Vampire Hunter

"She came out! The baby is out!" MISAKI POV: My mother was very happy when our maid who assisted her delivery yelled with excitement. Our maid was a human. The Kazuma family was one of the first clans of pureblood vampires. The other families who lived with us in our home were that of my father's four brothers. My father is the eldest of them. Three of his siblings had 7 children, and one had 4. My mother and the wives of my dad's siblings were all vampires too. Basically, the Kazuma, the families of my dad's brothers' wives, the family of my mom, and the wife of her brother wire all purebloods. The reason why they had several children is to multiply vampires as many as possible. I envy them for that because I was the only child of my parents. My childhood years were very random as me and my cousins were just running around and playing everywhere. We also played with other children - the children of our housekeepers - who were all humans. I was told that us vampires would live even for hundreds and hundreds of years. Of course, I didn't understand that as a child. I look up to my parents with adoration because I see them live their lives gracefully. My dad was the first and only leader of all vampire clans because they said he was the most powerful of them all. My uncles and aunts were even scared of him. But we are the kind who walks worry-free in the downtown, running at the market, going from one town to another, because humans were originally not scared of us. They know what we are yet we're peaceful. We look outstanding to them, though. Not bragging but.... vampires look ten times more gorgeous than humans. Our skin is like porcelain and it always glows. Our wounds can heal in just seconds to minutes, depending on how severe they are. The sun's rays don't affect us - contrary to what was later known about vampires. No one of our kind is petite, our height is either above the average of a human's or taller than that. The "adults" who were 100 years and above just look like 25-year-old humans, and that will be how they look until their demise, whenever that would be. 18-99 years look like a regular human high schooler, and 12-18 years look like a middle schooler. Marrying age for us starts at 20, and pregnancy knows no age limit once we marry. Our mansion is on the hillside next to the largest town, so my cousins and I were really excited about going down every weekend to give free resources to the townspeople. For some reason, our clan is crazily rich and the adults don't mind being generous to others. We have a very wide field where all crops and trees grow and we freely distribute them to the market vendors. They were beyond grateful for the free supply, and this idea, of course, came from my parents. The first minister of the country, who happens to be the grandfather of the current, and my father had a pact that humans and vampires would co-exist for peace and harmony, and that has been taught throughout the Kazuma household and passed down to us youngsters, with the hope that this would continue until the next generations. My cousins and I were homeschooling, and our teachers were humans. They teach us all kinds of subjects you can see in a regular school. My life started to turn upside down when I was 14 and I slowly discovered the reality of vampires. "Misaki, we have secret powers that we can't afford humans to see," my mom once told me at night time. She had this habit of coming to my room to exchange stories with me. "What secret powers?", I asked curiously. "We are a million times stronger physically and mentally. Each vampire has their own unique abilities and powers,and we must use those powers wisely." I can tell that my eyes were glowing when she said that. I tried to keep my excitement down and cleared my throat, "So.... do I also have powers?" "Indeed, you have. But young vampires' powers awaken when they turn 16. You still have a long way to go". Her smile was reduced to a serious expression. "Promise me, Misa, that you'll be a good girl when you discover yours, okay?" Mom reached out her pinky finger, smiling again. I smiled back at her and reached out my pinky too, and we made a pinky promise that night. I can't really comprehend why I had to make a promise, but I thought my mom was asking me to do my best not to hurt anyone, especially humans, when my power awakens someday. Two months passed, it was around the third week of December when something unforgettable yet confusing moment happened. It's already winter and snowing hard outside. We doubled our efforts to go downtown for two weeks straight to help the people keep up their resources despite the weather. Nevertheless, there were still a bunch of humans who came to our house to ask for something to stock in the season. One afternoon, my uncle Shinichiro, who is my dad's second brother, gladly opened our door for a man who looked very hungry. Uncle Shin was with my cousin and best friend, Hinata, who obviously enjoyed tagging along with her father. She's two years older than me and I assume she already knew what her powers were. I was standing at the top of our huge staircase just in front of our main door and I could clearly see Hinata's smile shining brightly. "Welcome! How can we help?", Hinata said in a comforting, sweet, small