Two Worlds: Clash of the Guardians (Completed)

I - The Blue Portal - Part II

Vadiraj ground his fangs. He thought about killing the teens but that would attract attention. The mere thought of killing made his stomach rumble. So did his goons. They needed food -- in a secluded area. Instead of retaliating, he clasped into Elli's arm tighter.

"One more move, and I guarantee you that your father will not live to see tomorrow," he whispered to Elli's ear.

Elli eyed Vadiraj with towering hatred at his threat. However, her anger soon morphed to immense suffering. She balled her fists, swallowing the pain caused by her injured foot as they progressed. Along the way, the Vampists kept kicking the stray animals to release their wrath. The stray dogs whimpered at the sound of his footsteps -- quiet but firm, promising nothing but death.

What's wrong with the people here? They must've been too drunk to know what they were doing. Vadiraj stroked his goatee as he thought. Nobody had ever looked at them with such light mood. In Reminis, even the name of Vampists would make the dwellers pee their pants.

At the edge of the pavement, a stall was sitting before a junction. The vendor was shaking his meaty body and humming some tunes as he stood over a grill, cooking circles of meat. Vadiraj gripped Elli tighter and watched what show this comedian man before him could perform.

"Give me a hamburger," said a woman in a thin outfit.

Nodding, the vendor poured some red sauce and vegetables on the breads.

Vadiraj's nose scrunched up in disgust at the smell of the greens. While waiting, the female customer applied a red stick to her lips. Vadiraj's goons sniffed the air and relished the scent of the distinctive human blood. Their bodies trembled in excitement. They preferred to hunt a small group of individuals. The mob of humans who had attacked them just now ejected odour that confused them, causing them to look so embarrassing. Grinning, they pounced onto the humans. The vendor and the woman, both in a conscious state, screamed as they saw the fangs. Before they could put up a fight, the Vampists pointed their staffs at their prey.

The jaws on the staffs, upon touching the humans' skin, opened up and extracted rivulets of blood. The Vampists closed their eyes, savouring the blood as it channeled from their staffs to their veins, and to their lips. Hmm, those metallic and coppery flavours...

Though they could store the blood in their veins, they preferred to taste it on their lips. It tasted better than the finest wine, richer and smoother. Seconds later, the dried-up bodies fell flat to the ground, lying on the marble slabs like rubber mounds.

"Eww, the vendor's blood is so full of fats!" the scarlet-haired Kaizord spat out a pool of black spittle on the floor.

The other Vampist chimed in, "The woman was worse! A streetwalker! I might need to cleanse my own blood afterwards."

They laughed at the tragedy as if deaths were just jokes.

"Enough!" Vadiraj scolded. His voice sounded cooler than the evening air.

The Vampists bowed and their playful mood morphed back to a serious one. They were about to leave when four teens walked past the crime scene. They opened their mouths to shout but before their voices could travel out of their lips, the Vampists whipped them until they were unconscious. The Vampists didn't linger for more feeding; time was of an essence they couldn't afford to waste. The portal going back to Reminis, their homeland, would only open for an hour. They hurried down the street, until they reached the industrial district mentioned by Dominic, where the sound of hammer pounding on iron could be heard.

"Move!" Vadiraj pushed Elli forward, and she slammed onto the fragile shuttle door.

Kaizord pointed his staff at the door as he muttered an incantation, and it lifted up instantly. Before Elli could forewarn anything, Vadiraj stepped into the brightly lit garage with a wide grin, as if he was attending a party. Rows of long white lamps stretched along the yellowish ceiling. A burning fireplace was being set at the far back of the garage. Cobwebs coated the sword stand and oil dribbled down from some machinery Vadiraj knew not the name of.

A man with peppery hair came out from behind a wall and yelped at the sight of the Vampists. Eye-bags lingered underneath his brown eyes, and his skin was of an ailing pallor. To save his daughter, he had become two rings thinner. He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Elli.

Tears streamed down from Elli's eyes as her vision landed on her father's bandaged fingers.

"Oh Halford, my dearest blacksmith! A month has passed and hither I come to retrieve my gifts."

"Please, let her go." Halford knelt before Vadiraj and pointed to a floor of silvery chain-mail, each shone with pride under the long-stretching lamps. "I forged three hundred suits of them in total. Just like what you had ordered me to do. Please, release her."

Vadiraj picked up a chain-mail and threw it at the face of the blacksmith. "Wear it."

The blacksmith put it on like an obedient servant. Without a word of warning, Vadiraj withdrew a sword from a holder and tried to stab it into the blacksmith's heart. The old man stumbled backwards at the force; Elli gasped but the sword didn't pierce through the chain-mail.

Laughing, Vadiraj tossed the sword aside. "Now, take it off!"

The blacksmith did as he was told. The Vampists hastily wore the chain-mail underneath their cloaks and embraced the rest on the floor. They could now spread their claws throughout Reminis and the Modern World, without needing to fear the blades of their foes.

"I enjoy collaborating with you, old Halford. A Vampist always keeps his promise. I will take good care of your daughter."

Gripping Elli's shoulder with his left hand, Vadiraj pierced his staff through the blacksmith's neck with his free hand. Elli's eyes widened as she watched her father's blood being transmitted into Vadiraj's veins and to his lips. Soon, her father's body, like a balloon out of gas, deflated.

"Elli, it works the other way round," the blacksmith whispered before dropping to the floor.

Elli didn't comprehend what did her father mean. Weeping, she wriggled herself free from Vadiraj's grip. Seizing the sword on the floor, she pounced onto Vadiraj. She aimed it at his unshielded face, but he parried it away with his staff. With a fluid movement, Vadiraj kicked Elli, sending her reeling to a wall. Like a wind, his boot landed on her stomach. Before Elli could resume complete consciousness, Vadiraj knelt beside her and grabbed her hair.

"No weapon could hurt us now. I couldn't express my gratitude enough. If only your father could hear it."

Elli spat at his face. "I hope your skin will rot under the sun."

Her voice was back finally, now filled with enmity and despair. She had witnessed her father's death and she could do nothing about it!

Vadiraj slapped her head. "We will be careful so that won't happen. Well, for a month, I've been trying to drink your blood, but something blocks your veins. Why?" Vadiraj's fingers caressed Elli's hair and all of a sudden, he scratched her cheek with his black nail.

Blood seeped into his nail, along with sparks of lightning. He frowned and licked it. "Hmm, such a fresh scent. Juniper, I love juniper. Let's try it again. I'll leave enough blood in your veins to let it mutate." Grinning, he lifted her chin and pointed his staff at her neck.