Entry 11: Johann Armstrong (Part 2)

Fake?

Was the painting that was auctioned fake?

I could see Mr. Johann's hands trembling in anger as the price of the paintings auctioned continued to rise. I looked back and forth between him and the audience as one of them raised his hand, bidding for the highest price.

"100 million!" The MC announced happily. "Going once! "

I look at Mr. Johann again. I could see the look in his eyes as he was planning to bid for the painting.

"Going twice!"

Mr. Johann raised his right hand to bid. "300 million!" He shouted. The audience fell silent at the amount stated, while my jaw almost hit the cement road in shock.

EH? 300 MILLION?

IS THIS GUY FREAKING RICH? "Uh, Mr. Johann?" I nervously asked him while trying to recover from the shock. "Can you still afford to buy the painting?"

"I can afford it." Mr. Johann smiled. I could sense the anger in him dying down.

"300 million! Anyone willing to raise the price?" I could also sense the tension in the air across the auction area. No one raised their hands, but others were hesitant to bid further.

"Going once!" No one moved an inch.

"Going twice!" Mr. Johann still raised his hand.

The slam of the hammer indicates the end of the bidding. "The painting is sold for $300 million!"

*

After the auction concluded smoothly, I waited backstage as Mr. Johann talked to one of the staff to settle the payment for the painting. While waiting, I could feel the phone vibrating underneath my jacket.

Someone called me. I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Anna, is the auction finally over?" Kouga asked on the other line.

"The auction was just finished a few minutes ago," I said. "Is there something wrong?"

I could hear Kouga go silent. "Nothing. After you've done there, I'll be waiting for you at the park entrance." Then he hung up.

"Ms. Anna." I turned around and saw Mr. Johann approaching me, and the staff carrying the painting behind him. "Sorry, I'm late. My negotiation with the organizer went longer than I expected."

"That's fine," I reassured him. "So, what are you going to do with the painting?" I asked him.

Mr. Johann thought about what to do with the painting before he replied, "I'm planning to give it to one of my friends as a gift since he likes the painting that Jonathan Anderson created."

Oh, so he bought the painting as a gift. But what about what he said about the painting being fake? Maybe I overheard it from other people, or maybe I'm just tired.

"Will they like the gift?" he asked me.

I looked at him. "Of course, since you said to yourself that you want to give it to them." Then I looked at the time on my watch. It was already 5 in the afternoon; I couldn't believe that the auction took long enough that I never noticed the time. "I must go now; I have something to do at home."

After I said those words, I ran off. "I'll call you when I reach home!"

"Be careful coming home." Mr. Johann waved goodbye to me.

*

I ran towards the park entrance as I saw Kouga sitting near the park entrance with two paper bags beside him. He somehow saw me. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry." I apologized sheepishly as I approached him. "Did I wait for you for long?"

"I came here recently," he said, then took one of the paper bags beside him and gave it to me. "Here, I know that you are hungry."

I took the paper bag and peeked at what was inside; it was a pair of round breads with chocolate icing sprinkled with cinnamon powder. I looked at him after. "Thanks."

He stood up and approached me. He was way too close, with only an inch apart as a distance. My face flushed and my heart beat fast as he smiled at me. "Glad you liked it." Then he stepped back.

I tried to calm myself while looking at him. I admit that he was not a bad person; he was very nice and sweet, and whoever his girlfriend or fiancée was was very lucky to have him.

Wait a minute—why do I have to think about that? Anna, that guy is hundreds—no, a thousand years old and is a vampire!

He turned away from me. "By the way," he said without turning his head. "There is a café near the park. I wanted to try their food there. Want to come?"

This guy is thinking of sweets. "Sure."

*

Jonathan's eyes are filled with disgust as he watches the painting engulfed in flames in a makeshift bonfire he created in his backyard. The elegant painting burned away by the flames as the smoke rose to the almost dark sky. He stepped on the frame and pushed it further to burn the painting faster. As he watched the painting flicker away, he could hear footsteps from the sound of the grass.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the intruder without turning his head around.

The intruder behind him only scoffed. "Is it not bad to visit a friend?"

"Go away." Was Jonathan's only response. He turned around as the man in a full black qipao looked at him with his usual intimidating look. "What do you want?" He asked, irritated.

The man crossed his arms. "Hermina contacted you several times this afternoon. Did you check your phone?"

"I hate to tell you, but I'm in the middle of an auction," he said. "What did she want?"

"Our mistress called," he replied. "She wanted us to check on the updates regarding our assignment." Then he looked at the bonfire. "Did you just burn another painting of yours?"

"The painting was fake." He responds in a cold, flat tone. "I don't recall painting that."

"And you've wasted 300 million just to burn it? You should have used it to buy your new mansion instead."

"300 million is nothing on us vampires." He said, "They're just a piece of paper humans are killing for it." Then, he went inside his mansion; his companion followed suit.

Separated from the backyard is a spacious kitchen that is adjusted to the dining room. His companion peeked at the dining room and saw two corpses lying atop the dining table, bathing in their own blood. Most of the blood pooled on the entire table, and some of it was dripping on the edge of the table.

"That is a piece of work," he said in awe. "Are those the workers from the auction that you attended?"

Jonathan didn't answer; instead, he took two wine glasses from the kitchen cabinet above him and a knife beside the kitchen sink. Then, he went to the dining room, set the glasses on the table, and proceeded to cut one of the corpse's arms. Blood oozed from the cold, bleeding arm as Jonathan took one of the glasses and gathered the blood.

"They infuriated me," he said with a hint of anger in his tone. "They claim the painting as mine, yet I don't remember painting that when I was a human." He set the glass filled with blood aside, then took the other glass and repeated the same process. "Humans are becoming greedy with the material possessions that some of them take advantage of by fabricating artifacts and claiming them as made by a famous person. I don't know how many of these 'paintings' they created and claimed as my work has been lying out, but I will not tolerate those kinds of fabricating arts in my name."

"And that's why you waste a lot of money just to burn those 'paintings' into ash," his companion said as Jonathan set both the knife and the other blood-filled glass on the table. "No wonder why the mistress took a liking to you."

"Liu Yuxuan." Jonathan turned his head at his companion and looked him in the eye. "What did she want?"

"The Return of the Golden Age of the Vampire World," he replied with a sadistic smile. "I don't know the entire details, but from what our mistress told us, before the current vampire king took over, the vampire world was the greatest place on this planet. Humans beg for their lives as we drain their blood from their bodies and listen to the sweet melodies of their screams."

"The tyrannical rule of the Caster of Rose," Jonathan muttered as he took both glasses and handed one to Yuxuan. "If it weren't for his younger brothers and the two progenitors of the vampire hunter clans, he would still rule the vampire world up until now."

Yuxuan took the glass from Jonathan's hand. "Hmph. You said it." then he raised the glass for a toast. "A toast for the return of the golden era."

Jonathan does the same. "For the golden era of the vampire world... and may our enemies meet their bloody demise."