voice as Uncle Shin gently opened the grand front door. "Umm.. I was wondering if I could ask for a basket of fruits and vegetables? My wife's been sick for four days and it's been hard to do work because of the snow.," the man asked in a very low and weak voice. I suppose he's in his thirties already, but he looks twenty years older. He was wearing an oversized sweater, but his pants were tattered and he held a small open bag which I could see its contents from where I was standing. There's money in it but I bet Uncle Shin would not accept any payment from him, of course. "No worries, Sir, you can take as much as you like," uncle Shin assured the man. "We have stocked a large sum of food and raw materials for everyone who might need it. Do you have a cart or a horse with you?". "No, I don't have any, Shinichiro-sama." "Don't sweat it. We'll lend you something. Come with me to the storage house and take everything you can carry. Hina, close the door and stay here". Hina looked like she was about to object to what her father told her to do, but she glanced at the man and resorted to just smiling and obediently bowed to her father as she slowly closed the door. I was sure she didn't want the man to think she wasn't obeying her father. I shouted at her and asked her to come along with me. "Let's play in my room, Hina!!" "That's a nice idea, Misa! But before that, can you come along with me in the kitchen first? I'm starving and I really need to find something to eat." "Okay," I went down and followed Hina along the hallway going to the kitchen, thinking this would be a perfect chance for me to ask her about her powers. What could her powers be? Can she make things float? Teleportation? Breathe fire? Throw blades endlessly? I couldn't even notice where we were walking as the hallway was long and there were also rooms for maids, so we tried to be quiet as much as possible, because Hina is the kind who feels uncomfortable when even just a simple snack is served to her. In other words, we didn't want any one of the maids to see us, though we figured all of them were out doing their chores and their children might be helping out on the ranch. I was completely occupied with my imagination when I suddenly bumped into something. It was Hina's back. She was slightly bending forward, stopping at the door adjacent to us. She glanced at me and shushed me immediately when she noticed I was about to ask what was going on. We were hearing loud conversations that sounded like there was a debate and among the noise of argument we could also hear someone crying. We both pressed our ears against the door, but honestly, I was nervous we might get caught. However, that nervousness suddenly evaporated as I heard an unfamiliar voice. "Do we have a visitor?" was what I thought. The unfamiliar voice raised his voice and the commotion went down. He cleared his throat and spoke in a gentle manner. The stranger's voice suddenly became familiar to me - it belonged to my mom's only brother - Uncle Makoto Matsuno. I remember him frequently visiting us when I was 4, bringing along his 7 sons and 2 daughters who were all older than me. I didn't wonder if they were with him though. I was concerned as to why it seemed like they were having a heated conversation inside. "I came here not to fight. I am your comrade and I uphold the pureblood values," uncle Makoto said. I was amazed to hear him say that he "upholds pureblood values" because this guy is more mischievous than you can ever imagine. "That's why I came to tell you what I saw." "Makoto, has your ability ever gone wrong?", my dad's third brother, Uncle Kenji, asked. "Not even once, Kenji. Did you forget how I help the Kazuma family out of danger consistently? I have never failed and never will I do." "What's Makoto-san's power?," Hina whispered to me. I shrugged,"How could I know?" "So you've been telling us that's a danger, but how could it be? I mean, this family, and even the other pureblood families have been living peacefully for these years. And living up to its legacy is what this household is doing." my dad's youngest brother, Kei interrupted. Uncle Kei is the smartest among my dad's siblings. When he speaks, the three brothers' ears are fixed on him like his words are not something to miss. Uncle Makoto released a soft sigh. "I'm sorry, Arisa-neesan, I was carried away by my emotions and shouldn't have told you that straight up." I gasped but I managed to cover my mouth immediately. It was my mom who we heard crying! But why? Were they talking about something serious? Silence fell in the room for about a minute. Hina and I pressed our ears harder to the door, holding each other's hands, bracing ourselves that we might hear something unpleasant. "Listen, Kazuma family. I'm gonna tell you the whole thing I saw. I just quickly saw it out of the blue but it was very clear. It's up to you if you will believe me or not." I felt Hina's hand squeezing mine. "Makoto-san is amazing! He can see the future! Though he said it only came out of nowhere and for a short time only," she whispered. "I was cleaning our kitchenware when the vision suddenly appeared to me. I saw the back of a woman all covered with blood. Dead vampires were at her feet and some still clinging to their lives were begging her to spare them. I