Don't open the door

After a while, Axel returned to the bunker to meet Asher still working on the door.

"Any progress?" He asked as he moved closer to the door.

"One... More... Minute..." Asher stressed each word as he put the finishing touches on his work. "And... Done." He breathed out. He had successfully carved a small hole in the door through which he could get a peek inside the bunker. When he was satisfied with the peek, he disappeared from the outside and opened the door from the inside.

Axel entered the bunker and flicked the light switch on.

"What the fuck!" Both of them exclaimed when the light came on. The bunker was a complete laboratory. There were two dead vampires on the floor, one on a stretcher, one on the examination table with an opened-up stomach.

"What in Hades' name is happening here?" Axel asked as his face scrunched up in disgust. He moved further into the lab and discovered there was another vampire inside a human-sized tube containing a green-colored liquid. His head was outside the tube, while the rest of his body from the neck down was immersed in the green liquid. Through the glass, they could see that he had scales on his body like a fish, only his was larger and a bit thicker than that of fishes. Although he looked dead, his faint heartbeat was evidence that he was still alive, though they doubted if he would remain alive for much longer.

While Axel kept his gaze on the strange-looking vampire in the tube, wondering what they had done to him, Asher had moved to look through a stack of scattered papers on the desk next to the tube.

"I think they are trying to create an antidote for the venom." Asher's voice pulled Axel's attention in his direction. "No." Asher's voice rang out again as he pulled out another paper. "They are trying to create something strong enough to withstand the venom." He corrected, scrutinizing the piece of paper in his grasp.

Axel tore his gaze away from Asher and fixed it on the tube man. "And this is all they could come up with? Such pathetic losers. What do I call this? White venom or green venom?" Axel asked mockingly.

"Zombie venom should do. Afterall when compared to the black venom, this one looks like a dying zombie." Axel's chest rumbled with laughter at Asher's answer.

"Zombie venom it is." Axel commented when his laughter died down. They went around the lab, searching for any other useful information. When they finished with the lab, they moved to the other bunkers.

One of them held nothing but stacks of old papers, and when they carefully looked through some of the papers, they got nothing useful. The second one held a human male, tied securely to a chair, with three tubes connected to his body. He was still alive but unconscious. Looking around, they found no information on who he was or the kind of experiment that was being carried out on him.

It was already late afternoon the next day when they ended their search and returned to the castle.

"We'll need to pay Marcel a visit when he returns from Creola. He worked here long before the king took over the throne. He should have some answers." Axel suggested. It was already night and they were standing on the balcony, overseeing the castle grounds.

"Oh, I've missed him. When is he returning from Creola?" Asher's voice rang out.

"Three days according to Fred."Axel responded after which his phone rang out. When he saw the caller, his face twisted into a frown and he picked up instantly.

"Speak." He ordered and listened to what the caller had to say. Immediately he heard what the person said, he disappeared.

"What now?" Asher dropped the glass of wine he was holding and disappeared too.

Meanwhile, at Green light city, Alita was already sailing away to dreamland when a knock interrupted her peaceful transition. She rolled off the bed with knitted brows as she wondered who could be knocking at this time. When she finally trudged to the sitting room, she sensed that it was a vampire at the door. She relaxed and moved to the door with the thought that it was Axel.

"Don't open the door." Alita heard someone whisper behind her and her hand on the door handle froze. She whipped her head around to find Axel behind her and almost immediately looked back at the door when the knock echoed again. She frowned, her hand loosening around the metal handle.

"What is goi–" Alita started to ask, but Axel suddenly pulled her into his arms as the door flew open. They disappeared from the room before the intruder could catch sight of them.

"They are at her house." Alita heard Axel's voice and she opened her eyes. Her eyes widened when she realized she was no longer in her house.

"Hello, Alita." Asher smiled at her before he disappeared from the room. Alita's eyes grew even wider. Do all vampires now possess the ability to disappear? Only when Axel's grip on her loosened did she remember that she was still in his embrace, her back pressed tightly against his chest.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he let go of her. She nodded and stepped away from him. When she turned to face him, the look on his face was grave, making her frown harder.

"What is going on?" She asked, then moved her eyes around the room. "And where is this place?" Her eyes traveled back to Axel. The way he was looking at her at that moment made her become self-conscious. She immediately crossed her hands in front of her chest, rubbing her arms in an upward and downward motion.

"There were vampires at your house and this is my hotel." Axel answered as his eyes drank in her appearance. She was clad in a frail nightdress, which did a very poor job at covering her. He swallowed and forced his gaze back to her face when he saw her trying to cover herself with her hands.