While John was waiting outside by the carriage, shifting his weight from foot to foot, Anna was having a quiet, serious conversation with the maid back inside the castle.
"Elena dear, please look after John. I don't want my daughter coming back and finding out her son has come to harm," Anna said. She took a slow sip of blood from a delicate teacup, her eyes fixed on the maid over the rim.
"This one will take good care of the young master," Elena promised, bowing her head deeply.
"It is understandable that John feels bored here while his cousins and the other kids are at school. Reina is also not here today to train him, so he is restless. Take one more knight with you, Elena, for added security."
"I will do as you command, my Lady."
A few minutes later, Elena arrived outside with an accompanying vampire knight clad in light armor.
"What took you so long?" John asked, though there was no heat in his voice. He was already holding the carriage door open for Elena.
Elena and the vampire knight froze, looking completely shocked by John's simple, courteous action.
"No, Young Master!" Elena protested, her hands fluttering nervously. She was entirely unused to such treatment from a member of the family.
John shrugged at their stunned expressions. "It's no big deal, Elena. Please, come in," John said, gesturing for her to enter the carriage. He then looked at the silent warrior standing behind her. "Are you also coming, Mr. Knight?"
"No, Young Master. I will be taking the horse and following at a distance," the knight replied, his voice muffled by his helm.
"Okay then." John climbed into the carriage and settled into the plush seat.
While they were on their way to town, the carriage rocking gently over the stone path, John asked Elena if she wanted something to drink. She politely declined, sitting stiffly on the edge of her seat.
"Elena, it is alright. I told you that you do not have to be formal around me. Please, try this," John said. He reached into his storage ring and pulled out a small chocolate bar with raisins, the colourful Earth packaging looking bright against the dark interior of the carriage.
She was hesitant at first, looking at the strange treat as if it might bite back, but she eventually took a small piece. Her eyes stretched open in surprise. She had never tasted something so intensely sweet and rich.
"This taste really good, Young Master," she admitted, a small smile breaking through her professional mask.
"Have another one," John offered, holding out the rest of the bar.
"I don't think it is appropriate, Young Master," Elena murmured nervously, though her eyes stayed fixed on the chocolate.
"It's alright, Elena, I'm the one giving it to you."
Elena finally took another piece and ate it, still a little nervous about accepting gifts from her master but clearly enjoying the taste of a world she had never known.
"So, Elena, what do you do when you get time off?" John asked, sipping on some water as the chocolate had made his throat dry.
"I don't know, Young Master. I just go for walks outside," she replied simply.
"Walks? That sounds so boring. But if that's what you like, how about me and you go for walks through the forest behind the castle sometime?"
Elena felt nervous at the suggestion. The idea of a member of the family accompanying a maid on a stroll was practically unheard of. "I don't know if it is appropriate..."
"Elena," John said, reaching out and gently touching Elena's hand. Elena was shocked and looked John right in the eyes. "Elena, you look very beautiful."
Elena couldn't believe what she was hearing. Where did this come from? She felt far older than John and was left completely speechless, her face likely turning a shade of red she hadn't felt in years.
"Hehehe," John giggled, seeing her stunned reaction. "Don't worry, Elena, I am not in love with you or anything. I just said you are beautiful because I think nobody ever said it to you." John then moved near the window to look at the scenery, leaving Elena stunned in his wake.
"Thank you, Young Master, for the compliment. Nobody ever said that to me," Elena finally managed to say, looking down at her hands and fidgeting with her apron.
"Don't worry bout it."
When they arrived in town, John and Elena walked next to each other through the busy streets. They told the knight to walk a good distance from them as they did not want to draw unnecessary attention to themselves.
They entered a cramped, aromatic Potion shop and looked around at the various glowing vials on the shelves. "Elena, what type of potion is this?" John asked, pointing at a vial filled with a swirling crimson liquid.
"That is a strength potion, Young Master."
"Wow, I need this potion to get my muscle up, but I think I also need a speed one," John said, already plotting how to get an edge in his training. He asked Elena to buy both a speed and a strength potion.
