Chapter 44 44: No Way Out
Chapter 44 44: No Way Out
All the Vampires looked up, along with him, trying to see what he was looking at. They didn't see anything above them though.
Carlisle tilted his head a bit, frowning.
"Was it my misconception?" he muttered. Shaking his head, he stepped inside the restaurant.
He didn't realize that two people were still on the roof. At the last moment, Atlas had taken a few steps back, hiding his figure from being seen on the ground.
After a few seconds, he once again took a few steps ahead and looked down. All the Vampires had stepped inside the restaurant already by now.
"They would come upstairs within a few minutes. This would be the first place they check. We need to leave before then," Atlas let out, observing the surroundings.
"Was I talking in a different language until now?" Lancaster rolled his eyes. "If I had my bloodline awakened, I could've easily jumped to the other roof, but as I am now, it's impossible. So what's the plan?"
"You just told the plan," Atlas weakly responded. He held the hands of Lancaster and kept him on his shoulder like he was a sack of rice before running.
Atlas ran straight to the edge of the roof and jumped up, using the forward momentum.
The next building was a few feet taller than the restaurant and happened to be fifteen meters away, making it the longest jump that Atlas had attempted so far.
"No no no no!" Lancaster closed his eyes in fear as he saw them in the air. As his face was towards the ground, he could see how high they were. He had already seen the distance.
In his purview, there was no way they could cover that much distance. If he were asked, he would've suggested jumping towards the other side. However, his suggestion wasn't asked. Before he could say anything, he was picked up.
Scared for his life, Lancaster closed his eyes, expecting a steep fall.
Fortunately, he only felt them going up and not down. The calculation seemed to be just perfect. By the time their descent started, they had already covered more than half the distance.
Atlas kept his eyes on the building ahead of him as he reached out his right foot. Against all expectations of Lancaster, Atlas managed to reach the building, even if barely. Even his right foot had barely touched the roof by a few inches. Those few inches were enough for him to succeed.
Without stopping, Atlas kept running.
"What?" Lancaster opened his eyes in surprise. They had successfully landed?
"You can't be an ordinary Vampire! Just what are you?" he asked blankly. "What is your identity?"
"I'm the person who wasn't meant to be," Atlas responded. "I'm not even a proper Vampire. I'm someone who shouldn't have existed after my death. Calling me a Vampire would be an overstatement."
"What?" Lancaster didn't understand a single thing. What was Atlas even saying? He wasn't meant to be? He was a human in his eyes?
"You're right." Lilith agreed with Atlas. "You weren't meant to be. I don't know what lucky accident made it happen for you."
"Accident?" Atlas smiled as he kept running and jumping whenever he needed to. "That's right. I can be classified an Accidental Vampire... Something that never happened before and something that probably won't happen in the future ever."
"Accidental Vampire? I heard about Alpha Vampire and Betas but never heard about Accidental Vampire. Can you tell me more?" Lancaster inquired, thinking as if Atlas was talking to him.
"Remember I told you about my sister?"
"Yeah. What about her?"
"When it happened, I wasn't a Vampire. I was just a human," Atlas explained.
"I guessed that much. Someone probably turned you, and you escaped. How is that different from any other Beta?"
"No one turned me," Atlas responded. "That's why it's not ordinary. No Vampire turned me. I became a Vampire due to some fortunate accident. I'll not like other Vampires. I am stronger... I am faster... But at the same time, I'm also more vulnerable since I didn't drink blood."
"You really didn't drink blood? How is that possible?" Lancaster exclaimed in shock. "Even I know a few things about Vampires. To complete their transition, they need to drink human blood too. Without that, their transition is incomplete, and they die within a day! How are you still alive without blood?"
" Did you not hear when I said I'm not like any other Vampire? I'm different because I wasn't turned. It is just that-"
"Atlas, stop!"
As Atlas was about to explain everything about his transmigration, he was stopped by Lilith. "Are you an idiot? Don't tell him everything! You need to keep that a secret. Don't tell him any more than you already did."
"I... Right. I forgot." Atlas smiled wryly. Since he was on good terms with Lancaster, he had momentarily forgotten that in the end, Lancaster was still a Werewolf. Many people were after the bodies of the progenitors, including the werewolf clan! If Lancaster knew it and told them somehow, the entire world was going to turn against him.
Moreover, Lancaster hadn't awakened his wolf bloodline, so he was still susceptible to compulsion. If a Vampire from the Carlisle Clan caught him and used compulsion, he was going to blurt everything.
"That's all I can tell you. I'm a new species of Vampire that never appeared before," he told Lancaster, keeping his Progenitor origin a secret.
"A new species. Very fascinating. Faster, stronger, and one who can survive without blood. It's like you don't have any flaws of the Vampires." Lancaster muttered in amazement.
