Chapter 103: The Fated Pair
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He revisited the day he first met Sangfroid.
It was in an autonomous village within the borders of Ilvedia. He remembered earning the name 'Red Death'. He quite likes it, there's a nice ring to it as Ilvedians would say.
He was amused by the fact that he was able to turn such a lively town into a ghost town in just a few days of terrorizing it. Of course, there is also guilt. Beautiful, beautiful guilt! Guilt that separates humans and monsters, which he now has upon being baptized by the Fountain of Truth to receive his former morality.
But was he truly not a monster anymore if he found the feeling of guilt relaxing? If he finds comfort in the very emotion that drives many to insanity and to self distract?
Of course not. Feelings or not, he's a monster inside and out.
It's nice to recall the days that he was a 'villain' in Sangfroid's eyes, even though the scent of the people he killed was overbearing and drowning him in quicksand. Sangfroid's black-and-white mentality had always fascinated him. Only a man who had only lived as one of those two extremes can be like that, and it seems Sangfroid lived an extremely white and pure life.
(The sheep and cattle were released from their homes, yet it was not the vampire lord who drank from them. they were eaten by wolves. This was the vampire lord's intention to either scare the people and hurt innocent beings, or to lure the hiding people away from their homes.)
Vladstin heard these thoughts and moved to Sangfroid, observing him with great scrutiny. He truly was a fine young man for his age.
"Oh, Min Libitino. It's not that, I just don't have the stomach to drink from living animals and I thought they would be free, not anticipating the wolves would kill them. But don't worry, that was taken care of in the future." Vladstin grinned.
He saw him talk with the family of the young lad he talked to before. After shuffling the many names in his brain, he recalled that the boy who was the spitting image of Leron was Cintho.
Which is ironic, because Cintho in Crescentian... means 'beloved'.
He doesn't quite love the boy's lookalike anymore though. He preferred this cold-blooded man, both in name and in demeanor towards things he deemed must be eliminated for the sake of 'good'.
The family locked Cintho under the basement, very awful and futile. But it was interesting.
It's fascinating to him every time he witnessed people do heinous things for what they believe is for 'kindness' or 'what is best. But in certain circumstances, they are just choosing the lesser of two evil. Will Sangfroid be ever able to realize this?
That there was never a 'good' option, only a less bad one?
Leron after all, is not a good option for a lover. Yet Sangfroid idolizes him in a way that he sees him as perfect. It's so interesting because he used to hold that person in the same light, and anticipating his transformation into the same side as he would be a treat.
"But Sangfroid is progressing too slowly in seeing Leron as anything but a flawless angel. Maybe I'll be dead by then." Vladstin chuckled.
He watched the Noble Huntsmen join by the doorstep and ask the boy's parents: "May we see the boy, Madam?"
The couple looked not any saner than he was. There was a sort of fear in them that instead of invoking sympathy would make you secretly snicker. The father's lips were trembling so badly in a hilarious way that would make you think it would fall off any second.
"The Red Death is watching...." He pointed with his increasingly unsteady finger. "There, did you see that!?"
The Noble Huntsmen all turned to that direction, but there was only a quiet meadow with a sheep carcass laying around.
Vladstin couldn't help it, he burst out laughing there. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
The unfortunate Noble Huntsman he came to know as Asver shrugged. "Well, we didn't manage to see anything—"
"I saw him, sir. We will not let him harm your son. We will guard him with all our lives."
Vladstin stopped laughing and leaned his elbow on Sangfroid's shoulder. "Well, aren't you a dashing hero? You sound exactly like those valiant knights that the legends were about."
The Noble Huntsmen were equally amazed by their boss, and the couple let them in. Sangfroid entered the trapdoor leading to the basement alone, while they stand guard.
Vladstin tiptoed down the stairs with him, curious to know more of Sangfroid's thoughts during these events.
He felt a dull ache in his chest when Sangfroid saw the boy in chains. (He really looks too much like.....)
"Momma? Papa? Please let me go! I promise I wouldn't disobey you and travel outside anymore!"
Vladstin can taste the dash of nostalgia, and the sting of well-kept hidden melancholy that Sangfroid is feeling now.
The hunter hesitantly approached the boy. The child itself was just gaping his mouth in surprise.
