Sixth Bloodline [BxB]

CHAPTER 21: DANTE [WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?]

THE STENCH was too much for Mikhael to handle as he passed through the horde of frenzied vampires. Whenever one noticed him, they'd lung at him, yet before they got too close, Mikhael would've already finished blowing a bullet though their brains.

"s**t," he was naive. Too naive.

As if led by that noise, more vampires turned their heads to Mikhael before changing the track of their original, aimless wandering. Still, Mikhael who realized the severity of this situation didn't dare to be careless as he continued to shot more bullets through their brains, attracting an even bigger crowd to him.

The full moon high up the sky allowed him to clearly see the atrocities happening all over the streets of New York, but he was unable to do anything about it.

He couldn't stop.

"f**k, where are you?" His eyes frantically scanned the crowd as he mercilessly pierced through. Although whatever was going on didn't affect him much unlike those vampires, Mikhael didn't want to stay here for too long.

Apparently, this weird smell didn't affect humans, and Mikhael being a half one could somewhat deal with it, yet he could sense that his thirst for blood grew stronger with each passing moment he spent here.

"How many..." Just how many people have died by now?

"How much..." And how much more is needed before this stops. Will it all end if he destroys the source of this?

What if it doesn't?

What if those affected don't revert to normal?

How can he know which are fine and which aren't? What if humans bring this virus outside despite not being affected themselves?

What to do?

What the f**k should he do???

Can he really afford to let even a single one of those affected out? One creates two, two bring forth third, and so fourth and fifth...

What if the entire world ends up like this one day?

"Damn it!" Which sick bastard did this? What does he think people's lives are? Mikhael too has killed his share, so he perhaps shouldn't preach on this subject; but even he, even thought he has the power to do so - he never thought of wiping out the entire population of some place; the world even!

Thus is too sick. Those vampires had no idea what they were doing. Driven by their insatiable thirst, they sought food even thought that food became what killed them. Which was worse? To starve forever or die to stop it?

Mikhael was someone who could go for five years, sometimes even an entire decade without blood if he really wanted, he merely fed on time in case something unexpected happened so that he won't lose his mind when he gets hungry. But now, despite having a human side to him to suppress his food, Mikhael felt like he would die if he failed to drink blood right now.

However Mikhael's is someone who already lived for eight centuries, so this thirst is nothing on psychological level.

When he first changed and learned to control his thirst under Einz's influence, Mikhael was put under much worse starvation training.

But now was not the time to think about it. There was a more pressing matter over his thirst and those fuckers around him.

"Dante, answer me dammit! This isn't the time to play hide-and-seek!"

Shit. s**t. s**t. s**t. s**t!

He shouldn't have left that best alone. In this mess where he, a half-blood felt like he's about to lose his mind, someone like that kid should already be—

No!

He's fine.

He's stronger than ordinary vampires.

"Answer me, Dante!" In the end, his calls for help only made him s bigger target as those vampires focused on him instead. Luckily for him, his weapons didn't need psychical bullets, so he could continue to fire at will. But they did consume his own blood instead. Drop by drop, as he wasted his blood and corpses that didn't turn to ash for some reason we're like s poisonous swamp that reached his knees, preventing him from going further.

The more blood he lost, the bigger his thirst grew and the hazier his sight became.

Vampires that attacked humans turned to ash, those that he shot with his bullets didn't. In the end, the once bustling Times Square turned into a graveyard for over three thousand corpses.

"f**k," Mikhael doesn't recall cursing this many times in his entire life.

How did he get into this mess? He was only looking for some mad serial killer, yet what he found in the end was this. Even the nobles stationed in this city fell to this vicious cycle of m******e.

"Da—nte," why did he bring that kid along. He should've known better. He shouldn't have deemed this as some harmless case. He did know that Dante has power to protect himself, but this is too much even for someone like him!

's**t!'

In the end, it's all his fault. He grew complacent with his power, he believed that no matter what he found out tonight, he'd have enough power to protect that brat! What power! He was just a single person - he can't protect a single thing!

"Damn... It..." His movements became sluggish. He couldn't properly aim his gun and react in time anymore, a vampire manager to break through his defence and sink his fangs in Mikhael's hand.

"Damn it!" Not being able to say anything else other than repeat those empty curses, Mikhael raised his other hand and shot through that vampire's head. However, due to his weakness, the bullet that killed that vampire ended up piercing his own hand.

"DAMN IT!!!"

Holding in a muffled groan, for even Mikhael can't escape an AV bullet unscratched, despite it being from his own blood, Mikhael had no strength left to raise that left hand of his.

Realising that his hand slowly began to gain a bluish hue, Mikhael didn't hesitate before blowing five more bullets to his shoulder, the hand fell off as Mikhael dropped to his knees.

'f**k! f**k! f**k! f**k! f**k! It hurts!'

He could only register pain at that moment, his already vague blood began to spill more from that wound, but luckily, no skin from onward continued to change color. Still, Mikhael could feel terror from what happened just now.

His entire arm, despite only having changed color seemed like it didn't have a single drop of blood.

