Blood Moon: CH 8

Chapter 8

Again and again, he failed. The man slips through his fingers like rainwaters running down his palm. Just a little bit, just a little bit more.

He woke up unnaturally early in the mornings following then, though 'woke up' might not be that accurate of a word. The frustration really got to him this time; never before he failed in his mission, but this one he quite literally didn't know what to do about. He was just one step behind and he stalled. He stalled.

Why?

Why?

Because of that man?

The hints were all laid out to him, and he had connected them. Only that it seems like a part of him refused to acknowledge the truth. He'd been arguing with himself about that since that night. And so here he is, sitting on his bed, staring hard at his hands as if they offended him. Time was lost to him in his dilemma, nor does he feel like moving out of his bed today. Whatever, the others can deal with it.

But only you can deal with him.

How?

How? How to deal with him? It's clear he is somehow incapable of that for now. Even with his gun directly onto the man his finger had frozen on the trigger.

Again, he is reminded of then, of how he looked.

It was him, no doubt. But it was like that night; it felt like two pictures spliced together, so completely different yet strangely fitting. The black suit he donned oddly fit him better than the usual white shirt he always wears. Face almost void of expression paired with the sharp gaze that seemed to cut through his conscious mind.

 

"..-Then, which one is the real you?"

"I wonder about that too."

The sad, sad smile.

 

What really happened to you? So he wanted to ask, but never got the chance to. He had chosen to take those confessions at face value, after all that was all it was to their strange relationship. He had never expected, never intended for things to turn out this way. Murasame would probably say its fate, then he supposes that wasn't wrong.

How ironic.

Simply knowing the perpetrator doesn't do much to lighten the work. He needs to track that man down, whatever it takes. But how to do it discreetly? The only ties to that man is his adoptive family running the town's clinic, and it'll be tough to approach them without tripping some kind of an alarm. He doubts there would be any data kept in the headquarters database considering the man's previous line of work.

How to work this out?

Roughly running his hand through his hair in frustration, he tried to sort them out.

"..I need a smoke."

 

 

*

 

 

"-You look worse than usual. Did that night frustrate you that much?" Of course. He just has to say that. Sadistic bastard. There Needle sat beside him nursing a cup of coffee as black as his soul while wearing that annoyingly wide grin. "Poor soul."

"Shut up before I blow your skull clean off your neck."

Needle continues to casually sip on his drink. "Oof, scary."

Why, why did he choose to sit down with this guy of all people. He'd better off trying to discuss things with Gamon instead of this sadistic porcupine.

"Oh, you know why. It's because I am your only friend." He can swear that grin just got even wider.

"No, you're a curse onto me." Sigh, this is not going anywhere. He can feel the headache creeping in. Is the nicotine not working?

"Chill, failure is the first step to success." Another loud sip. "Say, did you get to see their face that time?"

"..Yeah."

"Were they anyone from around here?"

"Yeah."

“...Was it that guy?" And that had Mikage turning to the side, facing Needle who’s looking right at him from behind his cup. "Thought so, otherwise you wouldn't be this worked up."

"It was so close."

"Certainly didn't expect you of all people to falter. Just admit that you have a soft spot for him."

He can't deny it anymore. Tch, such a pain.

"It's his doing, all of them. The bodies, the damage."

"Alone?"

"Alone. Though his stats were probably enhanced after turning into a vampire."

"So, he did after all?" He replied with a nod. Needle set his cup down with a click. "That means he retained his sense of self."

"Yes, he did. He knows what he was doing."

"Then we need to track him down."

Back to problem number one. How? "'Been thinking of that since I woke up. He doesn’t have that many contacts or ties with anyone. And all his personal data are presumably erased or otherwise kept under extremely tight security." How to track down a shadow?

"The clinic?"

"Considered that. But they'll be alarmed."

"And we'll end up with more problem." Needle lets out a long sigh, eyebrows wrinkling just a little. "This is getting so much more difficult than before."