"Who are you, sir?"
"My name is Sangfroid.....What's yours?"
"It's Cintho!" The boy with a sunny smile. "Have you come to free me, Mr. Sangfroid? Do you have the key?"
(He looks so thin and gaunt.... Do they not feed him anymore ever since locking him here?) Sangfroid's emotions were now mixed with spicy disdain for the boy's family.
He examined the manacles on his hands and feet connected by silver chains. Vladstin peered behind him with a grin in his ghostly form. "Very pitiful, isn't it? To think that someone's own family could do this out of wanting to protect their child..... Just like how a Bishop itself could train mercenaries just to protect his kingdom's people."
But Sangfroid didn't show any sign of hearing this, his focus on the boy as he replied solemnly, "No."
Cintho's face fell. "Oh. I see. I think Momma permanently threw the key in the well."
Sangfroid squatted beside him. "How old are you?"
"I'm thirteen and a half."
"Do you.... Do you know why you are kept here?"
"Momma said there's a monster who's after me. I don't believe her." Cintho snorted. "It started when I came home late, the sun had already set but I had to find Ari."
"Ari?"
Vladstin's eyes brightened. "Oh, I remember Ari! He's a lovable little rascal, always chewing my clothes."
Cintho explained who Ari was, with much enthusiasm. "He's a billy goat. Momma said he's ugly, but I think he's pretty funny and can do all kinds of tricks."
"That night, I found Ari was being fed by this handsome mister with completely white hair, which is weird because he looks ten years younger than my Papa."
Vladstn nodded excitedly, since this is how Sangfroid was introduced to him after all, and the boy chose the right words. "Yes, that's me! I'm a handsome mister, yes, yes!"
(Young but with white hair, that's uncommon for an Ilvedian. It has to be the vampire, 'Red Death'.) Was Sangfroid's only thought about him.
"What did the mister do to you?"
"He didn't do anything to me." The boy blinked and tilted his head. "He just asked for directions, but I didn't know what to tell him, and yet he still thanked me and gave Ari some meat. Ari is special, you see. He also eats meat, sometimes even his friend's—"
"Truly? I didn't know that the goat's a cannibal, but that's to be expected with him chewing the first thing he sees." Vladstin chuckled.
Sangfroid was not amused and interrupted him before Cintho could lose track of the conversation. "What directions did the mister asked you?"
"Oh. He wanted to go to the Palace of Ilvedia, he said. I've never been in the Capitol or even beyond the borders. I asked him why he needs to go there and he said he came to see an old friend. He was very nice and was three heads taller than me, he had to lean down to come face to face with me. After that, he..... Mr. Sangfroid?"
A rush of dread, as well as yearning. (Prince Leron..... I haven't seen or talked to him for so long, even at his return.) He clenched his fist. (I must protect him no matter the cost....)
Vladstin scoffed. "Because even if he did see you, he probably wouldn't have cared having lost his capability to do so from tinkering with his own brain."
The boy waved a hand over the hunter stuck in the past. "Mr. Sangfroid?"
He broke free from it, focusing on the present stakes. "Yes?
"Are you okay? You looked angry for a minute. Did I do something wrong?" Cintho asked with teary eyes.
Sangfroid immediately shook his head. "No. I was just thinking of something."
(I must never let the Vampire Lord get close to Prince Leron or this boy.)
Vladstin chuckled. "Well, you will fail to guard both, buddy." Recalling these things are enjoyable after all, he has the thrill of knowing the future and laughing at the irony of the past events.
"Anyway..." Sangfroid stood up. "I don't have a key, but I can still free you with this."
He freed the boy by snapping the chains with the tip of his arrow. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Sangfroid! Now I can go and see Ari again!"
"Wait!"
But the boy already rushed up, following the past Vladstin's call.
The one who's dreaming smirked. "The fated meeting has begun."
He took his time walking up the basement stairs and to the front door, just savoring Sangfroid's agitated thoughts and emotions. The tension in the air was so thick that he can slice it and put butter on it to make toast.
"Help.... Mr. Sangfroid...."
Vladstin saw himself sucking the life off the boy in his arms. He expected to be overwhelmed by Sangfroid's emotions..... but it was his that end up overtaking his cold heart.
