I Was Once Human

Chapter II - A Present Past, Part II

But instead of hitting the forest floor and dying in a gruesome fiery wreck, they were taken to a different place, a road in the middle of a forest of dead trees, bats flew past the car, and soon enough a castle on the top of a mountain could be seen, surrounded by tall black fences and a gate that says "Sanguine Imperium" the gate opened autonomously, and the three of them got out of the car and walked inside of the castle, fresh corpses of humans lie atop a long dining table on either side of a huge hall, and at the end of it, a throne decorated with gold and black marble stand proudly, everyone seems to enjoy their time, drinking blood and practicing magic

Jesse looked over to Wayland, "You could do magic?" Wayland simply nodded and continued walking down to the throne

They finally stood in front of the throne, a figure sits proudly, "Count Wayland Wright, my dear boy... what brings you here?" Asked the figure

"With all due respect, father... Duke of The Sanguine Imperium, I came to inform you that my son has been killed," Said Wayland

"And do you wish to revive him, or to perform a ceremonial burial for him?" The figure asked jokingly as he hunched closer to Wayland

"I would like to revive him, will you... be able to help me, father?"

the figure looked to the side and saw both Jesse and Riley waiting behind him, "Yes, I will help you." Said the duke as he rested back on the throne

"Oh thank you so mu-"

"With one condition..." said the duke, cutting off Wayland, he hunched down to his ear and whispered something both Jesse and Riley couldn't hear, he rested back on his chair, and Wayland left, gesturing his hand to Jesse and Riley to follow him

"That was your father?" Asked Jesse, following behind him

"Yes, the grandfather of Edmond," He replied

"So what did he told you to do?" Jesse asked again

He paused, "Nothing important, it's just vampire errands." Said Wayland, and he continued walking to his car

They got on to the car and drove back out of the realm.

"But, how is the duke going to help us?" Asked Riley "He's still in his realm, isn't he?"

"The duke merely helped me by allowing this to happen, had I not asked for his permission, I will be hunted down by numerous amounts of people, both vampire, and men, he has quite the influence in high society." Said Wayland as he drove the car onto the road and out the forest

Jesse thought that maybe he could contribute the most in the efforts of Edmond's revival, as to redeem him for what he'd done to Edmond he is determined to make up his betrayal by doing whatever it takes to revive him and properly apologize.

It was a long drive, Jesse didn't know where they're going to, so he asked Wayland where they were going, and he replied that they're heading towards the facility, Jesse was surprised, but he made sense of it, if they're looking for Edmond's body, that would be the place to find it, when they arrived, Jesse looked at Riley's neck, he saw two punctures

Jesse lightly tapped her shoulder and asked, "What's that on your neck?"

She grabbed her neck, and was shocked to feel the two holes by the side of her neck, "Wait, what is this? Mr. Wayland, did you... feed on my blood... by any chance?" She asked

Wayland turned around to face her, "Did you see me sinking my teeth into your neck?"

Riley shook her head, she didn't see or feel anything, and Jesse also didn't see Wayland sucking her blood, then he remembered Alcides's story, perhaps what he said was true, but if that's the case, surely Riley would not agree to revive him, Jesse couldn't make out what was truly happening, he felt something wrong was about to happen, and sure enough, shortly after they entered the building, someone holding a chloroform rag snuck up behind Riley and drugged her, she struggled and called for help, but she couldn't say a word, the rag blocked her mouth, she fell unconscious and was dragged away.