7

Highway to the Other Regions

Kingdom of Ashtarium

September 26th, 6414

2:03 am

 Before I had left Xibalba, things had escalated further into chaos. Tensions between my country and Ashtarium had increased. The trade agreement between my Father and King Rafael had become null and void with the New King. Father had withdrawn from any further negotiation with the Director of Regions. It was only a matter of time before the tensions reached a boiling point and there would be war. One thing I knew for a fact was that my country could never win a war against Ashtarium. The Kingdom was one of the most advanced nations with the technological and mystical might to back them. No other countries could come close to them if you didn't count the New Berlin Empire and the Jade Republic. But those countries were so far away in the Old World and I wasn't so sure about them helping. Xibalba was a fairly new country and was barely recognized by the League of nations. No one would come to our aid. No one except for the Ashtarmel family. Not the one currently ruling the kingdom, but the one that had been promised to me when the first trade deal had been signed. Ariella Ashtarmel. Rumor had it that she had been killed along with the entire main branch of the family. But I knew that wasn't true. For one, the repugnant human girl that was always by Ariella's side would never let anything happen to her. And two because of the blood oath sworn, I had felt her presence when she had awakened. It was like blood called to blood. After that, I knew that I had to act. Before war broke out between both countries, it was imperative that I get to Princess Ariella. It was the most important decision I had ever made in all the centuries that I had lived. And now I was in a truck, traveling through radiated lands, looking for someone that didn't want to be found. The truck shook, the bump in the road pulled me out of my thoughts. Carmen was keeping her eyes on me, never taking it off. I was impressed with her. It wasn't long ago that she had been human and gone through the rebirth process. Now she was a New-blood Vampire and was part of my bloodline. I knew how devoted to me she was and I hadn't fought against her decisions to come with me. Jose Sancho on the other hand was someone I had picked out myself. He was one of the best fighters on my father's personal guard. Deadly and dangerous in the use of the polearm weapon. And had been around for two hundred and thirty years. It hadn't been easy getting him to leave everything behind and come with me on a fool's errand. But when you have lived the life that I have lived, you learn one or two things over the years. Secrets were the best weapons you have against a person. And secrets of the Xibalba royal courts were something I had. I could tell he was not happy being here. The man had hardly said two words since we had arrived in the region of Zellux and left it. Though I hardly cared if he was silent or not. All I required from him was his skills. Skills that I wasn't as well versed in as my other siblings. Memories of my childhood, intense training under Royal instruction, Father's wrath whenever I failed to succeed. It was not good to dwell on these memories, so I closed them off within my mind.

"How's your hunger," I said to Carmen. Her face changed like she hadn't been thinking about it but now that I bought it up, she could feel it.

"Nothing I can't handle," Carmen said. Jose snickered. The first sound of his voice since Xibalba. "What's so funny"

"Nothing" was all he said. A few seconds passed by and he spoke up again. "You've been a Vampire for what. A few weeks or months."

"A year," Carmen said angrily. "What about it?"

"So your still a fledgling," Jose said. "You're aware that hunger is difficult to control when you're still in your infancy" Carmen growled, her true face revealed in her anger. Jose didn't show signs of being bothered by her fangs. He shifted his head in my direction.

"Are you sure it was wise bringing a newborn baby with us, Prince Gomez?" I sighed, not in the mood to defend my choice again. Mother had not been happy with me going with Carmen. She had wanted me to involve Father in my mission but I knew I couldn't tell him. Father did not care one bit if I was married to Ariella or not. All he cared about was the unification of Xibalba and then to move on to the war. So Mother had given me no choice but to ask Jose to join us. To give her peace of mind.

"Carmen has packed enough synth blood to last us for a week," I said. "She will be alright."

