Discovery

Hazel took a deep breath and looked over at the door. Levon slowly opened the door with a plate of food and a thick leather belt in his hand. They usually only had belts on days they were going to do experiments - things like throwing kids in hot water to tell if they were witches was common..

"Kid, you get your food in exchange for helping me out." Levon's voice was deep and painful to experience. It felt like a thousand claws were scraping at his skin.

This bastard.

This evil bastard.

Hazel took another deep breath and thought about trying to punch Levon in the face. If he was as strong as he thought, he stood a real chance of beating an adult.

[Ghoul detected]

'Ghoul, do you mean Levon is a ghoul?' Hazel thought as he walked up to Levon and looked into his cold brown eyes as his black hair zigzagged like little nightmare coils.

'Why would a ghoul run this place?'

'I should just try and take my time and get to the bottom of this.' Hazel determined it to be his best course of action.

Hazel tried to hide his fear when the memory of the brutal hits from that belt replayed in his head. The loud slapping sound and his evil grin as Levon looked down at him made him wince. He felt a sense of terror and guilt as he submitted to him by nodding his head.

He never had the maids or any of his servants help him with changing into his clothes in his previous life, afraid that they would gossip about his brutal scars etched into his back. He had his pride to keep back then, and he had the luxury to be the ruler of his little world in the family mansion.

Plus, he couldn't transform if someone was around and needed a private place. Maybe he would once again have to endure from the pain of that belt, his eyes became full of resolve and determination.

"I see you're smart. Most kids I have to spank." Levon put his hand on Hazel's back.

[Damage Taken: -1 Vitality]

[Damage Taken: -1 Vitality]

[Damage Taken: -1 Vitality]

Levon licked his lips as his arm raised higher to slap the belt on Hazel's back with even more force. Each hit was more painful than the previous one as Levon had the chance to perfect his technique to make it even more cruel.

Hazel felt his body somewhat tire as Levon looked down at his hand and scratched his head after he had spent most of his energy. A puzzled look briefly appeared on his face as he studied Hazel with great interest.

"You're not tired yet?"

Levon pointed his long index finger towards the exit. "You might be the reason I get a raise. Let's go."

"I want to pass by the nurse first. My friend is there." Hazel complained as if he was unfazed by all the savage hits.

"Your little roommate Bobby is already there. It's on the way to the front yard. We'll see them when we pass by."

"The front yard. You mean that tree?" Hazel tried to hide his terror mixed with a bit of anger.

Hazel remembered that tree.

The memories were like a set of sinuous barbs that attacked him in almost every nook and cranny of the orphanage. The tree was where they would hang kids with garlic cloves around their neck - to test if they were vampires. It was supposed to be a joke, but now he wasn't so sure.

It was completely possible that they were actually looking for a vampire with all the experiments they extensively tried out on all the kids. Would he fail the test because his other form was a vampire?

"Yes, the tree… You sure are observant. Did they forget to put a bag over your head?" Levon grinded the belt in his hand as he walked past the bare infirmary with Hazel.

Hazel abruptly turned to get a sneak peek to what was inside the room and slightly tripped. He fell on the floor and looked over at Adelaide. She was getting a shot from a young, beautiful nurse that kissed her on the head.

The nurse was oddly attractive with her long silky hair that wouldn't seem out of place even with its bright neon colour. Her legs were tightly close to each other like they were originally one entity. Her pale white skin glimmered as he covered his gasp when it briefly appeared like shining scales with its tiny trapezoid pattern.

[Lamia has been detected]

[Lamia is a creature that devours children's energy just like ghouls]

'Lamia… Are you serious?" Hazel took a deep breath as he collected himself, pushing himself off the floor as Levon played with the belt. He looked unsure if he should hit Hazel or not, but the beautiful nurse was watching.

"Don't go to her kid. She'll drain you more than I can ever dream of doing." Levon picked up Hazel and tucked him under his arm.

"Time to get you up in the tree. Let's see how you like garlic, eh?"

A few strings were put around Hazel's neck as he was soon hung upside down in a tree.

His body was covered with a necklace of garlic cloves and he had a sharp metal stake a few feet under him that pointed at his heart. He could clearly see if he struggled too much the rope would break and he would end up brutally falling to his death.

He tried to not feel terrified, but his entire body was so scared that he felt consumed by uncontrollable fear. He took a deep breath after another deep breath as two men evilly laughed.

"He's so scared," Levon chuckled as he shook his head.

"Here I thought we got a brave one. But, he doesn't look brave!"

"Let me down! Let me down!" Hazel screamed as his worries only got worse as time passed. He kept on getting a notification over and over again as his body writhed in panic. He could hear some strings of the rope snapping, but fortunately, there was more than one rope.

If all of them broke, the rumor was that he was a vampire.

[Vampire transformation is disabled. Remove garlic to transform into a vampire.]

"He's pathetic. I thought he was the kid of the leader of Forlorn?"

"He is. His father didn't see it coming," Jorge laughed as he came outside in a sleek black suit.

"He's three though, so keep it down. We don't want him remembering anything."

"He gets drained pretty well," Levon said as he stretched and yawned, ignoring the cries of the little dangling boy behind him.

"I'll take him down in twenty. Why are you out here Jorge?"

"The leaders said some ghouls were found dead in the sewers," Jorge shook his head.

"Some vampire might have a fetish for our little girl Adelaide. Apparently, it has the boss excited?" He struggled with his shoulders.

"That crazy old bastard," Levon smiled and looked at Hazel before he laughed at the little boy's struggles.

"Did you hear that little boy? You got to stay up there for an hour! We'll be back and see if you melted, have fun!"

Hazel fiercely kicked and screamed for help as the men walked away into the far distance.

His body started to feel scolding hot every time the garlic touched his skin. He needed to get out of here and he needed to save Adelaide.

Who knows if Adelaide's condition might have gotten worse after the Lamia sucked the remaining energy she possessed. He couldn't trust the thugs to keep their word and the young girl couldn't die or else he would fail one of his missions.

[Full area has been scanned. 137 ghouls have been detected on the orphanage property]

[Difficulty of escaping is rated as high or legend level difficulty. Please take caution not to alert anyone of your other forms]