Blood of Mary

QUEEN'S ORDER

WHAT?! How is she? Is she safe? How did that vampire get through you? I told you to keep a close eye on the orphanage!” Farrah can’t help but be mad after hearing one of her army’s reports. The orphanage just got attacked!

The vampires that were in front of her are the ones she considered part of her strongest army. But at that time, she was very disappointed in them. They were lucky nothing happened to Czelvie. Because if there is, she doesn't know what she can do with them.

She took a deep breath to calm herself.

“Tel me what exactly happened.”

“Argus was a rogue vampire, My Queen. I don’t think he came there with a purpose. He was running away from our men when he coincidentally landed in the orphanage. But don’t worry, My Queen. We were able to protect the princess.”

They may have protected Czelvie this time but it doesn’t change the fact that her safety was already compromised. She will never feel at ease just because it was unintentional. She needs to do a much more effective way to secure her safety.

“YOU’RE early, Czelvie,” said Kevin when she entered the kitchen. “How does it look?”

When she left for school, the kitchen window was completely wrecked. But now, it seems like nothing happened at all.

Kevin is just three years older than her but she can’t help but be amazed by how he’s good with everything. Especially with carpentry and everything that has to be done in the orphanage.

“You did a great job there, Mr. Sanchez.”

“I know right,” he winks at her. “So, tell me. What really happened here last night, huh? This was still fine when I left you to wash the dishes. We’re you that mad after losing that you broke this?”

“I didn’t do that. I was just as surprised as you when I saw that this morning.”

At some point, she was tempted to tell Kevin what really happened. But knowing how overprotective Kevin is to everyone, he might just end up putting his life in danger. In the end, she chose to believe that she has nothing to fear because the Queen’s army is just around to protect them.

“By the way, where’s Mother Theresa? I can’t see her anywhere. Even your mom. Where did they go? Mother Theresa usually tells me beforehand whenever she has some errand outside the orphanage.”

Kevin immediately looked away from her and started to put away everything he used in fixing the window. “Right, I still need to prepare food for everyone. Since you’re already here, you must help me.”

It was obvious that Kevin avoided her question. It's also obvious that he knows something but just doesn't want to let her know. She couldn't help but worry. Does Mother Theresa have a problem? Is there a problem at the orphanage? If only she could help. Actually, that’s one more reason why she chose to keep to herself what happened last night. She doesn’t want to add more to Mother Theresa’s worries.

She really hopes that her scholarship will be approved. She will start looking for a part-time job as well. Of course, even if she becomes a scholar, she still has expenses to think about. And as much as possible, she doesn't want to depend on Mother Theresa anymore.

"MOTHER Superior, here are the mails we received for the day," said Shiela as she entered the office.

"Thank you, Shiela."

Shiela was about to leave but she paused and looked back at her. It’s as if she’s about to say something but doesn’t know how to begin.

“What is it, Shiela?”

"I promised Czelvie that I won’t tell you about this but I’m really bothered. I'm sorry if I'm being nosy but from what I know, Czelvie is applying for a scholarship at Xavier University. I never heard that she applied to Paramount. That’s why I got surprised when I saw a mail from that school."

She’s not familiar with a lot of Universities. But there’s no way she can’t recognize Paramount.

For the past years, the relationship between vampires and humans has become more peaceful through the help of world leaders and the Vampire King. After his passing, his sister, the Vampire Queen continued his legacy. A sign of that is the existence of Paramount. From what she knows, it's the University where humans and vampires co-exist. But why do they receive mail from them?

When she opens the letter, she immediately notices Czelvie's name. Her heart starts racing as she starts to read the letter.

"As much as possible, I want things to go smoothly. In case you oppose, I can't promise that I can be kind enough to spare your life and the children in the orphanage. So follow my order and don't tell Czelvie anything else other than she got a scholarship from Paramount University.

"Send her to Paramount University. From then on, you no longer need to worry about her. Don't worry. Even after she leaves the orphanage, we will continue to support your institution as gratitude.”

She has a feeling that the letter came from the woman who brought Czelvie to the orphanage sixteen years ago.

"What is it about, Mother Theresa?" asked Shiela who she didn't think was still there.

"Oh, nothing. They just want to invite Czelvie to study at Paramount. I guess they just randomly send this to every University's top student.”

"I see. Well, no matter how great their offer is, for sure Czelvie will reject that."

"You're right," she crumpled the paper. "That's why let's just keep this letter to ourselves. Czelvie doesn’t need to know about this.”

She never expected that that day would still come. And for someone who asked them to take care of her child for sixteen long years, she was offended by the way she was commanding her as if she never took good care of Czelvie.

Though Theresa fears for everyone's safety after being threatened, her conscience can't just send Czelvie there because she was ordered to. If they really want to get Czelvie, they should go to the orphanage themselves.