Just as he was about to stand and continue forward, he felt a piercing pain in his eyes and chest making him scream out. His cry was so loud that it echoed though the silent streets of New York. Few wandering vampires turned to his direction, finally noticing the smell of delicious blood growing from his wound.

In the next moment, they angrily hissed before lunging in his direction, but Mikhael who couldn't focus on anything but the pain in his eyes couldn't do anything about it. In the end, his entire body was trampled under various vampires that fought to drink his blood. Whenever one bit him, they'd turn to dust, in turn creating space for the one above it to have its fill.

He himself doesn't know how many times he's been bitten, but those measly stings were nothing compared to the feeling of his his eyes burning on fire.

He couldn't even scream - his throat's been ripped off by some unknown vampire that died immediately after, the aging lasted for seconds, minutes, hours, days, years... Eternity.

Mikhael was no longer able to tell time. Alone with only that pain to accompany him, he wasn't sure if he was dead or alive anymore.

And then, everything stopped.

The pain, the anguish, the darkness, the noise of countless vampires thirsting his blood.

Moving his hands from his eyes, Mikhael was surprised that he could see normally again and that his body was fine, even his hand regrew back.

There was only white around him, but surprisingly he didn't fell fear nor discomfort from this unfamiliar environment.

"Why?"

It was then that a weak voice asked making him immediately turn around.

"Dante..." He happily called out his name, but once he saw the state young boy was in front of him, an indescribable chill rose in his heart.

"W-what the hell happened?"

"Why, Mikhael?" Still, the eyeless figure covered in blood only continued to ask with monotonous voice.

"Oi, Dante. This isn't the time to be joking around..." Mikhael wanted to come next to the boy, yet his feet did the complete opposite by retreating w step back.

"Why did you do it, Mikhael?"

"..." The figure started walking to him, red blood dripping down its orifices and half its neck missing that made his head away unstably made this scene so eerie that Mikhael almost threw up.

"Why didn't you save me?"

"I... I tried to. I called out to you, I was searching for you..."

"Lie."

"No, I..." Mikhael wanted to say something, yet in a moment, Dante appeared right in front of him.

"You didn't try to save me, Mikhael. See..." He pointed his bloodied hand at Mikhael.

Following his gaze, Mikhael lowered his head to see his previously clean hands stained with blood. There was that metallic, yet sweet taste of blood in his mouth - there was too much of it that Mikhael couldn't say a word. No matter if he tried to speak or spit it out, the blood remained in his mouth, choking him, as if cursing him and reminding him of his gravest sin.

"After all, you killed me so that you could save yourself," Dante's bloody lips twitched upwards before making what would be a bewitching smile, yet only made him look even more eerie in this situation.

Mikhael frantically shook his head, but no matter what he said, Dante's blood all over his body remained glued to his skin like irrefutable proof.

"You did it, Mikhael. It was you who killed me."

"..."

Then he placed his thin hand over Mikhael's chest.

"Then... Shouldn't you also die once my sake to make us even?"

His hand pierced through Mikhael's chest before pulling out a blue, beating heart. Heart that was Mikhael's, yet wasn't.

"Surely, you won't protest, right? Not when you killed me first?"

IN THAT moment, Mikhael woke up with a startle. Touching his chest that still remember the trauma of pain when that hand pierced through it, Mikhael gasped for air as he tightly clutched the shirt he wore. If he could, he would've ripped out his heart once again just to make sure that it was still there, but he managed to find reason before actually going along with that crazy plan.

Ever since that day, Mikhael's abilities as a vampire began to deteriorate as his human side became more dormant. But even so, twenty years of humanity couldn't possibly overwrite eight centuries of his life as a vampire so easily, so he was fine for now.

But what after another twenty, fifty, or even hundred years?

Won't he completely lose his abilities as a vampire and entirely become a human being? What is keeping him alive right now will eventually kill him as well, the only difference is that this way he'll have few more decades left to live.

For now, that which is sealed should remain sealed for all eternity, if somehow his nature as a vampire awakens completely...

Those corpses were laying dormant for a month before destroying entire New York. Then want about Mikhael's body that kept that virus sealed for two decades?

Won't he alone be enough to wipe out the entire Earth?

He shivered in fear.

It's been a long time since he last had those dreams. It was probably because he saw that blue corpse that he recalled those unpleasant memories.

"A bad dream, Flame?" Realising that he wasn't alone, Mikhael turned his head to Ethan who was leisurely sitting on a chair nearby making him gulp.

Mikhael... Didn't happen to say something weird during that nightmare, right?

Looking around him, he noticed that he was lying in the bed back to Ethan's room he also managed to occupy since he was accompanying the later party every night here. Glancing at the digital clock on the wall, he was surprised to see that it's almost midnight.

Ah, he slept so little... What use was this sleep? He finally managed to rest for a while, but he'd rather accompany Ethan than dream of that day.

"I..." He nervously looked at the other party that raised an eyebrow, "I didn't happen to say something weird, right? I have a habit of sprouting nonsense when I sleep," in any case, how many Dante's are there in the world? Ethan shouldn't notice anything weird, right?

