Sixth Bloodline [BxB]

CHAPTER 16: HIDING [I KIDNAPPED A PRIEST FOR YOU...]

cHAptEr 16:

hidinG

[i kidnAppEd thE pOpE fOr yOUr sAkE, sO yOU gOttA hELp mE EscApE]

   MIKHAEL WAS often the reckless type of guy who can't be bothered to care about the consequences of his actions even though he knew that they'll be detrimental for his future. In any case, no matter how terrible odds are, as long as you use the brute strength — he'll be able to deal with them!

And Half-bloods themselves are creatures that cannot be killed no matter how extreme methods one employed — unless they failed to pass through their own Deep Slumber.

So to Mikhael — since death is never an option — nothing else could be considered as terrible outcome.

And even if he somehow did end up dying... Well, he won't have a conscious capable of regretting it after that point, anyway!

He whined about regretting his bad decisions after the s**t has been done and all, but he never really took his problems seriously. It's always been just a bit of hassle to his already not-so-peaceful live — but everything would turn out to be just fine afterwards, so he never truly learnt his lesson.

Which is why!

Even now, when he looked back on this trouble that steemed from him helping a single girl who would've probably been fine on her own — since those W.E.R.P. agents appeared just as he got tangled in that mess — he didn't consider the situation as the end of the world.

Anyway, he was calm enough to think about setting up two Purebloods so that he can run away, so he was fine.

But that this whole situation came to be just because he was stingy, it was already something that left him with sour aftertaste.

Mikhael was anything but poor!

Not only did he have enough money to buy an entire city, he even had a majestic island on his own in the era where everything belongs to everyone.

Speaking of that island, it's not like he actually bought it with money — but the story behind it is even more valuable than it.

It happened a few centuries ago while pirates were a thing.

So Mikhael, fearing neither the pirates nor wide ocean, went to fish for sharks — yes, sharks — on one wonderful day in summer. As for the reason why he did something so ridiculous, he recalls that it had something to do with a spell he needed a white shark's heart for while having a side task to kill some French vampire that was in marines in passing for Hunters HQ. To Mikhael, although hunting vampires brought money he was yet to start loving in those days — spells and enjoying life were of greater importance.

And as it was convenient to pick up a shark or two on the way, he decided to just do it altogether. Anyway, marine was almost always on the sea, so he couldn't locate that guy that ran away even if he wanted to, but sharks were faster to find!

In the end, it turned out to be the right move.

So, just as he was about to catch the shark, a person just so conveniently happened to float by on a piece of wood. Mikhael just so conveniently happened to catch the person with his hook — yes, he used an ordinary fishing rod to catch the sharks — and he just so conveniently happened to save the guy.

That guy also conveniently happened to be the very last pirate member of infamous group that terrorized and looted around those deep waters, holding a treasure map to their entire wealth and dying just as soon as Mikhael pulled him up — which, in summary, made Mikhael inherit all their wealth.

Now, Mikhael's karma states that anything good that happens in his life will be followed by just as equally large misfortune.

And just like that — it turns out that the marines had attacked that guy's ship and were looking for survivors nearby. Even more coincidentally, the marine group that killed those pirates were led by the Noble Mikhael was hunting. They wanted that treasure map to obtain all the money that pirates hid, so when they finally found the guy in Mikhael's boat, they became hellbent on silencing him.

Yes, in other words — to kill him.

Mikhael can no longer remember the reason why he ran away and didn't kill that guy, but he got chased by those guys to the end of the world until he simply gave up and became a pirate himself before getting quite the fame in that era.

At that time, Mikhael was still a kid with all morals properly in place, so he didn't want to stain his hands with blood too much. Therefore, he would usually let those guys live, who would in turn seek revenge again — then, one fight led to another before it became an all-out war — after which Mikhael even became a leader of the pirate group at some point.