"Synth Blood. Esa cosa asquerosa." He spat in one of the ancient language of the old world. Not all Vampires were in favor of synthetic human blood created by human technology. Some still preferred the taste of natural blood. They desired the old ways of obtaining sustenance through the hunt. But that way was a long time ago. Nine hundred years after the Long war, Scientists from Ashtarmel had figured out how to create synthetic blood, blood that was still nutritional to our kind. It was one of the ways in which King Rafael had gained the support of the humans from his kingdoms. Soon synth blood became the norm in their society. It didn't take long for the King to try to push it to other parts of the world. In order to achieve his dream of co-existence. Xibalba was the first country to accept it, though it had not been easy nor did we have much choice truthfully. It had only been through the alliance that the King had managed to form with my Father that had made it possible for synth blood to end up in my country without bloodshed. There were still the traditionalists among us but they were few and hidden. Some parts of the world outside of the New Continent, had scoffed at the King's attempt and refused it while some had accepted it, recognizing the need for co-existence among the Races. I didn't really care much for synth blood, to be honest. Food was food to me. But deep down, I knew a part of me understood where the traditionalists were coming from. Our kinds was a predatory species. We were meant to hunt, not to cohabitate with our prey. But things change. Another lesson I had picked up in my long life. Progression was not something that could be hindered. Change was necessary though that was something that did not come easy for a species that could be rigid like Vampires.

"Synth blood is all that we have," I said. "Or would you rather... comer nuestros conductores," Jose said nothing but resumed his silence. Better. I liked it when he had been quiet.

"So Master, If you find the princess and you marry her, that would make you the King of Ashtarmel wouldn't it," Carmen said. I couldn't help the grin that crept up on my mouth. That part was one of the reasons that had once pushed me into accepting my betrothal to Ariella. It hadn't been because I had been fond of her. Even back then, I had known that there wasn't any chance of me inheriting the throne of Xibalba, but in Ashtarmel, there had been rumors, rumors that Ariella was the favorite of the former king's children. I had more chance of being a King with Ariella by my side than I did being Juarez Gomez's heir. So when I discovered that she was alive and that my chance for a throne was possible, I had jumped on it.

"That is if we find-" The truck came to a sudden halt. There was a pounding sound on the front of the truck. I left the others and went towards the front. An opening appeared on the front wall and the human woman's face appeared.

"Looks like we got ourselves into a bit of a pickle." She said. I could smell the fear that was rolling off her scent.

"What is it?" I said.

"According to the scanner, looks like there's a horde of Demon beast heading this way." The woman said. Just what we needed. I knew there was always the risk of coming across those wretched creatures in the radiated land. Before the Eternal night and the Long war, Demon Beast once plagued the world, bringing upon the civilization back then calamity never seen before. History said they were a result of some kind of mysterious plague. A plague known as the Crimson plague. Back then, Humanity were the dominant species while the rest of our kind were in the shadows, relegated as fables and myths. The plague turned the infected into Demon Beast. As a result of the plague, a war erupted between the races for dominion over the planet. It's been six Millennia since the war ended, and these monsters were still around. 

"How far away," I said.

"Like two or three miles away," she said. " Tonto is trying to see if there's-" Red liquid splashed on my face. One second she had been there, the next she was gone. What followed was a piercing human scream from the bald male called Tonto and then he was gone too. Jose and Carmen had appeared by my side within those seconds of Tonto's scream. Then there was the silence.

"What the fuck." Carmen said.

"Weapons," I muttered. My heart was beating quickly, sweat perspiring from my skin. Fear... Fear...No...I couldn't afford to die here. Not yet. Carmen pulled her backpack from her bag and began to pull out guns. She first handed me my own GR-45 gun. These weapons were the result of combining Magic and technology together possessing power similar to Enchanted weapons. With the guns, we could release an insane rate of energy blast that could kill even an Immortal if used the right way. Carmen's weapon was an MP30, designed to fire through the thickest of body armor. Carmen tried to hand Jose a GR-45 but he declined. He bought out his weapon of choice- a long polearm with a silver blade at it's tip. Jose was one of those Vampires who were obsessed with ancient forms of weapon though I would admit that he had done some modification to the shaft. It was made of silver instead of regular wood. It was a good thing for him that he had on gloves while holding on to it. I had seen him in action with the weapon and his skills with it were enough to make me comfortable being beside him. Bam! Something had slammed against the truck. Bam! Another one again.

