An Encounter With The Rabid Vampires

Rabid vampires were vampires whose transformation went awry.

They were blood-sucking monsters that were weak against sunlight, garlic, and crosses like the primeval vampires from hundreds of years ago.

Driven purely by their bloodlust, they attacked any living being and drank their blood to the last drop indiscriminately.

Werewolves were naturally not afraid of them. They hated vampires by nature, so hunting rabid vampires was seen as some kind of entertainment. Some sort of a sport, even.

On the other side, the regular vampires looked down at rabid vampires greatly.

They particularly despised the fact that they were classified as the same race. Instinctively, rabid vampires feared the regular vampires like slaves fearing their masters.

To be more precise, rabid vampires were no different from slaves for vampires, especially the pure-blood vampires.

Regular vampires were able to give rabid vampires any command they wanted. If they wanted a rabid vampire to jump from a high-rise building's rooftop, the rabid vampire would do so without batting an eyelid.

Absolute control was much worse than death.

In a world where all three races co-existed and lived side-by-side, the only race that was vulnerable against the rabid vampires was the human race.

Rabid vampires came out of their hiding places to hunt at night. While the werewolves and vampires enjoyed their nightlife under the moon and the stars, normal human beings went back home before dusk and locked themselves up in buildings that were equipped with Modified Ultrasonic Protection devices. The device looked like a round bell. It was typically installed at gates, with the ability to detect rabid vampires and emit modified ultrasonic soundwaves at them to prevent them from entering the building.

St. John was a school reserved for specifically human children. MUP devices were installed at the outermost perimeter of the school to ensure that no rabid vampire could enter the schoolyard. Unfortunately on that very day during morning break, two of the elementary school students brought baseball bats to school to play baseball together with their class. The untrained children accidentally hit the baseballs toward the MUP devices in the courtyard area. The bell-shaped devices had a strong casing, but the components inside were fragile. They broke before they even hit the ground.

The headmaster was furious. It was already the last day before the winter holiday kicked in. Naturally, no one predicted that this kind of thing would happen. Most maintenance workers had gone off to leave for their hometowns or to travel to a holiday destination. The broken MUP devices were kept inside the headmaster's office and the teachers were asked to make sure that every single child leave the school before dark. During the winter holiday, it would be unfortunate if the school was truly raided by rabid vampires, but it was possible to chase them out before the school reopened, so the headmaster left the school grounds with a clear conscience.

All children typically were eager to leave as soon as the class ended. Who would have thought that Aiden Matthews would pick this day to stay behind?

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Aiden screamed at the top of his lungs. He held his schoolbag in front of him just in time. The rabid vampire sank his fangs into the bag and was momentarily confused when he did not get to taste any blood. Rabid vampires were not very bright. While he still had his fangs stuck inside the schoolbag, Aiden ran for his life.

"Help... help...!!!"

Aiden desperately screamed for help while running blindly out of the school. He did not know where he was heading. He just wanted to get as far as possible from the rabid vampire that was gnawing at his schoolbag. 

The little boy ran across the empty street, blinded by the rain that had turned into a downpour. His whole body was soaking wet, and the afternoon grey sky had been replaced with the night's dark blue sky, full of dark clouds and rumbling thunder.

Eventually, his feet gave up. Aiden fell on a concrete floor and groaned from the pain. He had torn a wound open on a knee. He knew that he should keep running. Else, the rabid vampire would catch up. He must get up... Quickly... Right away...

Before Aiden even mustered the strength to get up, he heard bone-chilling noises around him. One, two, and then three creatures with hunched backs came to approach him slowly. Stinky breath accompanied by a rattling sound escaped their throats. Their blood-filled eyes were fixated on the little boy that was sitting helplessly on a sidewalk. It just so happened that a nearby street light flickered on at that very moment and cast its orange light on Aiden as if wanting to highlight his features for the predators.

"Nooo... ahhhhhh...!!!" the boy whimpered in fear.