As it was one of his first assignments from the Hunters HQ that had no idea about him being a vampire himself, he couldn't just walk away. Unfortunately, after he let that guy leave for some unknown reason the first time, it took Mikhael thirteen whole years just to find him the second time.

There was also an annoying Marshall that wanted to hunt Mikhael down who was — to his terror — Higher Noble or something. A Higher Noble isn't that scary, but a Higher Noble with bunch of Noble subordinates under him, and four more Higher Nobles as his generals was too much even for someone like Mikhael to handle at that time.

Especially when he was surrounded by ocean on all sides.

So, the innocent and naive little Mikhael whose morals slowly started to become corrupted thanks to those pirates all around him became someone so shameless that no one could covert him to the light anymore!

When that mess happened, Mikhael was just a little hundred and something years old Half-blood who could only run when seeing a Higher Noble, forget about fighting a whole bunch of them!

But fearless as he was, he infiltrated marines and got close to their leader in order to find information and track down that wretched Noble.

They had better information network than him, so it couldn't be helped.

With his acting that was sharpened after more than ten years of piratery, he soon became a little newbie trusted by everyone.

Which is why their group became serious and almost caught Mikhael to behead after he provoked their leader and got laid with him in order to steal those informations — though, he already forgot his face by now.

And then  he casually patted his ass clean once he finished his task and got his shark, only leaving behind legends with mysterious endings.

As for the vampire Marshall, Mikhael has long forgotten about that annoying pest. Since he went around as a pirate with an eye-patch and fake scar running through his entire face, he didn't fear warrants. He seems to have provoked someone even more dangerous at the time he also forgot, so he didn't fear another Higher Noble on top of it.

Mikhael could still run fast even though he couldn't fight them in those years.

Now that he thought about it, he might have even provoked a Pureblood before that Marshall. Mikhael also forgot all about those matters, but there were simply too many vampires chasing after him. It's been going for at least sixty or seventy years before he became a pirate — he was even forced to join Hunters and take on this stupid mission to avoid their search.

   'I really wonder how and which of those fuckers I provoked back then!?'

Since Mikhael only knew the appearance of only three Purebloods, he wasn't certain which of the remaining few was responsible for his miserable days.

It was only after that that Mikhael got caught by some psychopath and obtained the ability to use the void.

In the end, the island he occupied naturally became his treasure trove with all those vaults — now reinforced with all kinds of talismans to hide it from others. Since he could use the void now, he no longer needs that island, but it was still a nice vacation spot. Yet people still stumbled near that place, but because of Mikhael's spells, they can't enter.

Now the place where the island use to be goes by the name of Bermuda's triangle of something.

Anyway, Mikhael did live quite an interesting life as a pirate, so he got addicted to the need of money. Which is why he felt that he never had enough and was extremely stingy with it!

   "It's all that guy's fault. I never got to hear his name in the end, a pity." For if he knew that pirate's name, he'd curse all eighteen generations of his ancestors for bringing him such a vile habit — even going as far as to personally perform the curse rituals and whatnot. It was a simple matter to hire a witch to curse someone nowadays, and Mikhael even had good relationship with one.

Yes, had it not been for his meeting with that guy, Mikhael would never be stingy enough to not pay for a decent room! And had he bought a room, he'd never try to save that girl and get caught!

   "Whatever," he sighed as he strolled through the streets. There were vendors at every corner as people walked around in groups, chatting and laughing. There were also many humans and children around making Mikhael realize what was going on.

He knew that once every two years, gates of Eden will be opened for visitors and it would host a festival which lasted an entire week in order to promote the relationship between vampires and humans. There was only one street the visiting humans were allowed to walk on, but that one street was full of vendors, performances and other fun things. In order to make sure that humans didn't get lost in this place, there were many Nobles and even some Higher Nobles watching over it.

Last two days, which is always a weekend, would be reserved for special occasion.

Mikhael did hear of it in the past, but never had guts to actually visit here. Instincts of a Higher Nobles weren't something to joke about — and if one of them noticed Mikhael's oddity and made him stay behind...