was puzzled who this woman was, but I heard her say she's someone who can control and yield the same powers other vampires have and all elements - fire, earth, water, wind, metal, wood, everything - obey her. She turned her head to those who were catching their breaths, her eyes lit red and right after that, something happened that I saw for the first time in my entire 150 years - the bodies were pierced and torn apart just by looking at them! When the glowing red eyes turned back to normal, that's when I realized who she was. I couldn't be wrong and I was so sure that it was a grown-up woman Misaki I saw." I fell on my knees after hearing that. My body was shaking and I was scared of myself. Hina knelt beside me too, holding both of my hands now. I couldn't hold hers anymore, as if my strength was all drained out of my body. How sure that that vision would come true? I haven't even discovered what my powers are and I still have two more years for that. I felt my cheeks were wet and I stared at Hina blankly. She let go of my right hand and wiped the tears off my face. I tried my best to hold up my cry, yet I'm still terrified of what I heard. My dad finally spoke. "How on earth... could that happen? 'someone who can control and yield the same powers other vampires have', you say? I've never seen a single vampire who can do that, let alone control all kinds of elements." "This is just my theory, Satou-niisan," uncle Makoto replied. "But it seemed like Misaki was born to be the royalty of the vampire... someone who would be supreme and rule among our race. You know how humans in other countries have their king? Misaki's role might be something like that, just so that you can understand what I'm trying to say." "If that's the case, then, would it mean that having royalty is supposed to maintain peace and order in our kind? What bothers me is why there were dead vampires in your vision?," uncle Kei noted. Another silence was present in the room. Even the atmosphere around us was so cold and quiet, it felt as if we were also inside the room. I couldn't really grasp what they were talking about, or what did it mean that I was born to.... to be the royalty of the vampire? Like the hell would I be able to do that?! Based off of what I heard, uncle Makoto described me in his vision as someone like a monster! Then my dad spoke and asked uncle Makoto. What he said made my jaw drop. "So that was why you told Arisa to kill Misaki even if you knew us, her parents, wouldn't be able to do that?!", my dad said in an irritated voice. "I knew that was heartless to do and I was so overwhelmed with fright. But that was the only thing you can do- I love my niece, don't get me wrong, but if she is a threat to our kind, what's the best can you suggest? With such power, she can definitely wipe out all vampires!" "Not if she doesn't find a reason to do that. I mean, we've been living for hundreds of years already, and she's still very young. I can't even see any reason for killing other purebloods", uncle Kenji said. His opinion made me somehow relieved. I thought somebody could surely understand what I was feeling. The next thing he said shook me. "I think it would help if I could put a seal of secrecy on Makoto about the vision he saw. I will also put a seal on everyone here who knows. In that way, nobody aside from us will be able to discover or uncover this, as long as I live." There was an expression of agreement in the room, we heard them saying that's a good idea and a bright move. I can imagine uncle Kei's dissatisfied face that the smart suggestion didn't come from him. Nevertheless, I heard an okay from him and I smirked a little. My heart still felt heavy but Hina pulled me up and signaled for us to run. I asked her why, and she said Uncle Shin was coming. It was then that I noticed that the room where we'd been eavesdropping was the kitchen. Hina and I ran, with my hand still being held by her. She was actually pulling me forward and my legs were having a hard time keeping up with her pace. She led us to the back door where only the maids use when they hang the laundry. As soon as the old wooden door opened and I felt a cold breeze in my face, we jumped outside right away as if there was someone chasing us, and pushed the door close. While we were still catching our breath, I glanced at Hina thinking if I should ask her if she looks at me differently now. "Hina, do you... are you scared of me now?" "Huh? Oh... if it's about what Makoto-san said, I admit I got fearful of that, but let me tell you this. That was just a vision. Whether it will come true or not, depends on you and them. I bet they'll find a way to stop it happening, Misa. But here's the thing - just to give you a picture of how I suppose they're going to solve it, they will probably try to stop your power from awakening." I stood straight and my eyes widened. I was eagerly waiting for my powers to be awakened only to be told that there would be those who would stop it. My older cousins surely had their powers discovered already and I couldn't wait for my moment to come. Hina noticed the change in my expression, and she pointed to the way going to the front door, suggesting that we should come in already because it was super cold. Following her, I didn't even feel the cold snow