"I don't understand," Carmen said. I could hear a hint of fear in her voice. "I thought the Demon Beast couldn't come any close to the truck. Because of the silver and Verbena."

"They can't," I said. "At least in most cases. There are cases when they are overcome by hunger, they don't feel the pain anymore. They know nothing but the overwhelming hunger. To the point that they even attack themselves."

"Cannibalism," Carmen said. She did the sign of the upside down cross. Cannibalism was a serious sin in Lilithism. To feed upon another Vampire's blood without consent was to be taken away from the bosoms of the Divine Mother's embrace. SO the concept of it was something that was alien to Vampires.

"We need to get out of this truck and far away from it," I said. The Verbena would make them vulnerable and they could not be near it if they were going to take on the Demon Beasts. Jose tore a part of the wall like it was nothing with his polearm.

"I'll go first. Then follow me, my Lord. The girl will watch our back." Jose said. He moved out of the truck and into the outside. I followed him, taking in my surroundings. There were structures around us, each covered by overgrown vegetation. The buildings were falling apart, the sign of the Long war's impact still around. A rabid-pale like creature, the color of white chalk, with necrotic peeling skins, scarlet eyes, and serration of fangs-jumped off the roof of the truck towards me but I quickly fired two shots at the temple of the creature. Black blood splashed out with rotten brain matter. I moved aside to avoid the splatter as another one came from around the corner. Jose unleashed a couple of strikes right into its heart and the Beast fell dead on the spot without it's heart. There was silence for a second, and then the ground erupted. Five more of the damned creatures moved at blinding speed. I reacted quickly, using my gun to blast two more in the head. Carmen shot the third one, blasting huge holes in the chest area while Jose slew the fourth one. In the corner of my eyes, I saw the last creature move up on Carmen, and with my vampire speed, I intercepted the creature. My body slammed it to the ground, strong enough to exert as much force as possible to pin the creature. My fingers grew into razor sharp claws which I used to plunge my hand into its chest and rip out its Demonic heart. The ugly thing was beating, its core still alive even outside of its body. The Demon beast begin to struggle, howling as it knew that its life, was literally in the palm of my hand. I squeezed the core, killing the monster. The creature desiccated, drawing its final breath. Carmen came down beside me, a look of panic on her face as she tried to examine my body for any scratch.

"You weren't scratched my Lord, were you," she said.

"I'm fine," I said. I knew what happened when a Demon beast infected a vampire with their infected blood. The infected vampire would be forced to become a Demon Beast. Actually any of the race could be infected by the Demonic beast. But for one to be infected, their open skin needed to come into contact with the creature's blood. Mine didn't.

"Let's get out of here before the horde shows up," I said.

"What about them," Jose said. He was referring to the bodies of the humans that were on the ground. I could smell the tantalizing blood bleeding out. "Are we going to waste a perfect meal?"

"Are you crazy? Now is-"

"Drain them," I said. Jose smiled and grabbed Tonto's dead body from the ground. He proceeded to feed on the corpse before the blood ran out. "You too, Carmen. Feed on the woman." Carmen was unsure at first but then she went ahead to feed on Brenda. I took a bag of synth blood from Carmen's bag. This should be enough for me. Soon enough a horde would be heading here and I needed them to be in their best state in case we ran into any trouble. Staying inside that verbena truck had weakened us. Nothing a little bit of feeding couldn't cure. I was the oldest among them so I could manage with synth blood. When I was done feeding on it, I reminded them that it was time to leave. And so we traveled the rest of the way on foot.