00139. How not to fight a vampire lord.

The blonde haired vampire tilted his head slightly as he asked, "Are you trying to piss me off?"

"Maybe? Is it working?" Ezekiel asked with a smirk.

"No, you would have to try harder than that. Now like I said before I was interrupted, my name is…"

A gunshot rang out as a silver bullet slammed into the vampire's chest and Ezekiel asked, "How about now?"

The vampire glanced down at the small hole in his chest before he looked up with narrowed eyes and said, "You really are trying to piss me off."

Ezekiel laughed before he asked, "Of course I am. I literally told you I was… Or do you not understand basic English?"

The others all glanced at Ezekiel as the vampire held out his hand before the bullet in his chest came back out and dropped into it. He looked at it for a moment as he said, "You won't be able to hurt me with this."

When the vampire tossed the bullet to the side, Ezekiel shot him in the same spot until he emptied the magazine in his gun before he asked, "Are you sure? We won't know unless we try, right?

The vampire glanced at his chest before he started to walk towards the group as Ezekiel quickly casted a genjutsu on him. The vampire only frowned slightly before he said, "I'm not sure what you just tried to do, but it won't work on me. I can feel it, none of you are strong enough to hurt me."

The vampire smiled and locked eyes with Ezekiel as he said, "I was just planning to kill you, since the daywalker is the only one who will make a useful test subject."

The vampire kept his gaze only on Ezekiel as he said, "But I changed my mind, I'm going to enjoy torturing all of you."

Ezekiel chuckled again as he asked, "No thanks, how about I just kill you instead?"

As the other people in his group prepared to fight, Ezekiel stored his gun away and pulled out the knife Blade gave him early. The vampire creepily smiled as he said, "Nothing you brought will be able to hurt me, I've already evolved myself beyond a normal vampire."

"Let's test that out." Ezekiel said before he disappeared.

Ezekiel reappeared behind the vampire who was almost next to the group and tried to plunge the knife into the vampire's heart. The vampire caught the blade with his hand as he said, "Interesting. You have incredible speed with subpar strength."

The vampire ripped the blade from Ezekiel's grasp before he snapped it in half and tossed it to the side as he said, "I told you, you can't hurt me."

Ezekiel touched the seal on his arm and pulled out a stack of explosive tags as he said, "If silver doesn't work, let's try paper instead."

The next second Ezekiel disappeared and attempted to cover the vampire in explosive tags. The vampire matched Ezekiel in speed and intercepted him everytime he went to place a tag. Once Ezekiel was done, he reappeared in the middle of his group as the vampire looked at the tags in his hand.

"And what did you hope to accomplish with these things?" 

Ezekiel smirked as he said, "Boom."

The explosion that followed was massive, but was refocused back onto the main point of the explosion thanks to a special tag meant to contain explosions and redirect them. The tiny bit that wasn't contained, was blocked by Mordo and Kaecilius's shield. As the smoke from the blast slowly cleared away, they were greeted by the blonde haired vampire again. His clothes were completely ruined and his right hand was burned, but otherwise he looked fine.

Ezekiel clicked his tongue as he said, "Looks like we'll have to restrain him and use the sun."

The vampire glanced at his hand for a moment as it healed before he locked eyes with Ezekiel again and said, "I'm not just gonna torture you. I'll torture everyone you care about. I'll start with these people here before I find everyone blood related to you."

Ezekiel frowned slightly as the vampire smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll keep you alive the whole time. You'll be able to watch as the people you care about cry out in pain and blame you for their misery."

The vampire pointed to the five tables on the other side of the room as he said, "As you can see, I have a lot of experience in keeping someone alive. While also in a constant state of pain. I can easily keep you alive for years as you watch what I do to your loved ones."

"You just don't know when to shut up do you?" Ezekiel asked as he started to weave a spell together.

The vampire smiled as he asked, "Am I pissing you off?"

