Inside the first entry point of the Jordan Hospital, Elia's bones screamed for escape. The air felt heavier than before, pressing against his ribs, crawling under his skin.
"What happened to the bodies I slayed?"
"Something isn't right?" he whispered, placing slow steps on the tiled floor. His boots echoed too loudly in the corridor. Opening and closing doors, one after another, he stopped by the very one Nicholas was locked inside.
"This door was locked from the outside. How is it now open?"
The handle hung loose. The metal latch bent inward.
Elia dashed forward to the ward he was in, where he had locked the kids in. His breath came sharp and controlled, but his pulse betrayed him.
Laughing and clapping sounds welcomed Elia the moment he reached five kilometers away from the male ward. The sound bounced off the sterile walls, high-pitched and hollow.
The sun's rays threw dotted patterns on the floor, the walls, and the man in white standing right at the other side of the gate.
'Isn't that Nicholas?' Elia held the dagger tightly, his teeth grinding.
With a slow pace, he pushed the door slightly, then stepped inside. "Shh!" He placed a finger on his lips as soon as he noticed Zeno was staring at him.
Zeno gave a wink, then began laughing uncontrollably, clapping his hands as if nothing in the world had changed.
"Hey kid, what is going on?" Nicholas stepped forward, placed a hand on Zeno's shoulder, then smiled.
Zeno didn't answer. His laughter continued on and on, sharp, endless, unnatural.
Before Elia could sneak attack Nicholas, the same two kids that pulled the rod earlier pointed their fingers at him.
'No, no, no!' Elia's eyes closed, his face crumpling the moment he noticed the guy turning.
"Hey, Elia, it's good you're back." Nicholas turned, his face shimmering like a newborn baby's—soft, innocent, wrong.
When Elia's eyes cracked open, they widened, seeing the wound he saw earlier on Nicholas gone as if it wasn't there at all.
'How is that possible?' He scanned the guy for a while before loosening his guard slightly, though his grip on the dagger never relaxed.
"They say you killed Joana." Nicholas slipped his arms into the side pockets of the white robe he wore.
Elia tried speaking but paused when he saw Zeno shake his head slowly, eyes locked onto him.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you." Nicholas gave a small laugh, then turned toward the window, where the early afternoon sun's rays shimmered like a touch from something holy.
The light didn't burn him.
Elia rushed forward, wrapped his arms around Zeno's face, covering his eyes as soon as he saw Nicholas pause by the window.
The room stayed suspended in time. Elia, Nicholas, Zeno, and the other kids remained there as the sky reeled from early afternoon to late afternoon. Shadows stretched. The golden glow dimmed.
"I kind of feel hungry," Nicholas stated, shifting glances at the patient who had died lying in the bed, licking his lips slowly.
Elia squinted his eyes. 'All these people weren't dead when I left. Did he kill them?'
He shifted his gaze from the still bodies that looked to have their essence sucked out and stared back at Nicholas's eerie red eyes.
"I think I have to go out and find something for myself, or else the hunger will make me do bad things." Nicholas shifted his gaze to Elia, then smiled.
"You sure do." Elia laughed slightly, but his focus never left the guy's strange movements, the stiffness in his limbs, the way his chest did not rise.
As soon as Nicholas exited, all the other kids rushed toward Elia, their faces pale.
"Uncle!" Their screams filled the room so loudly that it made all other sounds muffled.
"Stay here. I'm going to search and bring you all some meals."
"Zeno, come with me."
Elia took the boy out, crouched down to his level, then stared into the boy's eyes. "How come you're still alive?"
Zeno's expression saddened. "Did I die?"
Elia stared at the boy, blinking.
"Don't you remember?"
"I don't remember anything."
"Who am I?" Elia asked, stepping a bit far from the boy.
"You're our uncle." Zeno moved closer, his eyes blazing with something that did not belong to a child.
After thirty minutes of searching for food, Elia and Zeno returned from the hospital's cafeteria, holding a bunch of meat pies, cocktails, and fried rice.
A sweet flavor filled the male ward as Elia, Zeno, and the kids devoured the meal, chewing too fast, swallowing without talking.
Elsewhere—
"Why am I not finding any fresh bodies?" Nicholas's face began to thin, sharp fangs emerging from his upper teeth.
His nose twitched, then his dim red eyes blazed. "I can sense a new form of life around here."
He closed in by a wall, leaned on it, then licked it, closing his eyes. Muffled sounds waved through the wall and seeped into his ears after he drummed his fingers three consecutive times against the concrete.
"At last." A wide smile tore across his face.
He stepped back, closed his eyes, then moved forward. Like a spirit phasing through a door, Nicholas's body passed through the thick wall as if it was just water.
Inside the room, two girls between the ages of fifteen and seventeen stood there, curling into themselves. Screams and tears broke from them as soon as they saw a body phasing through the wall.
"Hello, ladies." Nicholas's fangs sharpened.
"NO! NO!! NO!!!"
The girls screamed mid-cry, waving their arms in the air. The fifteen-year-old got pushed by her older sister, but Nicholas's left arm grabbed her neck and dragged her forward.
Nicholas bit the neck of the older one while squeezing the bones in the smaller one. The sound of cracking echoed against the tiles.
After twenty minutes, only Nicholas stood in the room, his white robe now reddened.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He crouched down, knelt in the pool of blood, then began drinking it like holy water.
Thin layers of his veins began to bulge as the blood ran down his throat. A moaning sound escaped from him the moment he cleared all the blood from the floor and stood up.
"They have dirtied my robe." He brushed the blood clinging to his palms onto the blood-stained fabric, his tongue clearing the remains of the red liquid from his lips.
"I need to change before I get back to them." He whirled around, energy forms dancing in the air around him.
Every sound, either from a hundred miles away from the hospital or inside the hospital, reeled into his ears as he moved in the room.
He opened the sink, splashed fresh water on his face, clearing the blood from his cheeks. "This isn't enough."
Following the sound, he tuned into it and focused on the water dripping, then smiled.
As if time had splattered, Nicholas ran like a spirit, then stopped by the washroom on the third floor that had its water dripping.
Back in the stairwell—
A black object moved past Elia so quickly it nearly pushed him to the side.
"What was that?" Elia drew the dagger, then stared at the top of the stairs he stood by.
"Am I hallucinating, or was that an actual flash of light that moved past me?" He squeezed his eyes, the dagger held in a ready-to-fight posture as he climbed the stairs.
A sunflower scent lanced through the air, waving under the flying papers and faint dust when Elia reached the top floor.
"This place smells good." He sniffed the scent for a while, then followed it, the dagger lowered but still firm in his grip.
"Is someone bathing?" Elia's expression shifted to shock when he heard the water dripping sound echoing from the door he stopped by.
Suddenly, as he listened, the sound stopped, then got replaced by footsteps.
"Nah!" Elia's heart hammered against his chest as he stepped back, eyes locked on the door, the dagger held in a boxing stance.
The door creaked open.
"NICHOLAS!"
Elia's heart sank into his gut when he saw the guy's brown eyes, now blazing red.
At Elia's front, the translucent panel appeared, glowing with a crimson light.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Warning!
Entity Detected: Shadow Wraith Vampire.
Type: Phase-Type Apex Vampire
Classification: Grade B.
Threat Level: High.
Recommendation: Avoid Engagement.