Skull And The Fangs

The frenemy

Night Hills stood erect on its feet, it's forest deep and haunting.

…The Archipelago…

Deep in the cloak of towering pines, humongous woods and crawling plants that twirl like snakes, were the fleets of dark caves, the way in, bent and almost invisible.

Inside one of the caves, dimly lit, was the Casal leader, Caius.

Bones the old was there with him too.

Caius held up the Argus, a knife that symbolizes the Casal coven and the leadership of Caius.

With this knife, who every vampire under Caius is will be revealed. And thus every danger will be known beforehand.

After the meeting days ago, he had decided to look into the two hundred and fifty years old vampire, Kylian.

That's the age Kylian claimed and he believed it.

He needed to look into his possible future.

And that is what Bones the old is born for.

Every born vampire has special abilities and Bones' own is the ability to see what the possible future of anybody is.

But it comes with a cost. Every time he sees a future, his age is shortened and his durability reduced. A cost that makes the skill so reserved. Of course he can't be using it too often or he'll lose his life earlier.

This is why he's old among other vampires.

Bones the old stretched forth his hand and Caius laid the dark, bone knife in his wrinkled hand of Bones the old.

The frail vampire held the knife and his eyes glowed bright white.

He shook terribly and Caius inched closer.

"What did you see?"

"Middle line. Neither a friend nor foe. A frienemy."

"Uh!" Caius deadpanned.

What's the meaning of that?

Neither a friend nor foe.

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Kylian and the vampire boy got outta the restroom and the school in entirety, barely escaping the group of staff that scurried into the restroom, informed and bound to see for themselves.

"Phew, thanks for believing me," the boy thanked.

"I know a vampire can't do that, never heard of a vampire that feeds on human organs."

"And please don't tell my mistake to Caius, the old man will keep me in his invisible cell. It's not pleasant."

"Of course you'll soon land there, you bastard."

An extremely white but beautiful lady appeared with a gust and spanked the boy's head hard.

"Ouch!" He doubled with his hand on his head. "You are here, sister."

"I'm, Lahm. You won't listen, will you."

"It wasn't my fault, it was so strong."

"What's all your training for, uh! You spoiled brat." The lady turned to Kylian, "please overlook this. And thanks for your help and intervention. If not for it, this brat will have gotten us in trouble."

"Don't worry, he's just a kid."

"I'm Jane, he's Lahm. Won't you introduce yourself to your saviour!" She yelled at him.

"I'm Lahm."

"Take care kid," Kylian winced and began to retreat, to his car. "I gotta leave."

"Oh!" Jane wanted to talk but she kept quiet.

The sister-brother duo watched as Kylian drove out his Nissan Altima with a breakneck speed. He seemed to be in a hurry but it's not their concern.

What concern Jane most is what her brother had just done.

She turns to Lahm, the latter already cowering, knowing fully well what his sister could do.

"See what you've done, you bastard!"

Lahm sped off in terror, just in time, evading Jane's slap.

The duo became blurs as the sister pursued her brother. 

With her threats hovering in the air.

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Screech!

The Nissan Altima swerved dangerously through the highway.

Cursed flew, horns blared but the driver, Kylian, was out.

His head was banging. His eyes changing occasionally. Without his will.

Flashes of memories, dark memories, dark pasts, all came rushing back.

The flashes of the body sprawled beside the WC, in a pool of blood, intestines and livers and lungs long gone. 

Then the flashes of a bamboo village, bloodied bodies scattered all around, the bamboo houses blazing with fire that rose into the sky in thick balls and the thick black smoke culminating from it, interlaced with the strong scent of iron that can make a human puke and die of shock.

Everything came rushing back. 

Then came other memories. Long forgotten memories. Or maybe it's not totally forgotten but just looked over.

'clAWe!! ClAwE!!! clAWe!!!!'

A mother doubled in her pool of blood, with a slitted throat and her daughter next to her, watching her mother choke and jerk her last, while the culprit grinned in pleasure.

'clAWe!! ClAwE!!! clAWe!!!!'

An emperor, nailed on a crucifix, thousands of knives piercing his body and the red oozing outta his body forming a pool right beneath him, his officials in their purple regal, hanging on a stake that pierced their chest while their heads dropped in submission to death.

The culprit, silver haired, had the usual grin on his face, his eyes void black and his veins, thickly dark and protruding, bulged in satisfaction.

Every memory came rushing, they came hunting, they came haunting. 

'clAWe!! ClAwE!!! clAWe!!!!'

Pain lashed at Kylian's head and he felt like it's about to explode.

Screech!

HONK!

Blindly, he swerved the steering and the car narrowly dodged the truck.

The dusk of the day was fast approaching and headlights flashed at his blurry eyes.

He felt it leave him for a while.

His dead heart banging in terror and rivulets trickling down his face.

He took a glance at the rear mirror.

A frustrated groan left him. The dark veins aren't gone yet.

