Chapter 10: Live In The Modern Days

A month after waking up, Langress could not find any new information about Lancerlord. During that time, the Heroic base was more heavily guarded against surprise attacks by the Predator faction. The vampires of the Predator faction were also more rampant in the city as they persecuted innocent people to suck blood and killed many Heroic hunters. In just one week, forty hunters from our side were killed. Langress also vigorously sought out all possible information about Lancerlord and the Predator faction base. He went on a rampage to raid Insiders' vampire bars to hunt down all the Predator vampires to get them all information. That action led the Insiders vampire community to ask Boss Luca to force Langress not to enter their bars anymore and stop meddling in internal affairs. This further forced Langress to hunt vampires in the dark as is tradition. But the fact that his power was greatly reduced and the new generation of Predator vampires was greatly enhanced, the job became even more difficult. Internal issues between Langress and the Predator faction were also tense when he arbitrarily acted without Bryant's instructions and showed only a little respect when Jonathan was present. Even Will as his supervisor could only prevent Langress's fights with the hunters. That attitude further alienated Langress from Heroic hunters. Josh was Langress's regular partner but he couldn't control his behavior during each hunt. Josh had seen the dark side of Langress in terms of his brutality, bloodlust and rage. Even fighting Emma became an everyday thing for him. Every two days they would fight each other, and the battles often ended in a draw because of exhaustion or being discovered by the police. Langress's mission was struggling and he was trying to adjust to modern life in New York City. And as a new day began, Langress was in a DVD store and was looking at vampire movie DVDs to pick up new movies. Looking at the range of vampire movie wallpapers, each of them gory or horror, Langress thought with boredom:

"What the fuck is those shit things? What the hell is Vampire Hunters Nights, then Vampires VS Zombies?"

He sighed and picked up the anime series "Hellsing: Ultimate" to check it out. He then left the DVD store to return to the base. Along the way, Langress saw many wealthy people wearing expensive clothes pass him, then teenagers glued into their phones on social networks. Langress passed a homeless man raising his hat to ask for some money and he threw him some dollar bills. Langress walked while thinking to himself:

"So this is what the New Hope and Heroic factions have been defending for so long? We fight in blood so they can live in this modern society. And humans do nothing better for the future the New Hope faction had trusted to protect."

Langress stopped at a traffic light to cross the street. Across the street was a happy family with parents and their daughter, Langress looked so cold with that happiness, he never had a thought about having a family or what family means to him. Because Langress never knew who his family was and his only family was his brothers were all death, leaving him alone. The light was green and people crossed the street. The daughter of that family happily ran across the street without her parents and didn't notice a truck that was losing control and speeding up. Langress immediately dropped his bag then rushed over and hugged the little girl while letting the truck hit him. They were dragged along the road and the little girl's parents and bystanders rushed to check up on them while the truck lay on the road with its front end badly dented. Langress was still alive and he slowly healed his bones and said:

"You alright?"

The little girl cried loudly and her parents rushed to hug her while people around took their phones to film and take pictures of Langress's brave action. The father said to Langress with worry:

"Hey young man, are you okay?"

Langress replied wearily:

"I'm fine, get out of my way."

Langress stood up with blood on his head and he had a slight headache and his veins were red again. Langress shook his head slightly and everything was back to normal, he thought:

"What the fuck? That bloodthirsty feeling again, I'm already full."

The touching mother said to Langress:

"Thanks for saving our daughter, but you need to go to the hospital now."

Langress replied:

"I need to go now."

Langress pushed the crowd away and took his bag to get out of there immediately. At a park, Langress wiped the blood and he thought to himself:

"Ha, bring me bad luck again. I don't need to save that girl."

Then he sat down on the bench to rest, he said:

"Fuck that driver who hit me. I wish I could kill him now."

Langress took a cigarette and lit it and made a long puff. After exhaling the smoke, he crushed the cigarette and threw it in a nearby trash can. Langress sat back against the bench and looked up at the blue sky. Around the park were people enjoying their peaceful life, families walking together, few people exercising, couples enjoying their romantic moments. But they didn't know that there was a bloody war in the dark to protect the peace. Someone walked up to Langress and the footsteps were very familiar, he said:

"My God! I don't have the time or interest to fight right now!"

That person was Emma, she wore a cloak to cover her whole body and wore sunglasses to avoid being burned by the sun, she said:

"The World's Strongest Hybrid is tired and bored before a battle?"

Langress replied:

"Yes, it's been a while since I felt depressed and lazy like this."

Emma said:

"What's wrong?"

Langress replied:

"It's hard to explain, it feels like I want to kill myself."

Emma sighed and said:

"If I had the chance, I would kill you while you're depressed right now and bring you to Lord Lancerlord."

Langress lowered his head to look at Emma and said:

"Then do it now, bring me to Lancerlord now and then. Why don't he kill me while I'm still in the coffin or when I wake up? A coward like him should do that."

