The Oldest Dream of Eternal Night
Chapter 31: Condemned to be hunted

Chapter 31: Condemned to be hunted

The Porsche sped through the city, its headlights sweeping across the deserted streets. The park loomed on the horizon, its dark trees standing like sentinels. Over the past few weeks, the jogging path had turned into a bloodbath, with bodies found drained of blood. If Ben was out there, out of control, time was running out.

Sabrina broke the silence, her voice trembling. "Hugo, I know you hate me. But Ben... he’s not evil. He’s just lost. The blood bond, the transformation... it changed him. We have to save him."

Hugo grunted, rubbing his aching temples. "Save him, huh? You’ve got a funny way of saving people. But yeah, I’ll help. Not for you. For Ben."

She nodded, her eyes glinting with an odd light—fear and determination mingled. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Save your thanks," Hugo cut in. "Focus on the road. If Ben’s out there, we’ll have to stop him. And if the Zodiacs find him before we do..."

He left the sentence hanging. Sabrina swallowed, her hands shaking on the wheel. The Zodiacs didn’t take prisoners—they hunted to kill.

Inside Hassan’s luxury Ford, the atmosphere was heavy, almost suffocating. The engine roared, but the silence inside was deafening, broken only by the screech of tires on asphalt. The news Hugo had dropped on the phone—Ben, a vampire, out of control—was hard to believe. Hassan, his hands clenched on the wheel, kept glancing nervously in the rearview mirror, as if the answers would appear behind him.

Carter, slumped in the backseat, chewed on a toothpick, his brow furrowed. Yuki, next to Hassan, stared straight ahead, his face unreadable, while Kaiser, still buzzing from dopamine, fidgeted in the passenger seat, his dilated pupils giving his eyes an eerie glow.

They were all thinking the same thing: Was this really the Ben they knew? The guy who cracked dumb jokes, the shy otaku around girls who had them laughing until their stomachs hurt? A Wunder. A vampire. None of them had seen it coming.

Yuki, in particular, was consumed by disbelief. His sixth sense, the gift that allowed him to detect Wunder, had picked up nothing from Ben. How could he have missed it? What he didn’t know was that Ben hadn’t been born a vampire. His transformation was recent—a secret Hugo hadn’t yet revealed.

Yuki broke the silence, his voice tense. "Take a detour to my place."

Hassan shot him a sidelong glance. "You sure? We’re losing time here."

"I’ve got stuff at home," Yuki replied through gritted teeth. "Tools. Something to stop Ben without killing him."

A new silence settled, even heavier. Carter, uncomfortable, cleared his throat. "Uh... You think we’ll have to kill him?"

No one answered. Glances were exchanged, uneasy, loaded with uncertainty.

Carter pressed on, his voice shaky. "You know, like the ghoul last time."

Hassan exploded, slamming the wheel. "What the hell are you talking about?! It’s Ben, damn it! He’s not some random Wunder. Stop talking shit!"

Kaiser, slumped against the door, nodded. "I’m with Hassan. We’ve known him forever. Doesn’t change anything that he’s not human."

Yuki, fists clenched, let out a growl. "Doesn’t change that he’s killed humans, Kaiser! Damn it!"

Kaiser turned his head, his dilated pupils making him look like a predator. "And what are you gonna do, Yuki? Slit his throat?"

Yuki flinched, his cheeks flushing. "I... I didn’t say that."

Kaiser sniffed, a sarcastic smirk on his lips. "Yeah, sure."

Carter, trying to defuse the tension, let out a nervous laugh. "Hey, I wonder what kind of powers he has. Hahaha. Like, can he fly or hypnotize girls?"

Kaiser raised an eyebrow, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "That supposed to lighten the mood?"

Carter groaned, tossing his toothpick out the window. "Shut the hell up, junkie."

Hassan chuckled, glancing at Kaiser. "Hope he’s not in withdrawal, Carter."

Yuki burst into laughter, a rough sound cutting through the air. "Watch your back, man. This crackhead might stab you to death."

"Hahaha!" The group erupted in laughter—tense but cathartic. The atmosphere lightened slightly, as if the brief humor had pushed back, for a moment, the gravity of the situation. The Ford turned onto a residential street, stopping in front of a modest house with blue shutters—Yuki’s place.

They got out of the car, their footsteps heavy on the gravel path. Yuki cast a wary glance around, making sure his sister wasn’t home. If she found out about Ben, she’d tear him apart. She’d always been more ruthless than Yuki when it came to Wunders.

Satisfied, he led the group to the front door, then straight to a hatch leading to the basement. The wooden stairs creaked under their weight, the air growing cooler and damper as they descended.

The basement was meticulously organized, lit by a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. Metal shelves groaned under the weight of boxes and weapons. A wooden table stood in the center, covered in daggers, vials, and a thick black leather-bound book—the Wunder Glossary, a compendium passed down in Yuki’s family for generations. Their priority: find information on vampires, and most importantly, a way to neutralize Ben without killing him.

Hassan’s eyes gleamed with curiosity, his expression thoughtful, as if turning something over in his mind.

Yuki opened the glossary, his fingers flipping through the pages with methodical precision. The others crowded around him, their breaths forming mist in the cold air. "Vampires," Yuki murmured, quickly finding the dedicated section. "One of the most numerous and powerful species. Makes sense they’d be in here."

The pages were filled with macabre illustrations and handwritten notes. Vampires, with their gleaming fangs and glowing red eyes, were described in detail—strengths, weaknesses, behaviors. But what caught their attention were the methods for killing them. Yuki read aloud, his voice growing darker with each word.

"First method: decapitation. Ancestors used a blessed blade to sever the head in one strike. The body collapses instantly, reduced to ashes."

Carter swallowed, uncomfortable. "That’s... brutal."

Yuki continued, unfazed. "Second method: the heart. A hawthorn wood stake, driven straight through the heart, paralyzes the vampire before disintegrating them. Hunters often soaked the stake in holy water to maximize the pain."

Hassan grimaced. "..."

"Third method: fire," Yuki went on. "Vampires burn like paper. The ancients tied them to stakes and doused them in holy oil before lighting the pyre. The flesh would burn away screaming, guaranteeing one of the most agonizing deaths, though sunlight was the ideal choice."

Kaiser, arms crossed, let out a mocking whistle. "Nice ancestors you got. Real poets."

Yuki ignored the jab and turned the page. "Fourth method: silver. A bullet or blade of pure silver, striking a vital organ, poisons the vampire’s blood. Death is slow, painful, organs necrotizing from within."

Silence fell again, oppressive. The four friends exchanged glances, their faces pale with horror. The glossary mentioned no method for capturing a vampire. Every page, every note, spoke only of slaughter. Was Ben, doomed to suffer one of these fates?

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