"Are you sure, Young Master? These are low quality potions," Elena cautioned, leaning in to whisper so the shopkeeper wouldn't hear. She didn't want John to waste his money on subpar brews.
"It's okay, just buy them. I want to see if I can get a chance to cheat training," John said, rubbing his hands together with a mischievous, evil grin that made him look like a true little vampire.
After exiting the Potion Shop, John and Elena began to wander through the town. They walked for a while, taking in the sights and sounds of the bustling streets, until they came upon a large, shimmering lake right in the middle of the town. The water was remarkably clear, reflecting the architecture around it like a mirror.
As they walked along the bank, John noticed several couples laughing and talking as they rowed small wooden boats across the gentle waves. The sight gave him an immediate idea. He scanned the docks until he saw an old man with a weathered face and a straw hat who seemed to be in charge of the rentals. Luckily, there was one boat left tied to the pier.
John walked up to the dock and gave a friendly nod. "Hi there Mr. Do you maybe do boat rides here?"
The old man looked up from a thick rope he was coiling. "I do indeed, young lad. It is ten pieces of silver for two people to take a boat out for a turn."
"Perfect," John said. He reached into his storage ring and pulled out ten silver coins, handing them over to the man without a second thought.
"Elena, let's go on a boat ride," John said, gesturing toward the water.
Elena looked at the boat and then at the crowds, her face filled with hesitation. "Oh, I don't know, Young Master. It doesn't seem right for me to be out there like that."
"It's fine, Elena. It'll be fun. Come on, ride with me," John urged.
"I really must decline, Young Master. I should stay on the shore and wait for you," she said, bowing her head slightly.
John realized she wasn't going to budge unless he made it official. He straightened his posture and gave her a look that was more serious than before. "Elena, I am ordering you to get on that boat and ride with me."
Elena blinked in surprise. She couldn't argue with a direct command. "I understand. I will do as you command, Young Master."
She followed him onto the boat, and soon they were sailing out toward the center of the lake. John retrieved an instant camera from his storage ring that his mother had put there for some reason.
"What is that, Young Master?" Elena asked.
"Oh, this is called an instant camera. It can catch a moment in time. Are you okay with me taking a picture?"
Elena was hesitant but eventually nodded her head. John then quickly took two selfie pictures, holding the camera out so they were both in the frame.
"Say cheese," John said.
Elena looked confused. "What does cheese mean, Young Master?"
John giggled. "It means smile, silly."
When the picture was taken, the camera whirred and instantly printed a photo of them both smiling.
"Wow, everyone says vampires don't show up in pictures but look at that. I guess the myth is a lie," John said, looking at the clear image.
They spent the next few minutes taking more pictures until they had a total of seven. John did all sorts of different poses and silly faces, making Elena laugh as the camera clicked away. They continued to drift for a while, talking about different things like the weather and life back on Earth.
"Go ahead and pick one, Elena. Any one you want," John said, spreading the seven photos out between them.
Elena looked through them carefully. Finally, she chose her favorite: the one where John was sticking out his tongue and looking completely silly.
"Keep it, it's yours. I'll keep the others," John said.
"Thank you, Young Master," she replied, tucking the photo away safely.
They rode the boat until their time came to an end. As they stepped back onto solid ground and began to walk for a few minutes, John suddenly stopped. A powerful craving hit him, a deep, gnawing hunger for meat. They walked to the market area where the knight was also close by. John saw a meat store, but there was a long line of eight people already waiting.
"As you command, Young Master." The knight was nearby, and John asked him to help Elena carry the meat. They both had nervous expressions. "Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere. I will be standing right here."
They both nodded and headed for the meat store, disappearing into the crowd. John leaned against a nearby stone pillar, waiting. After a few minutes, his sharp hearing picked up a man's voice pleading from around a corner, "Please don't take my money, it's all I have."
John moved toward the sound and saw two robbers who had pinned a middle-aged man to the wall in a nearby alley. One robber had a jagged knife in his hand. John hesitated for a moment, fighting an internal battle.
Why am I afraid? I am a vampire with super strength and speed, I can take these fools, he thought, his heart racing not with fear, but with adrenaline.