Emma replied:

"You and Lord Lancerlord have known each other for a long time, you two must understand each other very well."

Langress said:

"Yeah, being comrades and always together in every battle. Yeah, and betraying all his brothers to become devils for the sake of power."

Emma replied:

"You don't know all about Lord Lancerlord yet."

Langress grumbled:

"What do you know? You're simply his servant.'

Emma said:

"It is true that I am Lord Lancerlord's servant, but I am loyal to him for his greatness in this bloody battle."

Langress replied:

"Great? Can that vile man be great after all his crimes?"

Emma slowly approached and sat beside Langress, she continued:

"I used to be a weak vampire who was abandoned by the townspeople because I was once accidentally too thirsty to kill a dog. But Lord Lancerlord saved me when I was very thirsty and killed everyone in that town. Then he adopted me and trained me to be his best assassin. I always respect and be faithful to that day."

Langress replied:

"That's true is Lancerlord, someone who cares for everyone and always protects the weak."

Emma said:

"Lord Lancerlord doesn't kill you right away because he hopes you'll join the Predator's side that same day. And he wants you to familiarize yourself with the modern world first."

Langress replied:

"In the world there is nothing left for me and humans are enjoying this modern life of affluence and forgetting the dangers behind them and the existence of this bloody war."

Emma said:

"Humans change over time. A century ago they may have been the strongest and most arrogant, but today they are civilized people with perfectionist thoughts. This battle is only the fantasy stories of today's people. Vampires, werewolves and Hybrids are just fictional creatures of today's movies, comic books and video games."

Langress replied:

"The truth is bitter. Then, when can I find the base of the Predator faction or Lancerlord will come here to kill me?"

Emma said:

"When the time comes, my mission is only to assassinate you and destroy all evidence of us so that when you are ready, Lancerlord and you will have one last battle."

Langress pulled out a cigarette and replied:

"Hah, that sounds good. Then I'll gladly accept that."

Langress smoked and let out a long breath, he said:

"So, how do I get used to this modern life?"

Emma replied:

"It's not about you getting used to it, it's about accepting the fact that this is no longer the world you used to be."

Emma took Langress's cigarette and smoked it, Langress said:

"The advantage of vampires is that they are immortal and we can do all sorts of harmful things to our bodies but they will still heal everything. And accept the truth? Never."

Emma replied:

"You're still too attached to the old times. This is a new age where vampire hunting isn't the same anymore. Getting used to modern life is also understanding how the new world works. Once you understand how it works, you'll have it all."

Langress said:

"New weapons, new equipment, new behavior, everything is new to me. They are so different from how we operated a thousand years ago,

I'm just a loner in a world that doesn't belong to me."

Langress took the cigarette and smoked again, and Emma replied:

"Silver sword, holy water, brass knuckles, knives, old hunters' melee weapons. You use them well, I see."

Langress said:

"Needless to say, I don't like using guns because they have no honor in killing enemies. The new generation of Hybrid's hunting style is too dependent on guns and modern equipment and does not have basic hand-to-hand skills.

That's what I hate most about how useless they are."

Emma replied:

"You think it's so new, have you ever actually tried it?"

Langress said:

"Not yet."

Emma said:

"What you need to get used to is both accepting the truth and what you need to learn about this world. See, feel, and learn about this world, and when you grasp those basics,

the hunt will be yours again."

Langress replied:

"Why do I need the advice of someone who wants to assassinate me all the time?"

Emma said:

"Then why are you sitting here and listening to me talk and give advice?"

Langress finished smoking the cigarette and replied:

"Hah, I'm bored, I can agree to do many things to make it less boring."

Emma stood up and said:

"Good for you, I need to go now."

Langress replied:

"Wait, don't you want to fight?"

Emma said:

"You said you didn't have smooth today, We'll fight each other again when you want."

Langress replied:

"Accept the truth? Have you ever accepted that you used to suck innocent blood to survive?"

Emma said:

"Yes, I am. But I have never sucked the blood of innocents, only those who stand in our way."

Langress replied:

"If I accept the truth to leave the old past behind, I can become a part of this world. And then, I can find and destroy all of you."

Emma said:

"Good luck with that."

Emma left and Langress also put on his cloak and got his things to leave. That night Langress watched the anime "Hellsing: Ultimate" and he really enjoyed it, he said:

"Wow, it's actually better than I thought. Not all vampire movies suck. Anyways, where's Josh?"

With Josh, he also had his own hunt to find the whereabouts of Robzin and the Predator faction base. Josh transformed into werewolf and chased after a running vampire. He jumped up and grabbed him and pinned him down, Josh said:

"Where is he?! Robzin!"

He immediately exploded his head in Josh's surprise and blood and brain covered his body, he said:

"Damn it."

Josh stood up and noticed there were more than a few werewolves surrounding him, he said:

"Bring it all!"