Anyway, there was some the before the festival began when Mikhael was brought inside Eden, but because he's been recuperating all this time — Mikhael had no idea that it already started.

He strolled around, enjoying the hustle and bustle.

Mikhael loved children, whether they were human or vampire — and it was quite rare for him to see so many of them in one place. Twenty years ago, so many people tried to keep their heads safe, so there weren't that much children in those years. With longer lifespans, people also didn't bother making children that might not even live to see the next day.

Fortunately — around a decade ago, people finally got used to peace.

Before humans and vampires waged wars, humans themselves had a problem with spell-casters for few decades. Almost entire century was wasted in bloodshed, and the biggest death count was precisely among those newborns. It did leave behind a trauma.

Which is exactly why, seeing them casually walk shoulder by shoulder now, almost made those hundred years appear like an illusion.

He paused before a particular stall with masks and spotted an interesting one. It was a white fox mask with few red lines and tiny ears on top. He glanced at his own body, he put on the first thing that he grabbed and it just so happened to be traditional Japanese yukata with silver belt.

   "Isn't this how all those infamous fox spirits look? White hair, pale skin, white robes and fox mask?" He mused in amusement before buying that mask. It only covered the upper part of his face, so he could still buy food he saw and eat it with relish.

This festival was special because the things you purchased had to be paid with your own blood. So when he took the mask, he dripped two drops of his blood to the seller in a special container, lamenting how cheap he's became. Blood of Half-bloods, ah — he had to give entire drop for a single mask. Although this drop won't appear any different than ordinary vampire blood, if used in spells, it would still show some peculiarities.

   'Though, even if that happens, it will be difficult to track it to down to me."

Vampires aren't a race famous for their immortality. Rather, they are famous for their blood manipulation. Storing killing intent inside their blood and having someone ingest it — vampires could even use such means to kill that person from thousand miles of distance.

Putting the mask on his face, he left without turning behind; easily blending in the crowd full of masks and costumes. Masquerades have always been the favourite event of vampires.

Originally, vampires all over the world would convene in Banquets of Nights once in a century in the past.

Seeing all six Purebloods in the same place wasn't that rare either, though Mikhael never saw a Half-blood when he went in the past. Well, there were too many masks, so even if he did see one — he might not necessarily recognize them.

Back in the days before Mikhael was even born, Banquets of Night always ended in blood. Humans would be taken as food and fed on — and then killed by the end of such events, but Purebloods eventually stopped with that tradition.

Because those events even involved gruesome chase on humans, many Elders were fond of them — although, it wasn't really appealing to Purebloods, who later forbid it.

Even so, despite the rules changing one thousand years ago — some Elders secretly continued to hold their own gatherings in their mansions for vampires who enjoyed the cruel hunt.

Most of the vampires Mikhael dealt with in the past were found in such gatherings.

The festival in Eden right now is something akin to Banquets of Night where humans got to experience the thrill of exchanging their blood in exchange of vampire's company. There was even the grand event with masquerade ball scheduled for tomorrow.

From what Mikhael heard, it was a rather majestic one.

Dancing from dusk till dawn; and the best thing was that it's going to be held in Ethan's mansion. Inside a real castle, a real masquerade with real vampires held by a real Pureblood!

Who could possibly resist such allure?

Though, even if they are interested — not many humans can be brought inside.

The first five nights of this festival was meant for humans and vampires to mingle together. On the first day of weekend, vampires who had impression of some humans would go and send them invitations and dress for the next day.

It was a rather thrilling event for humans to have an opportunity to catch a certain vampire's eyes and be taken to the masquerade the next night.

Of course, some always hoped to catch Ethan's eyes since many humans that participated bragged about his looks even though he always wore half a mask in the previous masquerades.

So there would always be young and fearless humans who came to see the man standing on top of vampire race.

