Vampire Boys Of Summer (Completed!)

Episode 74: Masters Revealed

As we ran across the top of the labyrinth, I couldn't help but wonder what its purpose had been. Was it designed to test us? To imprison us in its maze forever? Or seeing how exhausted I was, perhaps it was just meant to tire us out and wear us down, so that when we reached the place where Angela was being held we wouldn't be able to rescue anybody, even ourselves.

My vampire friends seemed tireless. Haru, Chi, and Luhan ran without much effort, but I slowed them all down. I was the weak link in this rescue operation. I should have stayed home and left this up to them. But I couldn't just sit around and do nothing while my best friend, and indeed the entire town of Chelsea Valley, was in danger of being...well, I didn't know what the Vampire Master of this labyrinth wanted. All I knew was I was wanted as a bride of some sort, and for what purpose I couldn't discern. Why would a vampire leader want me? He could have anyone. Any girl out there was his for the taking. But Nora Williams was what he wanted. It didn't make sense. I was a nobody. But maybe, and if the master was Ryo, it was all because Haru had me. Someone didn't want Haru to be happy...ever. With that way of thinking, it had to be Ryo. But hadn't Ryo been there when the vampire king called? Wait, the caller never said he was the vampire master. I asked him if he was, but he had answered that he would be my master. This doesn't necessarily make him the Vampire master. So with that in mind, who could it be, and do I even know them? It was apparent my friends had suspicions of who it was, and they had been looking for him awhile when they came to Chelsea Valley, but what had Haru done that it warranted losing me, the whole town, or even his life?

Lost in my thought I didn't realize when the roof stopped. Haru had to stop me from running right out onto open air. The structure of the labyrinth hadn't come to an end though. It was just the roof that had stopped, as if the builders ran out of materials. There was no way across to the other side now, except back down into the labyrinth which was now deathly quiet. Where had the newly created vampire army gone?

We stood there a moment wondering what to do. We could see the way down into the labyrinth now, the twists and turns that the maze made on its way to an exit. But we couldn't see the exit. If we dropped down there again we would be like lab rats in a researcher's experiment, having to work our way through the passages in search of a way out.

Haru looked to Chi and Luhan for answers. "What do you want to do," he asked.

"If we were all alphas..." Chi replied, but Luhan interrupted her.

"...We're not," he said, looking at Haru, who we all knew was a Beta. "No more if's. We have to get to the end of this labyrinth. The hour is growing late, and deeper into the night it gets, the more powerful these western vampires will get."

"Are you saying," I asked, " these guys get stronger than they are now?"

Haru looked at me. "Vampires of the western world were created differently than those of the Far East. We were created for a different purpose, and as such have different strengths and weaknesses. The Christian cross has no effect on us. We do not need to sleep in coffins or graves. Garlic is useless. The main common denominator is a stake through the heart, of course."

"Enough prattle, " Luhan said. "We can go into vampire history later. Let's move."

And with that he jumped down into the labyrinth. Chi looked at us, and with a shrug of her shoulders, followed him.

Haru looked at me, concern on his face. "I'm sorry. I should never have brought you here. I fear...."

I jumped down into the labyrinth.I hit the hard floor in a roll, in an attempt to break the harshness of my landing. It helped, and thankfully I didn't break anything, but I felt my leg give a little. When I stood up and went to join the waiting Chi and Luhan, I did so with a new painful limp.