The tunnel was dark. I turned on my flashlight and led Alice deep into the tunnel.
The tunnel felt damp, and there was moss growing on the walls. This must be one of the entrances to the underground area.
We started to go deeper. After a few moments, we heard the sound of people talking further inside.
We both looked at each other and nodded,and went deeper and saw a scene that made us stunned. The tunnel opened to a huge area with pillars supporting the roof of the dome.
We kept ourselves hidden with the spell from Alice.
That's convenient.
We both observed the people moving about—both women and men around the area—and moving cages with people stuffed unconscious inside.
"What are these people doing?" I asked in a hushed tone.
"Let's see. They are moving… whatever they are after must be happening soon," she replied.
I nodded.
We moved undetected between people to go deeper and saw there was an altar in the center, on which someone was sitting.
He was wearing aristocratic wear like old nobles in old times. He was talking to a man with a scar on his forehead, and on the other side stood the mayor with a glass on a platter in his hand with a red substance inside it.
I was going to ask if Alice knew who he was.
I looked at her, and her face was drained of color like she had seen a ghost. She started shaking. I held her hand, and she looked at me and after a moment calmed down.
We silently moved back, and she said in suppressed voice,
"We have to get out of here. This is not something we can handle."
"Why? What happened? Is it related to that man on the altar?"
"That's no normal person. That's a vampire, and at least of knight level."
"That means what??"
She said slowly,
"Just know he is above my level, and he's a vampire. We are screwed. We need backup."
I nodded, and she hurriedly sent a message on her phone somewhere.
"I have informed the academy officers near the town. It will take them a minimum of an hour before they get here."
I nodded grimly and thought of retreating when we saw the man on the throne stand up and say something to the mayor and the man.
They called a goon who nodded hurriedly, and he went, and all the goons started to gather people in the center near the altar. Suddenly Alice started shaking me and said,
"I have read about this. It's a forbidden ritual which vampires use to increase their rank, and it requires the sacrifice of people."
It clicked for both of us—the reason for the disappearances.
"If he succeeds, then the backup will not be enough, and we all will be nothing but casualties."
My face became grim.
We have to stop this somehow, but we both know it's out of our capabilities.
We backed off to a secluded corner and started to plan.
"How can we stop him? It's not like he will listen to us asking nicely."
"I can hold him for little—10 minutes top—and that's me pushing my luck."
We both had a grim expression on our face. I sighed and started to think.
"If you get a clear shot, will you be able to injure him or weaken him?"
She got into her thoughts.
"I will be able to injure him, but that will only weaken him and not stop him."
"It will be enough. So here's my plan…"
After listening to my plan, she looked more grim than before, but ultimately nodded.
(meanwhile on altar)
"I specifically instructed you to get fresh human females" the vampire said.
"I am sorry, Your Highness, but the academy has already made us desperate to even get these people…" the mayor replied.
The man with the scar on his head also kept quiet, but you could see his hands shaking.
"Ugh… I will manage. How much more time till the ritual is ready??"
"Just a few more minutes, Your Highness," the mayor hurriedly replied and signaled the man with the scar to get it done fast.
The man ran to scold and get his goons to work faster.
The man was going to continue scolding when suddenly an explosion sounded that shook the place.
The mayor and the man were both startled and shouted,
"Check out what's that explosion!"
The vampire said,
"Must be those academy dogs. Deal with them and bring them to me."
The man nodded and took some of his goons with him. After a few moments of departure of the man,
another explosion sounded from another tunnel, and the mayor, without the instruction of the vampire knight, took some goons with him to the other tunnel.
As soon as they were gone, for a few moments, the entrances to both tunnels collapsed, and this alerted the vampire—but he smiled a bloody smile.
"So that's your play."
Suddenly he stood up and vanished. When he came back, Kray was in his hand, suspended in the air by his throat.
(Kray P.O.V)
"You puny human thought you could stop me," he started to press my throat. I kept struggling, providing him the sense of superiority. I just kept the look of struggling on my face, and just when he was going to crush my throat, suddenly he looked in another direction—but he was too late. An arrow of white light pierced his shoulder and he dropped me.
I hurriedly moved back, greedily breathing air. He looked in pain, but in front of me he pulled out the arrow of light and threw it away and vanished towards Alice.
Alice, on the other side of the area, suddenly jumped back and released three arrows in succession and kept jumping back when suddenly the vampire appeared beside her and punched her in the gut, and she was thrown away but landed on her feet.
Before she could recover, he appeared beside her. Before he could hit her—
Bang sounded in the area.
His head flicked back, but his head returned to place, and there was a bullet mark on his head but no penetration.
Me, who shot him, was so shocked but regained my composure and continued to shoot, a bullet at a time. But he kept disappearing and reappearing, slowly nearing me. Alice shot a white arrow, he caught it in his hand and crushed it . Suddenly he moved his palm up—on his palm there were blood droplets floating.
I was only able to hear Alice shout,
"DODGE!!!!"
Without a thought, I started to run in zig-zag and only heard sounds passing by me.
Phew phew phew.
Then suddenly I slowed for a moment, and that was it. Suddenly I felt pain as something pierced my shoulder and I was thrown forward.
Ignoring the pain by sheer will, I continued to dodge and moved behind a crate of boxes.
From there I saw that Alice was still engaged with him. He was slower than before, as Alice was able to keep up with him, but this was not a permanent solution as I could see she will soon get tired, and the vampire only needed a moment.
I got up, checked the magazine—I still had 3 rounds left and a magazine. I hurriedly tore my shirt and threw away my hoodie and tied my shirt on the wound and ran towards them.
I kept my aim straight and kept moving forward while shooting. I missed 2 out of 3 shots, but they gave breathing room to Alice.
But the third bullet found its mark and hit him in his cheek.
His skin ruptured.He was weaker, alright.
He turned towards me with anger and suddenly grabbed Alice and threw her towards me. I could only try to catch her as I couldn't dodge it.
We both were thrown back.
She asked me how much time.
"20 minutes," I said.
She groaned. We both got up and saw him standing up, and we both nodded at each other and ran at him.
Suddenly Alice threw something at me. I caught it and heard,
"It's the last one."
I didn't need to respond. A silent understanding between us. The vampire also had enough with us and came running at us, but he was slower than before.
He tried to punch me. I weaved under and punched his gut. He flinched, but it didn't have much effect. Before he could recover, Alice kicked his chest and he staggered back.
Not giving him time, I emptied the magazine on his chest, and this time the weapon had its intended effect and had 4 bullet wounds. Alice also didn't give him a chance and released an arrow towards him which pierced his thigh.
And I put remaining bullets in him, but before I could catch my breath, suddenly something pierced my side.
I looked down and saw a spike made of blood piercing my side, and I collapsed onto the ground.
"Kray!!!" Alice shouted, but before she could come to me, the vampire appeared beside her in his bloodied form and held her head and smashed it on the ground.
He picked her up from the ground by hair and threw her away like a ragdoll.
"Nice team you got here, human, but you must haven't fought a vampire before. It's simple really…"
"WE HEAL!!!!"
And I saw with half-open eyelids his wounds slowly closing. But I smiled and slowly got up and lunged at him. He simply sidestepped and punched me in the gut. I took this chance and grabbed him—he kneed my back and threw me away.
"No point in struggling, human!!"
I rolled over and smiled at him with a pin in my mouth.
"Check your balls!! DIPSHIT."
Before he could react, the explosion happened, and I was thrown away and lost consciousness.