Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Vampire Country ( Chapter 48 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

Chapter 48: Vampire Country

By: Melissa Norvell

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"All you've done, my liege? Whatever are you talking about?" The British dog man seemed very confused by what Fife had told him. The young man didn't do a thing to him, so why was he saying that he had?

"We haven't seen you since you were small. It's nice to see you back in Sumeria again," Zuri told her prince and smiled kindly at him.

"I didn't come here by choice," the navy-haired boy frowned in disappointment.

"Hiroshima, it's been a while," Treble walked up to the two angels with a pleasant look on his face.

"Four years, are things any better around here?" Hiroshima asked the Winged Canine.

"They have managed to calm down since you left although they are still a little war-like," the white dog man explained. Conditions like these were not new to him and almost seemed normal.

"Your problem will take years to fix," the spiky-haired angel replied.

"Things looks pretty peaceful from here though," Tsurugi pointed out. At this moment in time, it looked as if Sumeria was not at war at all.

"We've been at a period of rest but there seems to be tension building up between us and the Catholics," Zuri informed. It seemed as though they were walking into another problem by her observations.

"I must say, I am a little weary of the prince's return," Treble noted. Especially since Vasca had sent out such a bad prophecy about that subject. He hoped that it wasn't true but he couldn't ignore what was most likely true. Vasca had never been wrong before.

"Yes, Vasca did say something a week ago that seemed to be a horrible premonition of sorts," the British one commented as a vision from the past reeled through his memory.

A tall, handsome man with pale skin and long, black hair that was parted in the middle and cut the same length sat in an elaborate chair made from velvet and gold. He wore many white and black robes and had slender, kind eyes that were navy blue in coloration. Those eyes that usually held such a kind gaze, were now filled with troubles.

"When the prince returns, a shroud of darkness will befall Sumeria," He spoke.

"What?" The British Canine had not been ready for this turn of events at all and the fact that Vasca spoke of something so dreadful was a shock to him.

"Are you sure about this, my lord?" A short-haired blonde vampire asked.

"I have a feeling that I should worry for Fife," Vasca seemed disheartened after he spoke those words. Once again, he had been putting his son in danger. He hoped that his own predictions were wrong.

He hoped with all of his heart.

"You don't have to lie to me, Lord Treble," Fife told the white dog man.

"What do you mean?" Treble was a little confused at the prince's statement.

"I'm not a vampire,” the prince smiled sadly, "I know that I'm just a human."

"Now, now, who's been telling you that rubbish?" The other Winged Canine asked.

"Angeline."

"Angeline? My boy you must be confused."

Zuri looked a little perplexed at this mystery herself. Last time she checked, she had known the prince to be a full-blooded vampire. Something seemed wrong. 'That's not right…Why is the prince talking like he has that girl's memories? Is he truly Prince Fife?'

"Why is everything so awkward?" Hiroshima could feel it in the air and in logic in general. No one's memories of each other seemed to match up. Usually people who reunite can at least find something in common but this reunion consisted of nothing more than separate memories. The Winged Canines and even the Harpy were confused at their own prince.

"Hey," Chichiri called out to the group of demons, who looked to him in unison. "You guys aren't going to let vampires eat me, are you?" He wanted to be sure that he was protected in Sumeria. He definitely didn't want to be vampire food.

"You've been watching too many horror movies, my friend. The only one that would even take a bite out of you is Zuri," the British one remarked with a smile and casual wave of the hand towards the Harpy, who looked unamused.

Chichiri laughed nervously. 'Another weird woman…I'm just glad that she doesn't seem to be like Ceres or Ohanna.'

"You're a friend of the prince so I won't eat you," Zuri hoped to quell some of the distrust that the blonde had now built up against her.

"If it's going to take a long time to get there, we should start walking," Ko pointed out. After all, they could talk and walk at the same time.

"Quite right," the Winged Canine agreed.

