MEETING FIRST CHILD

Blue car slowly moved along the street, its lights breaking through the mist as it drifted toward the city.

"So what happened to you... I mean, why are you like this?" Stella begins the conversation after a few minutes of driving in silence.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Acting oblivious Nero answers with a question, not sparing her a glance.

"I mean, this job, that mug of yours. Was all before just an act. Or is this a facade?"

"It's a long story, but yes."

Frown on her face only grew from such an answer. "And what was that at the restaurant earlier? Why did you lash out like that? If it was all an act, it certainly wasn't a good one. You were completely out of character."

"I needed some more points with Victor, so that was what I came up with at the moment. It worked well. Things are slowly falling into place."

"So you were acting with Victor too, I don't buy it, nobody can keep up such a perfect act for so long, you obviously switched between two mildly different personas too if that act at the restaurant was convincing to him."

"It's not that hard, really," Nero responds. "I didn't need to act long for Victor either. It was just a few weeks."

"Few weeks of fooling a person like him!" Stella screams. "I maybe didn't know him, but I saw enough to know how cunning he is. He was intelligent and had a lot of experience. I bet he put up hundreds of acts trying to do what you did. I mean, he acted with me and it wasn't nearly as good as yours and he probably also had to deal with hundreds of people trying to fool him like you did. Doing that is easy for you, really? And me as well as Bella. I'm over four hundred years old, and no one has ever deceived me like that; Bella is even better than I am at seeing through such acts.

"It wasn't that troubling. Also, I'm pretty sure Bella saw through it." Nero reaffirmed, before leaning against the seat.

Stella's eyes widen, "What? There is no way Bella knew. She would've told me."

"She didn't tell you about the bomb."

"What do you mean by that?" She snaps at him.

"She knew about the bomb." He reveals. "She was at the train station when we received it. At first, I thought you told her to monitor us, but at the restaurant, it became clear she did that of her own volition. She maybe didn't know about the bomb exactly, but she saw us get a suspicious package a little before our meeting." Nero explained it without stuttering and without raising or lowering his tone at any point.

"I... I don't believe you, that's impossible!" Stella screamed as her eyes were on the verge of tears.

"You don't have to." Nero sighed before closing his eyes.

A few moments of silence followed. Stella kept turning her face toward Nero, opening her mouth, but right away she would focus back on the road. The city lights slowly came into view and the mist had already disappeared. Stella tapped her finger on the wheel before letting out some turbulent air.

"You said you were able to kill her because of hellstone bullets, right?" She remembers Nero's earlier statement.

"Yes," Nero answers. He looked at her for a second, noticing she was shaking her leg. "It's a stone... from hell, as the name suggests." Her slight glance told him that won't be enough. "It can kill pretty much anything, even nonphysical."

"Weren't you humans usually using holy bullets for such things, well I guess you haven't hunted a vampire like me in decades, but still..."

"Holy bullets don't work if you don't believe that what you are doing is good. You also need to have the sense of purpose in firing them, so if I used them they would just be ordinary bullets." Explanation stayed in the car for a second. 

"What, really?!" Stella stares in shock as Nero nods to confirm it. "So you don't believe what you did was good?"

"I thought you concluded that much, no? I don't think it was good or bad, it was just a job."

"I see," Stella says and then just stares in front of her for a few moments before continuing. "So, bullets from hell? How in the hell did you get those?"

"I didn't," Nero answers with his cold monotone voice.

"What, but you said..."

"It's about the gun," Nero interrupts. "Novelty," he states. "It doesn't require any ammunition to be put in it. It holds an endless supply of bullets, which the user can create from anything. With certain limitations, of course, like the actual bullet needs to be possible to make without the ability of the gun, and I need to know how to make it actually work." He explains.

Stella just stares at him in disbelief. "Something like exists!"

"This is the only one." Nero closes his eyes again while getting comfortable in his seat.

The rest of the drive just passed with complete silence.

"If you are coming with me, be at the train station tomorrow at 5 am," Nero informs while leaving the car.

