyone looked at Alex when he asked that question, not being able to figure out what was wrong with midnight.

"What? I need my beauty sleep." He complained after a long silence that started to give him the creeps.

"Vampires are nocturnal creatures, we only move the time to 9 pm," Helen mentioned, hoping that the group would be able to come to a conclusion.

"Fine... 9 pm it is." Alex puffed, not wanting to go, but what choice did he have?

"Seriously, how did you even become a hunter?" Luciel teased him, wondering how Alex managed to function until now.

Most hunts were happening late at night, while the moon was still up. Thanks to that, Luciel didn’t even feel a shift in his sleep rhythm.

The only challenge he had was staying awake during the day, which got slightly harder.

"Wait, so while the three of you are away, Helen will try to help Kai?" Melisa asked with a glimpse of hope in her eyes.

She didn’t know if she should feel bad for acting towards Luciel the way she did or not.

If she acted differently, then it was possible that they would never meet with the hunters.

"That’s right. And you are going to help her with anything she needs and provide protection." Luciel ordered. At first, sounding soft, but that soon changed into a cold, threatening voice, like he was going to hunt her to the end of the Earth if something were to happen to his wife.

Melisa gulped with cold sweat on her forehead after hearing Luciel’s words. She was stronger than him, but there was something in those crimson eyes of his that forced her to bow her head slightly.

"But to which colony will we go?" Alex questioned, scanning the group. They can’t just go without knowing their destination.

"Allow me." Helen took out a holographic tablet from her pocket in the white coat.

She put up the map and started to point toward the colonies that were somewhat reachable, but even the closest one required one week of travel even with the latest technology due to bad roads and dangers on the way.

Helen showed a few colonies, but out of these five, Ark seemed to be the best, but it was too far.

It was questionable if Mercy and Techno Ville would want to help them. The first one was more like an academy where young hunters would gather and train. It was the place where Alex and Luciel met.

And then, there was Techno Ville which was a little bit... Unique to say the best. They are still young, but what was formidable about them was their development of new weapons made from parts of supernatural creatures and other beasts.

In the end, they were only left with Noa and Panel.

"We can forget about Noa," Alex commented. It was the first time that the group could see him with a serious frown as he stared at the map, clenching his fist.

He harbored a deep hatred for that place and he knew their way of operating, after all, it was a place where he grew up and was eventually cast out because no matter how much he tried, he was never good enough.