Chapter 43

Some time had passed, and inside the vampires' house, Dylan explained what had happened while Wander nodded in agreement.

Soon, they heard a knock at the door, and Zoe hurried to open it, revealing Oliver, now dressed in regular clothes with various bandages and a large backpack on his back that surprised Wander as he lowered his eyebrows.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked, and Oliver responded with a smile as he entered the house, sitting in a corner near the window while Dylan continued, "I know you're suspicious, but it contradicts when you come in here unarmed."

Zoe closed the door and sat on the couch corner, still looking at Oliver, while Wander continued to stare.

"I never said I was unarmed; you're jumping to conclusions," Oliver replied, leaving his backpack between his legs, still smiling. But soon, he turned serious and looked at Wander, saying, "I know you want to be a part of this, but if you want to face that woman, I won't bring anyone to their death."

"But I can fight, even if I'm weaker now. You told them I'm naturally stronger; if I can help, I will," Wander said, forcing himself to get up from his chair and continued, "I'll find a way to regain my strength; I have a theory."

"A theory?" Oliver raised an eyebrow, and Wander nodded. But Zoe raised her hand and said, "Let me explain. We came to a conclusion together when we thought about what happened for Wander to discover he could drink blood and what happened during the fight..." Oliver continued to look slightly surprised, but Zoe continued, still looking worried, "Since the fangs appeared, and the doctoress explained, we speculated that Wander could drink blood, but he found the idea disgusting at first."

"At first, but then..." The black-haired vampire lowered his head, sighing before continuing, "When I went to the butcher to get meat for our dinner, I saw the blood from some meats and made a request to the butcher who, at first, found it strange but soon agreed, charging by weight, of course."

Oliver lowered his eyebrows, understanding where this was going but let Wander continue. "When I got home, I still thought it was a bad idea, but it was there... and when I drank, it was cold and disgusting, but for some reason, it was also pleasant and made me feel better for a while." He looked down uncomfortably and forced a smile, saying, "Legends say that vampires can drink animal blood, but most of the time, they drink human blood."

When he finished, he furrowed his brow and clenched his teeth, saying, "I won't kill. We can catch some disgusting criminal, and if I heal, I can fight with you."

"It's not going to happen, Wander," Oliver interrupted, still sitting in the corner of the room with a serious expression, then standing up and saying, "I have nothing against you beating up criminals, and believe me, I think your attitude is brave. But I also did my homework, and this could be a terrible idea."

"Why? I know I can fight. If we don't kill her by the next full moon, I'll..." Wander started, but Oliver cut him off, "The same legends that talk about vampires preferring human blood also say that drinking it is like an addictive drug they can never get rid of. Maybe it makes you stronger and cures you, but after we kill her, do you think animal blood will be the same as freshly spilled blood?"

Oliver spoke with coldness, and Wander widened his eyes, lowering his head, clenching his fist and saying, "But still..."

"Still, we don't know exactly about her ability," Wander raised his head and looked confused. "Her ability may affect you miles away during the full moon, but does it need to be a full moon if you're only a few meters away?"

Wander widened his eyes again, leaning against the couch, still skeptical, considering the possibility, while Dylan and Zoe also looked uncomfortable with the conversation.

But soon, Oliver continued to speak, "There's also the chance that she chose not to include them in the same pact as you, but it's less likely to go wrong than your idea. I won't bring anyone to their death or interfere."

Zoe lowered her eyebrows, and Dylan frowned, "There are better words."

"I know there are, but to save time and prevent him from dying, the message has been delivered," Oliver crossed his arms, and Dylan continued with a furrowed brow. But Wander intervened and said, "I understand... so tell me how I can help, and I will do it."

"Great," Oliver took his notebook from his backpack and opened the notepad with some information he had written down, but in the end, he just sighed and said, "She's probably stronger than you think. If the theory that human blood is better than animal blood is correct, she has free access to some bags because it's a hospital." Oliver raised his head, and the trio looked surprised, but then he raised an eyebrow and continued, "We already have the reason why she works there, but we still don't exactly know why she sent you after me. Any ideas?"

