Vampires Dawn: Crusade of Blood

While the rain fell heavily on the ground and the clouds ruptured with bolts of lightning, there was otherwise a deep calm in the current night that was close to being eerie.

Atop a cliff, a figure stood watching up into the night sky. When the lighting illuminated it with the short bursts of light, the facial features of the person could lightly be discerned underneath the cloak that he wore.

The short crimson hair and blood-colored eyes were the most striking features the male person had.

A few droplets of rain managed to touch his rather pale face until his gaze wandered back down and fixated itself on the edge of the cliff in front of him.

Soon another creature appeared in that exact position. What was the most curious was that the said creature was carrying a platin blonde, almost white-haired woman.

Anyone else seeing a small bat carrying a grown person would react in alarm but the young man remained calm, only understanding gleaming in his eyes.

"Well, well. Today seems to be my lucky day. I have found two little rats in one night." The bat, that let the woman fall down to the ground and seemed not to care how badly wounded the woman looked in her own blood that was running out from various wounds on her body, started to talk now.

The voice carried over the wind while it slowly changed its mortal form from being a bat into a man with raven-colored hair and crimson eyes. There was a nuance of nobility in the way the person clothed himself.

"So, you are the one that started to hunt down our kin? You made a mistake in ignoring my warning to leave those alone that tried to live peacefully. Yet, I find you here with another victim to your hunts...", answered the red-haired man.

"It's nothing personal. Well, actually. With this woman it is. But I care little about some rats like yourself. What are you planning to do, now that you found me?" The dark-haired man looked towards the sword placed near the red-heads waist. "You don't expect to win a fight against me, do you? I can tell from your vampiric aura that you are merely a lower vampire."

"...Do you believe birth predetermines everything? As long as you are not my creator, nothing else matters at all.", said the red-head calmly and drew his sword fully. It reflected some of the light from the thunder. It had an extremely sharp edge.

"A cursed blade...So you are no fool. You came prepared, but don't expect to win even with that." With a quick judgment of the weapon, the black-haired man also drew his own sword, and both charged at each other engaging in battle.

Both weapons clashed with each other in a flurry of strikes that seemed to be fast enough that it was not easily followed by the naked eye. Yet both of them seemed to see each movement of the other and act in correspondence to the attacks.

This went on for a while and even the rain that still poured down was starting to build up a small dome around the two of them that showed the range of the swords swinging around.

From his expression of annoyance, the black-haired man started to back off. What came right after was the use of magic.

It was every vampire's gift to a certain generation to have an aptitude for magic. While magic, in general, was possible to perform, which nature and element one was best suited with, was random

In the black-haired man's case, one of them seemed to be blood magic. For when he cast it the trickled blood from the woman on the ground floated into the air and started shooting like arrows at the redhead.

A few wounds appeared on his body while he deflected and defended himself from any fatal hits, but he was still damaged. Naturally, it was nothing that would harm him in the long run.

"Resorting to magic, are we? How much longer can you last then?" The redhead smirked now and mocked the man for relying too much on magic. It was powerful, yes. But there was a steep cost for it.

While humans had a lesser aptitude for magic, they used what one called mana. A replenishable resource that would gather itself in their bodies. Vampires, on the other hand, used the blood inside their bodies that they had gathered up to do the same feat.

One can just imagine by that fact how much vampires tried not to rely on their magical abilities. It would result in them becoming hungry and when a vampire started to starve...That is when one lost the battle entirely.

Hunger brought vampires into a state of berserkness until they replenished their blood to a certain degree. That frenzy of course impeded their thought process and calm demeanor that would otherwise be necessary to guarantee a higher chance of survival.

"You damn rat! Die!!" Now it was a screen of green smoke that traveled at him. On the ground below the redhead could see some rocks melting lightly. A fog of acid was always annoying.

Having no other option, he had to use some of his own magic and cast a firewall between himself and the fog. Sadly the rain made fire magic weaker and some of the fog still traveled through and ate at his body when it clung to it.

But at the same time, the red-head used that opportunity and charged forth through the fire and lunged straight at the black-haired man. With his blade positioned beforehand, he pierced the black-haired man's chest right into his heart when he arrived at his position.

"Damn you...." The black-haired man cursed one last time realizing the outcome and slowly lost consciousness.

"Sleep, we will talk later. You are lucky that we still have to find out who you are working for..." The redhead let go of the sword handle and the guy he pierced slumped over like a ragdoll.

Then the redhead looked over at the woman that actually also had a knife stuck in her chest.

"I should probably leave her sleeping for now as well. Derrick, get the woman. I will carry our little traitor here..."

Another person appeared after being called. This one had white short hair and also the iconic red eyes that were a trademark of vampires.

"Understood. What should we do about the human that is crawling up here? By the looks, he seems eager to find that woman over there.", asked the one called Derrick while looking over the edge.

"...Just cast an illusory spell and make him believe some wild animal killed her. She is a vampire, so she probably hid the truth from him. In a way, we gift him with a longer life..."

"Got it.", nodded Derrick and started casting something.

"Let's move..." The red-head transformed into a bat after having seen the other being finished with the spell. He grabbed the black-haired man's body with his tiny bat legs and lifted it up with him.

The same happened with the woman by the other male vampire.