Zuri counted everyone in the group who had no wings. "There are a pretty equal number of those who fly and those who don't."

"Can't we just use magic?" Keiji suggested. Things would be faster to just teleport in.

"The ability to teleport is disabled in Sumeria." The British one informed.

"Would it really be faster to fly?" Zangetsu asked.

"Its flat ground from here to the castle," Zuri educated the group on Sumeria's landscape. "We'd also avoid being attacked."

"Okay, whoever takes me, just don't drop me," Chichiri didn't even want to think about falling to his death and Hiroshima's aerobatic skills were quite scary. He could have never hung on his own.

"I'll hold you then," Zuri offered.

'Why? Why the freaky chick?' The blonde's thoughts whined.

"I'll carry Ko and Zangetsu," Hiroshima told everyone of his two passengers.

"I'll take Azmy and Undine, since I'm pretty light framed," Tsurugi replied. Undine and Azmy wouldn't weigh him down as much since they were small and slender.

"Do you want to take the prince, Bass, dear brother?" Treble asked the British dog man kindly.

"Quite and you can take the other," Bass remarked happily.

"My name is Keiji," the green-haired boy seemed unamused.

"My apologies," Bass bowed in request for forgiveness.

Everyone then took to the skies. Chichiri occasionally glanced back at Ko and Zangetsu and couldn't help but feel a little jealous at the fact that Ko wasn't riding with him. He could feel the rustle of Zuri's green and black feathers against his skin and hear the air flow through her feathers. The noise created almost sounded like the gentle rustling of leaves. The more he glanced at the two of them, the more he felt angry for some reason. He couldn't seem to shake his feelings.

'Why does that guy gets to be with Ko? He doesn't even know her.' Chichiri's inner thoughts seethed.

"The wind feels nice," Zangetsu closed his eyes as he felt the wind rustle his short, black bangs.

"It sure does," Ko looked up to the angel. "I just hope your arms don't get tired, Hiroshima."

"If they do, just climb on my back."

"I'd offer to hold her but then you'd be lopsided," the ninja replied benevolently.

"It's fine," the legend replied as they flew over a small group of what looked like people on the ground.

Below them, stood a small group of vampires and in this group, there was one female and three male vampires. All of them wore Victorian-style clothes in some aspect.

One of the members of the group, seemingly more human than the rest looked up at the shadows that had passed over head. "Master, it looks like Lord Vasca has a few visitors," the young man stated.

"This should be fun," a vampire with long, white hair, who also wore glasses, licked his lips at the thought of a potential slaughter.

"Well, if Zuri, Lord Treble and Lord Bass are with them, then they must be important," a vampire with short, blonde hair commented as she glanced up at the sky from her position, sitting on a large rock.

"I wonder what this is about," the last member of their group, a vampire who had long, wavy black hair stated.

"Let's report to Vasca. Hopefully we can make it there at the same time they do, then we can get the scoop," the female vampire smiled slyly. She was interested in what people that her king had sent for.

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"Vasca will be happy to see you again," Bass seemed to beam with happiness at the thought of reuniting a long lost father and son.

"Why do you say that?" Fife leveled him with a look of misery. He hated being in this place. This place was nothing but bad memories for him.

"I'm terribly confused, my boy," the British speaking dog man replied. What was with his prince?

"I'm not a vampire, Lord Bass," to prove his point, the feminine boy opened his mouth to show him the absence of his fangs. "See? I have no fangs."

Bass' light and dark blue eyes widened in shock. "How can this be? Your name is Amaterasu Fife, correct?" He wanted to make sure that he had the same man. After all, he had not seen the prince in years.

"It is," Fife smiled calmly, as if he'd been satisfied with proving his point.

'Lord Vasca…What is the meaning of this? Our prince doesn't seem to be himself…He looks and acts human. Could I be wrong in assuming that this boy is the prince? But you specifically said that he would come here today. He looks like the prince with shorter hair but…Oh, I'm dreadfully confused.' Bass's thoughts ran wild trying to decipher the cryptic situation.

