'How did I end up in this situation...'
Gabriel let out a sigh and stared through the scope of his sniper rifle. He spotted Rachel just outside of her home, and just a few seconds later, he saw tens of trucks appear one by one in the distance, heading toward them swiftly.
He was about to shoot them down, but he saw Rachel raise her hand, which meant she wanted him to hold on for a bit. So he did.
***
On the other hand... Rachel stared at the incoming cars, and once they arrived, hundreds of Vampire Hunters stood in front of her, with the addition of two Van-Grade Vampire Hunters who confidently approached her.
One was a bald man who wore a cross, while the other was a woman with long crimson hair and a custom-made desert eagle in her grasp.
"Rachel Vermillion, my name's Teresa Van, and it's a pleasure to meet someone like you," the woman said. As for the bald man, he mumbled a prayer under his breath.
"The feeling's not mutual, Vans." Rachel crossed her arms. "I don't like formalities, but damn, sending two top level Vans to kill me is a little bit of an overkill, isn't it?"
The woman let out a chuckle. "You got it all wrong, Vermillion. If I'm called, then I'm called for peace talks. Look, I even brought a priest." She pointed at the bald man beside her, then turned back to Rachel. "We've come here to offer you a simple proposal."
Then, she smiled widely.
"Give Gabriel Lament back to us, and we'll call off the kill order."
"Ah."
Rachel lowered her head slightly, then put a hand over her forehead. Her glare intensified several fold, and her eyes began to glow menacingly.
"So that's why you came. Okay, I now lost every bit of patience I had with you."
In the next instant, she raised her hand and did a peace sign. But the peace sign to all the Vampire Hunters present was deceiving, as before anyone could react, the clatter of a shattered window resounded, followed by a thunderous boom as a bullet tore through one of the trucks' fuel tanks, causing it to explode.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The two Vans turned around with slightly surprised expressions, but by then, the fire had consumed some of the nearby Vampire Hunters, while making the rest of them scatter, just as they had been taught in their training.
However, even if they had scattered, the trucks didn't stop exploding. Seeing that, Rachel was more than satisfied, and with the fiery inferno behind the Vans, she was much more confident than before.
She raised her hand and then narrowed her eyes, trying to find some kind of blood clot in the Vans' bodies. But sadly, they came prepared.
All Vampire Hunters had access to a liquid called Holy Water. But even if they called it that, it didn't change the liquid from just being some chemical drug that messed up the humans' blood and reduced their lifespan in exchange for becoming immune to the vampires' Blood Manipulation.
On the other hand, to Vampires, that Holy Water was like acid that stopped all healing and made them weaker.
Rachel knew that, but even then, it didn't stop her from rising into the air, and then reaching into her Blood Storage. Thousands of gallons of blood fell from the sky, then multiplied under her control before finally turning into sharp spears of blood and ice, all of which could pierce through everything and anything it touched.
It looked menacing, and anyone would runaway, including Gabriel. But the Vans didn't even flinch. Instead, Teresa and the bald man exchanged a glance before suddenly vanishing from sight.
Their speed, coupled with their quick reflexes, made them dodge everything effortlessly. With their supernatural strength, they kicked off the manor's gates and shot right up to the sky. Or rather, only Teresa went up, while the bald man remained.
Instead, he took out his weapon, and to Rachel's surprise, it was none other than a rocket launcher, which could shoot a stake as strong as a missile. And yet, right as the monk was about to fire, Gabriel chimed in from the side, piercing clean through the rocket launcher.
The stake was also split in two, which made the rocket launcher unusable anymore. Not to mention, that little stunt of Gabriel's got the bald man's attention as he was now staring directly at Gabriel.
BANG!
Gabriel flinched upon hearing that sound, and when he glanced up, he saw something he had only gotten lectures about before. That Van woman was fighting Rachel in the air by literally shooting her weapon to propel herself, and then using a special wooden sword to try striking Rachel.
He was beyond surprised that the fight didn't even seem that one sided. He had seen just how strong and fast Rachel was, but now, she was constantly on the defense, not being able to get even a single attack in.
And that was solely because of the hundreds of Vampire Hunters that remained in the distance, as well as the bald Van on the ground.
Gabriel knew what he had to do, it was just that... He was way too weak.
Yet weakness or not, it seemed like today was not the day where he could make his own decisions, as in the next instant, he saw a blood barrier form in front of him, followed by a manly fist tearing clean through it, stopping just inches away from his face.
He reacted instantly, as through that small gap, Gabriel spotted the calm gaze of the bald Van, as well as Rachel in the distance whose hand was pointed in his direction, almost like she was protecting him. Yet, with stakes coming from all directions, she was trembling and clearly struggling.
But in that very same instant that Gabriel saw her, he also saw something else.
BANG!
A wooden stake pierced straight through her forearm, momentarily stopping her Blood Manipulation, and by default, removing the barrier that stopped the bald Van from attacking Gabriel.
His heart began to pound when he saw Rachel get hurt, but with the bald Van's frame blocking the view, he couldn't see anything else.
And speaking of, Gabriel and the bald Van now stood only a few meters from one another. The bald Van no longer had a weapon, and as for Gabriel, he leaned down, picked up a desert eagle, and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The bald Van didn't even react, and even as the bullet hit him, all it did was bounce off, since his body was just that sturdy. In the end, Gabriel let out a sigh, cracked his neck, and then entered a fighting stance.
As for the bald Van, he looked Gabriel up and down, then put his hands together in a prayer.
"Amitabha... You were a promising recruit, but they turned you into a disgusting creature. I, Cornelius Van, will purify you today."