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5 - Scent of human blood

Milo was waiting at the same place where he gave the sword to his daughter. The sun set a long time ago, but Elaine hasn't arrived yet. He began to feel anxious while waiting for his daughter's return when he heard the rustling of leaves in the direction where Elaine took off earlier.

He turned towards the sound and saw Elaine covered in blood while holding the sword in her hand. Her white t-shirt from earlier was now dyed in red and her face was also covered in blood. He rushed to her side when she almost tripped by a rock.

"Careful," he reached for the sword, "give me that. You should wash yourself. You're covered in blood." He informed her as if she still doesn't know. Elaine nodded her head and staggered towards the cabin. Milo watched Elaine until she got inside and closed the door. He switched his gaze up at the very upper corner of the warehouse door and stared at it with a blank face for a few seconds before opening it.

The warehouse may look like one from the outside, but it was actually a combination of library and weapon storage. Milo keeps books filled with vampire information here and the record of the vampires they have killed up to now. He approached a table at the center of the room. He placed the bloody sword on the ground and looked at the table.

There are no other things lying in it. Just a pen, a stamp, and a folder. He opened the folder and checked a box in the file inside it before stamping at the lower left of the file. Closing the folder, he grabbed the sword from the floor and walked towards a corner of the room where he cleans the used and dirty weapons before putting it back to its place.

While cleaning, he wondered why Elaine seemed to be listless after she returned, but soon shrugged the idea off of his mind.

The next morning, Elaine woke up late as usual and came to Twilight for breakfast. But this time, her father joined her. They crossed the street and Milo opened the glass door of the bistro ringing the bell attached to it.

Damien greeted Milo with a nod and smiled after seeing Elaine behind her father. Elaine avoided Damien's gaze and looked away to hide her blushing face. Two dishes were already prepared at the counter. Elaine noticed that there were no other customers than them and because she was still standing outside she had the chance to glance at the sign and saw that it stated that the bistro was closed.

They sat down next to each other and Damien stood across them at the other side. Elaine noticed that Damien prepared two dishes when they didn't even tell him that Milo would eat, too. Milo noticed Elaine's confusion and chuckled, making her glance at him.

"I called him last night and told him I'll join you for breakfast." Milo explained. Elaine nodded her head once looking down at her food, embarrassed that her father noticed that she was confused.

"Pfft..." Damien tried to hold his laughter back and patted Elaine's head. Elaine raised her eyes to Damien who was smiling brightly at her. "Good morning, my darling." He joked which made Milo glare at him. Elaine flinched slightly when she heard what he addressed her. Her headache, she didn't let them know because she knew that they would be worried which was unnecessary for her. She acted normal.

She ate her food at a fast pace because she was about to be late again. Damien left and grabbed a lunch box from the other side of the counter and opened Elaine's bag without her permission and put the lunch box inside. Elaine didn't notice that Damien had secretly put a lunch box in her backpack because she kept glancing at the wall clock.

"I'm going. See you later, father." She announced and said goodbye to her father and grabbed her backpack. She ran to the door not saying anything to Damien.

"Don't run! You might trip, my darling. See you later." He waved at her. She abruptly stopped before she could close the door after hearing what Damien addressed her. Again, she felt a sting in her head as if she was forgetting something.

She doesn't understand what Damien meant by his last sentence, but forgot about it because her headache was worsening. She ran after closing the door of the bistro and only stopped after arriving in front of her classroom. She slammed the door not knowing that their homeroom teacher was already inside.

"I-I'm sorry. Good morning, Teacher." She said, abashed by her actions. Her homeroom teacher sighed and signaled her to sit.

She went to her seat and sat dropping her bag on the floor. Someone tapped her shoulder and as she turned her head she smelled blood from the hand of the person who tapped her. She immediately covered her nose as her headache worsened.

"Why are you covering your nose?" Kace asked, he was the one who tapped her shoulder. After seeing the bandage from his own hand he immediately pulled back. "Oh, sorry. Is the blood's scent really that strong?" He asked.

"No, it's okay. It's just..." she shook her head and closed her eyes shut trying to suppress her migraine.

"Alright, we'll go to the science lab for our next topic!" Their homeroom teacher announced. Elaine was the first one to grab her things and stood up to go to the science lab just beside their classroom, making her not notice that Isla and Josie weren't in the room.

She heard a glass break inside the science lab and immediately opened the door, but she regretted her decision the moment she stepped inside for she smelled a strong scent of human blood. Her eyes laid upon Isla who wounded herself from trying to pick up the glass shards with her bare hand.

Isla's wound was quite deep and the blood gushed out from her wound. Josie, who was beside Isla scolded her by her rash actions, but none of her words were heard by Elaine for she seemed to be deaf upon seeing the sight of the hot and sticky scarlet fluid coming out from the wound. Her ears rang and her eyes felt like it was burning and her headache was not helping.

Josie noticed her and started talking which Elaine didn't hear. She gripped the door when she felt her knees weakened and as the last of her energy left her she fell to the floor and the darkness engulfed her completely.