"Something wrong?" Fife looked up to see the befuddled look on his Lord's face.

"I'm just a tad bit confused. You don't seem to be the same person Lord Vasca told me about."

"It's okay; you don't have to lie to me anymore," the prince smiled.

"Lie to you? My boy we're hardly lying to you!"

"Don't mock me either," Fife frowned and a serious look crossed his face. He was really beginning to grow tired of the constant praise for something that he didn't deserve. "I'm not stupid, no matter what I act like." He warned.

"If anyone feels like a dolt it's me. I'm so bloody confused at all of this. Perhaps Lord Vasca can clear things up," the British dog-man seemed to be racking his brain, trying to find a logical explanation behind everything. It really bothered him that something wasn't right.

The long-haired boy looked down to the fast moving ground below him. 'Why don't you just drop me to my death now? Anything's better than going to see Vasca and having to face him like this. I'll become vampire bait for sure.'

"There isn't much here," Keiji had been gazing over the vast landscape of chasms, cliffs and barren, flat land. It looked as if Sumeria was another land where hardly any vegetation grew.

"There is a lot of barren land here in Sumeria. Most of the residents live around the castle," Zuri stated.

"That way they can take refuge quickly," Treble added.

"Is it the altitude or is it really cold here?" Ko hugged herself and shivered against the winds.

"But it's unusually cold," the green-haired drummer informed. It felt very frigid. It was almost as if this place had an eternal winter- minus the snow and ice.

"It's always been windier weather here," Fife was very used to the conditions in Sumeria. After all, he grew up there.

"We'll have to get you all warmer clothes when we get to the castle," Zuri's feathers kept her warm, despite the skimpy clothing that she had dressed in. Her passenger, however, was merely a human and could not stand up to the harsh conditions that she had.

"Do you want my cape, Ko?" Zangetsu looked to the trembling girl.

"What about you?" She didn't want to seem as if she were taking away his only means of warmth.

"I'll be fine,” the ninja smiled warmly.

"Are you sure?" Before Ko could change her mind, Zangetsu's bird-like cape was handed to her. The ninja told her that it was the least he could do and though she felt a little guilty, she took it nonetheless. It would have been rude if she simply refused it. Ko wrapped it around herself and thanked him. Zangetsu smiled at her kind gesture.

Chichiri glared at the two from his position in front of them. Zuri occasionally glanced at the blonde and wondered what he was glaring at. When her curiosity finally got the better of her, she asked him casually. "What's wrong?"

She felt the blonde jump under her arms. "Oh, nothing, I was just looking at something." Chichiri then turned back around to face her.

Not completely convinced and thinking that he was acting a little weird, Zuri momentarily stared at him before she looked towards her destination.

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Below them, behind a large rock, hid a man with long, black hair and reading glasses. He was dressed in long, black robes like those of a preacher and wore a large, golden cross around his neck. He glared up at the flying figures above him as they passed over he and his small troop of armored, cross-bearing soldiers with massive shields and weapons of all kinds. The dark-haired man's glasses flashed against the lighting as sudden thoughts ran through his mind.

"What are we hiding here for, Baratone?" One of the guards asked the black-clad man.

"Take a look above you," Baratone instructed as he tilted his face towards the sky.

The guards looked up and called the figures demons. One of them stated that they were carrying passengers and that they also seemed to be headed towards the castle.

"That one…" One of the guards pointed to Hiroshima's figure. "It almost looks like an angel."

"That's no angel," Baratone refused to believe their words. "What angel has two black wings and what angel works for vampires? Shoot them down before they can reach the castle!" He commanded and pointed his finger towards the figures to indicate his targets.

A few medieval style canons began to fire at them, determined to take them out of the sky. One of the shots exploded close to Treble and Keiji, who yelled in surprise. Keiji covered his face with his arms.

