Vampire Nightlife

Iolathane had no time for any nonsense. When she saw the people stop and talk, she did not call out to them—but she was sure that she wouldn't give them any certification.

They'd have to retake the workshop entirely again.

Although that did seem a little mean…

"I'll give them five minutes to catch up." Iolathane said to herself. That was enough time to realize that the group was gone and follow after them.

"When are we going to see those spiders?" one of them asked behind her.

"Nearly just got a crossbolt and you want to see a giant spider?"

In truth, Iolathane mostly walked the people through the safe areas of the Dark Forest. If people truly wanted to hunt down dangerous creatures, they needed to step through the forest itself, but sticking to the path was mostly safe.

Even though she wanted to make people not choose the path of being a hunter—as most of them were really not serious about the job, she didn't want to put their lives in danger as well.

The Argenti House would once again remind them of their debts if any other incident would occur.

Finally, Iolathane's ears picked up on something.

It was a faint skitterish sound and she brought out her dagger. There were more weapons available, but it was better to stick to easier ones—inexpensive ones.

But then the sound started to grow louder and Iolathane's skin crawled all of a sudden. Goosebumps all over her skin as she turned back and watched as some of the other officers looked at her in question as well.

"This is—"

Something leapt through the forest, it was a giant spider as Iolathane expected, but then it simply dodged through the live of Vampires with ease, and then it was followed after by several more of its kind, never even attacking, just getting out of their way.

As if it was running away from something else entirely.

Iolathane looked back once, saw a flash of red and then it went all dark.

***

"This… they shouldn't have gone that far, right?" Matthew said, looking nervous. He glanced at the forest around them and the road ahead—nobody was in sight.

"We just have to keep moving." Lukas assured him.

"What if they went inside of the forest?" Philip said. "We were supposed to see a demonstration of hunting right? It would make sense that they'd enter the forest and leave the road."

"Er, wouldn't it be better for us to stay put and wait?" Anthony lowered his crossbolt and then held out the necklace with the bead. He clicked it and then dropped the item back down to his neck. "Done and solved. They'll know that we got separated and they'll come back to look for us. Actually, shouldn't we just head back to the van?"

"I don't think Miss Durand would be extremely happy to see that we went missing, you two were already on her bad side already." Philip said.

"… We should apologize then instead of running away." Matthew protested. "We already got here, turning back isn't an option."

Lukas nodded. "He's right. We should go ahead—well, I mean the two of you are free to back down if you want, but my boy and I will be going forward."

"That sounds… hey," Anthony frowned. "Do you think we're not cut out for this?"

"Well, I'm just here to be able to go to other places. So yeah, I actually don't think I'm cut out for this hunter thing." Philip admitted. "Get a certification, then I'll find my way out of Nyx."

"Come on, grow a bit of a backbone. This guy just said that we're not fit to be hunters. Isn't that like supposed to be a kind of historic and important thing?" Anthony muttered.

At those words, Philip raised a finger with a frown, but then lowered it. "Fine, you win. We're predators of the night, and even though our kind spent like maybe a century of staying in our cities doesn't mean that we've grown soft or laxed at all."

"Hah. You totally think that, do you?" Anthony sighed.

"Well, enough bickering—let's go. The faster we move, the faster we'll reunite with the group." Lukas called out to them and motioned them forward.

It didn't take too long for them to follow him, somehow his words did just make sense. However, it only took them about two minutes before Lukas and the other three of his companions found themselves being overrun by a pack of giant spiders.

"I got this!" Anthony shouted and shot a crossbolt—hitting one in the head. "A-ah, let me reload!"

"Hell nah!" Philip ran away from the creatures and instantly dove towards Anthony, dropping his dagger.

Lukas didn't know what to expect from folks, but the Sanguise dagger appeared in his hand and he flashed forward through the crowd of spiders, aiming for their underbellies and stabbing them there.

The sight of the spiders were overwhelming, but he didn't stop to give it any much thought and just worked on his dagger—listening to the slash of the blade and presumably the cursing from Drusilla as she experienced the entrails of the spiders dropping down onto the dagger.

Lukas was concentrated on the spiders right in front of him, but then one moved past him and went for Matthew. Lukas's eyes widened and he tried to move or warn the young man, but then it happened.

The giant spider dropped on the Vampire and that was it. Lukas tried to fight his way to get there, but suddenly the entire spider's body went flying past him and nearly hit both Anthony and Philip.

Matthew was covered in spider guts, practically smeared in them, but there was only a red glow in his eyes as he smashed into the next one, burying his dagger into the hilt of a spider's head, and then kicking back another spider that tried to hit him in the back.

"Brutality, that one. Violence in his aura." Drusilla spoke to Lukas' ear.

"That's…"

"I didn't only come here to say that. Something's dangerous in the air."