John walked boldly into the alley where they had pinned the man and shouted, "Hey! Let that man go!"
The two men were startled by the sudden interruption, but when they saw it was only a young boy standing there, their tension vanished and they both grinned. The man with the eyepatch looked him up and down and sneered, "Or what, kid? What are you going to do about it?"
John also grinned, walking forward until he was a short distance from them. He felt the power of his training humming in his limbs. "I am gonna beat yo ass."
Just as John felt a rush of cocky confidence, he felt something cold and sharp enter the side of his neck. His hand flew up instinctively, coming away covered in warm, pulsing blood. When he spun around, his eyes widened. A third man had been standing in the shadows behind him, a knife in his hand dripping with John's blood.
Meanwhile, Elena was standing in the line of eight people when she got a strange, cold feeling an instantaneous dread that hit her like a physical blow. It was the primal instinct that her Young Master was in grave danger. She turned her head frantically to look for the spot where she had left him.
"Where is the Young Master?" she cried out, her voice sharp with panic.
John began to spit out blood. On his neck, the blood was flowing continuously, soaking his collar. He tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure with his left hand, his fingers slick with his own warmth. The man who had stabbed John didn't let up; he began to stab him again, delivering another deep thrust into the neck.
The blood began to gush out. Not satisfied, the man drove the next stab directly into John's chest.
John had never felt this type of pain in his life. He was completely shocked and terrified that he might die right there in the dirt. Even though he had performed all those superhuman feats in training, it had never truly occurred to him until this moment that he was vulnerable. He was learning the hard way that super strength didn't mean he couldn't be killed.
"Hahahahaha, you stupid kid, trying to play hero, I'll fucking kill you," the man laughed. He kicked John hard in the chest, making him fall onto his back.
As John lay there, the first wound he had sustained on his neck began to slowly close, aided by the healing factor of his hybrid body. He applied pressure to the second wound on his neck with his left hand while desperately crawling backward away from his attacker.
John began to plead for mercy, holding out his right hand. "Please don't…"
Before he could say anything else, the man began stabbing viciously at John's right hand. The knife went through the palm of John's hand, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, "Help!"
The man who was pinned to the wall by the two original robbers began to scream, "Please leave the boy! I'll give you all I have!"
One robber immediately punched the middle-aged man in the stomach to silence him. "Shut up!"
The other robber looked at John with pure confusion. He wasn't frightened, just puzzled by the sight of the boy still moving. "Why isn't the boy dying?"
The man who had stabbed John also noticed the first stab wound had closed up already. He didn't flinch; he just stared at the healing flesh. "What supernatural creature are you, boy?"
John, terrified and trembling, managed to whisper the truth. "I am a vampire."
The men looked at each other for a moment and then began to laugh, a cruel, mocking sound that echoed in the narrow alley. "Hahaha! You are probably the weakest vampire I've ever come across. Okay, kid, time to kill you."
"No, please don't," John begged, his voice trembling as he stared up at the blade.
As the man with the knife stepped closer to deliver the killing blow, he suddenly froze. He felt something sharp and powerful pierce through his back. His eyes went wide as he looked down and saw a hand sticking out of the center of his chest. But it was what lay in that hand that shocked him most: his own heart, still beating rhythmically.
Elena retracted her hand with a sickening squelch, and the man with the knife collapsed to the ground, dead before he hit the dirt.
Elena stood over the body, her breathing heavy with a cold, terrifying rage. She was furious upon seeing John soaked in blood. John looked up at her with a scared expression, tears streaming down his face as he shook from the shock and the pain.
"You harmed the Young Master," she hissed.
Her face began to change. Dark, pulsing veins appeared under her skin, tracing lines beneath her eyes. Her irises bled into a deep, predatory blood red, and her canine teeth extended into lethal fangs. She turned her head toward the two remaining robbers, who immediately began to back away in terror.
"It's time for you two to also die," she growled.
The one robber turned and tried to bolt toward the back of the alley, but the vampire knight appeared before him like a shadow. Before the man could even let out a scream, the knight reached out and ripped the man's heart out of his body with a single, practiced motion.
