Vamp!

Vamp! III - Chapter 3 B

The southern woods of Growerth.
There were two paths leading to and from Waldstein Castle.
One was the paved road leading up to the parking lot halfway up the mountain.
The other was a steep footpath carved into the mountainside.
The footpath was rarely used by anyone, so the only people who traversed it tended to be those who disliked crowds or those who did not wish to be noticed. Vampires who could not transform into bats or fog, for example, were chief among those who used this path.
The foliage was dense, limiting the line of sight to the pathway alone. There were gaps in the trees along the way, through which the magnificent and almost-otherworldly Waldstein Castle could be seen.
But into this fantastic scene stepped in a being from another world entirely.
A gigantic suit of armor inspired by designs from both East and West, its form straight out of a storybook. But the armor did indeed exist--for it was now climbing the path, one powerful stride after another.
"...There's... No one here."
The suit of armor--Rudy--mumbled to himself, looking around.
Even an overgrown route like this was bound to have one or two people traversing it. Perhaps normal days were another story; but today was the opening night of the biggest festival on the island. It would be natural for some locals to be walking along this path to avoid the hustle and bustle of the main road.
Although Rudy initially considered heading to the castle through the uncultivated woods, he stepped onto the path once he realized that he sensed no one walking along it.
'Is this all Sigmund's work?'
Perhaps Sigmund had subjugated the locals and cleared this particular path so Rudy could access the castle with ease.
But there was no use speculating now. Rudy continued on his way, fanning the flames of revenge.
'That's right. There's only one thing I have to think about: Theo.'
The moment he shut his eyes, the nightmare from his past came to life in his mind.
The stench of blood.
The heat of the flames licking at his face.
His father's head rolling on the floor.
His mother's body, her neck twisted in an unnatural direction.
His friend's corpse, turned to charcoal.
He was disgusted by everything before him. He cursed his own weakness. And once his thoughts shifted to the vampire he had once thought a friend, he could not even muster words of outrage.
But at this point, even his own past was nothing more than fuel to bring despair to the vampire who had stolen everything from him--Theodosius M. Waldstein.
From the day he first met Theo, Rudy had been trapped. He had been trapped in a fantasy where vampires truly existed. It was an inescapable hell.
He and Theresia had walked through this abyss together.
But now, their hope for escape was within arm's reach, or so it seemed.
'Theresia, huh.'
What was on her mind as she walked through this hell? Was she also planning revenge? Or was this now the only path she could envision for herself? Or perhaps she had another reason altogether.
Although Rudy had wondered on occasion, he never thought deeply about it. He did not, after all, care what drove Theresia to walk alongside him. As long as she could help him with his vengeance, he was happy.
The thought of using his lone surviving friend like a tool sickened him. The dark flames roaring in his heart threatened to once more show him the scene from his nightmares.
The images from that day came to life once more.
Each and every word that Theodosius uttered with his sister in his arms was replayed with frightening accuracy.
"It's been a while."
It was a nauseating voice. The palpable childlikeness of that tone made it all the worse.
When Rudy opened his eyes, the vampire from his memories was standing before him with an unchanged smile.
'If... If only I could kill this nightmare. Then I'd finally find rest.'
"Heh heh... You're still such a sleepyhead, Rudy."
'What?'
The nightmare's words were different from usual. Rudy's heart stopped for a single second.
Unable to recognize the situation unfolding before him, all he could do was sense his heart grow colder by the second. It was as though his entire body would freeze down to the very last cell.
His mind refused to accept the scene. But his body and his instincts understood everything with frightening clarity, trying very hard to not let his heart take notice.
His throat felt dry.
It felt as though all the water in his body had evaporated in an instant.
But there was cold sweat running down his back.
An ominous chill ran down his spine as even his mind began to understand the truth.
His instincts desperately held back his sense of reasoning, as though he were attempting to reach forbidden knowledge.
Several seconds passed since the beginning of this struggle. Slowly, the boy standing before him smiled at his old friend.
The pathway was perfunctorily lined with streetlights. The boy's sculpted smile, so very slightly illuminated underneath, was more ominous than it had ever been in Rudy's memories.
"So... I wonder what my dear old friend wants to do with me?"
A new line. A new term of address. A new smile.
A new series of images were being added to Rudy's nightmares.
It was then that he was finally forced to realize the truth.
The nightmare before him was real.
"Anyway... It's been so long, Rudy. How are you?"
Theodosius M. Waldstein.
Rudy's nemesis--the one who had stolen away his family, friends, and peaceful life--and the starting point and finish line of his life as an Eater.
The silver-haired, silver-eyed vampire with the body of a child. The vampire who had been his friend for many happy days, which ended with his betrayal.
Beheaded his father,
Pierced his mother's chest,
Snapped his dear friend's neck,
And stole his beloved sister away.
He was the main character of Rudy's nightmares, as well as his nightmare incarnate.
Theodosius.
Theodosius M. Waldstein.
His closest friend, one he had called 'Theo'.
A nonhuman friend he could trust more than even his family.
The words confirming his identity endlessly repeated themselves in his head.
Again,
And again.
But he could not speak. He could not step forward, clench his fists, or fire stakes from inside his armor to instantly kill his nemesis.
"Ah... Aaah..."
He desperately forced his lungs to breathe, but his vocal cords refused to budge. He could not even control his tongue.
Even his scream, stifled by his own mouth, was carried off by a soft breeze that swept past the hill.
The trees shaking in the wind began to murmur all at once, as though speaking in place of the young man in the armor.
But the emotions expressed by the whisperings were not fury at the vampire that had stole away everything he held dear.
"...What's wrong, Rudy Wenders?"
The sound of rustling leaves echoed inside the armor.
"You're stronger now, aren't you...?"
Rudy's eyes no longer registered the light from the street lamp. Everything went dark.
But it was not the darkness of night.
"That armor's one of Carnald Strassburg's designs. He made it specifically for Eaters, right? You're strong enough to use it freely now... That's really amazing."
The darkness swelled from within, filling every corner of Rudy's world with blackness.
And in the shadows, all he could see was Theo and his smile.
But this was not strange to Rudy.
After all, the vampire standing there was darkness itself.
"But still... Even with all that power..."
There was a moment of icy silence between the two figures on the pathway. But the vampire, as though he had read the young man's mind, went on to say:
"I wonder... Why are you so scared?"
Rudy felt his body grow numb, his senses being peeled away piece by piece.
It was a strange, off-kilter sensation, as though he were looking down upon himself from very high in the air--as though he did not exist in reality.
'No.'
Somewhere deep down, he was trying to escape.
The vampire who had haunted his dreams all these years was now right before his eyes. But for some reason, he kept hoping that this was all a hallucination. His senses were rattled to the point of madness.
'No. No. No.'
The emotion he had been suppressing with bloodlust all this time burst forth from the darkness.
It was pure, unadulterated fear.
Excited shouts and the sound of fireworks echoed in the distance.
It all sounded like something from another world to Rudy, but the truth of the matter was that the festivities were taking place only several hundred meters from where he stood--at the top of the mountain path.
Emotions from every part of the spectrum filled the island.
And at that very moment, the curtains rose on this year's Carnale Festival.
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