Beyond The Fangs

Chapter 38

IZEL

The whole room was full of vampires, and the majority of them were Quearus and Supremes.

What in the world was going on?

I turned and began making my way back to the library, but my steps were cut short when two vampires suddenly exited a room opposite the library. I quickly turned around, entering the room closest to me. Fighting those vampires would not be a wise choice, not when the whole downstairs was full of vampires. The room I entered had been one of the empty rooms, but it wasn't empty anymore. It was full of people.

Humans.

They were seated on the ground, bound by their hands and legs, their mouths taped. I looked around dumbstruck, blinking as processed what I was seeing. One of the people muffled a cry for help, knocking me out of my frozen state. I approached them and ripped the tape off their mouth without thinking, making them groan from the pain before speaking.

"You-you're a Vanquisher, yes?" The man asked, "Please, please help us, please."

"What's going o—?"

Before I could finish my sentence, a vampire came from behind a wall. A secret room. As soon as it laid eyes on me, it didn't hesitate to attack. It dashed toward me, pinning me against the wall. I groaned at the impact of my back against the door but quickly grabbed my dagger from my hip holster and stabbed it through its head. Warm blood sprayed all over me and I pushed it away before I got any more of its blood on me.

"What's going on?" I asked the man as I wiped the blood from my face with my sleeve.

"We—we were taken from our villages," he told me. "They're going to kill us. They've already killed most of us and—" his voice broke, "they drank them in front of us. I don't—I don't know what's going on, they keep coming from behind the wall and taking us while bringing more through the door. Please, please help us. We—"

"I have to figure out what's going on first, I can't free all of you yet." My statement caused the people in the room to give muffled cries for help.

"Please, don't leave!" The man begged, his voice too loud for comfort. I tried to shush him but that was a futile act. "Please! Just help us! Please we don't—"

I picked up the tape and put it back on his mouth, receiving a surprised and pleading look from him. "Shh," I urged again, then dragged the vampire from the room and walked through the wall door into the secret room. Past the secret door was another long corridor, dressed in red, plush carpet, illuminated by some faint yellow lights. I hid the vampire under some fabric, leaving it in a dark section of the room before walking down the corridor.

I went down a couple of stairs and reached a mirror, but rather than seeing my reflection, I saw a ballroom. There were more vampires inside, there was food lined all around the room, and humans lined all along the walls, seated and tied up in plush chairs. Some were unconscious with their heads hanging to the side, while others were conscious, their eyes darting around and filled with horror.

Vampires were frequently speeding toward a human and drinking its blood. I noticed how one vampire wasn't leaving the human it was drinking from, even as the colour drained from the human's face. The human convulsed before going still, and only then did the vampire leave it alone and go back into the centre to talk with other vampires. It had drunk the human dry, it had drunk the human to death. Within seconds, the human was removed and a vampire entered through another hidden wall opposite the one I was in, coming out with a new human and tying them up.

I was going to be sick.

I stumbled away from the mirror. I knew they couldn't see me, but I couldn't watch any longer. They were drinking humans like wine. Their blood was part of the menu of whatever was going on here.