"So early?" Stella asks.

Nero gives her a serious look to affirm what he just said.

"Ok, ok, I will be there."

In the morning, they got on the train and left, leaving the city behind. Leaving the city to care for itself.

"So, where are we going?" Asked Stella.

"Didn't read that on the monitor? We are leaving for the Sophia." Nero answered.

"Argh, you know that's not what I meant," Stella snaps at him.

"The organization's base is there. We are officially going to join them; well, I am," Nero explained.

Stella stared for a second. "What, but don't they want to kill me? What about me?"

"We will come up with something."

"So, you have no actual plan?" She cries out.

"Well, first we need to know whether the rest of the organization even knows how you look. They call each other brothers and all that, but from what I've seen till now you can hardly say they are good at cooperating. At least between the branches of different 'seats'. It is pretty likely they do though, but just in case, when we figure that out, I have a few ways of solving the issue. You will like none of them, so I don't see how informing you will do me any good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stella yells at him.

"You will find out when you find out." Nero shrugs her concerns off.

Stella gets irritated, not just by his answer, but by his cold voice is beginning to frustrate her. One look at his eyes, however, and that frustration just stops. They are just so deep that she loses herself by looking at them, that endless hole that allows nothing to exist, so she lets it all go and just accepts his answer.

Upon their arrival, Nero and Stella see the black car waiting for them. It drives them to some forest where, in the distance, they can see the old abandoned house. As they get closer to it, its slowly rotting exterior becomes apparent. Not much changes when they enter, inside everything is broken and there are a bunch of graphites on the walls. However, there, in the middle of the spacious room on the first floor, was a well-decorated reception desk with a well-dressed man sitting on the other side of it.

"Good day. How may I help you?" Asked the man.

"The basement?" Nero demands.

"Left door." He says, pointing to his right. "White door at the end of the hallway." His other hand searches beneath the desk while his eyes keep staring at them. 

"Here is the key." He dingles the keys in his hand.

Nero takes them and goes through the door while Stella follows him. The whole time the man watches her with a smile, but Stella can sense it, intense anger radiating from him.

The hallway was long and just like the rest of the house, dirty, rotten, broken, graphites everywhere, but at the end of it sat a clean, fancy, old-fashioned, white door. Unlocking the doors, Nero found himself facing a drastically altered and surprising scene on the other side, a completely different picture than the rest of the house.

There was a long staircase leading down, just like the door. It was clean, incredibly clean, too clean even. Well designed, something you would want to walk up and down on the whole day.

The pair descended the stairs. When they got all the way down, they were in a huge hallway, just as nice looking as the stairs, and when they got near its end, they were greeted by a young man.

"Well, hello there." He said nonchalantly.

Nero quickly snaps out of his emotionless state and, seemingly, lightens up. "Yo! Good day to you, mister." Stella notices his change in mood and tone, surprised by how effortlessly he made that switch.

"I don't believe I've seen you before. What might be your business here?" asks the man.

"I came here to join the organization, of course," Nero states.

"Hmmm, and you might be…"

"Nero," Nero answers, before offering a handshake.

"Ha?!" He stopped and stroked his chink a few times. "Nero?… Oh, you are the guy that Victor wanted to recruit. I heard you killed the twins, that is incredible...but wait where is Victor and...isn't that...?" He says as he looks over Nero's shoulder.

"Victor is dead." Nero interrupted his thoughts.

"I see." The man says and pulls out his gun and points it at Stella. Nero stepped in front of it and raised his hands.

"Slow down." Nero pleads with wide eyes.

"That is one of them. Why is she here? Twins were reported dead. Victor also said there were no casualties, but here she is, alive and you are telling me Victor is dead. Marco and James are probably dead too, then."

"Indeed, they are, the report Victor made... he made it too early. The bomb didn't do the job, and Bella and Stella killed all three of them."

"So, she is here to kill us and you led her right to us, where is Bella, is she right behind too."

