The Hunter's Heritage

*Chapter Twenty-Five*

*Chapter Twenty-Five*

*Azura’s POV*

I was alive.

Alive, but I would rather be dead.

I could feel the dried blood coated all over my body. I could feel the dull throbbing of each and every wound on my body. I had no energy left to heal myself. If I were a human, I would be long dead. My parched throat longed for blood, and I knew that I would do anything to get it. A vampire without blood was like a fish without water, except the process of dying was way slower and much more painful.

My heightened senses immediately sniffed out the scent of a vampire in the same room. The thirst in my throat intensified, and I found my body crawl towards the vampire on the other side of the colossal dungeon.

“Azura?”

I paused in my movement. I saw the figure shift, and my eyes picked out the outline of his form. My assumption was confirmed when he raised his head to meet mine.

“Man, what have they done to you?”

I stopped when I felt the shackles biting into my skin. My skin on my wrist was completely torn and the mere friction with the rough edge of the metal had managed to draw fresh blood. I bit my lip. I needed blood. I heard chains rattle, and I saw Kaiden approaching me.

“Stay away from me,” I said hoarsely.

“Azura, I’m sorry about last time. I was too blinded to see the hole in the glass later on. No,” he shook his head quickly, “I shouldn’t have doubted Lyorin in the beginning.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” I said quietly but made sure he could hear me. “It’s Lyorin that you need to apologize.”

Every syllable I uttered was like two rusty gears being rubbed together. I could hear Kaiden’s heartbeat clearly with my hearing. My fingers dug into my side to stop myself from draining him. It wasn’t like I could anyways. The chain tethered us to the walls behind us, and they made sure that I couldn’t reach him even if I wanted to.

I saw anger flashed across his eyes as he took in the severity of my wounds.

“Lyorin would have a fit if he sees this,” he mumbled.

My eyelids felt heavy, and I blinked slowly. The room spun around me, threatening to swallow me.

*Third Person’s POV*

The Dark’s mansion was built in an extremely complex way that would trap any enemy who dared to infiltrate it in a large maze. The intricacy of the maze could be on par with the Royal mansion. In fact, the entire structure of the Dark’s mansion was a maze. Ambushes and traps were all around the mansion, and guards wore the Dark’s black spider emblem on the front of their uniform. They were specifically trained to kill any invaders without any hesitation.

Adam, one of the soldiers who patrolled the outer circle of the mansion, wandered around like any other day. He was pretty new for the job, and he was only doing it for the high pay. Skimming the landscape around him aimlessly, he lazily swung his sword over his shoulder. He sat down by a tree stump and gazed up at the sky. It was strange. There wasn’t a single star in sight.

Little did he know that if he were to look to his right at that exact moment, he would notice two strange cloaked figures materializing out of thin air. He would notice them running – no, gliding – towards the mansion in a quick flash. If he were to alert the rest of the guards that night, then perhaps, he would have saved fifty or more guards’ life.

The two cloaked figures travelled almost soundlessly across the rough terrain. The giant mansion loomed ominously in front of them, towering over the landscape like a gloomy cloud. Suddenly, one of them twisted sharply to the left. He pressed his body to the trunk of an aged tree. The second figure followed a second later, mimicking the first one’s action. A pair of silver iris peered through the first cloaked figure’s hood, and he turned his head sideways.