"This isn't good," Treble's young, yet knowledgeable voice remarked seriously.

"What the hell is going on?" Hiroshima looked to the demons for an answer.

"I do believe they're shooting at us," Bass replied as a shell busted beside of the legend. It was incredibly close and he had to tilt his body to the side to avoid the explosion. Ko let out a scream of surprise and the jolt of her body caused her form to slip out of the angel's strong grasp. Hiroshima tried to thrust his hand out to catch her but Zanetsu managed to reach her before Hiroshima could. The ex-Nighthawk Ninja gasped her hand tightly as he stared into the frightened look in the girl's eyes.

"Don't drop me!" She begged as she dangled above the barren land below.

"Shit!" Hiroshima had barely avoided that blast and he may not be able to next time. The two passengers slowed him down and he was unable to move as quickly as he could have otherwise.

"Don't worry, I won't," Zangetsu promised as he held tightly to her pale, delicate hand. As soon as he uttered those words, another explosion erupted beside of Ko, which caused the girl to scream once more and instinctively tuck her knees up and curl into a ball with all of her strength.

"Ko!" Chichiri's concerned voice reached the white-haired girl's ears.

"We have to land before we get shot out of the sky," Tsurugi informed with a serious look on his face. They needed to get out of the sky quickly before someone got seriously hurt or ended up dead.

"Quite," Bass agreed as they all landed a few feet away from the canon range. As soon as he was sat down, Chichiri ran over to Ko and asked if she was alright. She told him that she was fine and Zangetsu had saved her.

It was no problem at all. Chichiri was beginning to really hate that placid look that the dark-haired man always wore and his calm demeanor really sickened him.

For a ninja, he was just too damned princely.

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"What was that?" The earthquake had even shaken the land where the small group of vampires was located. The female vampire nearly fell off of her rock perch.

"Someone's being attacked," the male with white hair, pulled back into a moderate, spiky ponytail and glasses informed the group after he had witnessed the last of the smoke clearing.

"We should go see who it is. They might need our help,” the wavy-haired vampire replied.

"Let's head to them," the white-haired man agreed. After all they were appointed by King Vasca to help out the prince. They just hadn't found him yet.

"This should be fun,” the long-haired vampire seemed almost giddy at the prospect of killing, "especially if those Holy Armies are starting up again." It was almost as if he were impatient of the war.

"We have been in a period of unease. No doubt they are starting things up again," the pony-tailed companion remarked.

"Good, I've been bored."

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Bass drew his sword as he backed up and stood in a protective position in front of Fife. His bi-colored blue eyes peered intently over the horizon for any new enemies that may be approaching. He would guard his prince, even if it cost his life. "It must be Baratone," Bass' voice lowered to a protective tone. At that moment in time, he reminded Fife of a faithful dog who protected its owner dearly until its demise.

"Not now, not at a time like this," Zuri fretted. The prince hadn't made it safely to the castle yet and they couldn't allow him to fall prey to the Catholics before his arrival.

If they did that, then Vasca's premonition would surely come true.

"Who the hell is Baratone?" Hiroshima asked. Last time he had ventured to Sumeria, they ran into a man named Orchestra. He wondered if he had any relation to this Baratone.

Before his question could even be answered, they all heard a commotion from far away. As they all glanced over the horizon to see what was going on, they noticed that an army- all bearing crosses, were charging straight for them.

"What do we do?" Azmy asked in a panicked voice as she looked to Fife for advice. If anyone knew, it was he or his demon companions.

"We'll have to make a break for the castle and hope that we get there before we get caught," Bass advised.

"That would be leading them straight to the castle. Let's stay and fight," Keiji didn't want to endanger anyone in the castle. It would have been far better if they stayed instead of leading them to unsuspecting people in the heart of Sumeria.

