Secret Call

"Haarggh..."

Upon managing to pull the two of them up to the roof of the sky bridge, Blake lies flat and groans in pain while holding his stomach. He exerted himself too much, and his wounds that were healed are now opened again.

It was only thanks to his black outfit that the blood didn't become obvious.

"That was dangerous, I seriously couldn't believe that you didn't leave me there. If you did, then you wouldn't be pushing yourself this much, you're a moron, Blake..." Maura moaned lightly. She struggled to sit up before glancing at Blake in disbelief.

Since she was the one that begged Blake to not kill her, she thought that he would leave her.

Considering the situation, Maura was quite sure he would do that.

But turns out she was wrong to assume Blake would do something like that, and she couldn't help but smile weakly and feel grateful that he was not a total asshole like those people that she usually worked with.

Despite wanting to answer, Blake couldn't, he was panting heavily right now.

'I- I need to know who they are... It seems they were not normal people, and from the sound of their conversations, they should know the existence of Vampires and Ghouls' Blake thought tiredly, he was trying to push himself up.

Albeit he was hurt, he couldn't afford to miss something like this.

Maybe these people would be able to help him understand the situation he was pinched in right now, the Ghouls and the Vampires seem to be aiming for him now, and he couldn't stay in the dark and fend for himself like this.

Just as he was about to force himself, he suddenly felt something going down his throat.

Upon feeling this, Blake jolted his eyes open in surprise.

It takes him a second to recognize the taste that infiltrates his taste buds, he definitely couldn't mistake this sweet and rich taste. Clearly, it was Maura's blood, she was squeezing blood from her bleeding wrist.

"You're a moron, but thank you for not leaving me" Maura whispered lightly.

Blake doesn't know if she's insulting him right now or appreciating him for not leaving her. But at the very least, he could feel him regaining back his strength thanks to Maura's blood that rejuvenate his body.

Feeling that it was enough, he pushes Maura's hand away, "Stop it, that's enough"

Anymore than that then she would've been in trouble, she was also bleeding from the scratches she got fighting the Vampire from earlier. It was surprising that she didn't sustain that much injury from fighting that Vampire.

In truth, Blake thought that she would be in much worse shape. But she's not.

Maura definitely could handle herself very well.

Getting up again, Blake went over to the edge of the roof to look down at the mysterious special force unit that is still taking care of the Vampire corpses and also investigating the place for any clue about the one who did it.

From above, Blake fixed his eyes and finds that these men were cleaning up the place.

Not only were they securing the place and cleaning the corpses as well as the blood smeared on the ground, but they also seems to check the CCTVs around the area with the intention of deleting the footage.

Despite the distance, Blake could hear their banters thanks to his superhuman hearing.

'Seems like they come from an organization that deals with the Supernatural World, I need to look them up. I think the emblem on their shoulder will do, should I take a picture and search for it later...?' Blake thought, pondering the situation deeply.

It was then, he decided that he would do that.

But when he takes out his phone, his own shadow moves and seemingly holds his hands.

'Shadowblood...? Is it warning me to not take a photo of them?'

Although he was not sure why his own shadow is reacting to this, he decided to heed its warning and put his phone away. Instead, he glanced back at Salana standing on the side and asked, "Can you follow them? Find out who they are?"

"I'm afraid not, I'm low on energy right now" Salana shakes her head.

Upon hearing this, Blake could only sigh as there was no other choice but to research them himself. Salana was probably out of energy from monitoring Steel in gaining information about Russel, being far from him drains her energy immensely.

Blake watches in silence as the special force unit does its work.

Even though he's quite high right now and the special force unit wouldn't be able to see him, he still needs to be careful as the two of them keep a watch and sometimes gazes up, their senses were quite sharp.

It took a moment before the bloodied scene was completely cleaned.

Not a trace of the battle between Blake and the other Vampires can be seen on the street.

"Pin this location, it'll help us to locate the Moreau Family's compound. We'll head back in five. I'm going to talk to the higher-ups about this, to make sure that the damages would be dealt with" the Captain instructed and walks towards the van.

While the others nodded their heads and goes to work.

"Keep your eyes open for any signs while I pin this location, the culprit might still be here"

Just as Blake was eavesdropping on them, he suddenly heard a light thudding sound.

Looking over his shoulders, he was surprised to find that Maura has lost consciousness and her face seemed pale. It was then he clicked his tongue, he decided that he would need to leave right now and treat her.

~

Meanwhile, in another part of the street.

It was during the fight between Blake and the Vampires, there was one witness to this scene.

