Chapter 88 New And Old Paths (3)

Lukas wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the situation.

One of the male deer–at least based on its antlers was heading towards them angrily. He expected it to be less aggressive, but somehow, a charge of electricity coated its horns.

There was a herd of its deer faraway so it became clear that it was only protecting its group. Life was tough out, even in the grasslands.

"Are we going on a chase scene again then?" Lukas said, much to the confusion of the other people in the van. But this time, he was more or less prepared as he stood up slightly.

"Oh no. I do not take it kindly to be considered a hunting weapon–" Drusilla started but it was too late.

Lukas poked his head out of the window and aimed the dagger directly at the deer's head. He tried to imagine coating the dagger with energy before he released it.

"And fly!"

Death was something that he wasn't used to–according to Rhea. He was no Theodore who'd been an assassin for who knows how long, but the dagger flew and struck its mark true.

It was not exactly some finesse skill, but it had helped that the stag was not jerking away. It had been so focused on attacking them, that the dagger hit it easily and it collapsed on the ground.

"Can we stop now?" Lukas called out to Theodore.

"...If it weren't for the fact that the weapon you used was a highly coveted artifact from Blood Works, I would not stop." Theodore muttered as he glanced at the rearview mirror.

Luckily for them, the herd did not choose to give chase or avenge its leader. Theodore might have wanted to operate things a bit more differently if he had been given a chance, but Lukas worked fast.

"There's also the fact that we got deer!" Alexei whooped for a moment, much to the chagrin of his sister.

Not everyone could afford pure blood, much less fresh meat and that was enough to excite the Vampire.

Out of everyone in the group, it was more or less Chaerin who looked a little ill at ease at the sudden death of the male deer. Her gaze flickered out to the window and she saw some little deer within the herd.

But the deer was already dead so there was nothing to do.

On the other hand, Stacy was a blank state most of the time and could have had a staring death match with Serena if she had been here. She didn't expect Lukas to have killed the deer, but much like her brother–she saw food.

Practicality.

"Do any of us actually even know how to prepare deer?" Chaerin muttered silently, but then Lukas was already going down out of the van. And because it was him, she more or less held back her comments.

They just had a tiny bit of difference in how they looked at things.

Unlike some people who enjoyed old movies made in the past, Lukas had never seen a specific film where the deer' mom died and thus had no context for any horror whatsoever.

Instead as he hopped out to retrieve the dagger and the prize–he nearly jumped back in surprise when the stag rose up and nearly stabbed him again with its antlers. A shock of electricity zapped him for a second and stunned Lukas for a moment.

He tried to move and found himself unable to.

"Crap, crap." Lukas said.

The stag had a thick skull–and maybe the being trapped in the dagger didn't take it too kindly to be used as a solution for everything. Drusilla would much prefer for the Vampire to actually learn a thing or two in actual combat.

"Lukas?" Chaerin called out.

"I'm good–okay, I'm not good, Alexei!" Lukas called out. He was no idiot who'd face something down when it was clear that there were other people around who could help him.

There might have been enmity between the two, but it took less than a second for Alexei to rush out of the van with a spear in hand. Without a moment's hesitation, the Vampire closed the distance and jabbed the stag in its side once.

The stag buckled and tried to turn on the newcomer, but then Alexei twisted the spear and then thrusted it several times again until its blood finally coursed out. A gaping wound, now visible.

Lukas raised his hand and tried to summon the dagger back to him. When it didn't work, he simply forced himself forwards and jammed the dagger into the deer' skull. Something cracked and gave away.

It was a level of brutality, that was something he wasn't used to–but adrenaline made him work.

Alexei and Lukas were doing a great job at taking down the stag.

But then someone decidedly chose to steal the show. Lukas felt something prickle his neck and for a shadow to appear behind him–and for Theodore to land the final blow across the stag's neck.

His katana soon tainted with blood as he flicked some of it to the ground and Theodore looked at Alexei and Lukas evenly.

"The two of you could have ended it in one swift blow."

"Well, I'm sorry that we're not as fast as you." Alexei rolled his eyes as he held onto the spear. "And besides, it's my first time holding a spear and I did pretty well, don't you think?"

"You've wasted the meat and its hide." Theodore replied.

"Hey, at least we got it. There's still much to go around with." Lukas said, more or less relaxed–though he did have some words to share with Drusilla.

Theodore sighed. "We should have scared off the stag and then returned later with traps. If we did that, we could have more food on the road. Now look at the herd, it's running away."

"Oh yeah." Lukas realized.

"Don't just 'yeah' me." Theodore sighed and then looked at the fallen deer. He assessed the surroundings before coming to a conclusion. "For now, we'll stop here so we can skin and cook this."

The sky was more or less darker now, and it was cool enough that even Chaerin felt safer to get out of the van. When she gazed up at the sky, it was actually dotted with stars–something she hadn't been much able to appreciate when inside.

Were these the same stars that appeared in Lux?

Chaerin didn't have the answer for that, but soon she crouched down on a stone with Lukas who was busy tending to the flame. She gave him a curious look. "You can cook?"

"Er, it's easy enough–just watch the fire, and aw fuck, it's a little charred." Lukas quickly removed the stick filled with meat away from the fire and placed it on a plate. The supplies that Serena and Katarina prepared were more or less prepared for anything.

Chaerin chuckled a little. "Not much of a cook material, are you?"

"I don't think you can say that for yourself as well. You invited me to make noodles when we first met, right?" Lukas smirked.

The group was more or less close enough to stay safe, but with ample enough room to hold their own conversations. Stacy munched quietly on her deer meat as she tried not to look too much at Lukas and Chaerin's direction.

Luckily for her, Alexei was too busy eating a good amount of deer to even tease her now.

"I don't think it's all too sanitary to eat raw meat." Theodore surprised the two Vardoken siblings by sitting down with them. He held one of Lukas' charred sticks with some meat and gave them a look.

"Mind your own business–" Alexei started, but then sighed. "We're Vampires. What kind of life would it be if we don't at least try something raw? This isn't going to kill us."

Stacy was surprised with her brother's words, but Alexei also knew how to get along with people if he wanted to. He did it better than her, and she was glad that the tensions were more or less abating.

"Do you want some of mine?" Stacy offered some of the meat that she personally tended herself. "They're not burnt. Or I can cook some for you now?"

"It's better if we save some of it for next time. The Veil Forest isn't somewhere where we can forage and gather things to eat." Theodore waved a hand. "It's better to conserve our supplies in case anything unexpected happens."

"Unexpected?" Alexei raised a brow.

"There's a story of how some of the newbies got lost in the Imago Desert. They got separated by a tornado from the rest of the group… Long story short, one of them killed off the other just to have blood. When the others found them, they had to put him down as well."

"What?" Alexei blinked. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would two Vampires just fight instead of work together to reunite with the others–"

"It's somehow forgotten nowadays, but there was a time when Vampire Houses fought off each other for territories." Theodore said. "It's not about prestige sometimes, but about sources of blood. It's easy to forget that."

Stacy didn't say anything, but then she remembered why Lux City was more or less an utopia. Sometimes it wasn't even necessary to have enemies from outside, the people you knew could be more or less enough.

"Let's spend the night here." Theodore called out to the two love birds.

It was going to be a long night.