Chapter 80 Dream Eater's Rhapsody (3)

Theodore's eyes snapped open and he found himself looking at the face of Lukas. The young Vampire immediately jerked away and shuddered. He had just been having a rather nostalgic dream, but now it was ruined by seeing him.

"Hah, that worked out." Lukas laughed.

Theodore's brows wrinkled together until he noticed the scent of blood. He saw his weapon embedded in the man's torso and looked at him in shock. Did he do this? He would never outrightly attack Lukas even after every mishap he had done by including himself in Lily's life and breaking her heart.

"Don't ask, just say thanks and uh, you know maybe find the van again." Lukas forced himself up and then rubbed the back of his neck.

Everything really hurt.

His entire body ached and well, that was a normal reaction to getting stabbed but he had other things to do. "Do you know where the van is?" Lukas silently asked Rhea and then pointed it out to Theodore.

"Where are the others?" Theodore asked.

"Not enough time for questions when the sun is rising up." Lukas reminded him and then started to move to the other direction. He needed to find Alexei or Chaerin fast–whoever was the one in his closest direction.

"But uh, uh, Stacy's going somewhere else and if you can pick her up and who she finds–that would be great. The sun's gonna burn us and I don't want them to suffer, so hurry up!"

"What an idiotic thing to do." Rhea finally said.

"So some sharpness finally escapes that happy-go-lucky persona of yours." Lukas chuckled as he moved towards the direction. There was some blood dripping down the sands as he moved but he didn't pay it no heed as long as he got where he wanted.

"You're injured and you're still forcing yourself to find that other person. You could be heading back to the van and actually resting but you're rushing for someone–maybe that girl in your dream or the other guy?"

"Shouldn't matter to you." Lukas moved.

"Uh, my freedom relies on you being safe and all. If you end up getting killed by the sun then it means that I won't be able to be released from my prison." Rhea pointed out in a matter of fact tone.

"Right, well I have no intention of dying." Lukas said.

"That's like someone saying I have no intention of breathing–you still end up doing it."

"Ah, fair fair." Lukas chuckled. He knew it was probably for the best that the blade was still stuck in his body, but it did make him slower. "Gah, if I knew the Blood Arts, this probably shouldn't be a problem. Wait, should my regeneration skills be able to heal this if I pull it out?"

"I'm not sure with you, you're the Vampire and not me."

"Ack, makes me almost regret not having the dagger with me." Lukas said, but as he stepped into the sand once again, something coiled and suddenly enveloped him. The thick scales of a giant snake wrapped around him and started to crush him alive.

"Lukas!" Rhea cried out.

"T-this means it's not venomous I think." Lukas coughed out some blood as he felt the blade sink in deeper.

"Wait, wait, I didn't mean to jinx it or anything!"

"Then make it go to sleep!" Lukas ordered.

"Let me try!" Rhea said. After a couple of minutes, there was nothing that happened and Lukas felt like the air was being constricted out of his lungs. He couldn't last much any longer and his face was probably turning blue.

"Any moment now!" Lukas coughed.

"A-ah, it's a little hard to put to sleep!" Rhea exclaimed.

"You could put Vampires to sleep but not a freaking snake?" Lukas groaned.

"T-this is a big one!" Rhea protested. "And it functions on instincts so it doesn't need that much brain power to kill you."

That didn't make much sense to Lukas, he almost wondered if Rhea just wanted him dead for putting them through all of this. His vision was starting to darken and he was ready, oh so ready to slip back into unconsciousness.

Maybe Rhea was right–it would have been far better if Theodore was the one who had gone instead of him. But that didn't change the fact that he was already here and giving up was not an option.

There had to be something he could do!

Lukas' greatest thing he had so far that he knew was possible was his strength. It was far greater than most Vampires and so even if it hurt his entire body, he used his hands and tried to shove the body to get a little bit of space.

It was just enough for him to grab ahold of the handle, feel the metal slicing within him and then pull it out. In a matter of minutes, Lukas began to hack and slash through the snake's body.

After some time, Lukas finally dropped into the ground exhausted. He was bleeding and he laid on the sand trying to catch his breath.

"You did it!" Rhea's voice rang in his head, almost faintly.

And that was a bit of an issue wasn't it?

Lukas chuckled weakly, and he thought that he saw something glimmer in his vision. Ah, he tried so hard but he was still going to end up and pass out.

"L…ukas?"

"I leave it up to you." Lukas managed to say before he passed out. The glittering crystal inside of his pocket seemed to glow.

Rhea the Dream Eater could now easily access Lukas' mind again. No more listening to the man's orders and trying to please the man–it was easy to just feed again. The man was bleeding too, so the chances of him making it on time was also hard right?

.

.

.

"Wake up!"

Lukas gasped and sat up. He looked around and found that the sky had a glimmer of an orange tint, perhaps the beginnings of a morning glow. He quickly checked his own body and found that it healed.

He picked up the katana with his free hand and stood up.

"Ah, I wasted my time and should have pulled it out." Lukas realized. But then he checked the crystal and found it glowing. He started running again and this time felt like he'd reach it in time, no matter the obstacle but he couldn't resist talking. "You woke me up, even though it's a little late."

"I was considering just eating your dreams and calling it a night. You had a lot of requests," Rhea truthfully said. "But…"

"But you started to realize that I'm a good guy and that it'd be a shame for me to die under the heat of the sun?" Lukas chuckled as he thought he saw something in the distance. Was it Chaerin?

"No! In your wildest dreams!" Rhea said. You could almost imagine her huffing and crossing her arms. "It just makes more sense that even if it's hard now, the possibility of being free is a far more weighter thing than eating to my satisfaction now."

"Ah, delayed gratification or something." Lukas said and nodded his head slightly. He managed a smile. "Practical, practical."

"Yes," Rhea said. "I'm more than capable of using my head. Why would I find myself getting emotionally attached to someone I've met in less than a few hours? Just because I haven't been able to talk to anybody in such a long time doesn't mean anything!"

"Okay, I get it. I get it." Lukas chuckled. "No need to try to convince me. I believe you. But surely, you'd have to admit that my face is a thing to look at, isn't it?"

Maybe it was a little too fantastical of him to imagine that every girl he'd meet would end up liking him or something. Sure, this had been a VR Visual Sim Date when he first got it, but that didn't mean that everything would go in a similar fashion to it.

"... You're nervous aren't you?" Rhea said.

"What? Me? Nervous? Psh." Lukas rolled his eyes as he kept running. "I just need to locate the last person and then find my way back to the van. It's not that big of an issue. Life and death is something that I've faced a lot already in my short time here."

"But you're not used to it, it seems." Rhea commented. "I mean, not everyone has been raised to be able to fight or take lives. You don't seem like the type compared to the guy with the oni-mask."

"Now isn't really the time for a talk like this." Lukas said.

"But…"

"Fine, even if I make and save the person that I'm going to save–who says that Stacy succeeded with her task? Theodore still has to find the van and then pick up the others–I don't know if we're going to make it. That's shit scary as hell, but that doesn't mean I'll stop acting."

Lukas' footsteps pounded across the sand, the same way that blood seemed to pound in his ears. Or maybe it was the heat that was making him this way? Heat? Lukas looked and thought he was starting to see shadows.