Elena then walked slowly toward the last robber. The man's legs gave out, and he fell onto his knees, his hands clasped together as he started to plead for mercy. "Please! Please forgive me!"
The nails on Elena's hands began to extend into razor sharp claws, and with one swift motion, she cleanly chopped the man's head off. Blood sprayed from the stump like a firehose, painting the alley walls red.
"Go ask God for forgiveness," Elena snarled, her voice dripping with venom.
Still fueled by the bloodlust of the transformation, she turned her predatory gaze toward the middle-aged man they had been trying to rob. She stepped toward him, ready to kill him too, until she felt a small, trembling hand catch hers.
"Please don't kill him, Elena. He is innocent," John whispered.
Elena's furious face instantly softened, her features melting back to her normal, beautiful appearance. The dark veins and red eyes vanished as she pulled John into a tight, protective hug. "Are you okay, Young Master?"
John reached up, putting both of his hands around her waist and hugging her back just as tightly. The adrenaline was fading, leaving only exhaustion and the lingering sting of his wounds. "Yes. Please, just take me home."
In the Crimson castle, Leonidas was busy pouring himself a glass of whisky, the amber liquid catching the light of the room.
"You seem happy, Anna," he observed, glancing at his wife.
"I am happy because our whole family is here. I am happy to be surrounded by my children and grandchildren," Anna said with a warm smile.
"I heard that Thomas got into a fight at school with another vampire," Anna continued, referring to Markus's eldest son.
"What happened? Did he win?" Leonidas asked, taking a slow sip of his whisky.
"Yes, they said that Thomas beat the other boy into submission."
"I expect nothing else from a Crimson," Leonidas said, his voice laced with pride.
"But it's not right, honey," Anna said gently, her maternal instincts clashing with the harsh reality of their kind.
"We are vampires, Anna. We are predators. These fights will prepare him when he grows up," Leonidas countered firmly. He suddenly paused, his head tilting toward the window as his powerful senses picked up a familiar scent. "Also, I sense the carriage outside. That brat you are so proud of is covered in dried blood."
Anna was shocked. She immediately disappeared from the room and appeared where the carriage was pulling up. The moment the door opened, Anna saw John's clothes soaked in dried blood. Her maternal warmth vanished, replaced by an enraging aura that made the air in the immediate vicinity turn heavy and suffocating.
"What happened?" she demanded.
They moved to a private room where Elena explained the details of the ambush. Anna's eyes flashed with anger; she wanted to punish Elena for the incident, but John quickly interjected. He stood up for her, stating firmly that it was not Elena's fault for what had transpired.
Leonidas was also present, leaning against the wall as he listened to the account. He looked at John with visible disgust. "So, you could not even defeat a couple of street punks," he said, his voice cold. "You are a disgrace to the Crimson bloodline."
Anna couldn't believe what her husband had just said. She looked at John's crushed expression and felt a deep wave of sadness. She walked up to John and tenderly caressed his cheek. "John, dear, don't listen to your grandfather."
John gently touched her hand, but he didn't look up. "He is right, Grandma. I wanted to help somebody, thinking I am all powerful, and I almost got myself killed." He paused, looking at her with pleading eyes. "Grandma, please don't punish Elena and the other knight."
Anna's expression softened instantly. "Do not worry, dear. I won't punish them."
John nodded and turned to leave the room. He stole a glance at his grandfather, but Leonidas did not even bother to make eye contact with him. John walked out with his head down, closing the door quietly behind him.
As soon as the door clicked shut, he heard the muffled sound of Anna and Leonidas beginning to argue. Leonidas's voice carried through the wood, sharp and biting: "That boy is not my grandchild."
John stood frozen by the door for a few seconds, those words echoing in his head, before he began to walk slowly toward his room.
Once inside, a vampire maid arrived with a glass of fresh blood, but John turned her away, saying he wasn't thirsty. He collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. He replayed the events of the alley over and over, contemplating every mistake and what he could have done differently. He eventually began to cry silently, holding his forearm over his eyes to hide from the world.
I am a failure, he thought as the darkness of the room closed in.