“HEY! Where did these mutts come pouring in from?!”
“Why are they here?! Protect Master Akashi!”
Kouya desperately tried to make his way out of Akashi’s manor amid the screams and uproar. He mowed down the beasts lunging at him from left and right, splattering their blood all over his clothes.
It all happened when he was summoned to Akashi’s house to give his usual report. A crazy pack of beasts charged into Akashi’s manor without warning. A quick glance around the room told Kouya they were wild dogs.
One of the servants who tried to stop them was devoured whole—not a single bone left behind where he once stood. They appeared to be normal wild dogs with no particular special ability, but somehow their mental limits were lifted, drawing out their latent strength usually locked away for self-preservation.
However, even in this strengthened state, they were no match for a vampire—except their sheer numbers gave them an overwhelming advantage. Just as ants can devour a grasshopper in a group, dozens of wild dogs targeted each person and voraciously devoured them, instilling fear in every vampire present.
And those wild beasts were after just one person—Kouya Doumeki.
Having realized he was the target, Kouya immediately left the manor in order to keep from pointlessly increasing the casualties.
Kouya was fed up with the wild animals chasing him no matter where he ran. He mulled over how to handle the situation. He considered escaping through flight, but crows and hawks in the same maddened state circled above him. If he fought in the sky, he wouldn’t only have to worry about what was coming from the right and left, but from above and below too.
He could foresee his doom if he got knocked out of the sky into the jaws of the wild dogs below. All things considered, playing with the wild dogs on the ground was the better bet. He noticed the enemies in the sky only watched from above as he battled the dogs on ground. The circling birds of prey showed no sign of descending.
Kouya raced through the forest while calmly thinking things over. Just then, he suddenly felt like something heavy sat on his head. He staggered and his back slammed against a tree. An intense dizzy spell hit him. He promptly shook off the dizziness and dashed off again, but the crazed animals were closer now.
“…!”
The blood drained from Kouya’s face; sweat dripped onto his cheeks. He wasn’t tired. Obviously, playing tag with the wild animals drained his energy, but a graver problem bore down on him. Or rather, all his problems were the consequence of that one thing.
“I’m thirsty.”
For the first time in a very long time, Kouya had the urge to drink blood. He had been overusing his vampiric abilities too much lately. Flying was draining in and of itself, but creating familiars and seeing through their eyes and hearing with their ears is what had rapidly drained him of energy. And then there was this uproar. His instincts had begun seeking what was necessary for survival.
He couldn’t think straight. He racked his dazed mind to come up with a plan.
What should I do from here? How can I drive them away? Why is this happening now? Just what is the mastermind behind this after?
And then it hit him—why hadn’t he thought of it until now? The beasts were bait and a deterrent. Even if something were to happen at Azusa’s mansion, the majority of vampires were paying attention to the Patriarch’s manor now. And Kouya, Azusa’s primary bodyguard, was held back by the wild beasts.
“Damn it!”
Having come to that conclusion, Kouya immediately changed direction. His thirst steadily twisted in his gut, an aching all-consuming need. It chipped away at his stamina and ability to think. He could ignore it for a time, but the thirst of a vampire can’t be denied.
✦ ✦ ✦
“HOW unfortunate for you—your prince won’t come for you no matter how long you wait.”
Azusa trembled with fear at the man’s remark; it almost sounded like he read her mind. At the same, she worried for Kouya.
Kouya is a powerful vampire. He won’t be taken down easily, she knew deep down, but the confident smile plastered on the man in front of her caused her to panic.
Again, as if he had caught wind of her thoughts, the silver-haired man’s lips curled even more into a Glasgow smile. “Are you in a position to be worrying about others? You impress me.”
“I am not worried. Kouya is fine.” Azusa believed that from the bottom of her heart. But it was also a fact the worst-case scenarios were racing through her mind. Her fists were white from clenching them too hard and revealed more than enough about her mental state.
“At his full power he would be,” the man calmly assessed, as if to mock her show of courage.
“What do you mean?”
“Just how many years do you think Kouya Doumeki has gone without drinking blood? It would be no different from a human living their entire life without consuming a single nutrient necessary for their survival—and surviving. If he fought at full strength and drew on hundred percent of his ability, he would be able to take on an army. No one could lay a finger on him, but he is currently drawing on a mere thirty percent of his full power, giving my creations a chance to kill him.”
“No!”
“No chance of that.”
Azusa shouted at the same time a third voice interjected into their conversation. The silver-haired man swiftly yanked on Azusa’s hand. With her hands held behind her back, her eyes were filled with the sight of Kouya covered from head to toe in the blood of his enemies.
“Marvelous! Just marvelous, Kouya Doumeki! However, it appears you did not escape unscathed.”
Kouya clicked his tongue. The blood of his enemies covered him so utterly she couldn’t tell at first, but closer inspection revealed gouges in his abdomen. Azusa gasped.
“Kouya! Are you all right?!”
“No worries,” he said, but his voice was stiff. His shoulders quivered painfully with every breath despite his brave façade.
“Leave her here and go.”
“I am sorry, but I cannot do that. Be my guest—try to take her from me by force.” The silver-haired man snapped his fingers.
The sound spurred the pack of wild dogs behind him to lunge forward in unison. But they were a pittance compared to the numbers Kouya purged on his way there. He held up his arm to swipe them down.
The man smirked with amusement, “You are not their target.”
“Ichi!” Azusa yelled just as a wild dog was about to latch its fangs onto Ichi’s jugular.
Kouya grabbed the wild dog’s tail and promptly tossed it aside. The dog flew high into the sky in an almost artistic arc and disappeared into the distant brush. It was too soon to relax—the pack members stood up in succession and took turns lunging for Ichi. Kouya took them all out. But their sheer numbers rapidly began pushing him back.
“Damn it all!”
“Kouya! Ichi!”
“Well then, time for us to depart, Miss Azusa.” The silver-haired man raised his hand and rammed it into the pit of Azusa’s stomach, sending her consciousness into a dark abyss.