Chapter 131 - Leron's Rebirth

Sangfroid doesn't know why this made his heart ache and soar at the same time. An unexplainable, nonsensical emotion.

They soon have reached the camp, and Vladstin took the mortar and pestle with adept fingers. Using his unnatural quickness and strength he had ground the flower into a mush, that mush turning into putty, that putty liquefying into an extract.

He went over to his corpse puppet that was just staying by the side. Just as he was about to feed it into the corpse's mouth.

"Wait..." Sangfroid said.

He walked hesitantly, the flag over his shoulder swishing a bit, and Vladstin gave way, anticipating what he will do. He took the extract from him.....

And took a sip, which he did not swallow. He placed both hands on the side of Leron's face...

And passed on the extract to his mouth. 

"A greeting to His Highness before he awakens." Sangfroid said with a red face, as red as tomatoes. "You can give the rest..."

Vladstin chuckled. "Ah, I just gave you the flag, and you have now turned into a true Crescentian, huh? What a miracle....."

He stopped teasing and fed the rest to Leron, as the big blue moon shone brightly on them. 

His eyes that glitter like the sapphires on his head lost the cloud that hid its true luster, and it had become clearer than ever. More reflective even. 

One... Two..... Three....

Sangfroid kept count of his fast heartbeat as he wait for Leron to be fully awake. Four... five... six... They were steady, and gradually turned into frantic beats, going faster and faster as he palpitate...

Leron is different from before.

He had awakened no longer a corpse puppet controlled by Vladston's whims. 

And yet... He is not human either.

It was a trick. The flower was a trick!

"Vladstin... Hah..... You killed me..." He said in a hoarse voice, clasping at his own neck. 

Then came an earth-shattering shout.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

They watched as Leron clasped at his throat, forcing himself to cough out a murky dark liquid. The remaining of his blood, the rest that Vladstin had not drunk yet. He continued to yowl in pain and hit his head on a tree in the process, as his canines protruded even more... and his nails grew longer and longer....

A new Vampire Lord was born.

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Memories flash in disarray, with no order, no sense at all. They came like ripples on a once calm pool, slowly growing larger and larger, until they were so big they could swallow your world whole.

Beat..... Beat... Beat.....

They keep beating on his mind.

Hatred oozed like a flower's nectar, flowing straight into your throat to poison you and make you feel the burn... dripping down, down, down, that you would rather die immediately than continue tasting it.

Someone is forcefully feeding that nectar to you. Someone is turning you this way. It is someone's fault.

It is always someone's fault.

Who's fault is it? It was never yours.

Bitter hatred, burning hatred, seething hatred.

There is no room for self-doubt and guilt. You have been calm before, accepting, weak. Always thinking that it is your fault, that you are to blame. But that would be giving yourself credit that much, and that would just be vain. The fate of the world, the universe.... It is not just for you to blame. That person also carried that blame equally with you.

Your eyes search for that person, wanting to tell him to stop. But he wouldn't, and so, you want to drag him along with you in this pain. Let him experience all this bitterness, this burn... BURN! BURN! BURN!

Your eyes are flashing in different directions while you are catching up to these vague images and visages. All the faces of the people you've met, you are looking for the target. Like a wild animal trying to determine its elusive prey. In frustration, you want it to stop running already, to stop hiding among this herd of other identities, of other unimportant people.

Which is it? WHICH IS IT????

His words rang out in your ear, like ripples getting bigger and bigger, shaking your whole body until you find yourself counting each vibration.

One..... two..... three..... four... five...

And adorable child, puffy cheeks, and toothy smile. He is perfect, the very personification of your envy, right before your eyes. The person you want to be born as but will never be. 

A handsome pubescent youth, growing taller and leaner among his peers. Too bad that he is lazy. Not taking his lessons seriously, escaping and rebelling against every authority like no one can lord over him. 

A lovesick man, constantly showering you with affection and attention that suffocates you and makes it hard to breathe. He only wants your love, he only needs your love, and you are pressured constantly to receive it, and reciprocate it. When it is all play-pretend, when you feel like the fakest person to exist.

It was him.

"Don't be afraid, we'll take care of you."

"When I saw you, I knew I wanted to be your friend forever and ever and ever! It was like a fated meeting. Like the stars aligning."