"I need to get home fast. This thing is coming back."

His leg smashed the throttle as the car shot off.

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Jane and Lahm entered their home, after Jane unlocked the variety of padlocks on the door. 

It's more like a prison with close to a dozen locks. The location only made it look more of a prison.

Like a mice's house, the house was squatted behind not so good looking buildings, dirt spilled and the recycle bins adjacent with the thick odour cutting through the atmosphere around the region.

Rat's house, that's the only qualification.

"You ain't going out there until everything dies down. You're grounded," Jane deadpanned.

"Uh! Are you being serious sister," Lahm asked, with an ugly look. Claw marks was all over his face, his sister's handiwork.

"I don't have to spank your head before you know that I'm serious."

They walked into the room and dumped their bags on the cold concrete floor, bare and uncovered.

The room was empty.

Only cold, concrete wall and metals rods kept in the corners.

"Holy Molly!" The kid cried.

Just then Jane tapped him.

"Uh!"

Jane motioned forward and he looked.

There, squatting at a corner in the room was figure, wrapped in deep forest green cloak. The logo of a crossbow at the back of the cloak caught their eyes.

But how would human turned, young vampires like them know what and who the logo represents.

"Who are you," Jane growled.

The figure slowly rose to its feet.

Then turned to reveal a pair of green glowing eyes under the dark shadow of the cloak.

"Your nightmare."

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'claWE!! ClaWE!!! clAWe!!!!'

Kylian kept driving blindly.

With a swift swerve, he drifted into Lane street, his street, quickly rushing past the sparse brick buildings that made up the street.

He could see the blurry form of a oxblood brick duplex, his home.

The memories rushed and flashed through his head, every second, setting his head on fire.

They came rushing back, devouring him from within.

"Please leave me alone," came barely a whisper.

Then he felt the heat begin to rise slowly from his abdomen.

The heat is so familiar yet excruciating. So frequent some time ago yet bloody. The heat is so painful yet destroying at the same time.

It's been over two centuries now and he hadn't felt the heat or feel what happens next.

Yet now that it's surfacing again, it feels fresh and deathly.

Screech!!!

The Nissan Altima lost balance and slammed into the pole in front of the house.

Amidst the white cloud that rose from the bonnet, from the shattered glass of the windscreen, and from the screaming beep of the airbag system, Kylian shrugged himself out of the car.

He's just a few meters from his home.

Kylian's eyes bulged. His veins ripped and began to change shade. Darkening along with the darkening sky.

A deep growl, not of dominance and warning, but of agony and helplessness.

ROAR!!!!!!

His vocals opened up and a roar identical to that of a beast erupted from deep inside of him, rising into the sky. A legendary beast and not wolves or lions or tigers.

It sounded as though it's from the delve of the world.

In the next moment, his eyes are pitch black. Black and void. 

His veins, dark as well, bulged as though it'll rip apart in a minute's time.

"Hello."

Kylian looked over his shoulder to see a pair of bright headlights. 

It illuminated his face, fanged mouth, twirling black veins, startling void eyes and sunken cheeks.

A manly figure emerged blocking one of the lights.

"Mr Kylian?" The man asked.

He's the father of the boy that waved at him in the morning when he was heading to work. He's his neighbor.

"Good evening," the man greeted. His gaze cut to the Nissan Altima upturned right in front of the house beside his, Kylian's.

"Your car, it's, you had an accident, hope you are not hurt?" 

He sounded worried as he inched closer.

He got no response, no erratic breathing of a living creature, no movement. 

Stare. That's all he got back. 

"OMG! You must be hurt." He moved closer then Kylian turned fully to him.

A gasp escaped the man's lips. His feets wobbled and he fell on his butts with wide eyes.

"Wh,at , are, you?" The middle aged man stammered with his heart in his throat.

A bestial growl came as response and the next second, the man felt a gust.

His vision twirled and upturned. Viewing the early night sky then his house, then the floor.

Then he saw the beast made of his neighbor in an upturned way. Then his eyes closed slowly but tightly at last.

As the aftermath, the headless body of the neighbor collapsed.

ROAR!!!

Kylian roared into the sky again.

He glanced at the insides of the car, at the boy whose face held terror at what just happened. Whose face held pain and horror that would haunt him till death if not overwhelm and kill him.

Kylian hesitated. Then after a growl disappeared with a gust of wind.

Leaving behind the kid, who passed out the next second.

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Deep green cloak flow.

Behind the figure wrapped in the green cloak was the damage, the deed, the hunt.

Lahm layed limp, headless. His sister, Jane, layed too, unconscious.

The legendary hunter turned to Jane's unconscious body and pulled his crossbow.

But then he murmured, "the law breaker dies, the keeper lives."

Then he turned to leave.

roar!!

A distant roar reached him and he turned.

What is that?

He held his crossbow and with a billow of his cloak, disappeared from the spot.

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