Anyway, thanks to this event, there are at least fifty thousand those "Overbearing Pureblood X Me, a weak Human" books now.

   "How regretful," Mikhael won't be able to stay and see it. It would be a good chance to leave while Ethan was preoccupied with that ball to look for him.

As he walked away from this particular vendor, a single gust of wind passed by it making the seller stop and stare at the man in front of him in horror.

All vampires in this city knew Ethan's appearance, including him.

Ethan said nothing as he simply grabbed the container with Mikhael's blood and threw another in return, before disappearing just as suddenly as he appeared.

The seller was so stunned that he didn't even have a chance to greet Ethan in surprise as the later already left. He glanced at the bottle in his hands and almost fainted from fright when he realized that it was full of Noble's blood!

Apparently, the entire bottle of their blood didn't even amount to a single drop of Mikhael's!

Ethan had some blood of Nobles and Higher Nobles stored in his own void, since one can never be too careful. Who knows if he'll somehow get hurt to the point of needing it...

And now his caution paid of.

He brought Mikhael's blood to his lips and gently licked it.

   'Not as good as directly drinking from his body.'

Then he continued to follow him from shadows. Vampires are proficient in using shadows to hide and seek, after all.

On the other hand, Mikhael continued to stroll around the colorful street, ignorant that he was preyed by ferocious beast.

W.E.R.P. and Nobles worked together on security for this event and made sure that no human got hurt. If they messed up, the Internet would be full of that incident and it's not like Eden was truly a peaceful city.

Many things can happen in seven days.

A human would suddenly come out of nowhere and offer their blood to those Nobles, and of course one of them would reject a free snack, accepting with smile. Nobles got fed, humans tried to leave a deep impression and be invited tomorrow — so everyone was happy.

   'How unfair,' Mikhael grunted.

   "And here I had to be drained of all blood and sacrifice my life for the sake of this city, get a stake through my heart and only then get some blood. Otherwise, I'd be fed on blood pills for five years." The injustice in this world was too great for his fragile heart to accept!

Ethan who was following behind in shadows: "..."

   "Why is this brat complaining, doesn't he always drink my bloo and he's not even satisfied with it?" Ethan could not understand the brain of this juvenile vampire. "How many people would even betray their close kin for such opportunity, yet he would rather drink some human blood."

This is a real vampire, isn't he? His brain is working properly, right!?

How did this guy manage to slip through his fingers all those years again? Isn't he supposed to be an Esteemed Seat of Hunter's HQ, for better or worse?

   'Luck. It's definitely sheer luck that he managed to get away from me!'

Although Ethan never believed in things like luck in the past, but then he had seen some crazy things happen around Mikhael that simply couldn't be explained with reason and logic, so...

The reason behind Ethan's stalking Mikhael and cornering him into a dead end was simple — he wanted to clear up his doubts and find out Mikhael's thoughts. Whether Mikhael pretended to not know him or he really forgot about Ethan — he could only find out if Mikhael was cornered, then left alone to act without fearing that his abilities might be discovered.

Although Ethan had some doubts about Mikhael's identity, seeing that void already made his hunt successful. That brother of his who came to cause trouble was a serious matter, but an Immortal Human won't necessarily lose against that i***t brother of his. Ethan wasn't really afraid, since that guy will definitely hold back in order to keep the peace of this city.

Even if he doesn't...

In any case, it won't be Ethan's problem! Ethan is the youngest — even if he wanted to stop his brother, he'll just use an excuse that he's weaker than him. Then he can just throw the problem to the oldest — Constantine — to deal with.

He continued to follow Mikhael from the shadows, often frowning at the younger vampire's action. Mikhael would suddenly stop in front of a stall without a warning and start marveling the products on sale. If he was marveling something good, Ethan could understand; but the boy would stop in front of stalls full with plush toys, marvel them and then buy the entire stall without an ounce of hesitation!

He recalled Amelia speaking to Mikhael something about his children and his gaze darkened.

