Melanie drew her hand backwards, pulling the arrow as she aimed it at the vampires before letting it go. The arrow split itself into three more arrows as it flew in speed before spreading out in different directions and hitting three vampires.

  Most of the enemy vampires on this side were immobilized. Melanie, Simon and the others took advantage of this. But the diffuser that Melanie had used was heavy in the air, and Simon inhaled it while moving around, making his movements slower than before.

  "Simon?" Melanie shouted his name in worry.

  Simon, who had stood still for a moment, caught hold of the enemy vampire's hand, pushing it away before head butting the person. He turned to her and asked, "Do you by any chance have a mask, the smoke is getting into my head."

  Another vampire, who was still able to move, came behind Simon, putting his arm around Simon's neck. Melanie pulled out the gun which she had stuck in the back of her jeans, pulling the trigger at the other vampire, who fell backwards, while releasing Simon from his hold.

  "Let me get you out of here," said Melanie, putting Simon's arm around her shoulder and walking out from there without the hunter's attention, who were busy to pay attention to them.

  "Wow, what did you put in that?" asked Simon, taking a deep breath of the fresh air which wasn't polluted.

  "Remember the candies my parents used to give us and the Silverwater which was given to me?" asked Melanie, and Simon nodded. "I used them in the laboratory when no one was there."

  Simon hit his chest, a smile appearing on his lips when Melanie looked at him with concern. He said, "Your parents aren't going to be happy if they see you here."

  "I know…… But they will need to accept this about me. That I will not fight with them, and I will fight for something that I believe in. Not what they believe in," said Melanie, and Simon nodded.

  "Absolutely right. Do you see that old man, who locked you up in your basement?"

  "Jack Archer?" asked Melanie, she shifted her eyes away from him to look at the people not too far away. "That's the one," she whispered when her eyes fell on the salt and peppered bearded man.

  Simon turned his head, looking in the direction where Melanie was looking and then his eyes fell on the old hunter.

  "How would you like him? Dead, or broken?" questioned Simon, and Melanie's eyes widened. "Didn't you say you had scores to settle?"

  "I do, but isn't death too much," Melanie wanted to beat the old hunter for hurting her. For slapping her.

  "Well, if you want my opinion, I would say it's actually very easy. I would love to torture him, but I doubt a man like him would take it well if you leave him alive," replied Simon, feeling better now as his senses were back. "How about I give you a little demonstration?"

  Melanie watched Simon leave her side and walk straight toward the old hunter. When the old man caught sight of Simon, he quickly raised his gun, started firing bullets at Simon, which the vampire had already expected. It took Simon only a few steps of moving left and right to dodge it, making it appear as if he was dancing in the middle of the forest.

  Simon loudly said to the hunter, "I believe you have my girlfriend's phone? Care to return it?"

  Jack glared at Simon, and he pulled out another gun, aiming it at Simon, firing one bullet after another, and each of them went to waste. Simon increased his speed, and he pushed the older man against the tree, and the hunter resisted.

  "I fucking knew that you were a vampire! I should have shot you that very night when we were attacked," said Jack with gritted teeth.

  "Maybe you should have but what is the use of crying over spilt milk, right? You know we don't have to do this. Let us come to an agreement," Simon offered with a smile.

  "Vampires and hunters will never work together! You are not supposed to walk on these lands," Jack tried to claw Simon's face, but Simon didn't care about it.

  "Launch it!" shouted Jack.

  Melanie didn't know why Jack said those words, but the very next moment, she saw two men running towards where Simon and Jack stood, and the men held a bigger stake in their arms.

  "Simon! Watch out!" shouted Melanie, but the men had appeared right behind Simon, and they swung the large wood forward.

  "Ah……!"

  It was Jack, who gasped, and the other two hunters' eyes went wide as Simon didn't stand there anymore. And instead, they had driven the wood straight at the head hunter's stomach.

  The two hunters looked left and right, wondering where the vampire went, and Jack coughed blood from his mouth. Melanie turned confused as her eyes tried to find where Simon was right now. One moment he was standing there, and the next, he wasn't.

  "I told you we should join hands, but your old ass is still stuck with your old ways," came Simon's words, who stood next to another tree with his arms crossed. "We have bigger problems here, than your feud with all of the vampire kind."

  "H-how did you—" one of the hunters questioned, with their mouths trembling because they had tried to kill him.

  "Just some special skills," Simon shrugged his shoulders.

  Jack tapped his hand on the wood, and the men quickly pulled the wood out of his stomach, for him to only cough more blood while he bled.

  "Sir!" the hunter called the man, who held his stomach with a painful expression on his face.

  "Kill that vampire!" shouted one of the hunters, and Melanie stepped forward to fight the hunters. And seeing her, they looked surprised.

  "What are you doing, Melanie?" one of the female hunters questioned her.

  "Helping my boyfriend," answered Melanie. Maybe she wouldn't have said it if it weren't for Jack and her parents who had slapped and locked her in the basement.

  "You know what we do with the traitors!" another hunter warned her, and Melanie couldn't believe how easy it was for these people to give up on each other. One moment they were on her side, and the next moment, they were ready to kill her.