He watched the hunter take the boy in his arms as he lose his life. His eyes wide and breathing heavy, like someone trying to break through the surface of the water as to not drown. But it was so hopeless for him, and the sun seems too far away, dragging him to the depths.
Vladstin took this life. It was him who made an innocent boy die.
And by taking his blood, the boy's memories will also remain inside him. So he could never forget. How could he forget? He sometimes see Cintho in his court of sand and glass, with the goat Ari, and unlike most, he lived a quite happy life. His only suffering was when his mother would scold him for playing in the mud, the time he was all alone and locked on the basement.....
And of course, when the white-haired mister sang his teeth on his throat.
"I'm sorry..."Sangfroid can feel guilt clutching his heart, and so does Vladstin.
"The dead can't accept apologies so it's quite too late for that."
Both the watchful ghost and the dream version said it at the same time, but with a different expression on their face. The one watching said it solemnly, while the one in the past said it with a sneer.
The latter scratched Sangfroid, and the hunter immediately turned around, yet unable to find him. But he cleared his thoughts.....
And shot an arrow to his right!
"Good aim!" Past Vladstin clapped. "I'm sorry if I took some sample of your blood without permission, but I just can't help it. It smelled better than the others. Hmm... but I'm not quite sure about the actual taste, a few drops is not enough."
His cheek was grazed by the arrow, blood dripping. "May I have some more? It's only fair since made me lose some blood from that arrow of yours."
"Who are you, vampire?" Sangfroid shot again, but past Vladstin vanished.
He sneered, so condescendingly that even the current Vladstin is hating him. "I should be asking that first. Your name is Sangfroid, correct? Who are you really and your sorry lot that I should thank for my meal tonight?"
"I am the Chief of the Noble Huntsmen, sent by the Bishop of Santimieda to eradicate you and your kind. We are sent to make you perish, vampire."
"Ah, so you are a Hunter, just like I thought. Well, it's nice to meet you Hunter, but I have a bigger snake to catch and slit the throat off! Ta-ta!"
"Wait, why are you after Prince Leron!?"
Past Vladstin turned to him curiously just as he was by the edge of the roof. "You know that little snake?"
"The Bishop had prophesized that a vampire lord will rise and become a danger to His Highness' life. I cannot let that happen. Who are you, and why are you after him?"
"I'm a sad, abandoned man." The current Vladstin said with a wry smile.
The past one revealed the scar on his chest. "I'm Vladstin. I just so happen to be someone your 'Highness' killed in cold blood. Therefore, I'm going to kill him too."
"I'd rather die than let that happen."
"I don't want to involve anyone unnecessary but.... If you really want to kill me, I'd like to see you try."
That was Vladstin's first taste of death after death. Just a slight tinge, not long enough to be anything. But even back then, he seemed to have enjoyed the feeling.
It brought him euphoria, a sense of peaceful happiness the same as when you are just watching the clouds with no worries.
That's why, he felt that Sangfroid was fated for him. Fated to be his death. Libitino.
The dream shifted once again.
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He revisited the day he first met Sangfroid.
It was in an autonomous village within the borders of Ilvedia. He remembered earning the name 'Red Death'. He quite likes it, there's a nice ring to it as Ilvedians would say.
He was amused by the fact that he was able to turn such a lively town into a ghost town in just a few days of terrorizing it. Of course, there is also guilt. Beautiful, beautiful guilt! Guilt that separates humans and monsters, which he now has upon being baptized by the Fountain of Truth to receive his former morality.
But was he truly not a monster anymore if he found the feeling of guilt relaxing? If he finds comfort in the very emotion that drives many to insanity and to self distract?
Of course not. Feelings or not, he's a monster inside and out.
It's nice to recall the days that he was a 'villain' in Sangfroid's eyes, even though the scent of the people he killed was overbearing and drowning him in quicksand. Sangfroid's black-and-white mentality had always fascinated him. Only a man who had only lived as one of those two extremes can be like that, and it seems Sangfroid lived an extremely white and pure life.
(The sheep and cattle were released from their homes, yet it was not the vampire lord who drank from them. they were eaten by wolves. This was the vampire lord's intention to either scare the people and hurt innocent beings, or to lure the hiding people away from their homes.)
Vladstin heard these thoughts and moved to Sangfroid, observing him with great scrutiny. He truly was a fine young man for his age.
