Chapter 3: Tyrant

The door creaked open, allowing for bits of light to make its way into a now dimly lit room, ransacked with items seemingly lost to time. Boxes stacked upon each other, scrolls and papers leaned against the walls, and a dusty weapon rack located in the far left of the room's walls. Sebastian squeezed his way past the half-open door, brushing away the dust mites that filled the air with the slightest movement.

"You sure it's in here?" he asked just before a hefty cough forced its way out of his lungs.

"A hundred percent certain," replied a feminine voice from the outside of the room, which evoked a sigh from Sebastian's lips.

He rolled up his sleeves and stooped to the ground, ready to search each and every single box in the dusty, abandoned room, but before he could begin, a slight shimmer in the corner of the room caught his eye. Now on the alert, he stood promptly in a slouched stance as he slowly made his way over to the location that shimmered. He neared the weapon rack, looking up at the spears and swords that were hung up on it, however, that wasn't what he was in search of. He blew the dust off the sword hung directly before him, tapping it lightly before reverting to a crouched position, moving around the boxed and dusty items that were underneath the weapon rack.

"Why's it so quiet boy?" asked Nana Moe as she stepped past the slightly open door, hands on her hips as she looked about the room for Sebastian's location.

Frightened, Sebastian eased back, his legs giving out shortly after being placed under a slightly increased load, causing him to fall onto the dusty floor.

"I thought I saw something," he groaned, "So I went to look at what it might be."

"Your curiosity will be the death of you boy," she sighed, "I sent you in here for one of my lost texts, not for you to go on a treasure hunt for any and everything... If you don't know what you're tampering with, certain things in this room could easily lead to death... Or worse."

"Why send me here in the first place then?" he asked, now on his feet once more, dusting off the back of his joggers, "If it's so dangerous."

"Because I couldn't be bothered to do it myself, but now that I have to, wait outside for me, I'll speak with you shortly."

***

"Aren't you going to replenish yourself?" Shouji asked, his eyes now soft with concern, "You look malnourished."

"I'm fine... More than fine," Corniellia replied with a gentle smile, "No need to worry too much bout me."

With his hands in his pockets, Shouji analyzed his sister from her head to toe, sighing lightly underneath his breath before crouching before her, "You know what happens if you don't drink every now and then right?"

She gave no direct answer to his question, staying still with her knees and hands on the floor, refusing to even glance in his general direction.

"You die Niellia!" he exclaimed, "We aren't like humans who can go days upon days without food, so why do you insist on avoiding it? Do you want to die?"

Corniellia shrugged with a sigh leaving her mouth. She panted lightly as the scent started to overwhelm her causing her body to react on its own accord, triggering its primitive instincts of survival. Her nails reshaped themselves, changing from a curved edge, to one where the edges were sharp and pointed. Her canines brought themselves forth, standing out among her other teeth as they were now sharper and longer than all the others. Tears slowly made their way down her cheek as her body started to transition, her thoughts and her vision both being blurred while she drifted in and out of consciousness.

Smiling, Shouji looked down to where his sister was crouched, "See, that's much better... I'll leave you to it then."

***

"Why does the girl bother you so much?" Moe asked Sebastian who now sat before her around a rectangular table in a dimly lit room, with the only light source being two candles, both of which were placed at far ends of the room.

"It's just baffling. Why visit an institute known for training hunters, if that isn't your intention? What other agenda could you have?"

"That's the thing, my dear," she said as she opened an old-looking book, skimming through the stained pages, "Not everyone in the world is black and white. For example, you can go to a bank with no intention of withdrawing or depositing money... You can go to a restaurant with no intention of ordering the food."

"Yes you can, but what's the point?"

Moe sighed, realizing that Sebastian was not picking up on the point she tried to bring across, "Let's just say... The girl needs help with something that only we can provide, and leave it at that."

"But how can I help her if I don't know what I'm helping her with?"

"At what point did I say you're helping her?" Moe asked, her black eyes staring over to Sebastian while her chin rested against her knuckles, "You're still a hunter in training... These matters don't concern you."

"Your remarks hurt me, Mentor Moe, they really do," Sebastian chuckled faintly, "I've just yet to bring home a fresh kill... But that doesn't make me any less of a hunter than Reinhardt or the others."

"Oh does it? Then tell me, why is it that they were able to graduate months prior, and you're still here?"

The place went silent for a moment, the sounds of the night's crickets echoing loudly in the background.

"I didn't mean it like that," Moe said, a hint of sympathy in her voice as she reached a hand forward to cover Sebastian's.

"No no, it's fine," he said with an innocent smile, pulling his hand away from her grasp as he got up from his seat, "I'm gonna go for a walk... I'll see you later Madam Moe."

Sebastian slowly made his way out the room, leaving Nana Moe to herself in the dark room, a sigh leaving her mouth as she cupped her face with her fragile hands.

"You're losing your touch with the kids," said a deep, masculine voice as a shadowy figure made its way from the corner of the room toward the seat that Sebastian previously inhabited.

"As if you were ever in touch with them in the first place," she scoffed.

"I don't have to be. I teach them how to fight and send them about their day," he chuckled, leaning back in the chair, allowing for the light to reveal his face. His dark hair curled forward and faded along the edges, as his trimmed sideburns ran neatly along his dark-skinned face toward both his beard and his mustache, "Why be so hard on the boy though? He qualifies enough to be a genuine hunter, surpassing even you in your training years... Why not just give him the title?"

"He's too jumpy. I won't deny, the boy has potential... lots of it. But going toe to toe with an actual vampire, that confidence, that pride, that stubbornness will prevent him from seeing anything outside of the fight. So unless he can prove his worth as everyone else did... I'm afraid he'll be a trainee forever."

"Ehh, I'll give him a month."

"You said that two months ago Uriel," she chuckled, "He still has ways to go... We shouldn’t rush it."

***

Sebastian walked down the lonely streets, hands in his sweater pocket as he swayed gently with each step, street lamps and fireflies illuminating the way as the nighttime mist slowly began to take over the place.

The words of Nana Moe replayed over and over again in his young brain, accompanying the moment his parents were killed before his eyes. The thought made him wince, forcing him to gently slap himself in order to take himself out of the daze.

"You don't need to listen to her... You're just as much of a hunter as everyone else," he whispered to himself, just before he heard a faint scream not too far from where he stood.

A smirk appeared on his face before he pulled two daggers out of his sweater's sleeve and dashed over to the location that the scream originated from, which was luckily only a few houses away.

He closed in on the area, leaning himself against the outer walls of what seemed to be a warehouse with the metal door partially lifted. The coppery scent of fresh blood filled his nostrils, bringing visible scorn to his face before he shook it away.

"Okay... You can do this, now's your time," he whispered to himself before dashing underneath the door, stunned by the sight before him.

"No No No No No," muttered a nervous, feminine voice in the barely lit room, "What did I do? What did I do?"

Sebastian forced his feet to keep moving, but slowly, toward the pink-haired mistress before him who was bent over an opened feminine corpse.

"Corniellia?" he nervously asked as he tightened his grip on the daggers in his hands, "W- What are you doing?"

<Chapter 3 End>