True enough. Mikage certainly do not expect to see him around anymore after that night, probably ever. He got to have somewhere he can hide until he goes out hunting again. It's been almost a week after that and close to two since he last came here; he shouldn't be able to hold on for any longer without feeding, and for some reason Mikage knows he won't feed on anyone else. Or rather, he refuses to do so.

So now, there's two way to do it - trace him down or wait until he falls.

"You wanna try brute forcing this instead?" Needle looks quite gleeful at that.

"I thought you're supposed to be a scientist?" He raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.

"Eh, sometimes brute forcing works you know. I haven't gone out of the lab for some time too, it'll be fun!"

Running his palm down his face in response, "I guess we can try then."

 

 

*

 

 

Come nightfall and the hunters began to move out to their respective areas. However tonight is one among the odd times of the year - one, Mikage is not moving alone, and two, the church's resident mad scientist is outside his lair. Naturally, no one is crazy enough to mention anything about the arrangement, much less approach them. "The world must be truly coming to an end.", muttered Gamon as he walks away pinching his forehead.

Mikage, as usual, loads his silver gun and grabs extra ammunition for the road (plus additional reserve of nicotine, who knows he might need more later). Needle, decidedly less usual, proceeds to pack up an obscene amount of stuff, to which he defended as 'he might come to need it later'.

"No, we absolutely do not need all those shits. We're not moving out on a carriage, you dumb ass."

"..But-"

"No."

"..Fine. But can I at least bring a lantern? I have night blindness." Mikage had to physically hold himself down from sacking that grin off of Needle's face.

 

After quarrelling for a while, they finally set out. The path they take tonight is different from regular; tonight, they decide to retrace the path connecting the places where they found the bodies and marks left by the elusive vampire hunter, hoping that they might catch his tail.

"He sure does work hard, I mean, look at all this destruction." Needle said in awe-stricken voice while going over the various degrees of damage left in the structure of the building. "Hard to believe it's the work of one man."

"Well he's highly skilled for one thing, and he's specifically trained to take down any vampires including higher levels and even purebloods. That, with the vampiric enhancement; he's practically a one-man-army now."

All these powers, and the man is more or less on a rampage against the vampires. Still he couldn't shake away the feeling that the man held a deep-rooted grudge towards the creature, taking from what the man himself had confessed.

The more they search, the further away they get from the main church. The trails brought them to an old village nearby the sea, now no longer inhabited due to repeated and aggressive attacks. A ghost town. Empty houses in various states of disrepair, broken carts overrun by vines, and a small clock tower forever frozen in time. Though luckily, they did not encounter even one vampire on their search. Perhaps they have been cleared out before hand by that man.

They walked around until eventually they reached the end of the place. There a bit further from the centre stands an old mansion on the cliff overlooking the sea. For some reason, it seems to him that the mansion had been abandoned way before the rest of the village did.

 

"You think it's haunted?"

Mikage raised an eyebrow to that. "What, you're afraid of ghost?"

"Hm? Of course not. I just thought they maybe make an interesting subject to dissect if I ever caught one." Of course. He was dumb to expect otherwise.

They slowly eased themselves in, keeping high alert in case something jumps out. Like the rest of the village, the mansion is wrought in silence safe for the winds blowing through the cracks in high pitch whistling. Finding nothing, they move forward to the upper floor. The wooden stairs and floorboards creaks ominously under their collective weight - there's no way their arrival is not known by now. Still, so far, no signs of anything.

One by one they went through the rooms on the second floor, all similarly end in naught. They move towards the master bedroom, gently nudging the wooden door open.

 

"..-What is this?" The question involuntarily left his lips over the state of the room. For one it clearly appears to be in the same miserable state as the rest of the place, if not worse. Bloodied bandages strewn all over the floor, medical supplies left on the side table, and the bedsheet is stained with dried blood.

"Well, someone's definitely living here. Though in what state might be questionable."

Indeed, and this is worrying. Even more so if it’s really him. He's losing this much blood on top of his regular hunting; he can't be well. A gust of cold wind had him facing that direction, towards the open window facing the balcony.

"Someone's in here."

Just as he said that, he is tackled down by an unseen attack.