"Oh, Min Libitino. It's not that, I just don't have the stomach to drink from living animals and I thought they would be free, not anticipating the wolves would kill them. But don't worry, that was taken care of in the future." Vladstin grinned.
He saw him talk with the family of the young lad he talked to before. After shuffling the many names in his brain, he recalled that the boy who was the spitting image of Leron was Cintho.
Which is ironic, because Cintho in Crescentian... means 'beloved'.
He doesn't quite love the boy's lookalike anymore though. He preferred this cold-blooded man, both in name and in demeanor towards things he deemed must be eliminated for the sake of 'good'.
The family locked Cintho under the basement, very awful and futile. But it was interesting.
It's fascinating to him every time he witnessed people do heinous things for what they believe is for 'kindness' or 'what is best. But in certain circumstances, they are just choosing the lesser of two evil. Will Sangfroid be ever able to realize this?
That there was never a 'good' option, only a less bad one?
Leron after all, is not a good option for a lover. Yet Sangfroid idolizes him in a way that he sees him as perfect. It's so interesting because he used to hold that person in the same light, and anticipating his transformation into the same side as he would be a treat.
"But Sangfroid is progressing too slowly in seeing Leron as anything but a flawless angel. Maybe I'll be dead by then." Vladstin chuckled.
He watched the Noble Huntsmen join by the doorstep and ask the boy's parents: "May we see the boy, Madam?"
The couple looked not any saner than he was. There was a sort of fear in them that instead of invoking sympathy would make you secretly snicker. The father's lips were trembling so badly in a hilarious way that would make you think it would fall off any second.
"The Red Death is watching...." He pointed with his increasingly unsteady finger. "There, did you see that!?"
The Noble Huntsmen all turned to that direction, but there was only a quiet meadow with a sheep carcass laying around.
Vladstin couldn't help it, he burst out laughing there. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
The unfortunate Noble Huntsman he came to know as Asver shrugged. "Well, we didn't manage to see anything—"
"I saw him, sir. We will not let him harm your son. We will guard him with all our lives."
Vladstin stopped laughing and leaned his elbow on Sangfroid's shoulder. "Well, aren't you a dashing hero? You sound exactly like those valiant knights that the legends were about."
The Noble Huntsmen were equally amazed by their boss, and the couple let them in. Sangfroid entered the trapdoor leading to the basement alone, while they stand guard.
Vladstin tiptoed down the stairs with him, curious to know more of Sangfroid's thoughts during these events.
He felt a dull ache in his chest when Sangfroid saw the boy in chains. (He really looks too much like.....)
"Momma? Papa? Please let me go! I promise I wouldn't disobey you and travel outside anymore!"
Vladstin can taste the dash of nostalgia, and the sting of well-kept hidden melancholy that Sangfroid is feeling now.
The hunter hesitantly approached the boy. The child itself was just gaping his mouth in surprise.
"Who are you, sir?"
"My name is Sangfroid.....What's yours?"
"It's Cintho!" The boy with a sunny smile. "Have you come to free me, Mr. Sangfroid? Do you have the key?"
(He looks so thin and gaunt.... Do they not feed him anymore ever since locking him here?) Sangfroid's emotions were now mixed with spicy disdain for the boy's family.
He examined the manacles on his hands and feet connected by silver chains. Vladstin peered behind him with a grin in his ghostly form. "Very pitiful, isn't it? To think that someone's own family could do this out of wanting to protect their child..... Just like how a Bishop itself could train mercenaries just to protect his kingdom's people."
But Sangfroid didn't show any sign of hearing this, his focus on the boy as he replied solemnly, "No."
Cintho's face fell. "Oh. I see. I think Momma permanently threw the key in the well."
Sangfroid squatted beside him. "How old are you?"
"I'm thirteen and a half."
"Do you.... Do you know why you are kept here?"
"Momma said there's a monster who's after me. I don't believe her." Cintho snorted. "It started when I came home late, the sun had already set but I had to find Ari."
"Ari?"
Vladstin's eyes brightened. "Oh, I remember Ari! He's a lovable little rascal, always chewing my clothes."
Cintho explained who Ari was, with much enthusiasm. "He's a billy goat. Momma said he's ugly, but I think he's pretty funny and can do all kinds of tricks."
