Arthur

By the time Arthur returned to his advisor’s side, Edmund was standing beside a bloodied body. The body was too dismantled—limbs that were torn apart and facial features that were destroyed by severe bite marks—that the sight of the body managed to make Arthur twitch his eyes the moment he stepped near.

He took a quick moment to inhale the fresh cold air of the night time and pinched his nose for a few seconds, before he focused his gaze towards Edmund and the body.

“The smell of blood is still fresh. Did he just die?”

Edmund, the blonde-haired vampire nodded his head. “To be precise, I was watching him getting slaughtered by someone.”

Arthur snickered. “I doubt it he didn’t notice you.”

“Oh, he did notice me, actually. But he doesn’t seem to hold any bad intent towards me so he just left.”

“Hm.” Arthur commented short. His scarlet eyes drifted down to the gruesome deformation of the body that is soaked in its own blood. The stench gets thicker as the night deepened. “It’s strange that he didn’t hold malicious intent on you, yet he killed a rogue vampire in a very, vile way possible, if I may say. Is he perhaps a vampire hunter under the Moon Sector?”

Edmund shook his head a no. “I don’t think so. Moon Sector’s vampire hunters usually have the silver moon emblem displayed on their outfits at all times. However, this person who murdered him…” His ashen orange eyes drifted down to the body’s face, which all that’s left is some of the flesh hollowing due to biting marks.

“…He is an andromorph, a strong one at that.”

Arthur abruptly shot his gaze to Edmund. “Are you talking werewolves? It’s impossible. Their race is rare like the taurens.”

Edmund shook his head again, this time his denying is accompanied with a stifling chuckle.

“No, not werewolves. I am well informed that the werewolves are a kind kin. It’s just…” The smile on Edmund’s face wavered. “It scares me to say that the killer is probably a magic beast.”

Arthur’s gaze faltered. “A magic beast?” He gazed at Edmund before passing it to the body. “That is a rare race too. Or to be precise, something mythical.”

Edmund choked a laughter as a response. “I too didn’t believe it at first. But now that I’ve seen it with my own two eyes, I… can’t really say I’m lying.”

Arthur returned his gaze to Edmund. The two went on with the stillness for a few seconds, letting the reality sank in. The fact that Edmund saw a magic beast, despite never seeing one in the past 700 years of his life is proven hard to believe. Arthur snaked his arms behind Edmund’s neck and patted his shoulders.

“I should have shared my senses with you, it’s still hard to believe that you meet with a mythical beast earlier than I do despite me being older.”

The two of them giggled.

“Sire, it all depends on luck. I might be able to share the image with you if we connected our minds later on.” Edmund offered, referring to the ability to share images between each other as, Edmund was Arthur’s Little for about 7 centuries.

Arthur snickered. “Sure, I’m pretty curious as to what the beast looks like.”

“Oh, you won’t believe your mind of how big it is. It’s almost the tall of a tree.” Edmund joked. He then crouched down beside the body to examine it while Arthur shot his glance around the perimeter.

“Now that you’ve said it, where did the magic beast go to?”

Edmund shrugged while picking up the body parts. “I don’t know. He just disappears into the forest.” The blonde haired vampire then stood up and pointed to a direction.

“I believe it went that way, but this forest is quite thick so the beast might still be lingering around this area.”

A sense of alarm shot inside Arthur from out of nowhere. The direction Edmund nonchalantly pointed regarded to none other than Charles’s home.

At the same time, he heard a ring inside his head that caused him to flinch. Though he knew very well what caused the ringing.

“Sila.” Arthur called.

“Hey. You’re taking your sweet time hunting down the rogue vampire, so I called to check if you do your work.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes in exasperation. “I did my work. However,” He shot a glance towards the body which Edmund is pointing at, as if counting the number of limbs that are still present on the body. “…You might have to do a death report to the king for the rogue.”

“What?” Sila’s tone is in disbelief. “You mean he died?”

“Yep. We will bring back the body for further investigation.”

Sila heaved a sigh. “Alright. See you later then.”

Arthur ended the telepathy and heaved a long sigh. He ought to go and check on the old man yet the amount of work piled on him doesn’t seem to stop even if he wanted to. With heavy heart, he turned to Edmund and told him that they have to return to the capital with the body.

‘I just wished that the old man is fine on his own, at least for now.’ Arthur thought, looking to the direction of Charles’s house before he sped away from that place.

Charles

“Ugh…” Groaned Charles. He had been suffering from mild back pain since his daring attempt of sweeping the kitchen floor until it became spotless. There’s a limit to what his old body can do despite his youthful mind that mysteriously regained its wits.

Charles slowly dragged himself towards the nearest stool and rested his fatigued body there. Even though his body is in pain, his eyes softened to the view of the clean kitchen floor free from dust.

“Doesn’t that look splendid?” The old man praised the floor that he just swept. The kitchen floor is by no means just an ordinary cemented floor botched with spots of dried oils and other stains, yet the smoothness and the subtle cleanliness is enough to ease his simple old mind.

Charles took a deep breath and exhaled before slowly climbing down from the stool. He wanted to take a bath and change into new pair clothes before sleeping, but that also means he need to simmer some hot water to wash himself during this cold season. The old man whined, reflecting his life.

Not too long after that, he was inside the bathroom, scrubbing his body with a bath brush. Charles once again contemplated his life but in a more positive way, as the warm water feels good against his tired skin. The old man then left the bathroom feeling fully refreshed.

Charles was about to lay down on the bed to sleep when he suddenly heard something falling down in a distance inside his house. Curious, Charles decided to take a peek.

“Hello?” He called, while slowly trudging along the corridor while carrying an oil lantern to the source of the sound which if he’s not wrong, came from the kitchen.

Charles began his traverse into the kitchen with careful steps. He was suddenly reminded of Arthur’s advice of being careful at night. His mansion is located in the middle of the woods so there are a lot of possibility that a thief of a trespasser would enter his house.

The old man jolted when he heard some pots fall down to the floor. Immediately after that, he heard a hiss. Charles brought the lantern to the direction of the sound, and gaped when he saw a figure stood frozen in front of him.

It was a male, yet somehow, the air around him is unsettling, especially with the blood stain on his shirt.