BLOODLINES: ANGELO MARKADO

ISLA DE PARTHENA IN THE CITY OF RUINAE

1521 Anno Bhiasti. Hendrix went out early from his hotel room to explore the famous City of Ruinae. Walking the bustling business district, he smiled when he saw the advertisements for the games he created.  

His gaming name and avatar, Hisao, are plastered all over the augmented reality billboards of almost all skyscrapers in the techno-hub city. It took him decades to finally decide to settle in Xego, and he has a feeling that he made the right choice.

Fifteen hundred years ago, Hendrix opened his eyes to a new world, cured and alive. The first few years of his life as a konxelada were tough. He was all alone with no known family or close relatives to ally himself with. 

Established in the gaming world even before he got sick, Hendrix settled and adjusted to his new life after a century. The gaming industry became even more lucrative with the world healed as the global economy is prospering in great exposition.

Being a Gen. V, he’s used to making friends online by doing what he loves the most. Computer gaming, coding, and simulation testing became the sole purpose of his existence. With time and money in his hand, he also enjoyed a nomadic lifestyle, the exact opposite of being locked inside the hospital all his human life. He traveled where he could explore the deepest and bluest ocean, hiked through the most dangerous sss forests, or drove on dunes in the middle of abandoned and lonely deserts. 

Then he became known in the gaming world as Hisao, he not only plays well, but he also designs and codes computer games excellently. As Hisao, he creates an open world where gamers can role play and also code themselves inside the game. The unpredictability of the story as it grows within the realm that Hisao created made the gamers hooked on the play.

Traveling helped him design various world settings, monsters, weapons, and characters he developed inside his game. However, when Kein divided the world into three, his travels became limited to Zapad and Xego. Though his father was originally from the Southeast, known now as Perlaz, being a konxelada, he is not allowed inside the humans’ sanctuary.

He settled in Zapad for quite some time because the most violent and blood-thirsty konxeladas live there. He observed and sometimes participated in the bloodiest and deadliest bloodsports in Zapad and incorporated them in his game simulations. Now in Xego, he is starting a new adventure. 

"GET OUT OF HERE AND NEVER COME BACK, YOU p*****t!"

BLAG!

As Hendrix turned a corner, he found himself on the ground with a foul-smelling butt cheek on his face. He struggled to get up, removing whatever was thrown his way by an angry lady from a famous lingerie store.

Hendrix found himself face to face with a small toddler whose half buttcheeks were exposed. Wearing only a stinky diaper, the poor channak was pitiful with his eyes bloodshot.

"Are you alright kid?" Hendrix asked, concerned that the kid had been crying.

"Hick!" Nzo looked up at Hendrix, drunk.

"I saw Mimis, many, many mimis! In there, hick!" Nzo raised his arms, motioning for Hendrix to pick him up.

It's the first time that Hendrix met a baby konxelada, known as channak or abandoned children. Outside Perlaz, it's pretty rare to see a konxelada as young as the toddler in front of him. He had teenage konxelada followers, but the baby in front of him was so cute that Hendrix liked him instantly.

"Mimis?" Hendrix asked, taking the channak in his arms.

"Yes Mimis, hick! Like this," Nzo attacked Hendrix, opened his shirt,  bit his n****e, and pinched the other one.

******

1921 Anno Bhiasti. Tasty virgin hearts available inside -- is the catchphrase Isla De Parthena clubs are famous for. The high-class brothel has branches all over Zapad and Xego. Gorgeous athenas or virgin konxelada demons are the main dishes offered inside the club.

Female virgin humans, who were inoculated with the vaccine, have intact hymens as konxelada demons despite engaging in s****l activities repeatedly. An athena has a distinct smell and taste that entice customers to pay not just for s*x but also for a virgin heart delicacy.

Centuries ago, as an alternative to satisfy the demons' cravings for blood and hearts of berhen, the athenas of Parthena brothels pleasured them. For the past two hundred years, though, customers came in only to torture bloodless athenas. 

As Hiro opened the door to enter the bar area, he was greeted by a delicious scent that made his heart palpitate. It was very subtle, but his memory made the smell strong that his stomach grumbled.

"Hi, uncle Hiro!" Lumen waved at him enthusiastically.

Hiro's heart skipped a beat. His desire for Lumen grows each day uncontrollably. He knew he should stop coming to this brothel, yet he couldn't resist. He found himself erecting hard in response, but he just smiled back at Lumen, whose innocence is mouthwatering. She has no idea of the danger she's in. The glass bubble surrounding her while cooking in the kitchen can protect her now, but for how long? 

"W-where's your grandpa?" Hiro asked Lumen while signaling for Ben, the bartender, to make him his favorite drink. He knew where Nzo was; they scheduled a meeting today. He just wanted to spend some time talking to Lumen.

"He’s downstairs at the dungeon with uncle Hendrix and papa," Lumen smiled sweetly. She barely shows skin in her shapeless dress, but Hiro finds everything about her sexy. He drank his alcohol in one go and waved to Lumen as he headed downstairs.

"Oh baby, you are ready," an athena grabbed Hiro's crotch, finding him hard and bulging.

"Not tonight, Cindy. Sorry," Hiro kissed the redhead’s forehead and continued his way, trying to calm himself.

F*ck! Stop thinking about Lumen! He thought, cursing in his head.

The basement is rustic and grimy, almost like a dungeon that is partitioned into several storage rooms. Hendrix and the rest are in their usual spot several meters across the bottom of the stairs. 

Lumen's father, Hugo, waved at him. Next to him is baby Nzo, the kid, as they usually call him. The kid in his green overalls sitting on his high chair appeared cute, but the two-year-old channak is in charge of the meeting.

