Amadeus Count sat in his laboratory excitedly as he read the news report. It read about how Trinity Academy was attacked by an apparent vampire. Seems like his distraction has worked.
Perfect. She will be able to provide me enough time. He thought as he focused back on his experiment. He was currently concocting the correct formula for his super-serum. He was so close to getting it right now, he just needed a little more time.
Amadeus Count was a relatively young scientist nearing thirty. Born with a frail body and hemophilia he had lived half his life sick with at least some type of ailment. For the last few years he had been trying to fix that issue. Originally after graduating, he was contracted with the government and he worked with doctors on developing medicine for pharmaceutical companies.
Though that only lasted a year before he was convinced by a few of his colleagues to quit and develop a new private business. Little did he know at the time that it was a business run by a criminal gang. Though even after finding out it never really bothered him, considering what they promised him, a serum that would not only cure his illnesses but also make him even stronger.
Through the next few years he continued to work and experiment for them, developing this new drug until one day he finally made it. Or at least he thought he did, unable to maintain his patience, he immediately tested it on himself.
Unfortunately, the formula wasn't completely correct and it changed him. While it did get rid of all of his illnesses and enhanced his strength several times among other benefits, it had side effects. Namely a reliance on human blood.
He assumed that it was due to the makeup of some of the life-leeching strains that the serum had within it. Shame he and the small team he was working with only figured that part out after the fact. Would have saved them from him.
Those damned fools, if only they knew of it beforehand he wouldn't have had to kill them. With the research team dead, he was forced to run from the gang and work completely underground by himself. He's been doing nothing but working on trying to fix the side effects from the serum.
He was getting close, he just needed a little more time. Hence why he infected that girl the other day with it. Being a student of Trinity Academy she would surely attract the attention of everyone. Once she was caught and killed the academy would help call off the police search for him.
Amadeus opened up a mini fridge and pulled out his last blood bag, and drank from it. He would need to go out and hunt again soon. Thankfully, Esme had actually escaped the grasp of Trinity Academy, meaning he was going to be able to move a bit more freely tonight with eyes focused on her.
He estimated that by the time Esme was finally caught and killed, which could take up to a week, he would be finished with his improved serum. By then he would no longer hunger for blood and could escape with the money he's gathered over the years and enjoy himself in another country.
Just need one last hunt to stave off the hunger. He thought as he looked around his room. It was both his living quarters and his science lab, it was a tight space that he managed to hollow out in between two connected townhouses. Well, not him, this was an old drug-producing den back in the day. The old gang he worked with used this place, though it had been abandoned for a while before he returned to it.
It was a well-made hiding place, with its placement between two houses people normally don't notice the additional protrusion. Nor do the inhabitants of the homes notice that they're lacking in a bit of space. With a couple of hidden cameras placed around the area, it was the perfect base of operation for him.
I'll need to go hunting tonight. He thought to himself as he tossed the now empty blood bag into a small garbage can. Amadeus considered where he should go for his next harvest, he hadn't been to the area of the west end lately.
There was an elementary school there. Though maybe that would cause too much of a commotion, and they didn't carry as much blood. Perhaps somewhere closer to where Esme hangs about, though he had no idea where that would be. As he considered his options his computer alerted him to movement near his base which was strange, as the residents should still be at work.
Curiously checking his camera's video feed he saw two teenagers walk up to his neighborhood. One was a girl dressed in casual streetwear, but it was the boy who caught his interest. He donned the same uniform as the girl from Saturday night. He wished he could hear what they were saying, but the camera had no audio, instead he watched them curiously through the camera.
***
"Urgh, look out." Yeling said with a scowl.
"Hmm?" Archer said looking around and noticed that Yeling was staring at a man nearby busy working on a very nice-looking motorcycle, "Who's he?"
"His name is Riley Arild. He's suspected of being the leader of a local gang in the area, but nobody has been able to link anything to him yet. He's smart." Yeling said with a scowl.
"I'm guessing that your father has voiced his displeasure of him in the past?"
"You don't know the half of it, he has two kids our age and they are full-on bullies, they both go to my school." Yeling said.
"How bad?" Archer asked looking curiously at her.
"One of them, Sev beat a junior senseless over a game of basketball." Yeling said looking like she was recalling a haunting memory.
Archer found the reaction intriguing and decided to compartmentalize it for later questioning as something else took his attention. Riley caught them staring and walked over to them.
"Ah, Yeling! Good to see you. Who's your friend?" Riley said with a bright smile. He was a large, burly man in his fifties, he had a horribly sunburned nose, greying horseshoe mustache, and arms covered with skull tattoos.
"Hi, I'm Archer, good to meet you." Archer said returning his smile.
"What are you two doing here?" Riley asked Yeling sweetly.
"None of your business." She snapped.
"Oh, she was just showing me around the place, I moved to the city recently, and she was showing me around." Archer said with a smile.