Even so, Ethan's self control was strong to the point where he won't cause trouble with Mikhael even if he had children with someone else. He'll just snatch him and lock him away from the outside world. As for children and whatnot, they can grow and do whatever they want outside of Eden!

And naturally — every time after Mikhael cleared up the stall and paid with his blood and left, Ethan would reappear in front of the same stall, take Mikhael's blood and trade it with some random Noble's and then blend in the shadows to keep stalking him, while drinking what he obtained.

   'It's really not as good as directly drinking from his body.'

How could few drops possibly satisfy Ethan!?

Since he wore the silver fox mask, Mikhael didn't fear that he'll be recognized, so he didn't hesitate to throw everything he bought into his void.

Old vampires with voids weren't that rare — moreover, with his white hair he planned to soon cut even shorter — rarely who would connect him with the madman that became a blood partner with their Pureblood.

In fact, many little kids would stand in front of him and point fingers, classifying him as a "fox-spirit" and not a vampire after which would Mikhael play along. At some point of time, he even pulled out a katana with  white sheath and then created blue flames (spells, naturally) and played with those kids.

Parents who saw that he wasn't dangerous would leave their children in his care and so Mikhael spent most of his time playing with various children — mostly human — as Ethan watched from the shadows. In the last twenty years, only three vampire children were born. All of them are safely separated from the crowd and under protection of Higher Nobles, so they can't get to Mikhael even if they wanted to.

The little girl whom he saved before didn't recognize him at all, but she appeared to be the most friendly out of the three as she watched carefully while the other two ignored him.

Seeing Mikhael act this way, Ethan could only hold complicated feelings in his heart. He took off the silver cross from his red tie and stared at it for a long time before eventually sighing.

He should be happy that he got a chance to see this little guy again, he really should... But the thought of Mikhael not remembering him at all made his heart ache.

Exactly what happened after that battle twenty years ago?

   "Didn't you promise to become mine, in the end?"

He could faintly see the outline of man in black, smiling at him, as he gave him this silver cross and asked him to accompany him.

   "..."

Though, that accompaniment was for the sake of messing with Vatican and spell-casters, so it wasn't as touching as one would assume.

Even Ethan can't understand what made him play along with Mikhael's nonsense back then.

Many vampires, once they grew centuries older, would lose their emotions. They would have seen far too many things and exhausted so many emotions within the passage of time. But Mikhael, on the other hand... Seemed to just become dumber and dumber with every new day?

To use the void, one should be at least three to five centuries old. And not only was Mikhael old, he could still carelessly smile and play with children.

Seeing this kind of Mikhael, Ethan's eyes couldn't help but soften inexplicably. This child was as gentle as he remembered him. Although he would do some stupid things from time to time and was a bit lazy, he had something that drew people in. It took Ethan one glance to be unable to extricate himself from the emotions he felt towards this little vampire. A single glance to be unable to forget him for a lifetime.

Just as he finally made up his mind to stop observing from the shadows and to step out, he suddenly felt at loss as he witnessed the events playing in front of his eyes.

He hoped that his second brother won't cause problems. He also hoped that Mikhael won't run into his brother so that he could hide him for a bit longer! He also didn't want Mikhael to get involved with that messy thing!!

But...

Just as he turned his eyes away from the young vampire for one f*****g second, a disaster occurred!

   "How can you be so cruel to shoot my family jewels, Mon Cheri?! If this king was just a second late, I would never be able to make children with you again!"

That voice was definitely the one belonging to his second royal brother. And Mikhael was coincidentally walking towards his direction.

   "f**k your family jewels, your d**k is so f*****g soft that it can't stand up for more than two times a year and you want to make children with me? How about you take a good look in the mirror, you useless bastard!" A certain woman spat out. Ethan was amazed that someone could curse at Dominique like that, but once he clearly saw her face...

   "..."

