Chapter 19: Vampire

"A dream?"

He tapped himself a few times to ensure that he was alright. It truly had been one bad nightmare. The nightmare made him want to go see that pillar again, so he got up from his bed and pushed the window open.

He looked out and saw a few guards walking around the house with torches.

"Tch, absurd security," he muttered and then stepped onto the window. He jumped out and immediately used wind magic to fly. This was an extremely hard spell that he had learned himself, but he had limited time with it, only five minutes, which meant he had to get out in five.

He shot out of the house at full speed.

WHOOSH!

"Hey, did you see that?" one guard asked.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" a second responded.

"I thought I saw someone fly by."

"Man, you got to stay off the booze."

Leon landed outside the town, barely making it out before he ran out of mana because of the spell. He dropped down and walked the remaining distance.

The cold winds rushed over his skin, whistling as they went by.

"Never been out at night. This is a first," he muttered as he looked up at the sky. The stars that filled it and more, it was beautiful. He hoped it would stay that way.

When he arrived at the pillar, it was still the same as it was before. Nothing had changed.

"I guess you came to stay," he muttered and walked closer.

When he got close, the timer came again. He still had no idea what it could be.

"What are you?" he muttered and pressed his palm on the pillar.

"BOO!"

Someone suddenly sprung out from behind the pillar while trying to scare Leon. It worked. He staggered back and fell to his butt. He looked up in panic, ready to attack, but he saw a girl his age standing there and looking at him. She had blood-red hair and eyes, a pale face that almost seemed lifeless, and two sharp ears, but not sharp enough to be elves. She had on a black dress, simple with a few flowers embroidered on it.

She smiled at him, showing her razor-sharp teeth.

"Who are you?" he asked.

She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"You do not remember me?" she asked.

Leon thought for a moment. He paused and looked at her. "The girl from this afternoon? The one in the forest?"

Her face lit up when he recalled. "Yup, I had to run because I did not want to be seen," she said and stretched a hand to help him up. Leon took the hand and got on his feet.

"Then why did you let me see you now?" he asked, still keeping his guard up.

"Well, you see it, right? The number ticking down," she said and looked at the pillar.

"Uhm, yeah. How did you know? Can you see it as well?" he asked her eagerly.

She nodded without looking at him.

"I woke up in this forest one day with no memory of what I am or what I am doing here, and then I saw the pillar come out of the ground, and when I got close, I saw the numbers going down.

"It’s like it’s trying to tell me something, and I can’t understand what it is. Then I saw you, and you were able to see it as well," she said, the last part with glee, as if finding a partner to understand her.

"So you have no memory of what you are doing here or how you got here?" he asked again to be sure. Her face went sad.

"All I recall was flames and the sounds of screaming, someone yelling at me to run, run far away. It seemed like someone that I know, but no matter how much I try to recall, I can’t. It’s all dark." She looked at the ground, tears welling up in her eyes.

’She doesn’t seem to be lying at all,’ he said and then looked at her closely. She walked close and touched her body.

"You are cold," he said, then it struck him as he realized there was a race that hated to be seen in the story, but were well known at that time.

"Are you a vampire?" he asked.

Her eyes widened when he asked that, and for some reason, when he uttered that word, a spark of memory flooded back into her mind and caused her unimaginable pain. She grimaced and collapsed to her knees.

"Arghhh!" she screamed in pain.

"Shit." Leon went down to help her.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he watched her breathing steady.

"When you mentioned that, I had a flash of memory. I saw a man, black long hair. He impaled a woman into the wall with a sword. She had the same hair as me...

Mum."

Tears rushed out of her eyes as she realized this. Leon hugged her closer to comfort her.

’She must be a vampire, and her family must have been killed. Poor kid, but what does it have to do with this pillar, and why can she see the timer as well?’

She stopped crying after a while and cleaned her eyes.

"I guess I am a vampire from the way I reacted to what you said," she said while getting up.

"Well, there is one way to find out. Do you drink blood?" he asked.

"Doesn’t everyone?" she asked in response.

"Uhm, no. Only vampires."

"Well, I drink blood from the beast in the forest every few days, and I still sneak into your town to get some food. Real food tastes good. Blood, my body somehow craves it always," she explained.

"Ahh, I see. That makes sense," Leon replied and turned to look at the pillar.

"This is the first time I’m seeing a vampire. Pretty awesome."

"You think I’m awesome?" she asked and looked at him with big, shining eyes.

"Uh, wait, I... yeah, I think you are awesome."

"My name is Leon, by the way."