Chapter 6

Accompanied with a deep inhale, Kairo awoke. Squinting his eyes from the sunlight piercing through the branches of the forest trees, intercepting the light and hiding his eyes behind the palm of his hand. He sat up straight and placed his hand down onto the dried leaves along the floor.

"Leaves? I was in the house when I passed out. Where's my bag? Where's Roselle? Crap." Kairo spoke to himself as he felt like he was being watched

A man squatting less than a meter away from Kairo continued to stare at him as he awoke from his slumber, rubbing his right eye and attracting his attention by saying "Hi, the name's Edgar. Edgar Zilbern. You seem to be.. well, lost."

Edgar Zilbern had dim gray hair with bangs and nicely tanned skin. Decently firm build as though he gyms often enough that even the veins on his arms were slightly visible. He was about a head taller than Kairo. The oddest thing about him at that point was that he was barefoot in a forest.

Also, he was topless.

"Yes, good sir. Since we're stating the obvious, you seem to be shirtless." Kairo stated as he stared him down

With a smile that seemed powerful enough to beat global warming, Edgar responded "I can explain."

"Yeah.. No. I really couldn't care less right now. Do you perhaps know the way to a wooden cabin in these woods?" Kairo with no time to spare needless thoughts, resumed

Without hesitation, Edgar covered his eyes with his right hand and declared "Of course, I know these woods like the back of my hand. Follow me."

Thus, the two departed. Not long after they dwelled into the woods, they made it to the cabin and their paths were about to diverge.

"Dude, why are you hiding behind the trees?" frowning, Kairo questioned

"I don't want whoever is coming out to see me." Edgar whispered in fear while standing behind a tree right in front of the cabin, popping his head out at the side

Lacking the concerns to entertain Edgar's abnormal behaviour, Kairo ran up the front porch of the cabin and frantically banging on the door worried for the state of Roselle, whom was still in the house as he last recalled.

"Roselle?! Where are you?!" he cried out as he kicked open the door, barely waiting second after there was no response to the door knocks

Running up the stairs and straight to the room that he and Roselle were occupying the night before. Grabbing hold of the doorknob, twisting it clockwise and swinging the door open. Kairo stood with each hand gripping onto a side of the door frame, ready to waltz in. Instead, jerked in his position and simply stared at a neatly tidied room. Bed Sheets tucked in, pillowcases creaseless, blankets folded and a vampire girl nowhere in sight. Kairo continued his pursuit, running down the second floor corridor and slamming open each and every door. NOTHING. She is not here. How can this be?

He ran down the stairs to search the first floor, only to be stopped by a middle aged man with a crossbow pointed at him.

"Hm? The kid from yesterday, what a pleasant surprise." uttered the man

"Who are you? Where is she?" Kairo questioned as he kept his hand up in a position of submission

Accompanied by the suspenseful silence, the man fired an arrow directly into Kairo's left palm. The shot was so swift that Kairo did not even take notice till the arrow went through his palm. Then came a stinging pain, leaving Kairo petrified long enough for the man to load another arrow and take a second shot at Kairo.

This time it went through his right shoulder.

The arrow pierced through Kairo's flesh, with the arrowhead protruding from the back. The instant sensation of pain compelled him to fall backwards, leaning onto the wall behind him and gritting his teeth. The man though silence, seemed displeased. The man walked toward the injured Kairo, using the heel of his boot to press onto the arrow in Kairo's shoulder. Forcing it to plunge deeper through Kairo's flesh and into the wall pinning him there.

"Here I thought I'd leave you in the forest to protect you from the likes of the abomination that tricked you into bringing her to my doorstep. The fact that you are here, means you are either an accomplice or a very unlucky fool. Regardless of the truth, following the oath I took branded on my neck, I have no choice but to kill you." the man sternly declared