Looking at Dominique on the street in ragged clothes and that Hunter woman on top of a nearby building staring down on him — her long guns aimed at his pitiful face as her exquisite red dress danced in the wind like a raging flame...

   'A beggar being oppressed by a powerful Queen, completely losing our family honor!'

Ethan didn't want to acknowledge this guy as his brother.

   "f**k, even if it was twice a year, it would be thanks to my great skill to hold it in for half a year and do you without taking a break! And if we're honestly going to talk about it, if it only got up twice a year as you say, then it's because you're too incompetent to make it go up more than two minutes! Any other woman or man would do just fine—" Before he could continue, a bullet that grazed his ear immediately made him shut up, followed by a rain of bullets he barely evaded.

Ethan sighed and decided to step in before it was too late, but then the things...

   "What the f**k, you cheating son of fucker! I left you alone for few days and you already screw with random people behind my backs?"

   '...what the hell is with this plot, hey?'

By now, everyone around them gathered to watch the drama unfold and expected the man — the Second Pureblood — to retaliate, but to everyone's surprise, he did something completely out of the character once again.

   "Ah, Mon Cheri, you got it all wrong! Two minutes... two minutes is the time I need to fall in love with you ahain and again! As for twice a year business, it's because it gets up once at the beginning of the year when I see your face and once at the end when I realize that I spent an entire year of my life with mio amore!"

Ethan: "..."

Everyone else: "..."

   'If nothing else, you're still one of the six remaining Purebloods, where is your pride, royal brother!? Your identity places you at the top of the vampire race, so please act befitting of it!'

   "Really?" Amelia asked, lowering her guns with a bashful expression and Ethan almost wanted to rub his eyes in confusion.

What's with this development of plot?

This world has gone crazy!

   "Yes, Mon Cheri, you know that my heart only beats for you and you alone, how could this king possibly have another person in mind when he already has a  gracious wife such as you, oh immortal fairy that had honored me with your descent into this dirty and vane imortal world."

Ethan: "..."

   'Humiliate yourself more, can you!?'

And even Ethan knew that those words are as empty as Dominique's bank accounts. Thus guy — although Ethan has no idea whom he always manages to swindle for money — visits countless brothels in a week! If he hasn't been seen with three different partners a day, then it's because he was seen with four!

   "Your heart doesn't really beat that hard, though?" If Ethan thought that things couldn't get any worse that this, Mikhael chose to make a grand entrance at that moment.

   "Which retarded moron dares to seek trouble with this king? Are you looking for beating?" Ethan had no time to react and help Mikhael before the later already spoke without giving a damn for Dominique's image.

   "f**k, I haven't seen your ugly face in a decade and your brain already deteriorated to this degree. I knew that there was something suspicious when I took you with me to loot that witch's coven and you turned decent for a week!" Mikhael took his mask off, and then pointed it at that guy, "So this is how you repay gratitude, going as far as to forget your benefactor! I originally just thought to greet you in passing — but since you're already here, you might as well help me get out of this s**t!"

Ethan already had a cross-vein bulge on top of his forehead, with his lips twitching uncontrollably.

   "Eh, why is it you— no, wait, no f*****g way! Last time you needed help was when you excavated a f*****g mammoth in Antarctic, I'm not helping you lunatic anymore! Get away from me, why the hell are you even here, didn't you say you won't enter Eden ever since you slapped the Vampire King?"

   "Eh, ah that, it was an accid— no, what! That's not it! Listen here you little s**t, I helped you kidnap the Pope from Vatican to wed you and then got chased by those lunatics with stakes all the way to the goddamn Japan for your sake, so you gotta help me this time!!"

Ethan who had another cross-vein on his forehead: "..."

Will someone tell him why the f**k are those from Hunters HQ treating his brother, a real noble Pureblood, like a beggar? And what the hell is the deal with kidnapping the pope from Vatican!? And the Vampire King...

No, wait — when the hell did Dominique get married!?