"No, you got it completely wrong. You see, I killed her."

"What?"

"After they killed Victor, Marco, and James, I killed Bella, her sister, Stella here was so broken that I had no trouble placing her under a mind control spell. She is… like my little slave now." Nero put on a massive grin. Going from ear to ear while he slightly squinted his eyes and placed one arm around Stella. "She will do whatever I say, hehe."

"Really? Mind control spell, you say? That sounds incredibly advanced, even just a simple, weak one, that would have your opponent slightly confused is complicated to do if I understand it properly. But you are saying you have her under complete control, and that there is nothing to worry about?" Nero nods at his slight pause. "I find that hard to believe."

"I can prove it. Here, look, Stella lie on the ground on your back and do a cat pose."

Nero orders leaning in close to Stella.

"What?" Stella whispers.

"Just do it." 

"No way am I doing that. You want me to act like your pat."

"Exactly, now do it or we die. I told you, you will not like it."

Stella grits her teeth, but after a second lies down on her back and puts her arms in paw-like position.

"Meow." Stella licks her hand a little. "Meow." 

The man breaks out laughing, almost falling on his back as well.

Nero joins him, "ok, ok, now, get up and start doing burpees."

Stella stops acting like a cat, gets up, jumps, then goes down, does a push-up and jumps up again, and keeps repeating that.

Man laughs even louder, he doubles over holding his stomach while Nero pats his back in his joy. "Alright, you can stop, get on your knees and bow down in front of the man here."

The man stops laughing and looks down as Stella bows in front of him. He watches for a second and then steps on her head. He kicks her a few times as Stella keeps gritting her teeth. The man stops and then laughs again.

"Ok, I trust you. This is incredible. I see why Victor wanted to have you so much. Still, she needs to die. She is a vampire, an incredibly dangerous one at that. What happens if you die? I highly doubt she will remain this way," the man commented.

"I disagree. I think she could be incredibly useful, definitely far more than if she is dead. You haven't seen the full scope of her abilities yet. Trust me, this is an incredible opportunity."

"No, that just won't do, she will die right here" he picks up his weapon and shoots her in the head with a smile on his face but his smile fades as Stella heals herself completely right away, she jumps at him going for the kill but Nero shouts at her, she froze in place just before striking him.

The man looks at her for a second and then laughs maniacally. "Oh, this is amazing, alright, I'm bought. I will support this idea, but you will still have to convince the 'seats'. However, my vote sure is important."

"Oh, and you are?" Nero asks scoffingly.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I haven't introduced myself yet," the man gets up before taking a step, bowing as he introduces himself. "I am Fredass, the right hand of the third seat."

"The third seat?" Nero's mouth opens. "The main combat unit?"

"So you know that already, ha? That makes things easier. I guess Victor took the time to tell you a little about the organization."

Fredass takes Nero and Stella to the apartment room and shows them around. "I will lock you inside for the next few days until the official decision is made. Basically, this is your prison cell. You will be given food 3 times a day, whatever you order as long as it's on the menu and the food will be given through that window there," he points to the wooden door of the window in the kitchen that can be open only from the outside. "You also have the food in the fridge if you wish to make something yourself instead."

"Pretty fancy for a prison cell," Nero chuckles.

Fredass looks at him and laughs alongside him. "You know, I like you, Nero. Most of the people would be unhappy with this, the fact they can't go outside and just need to be in there, but you seem happy about that."

"Well, this is a pretty pleasant apartment to live in for a few days. That also means I, basically, don't need to do anything anymore. I thought it was gonna take a lot more convincing than this," Nero admits honestly.

"Haha, don't celebrate too early; you'll most definitely have to prove Stella's worth, but yes, from here on, I'll handle everything, and you just be ready for a decision."

"I will, and Stella will be more than ready," Nero says confidently with a smirk on his face.

"Well, that's good to hear," Fredass says happily. "See you in a few days then," he says as he leaves the room.

"See you," says Nero, as Fredass closes the heavy metal doors and locks them.