we were walking on anymore, as if my whole body became numb after hearing such strange information. Then I finally let my curiosity out. "Hina, what's your powers?" She smiled. "I can yield and control water, create layers of barrier, and do bullet magic. You know, I still have a long way to go to be on the same level as my parents. And oh," she faced me with a full smile which she usually does when she's about to say something that excites her. "I can also know who's around within 20 feet. That's why I knew dad was coming." "That's really cool," I thought. She saved us from the possibility of getting caught listening to adults conversation through her powers. I'd say that it really became handy. As soon as we reached the front door and went inside, we looked from left to right and hurriedly climbed up the huge staircase and went to my room. I apologized because she was not able to get food from the kitchen and impatiently waited for dinner to be served. That night, I wondered what uncle Kenji meant by putting a seal of secrecy on uncle Makoto and the others. I imagined how or what the process of doing it is. But more than anything, my heart was lonely because it was confirmed that the reason mom cried was because uncle Makoto proposed to kill me. I'm thankful for uncle Kenji's suggestion that they all agreed upon, and there's a little relief that their respective wives weren't there. At least dad can control his brothers, but dealing with their wives would be a bit difficult, I guess. Suddenly it became clear to me what I wanted in my life. I wanted.... to be a vampire like my parents, who live honorably, kindly, and steadfast. I decided I'd tell mom about this ambition when she knocks on my room later that night. Weeks had passed normally and a new month and the new year began. On January 15th morning, during breakfast, I noticed my father and his brothers were all wearing formal suits. They all looked serious, except for Uncle Shin, who cheerfully told us stories about his early years of life. I was wondering if they told him what uncle Makoto said? Maybe not? Because he didn't look bothered at all. After eating, dad stood up and clapped his hands, and everyone of us kept quiet. He always does that when he's about to announce something. I thought he looked cool and stunning when he's like that - that's what a leader is for you, though. He started to speak as soon as everybody else settled down. Even the servers, who were humans standing at the side of the long table, were looking straight at him. "Today is our annual meeting with the other purebloods. There's a lot we're about to discuss because it will be the first time thirteen of your older cousins, who are about 25 years of age and above, will come with us. It's about time we set the stage for the soon-to-be leaders of our kind. To the young ones, please be good to your mothers. And for the rest, continue the training and do your best.". He let out a relieved sigh and ordered those who were coming with them to stand up. He smiled at us who were left in our seats, and waved goodbye as they exited the room. His eyes looked tired, though, but he managed to lead. I have three other cousins who were younger than me, and I looked at those who were older than me left at the table. I thought about what dad said to the rest to continue the training. I wondered what and where that was because Hina and the others never mentioned anything about it. In the afternoon, I asked mom if I could go to the ranch to help out in the barn. I said I wanted to learn from the caretakers and to do something fun as well. Mind you, all of our animal caretakers were humans, and mom, as expected, happily agreed for me to go out. While walking on the snowy ground, I suddenly remembered the seal of secrecy. Uncle Kenji said it would be kept a secret as long as he was alive. But he didn't know Hina and I were there too. I figured maybe we just needed to be better at acting as if we didn't know anything and do our best to keep mum about it for the rest of our lives too. It might be easy for Hina, but not for me. I've been longing to talk to my mom about it. My mind was cleared out of thoughts when I suddenly bumped into something. But I was confused, there was nothing in front of me, and all I could see was an open field covered with snow. I can already see the barn from where I was. Thinking that I might be only daydreaming, I moved forward and I hit my head again. I was then sure I bumped into something hard. It felt like a glass. Determined to figure it out, I stepped a bit backward and gathered my strength just to make sure it wouldn't be painful when I hit again. From there, I charged with full energy and closed my eyes. In a matter of seconds, it felt as if my feet were floating, and there was a mixture of cold and warm breeze blowing over my hair. I opened my eyes out of curiosity, and to my surprise everything around me was in a space of black and white! I looked at my left and there was a round window where I could see the outside - I could see the field and the roof of the barn within my sight. But what astonished me the most was.... my cousins aged 16 years and above were inside this space and they were sparring, showcasing all sorts of powers I'd seen for the first time. They were exactly