"That night, I found Ari was being fed by this handsome mister with completely white hair, which is weird because he looks ten years younger than my Papa."
Vladstn nodded excitedly, since this is how Sangfroid was introduced to him after all, and the boy chose the right words. "Yes, that's me! I'm a handsome mister, yes, yes!"
(Young but with white hair, that's uncommon for an Ilvedian. It has to be the vampire, 'Red Death'.) Was Sangfroid's only thought about him.
"What did the mister do to you?"
"He didn't do anything to me." The boy blinked and tilted his head. "He just asked for directions, but I didn't know what to tell him, and yet he still thanked me and gave Ari some meat. Ari is special, you see. He also eats meat, sometimes even his friend's—"
"Truly? I didn't know that the goat's a cannibal, but that's to be expected with him chewing the first thing he sees." Vladstin chuckled.
Sangfroid was not amused and interrupted him before Cintho could lose track of the conversation. "What directions did the mister asked you?"
"Oh. He wanted to go to the Palace of Ilvedia, he said. I've never been in the Capitol or even beyond the borders. I asked him why he needs to go there and he said he came to see an old friend. He was very nice and was three heads taller than me, he had to lean down to come face to face with me. After that, he..... Mr. Sangfroid?"
A rush of dread, as well as yearning. (Prince Leron..... I haven't seen or talked to him for so long, even at his return.) He clenched his fist. (I must protect him no matter the cost....)
Vladstin scoffed. "Because even if he did see you, he probably wouldn't have cared having lost his capability to do so from tinkering with his own brain."
The boy waved a hand over the hunter stuck in the past. "Mr. Sangfroid?"
He broke free from it, focusing on the present stakes. "Yes?
"Are you okay? You looked angry for a minute. Did I do something wrong?" Cintho asked with teary eyes.
Sangfroid immediately shook his head. "No. I was just thinking of something."
(I must never let the Vampire Lord get close to Prince Leron or this boy.)
Vladstin chuckled. "Well, you will fail to guard both, buddy." Recalling these things are enjoyable after all, he has the thrill of knowing the future and laughing at the irony of the past events.
"Anyway..." Sangfroid stood up. "I don't have a key, but I can still free you with this."
He freed the boy by snapping the chains with the tip of his arrow. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Sangfroid! Now I can go and see Ari again!"
"Wait!"
But the boy already rushed up, following the past Vladstin's call.
The one who's dreaming smirked. "The fated meeting has begun."
He took his time walking up the basement stairs and to the front door, just savoring Sangfroid's agitated thoughts and emotions. The tension in the air was so thick that he can slice it and put butter on it to make toast.
"Help.... Mr. Sangfroid...."
Vladstin saw himself sucking the life off the boy in his arms. He expected to be overwhelmed by Sangfroid's emotions..... but it was his that end up overtaking his cold heart.
He watched the hunter take the boy in his arms as he lose his life. His eyes wide and breathing heavy, like someone trying to break through the surface of the water as to not drown. But it was so hopeless for him, and the sun seems too far away, dragging him to the depths.
Vladstin took this life. It was him who made an innocent boy die.
And by taking his blood, the boy's memories will also remain inside him. So he could never forget. How could he forget? He sometimes see Cintho in his court of sand and glass, with the goat Ari, and unlike most, he lived a quite happy life. His only suffering was when his mother would scold him for playing in the mud, the time he was all alone and locked on the basement.....
And of course, when the white-haired mister sang his teeth on his throat.
"I'm sorry..."Sangfroid can feel guilt clutching his heart, and so does Vladstin.
"The dead can't accept apologies so it's quite too late for that."
Both the watchful ghost and the dream version said it at the same time, but with a different expression on their face. The one watching said it solemnly, while the one in the past said it with a sneer.
The latter scratched Sangfroid, and the hunter immediately turned around, yet unable to find him. But he cleared his thoughts.....
And shot an arrow to his right!
"Good aim!" Past Vladstin clapped. "I'm sorry if I took some sample of your blood without permission, but I just can't help it. It smelled better than the others. Hmm... but I'm not quite sure about the actual taste, a few drops is not enough."
His cheek was grazed by the arrow, blood dripping. "May I have some more? It's only fair since made me lose some blood from that arrow of yours."