Ezekiel finished conjuring a magic sword before he attacked the vampire again. The vampire blocked the attack with his own arm as he said, "Are you stupid? I told you, you can't hurt me."

"Are you stupid? I'm not going to take your word for it." Ezekiel said as he turned into a blur and attacked the vampire. The vampire for his part easily kept up and parried every attack with his hand.

As they fought the rest of Ezekiel's group looked for a chance to help, but with the pair's current speed they couldn't do much. As the others watched, Mordo said, "Let's prepare a restraining spell."

Kaecilius nodded in agreement before he started to chant a spell with Mordo. As they worked on the spell the vampire finally attacked back and attempted to hit Ezekiel. Ezekiel turned into a puff of smoke as a small rock appeared where he just was. Ezekiel himself attempted to attack the vampire from behind, but the vampire easily parried the blow away.

Ezekiel retreated as he glanced at his group for a moment, which the vampire used as an opportunity to attack. The blow just missed Ezekiel who was able to parry it in time. But the vampire didn't stop and pressed the attack on Ezekiel.

Ezekiel did his best to fight back but the vampire seemed to be slightly faster than him and Ezekiel was mostly relying on his body flicker skill to move and attack. This was also Ezekiel's first real fight with someone and he was outclassed by them in speed. Ezekiel knew the main issue was that his body still wasn't developed, so he lacked the ability to do any type of damage to the guy. But the guy was also a monster and healed a lot faster than a normal vampire should.

Even then Ezekiel wasn't losing by much, but he didn't really have a way to win either. After a few more moments of being pushed back, the spell Mordo and Kaecilius were chanting finished. Red bands appeared next to the vampire and lashed around him, which locked him in place.

The vampire glanced down at his body for a moment before he said, "You sorcerers are always a hassle to deal with."

Ezekiel waved the conjured sword in his hand as he asked, "You know I'm a sorcerer too right?"

The vampire struggled against the spell for a few moments before he ripped his arms free, breaking the spell. He glanced at Ezekiel as he said, "You're not skilled enough to be a hassle."

Instead of going after Ezekiel again, the vampire charged at Mordo and Kaecilius. As he slammed into the first barrier, Mordo was forced to concentrate on the spell otherwise it would break. Blade and Sanhildr used the opportunity to attack the vampire as he tried to break through the barrier. Both of them attacked with their swords, but only Sanhildr's sword caused any type of damage.

The vampire didn't stop and barely noticed the small wound that healed almost instantly. As they attacked again, Mordo struggled to keep the barrier up while Kaecilius casted a new spell to reinforce the barrier. Ezekiel used the opportunity to attack the vampire from behind, but was basically ignored.

Sanhildr, who noticed her sword could damage the vampire, tried to target a more vital area. She attempted to plunge her sword into the vampire's chest as she aimed for its heart, but it was stopped before it could go too deep. The vampire, annoyed with the attack, stopped his attack on the shield for a moment before he grabbed Sanhildr's sword with both hands and ripped it free from her grasp.

Afterwards he glanced at the sword for a moment before he used it to renew his attack on the shield. With the help of the magic infused sword, he easily broke the barrier in a few swings. Before he broke through the next barrier, which left the group defenseless.

Once the other shield broke, Ezekiel realized they were in trouble and pulled out his tablet to send a message to Tao. As he did that, the vampire with his speed quickly subdued Blade and Sanhildr. After the message was sent, Ezekiel quickly casted a light spell and prepared himself to buy time as he watched the vampire take down Kaecilius. 

As Ezekiel watched the fight and prepared another spell, he had a fleeting thought, that he should make a portal so they could escape. But he quickly rejected the idea, as he knew he wouldn't be able to portal everyone else out if he attempted it. Plus the vampire lord always seemed to be watching him and wasn't sure if he would get the spell off correctly. Sure he could normally do a portal spell with no issue, but his adrenaline was pumping like crazy and he was having a hard time casting anything at the moment.