nine inside. Hina was there too. She's sparring with our older cousin whose age is twice as her, uncle Kei's daughter Kaori, who controls the earth and wind at the same time. Hina was obviously at a disadvantage but she was attacking with all her might and making all sorts of "shapes" and directing the water by her command. The bullet magic she mentioned was gesturing her hand like holding an invisible gun, and bullets of different shapes and sizes would come out and can surely kill dangerously. The battles inside the space were intense and I saw fire, blades, iron, lightnings, sand, snow, and wind being controlled all around and these didn't affect the other fighters around them. There were even spells used in the fight, aside from elemental powers like spells of instant explosions, invisible chains, bubbles that when popped on your skin will lacerate you, and something like a bomb that falls from the heavens when stars are summoned by the caster. To my amazement, I yelled "hey guys!" to them, but it seemed like they didn't hear me. I thought that was okay, because they were all invested at the time. I thought, "this might be the training dad was referring to earlier." But how were they so careless to let anyone enter this space and see them practice? I bet it's supposed to be a secret given that they put up an invisible barrier outside, or maybe they just didn't want to break anything and let fires and smoke be seen from the town. The sparring lasted for about an hour since I got there, and the oldest of them all, who is also Hina's brother, Touya, yelled at them. "Everyone! Take a break!" They all obeyed in an instant. When they broke off from their opponents and went into the side to take a seat, some of them began talking cheerfully that it had been a good fight. I approached and told them I saw their amazing moves and strengths, but it left me puzzled. Why it still seem they couldn't hear me? They didn't even bother to take a glance at me when I was literally in front of them. I tried to talk to all of them but nobody listened to me, even Hina. I walked towards Touya and his group. He was talking to our other cousins about his same age, Dan and Aki. He was speaking in a low voice and the other two were listening closely. "Dad told me," Touya said and he cleared his throat after. "Uncle Satou cannot resist his bloodthirst anymore and had been rejecting blood capsules." WHAT THE HECK DID HE SAY?! I didn't clearly understand what Touya meant by that, but I could feel he was talking s**t about my dad. "No, you must be joking," Aki chuckled after hearing that, and I nodded at his reaction. "Uncle Satou isn't the kind who would give in. After all, he was the one who enforced the rule to maintain composure about bloodthirst and came up with formulating the capsules." "You can't be sure about that, Aki. He's still a vampire, after all. You guys can even feel you're longing to drink authentic blood, yes? Uncle Satou had gone hundreds of years suppressing that and dad said he's on the edge already." "Okay, let's say that's true. Why did Uncle Shinichiro tell you that? That's supposed to be handled by the Kazuma brothers," Dan said. Touya smirked and lowered his voice even more, almost whispering. "Uncle Satou just wore the mask of a vampire leader but he's lower than that. He has already killed a human, you know?" NO. That's more than impossible than the impossibility in itself. Touya noticed that Dan and Aki were just staring at him unbelievably, and this i***t Touya repeated what he said. "NOOOOO!!!!", I shouted at the top of my lungs as if I had exhausted my voice. I was so furious! Out of nowhere, the ground shook abnormally, which alarmed all of us inside the space and a roaring thunder-like sound came deafening our ears. The barrier outside us broke like a shattered mirror, and before I knew it we were all standing on cold, snowy ground, looking everywhere and I was sure we were out of the space, because I could clearly see the entirety of our land. To my surprise, everyone came running to Touya, and before they crowded him, I fell on my knees, shaking horribly. Touya was lying on the ground, in a pool of his own blood. There was a big hole in his abdomen and his insides were scattered on the ground. His neck was almost cut off. Certainly, Touya was dead. From inside the crowd where my cousins were confused about how they would lift the dead body or what they should do, someone came to me running. It was Hina. She was panting hard, had a scared look in her eyes, and pulled me out away from the others. Her voice was also shaking and stuttered. The sweet, small voice was gone. "Wh-what did y-you do.. to T-Touya? Wh-why were you h-here?!" "Hina... I...." "EVERYONE!!!", I wasn't able to finish what I wanted to say when our mothers came rushing towards us there. I could tell they were panicking yet they tried to be calm. They moved everyone away and ordered us to come back at once on the house and to wait for them there. Touya's mother, Aunt Toriko, was sobbing loudly upon seeing her lifeless son. Mom stared at Touya then looked at me anxiously. I was still on my knees and she came forward, helped me stand up and asked something. I started to cry because I didn't know if I could answer her. "Why were your eyes glowing red, Misaki?"