Crimson Moon

Heading Home

Sun had shone at the eastern hemisphere but the thick clouds covered it's radiance filling the land of Transylvania with shadows. But it wasn't the same inside Nyctdonia. Everything was covered with darkness. Even if morning comes, there would still be no sun. It was a cursed place, as the elders say. Rumors circulated among the townsfolk saying that a powerful-ranked noble vampire was housed inside Nyctdonia.

"You promised me about going back to my grandmother's house to take my things." Liliana said as she slices a portion of a steak and the chowed it down her mouth.

Vladimir raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed. We're going back there." There was a tone of force with Vladimir's reply. He never wanted Liliana to go outside Nyctdonia unaccompanied.

Liliana was stunned. She wasn't expecting the vampire to accompany her or else they'd be getting into trouble nonetheless.

"We? I never said you can accompany me!" Her voice rose into a high pich.

"There are ravenous creatures lurking outside Nyctdonia and I will never allow my property to go out the gates and be feasted upon those lowly fiends." This time, Vladimir's tone got serious. His red eyes were glaring towards Liliana.

Cold wind rushed into Liliana's spine. Vladimir was dead serious.

"Well... If you insist?"

She never spoke a word until she finished eating the steak.

"By the way, I'm going to wear my original clothes when we go outside. They've been washed already right?"

Clearing his throat, Vladimir clearly remembered that he commanded Margareth to toss those torn clothes to the incinerator under Igorov's laboratory deep below the castle. He gulped a saliva and afterwards replied to Liliana.

"I may have made a terrible mistake... You see, I asked Margareth to toss those wolf-torn garments into the incinerator."

"Ah! What?! So I am going outside looking like this?"

Liliana turned around inspecting her clothing.

The clothing was comfortable but it was too vulgar for the taste of everyone living in Transylvania. A little bit more and people can see the hills of your soul.

Facepalmed. Liliana couldn't wear the dress outside plus her clothes were tossed at the incinerator.

Then... The proud vampire had an idea.

"Wait... I'll show you what you'll wear when we go there."

Leading up to the stairs on the fourth floor of the castle, Vladimir opened up a dusty room full of cobwebs. The room was unused. It seemed like a guestroom but clearly, nobody has ever used it for years.

"Wait, wear these."

Vladimir opened up the closet. There were clothes inside. All of the dresses were from the Victorian era. All of the dresses were unapproved by Liliana except for ONE.

"This one. I would like to wear it." pointing at lightly tailored crimson ball dress, Liliana then moved closer and picked up the hanger and lifted the dress. It was simple yet elegant.

"Try it on." -Vladimir

"Okay. Wait outside. I'll come out after I'm finished changing."- Liliana

Vladimir smiled then exited the room. He waited for five minutes and then afterwards, Liliana then shouted.

"Okay, you can come in now."

Seeing Liliana wearing the red long dress, he felt ecstatic but even so, he tried to hold it in since he made a promise that he'll accompany her outside Nyctdonia today.

"You're absolutely stunning." -Vladimir

"Stop bluffing me. You only said that so you can take a bite right?"-Liliana

"Is that always what humans think about me? Always wanting to drink blood and such?" -Vladimir

"Hmm... That's before but now, humans love you. They think you're handsome and powerful like that."-Liliana

"But aren't I?"-Vladimir

"Aren't you what?"-Liliana

"Handsome and powerful."-Vladimir

"Scam. Humans lie alot."-Liliana

"What is a scam?"-Vladimir

"It's an expression where someone makes up things then end up expecting nothing. SCAM."-Liliana

"What an interesting word... Scam. I think I should use it often... Scam... Scam.."-Vladimir

"Eh... You can stop right there."-Liliana

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[Transylvania, Elmwood Forest: Territory of the Rebellious Wolves]

Growls can be heard echoing inside the cave where the rebellious pack of wolves gathered for a meeting.

"You are to be blamed for the death of those three sentries! As you commanded sentries to gather foods, you led those three to the border near Nyctdonia!"-Edor

"We did not know that the lord of vampires will make his move that night! It was unanticipated! What do you suppose to make me do? Let my pack starve?!"-Ion

"The instructions given by the head chieftain were clear, Ion! Never venture on the borders of Nyctdonia no matter how abundant the foodsource."-Edor

"The village of Elmwood was the only village that we can attack because of their vulnerability but we did not expect that the dark lord took a liking to a country girl in the village."-Ion

The growling continued on until they heard a loud pound coming from outside the cave. A wolf much larger than all of them marched inside. His fangs were longer than them and has a scar on his left eye. The chieftain of the rebellious wolves had arrived. Nedavir Crywolf.

All of the wolves were as silent as dead. Nobody dared to growl at the presence of the chieftain.