“I DON’T think she took your message seriously, My Queen. It has been a week and there’s still no sign of Czelvie's presence in the University.”

Farrah clicks her tongue.

“She has no reason to deny my command. Isn’t everything I gave to the orphanage enough for her? That’s why I don’t like being too kind to people. Instead of being thankful, they abuse the goodness of others.”

Her patience used to be short, but it seems that it has become even shorter because of what that Nun did.

“What’s the current situation?”

“As you suspected, it seems that the weak vampires have gradually smelled the blood of the Princess. More and more vampires are attacking the orphanage.

Then that means they’re running out of time. Eventually, even the powerful vampires will be able to track down the orphanage. She had to get Czelvie out of there as soon as possible.

“Give her my last warning. If she still doesn't obey my order, then I have no choice but to take Czelvie by force. “

She no longer cares if Czelvie harbors anger toward her. The important thing is that she can ensure her safety.

“Also, find Xent Kirkwood for me. Tell him I need his service.”

As long as possible, she wanted Czelvie to live a normal life. But after what happened, she doesn’t think she’s still safe in the outside world.

“LET us handle them. Just stay here and relax,” said Khai before he starts hunting the rogue vampires.

They were assigned to Romania to hunt and kill the rogue vampires who are causing chaos in the city. Recently, they were reported killing mostly teenagers around fifteen to seventeen years old. And it doesn’t seem like they were just doing it out of fun. There must be a reason behind it and they need to find it out.

A few groups have been sent there already but all failed to catch them. For the Queen to end up choosing his team this time, they must be desperate.

It’s not like Xent doesn’t trust Khai and Scarlet’s abilities. In fact, he’s confident that they will succeed. But despite Khai’s assurance to handle them, he still followed his members for support. More than proving to everyone that their team is the best, he has to make sure that they will not fail the Vampire Queen.

“s**t,” he cursed when he stumbled.

He hates to admit it but he can sense his body getting weaker each day. It all started after he commit a promise to the Vampire Queen to never drink human blood again. And that was more than fifteen years ago. Though he feeds himself with animal blood, it only gives back his strength momentarily. But despite these side effects, he still chose to stand firm with his vow.

He shakes his head. “This is not the right time for you to act like this, Xent,” he said to himself.

Instead of providing support, he might just end up being a burden to his team. Luckily, he was able to find a wild boar on his way and drink its blood. At least, it can somehow help to replenish his strength.

Since he stopped drinking human blood, he started to have compassion even for animals. That’s why whenever he drinks their blood, he always makes sure not to drink too much so they’d stay alive. But lately, he’s having difficulty controlling himself and ends up killing them just like that night.

As Khai promised, the job is over even before he came there. His team was so chill that no one would think a battle happened in that area. He thought these rogue vampires were so strong. Now he’s disappointed. Not just with these rogue vampires but with all the Vampire Army who came before them. He guesses they all need some extreme retraining.

“You said to leave one alive, right? So, what are we going to do with this guy?” asked Scarlet who was holding an unconscious vampire in his hair.

“In my count, we already killed nineteen of them. Did we miss someone?” asked Khai.

According to the reports they received, they were expecting to encounter around fifteen to twenty rogue vampires. So he guess they already got all of them.

“I think we’re all good. Now it’s time to interrogate that beast.”

He’s walking towards his members when someone appeared in front of him.

“We’ll handle the situation from here. Your team may now leave,” said Aldus, the Vampire assigned by the Queen to handle Romania.

Normally, that’s what usually happens after they succeed in a mission. The assigned country leader will take over and then, they will leave. But at that time, he finds Aldus’s words sound cocky and ungrateful. He didn’t even sound guilty about everything that has happened. Obviously, he failed in his job to protect the country from rogue vampires.

From the beginning, he already has issues with Aldus. He doesn’t find himself fit for the job. He has failed the Queen many times already yet he’s still there. But he guesses the Queen has a reason for doing that. Even so, he could not just leave that mission to Aldus.

“We’ll take care of this till the end. I’ll make sure to find out who’s behind this. If you have a complaint, go tell the Queen.”

He’s sure Aldus will only get embarrassed if he does that. After all, he got the Queen’s consent to take over the situation till the end.

Like him, he has a feeling that Aldus is just trying to remain composed in front of him with respect to the Queen. But deep inside, they’re already getting on each other nerves.

Aldus let out a sigh. “It’s actually the Queen’s order. He wants you out of this mission ASAP.”

He frowns in confusion. He thought they already got an agreement. “For what reason?”

“He wants you to leave the country immediately and go to the Philippines.”

The Philippines? Isn’t that the country where the Vampire Queen is currently at? Why does she want him there in a rush?

He immediately looked at his team members.

“We’re heading to the Philippines.”