"Well of course, she's a very kind girl, takes after her father, I hear." He said his toothy, yellow-stained smile never once wavering, "Say that's a Trinity Academy uniform right? That's really impressive, that letter on your uniform is your rank right?"
"Yeah, F-rank." Archer said looking at his own rank.
"F-rank, isn't that a low rank?" He asked Archer innocently. Though his eyes held a mocking look behind them.
"Oh yes, I barely got accepted."
"But you did get accepted, which is already quite the accomplishment."
"Yeah, I'm happy to be here. I've had a very interesting first week." Archer said nodding his head as he looked over to the motorcycle, "Is that a Haley-Donathon Street Kaiser? Based on the model 3108 XLC?"
"Huh? Oh, yes. Personal project of mine, been working on her for the past year." Riley said with a proud smile, the first genuine one that Archer had seen so far, "You know bikes? A bit young to drive one aren't you?"
"I've ridden a couple of motorbikes in the past. Mostly it's a friend I have, he loves riding them on long road trips."
"What does he ride?"
"An original Aria 2LF."
"Restored?"
"Yep."
"I need to meet this man." Riley said with an impressed whistle.
"I'll introduce you two if he ever comes by." Archer said before looking back to Yeling, "We should get going now."
"You two stay safe now, wouldn't want you two to get into any trouble now." He said seeming to focus his attention on Yeling.
"Thank you kindly, have a good day." Archer said nodding his head and he and Yeling walked away from him.
"You sure bonded well with him." Yeling said looking a bit sour.
"Really? Because I don't think he thinks much of me." Archer said calmly as they walked down the street past the different houses.
"He doesn't think much of anybody." Yeling, "Tends to use people."
"I can see that."
"So why did you talk to him so much then?"
"To try and figure him out." Archer said while stopping to look at a townhouse.
"What did you figure out?"
"That I don't like him." Archer said as he turned around and compared the particular townhouse to the others.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing, it's just that townhouse looks a bit different."
"Different? What's wrong with it?" Yeling said looking at it.
"Notice that extra little protrusion. On both buildings, then the townhouse next to them and on the other street. Same design, minus the protrusion." Archer said gesturing at the other buildings.
"Yeah, huh. Why is that?"
"Not sure." Archer said shrugging as he walked over a grate on the ground, "So the monster was supposedly here the last few nights?"
"I believe so. You think that it may have to do with the monster." Yeling asked.
"Uh." Archer paused and pondered for a moment, "Oh, not sure." Archer said before he began to head towards the park.
"Do you not want to investigate if that is true or not?" Yeling asked still looking at the building.
"I don't know if the homeowners would be alright if we start to invade their homes." Archer pointed out, "If we find something good we can have your dad send people to investigate."
"You would have to basically bring the culprit with you if you want to convince him." Yeling grumbled as she followed him.
"Surely your dad trusts you more than that."
"If he does he doesn't show it."
When they made it to the park's walking trail Archer stopped and looked around before turning back Yeling, "Well if we can predict accurately where and when the monster will attack that might help."
"You mentioned knowing more victims so when was the most recent killing?" Yeling asked.
"Ten days ago at the edge of the city." Archer said deciding not to mention Esme, "Then another similar case less than two weeks before that incident… before that again about a week and a half." Archer said slowly noticing the pattern.
"The monster has been attacking in a consistent pattern. With the drained blood then to feed huh?" Yeling concluded.
"Vampires tend not to wait that long between meals." Archer pointed out.
"Plus the vial of liquid, so it definitely is something different. Some strange experiment? That might explain the vial, but who owned it then?" Yeling said nodding her head. Then she saw Archer crawling on the ground.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Found something." Archer said holding up a syringe and hiding a torn piece of cloth that matched the pattern of Esme's. The thing that transformed Esme I suppose. He thought studying the trace amount of green liquid left, "Hmm, I suppose I'll need to test this along with the vial."
Archer looked to find something to safely stash the needle, pulling out his handkerchief, he wrapped it around the needle and stashed it into his pocket along with the vial.
"Two of these things? Why?"
"Well considering how the monster likely isn't a classic one it could be someone misusing some type of serum." Archer pointed, withholding the fact that this was likely what was used to turn Esme into her current state.
"So some crazy scientist turned themselves into a monster." Yeling said pondering, "They're likely to go hunting soon."
"I imagine he is likely to attack soon, either tonight or tomorrow." Archer said, "If I can figure out what this liquid is then you think that would be enough to convince your father to send out patrols?"
"Maybe if it's convincing, but he'll probably still say that he can't just have officers spread out everywhere along the city."
"What if they only watch one area? Sector seven."
"Why sector seven?" Yeling asked.
"What's your number? Let me send you something." Archer asked.
"Oh sure." She said pulling out her phone and they shared their contact information. Archer quickly sent her a small document and a few pictures.
"Now you lack the info from the cases, but if you show it to your father I think he will believe you. This should point all evidence towards sector seven in areas like parks and streets in small, quiet neighbourhoods that lack cameras and pets." Archer said after sending her the info.
