The Call

In the middle of the feast where people are loudly celebrating, I search for Nisha. Where is she? I should've been more convincing. Now, I have no idea where she might be hiding. This place is huge enough. If she went back to the city, I'm not gonna find her if she's not in her home. Maybe I should go there.

Hours later, I arrive at her apartment and discover that she's not here. I check her coffin and it's empty save for a dagger. I touch it and it says, Well, this is nothing but a normal weapon. I read its description and it says that it can deal bonus damage against vampires. It's disturbing to think that she's slumbering with this. She's not fine in the head right now so I figure it's better if I take it.

I ask her neighbors if they have seen her recently. They all say that they never saw her returning. Maybe she's still back in the slums and I was too lazy to search thoroughly. As soon as I return, I ask around but they too have no clue. I even check every street.

I can't find her. . . What should I do? Oh, maybe it's best if tell this Algron. I'm sure he'll do something. He knows her better so he could have the best idea of where to find her. I waste no time searching for him among the crowd. He's a big guy, so he should stand out. Also, a popular one. A lot of people will be gathering around him. But he's not here. The truck he's living in is the only place I have to search.

Once I'm there at his door, I draw forward my fist to knock but it opens. He comes out and I say, "Algron, I can't find Nisha. She lashed out after I refused to give her my blood, I—" His face tells me that he expected this to happen.

"I know," he says, passing by and patting my head with his huge hands. "Come on."

I follow behind him and I have no idea where we're going. We end up in the junkyard where I lost her. Then he grabs something straight from the heap of trash. It's a boat, an old boat. He's carrying it easily as if it's made out of paper. Then he walks out of the junkyard and into the mushroom forest. He's careful not to hit the hull of the boat on anything or it will crumble like crusty bread.

He treads past the shore and into the deeper waters. Surprisingly, the rusty old boat can float. I can't swim so I use my Shadowclutch to push against the sea floor that my feet could not reach. Then he grabs my head with his big hands and puts me on the boat like I'm a doll. Then with his own wide hands as paddles, he propels the whole boat.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"To where we came from. To the Castle of Carmilla."

"A castle?"

"It is a very dangerous place," he warns. "I should not be bringing you along but I need you as bait to draw Nisha out if needed."

"Bait?!" I exclaim. *Gulp* "But wait. . . how do you know if we're searching in the right place?"

"Because Carmilla—the Vampire Queen has risen from her slumber, calling us back to her lair. We have no choice but to listen to her call. It's innate in us."

"So, she's like your. . . Vampire Queen?"

"Yeah, something like that. But she has gone worse than that. To survive, she adapted to drinking Daemonic flesh. The right way to call her now is an Atasaia, a Daemon that eats a Daemon. Those who joined her cult are the same."

"Then that means Nisha is technically the last vampire."

"That's right but not for long. Carmilla is going to force us to follow her path. It's going to lead us into ruin. The Rave Queen warned her if our kind harms even a single Daemon, we will be wiped out."

That's quite extreme. "Zaori will do that?"

"She's a Queen that does what she says. A Queen that has never lost a battle."

It seems that the more I hear about her from others, the more I get scared of our battle that will take place 99 years from now.

"Could you give me some of your Angelus blood?"

"What?"

"To fill my bullets. Things might get messy when we get there."

He tosses me the heavy magazines filled with large bullets. There is a needle which I think is the way to fill it. With it, I stab my leg in my Angelus Frame. It begins to extract blood from me. I do the same to the other magazines until I filled them all and I become weak.

"Thank you," he says, strapping them all around his belt. Some of them he puts in his inventory.

Moments later, the waves have become higher and bigger. I'm feeling nervous and sick. I can't swim and this rusty old boat could capsize any moment. After all, it's a miracle that this thing can still float.

We get closer to a volcano! It's erupting ashes and molten lava across miles. I can feel the thunder in the ash cloud and the low growling of the volcano. It makes me feel cold and shiver. Why is he taking us closer to it?

"Should we go around? There's a volcano ahead of us."

"No, it will cost us time. We're in a hurry."

A large fireball almost hit us! Splashes and steam are all around. That could've killed us!

"That was close," he remarks calmly.

"Too close," I say. "What if that hit us?"

"Relax, boy. The odds of that hitting us is slim."

Those words aged poorly as a fireball is heading straight toward us!

"Hold on!" he says.

"Onto what?!"