Hendrix regarded Hiro silently. They had been spirit-brothers for hundreds of years until their fallout. Now both of them are allies in saving Lumen while hating each other's guts.

"I have great news! I found a way to transport Lumen safely to Perlaz," Hiro announced once seated.

"Finally!" Hugo said, throwing his hands in the air before holding his head together in relief. The old man has been weary for years, thinking of ways to save his daughter.

"Missing berhen, more, yes, more, again," the kid said in his baby voice.

"I heard in the news. I’m sorry," Hiro said quietly. The news about a missing high school girl didn’t mention anything about her being a berhen. Only Nzo and the others see a pattern, but the Xego authorities do not entertain the theory that berhen are being systematically targeted and victimized.

So this is the reason why it felt like I’m at a funeral, Hiro thought. He’s disappointed that his news wasn't received with cheering and gratitude as he expected.

"Can you really arrange a safe passage for Lumen? There’s still the airport problem, right?" Hendrix asked, being protective of Lumen at all costs. Even If it means having Hiro as his ally, and no matter how Hiro sometimes makes it hard for them to work together again.

"Who says we will use public transportation?" Hiro said smugly, offended by Hendrix's doubt.

"I can't thank the both of you enough!" Hugo blurted, almost in tears. This eased the tension that was building between Hendrix and Hiro.

"Lumen to Perlaz first," the kid said, sucking his thumb.

Hiro and Hendrix synchronously growled and breathed deeply while looking at the bottom of the stairs. 

"Papa, there are..."

"No! Illuminata! No! No! No!" The kid threw a tantrum and scared Lumen. She knew she was in trouble when her grandpa screamed her full name. Hugo immediately grabbed his daughter and pushed her inside the room with an installed air-filtering system commonly used in livestock production. With it, Lumen’s scent is locked inside the room with her.

"Boys, No! No! Lumen is family," the kid was on the table distracting Hiro and Hendrix, who couldn't take their eyes off where Hugo brought his daughter. Because she’s in between her menstruation schedule, Lumen’s scent today is most potent and irresistible to the konxelada demons, even to Hendrix and Hiro, who are determined to protect her.

"I'm sorry," Hendrix covered his nose. He could see scales forming on Hiro's ears to his neck. Admittedly, he is impressed by Hiro's self-control. The Hiro he knew before would lose it right away.

"Hiro, you want out?" the kid asked in his limited vocabulary.  The channak could see that more than Hendrix, Hiro is having difficulty calming down.  

Instead of answering, Hiro just stood up and ran upstairs in a hurry. He went straight to the back alley of the bar, trembling. After taking in fresh air mixed with the stink of pees and puke, he pulled out his necklace and opened its pendant, a vial. Hiro dabbed his fingertip on the red liquid inside the vial and licked it. As he waited for the blood to take effect, he started to calm down and control his transition.

F*uck! If not for those around him, he could have taken Lumen in a snap. The kid is right though, Lumen is family, and she must not be harmed. She is from Cathy's bloodline, and Cathy was the love of his life, so he will do this, he can, for Cathy's memory.

No! Hiro shook his head to stop thinking of Cathy.  The thought of her is making him hard again. When he walked back inside, he saw the kid and Hendrix involved in a bar fight.

"What's going on?" Hiro asked Zonia, an athena nearby whom he used to date.

"That guy kept asking about what smelled good and wanted to order it. Ben pointed at Cindy and said it's her p***y. So he took Cindy upstairs in one of the rooms, and then he came down demanding a refund," Zonia said while sitting with her feet up on the table as if she's watching a good game. They are used to bar fights, though it's kind of boring without blood spills.

"That's it?" Hiro asked, not understanding what the fuss was all about.

"So Cindy gave him the refund by cutting his p***s off. That's when I told Lumen to go downstairs and hide," Ben added. Being human, Lumen is just an ordinary young lady to him.

"Why did Cindy become involved when you could just refund the guy his money?" Zonia was equally puzzled. 

"Coz he blurted that Cindy's p***y smelled like fish sauce," Ben chuckled.

Hiro laughed too.  Compared to Lumen's smell, the guy was right.  Hiro Takashi Hajji, a twenty-five-year-old chinky-eyed gorgeous konxelada doesn't sleep with athenas anymore.  He got better taste, and as the son of the district governor and founder of Xego, he can afford a better-smelling berhen than an athena like Cindy.

Hendrix finally subdued the three guys with minimal damage to the bar. What's the point of prolonging a bloodless fight anyway? Hendrix threw the complaining demon and his friends out the door together with their decapitated limbs. He must admit, bloodless battles may not be as fun, but at least it’s not as messy.

"Leave now! Go! Don’t come back st*pid pieces of motherf*cking garbage!" The kid may have a limited vocabulary, but his foul mouth has an endless supply of profanity. He kicked a severed arm that landed on the gutter. He may be small, but he is a fierce fighter too, especially when sober.

The scene reminded Hiro of a fight that led him to the discovery of Lumen. It is unfortunate, though, that Hendrix knew about Lumen too.

The konxeladas thrown out of the brothel didn't go far, though.

"You smelled the place, right?" Tani asked his two friends.

"Yes. What is it? I've been to other parthenas in town, but this one is different, " Oskie attached his cut-off arm, not wanting to wait to regenerate.

"They are hiding a human virgin in that brothel," Tani is sure about this.

"A b-berhen? Seriously?" Oskie licked his lips in excitement. 

"She is not for you to eat,” Tani broke off Oskie’s arm again, annoyed, “We will earn koine out of that berhen. I know someone who will buy her for hefty cryptocurrency points," 

"Who?" Cody asked after fixing his broken leg.

"The governor's son," Tani said while dialing the phone embedded inside his left wrist.