The Lost Prince's

Chapter 5 They're Crazy

            There's no one. I slowly opened the unlocked door. This place will be renovated apparently. Some remodeling equipment was lying in the living room, my family's belongings were all moved. I took a deep breath, stiffened myself. Yes, this is the house that our family lived in together, for the last time. My steps stopped at the kitchen door. There are still pictures of human tracks on the floor, right where my father died. I still clearly remember how we convinced him from the corner of the kitchen. A tear rolled down my cheek without warning. I immediately wiped it. This is not the time to cry. I can't be careless. My time may not be much. I sneaked out without telling anyone. Zero is not home while Shine and Shane are on a mission.

            Finished tracing my former home, I drove into the woods on the outskirts of town. Take the same path as that night. I parked the bike in the same place and walked into the forest. As expected, my memory was just right, when it was the first time I entered this forest. Not long after, I found the cave where we were hiding. From here the hard point. I was unconscious after being attacked by vanblood. I squeezed my own fingers. Be calm. Thinks. Where is the possibility of the group running? If I were them where would I run? I spread my eyes around. Then back to where I parked the bike. I put on my face mask and helmet again.I don't want anyone to recognize me. So first of all it is better to be a little somewhere else. A small cafe in the suburb of Siverra was my choice. This place is also from my home complex, no tone will recognize me here. However, I did not remove my mask and chose to sit in the corner of the room while waiting for my coffee order.

            “Key?”, call someone, just barely make me jump out of my chair. Luckily I calmed down immediately after seeing a familiar face.

            “Shane.”

            Shane sat in the chair in front of me. “What are you doing here?”

            “Eh..actually I'm trying to trace their tracks. You alone? There is no mision”

            Shane sighed quite long. “I just finished and thought to continue tracking”

            The waiter came to deliver my order. Shane ordered a glass of Americano ice, the waiter nodded and went back to make the order.

            “You shouldn't have come, Key. This place may be very dangerous for you”

            “But I can't just stand by and wait”

            “That's the best. We'll all help you. You're not getting yourself in danger anymore. After all this is not easy” Shane took out a folded sheet of paper and spread it out on the table. It's a map of Siverra. There are several locations marked. “Tracking vampires with common sense requires extra patience. But I also can not wait for the search” team results

            “What are these points where they are tracked?”, I asked while paying attention to colored dots

red on the map.

 Shane nodded. “We just tracked them to a radius of 5 km, and stopped around here. A suburb like this is troublesome indeed. No CCTV here”

CCTV, the surveillance cameras are. I saw him only once in Siverra. Some buildings in the big city already have them. “So right they are heading north”, murmured. “Wait, did you guys check all the CCTVs within that radius?”

 “True. How else can we track him. Zero says he didn't notice the direction the vanblood group was running, so he hacked into the city's security system and stole CCTV footage. You know yourself how do you know they're headed north?”

“Only allegations. That's the direction they came”

Shane's order came and we enjoyed each other's drinks. I looked back at the map Shane had brought. Absolutely detail, every small street and place there is no CCTV shown all. It's just that there are no CCTVs along this suburb and there are two roads with different directions. According to Shane, the hunter organization had spies on both of these lines, so he planned to meet them. But he can't take me with him. Well, what can I do. I can't force him to come along and get him in trouble for bringing in half a vampire.

“By the way how are you going home? I'll take you first”

I'm shaking. “Not necessary. I brought motor”

“Eh?!” Shane looked at me, looking surprised as if he could not believe what he was hearing. “How can it?”

“I borrowed it from Shine”, I said lying.

Shane laughed softly. “Shine does not like riding motor. That's mine. And the key is here” Tanganya pulled out a key from inside her bag.

“Ah...” I share a small laugh, understanding my folly. “Maaf”

Shane laughed again. “I really didn't expect, you have a hidden talent like this. Did your father teach him too?”

I'm nodding. Dad taught me how to break the house keys. But after that I improvised myself to break the keys to various other things. Thanks to that talent that night I

I could hang out with Karen on our neighbor's motorbike. Even if the escape was in vain.

Shane said he had to leave immediately, so we got out of the cafe together. Up outside Shane gave me the keys to the bike. I asked him not to tell the others if he met me here. I don't want to hear any useless scolding from Zero. A foreign smile still lingered on his face as we parted ways.

***

The break clock. I immediately got out of the classroom, heading to the deserted back garden. It was really stifling, having to sit for more than an hour in the middle of a human. No, even sitting next to a vampire is stifling for me. Maybe because I don't belong to any group. I stopped my steps, feeling someone's shadow up ahead. Take a peek and see the almost white gray-haired man lying on one of the branches of a large tree. Shadow shaped like his big cat shows that he is a very strong vampire. That's Leith. I turned around and walked quietly without a sound. Don't want to get involved with another vampire anymore.

Actually the architecture of this Humphire school is amazing. Buildings for a three-story classroom. The building is an old European style with arched doors and windows at the top. The pillars of the building are large and sturdy. The ceiling is decorated with crystal-clad lights. Some parts of the walls are left to bring the texture of the large stones. Adding an antique impression to the building. The most prominent is the building next to the school, the home of Humphire's principal, Prof. Quinton. It is shaped like an old building from France, complete with a semi-circular roof. Profs. Quinton himself looks like an ordinary old professor, I mean like a human. If Shine hadn't said it, I wouldn't have realized that she was a vampire. The shadow I can't feel at all. According to the story, prof. Quinton founded this school in the hope that one day humans and vampires could coexist. Perhaps that was why his shadow was made invisible, so that he could blend in with a normal human. Terrible idea in my opinion. If vampires can no longer be distinguished from humans, then without realizing it anyone can one day become extinct because it becomes food people he considers friends.