"Who are you, vampire?" Sangfroid shot again, but past Vladstin vanished.
He sneered, so condescendingly that even the current Vladstin is hating him. "I should be asking that first. Your name is Sangfroid, correct? Who are you really and your sorry lot that I should thank for my meal tonight?"
"I am the Chief of the Noble Huntsmen, sent by the Bishop of Santimieda to eradicate you and your kind. We are sent to make you perish, vampire."
"Ah, so you are a Hunter, just like I thought. Well, it's nice to meet you Hunter, but I have a bigger snake to catch and slit the throat off! Ta-ta!"
"Wait, why are you after Prince Leron!?"
Past Vladstin turned to him curiously just as he was by the edge of the roof. "You know that little snake?"
"The Bishop had prophesized that a vampire lord will rise and become a danger to His Highness' life. I cannot let that happen. Who are you, and why are you after him?"
"I'm a sad, abandoned man." The current Vladstin said with a wry smile.
The past one revealed the scar on his chest. "I'm Vladstin. I just so happen to be someone your 'Highness' killed in cold blood. Therefore, I'm going to kill him too."
"I'd rather die than let that happen."
"I don't want to involve anyone unnecessary but.... If you really want to kill me, I'd like to see you try."
That was Vladstin's first taste of death after death. Just a slight tinge, not long enough to be anything. But even back then, he seemed to have enjoyed the feeling.
It brought him euphoria, a sense of peaceful happiness the same as when you are just watching the clouds with no worries.
That's why, he felt that Sangfroid was fated for him. Fated to be his death. Libitino.
The dream shifted once again.
He revisited the day he first met Sangfroid.It was in an autonomous village within the borders of Ilvedia. He remembered earning the name 'Red Death'. He quite likes it, there's a nice ring to it as Ilvedians would say.He was amused by the fact that he was able to turn such a lively town into a ghost town in just a few days of terrorizing it. Of course, there is also guilt. Beautiful, beautiful guilt! Guilt that separates humans and monsters, which he now has upon being baptized by the Fountain of Truth to receive his former morality.But was he truly not a monster anymore if he found the feeling of guilt relaxing? If he finds comfort in the very emotion that drives many to insanity and to self distract?Of course not. Feelings or not, he's a monster inside and out.It's nice to recall the days that he was a 'villain' in Sangfroid's eyes, even though the scent of the people he killed was overbearing and drowning him in quicksand. Sangfroid's black-and-white mentality had always fascinated him. Only a man who had only lived as one of those two extremes can be like that, and it seems Sangfroid lived an extremely white and pure life.The sheep and cattle were released from their homes, yet it was not the vampire lord who drank from them. they were eaten by wolves. This was the vampire lord's intention to either scare the people and hurt innocent beings, or to lure the hiding people away from their homes.Vladstin heard these thoughts and moved to Sangfroid, observing him with great scrutiny. He truly was a fine young man for his age."Oh, Min Libitino. It's not that, I just don't have the stomach to drink from living animals and I thought they would be free, not anticipating the wolves would kill them. But don't worry, that was taken care of in the future." Vladstin grinned.He saw him talk with the family of the young lad he talked to before. After shuffling the many names in his brain, he recalled that the boy who was the spitting image of Leron was Cintho.Which is ironic, because Cintho in Crescentian... means 'beloved'.He doesn't quite love the boy's lookalike anymore though. He preferred this cold-blooded man, both in name and in demeanor towards things he deemed must be eliminated for the sake of 'good'.The family locked Cintho under the basement, very awful and futile. But it was interesting.It's fascinating to him every time he witnessed people do heinous things for what they believe is for 'kindness' or 'what is best. But in certain circumstances, they are just choosing the lesser of two evil. Will Sangfroid be ever able to realize this?That there was never a 'good' option, only a less bad one?Leron after all, is not a good option for a lover. Yet Sangfroid idolizes him in a way that he sees him as perfect. It's so interesting because he used to hold that person in the same light, and anticipating his transformation into the same side as he would be a treat."But Sangfroid is progressing too slowly in seeing Leron as anything but a flawless angel. Maybe I'll be dead by then." Vladstin chuckled.He watched the Noble Huntsmen join by the doorstep and ask the boy's parents: "May we see the boy, Madam?" The couple looked not any saner than he was. There was a sort of fear in them that instead of invoking sympathy would make you secretly snicker. The father's lips were trembling so badly in a hilarious way that would make you think it would fall off any second."The Red Death is watching...." He pointed with his increasingly unsteady finger. "There, did you see that!?"The Noble Huntsmen all turned to that direction, but there was only a quiet meadow with a sheep carcass laying around.Vladstin couldn't help it, he burst out laughing there. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"The unfortunate Noble Huntsman he came to know as Asver shrugged. "Well, we didn't manage to see anything""I saw him, sir. We will not let him harm your son. We will guard him with all our lives."Vladstin stopped laughing and leaned his elbow on Sangfroid's shoulder. "Well, aren't you a dashing hero? You sound exactly like those valiant knights that the legends were about."The Noble Huntsmen were equally amazed by their boss, and the couple let them in. Sangfroid entered the trapdoor leading to the basement alone, while they stand guard.Vladstin tiptoed down the stairs with him, curious to know more of Sangfroid's thoughts during these events.He felt a dull ache in his chest when Sangfroid saw the boy in chains. He really looks too much like....."Momma? Papa? Please let me go! I promise I wouldn't disobey you and travel outside anymore!"Vladstin can taste the dash of nostalgia, and the sting of well-kept hidden melancholy that Sangfroid is feeling now.The hunter hesitantly approached the boy. The child itself was just gaping his mouth in surprise."Who are you, sir?""My name is Sangfroid.....What's yours?""It's Cintho!" The boy with a sunny smile. "Have you come to free me, Mr. Sangfroid? Do you have the key?"He looks so thin and gaunt.... Do they not feed him anymore ever since locking him here? Sangfroid's emotions were now mixed with spicy disdain for the boy's family.He examined the manacles on his hands and feet connected by silver chains. Vladstin peered behind him with a grin in his ghostly form. "Very pitiful, isn't it? To think that someone's own family could do this out of wanting to protect their child..... Just like how a Bishop itself could train mercenaries just to protect his kingdom's people."But Sangfroid didn't show any sign of hearing this, his focus on the boy as he replied solemnly, "No."Cintho's face fell. "Oh. I see. I think Momma permanently threw the key in the well."Sangfroid squatted beside him. "How old are you?""I'm thirteen and a half." "Do you.... Do you know why you are kept here?""Momma said there's a monster who's after me. I don't believe her." Cintho snorted. "It started when I came home late, the sun had already set but I had to find Ari.""Ari?"Vladstin's eyes brightened. "Oh, I remember Ari! He's a lovable little rascal, always chewing my clothes."Cintho explained who Ari was, with much enthusiasm. "He's a billy goat. Momma said he's ugly, but I think he's pretty funny and can do all kinds of tricks.""That night, I found Ari was being fed by this handsome mister with completely white hair, which is weird because he looks ten years younger than my Papa."Vladstn nodded excitedly, since this is how Sangfroid was introduced to him after all, and the boy chose the right words. "Yes, that's me! I'm a handsome mister, yes, yes!"Young but with white hair, that's uncommon for an Ilvedian. It has to be the vampire, 'Red Death'. Was Sangfroid's only thought about him."What did the mister do to you?""He didn't do anything to me." The boy blinked and tilted his head. "He just asked for directions, but I didn't know what to tell him, and yet he still thanked me and gave Ari some meat. Ari is special, you see. He also eats meat, sometimes even his friend's""Truly? I didn't know that the goat's a cannibal, but that's to be expected with him chewing the first thing he sees." Vladstin chuckled.Sangfroid was not amused and interrupted him before Cintho could lose track of the conversation. "What directions did the mister asked you?""Oh. He wanted to go to the Palace of Ilvedia, he said. I've never been in the Capitol or even beyond the borders. I asked him why he needs to go there and he said he came to see an old friend. He was very nice and was three heads taller than me, he had to lean down to come face to face with me. After that, he..... Mr. Sangfroid?"A rush of dread, as well as yearning. Prince Leron..... I haven't seen or talked to him for so long, even at his return. He clenched his fist. I must protect him no matter the cost....Vladstin scoffed. "Because even if he did see you, he probably wouldn't have cared having lost his capability to do so