A woman can be seen covering her mouth while pressing her back against the wall of the junction, her eyes exude terror as she catches sight of the bloodied fight between monsters. If Blake was here, then he would recognize this woman as none other than Tiffany.

Finding that Julia hasn't come back, Tiffany decided to tail Blake from the back.

But as opposed to finding Julia being unfaithful to Russel, she witnessed something horrifying instead. Blake turns out to be more than a human, he's an outright monster and also a killer.

Now Tiffany is already near the nightclub again, and her legs were trembling uncontrollably.

Holding onto the wall to support herself up, she glanced back at where she came from before her eyes glisten. "Why did that guy who can kill four Vampires easily try to get close to Julia? Is it simply to his amusement or something more?"

"Regardless, I think Russel would need to know about this" She added and walks away.

~

A moment later, Blake rubs the sweat on his head after treating Maura.

Thanks to his experience in treating Tara back in the game world, he's quite accustomed to applying ointment and bandages. It was then he covered Maura's body with a blanket and sat on the edge of the bed with a frown.

Currently, the two of them are inside a hotel near the incident place earlier.

Since the Vampires attack both of them, Blake feared that they were still keeping an eye on him. He doesn't want his apartment to be known by them or else he would be visited by Vampires or Ghouls repeatedly.

It would've been a nightmare if that actually happens to him.

"Even though I got stronger, I don't think this is enough. That Vampire with purple eyes, I think he's way stronger, and I might die if he decided to join in earlier..." Blake thought out loud, sighing at the fact that his life has changed drastically.

Blake wouldn't be able to guess that his life would change in a mere week.

Pondering for a moment, he then turns his head towards Salana who is sitting on the sofa near the window, "I don't think I could get back to the apartment in a few days, is there any way I could enter the game without the Limited VR Helmet?"

"If there's the all-purpose phone, then you can..." Salana replied with a wry smile.

Although breaking the all-purpose phone gives Blake the EX-grade race and also unlocks all of the Racial Quests inside the game, it also has some disadvantages such as this. It was only the Privileged Player could enter the game without the VR Helmets.

But now, that's not possible for Blake.

Having no other choice, Salana could only shrug her shoulders, "Don't worry too much"

"We can still do it manually, but I think it wouldn't last a couple of days. At most, I could help you play for a day before I ran out of energy and will be forced to hibernate" She added, providing a solution for this matter.

Upon hearing this, Blake nodded his head gladly.

Despite their usual banter, Salana has always been a help in bad times like this.

Now that the matter has been dealt with, Blake lies on the bed intending to sleep. Even though he probably doesn't need sleep right now thanks to his bloodline, sleeping will still rest his mental fatigue which he really needs right now.

Similarly, Salana also decided to sleep. She even fell asleep almost instantly.

While lying on the bed, Blake reaches for his phone and opens it. He spots a couple of new notifications from Angel and a few unread texts from Gibran. However, his eyes are focused on the numbers on his lock screen.

8-February.

Blake looks at the date before he puts his phone back down, "It's that time of the year, huh..."

"The death anniversary. Both of them skipped the anniversary last year, I hope they could at least come this year. I don't care if they are not willing, I just want them to be there" he added whisperingly before his consciousness drowsed into the dreamland.

An unknown amount of time has passed, but the sky is still dark.

Maura moaned in pain, feeling that her body is a wreck right now. But when she looks down, she soon realized that she was covered in bandages, and she was also in a hotel room instead of the apartment.

In an instant, she quickly realized that Blake was probably worried.

Knowing that the Vampires might still loom over them, he decided to stay in a hotel for now.

Sitting up on the bed, Maura glanced to the side and saw that he was nowhere to be seen. She pulls the blanket to cover her body and frowns when she saw this, "Hmm...? Why isn't he here? He should get some rest too despite already drinking my blood"

But as she mutters that, she suddenly caught a voice coming from the balcony.

Upon hearing this, Maura strides towards the balcony door that was not closed entirely, the cold air outside can be felt through the gap. It was when she was about to open the door, she realized that Blake seems to be talking to someone.

"Yeah, I know it's unbelievable. But I'm not lying, that's really what happened"

"I know that you want me to be able to support our family financially and become a man, but I think I can do more than that now. If I really got stronger, then I could also protect both of them physically. When that happens, they would have no choice but to admit that I've become a man"

"I don't know if they will come visit you this year, but I will make sure that next year, they will"

Contrary to Maura who thought that she was alone, Salana was also eavesdropping.

Both of them were listening to Blake outside on his phone, talking to someone. It seems Blake was trying to secretly call someone while the two were asleep. But the two couldn't help but ask themselves one identical question.

'Who is he talking to...?'