"Brother, why!? Why must you do this to me!?"

"If you take that off, I'll gouge your eyes out."

"I sentence him to be the Fool of the fake rose forever and ever. May he always be a fool for love!"

"I wished to be with you through life and death and no matter what comes afterward."

"I shall love you as who you are, no matter what that may be, all your perfections and flaws. I will love your everything, if you would just let me. Will you?"

"If you die..... Then I might as well die too."

SHUT UP! You want him to shut up but he kept on talking and talking endlessly, saying those words in your ear as his voice changed through the times.

His face kept on changing as well, washing over like the first layer of paint suddenly being spread out and added on more and more layers to form his full portrait.

"I don't mind being the fool for my lover over and over again."

"Why? I.... I don't understand.... WHY!?"

Someone then stabbed the canvas of his image, slashing and slashing to form a new art piece from it.

"Tell me, is this where you watched over the enemy's downfall, drinking wine on a night like this?"

"Why am I here? I came for your blood."

His image became more monstrous, utterly unrecognizable from the image before.

A predator coming for your blood. You can still feel the pain of it all, the pain of those sharp teeth sinking into your flesh, first stinging, and eventually incapacitating you.

It was the moment that is clearer than the rest, the one you easily grasped in your hands before it escapes. Like a little fish trying to join the others, but clasped strongly on your fist. You crush it...

Splurt!

A name.

A blood stain.

"I missed you. I don't want to, but I do. When I saw you again during the procession, I thought my heart would beat again. It's like a spark of life temporarily came to my lifeless body just by the sight of you."

Lies!..... Lies!

Another face resurfaced.

One that is just like a wisp of smoke over the canvas. But it served as the varnish to immortalize this painting forever.

You know he is lying, because if it was truly you who brought him a spark of life... who is this man, this wisp of smoke?

Everyone is a liar including you!

"You finally caught up with me, Hunter."

It bubbles forth, making you froth in the mouth. Burning, bitter, bile. Gurgling and gurgling, you can even feel the trace in your lips. The trace of this other man on your lips.

Disgusting!

You hate them both!

In this time that you can barely move, where you feel stuck in your own body, they abandoned you. They got together themselves. You could just kill them, but you also do not want to. You want them to suffer, to tear them apart, whatever connection tethers them now. You can feel that it is still weak, and can easily be severed.

Kill them without doing so. Without a weapon, without any physical harm.

Your blood had run cold.

You are now truly awake. 

The ripples never vanished, staying with you. But you have learned to settle with them now, and leave with them. Your eyes became like them, dancing in this blue moon night, dancing with viciousness and rage.

You smiled.

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"Y-Your High---- Leron..."

Fear was evident in Sangfroid's eyes. 

He observed this new creature, smiling at him. He had been hitting his head repeatedly at the tree, but just as Sangfroid was about to approach to stop him from doing so, Vladstin placed a hand over his chest. "Step back. Do not grow near him."

This time, he obeyed without another word, basking in this horrifying transformation in front of them.

Vladstin looked at the sky. The moon was beating its rhythm again, and this time, he is sure that his Libitino, his Hunter, can also see it now. It threatened to swallow them, and then revert back, each change becoming more intense than the next.

And then, it stopped.

Just as the creature stopped torturing itself, kneeling at the ground.

It almost seemed like... he was praying, even. He looked so calm compared to what was happening earlier.

He then turned to them, turning with those sharp teeth stained by his own dirty blood.

"Hello...."

He greeted them ever so sweetly. 

Vladstin stepped back, urging Sangfroid to do so as well.

"Why do you look so scared? You look like you have seen a ghost." He tilted his head to the side.

"You are no ghost." Vladstin scowled.

"Oh, yes. I am not a ghost. For a ghost cannot caress you like this....."

At a speed even faster than Vladstin, he had reached already his side, while also hitting the annoying human hiding behind him to twenty, thirty, forty meters flying through the air!

His fellow vampire's eyes grow wide in alarm, but he already held tight on that head of his. His hands were soft, but his grip was enough to crush diamonds themselves!

"And kiss you like this..."

He bit his mouth, almost like he was trying to take it off and eat it!

"Urk!!!!!!"

"And... twist your head like this!"

Crack!!!