The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 93: Back to the Shelter (1)

"We are here~" Alex announced, stopping Scarlet’s car right in front of the church which was above the underground shelter.

"I think I’m gonna throw up..." Melisa placed her hand across her mouth, woozily crawling out from the car and falling down, her face slapping onto the hard, concrete ground.

"You good?" Luciel asked after finally catching up with the car.

He kneeled next to Melisa, poking her face with the index finger.

Melisa looked up with one eye open, glaring at Luciel.

"Poke me one more time, and you’re dead," she snarled, giving him a middle finger, "you try to drive in that cursed car with a maniac driver..."

Luciel chuckled at Melisa’s remark. He could tell exactly what she was talking about.

Alex wasn’t the greatest driver out there, he was like a kamikaze on the road.

He would usually go full speed ahead, avoiding obstacles at the last moment while making sharp turns.

Luciel didn’t know what was more impressive; Alex’s car which didn’t have a scratch or that Melisa hadn’t thrown up.

"You get use to it after some time," Luciel shrugged, getting up and helping Melisa to get on her feet.

"Thanks..." She glanced down, whipping off the dirt from her clothes, but as she did, the two vampires could hear a high-pitched shriek like metal cutting through an air.

They raised their heads, locking their eyes on the sharp point of an arrow coming right at Melisa.

The arrow seemed like it was going in slow motion, allowing Luciel to swiftly grab the shaft with his left hand.

A smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air as Luciel snapped the arrow in two.

<Warning! Pure Yang damage detected!>

<Hp: 990/1000>

"How many times do I have to tell you! Crossbows don’t work on vampires!" He snapped, slowly approaching the group of vampire hunters who dared to shoot at him.

He opened his palm, letting the arrow, that was now in two pieces, fall onto the ground.

A horizontal, black and red burn mark could be seen on his palm, slowly closing up already.

Luciel stopped in his tracks once a whole status window opened in front of him, informing him about his current stats.

<Qi: 614/1000>

<Yin: 460.5>

<Yang: 153.5>

<Hp: 996>

<Strenght: 36>

<Agility: 42>

<Stamina: 53>

<Qi Absorption: 600>

<Sanity: 20>

"Steady!" One the hunters shouted, raising his arm in the air after the vampire in front of them started to get closer.

Luciel ignored the hunters, before the wound could heal, he went to lick it a few times to get some of that sweet honey-like taste, but it didn’t take long for it to close.

<Qi: 610/1000>

<Yin: 457.5>

<Yang: 152.5>

<Hp: 1000/1000>

"What a shame..." he murmured, finally paying some attention to the hunters after his ear twitched at the next command.

"Shoot!"

Luciel dismissed the status window, he had no time to think since he had to get ready for the upcoming attack.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Alex cried out in the distance at the ongoing commotion, quickly getting between two sides before things could escalate.

"They are with me!" He put his hands up in defense while shutting his eyes, trusting Luciel to save him if worst would come to worst.

The hunters lowered their weapons a little after seeing one of their own running out like that, but one more arrow managed to get fired.

Seeing an arrow coming towards his friend, Luciel went to snatch it mid-flight right before piercing Alex’s head.

After hearing how everything went quiet for a moment, Alex decided to peak and the first thing he saw was a metal tip of an arrow right in front of his nose.

"You’re welcome," Luciel said, breaking the arrow into pieces.

The scene that just now happened gave him a sense of déjà vu.

"Hold your fire!" The leader of the squad ordered after seeing one of their own.

"Is this how humans greet each other these days? By shooting an arrow in the face?" Melisa fummed behind the two, raising her fist into the air.

The commanding hunter started to approach cautiously, grabbing the spear that was on his back, observing the vampire who was licking his wound, his gaze falling onto his sharp fangs.

"Hm?" Luciel peaked after hearing someone approach, he was ready for any kind of trouble that might come his way, even if he felt indifferent towards everything at the moment.

The hunter squinted his eyes once the vampire looked at him with its sharp, cold crimson eyes.

The hunter gasped, widening his eyes after identifying the vampire in front of him.

Not everyone were at the last meeting when Luciel made an appearance, so even after hearing the topics of the meeting and the drama that happened, it was still surprising to see the beloved ex vampire hunter in his current state.

"It’s Luciel and his squad!" The hunter turned around to give an announcement to his team, wanting to tell them that there was nothing to fear.

"Sorry about that, we are on edge with everything going on and thought that you were just another vampire," the hunter apologized, bowing his head a little and placing his hand on Luciel’s shoulder.

"Hey! Hey! It’s Luciel!" Someone exclaimed from the group of four hunters who started to clap and cheer for him.

Luciel was taken back a little. The welcome wasn’t what he thought it would be judging by how it started, leaving him speechless.

"You see, not everyone hates you," Alex whispered into his ear, giving him a nudge to cheer up a little.

Luciel pushed away his friend slightly with a desire to be able to breathe, but Alex did have a point.

"It’s fine, don’t worry about it," Luciel reassured him, he could see where he was coming from.

On their way here, they were met with a formidable numbers of zombies and whatsoever, but nothing that could rival the numbers when they got surrounded by a horde. They probably exterminated half of them back then.

"What were you doing outside the shelter?" The hunter questioned so he could fill in his report.

"Personal mission, went to retrieve an infected vampire for research purposes," Luciel answered, stepping in front of Alex while putting his hand on his hip, taking the lead.

"An infected vampire? I’m gonna have to take a look," the hunter demanded. He couldn’t live with himself if his decision would impact the lives of those currently living in the shelter.

"Sure, he’s in the back seat of the car," Luciel exchanged the look with Alex, not liking the fact that the hunter was going to approach the car, but he had the right to see.

Kai wasn’t the problem, but Scarlet in the trunk was.

"You know, during my career, I never thought I would see something worse than vampires," Luciel commented, wanting to divert the hunter’s attention. He could see him eying the car.

"I guess you are right, one bite and it’s over," the hunter agreed, for vampires to turn someone into a bloodhound, they would first need to force their victim to drink their blood.

"Speaking about zombies and vampires, I’m surprised to see you as one and not just another mindless bloodhound," the hunter added, carefully examining Luciel one more time before his eyes fell on the car again as he noticed something strange.

"Hm..." The hunter found something suspicious just at the first glance of the car. When they arrived, Alex came out, but this vehicle didn’t belong to him.

"Alex, whose car is this?" He asked, running his fingers across the hood, walking right past Melisa who kept a watchful eye on him. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Uh... Scarlet’s," Alex answered, rushing towards the back of the car. His breath was shallow and his palms were getting sweaty.

"Why were you driving Scarlet’s car?"