Making two species that are prey and predators to coexist is really a ridiculous idea. No, even that idea would end up as a mere delusion. Even so, I must admit the rule of no bloodshed in Humphire is sufficient to ensure the safety of the human disciple. I can't believe the vampires obeyed him. Or at least so I thought, until I saw the horrible scene this afternoon.

Class is over, I stopped by the library to borrow some books. Shane said he had a mission so he couldn't wait for me as usual. And today Zero's been ditching since the second class started. I thought I could enjoy my own time reading books in the library until the afternoon. Until a smell tickles my sense of smell. The blood! Not wrong anymore. I jumped out of my chair and ran out

library reading room. It smells pretty close. I walked towards the smell until my steps froze to see two students in the corner of the room, hiding behind rows of bookshelves. A male vampire is boiling the blood of a human girl greedily.

“Stop!”, seruku.

 The vampire only glanced at me from the corner of his eye, then back up the blood of the girl.

“Stop it! You can't do it here! Let go of him” I exclaimed louder.

This time the vampire stopped, and stood facing me. A tingly grin appeared on his face. “Do what?”

"School regulations prohibit bloodshed. So stop it now or.."

"You're gonna report, are you?" The vampire man was seen riding on a black hole. "You're a new student? That rule is only for hours

school. Now we're free"

"I'm not polite. If you want, you can come over there too. Don't bother us" he said.

I can't believe this guy was mad at me for trying to save him. But my intention to reply to his words suddenly dropped out as my eyes caught the shadow of a group of female disciples

walk towards the vampire dormitory. This can't be what I thought, right? I ran out of the room, down the stairs and then back to the west of the school, where the dormitory for vampire students was located. I heard the girl say to me when I ran out, something like 'apparently right'. Yep, I know what he's thinking but I don't have time to care. About 20 empty-brained human disciples were lining up to commit suicide at this time. I have to stop them. I increased my running speed as soon as I saw that line. Sneaking forward and blocking the steps of the girl in front of the door.

"Don't go in there!", I said. "They're gonna kill you. Turn around and run as fast as you can"

Bizarrely. Again, instead of being relieved to be rescued, the girls actually looked at me with anger.

"What did you say? It's crazy huh. Move there!"

"Hey, don't use that kosog talk!"

"You have to hang out like everyone else!!"

I really didn't think it out. Why are they angry. "What are you saying? They're monsters. They could kill you or worse..."

A strange scent suddenly behind me made me unable to finish that sentence. I turned around and took one step back. Raymond, the idol disciple was already standing there. The girls in line called out his name.

Raymond waved at them with a slick smile on his lips. "I guess what's up. Turns out we got a new member" he then turned to look at me. "Welcome to our dormitory. Actually, you have to wait in line, but since this is your first time I'll be kind. So sweet lady..What's your name?"

I ran out of words to respond. It seems like everyone here has completely lost their minds. Raymond seemed unwilling to wait for me to answer, his left hand raised to grab my shoulder. Wretch! He's too fast!

PLAKKK!!!

When I thought Raymond's hand was going to grip my shoulder or my shoulder, someone slammed it. I recognize this scent, mint and soft vanilla. That nape, that back, and that blond hair. Zeros.

"Don't touch him. She's mine", he muttered in a threatening low tone.

Raymond pulled his hand back. And for a split second, his pupils seemed to move in fear. But then he grinned with arrogance.

"Heh. How dare you get in my way. People like you don't even deserve to be called vampires" he booed.

Zero did not respond to Raymond, he grabbed my arm and pulled it.

"Come whenever you realize, your taste is so bad, sweet lady. That foul-smelling person doesn't deserve you" Raymond said as I followed Zero's steps to leave the vampire dormitory.

Zero's face was still flat as usual. But I know he's angry. His hand still held my hand tightly until we reached the front yard of the school.

"Key...Zero.", call Shine while walking over to us.

Zero stopped his steps and then took my hand off.

"You okay?", asked Shine worriedly. "Karen just called me that you're gonna get in trouble"

"I'm fine. But the girls are in danger. Can we help him?"

Shine's worried face now turned concerned. "Sorry, I forgot to say it. The rule only applies until school hours are over. So there's nothing we can do”

“So you guys will just let it go? Isn't it your job to keep people safe? The girls could die or worse, they could be changed.”.

“It's none of our business”, Serge Zero. “Ignore them”

Looks like my guess is right. Zero is a psychopath! How could I ignore them! I can't let anyone else have a fate like me.

“Shine, let's go back and save them”

Shine looked at me deeply, as if she was trying to read my heart. But he hesitated to agree.

“They came with volunteering” Again Zero interrupts. I don't care what he thinks!

“Sorry, Key. We can't..”

“You'll ignore them?! They're human, Shine! Where can we turn and ignore them!!”

“Key, they always do this. And the girls came of their own accord. No one forced them”

“So you want to say that it's none of your business? And you call yourself vampire hunter?!” I ran out of patience and shouted at Shine unintentionally. An awkward silence filled the air between us. I think my word is passing. But I don't think I'm wrong.

“Hunter's job is to overcome vampires that harm humans. They cannot save everyone”, Zero said still with his flat face. “After all there is nothing to save there”

I clenched my hands, preparing to stuff Zero with swearing as Shine grabbed my shoulders. The handle is weak, too weak. His eyes look red. But she wasn't sad because of what I said or because she couldn't do anything for the girls in the vampire dormitory.

“I'm really sorry about what happened to you. But they're different from you, Key” Shine's remarks made the embers in my chest melt.And a few tearful circles rolled from the corner of my eyes.

***