CHAPTER 213

Tristan ran into a little problem that he was quick to rectify when he was giving Allison the bite.

He had forgotten just how tantalizing the thought of drinking Allison's blood was that when he finally got an unrestrained drink, he had almost fallen into a haze that would have kept him drinking until she was a husk of dried flesh and bones. Luckily for him, his resilience was more than up to the task, though not after drinking in a few extra sips.

"So what now?" Chris asked in worry upon seeing Allison standing and twitching while unconscious.

Tristan drew up his sleeves and folded them to his elbows with a critical look in his eyes as he stared pointedly at Allison.

"Now we wait for it to leave… if Deaton's words prove true." He said. He felt the look Chris was giving him but nonchalantly brushed it off. None of them knew what would happen if he gave Allison the bite.

As if possessed, Allison started twitching and spasming uncontrollably before gasping and falling to her knees.

"Ookay? What's happening now?" Malia couldn't help but question as she saw Allison retching fatally on the floor.

To answer her question, Allison's gasping and uncomfortable retching gave way to intense gargling when she started spewing out bandages from her mouth.

"What the hell?" Malia jumped back, exclaiming in shock at the bizarre scene currently playing out.

The gargling continued for half a minute, which was when Allison spat out the last of the bandages.

Allison's eyes cleared up, legs wobbling as she tried to stand on her feet. Her father tried to rush to her and help her but Tristan stopped him, earning him a scathingly harsh look that he failed to notice.

The person in front of him looked like Allison no doubt, even felt like her – the same emotion wavelengths and heartbeat tempo – but the connection he now had with Allison didn't recognize the person in front of him at all, which confused him.

Did the connection not form with Allison? He thought that but quickly dismissed the thought. It formed, he felt it. And he could still feel it. It was there, but not on this 'person' in front of him.

Before Chris and Victoria could demand an explanation, a hand came out from the heap of loose bandages, followed by the slow emergence of the rest of the body.

And on this person, Tristan could feel the reassuring thrum of the connection they shared.

He leveled a dark smile at the first Allison and that was how the trickster knew the gig was up.

It leapt at Malia with metallic silver fangs and black claws, its action all carried out in a bid to get the first advantageous ground against Tristan, except that Tristan was one step ahead of him.

A blur was all they all saw, with the next thing being Tristan lifting the dead-on lookalike with his claws lodged deeply into her neck while his blood pierced through all her limbs.

"You think you can kill me? Thousands tried and tens of thousands failed. I am the dark void. The one you're scared to look at when the lights go off."

"Lucky for me then. I was never afraid of the dark. I welcomed it." Tristan said in a low whisper.

His right hand speared into the Nogitsune's chest and ripped out a fist-sized tumor that was beating like a heart and had the veins and arteries attached to it wriggling like worms.

"You… can't...kill… me.."

"I know. I'll try to the next time we meet." He crushed the heart while staring the Nogitsune dead in the eyes with a bloodthirsty smirk on his face to match the smile of seething rage on the Nogitsune's face.

The tumor-heart evaporated to black smoke, leaving on a small fly in Tristan's hand that soon turned to smoke.

"See you soon…. Bloodborn."

The Nogitsune wearing the mask of Allison's body started fading away in black ash until nothing of it was left remaining in the material world.

"Those ashes. I'll gather and keep it sealed in a place only I know of. We can't take any chances with that thing." Chris said, a hint of fear in his heart as he stared at the heap of ash on the floorboard.

"That would probably be for the best. I don't want to come across that thing again in my life if I can help it. How about just throwing it in the sea and forgetting about it?" Malia suggested as she went over to Allison who was still shivering in part fright and and part relief on seeing the end of her tormentor.

Chris shook her head while Victoria answered with a distasteful snort. "We can't risk it. It could drift over a ley line especially since they are abundant at sea, or influence some sea animals. The possibilities are as endless as the chaotic results that will come to pass if we handle it with a laid back attitude. Things like these are very sensitive, especially in the supernatural side."

"Oh… yeah, that makes sense." She ignored the ash – content with forgetting it forever – and guided Allison to the nearest couch. "Don't worry, sleep. Everything will be fine, even more than fine, when you wake up."

Allison gave a slow nod, too tired and drained to say anything in protest, and closed her eyes and let the physical and mental fatigue take over.

Everyone watched as she fell asleep peacefully, something she had not been able to do in the past few days, remaining quiet so as not to disturb her sleep and also to think about how they would proceed going forward, especially for Chris and Victoria whose daughter was now a supernatural creature, and not just any creature but the infamous taboo of a specie that was the vampire. A Bloodborn to be exact.

Yeah, the Hunters community will be in shambles when news of this spreads out. They had saved their daughter, but in doing so had all but completely excommunicated themselves from other Hunter Families.

Chris sighed. It was frustrating and headache inducing but the fact that his heart was beating calm assured him that he made the right decision.

"Those gunshots were definitely reported to the Sheriff station. The Calavera might have delayed any calls from this area to law enforcements but no doubt the Sheriff station was notified after it ended. Both of you should be on your way before they get here. What are you doing?"

Both parents stared speechless as Tristan picked up Allison and started going up the stairs to lay her in her bed, with Malia following closely behind.

"We're crashing here tonight if you both don't mind. She might be really jumpy when she wakes up, and we don't want her running into the sun just because she forgets her new nature."

Chris chuckled as he saw the stabbing light in his wife's eyes hang on the back of the two retreating teens.

"It's okay, Victoria. With everything that has happened, I'm sure you can see that they don't mean our little girl any harm. It's a gift most don't have."

Victoria huffed and sparingly glanced at her husband with judging eyes shadowed in ridicule. "It would have been perfect if she didn't have feelings for her best friend's boyfriend. Girls and claws, hmph, I would like to see how that plays out."

She left to start arranging what she could before the morning came while Chris remained rooted to one spot, his eyes slowly widening in horror as he finally understood the meaning of the words his wife spoke.

"No. I refuse!" He snarled.

He heard Victoria's unamused scoff from the other room. He'd be damned thrice over if he let his daughter grow affections for a vampire, regardless of how grateful he was to said vampire.

...

[Calavera Territory, Mexico]

Araya Calavera looked somber as she held a silver bullet with a skull indent on it and a glass of wine.

"My Severo, upright and loyal… my own son. And the Argents are siding with the same beast that killed him. Mi pequeño…"

She had been waiting for the call from her son to confirm that the task had been completed but what she received was a call from the outpost that they had lost all contact with the main strike team.

The only thing they had to show were recordings of screams and incoherent shouts, one of which belonged to her son, Severo Calavera.

"Christopher and Victoria Argent have committed a great taboo. Not only killing another Hunter but also killing the heir of a foreign great Hunter Family. Send a message to the Seat of Elders at the table: Calavera is owed a blood debt that they will collect… at the expense of the Argent Family. The Seat of Elders will lose the membership of one of the oldest Hunting Families — thus sayeth Araya Genoveva Calavera."

Duty and obligation – both meant nothing in front of a mother's wrath.