"I hate running," Hiroshima agreed with a mischievous smirk as he pulled out his Crimson Blade. "I'd rather die fighting."

"I had no problem running," Chichiri whined.

"Let's fight if we can," Fife agreed with the angel and Keiji. He didn't want any innocent people to be in harm's way either. It was his duty as a prince to protect Sumeria, even if he didn't think that he truly was a prince by blood, he could see that so many people were depending on him and he couldn't let them down.

"But I don't have any bullets," Azmy would die quickly against so many armored troops with no means to fight.

"Those who can't fight- run, Lord Treble will go with the ones who cannot fight and he'll protect you, he'll lead you to the castle. Everyone who can or will fight-stay here," Zuri got the idea. She just hoped that Treble would comply with her idea.

Ko, Azmy and Chichiri turned to run but as the short-haired girl took a few steps she could hear the cold remark from Hiroshima as plain as day.

"Cowards," the very word shook her soul and made her rethink herself. In many ways, he was right. They were supposed to be protecting these people and they themselves were running. Not only that, they were abandoning their team mates and the mission. Vespa would not have wanted that from them at all. She didn't want to be a coward in Hiroshima's eyes, especially after everything she'd put him through.

'Please…Please let Keiji-kun be alright,' she remembered that day when she had let the prayer flow. The blood flew from Hiroshima's back as precious, life-giving veins were severed. Azmy recalled the horrified look on Keiji's face as he could do nothing but watch as Hiroshima's blood-splattered hands ran down the glass of his entrapment.

Hiroshima's face was so determined as he desperately tried to stay awake to protect him.

'We just have to make sacrifices…' The legend had once told her, as she replayed the tragic scene yet again and the word sacrifices repeated itself.

Azmy stood there; deep in thought before Ko's words shook her.

"What are you doing? I thought you were coming with us," the white-haired girl was half-turned and looked panicked and irritated that Azmy was holding them up.

"I don't care if I don't have any ammunition. I'm going to fight," the girl balled her fists and looked determined.

"What can you beat them with? They have weapons. This is clearly a fight between people with weapons," Ko tried to talk some sense into Azmy, but she wasn't buying it.

"Keiji is fighting and he has no weapon."

"Keiji is really strong."

Azmy looked a little disheartened and frowned. "-and I'm not, right?" She asked in a low, sad voice.

"I never said-" Ko was cut off by the girl again.

"I'm going."

"That's suicide!" Chichiri tried to talk her out of it but it didn't work either.

"I don't care. Just let me do this," the shy girl's face lit up with determination as she took a step forward and stared head on, only to have death stare back at her. The two fleeting forms simply stared at her and didn't know what to make of her sudden brave attitude. Was she admirable or just plain stupid?

"If you're going to run, you should do so now if you want to make it out of their sights by the time they get here," Zuri looked over her shoulder and advised the two.

"Let's go," Treble instructed as the three of them took off running.

"Are you sure you want to stay?" Tsurugi glanced over his shoulder and asked the girl one more time, to make sure that she didn't have any second thoughts.

Azmy nodded in response. If anything, she was definitely sure that she wanted to stay.

If she stayed them she could say that she had done something helpful for the group.

If she stayed then she could sleep well at night.

If she stayed then the guilt was a little less painful to live with.

'Fool, what can she do? She has no magic. She'll be killed easily by their weapons.' Undine pitied Azmy for her imprudent decision to fight.

"Well everyone, here they come," Bass's serious expression then morphed into a jolly one. "Let's have ourselves a smashing time, shall we?"

"Get ready for a blood bath," Zuri informed as her hawk-eyed glared down the quickly approaching armies.

Soon, another battle of ideals would begin and everyone would find themselves immersed in the problems of yet another unstable country but this time, it meant far more then helping citizens who couldn't defend themselves or even carrying out Vespa's mission.

If meant facing the past, finding Fife's true identity and reuniting him with the person he loved most- his father the king.

To Be Continued…