"Damn it!" I groaned in helpless rage, lying in the snow after a blow to the chest. Lifting my head, I watched helplessly as Ursus' patrol dragged my father away — he had been infected.
They took Natalia from the neighboring house too. Damn, I didn't even know she was infected. Glancing at the villagers, I realized with horror — their eyes showed nothing but relief.
"Damn it!" I screamed again in fury, slamming my fist into the thick snow.
"How can you do this?! You've known them your whole lives We've all lived here since…" — but I couldn't finish. The elder's daughter rushed to me and clamped her hand over my mouth.
"Forgive him He's still too young!" — she shouted, bowing her head low, pressing her hand against my mouth with a bear-like grip. I had no idea she was this strong. Looking up, I met the soldier's cold stare.
"Those are the orders of the old nobility, peasant. All infected must be isolated." — after those words, my blood boiled. I'd lived in the wilderness my whole life — the only thing I'd ever seen were these snowy local forests — but even I knew what would happen to the captured infected. A red aura enveloped me. I easily shoved the elder's daughter aside and lunged at the soldier, trying to grab his throat, but with one swift move he struck me in the jaw with his sword's guard, then grabbed me by the front and slammed me into the ground.
"Interesting. You possess the *art*. Good — we'll take you too." — tears welled up in my eyes from sheer helplessness. Never in my life had I felt so powerless — unable to protect even my own family.
"AAAAAAA!" — I screamed in blind rage, struggling to move. But the soldier's grip didn't budge. I kept screaming, trying to rise, clawing at the frozen ground. Blood began to stream from my eyes, and as my last strength drained and my voice turned to a hoarse wheeze — something changed.
I felt sudden lightness in my back, as if the cold air itself had become suffocating. Looking around, I saw the soldier standing ten meters away, trembling like a birch leaf, gripping his sword tightly. Turning to the villagers, I saw their faces frozen in pure terror — their eyes fixed on the forest depths.
Following their gaze, I froze.
Perched on a branch of an ancient oak, like a ghost, sat *him*.
A white robe stained with blood. One eye glowing a poisonous green, the other scarred with a vertical wound. In one hand — a soldier's sword. In the other — the severed head of one of the soldiers.
He didn't move. He was listening.
"O-o-o…" his voice echoed, as if inside my skull.
"That was… far. Over forty kilometers through this cursed forest, through a raging blizzard — and I still heard your scream, boy. A scream of pure despair, the crushing realization of your own helplessness… God, it sent chills down my spine." — he theatrically hugged himself and writhed, not letting go of the severed head.
Then, slowly, he leapt from the branch — landing on the snow without a trace.
"Interesting…" he whispered, staring at the soldiers.
"You brought this upon yourselves. You — weaklings who hide behind orders like children behind their mother's skirt."
He stepped forward. One single step.
The first soldier collapsed — his neck snapped like a doll's. The vampire caught him by the head, flinging aside the severed limb, and brought the dying man's face close to his own.
"How does it feel?" — he whispered.
"To sense your life slipping away, knowing you can do nothing? Do you finally understand what *he* felt? The despair that crushed him?"
The soldier twitched, slowly realizing he was already dead. The man tossed the body aside like a rag, not even waiting for the last breath.
"Next," — he smiled. And the smile was not human.
The second soldier swung his sword, but it cut only air — the man was already behind him. He broke the arm, twisted the spine, lifted the lifeless body off the ground.
"You killed on command," — he said with a mocking grin.
"Now you die for no reason. How does that feel? What's going through your mind? How does it feel to know your life ends on my whim?"
The body dropped. He moved to the third. The bloody game continued. He was enjoying it — not their pain, not their deaths, but their reactions. He wanted them to feel *exactly* what the boy had felt: the all-consuming despair of absolute helplessness.
But suddenly — a flash. Snow exploded outward. The air compressed. And in the center of the carnage stood a figure in armor. Ice-blue plates shimmered like frozen sunlight, a flowing cloak billowing in the wind. In he hand gleamed a spear. Anyone who saw he would whisper one word — *Knight*.
The Knight didn't look at the man. He stared at the remaining soldiers.
"Enough," — he voice could freeze a man's soul. He didn't wait. One motion — the spear pierced the fourth soldier's chest. A second — the fifth fell, neck broken. A third — the sixth dropped before he could scream. Instantly. Without mockery. Without pain. She stood between the vampire and the last soldier.
"You turn punishment into torture," — the Knight said.
"This isn't justice. It's inhuman cruelty."
The man looked at her. His smile slowly faded.
"Inhumanity? Oh no, no, my dear *noble* knight — this is precisely the spirit of *humanity*. Killing for amusement, for desire, reveling in their helplessness and suffering. All your so-called *noble ideals* boil down to the same thing: killing dissenters or enslaving them."
"Even if you believe that, Master… do you truly wish to become like *them*?" — the knight's words silenced him. Then he dropped his sword into the snow and turned toward me — I flinched involuntarily.
"Well then…" — he said, staring at me.
"Hope you understand, boy — you can't stay here. The same goes for those two. You *do* understand that, don't you?"
Did I? Damn right I did But what was I supposed to do? I hadn't thought that far. Then my father's hand fell on my shoulder.
"We have an option. We'll go to my old commander — Patriot. I think he'll take us in." — the man simply nodded, then finished off the last soldier. A massive icicle erupted from the soldier's chest. Then, without a word, he turned.
In an instant, they vanished — one into a whirl of snow, the other in a flash of speed.
Nomat.
Ugh. That woman is truly insufferable. I not only saved her, but completely healed her — and still she insisted on following me, babbling about some "incurable crystals" or whatever. I barely listened What do I need her for? The "heroic spirit" nearly dropped dead just standing near me, and *he* wields a divine spear!
I gave her rough coordinates of the village where my journey began — then simply fled, using *Storm Magic*.
As if I'd argue with some bratty, arrogant little girl about what I should do or what responsibilities I should take.
So like any *real* adult, I just ran from the problems.
After that, we reached the snowy forest fairly quickly. We weren't lucky — we walked straight into a raging blizzard.
Fortunately, wrapped in my *Phantom Shield*, which enveloped my entire body, I moved without issue, occasionally chuckling at the Knight, who endured every hardship face-first like a martyr.
Ah, the blood trail grew clearer and clearer. Just a little more — and I'd reach my prey.
Then I heard it. A scream — soaked in utter despair. I froze. I *knew* that scream. I'd screamed like that myself once — when they first burned me alive. I turned — and to my surprise, the Knight hadn't heard it.
Shrugging, I cloaked myself in *Storm Magic* and dashed toward the sound.
I found the place fast. Dealt with the aftermath quickly. Though I… got carried away. My vampire nature took over, and instead of just killing the soldiers with a single move, I started toying with them, torturing them. Good thing the Knight snapped me back to my senses — otherwise, I might've lost control and slaughtered everyone.
Damn. Looks like the aftereffects of drinking a god's blood haven't fully worn off yet. Need to be more careful.
Anyway, the blood trail grew faint again — meaning my meal had escaped. But no matter.
I always find my prey.
Afterwords by the author.
Maybe I should warn you. This story is just my hobby, I don't get anything from it, at all. Therefore, chapters can take a very long time to come out, because I write it in my free time. Which is not much.
Of course, the comments motivate me, but I don't quite understand why I need power stones, so I won't ask for them. As I understand it, the stones are needed to promote ff, but as I said, it's just a hobby that I don't get anything from, so the chapters will be released slowly.
I still have other ff's that I'm thinking about and creating, but in my native language. But they didn't get the chapters for even longer. -_-