"I also need blood," Atlas responded. "I might be a different Vampire, but I'm still a Vampire. I need blood as well. I've just been fighting the urge, but I don't know for how long I can keep doing it."
"Ah, so that's why you didn't want to see the blood! Why don't you drink blood? Why do you fight the urge?" Lancaster inquired.
"I would've loved to chat with you, but we're already here." Atlas let out, landing on a wall. He placed Lancaster on the wall as well to make him stand right beside him.
"The border wall?" Lancaster asked, looking at the barren land ahead. The entire city was behind him as he stood on the twenty-foot-tall border wall.
"Yeah. The Vampires have seen you. They know who you are and your identity. You can't stay in the city. It's not safe for you. Leave the city and go far away from here where the Vampires can't reach you. My suggestion would be to go towards the land of the werewolves! They can protect you," Atlas explained, holding his hands behind his back.
"What about you?" Lancaster asked. "Aren't you in danger as well? They'll search the entire city for us. You are new here, so they'll definitely be suspicious of you after they find you."
"Don't worry about me. I have my ways to get around that. I can't leave this city yet, and you know why."
"You took this risk to save me. How can I leave you alone? I need to stay and help you!"
"You haven't awakened your bloodline. You're no more than a mortal human at the moment. You can't help me more than you already did. Leave and live your life. After I get my sister, I'll also leave this city. And destiny wills, we'll meet again." Atlas patted the shoulder of Lancaster before he turned around, facing the opposite side of Lancaster.
While Atlas faced the city, which was filled with dangers for him at the moment, Lancaster had his back on the city, which had been his home for most of his life. He needed to leave his home now.
"The letter is in my home. If they found the letter, they'll know everything," Lancaster reminded Atlas. "If they know what I am, it can be a problem."
"I already know about that. They'll take time to go to your home again. That much time is enough for me to go there and take the letter. Don't worry about it. I'll keep your letter safe. But you mustn't return for it." Atlas responded before he jumped, leaving the wall.
Lancaster turned back one last time, glancing at the city which he was never going to see again. The home and all the memories he needed to leave being.
Letting out a deep sigh, he jumped ahead on the sand outside the border wall and started running. He didn't have any water or any food. He didn't even know how far the closest pond was where he could get some water.
He was dropped in this place because no person could think to run from the barren land. The Vampires were most probably not going to check here. At best, they could check the direction, which had a Forest close to them.
~~~~
"Tired?" Lilith asked Atlas, who had been running for a long time, first to catch up to Lancaster, then running with Lancaster, and now this. He had been spending too much energy, and it was certainly taking a toll on him.
His body was sweating, and his eyes were losing their shine as a scary blankness was knocking on the door.
"A bit," Atlas let out. "Just need to take that letter and everything else of importance before disappearing. I don't have much time. I can't waste even a second."
~~~~
Fierce yelling from Carlisle came from the restaurant, making everyone in the surroundings tremble.
He couldn't believe that someone had killed two of his men, including Lorenz! Not only that, but they also managed to run without being caught.
"Who did it?" he asked, roaring.
All the Vampires were on their knees, trembling.
One of them said, "I-it must be those two!"
"Which two?" Carlisle asked, frowning.
"The person who was accused of poisoning Lady Yovana. He was brought here around ten minutes ago, and we didn't see him leave. He was with another human. If I'm not wrong, those two killed."
"You mean to say two humans killed Lorenz?!" Carlisle was even more furious at the preposterous thought. He was sure there was more to the story.
"If I'm not wrong, those two weren't humans! Humans are weak pathetic beings. They can't do it! They were something more than humans! Find them!" Carlisle commanded.
"Yes, sir. I'll go check at his house." Two Vampires ran outside.
"The rest go check the roof," Carlisle let out, not forgetting that strange feeling from before as if he was being watched by a hunter.
"Yes, sir."
The rest of the Vampires also ran outside, leaving only Carlisle in the room.
After everyone left, Carlisle personally started observing the surroundings. There was only one person in the room who was left alive, Yovana.
"They poisoned Yovana, but they didn't want to kill her. So their purpose must be to gather everyone else here so they could kill them," he muttered, glancing at the two Family heads and Lorenz. "Someone is trying to challenge my authority."
" They are killed with a knife. It certainly doesn't look like the work of one of us or a wolf. The site is too clean for that. But it's impossible for a human to do either. The other person in the cloak... Probably a witch. They are trying to challenge my authority here? They'll regret it!" Carlisle declared, clenching his fist.
~~~~
Atlas ran non stop, finally reaching the house of Lancaster. He barged inside the house and took a paper which he kept in his pocket. He didn't stop though.
He noticed a notepad and a paper. He picked up both and wrote something on a notepad before leaving it on the table.
After finishing, he turned to leave, reaching the door.
Two Vampires reached the house. Atlas held the door to pull it open. At the same time, the dark-robed man outside held the door to push it open...