Mordo was the last one to fall because he had a few magic items that aided in his defense. But in a matter of a few seconds all of them were laid out on the ground, leaving Ezekiel alone.

Ezekiel glanced worriedly at everyone as the blonde haired vampire turned around and said, "Don't worry, I didn't kill them."

The vampire menacingly walked closer to Ezekiel as he said, "I already told you, I am going to torture you and everyone you care about."

Ezekiel narrowed his eyes as he said, "Over my dead body."

The vampire chuckled before he said, "Oh, you'll wish you were dead, but I won't let you die that easily."

Ezekiel retreated towards the cavern entrance as he worked to buy more time for Tao to arrive. He made it to the entrance as the vampire caught up to him and forced him to stop. The vampire licked his lips which showed off his fangs as he asked, "Trying to run away?"

Ezekiel wanted to quip, but instead attacked the vampire head on as he tried to move into the tunnel. Ezekiel couldn't slip past him but he was able to force them away from the cavern and into the tunnel itself, as they fought with each other. With Ezekiel's conjured magical sword versus the vampire's stolen valkyrie blade.

As they moved farther into the tunnel, Ezekiel counted the seconds in his head. He only needed a minute or two and Tao would come to the rescue. Ten seconds, then twenty, thirty, fifty, seventy… The longer they fought, the harder it was for Ezekiel to match the vampire's speed. In fact, the vampire lord seemed to be increasing their speed.

Right as Ezekiel realized the vampire lord was holding back, the vampire lord twisted his blade from a parry and sliced through Ezekiel's wrist that held his sword. At first the vampire lord smiled as Ezekiel's hand fell off and his magic sword disappeared. But then he frowned when he didn't see any blood come out.

As the hand on the ground faded away, Ezekiel's hand slowly reappeared on his wrist as if nothing happened. Ezekiel used the vampire's momentary pause to pull out two kunai from his storage seal and attacked.

The vampire lazily blocked the attacks as he asked, "Interesting, was that your own power or a magic spell?"

When Ezekiel just continued to attack, the vampire said, "If you don't want to answer me, I'll just find out for myself."

The vampire increased its speed again and sliced off both of Ezekiel's hands at the wrist this time. As the vampire watched, Ezekiel's whole body flickered for a moment before the vampire's eyes widened slightly. The next moment it swung its sword and sliced off Ezekiel's legs below the kneecap, before it quickly chopped through the very top of Ezekiel's head.

As Ezekiel's body fell to the ground, the henge seal on his arm crumbled as it could no longer keep up with the damage. After the henge faded away, Theo looked up at the vampire lord who towered in front of him. The vampire lord looked down on Theo with a frown as he asked, "I was taunted by a mere child?"

Before Theo could respond, the vampire lord snatched him up by his neck with his free hand. As Theo struggled in the grip, the vampire brought him up to eye level and stared deeply into his eyes for a few moments before he said, "You truly are just a child…"

Theo couldn't really speak as the vampire gripped his throat, but that didn't stop him as he spit in the vampire's face. The vampire squeezed Theo's neck a little tighter as he said, "Just wait child, we are going to have so much fun together."

As Theo started to lose consciousness from the lack of oxygen the vampire said, "First I'm going to torture you, so I can find your family. Then I am going to make you watch as I torture them."

As Theo's mind touched on the darkness of unconsciousness, thoughts flashed through his head of his family. His mom's tender smile, his father's goofy grin. The proud look his dad has, whenever any of them accomplishes something, no matter how small it might be. How when Milly gets excited, she will call him Te-o again instead of Theo. Or when his little brother Issac asks him to read books together.

As Theo fought against unconsciousness his last thought was, 'I'll never let someone hurt my family!'

The vampire lord watched as consciousness faded from the boy's eyes and just as the light spell the boy cast began to dim. The boy's eyes started to spin as they turned red.