from tinkering with his own brain."The boy waved a hand over the hunter stuck in the past. "Mr. Sangfroid?"He broke free from it, focusing on the present stakes. "Yes?"Are you okay? You looked angry for a minute. Did I do something wrong?" Cintho asked with teary eyes.Sangfroid immediately shook his head. "No. I was just thinking of something."I must never let the Vampire Lord get close to Prince Leron or this boy.Vladstin chuckled. "Well, you will fail to guard both, buddy." Recalling these things are enjoyable after all, he has the thrill of knowing the future and laughing at the irony of the past events."Anyway..." Sangfroid stood up. "I don't have a key, but I can still free you with this."He freed the boy by snapping the chains with the tip of his arrow. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Sangfroid! Now I can go and see Ari again!""Wait!" But the boy already rushed up, following the past Vladstin's call.The one who's dreaming smirked. "The fated meeting has begun."He took his time walking up the basement stairs and to the front door, just savoring Sangfroid's agitated thoughts and emotions. The tension in the air was so thick that he can slice it and put butter on it to make toast."Help.... Mr. Sangfroid...." Vladstin saw himself sucking the life off the boy in his arms. He expected to be overwhelmed by Sangfroid's emotions..... but it was his that end up overtaking his cold heart.He watched the hunter take the boy in his arms as he lose his life. His eyes wide and breathing heavy, like someone trying to break through the surface of the water as to not drown. But it was so hopeless for him, and the sun seems too far away, dragging him to the depths.Vladstin took this life. It was him who made an innocent boy die.And by taking his blood, the boy's memories will also remain inside him. So he could never forget. How could he forget? He sometimes see Cintho in his court of sand and glass, with the goat Ari, and unlike most, he lived a quite happy life. His only suffering was when his mother would scold him for playing in the mud, the time he was all alone and locked on the basement.....And of course, when the white-haired mister sang his teeth on his throat."I'm sorry..."Sangfroid can feel guilt clutching his heart, and so does Vladstin."The dead can't accept apologies so it's quite too late for that."Both the watchful ghost and the dream version said it at the same time, but with a different expression on their face. The one watching said it solemnly, while the one in the past said it with a sneer.The latter scratched Sangfroid, and the hunter immediately turned around, yet unable to find him. But he cleared his thoughts.....And shot an arrow to his right!"Good aim!" Past Vladstin clapped. "I'm sorry if I took some sample of your blood without permission, but I just can't help it. It smelled better than the others. Hmm... but I'm not quite sure about the actual taste, a few drops is not enough."His cheek was grazed by the arrow, blood dripping. "May I have some more? It's only fair since made me lose some blood from that arrow of yours.""Who are you, vampire?" Sangfroid shot again, but past Vladstin vanished.He sneered, so condescendingly that even the current Vladstin is hating him. "I should be asking that first. Your name is Sangfroid, correct? Who are you really and your sorry lot that I should thank for my meal tonight?""I am the Chief of the Noble Huntsmen, sent by the Bishop of Santimieda to eradicate you and your kind. We are sent to make you perish, vampire.""Ah, so you are a Hunter, just like I thought. Well, it's nice to meet you Hunter, but I have a bigger snake to catch and slit the throat off! Ta-ta!""Wait, why are you after Prince Leron!?"Past Vladstin turned to him curiously just as he was by the edge of the roof. "You know that little snake?""The Bishop had prophesized that a vampire lord will rise and become a danger to His Highness' life. I cannot let that happen. Who are you, and why are you after him?""I'm a sad, abandoned man." The current Vladstin said with a wry smile.The past one revealed the scar on his chest. "I'm Vladstin. I just so happen to be someone your 'Highness' killed in cold blood. Therefore, I'm going to kill him too.""I'd rather die than let that happen.""I don't want to involve anyone unnecessary but.... If you really want to kill me, I'd like to see you try."That was Vladstin's first taste of death after death. Just a slight tinge, not long enough to be anything. But even back then, he seemed to have enjoyed the feeling.It brought him euphoria, a sense of peaceful happiness the same as when you are just watching the clouds with no worries.That's why, he felt that Sangfroid was fated for him. Fated to be his death. Libitino.The dream shifted once again.
