Blood Debt

Anika led the group to the ruin the next day. It was another 2 hours hike from the village.

"Stop." Rose gently said. "Shhh." She gestured with her fingers.

Cloud and Charles were alert and scan their surroundings.

"How far are we from the ruins?" Rose asked Anika.

"At least a kilometer or two." Anika answered.

"What can you hear?" Charles asked Rose.

"Movement." Rose replied. She walked around the surroundings.

Cloud also focused on his hearing. He heard rustling from the ground.

"Yes, I can also hear it." Cloud added.

"I'll go ahead and scan the area. You wait here and wait for my signal." Rose said and then vanished.

Anika looked at Charles and Cloud confused. Rose just vanished into thin air.

"Rose is a damphyr." Charles said to Anika after noticing her confusion. She made a surprised face.

"Oh my. Rose is a damphyr? That explains." Anika exclaimed. "But damphyr's are a rare kind of species."

"I know." Charles said while looking at where Rose vanished with affectionate eyes. Anika saw this.

"You like her." Anika said. It was a sentence rather than a question.

"Is it that obvious?" Charles smiled.

"Well I kind of see your aura when you are near or looking at her." Anika explained. In her eyes Charles emits a pink aura when near Rose which means an emotion of love.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered you're a witch." Charles said.

Anika was embarrassed. It was like she peeked on someones secret.

"Don't worry I took no offense on that. She knows how I feel. I have confessed to her. Not just once but countless of times. But she rejects me every time." Charles makes a sad smile.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Anika said shyly.

"It's okay. I know why she doesn't let anyone in her heart." Charles said. "It's because of her sire."

"Her sire?" Cloud heard Anika's and Charles' conversation and his interest was peaked.

"It has been a hundred years since her sire vanished. It is said that they were a thing." Charles said. "Do you know that vampires can feel a different sensation when drinking blood?"

Anika and Cloud shook their head. Cloud thought that this kind of thing wasn't in the books he has read.

"I just know this because of a vampire friend." Charles explained. "Vampires of the lower class drinks blood to feed and quench their thirst but that is different from the pure bloods. What we know and are written in books are that they only need to drink blood if their strength is depleted, they are fatally wound, they just need to power up, or they just want to drink."

"But what we don't know is that pure bloods can feel a kind of sensation as what we feel in having s.e.x when they drink the blood of the ones they love. Well it is said they do the 'act' while drinking blood. The vampires feel the heat and the urge." Charles explained. "Their thirst will only be quenched with the blood of the ones they love."

Anika was dumbstruck. Of course she wouldn't know such things because she is still young and lives in a remote area where things like social media and internet are not famous.

But Cloud was a young healthy teenager and has access to the internet. He has knowledge of the things of the opposite s.e.x would do in closed doors.

"What are you getting at?" Cloud asked while staring at Charles.

Anika looked at Cloud and he was emitting a red kind of aura. 'Jealousy?' Anika thought to herself.

"Rose's sire turned her because he loved her and it is said she loves him back." Charles said. "Or so what I have heard."

Cloud was feeling weird. His heart was clenching and feeling some kind of ache. This was the first time he has felt this way. Anger and jealousy was evident in Cloud's face. Charles saw this and he felt elated with teasing Cloud even further.

"Well I have tried to pursue her since the first time I met her. I was hoping that I can mend that broken heart of hers." Charles joked. "I'm sure that she can love again. But I wasn't the lucky person she picked."

"So she did love someone after her sire disappeared?" Anika asked curiously.

"Well I really don't know if they were really in a relationship. But there were rumors and well... I caught them in the act." Charles said.

Anika didn't understand but Cloud did. He clenched his fist hard.

"Well I didn't really see them doing the 'act', rather I saw Rose drinking his blood." Charles teased even further. "But well as I've said pure bloods don't need to drink blood except under the conditions I just stated."

Charles also remembered that day. The day he was in the main building of the hunter's association. When he was about to enter the office the door was slightly open. And when he peaked he saw Rose seating across the l.a.p of a man. Her mouth was open and her fangs were out. She slowly sink her fangs in the neck of the man. The man had his long silver hair, which was always tied in a pony tail, now lose. His silver eyes was shining under the fluorescent lights. His hand was c.a.r.e.s.sing Rose's long black silky hair and the other hand was encircled around Rose's waist.

That time Charles had felt jealous of this man. This man is non other than the director of the hunter association, Falco.