Chapter 200 A Thing Of Nightmares (3)

They were not in a good place, and so they ran.

"What in actual fucking places was that—Mmmph?!" Philip tried to ask but got his mouth covered again by Matthew.

"Don't say a word if you want to live." The young man spoke in a dark tone that shut up the older Vampire immediately.

Anthony was shaken up, red eyes that should have gave off an intimidating glow now looked unsteady and uncertain as he looked back at Lukas who trailed after them.

The creature was nowhere to be seen and all four of them was safe, but they kept on moving just in case.

Just in case that thing followed after them.

The questions lingered in their minds, but not did anyone actually voice out their concerns. Somehow, the dark atmosphere of the forest was a backdrop to the the far more terrifying creature they've left behind.

Once they were a little farther than they were, once their lungs started to actually hurt as they took their breaths—that was only the moment that they stopped.

"Do… do you think that was something that got after the others?" Anthony asked uncertainly, holding the crossbow in his hand that was as useless as anything he'd ever gripped before.

"Enough of that, how are we going to get back?" Philip asked, finally tugging away from Matthew, his brows knotted and his fists clenched together. "Whatever that thing was, it's not something that we can take care of. If the others were taken by… it, then there's nothing we can't do."

"I don't think it's something that just abducts us. You can see that withered corpse back there. If the others were attacked by it, then we should have seen their bodies littered on the ground. We're better off going and finding them—there are officers there and Miss Durand is there too. Surely, if there's anyone who can take care of it… she can, right?"

"Don't you think trying to regroup with others would make us a bigger target? All that'll happen is that thing will find us and then eat us up one by one."

"We haven't actually checked if that thing can be hurt. For all we know, it's something that can be defeated." Matthew pointed out with a frown.

"…and you want to test it?" Anthony asked.

"If nobody's going to stop it, then who will?" Matthew narrowed his eyes, but then sighed and rubbed his face. His shoulders hunched over slightly. "I… I don't think they mentioned any kind of creature like that during the workshop. That thing… it just came out of nowhere."

"Are we sure that we can't identify it?" Anthony asked and turned to Philip. "Surely you being a history nerd means that you've read all up on the creatures all the way from who knows when?"

"I remember geographical locations, I'm no monster glossary handbook for you!" Philip protested, but then pinched the bridge of his nose. "We didn't get a good look on it, but it seemed to be something floating and immaterial? Something that kind suck out energy and life force? Some type of ghost maybe? Er, if it was just a specific energy, then it could have been a Succubus or something."

"A Succubus, really?" Anthony said.

"I'm the one trying to think of something here!" Philip glared. "You've been no help at all."

"Now's not really the time for the two of you to fight." Matthew frowned. These two Vampires in front of him were older than him and yet the way they acted were like children. He then turned to look at Lukas who had been quiet all this time. "…are you okay, Lukas? We managed to escape, we're still alive."

Lukas momentarily looked up and gave him a wearied smile. He really didn't expect that this kiddo in front of him would turn out to be someone who could control the floor and situation. Compared to Lukas, the young man almost seemed to be a natural when it came to this situation, but that wasn't important.

"No. I don't think anyone's okay right now—but you're right, we can't waste our time bickering or anything. As for that thing…"

"It's not like we can identify it or know how to deal with it at the moment." Philip said.

"I also think it's a bad idea to just go out there and check if you can put a crossbolt through its head, it'll probably just suck out the life of you." Anthony added.

"We won't accomplish anything by just hiding out here." Matthew narrowed his eyes.

Lukas wished he could tell them the truth right now. Admit to them that he was the one at fault for Rhea turning out like that—she had been looking for his blood last night.

How did Lukas know that she'd end up turning into some kind of insatiable blood searching demon if he didn't give her anything?

"There is power in your blood and you've gravely underestimated it. You have all this power inside of you and yet you grossly mishandle it by not paying attention to it at all." Drusilla said.

'Would you be able to handle that thing if I—No, calling it just that thing is wrong. That's Rhea. Is there anything we can do to calm her down and get her to see reason? You're supposed to be some kind of blood domination expert."

"It's your blood inside of her, not mine." Drusilla said. "And even if you ask—it's the same problem that occurred with the Dryad in the Veiled Forest. This substance of that Dream Eater is not essentially blood, and I haven't encountered much of that. Surely, if you ask me to deal with that Dryad now, I'm confident that I'll be able to control her… or paralyze that creature, but this is different once again."

'Thanks for… saying that at least.' Lukas took a deep breath and glanced at the three other people with him. Would saying that he knew Rhea help? Or would it just make things even worse?