As I lay sleeping nude on my bed. I was awoken by the sound of loud knocks on my door.
BOOM BOOM BOOM.
"Alisa! Wake up."
A voice at the door said.
" Lord Argus is having a council with all the members of the house."
I slowly climb out of bed.
I respond, "I'll be right there."
Then I think to myself. It's only the afternoon.
Why would Lord Argus be ordering a council this early in the day...?
I walked towards my closet and picked out my outfit. A very revealing white tank top and some form fitting black jeans.
As I change, I know that I must be ready and prepare myself for whatever my Lord has to say.
I had a feeling I knew what the meeting was going to be about: my failure....
HE (that demon ) will not get the better of me this time.
Once my outfit was on, I quickly headed towards the main hall.
To my surprise, there were members of the Otogi Clan present.
Our closest allies.
Now I really had no idea what was going on. It is quite rare for vampire organizations to visit each other at their home locations. Usually, meetings are always done at a predetermined off site. Whatever this meeting was about was definitely something of extreme importance.
Once all the house members were present, Argus, positioned at the top of the stairwell in the hall of the grand Rusteal mansion, began his speech:
"Brothers and sisters,
Our house has existed for over 500 hundred years.
We have lived, in relative peace since our founding, in the years after the Vampire Hunts.
However, every vampire knows that in order for our kind to be safe, we must exist in secret.
And that secrecy, is in danger. There is a human out there, who knows of our existence and must be eliminated."
An audible growl was emitted from the 100 plus vampires present. The first one to speak was Adrian who spoke from behind me and asked:
" Who is this human?!"
Argus replied:
" I don't know for sure, but that is why I have requested the help of our allies: the Otogi.
The Otogi have an excellent reputation for hunting specific targets."
But we already know who the target is, I thought to myself. Then the thought popped into my head that this might actually be someone other than that demonic human.
Argus then continued his speech,
"I will leave the details of your assignment to Master Kotomi of the Otogi."
Then in a instant, the leader of the Otogi Clan materialized out of nowhere right in front of Lord Argus. It always throws me off when he did that. He was one of the few of our kind that I knew of who had that power, and it was almost eerie how he could just pop out of nowhere.
A Japanese vampire and about 7ft tall, he was dressed in a Aikidogi (Aikido uniform) . At first he didn't say a word, but simply stared at all the vampires in the meeting hall, almost as if he was sizing us up, for about 30 seconds. But with those icy cold eyes, it felt like an eternity. When he finally did speak, he said:
"Your target is a male in his mid 20s. He dresses in dark clothing and is armed with silver weaponry. If you encounter the target, do not engage alone. He is a formidable warrior with an unorthodox style of fighting. Hail an ally and proceed to eliminate the target. Is there any questions?"
Then from my right side a familiar voice spoke, "Where can we find this so called warrior?"
I turned around to find a female japanese vampire dressed in leather clothing, Akane Suzuki.
My long time rival.
Master Kotomi answered:"The target has been known to live somewhere in the southern area of Abalos City. Any more questions?"
After a moment of silence, Master Kotomi said " You may all leave now."
Even though the way he said it may have implied there was a choice, with his demeanor and manner of speaking, we all left immediately as he instructed.
As I began to make my way out, I heard Lord Argus call out, "Alisa, Akane and Adrian, you three stay."
We stood there waiting for the rest to leave. Once the hall was empty Master Kotomi guided us to the meeting room behind the hall. It was a large dimly lit place with stainless steel chairs and a large rounded marble table in the center.
As we began to sit down, Lord Argus began to say, "now for the real mission."
Akane, Adrian and I could only look at each other in confusion.
"Alisa, you have fought this human and lost."
Looking down to the table, I replied : "Yes."
"He also gave you this." And from his coat pocket he tossed the silver knife on to the table.
"This is a vampire hunters knife. Only 5 of these were made. They were carried by knights sent by the church to hunt us down.
The human who gave you this is a knight of the Holy Order."
I asked: "Do you mean the from the vampire Hunts from long ago?"
"Yes" said Lord Argus.
"Bruce, was tracking him for over 500 years. Ever since the Hunts ended in the deaths of 4 of the 5 Holy Knights. Bruce was tasked to find the final knight and kill him. But he alluded us for a long time. It wasn't until a few years ago, when the house moved here, that he was able to locate him."
"But how can a mere human live for so long?" I asked.
" You said it yourself , He is something demonic.
You three are to head to his location and bring him here alive."
Akane then asked "why alive? "
"That reason, is mine alone. Just do what I asked," replied Argus.
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After the meeting, I headed to my quarters. There were so many unanswered questions. Why would they send out so many of us to kill him and us three to bring him back alive?