  "Kill the traitor and the vampires!" came the chorus voices, and they started firing bullets at Melanie and Simon, fighting with them when Mr. Davis appeared on the scene.

  "Stop! There is something I need to convey!" Mr. Davis shouted, trying to get the attention of his fellow hunters. "I said STOP!" came his hoarse voice, and the hunters around paused themselves.

  "What is it, Davis?" demanded one of the hunters, "Did you know that your daughter is siding with the vampires?!"

  Mr. Davis's eyes fell on his daughter, kicking another fellow hunter. They had locked her in the basement. How did she come here? But this was not the time. He turned to look at his fellow hunters and said, "We need to fight the other vampires!"

  "What do you think we have been doing until now?" questioned the other hunter with a confused look.

  Mr. Davis shook his head and said, "No. There was a confusion, and there are two different vampires in here. We need to fight the ones who are intruding. The ones with the baggy and patchy clothes!"

  "What difference does it make?" The hunter spat, aiming his gun at Melanie, and Mr. Davis pushed the man's face to the closest tree.

  "You listen well here. And listen carefully. There is a creature in here that we cannot fight, and we need the vampires to fight it before we all get killed!" explained Mr. Davis with a serious look on his face. "I want you to inform the other hunters that we are going to kill only one specific set of vampires!"

  "What's the meaning of this?" asked another hunter, "Are we now siding with them? You must be bullshitting. This was not our decision when we left the meeting!"

  Mr. Davis turned frustrated because he knew convincing the hunters to side with some of the vampires would be difficult. They had come here to hunt all the vampires and not side with them. But he needed to do this. The vampire who had offered to help, his words were clear—
'Ask your men to stop fighting my vampires, because as you see ahead of you, there's something much more deadly than just sucking out blood. We would like your men to fight with us, or leave this place and never return. Unless you prefer to sacrifice them for no actual cause.'

  'Also,' the man said before he could leave, 'Make sure it they listen. Hunters listen only to other hunters, very rarely to vampires. Hurry now.'

  "AHHHH!" someone screamed, running from the direction where Joaquin had unleashed his creature. The boy flailed his hands in the air.

  "What's the matter, Kurtis?!" questioned one of the hunters.

  "There's a monster there who is ripping our people apart!" and the boy named Kurtis continued to run without wanting to fight anymore. "Run before you get killed!! Hurry!" he screamed.

  Mr. Davis calmly, but quickly said, "We have lost many of our hunters, and the vampires in here are offering a possible peace. What we have ahead of us is nothing but death."

  "I want to see who this creature is! We came here to kill the vampires and not help those blood sucking monsters," glared another hunter.

  "Then let me show you what is there," said Mr. Davis, leading them to the place.

  When they reached the center of Veteris, they noticed many vampires fighting each other, but one vampire stood out compared to the rest. Behind him stood a large black shadow-like creature that right now tore one of the men into two parts. It had long, smoke-like boney hands.

  "What the hell is that thing?!"

  "Only the vampires can defeat it," said Mr. Davis, "We are free to fight, or leave now."

  "That's impossible! We will never submit to them!"

  Mr. Davis pointed his hand at the creature and said, "We are no match to it, and if that thing comes out of here, forget about us, there won't be any humans living the way they are right now."

  Though the hunters were not willing to listen to what the vampires wanted them to do, at the same time, they were hesitant to refuse to do it. The creature in front of them was tearing the humans and drinking blood as a devil would.

  "Fine, what do we need to do?" one of the older men finally agreed, and the other young hunters turned to look at him in surprise. "But it will be done only if the vampires don't kill the humans on these grounds."

  "Consider that to be upheld," came the response from the top, and the men raised their heads and saw a smiling vampire standing on one of the branches of the nearby tree.

  Mr. Evans smiled and said, "We hope you can keep your end of promise, because you don't know what will happen if you come at the vampires who belong to this place."

  Back in the place where Simon and Melanie were fighting, Simon walked to where Jack was trying to keep himself alive and breathing his last breaths.

  "This is why they say not to do something you might regret. You know you hurt me a lot," stated Simon, crouching and sitting next to the old man, who glared at him.

  "Y-you shall rot in hell," cursed the dying man.

  A chuckle escaped from Simon's lips. He moved closer to the hunter and said, "You shouldn't have said that. I was going to watch you die, but……" he drawled.

  "You plan to torture and k-kill me? Go a-ahead," the hunter spoke in a proud voice.

  Simon's fangs appeared, and he moved closer to the man's neck. He bit right into the neck before pulling away.

  "You have tasteless blood. I think I shall pass," remarked Simon, standing up and putting his hands in his pocket. He turned around and left the hunter on the ground.

  Back at the center of Veteris, the three Elders stood there with an unaffected expression, and soon they were joined by Roman, Julie, Cillian and Avice.

  "You are here," Luciano looked mildly surprised, staring at the Elder woman.

  "Good evening, gentlemen," Avice greeted the Elders and Castiel and Donovan offered a slight bow to her.