"What should I say about how I got all of this?" Yeling asked eyes widening as she read everything.
"Tell him that you got it from a student from Trinity Academy, he has to believe that. Just don't mention my name or rank." Archer said with a shrug.
"If there are that many deaths linked to this he'll have to pay attention to it." Yeling said nodding excitedly, "I'm going to talk to my dad immediately! You can send me what that vial had later, but do it quickly!"
"Good luck." Archer said as he watched as Yeling began to run off.
"Wait, what else should I say about you? He'll want details to make sure you're telling the truth." She called to him.
"I'm a first-year student working this job under supervision of Professor Phil Doyle, I'll send you his contact information."
"Wait, first year? You're younger than me?" Yeling said with a look of surprise.
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Oh, well hello then senior." Archer said in a respectful manner.
"Oh don't you start!" Yeling said sticking her tongue at him, "Get me the info, that's an order from your senior!" She said as she ran down the path.
She was nice. Archer thought to himself. Now, to worry about Esme. He thought as he glanced back over the townhouse with the strange protrusions, "Zoe. I'm sending you something."
***
Sariel studied the recordings vigorously that she failed to notice her twin Mariel enter her room. Mariel stood in silence for a moment waiting for her pink-haired sister to look up from the recordings. A moment later Mariel knocked on Sariel's head to get her attention.
"Huh? Oh, Mariel you're here." Sariel said looking up.
"What have you been doing?" Mariel asked looking at the screen that Sariel was watching.
"I'm just keeping up with the current event going on." Sariel said.
"Right, the mad scientist event. No wait, what's the official name again?"
" 'The Bloodsucker Prowl' event." Sariel answered.
"It's where Esme Soto gets turned into a ghoul type and needs to be stopped right?"
"Yes, in six of the timelines she was slain in the middle of this event, in the other three she sacrifices herself to kill the scientist… Amadeus right?"
"Yes, she died in every single timeline." Sariel nodded her head as she looked at Archer's progress.
"Doesn't this take like two weeks to complete? Why are you watching it so vigorously?"
"Because Archer changed it already."
"What?" Mariel said grabbing the tablet from Sariel and quickly skimmed through the contents. Her eyes widened as she finished, "He already figured it out? The serum and everything?"
"Yeah, if this goes on he might be able to save Esme!" Sariel said excitedly.
"Right, he managed to save her from getting attacked. But will she be cured?"
"I don't know but she never got checked out before, nor has the serum been studied yet so maybe the WDO can figure out what to do." Sariel said sounding hopeful.
"That really has never happened before." Mariel said before laughing, "Oh wow, this is going to screw up the entire mapped-out timeline."
"I do feel a bit guilty that we might be messing up the plans of the others." Sariel admitted.
"So? It's not like their plans ever worked. It's time for some change and we need to back him. If he can solve this issue it gives others opportunities to prepare." Mariel said.
Unbeknownst to the two twins elsewhere in another area in the main base of operations for the gods there was another pair of divine beings watching the current situation in another room. They however held far different expressions on their faces.
Gadreel the blonde goddess that wound up being the de facto leader of the gods in charge of protecting the world sat there watching the recording of the last week of events. She didn't even want to be in charge, but with her confident aura, she was automatically seen as the leader. Honestly the stress was getting to her, and she envied her booze-drinking compatriot.
Yeijeh a goddess that is meant to represent victory who hasn't experienced many victories over the past few timelines. So instead she decided to turn to booze to help mask the pain. Far from her original regal appearance she wore a hoodie and sweatpants and looked half drunk.
"Hey, this one looks interesting." Yeijeh said staring at her tablet.
"Who? Evan or Petyr? Or someone else?" Gadreel asked, she had been only paying attention to Ran, his development progress should be faster now that the ghost is gone and it seemed that the rogue ghoul scenario was sorting itself out as well.
Gadreel was almost tempted to believe that this time would be different. She chalked it up to someone else taking care of the early problems, she assumed one of the folks that had knowledge of this world's future.
"It's the twins' boy." Yeijeh said taking a swig of her drink.
"Yes, they did choose someone didn't they?" Gadreel said recalling as she selected the profile of who they chose, "Interesting kid." She said as she read the name. At that moment she was glad that she had her silk veil over her mouth as it hid it going agape in shock.
"Archer Griffen. Looks to be a foreigner… who's part of the WDO?" Yeijei laughed.
"Yes." Gadreel said trying to keep her voice even. She felt her chest tighten as she read that surname. Griffen. It can't be can it? He can't be his son… how is it him? She thought to herself.
"Looking at him, he seems to have made some interesting choices. Who would have thought that he would involve two random students? You think it's going to amount to anything?" Yeijei said as she swirled the booze in her bottle.
"Perhaps. We shall see." Gadreel said, her face deathly pale underneath the veil, and she tried to keep her body from shaking. I need to see those twins. I need to see him. She thought desperately.