"Nothing much," except for screaming in pain, asking to be killed and saying something about not having killed someone, "I just came here, so I don't know."

Mikhael sighed in relief. He must make sure to not fall asleep next to Ethan anymore... Ah, wait. There's a more pressing matter right now!

"Did you entice me to sleep?" He suspiciously glanced at the other party who only mysteriously smiled before standing up.

"I wonder."

"..."

He definitely did! That's the face of someone smug with his evil plan being successful!

"Did you ever use that on me before?"

There's a reason why vampires could remain hidden all this time and have sips of blood from living humans as snacks without being remembered and found. Don't underestimate those shameless vampires, over 60% of government was compromised of vampires,ah!

The power of words and suggestions — it's like the first thing a vampire should use other than controlling his thirst and change.

Fuck!

Mikhael, who had a perfect history of eight centuries of never having fallen under the effects of that damned power finally failed! It was always him playing with other vampires, never the other way around! He suddenly became depressed. Too much, even if he lowered his guard in front of Ethan because of the recent events, this was simply too much!

However, Ethan's next words sealed a critical blow to his heart.

"No, don't blame your shamelessness and lasciviousness when begging I'm bed on me. That's purely your own nature."

"..."

Fuck you and your shameless nature!

"Moreover, you're covered in sweat. Take a shower before coming down, you can't go like that and attract unwanted attention," Ethan headed towards the doors, "I'll be waiting for you downstairs, you have five minutes."

And then he was gone, leaving Mikhael all alone for the first time after sticking to his side for entire week.

Mikhael only tilted his head in confusion. Asking him to shower now and go downstairs must mean that they have something else to do tonight. Perhaps Ethan too wanted to secretly investigate the crime scene like Mikhael.

"But attract attention and only five minutes..." What the heck, only five minutes? Who the hell showers that fast nowadays?

Ah, he must've meant that their enemies would smell Mikhael's sweat, don't underestimate those fuckers. They could smell a stinkbug from five miles if they focused, and if there was someone on patrol at night down there's they'd naturally be more focused.

But shower, huh? Why the bother, Mikhael could just spray his odd perfumes to hide their scent - but he still decided to do as told. Good stuff, he got them for cheap — it was a good idea to loot Hunters HQ for few decades' worth of supplies.

As expected of his sixth sense before coming to the last mission, he knew trouble was on his way.

But... hopefully he finds something good tonight. More than anyone else, Mikhael needed to find the mastermind behind the Blue Death. Although the chances were low, there's a hope that he can get a antidote for his own body.

Although it was more painful that happy, Mikhael didn't want to give up this life of his.

He could somewhat see mortals' despair and curiosity of vampire life. Regardless of who it was, everyone would feel unwilling to just die when they knew that there's a way to survive.

In the end, not daring to piss of Ethan, Mikhael finished getting prepared in those record dive minutes - although he wanted to stay inside the warm shower for few more hours. Vampires, though hating sun, actually preferred warmth - Mikhael was most certainly not an exception to this case.

If he didn't come here, he would've enjoyed his peaceful life all alone.

In any case, he can always go to his beloved island where not even Hunter HQ would be able to find him if he gets bored of life on the mainland.

But... If this grumpy Pureblood chose to let him sleep more often like today, then be would be satisfied with Eden as well. He would only be below one and above everyone else, could go and cause trouble, have Ethan help him, sleep and enjoy good s*x life forever.

Unless another Great War happens, perhaps?

No way, which mad race would want to fight again...

'Hm, wait a minute...'

This time, it were only vampires and humans who fought, right? Then, the others, like werewolves that supposedly "don't go outside" nor witches who only busy themselves deep in the mountains did nothing? They won't change their mind, right?

Mikhael suddenly felt like he set himself a death flag.

"As expected, I really shouldn't be left alone with only my thoughts to accompany me," he didn't get weird ideas last week because he was plotting how to escape Ethan or *cough cough* preoccupied with mature thoughts, but once his good charm left him alone, the curse that made Ethan become a pirate or kidnap a Vatican priest just because he angered him once and force him to hold a wedding for vampires he hated so much came back in full force.

Seeing Ethan in front of him, his thoughts suddenly shifted to witches.

That medicine is something only a maniac such as Healers could make, but why would a vampire be into making something that could make them all go extinct? He suddenly recalled that note on the coffin he threw Ethan in.

If they used New York as an experiment, there ought to be someone watching over the situation - do they should know about Mikhael too... But how? He wore a mask back then all the time...

No, he took it off at one moment, when he lost sight for a while and... When he fed on Dante.

But a vampire would die in that situation, so it could be a witch - who also loved to play with potions or a spell-caster, since Mikhael suspected a spell-caster to have left the note on the coffin a week ago.

"How troublesome," things were getting out of hand.

"Hopefully, we do find something more tonight," Mikhael did hope that his crazy idea didn't involve a witch. Witch would meddle with ordinary affairs only with agreement from her coven, else she'd be hunted down by her own kind.

And if the coven allowed for this madness then they might be really aiming to wipe out vampires and perhaps even humans.

Then, it really would be the beginning of another Great War.