"She didn't send us to hunt you; she sent us to hunt the vigilante. She probably doesn't know your identity yet," Dylan said.

"Which implies she can't read Wander's mind or something, but even if I'm the vigilante, it's not reason enough." Oliver uncrossed his arms and leaned forward slightly. "From what I've been told, she sent you to look for me less than a month ago, which is the time it takes for the moon to complete its cycle. A month ago, I had just started, and I hadn't faced any vampires or anyone that dangerous. There has to be some other reason."

As he finished the sentence, Oliver frowned, as if he remembered something, and then brought his fist to his chin, while the vampires looked at each other, still concerned.

Oliver briefly remembered his first few weeks as a vigilante and squinted his eyes while wondering, "There's something I've been ignoring from the beginning..." His forehead continued to furrow as he confirmed in his mind, "There's someone dangerous I faced early on."

But Zoe interrupted his train of thought, saying, "Well, we didn't think much about it, but you have a point." She put her hands in her pockets and concluded, "We dedicated ourselves entirely to researching vampires, but information about the doctoress is scarce... all we know about her is that she works at night in the hospital where we took Wander."

"I don't think she's doing it out of pure villainy or something. She doesn't even have social media," Dylan said with a worried look. "She'd be drawing attention to the vigilante for no reason. What would she gain from it?"

"Do you think she deliberately wanted the vigilante's attention? Do you think she wants to fight?" Zoe asked, her worried look persisting, and her companions began to think about the vampire's intentions.

But soon, Oliver smiled and stood up from the corner of the wall while saying, 'That's probably it.' He adjusted his backpack with a smile and crossed his arms. 'Various motivations, such as getting to know me and trying to form a non-aggression alliance, simply trying to kill me, which is unlikely, or she wants me to get close so she can do to me what she did to Wander.'

Oliver continued to stare with a smile, but the vampires widened their eyes in surprise, and Zoe stepped forward, saying, 'So she expects a fight with you and wants to turn you into a vampire?'

'It's a palpable hypothesis,' Oliver scratched his chin with a smile. 'She used the three of you to get to me; I think in the end, she just wanted me to discover the vampires, sending you three who aren't even fighters. What concerns me is if she planned for me to join you to go after her, making the opponent even more dangerous.'

Dylan covered his mouth in disbelief, and Wander crossed his fingers, leaning forward clearly worried.

'So... from the beginning, she didn't plan to spare Wander regardless of the outcome?'

'She probably knew we wouldn't be able to defeat the vigilante. Maybe her surprise was that Oliver didn't kill us...' Wander concluded, still with his head down, and the trio seemed desperate. But as he raised his head, Dylan saw Oliver still deep in thought, but with a slight smile on his face, which made him raise his eyebrows.

'Why are you laughing? We've probably been dancing to her tune this whole time... including you,' he frowned and clenched his fist. 'Is that funny?'

'Of course not, idiot,' Oliver lowered his hand and adjusted his backpack with a smile, saying, 'I'm just figuring out some mysteries in my head, and as I've said from the beginning, I have a plan.'

'A plan?'

Oliver adjusted his backpack with a sigh, then calmly walked to the door and leaned against it, turning back to the vampires with a smile, saying, 'Let's take action. I'll need two of you. I want to know the hours this doctoress works and how much that consultation costs.'

'Hey, you've just concluded that she probably wants you to go there to turn you into a vampire,' Zoe spoke, clasping her hands. 'If you're transformed and under her orders, Wander will die when the full moon comes, and probably us too... do you really have a plan?'

'Of course I do,' Oliver continued to smile and crossed his arms. 'As you said yourselves, she knows the vigilante but not me. So, as Oliver, I'm going to pay the doctoress a visit."