TAIL OF TRAILS

"The sun has risen, and all the stars have awakened; be aware of its trail of lights, and don't blink or you'll lose sight of it,"

An individual, along with his or her companions, stood in the dark and abandoned building. They were on the roof, with a full view of the entire building in front of them. Hei Bao owned this structure. They were all dressed in long black cloaks, with the exception of the person in front of them, who wore a cloak that was a shade of red. The person silently stood tall.

After a minute, footsteps were heard, and the individual's companions turned around to be on the lookout. Despite the fact that half of their faces were hidden, their long vampire teeth were ready to attack and defend. Half of the individual's face was also hidden beneath the long cloak, but its fangs were not visible. The individual glanced beside him without turning around and returned his gaze to the building in front of him.

"It's fine," the person said. But it doesn't have a normal voice.

This person was clearly not using its normal voice. As if this person was concealing their voice behind a voice changing technique or was using a device.

After hearing their leader, they all turned around and retracted their fangs before standing straight again. The cloak that hangs above their heads sways as the wind gently brushes through it. One of the individual's companions appeared in the scene, but he was not wearing a cloak; instead, he was dressed entirely in black, including the cap, which obscured half of his face.

"I have something important to report, Leader," said the newcomer.

"Go on," the individual or so-called leader said.

"Your niece was killed in the act and is currently buried in the deep forest," the reporter said.

The so-called Leader remained silent for a moment before laughing.

"Lao Bien, you were supposed to report that a few days ago," he pointed out.

"Please forgive me; the current leader was wiser than I expected," the man in a cap explained.

"Heh. You're right," he said after a brief pause. He then turned around to face the man in the hat, Lao Bien.

"It's because his father taught him a lot of things in the past, and I've seen it a few times, like father, like son," he explained.

"Even his trusted people were wise and cautious about almost everything, except for those... two cousins," Lao Bien coughed twice after those words.

He paused and turned around again, saying,

"Huan Zhen and Shen Jiu weren't born to be that kind of people," he paused before turning around.

"They weren't meant to be on Hei Bao's side," he continued, "but after that incident, they suddenly became like that and begged Hei Bao to let them be his companions and stay on his side forever."

"What incident do you mean?" Lao Bien inquired.

"It wasn't that big of a deal. They used to play and run around, you know... kids. But then, Hei Bao was accidentally pushed by Huan Zhen and scratched his knees. I don't know what happened after that, but those two cousins begged and begged me to convince Hei Bao to let them protect him," he added, softly chuckling.

The Leader then turned to face the moon. A ray of moonlight caught a glimpse of his mouth, revealing his already protruding fangs.

"But what I don't understand is that they became overly protective of him, risking their lives for his safety; they became stupid and hard-headed, and that irritates me," he said again, gritting his teeth.

"You could understand them because you're all related," Lao Bien said.

"I don't see them as blood-related anymore, Lao Bien," he paused, and turned back to face Lao Bien.

"I don't care what you do to them," he said before beginning to walk towards Lao Bien and stopping beside him.

"Just don't act rashly next time; I'm not going to risk my people's lives for you again," he said as he walked straight to the door.

The other companions trailed behind their leader, leaving Lao Bien alone on the roof. Lao Bien was biting his lower lip to the point of bleeding. After a brief moment of calm, he retracted his fangs and followed the others outside.

To be continued.