#Episode 8
Then, a hundred years passed.
People had forgotten about the dangers of the Vampire Lord. However, Van Drake insisted that they should not let their guard down, as no one could predict what schemes the wicked Vampire Lord might be plotting.
People did not believe Van Drake.
To be precise, they did not want to believe him. His claims were frightening, unsettling, and disrupted the peace.
Gradually, there arose suspicions among the people that Van Drake was hiding the death of the Vampire Lord and using fear to oppress humans.
The royal family and the Lamphas Church, who saw Van Drake as a thorn in their side, fanned these suspicions without hesitation.
The Lamphas Church labeled Van Drake a heretic, and the royal family branded him a traitor and persecuted him.
Thus, the fall of Van Drake, who had devoted his life to killing vampires, was brought about by human hands.
The Vampire Lord, who had cast death and fear over the earth for more than a thousand years, had not shown itself for just over a hundred years.
Todd was the last surviving pure-blooded Van Drake and the rightful heir who managed to survive the downfall of his family.
Therefore, Todd had to survive no matter what and avenge his family’s downfall on the royal family and the Lamphas Church.
Todd unwrapped the bandages from his right arm. His broken arm had healed during that time. After several attempts, Todd managed to stand up with great difficulty.
His small body swayed and stumbled with each step.
It was only then that Todd realized someone had changed his clothes. The tattered clothes he had worn while tumbling down the cliff were gone, replaced by patient clothes.
Todd quickly felt his neck.
‘It’s gone!’
The necklace with the signet ring, which only the head of the Van Drake family could possess, was missing.
His heart sank, but fortunately, he spotted the signet ring on the bedside table.
The signet ring, engraved with a dragon biting its own tail and lacking the family initials, looked plain and unremarkable.
In the past, Todd had complained about the ring’s unimpressive appearance, but in this situation, he understood its purpose well.
Worried that someone might take it, Todd hurriedly put the necklace back around his neck.
As the sun set, the light of the sunset poured through the window, turning the room red.
‘Soon it will be evening… I must escape under the cover of night.’
Todd looked around the hospital room to see if there was anything he could take with him while escaping.
Meanwhile, he heard people murmuring outside the window. Fearing they might see him, Todd pressed himself against the wall beside the window and peeked outside.
From the third floor, Todd could observe without being seen. Outside the hospital building, a crowd had gathered, surrounding the hospital. At the forefront was a priest from the Lamphas Church.
‘Did the Lamphas Church find out about me?’
Todd gritted his teeth. He had barely escaped their pursuit, only to find himself trapped like a rat in a trap.
At that moment, a burning pain surged through Todd’s left wrist. Grimacing, Todd rolled up the oversized patient shirt’s sleeve.
Letters, as if branded with a hot iron, had appeared on his previously unmarked forearm.
Ego te invitare.
The moment Todd saw the sentence, he knew how to read it, as if someone were whispering in his ear. He gritted his teeth and covered the letters with his right hand.
‘A vampire’s mark…’
Having been educated about vampires from a young age, Todd immediately recognized it as a vampire’s summoning spell. This meant he had come into contact with a vampire.
But when?
Todd held his throbbing head.
He recalled the purple hair that had swayed in front of him, the scent of roses mingled with the smell of blood…
‘The one who carried me here was a vampire?’
Todd was incredulous. He had never imagined receiving help from a vampire.
‘Did that vampire know I was a Van Drake and still saved me?’
Todd quickly shook his head.
That thought was ridiculous.
Humans who live short lives might forget the dangers of vampires, but vampires, who live much longer, would never forget the threat posed by the Van Drake family.
‘I probably looked like an ordinary human child, so they might have intended to use me as bait to enter this village… Besides, a child’s blood wouldn’t be sufficient for them anyway.’
Minimal investment, maximum gain.
An innocent child, not knowing anything, might have unknowingly read the letters that appeared on his forearm, and then the invited vampire could breach the barrier and invade the village…
If the vampire had branded an ordinary child, that might have worked.
But Todd was a Van Drake.
Knowing well about vampire behavior, Todd scoffed.
‘Do they think I’ll just be led around by vampires? I am a Van Drake…!’
If a Van Drake’s life was saved by a vampire, they would mock them. If they received help from a vampire, they would use it to cut the vampire’s throat.
That was the way of the Van Drake.
In the meantime, the pain in his forearm persisted.
It felt like a knife carving into him. The vampire was continuously calling Todd.
“Ugh…”
As the vampire’s call grew more insistent, Todd bit his lower lip.
While Todd clutched his arm and endured the pain with gritted teeth, outside, the doctor was confronting the villagers who had stormed his hospital.
He had only admitted a patient at night, but suddenly his hospital was on the brink of being set on fire. The doctor, flustered, asked,
“You’re saying there’s a vampire’s minion in my hospital? That’s nonsense!”
“The child that the guard brought in last night. That child is suspected of being a vampire’s minion.”
Father Joseph, standing in front of the villagers, declared solemnly. The sunset light made his face glow red.
The doctor defended the child’s innocence to protect his hospital.
“A vampire’s minion is someone who has been bitten by a vampire, right? I thoroughly examined the boy while treating him, and there were no bite marks!”
“But he was brought here by someone corrupted by evil.”
They had already identified one vampire’s minion. It was Thomas, the night guard from the previous night.
The Holy Star can repel vampires, but it cannot repel minions who straddle the line between light and dark.
However, there is a way to identify minions.
Check for neck wounds and ask about their activities at night.
A vampire’s minion might be fine during the day but follows the vampire’s commands at night, often losing memory of what happened during those hours.
Because vampires hadn’t appeared for a long time, most people didn’t know this.
But Daniel, who had guarded with Thomas the previous night, was devout and cautious, well-versed in such prohibitions.
Today, when Daniel casually talked to Thomas about the child he saved last night, Thomas remembered nothing.
Seeing this, Daniel grew suspicious and checked Thomas’s neck.
Father Joseph pointed to Daniel, standing a step behind him, and made the sign of the cross.
“If Brother Daniel hadn’t noticed quickly, our village would have been ruthlessly devoured by a vampire tonight. It’s all thanks to the light’s protection. May the light guide your path!”
“May the light guide your path!”
All the villagers shouted in unison. Among them, Daniel shouted the loudest. He smiled broadly, his face covered in blood.
It was Thomas’s blood.
There was no sign of guilt on Daniel’s face for killing his comrade.
“Evil begets more evil, and once tainted, even the slightest suspicion cannot be ignored. It is right to burn everything down, as there might be seeds of evil hidden.”
Father Joseph also knew that the child Thomas brought might not be a vampire’s minion.
But there was no way the vampire had done nothing to the child.
Otherwise, Thomas, bitten by the vampire, would not have brought the child deliberately.