"You all were growling until I had arrived..."-Nedavir

"Chieftain. There had been an unfortunate event... Our three sentries from Ion's pack had been-"-Edor

"I had already heard the news. So it was true. The dark lord took a fascination to that feeble weakling."-Nedavir

"Yes chieftain. The proximity near Nyctdonia had been restricted for us now after the dark lord made his move, it is perilous for us to venture there."-Edor

"Yes, it is dangerous. But I remember after my sentries died, I saw the dark lord come out of the house bringing a mortal girl with him."-Ion

Nedavir's eyes glowed. It was not the first time that he heard about the dark lord taking a fascination but to bring the girl to his castle, it was something new to him.

"He brought the mortal weakling to his castle?!"-Nedavir

"Yes he did, chieftain. They have not come out eversince."-Ion

"If we could get our claws on the girl, surely we can strike a deal to the dark lord."-Edor

Thinking deep long and hard, Nedavir weighted the decision first before facing the wolves again.

"To strike a deal to the dark lord, gather your sentries and form a pack... We will abduct the feeble mortal today!"-Nedavir

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(Elmwood Village, Transylvania)

From the distance, the cheering of the rebellious wolves sent chills to the spine of everyone living in Elmwood. They had lived to survive the night after they fled their village a day before the wolves attacked. It was unfortunate how Elizabeth Van Helsing died and how she was uninformed of the situation. The villagers' whispers buzzed around the village as a grinning person passed by heading inside a house presumably owned by the village chief.

The door shuts behind him. He then sat in front of the fireplace as he grinned and happily laughed as his plan had already took effect.

"The death of the Van Helsing's is sure a delight to be heard. I wouldn't be framed for the death of her because they all knew that she died because the wolves attacked the village."-Morgen

Taking a bottle of liquor with his hand, he poured a glass and started drinking as the door from a room creaked open. The room reeks of unexplained foul smell similar to the smell of cadaver in decomposition state then a spectral entity's presence leaked out of the room whispering to him.

"You still failed to kill the Van Helsings. There is still one left."-Ophelia

"No! I didn't! I already killed them all. There are no Van Helsings left in Elmwood. I could be the village chief forever."-Morgen

"Fool! You do not know that the young girl liveth! Elizabeth Van Helsing may have died but the girl, she lived to see the day. Do something about it!"-Ophelia

"Y-yes, my dear."-Morgen

The door shut tight. Morgen felt numb. His wife Ophelia practiced necromancy and can see into the future. His wife predicted that one day, the Van Helsings will be the leader of the village and sentence him to death because he embezzled lots of money for his personal desires leaving the village suffering because of his greed.

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(Elmwood, Transylvania: Residence of the Van Helsings)

An ebony carriage rode fast like the wind heading to the fiords outside Nyctdonia's border crossing to a small village of Sibiu called Elmwood.

Liliana crossed arms. She proposed this idea to Vladimir because she never wanted to go ride a back of a giant bat nor ride a shroud of mist heading to a village of humans. The carriage was old fashioned but it was the best choice that Vladimir can offer to her since they only have horses as a means of transportation.

"Don't you all have motorcycles here or something?"-Liliana

"No. I don't ride such frivolous things. It's absurd of me riding on a commoner's heapscrap."-Vladimir

The argument continued until the horseman signaled that they have already reached the village.

"Alright, we're here. This won't take a minute. The sun is bright so you'll have to stay here."-Liliana

"You mortals think that the sun will kill a noble like me?"-Vladimir

"Uh, kind of? Yeah?"-Liliana

Vladimir proudly stepped out of the coach and into the sun. His skin didn't burn. It was natural of him to step out to the sun but he wore funny looking shades.

"It turns out that we were wrong? I guess..."-Liliana

"You all were wrong. Only the ones who have turned to vampires without consuming their master's blood burns under the sun but nobles such as I, we don't burn."-Vladimir

"But your eyes, does the sun hurt?"-Liliana

"Yes. My eyes have been prolonged seeing the darkness and it is very sensitive to light."-Vladimir

Liliana nodded and afterwards, both entered inside the shabby house where death had been. Liliana took careful steps as she creaked the door to her room open. There, she could see her phone still on the bed and her stuff inside the closet still intact. Taking a suitcase, she chugged all of her clothes inside it and organized her other stuff inside the suitcase.

As for Vladimir, he was bored of waiting in the living room and decides to get out of the house exploring the village. Making his way through the center of the village, Vladimir passed through a suspicious man heading for the Van Helsing's house. It seemed like there was a brief pause after passing by the man. The man's clothing reeked of necrotic spells. Vladimir sensed the danger. He rushed back to the house and found Liliana inside her room only with her undergarments.

"W-What?!"-Liliana

"I'm sorry. I sensed danger so I-"-Vladimir

He hurriedly exited the room. Vladimir never felt embarrassed throughout the centuries but it was the first time that he had felt the same feeling 500 years ago once again.