Vamp!

Vamp! III - Chapter 3 C

The main streets of the city of Neuberg.
"...Did you find her?"
"No. Not a trace."
An anxious teenager was looking to a group of slightly older men, who were shaking their heads.
This particular street--the biggest on the island--would normally be packed with civil servants and tourists. Lined with government offices, hotels, and recreational facilities, it was the hub of the island's tourism industry.
The sidewalk was nearly deserted, likely because most people had gone to the opening ceremony. It was there that Relic was wandering in search of Hilda, who had presumably gone missing from the hospital.
As Relic's distress continued, a large figure leapt from the roof of a nearby building and landed on its feet without a sound.
It was a young man who had fully taken the form of a werewolf. He approached Relic and the others without a care, not receiving any strange looks thanks to the fact that one of the Carnale Festival's attractions was a costume parade. Though the parade was scheduled for a later date, many festival-goers were already in costumes from day one.
Of course, jumping from the rooftop was rather excessive, even for a werewolf. But Relic was so anxious that he did not point this out.
"Hilda's scent cuts off around here. I think she might have gotten onto a car or something." The werewolf said, sniffing the air. The worry in Relic's eyes only grew thicker, prompting another werewolf to jump in.
"Maybe it'a backwards; she just got off the car here and went to the hospital."
It was an unlikely possibility, but at this point, Relic would take any hope the situation could offer.
"Then... Maybe we just missed each other at the hospital."
"Yeah. Then one of the others at the hospital'll contact us many minute now. All of us werewolves know your girlfriend's face, Relic. She practically a celebrity! So let's just wait for 'em, okay?"
The werewolves laughed as confidently as they could, trying to keep Relic's spirits up. Relic joined in on their laughter for a moment and took a deep breath. Although he did not actually have the need to breathe, Relic liked to mimic the gesture in order to calm himself. This habit of his did not begin out of admiration for humans, however; he had been influenced by seeing Mihail take this action before greeting Ferret.
Relic exhaled and remembered Mihail's injuries. A sharp glint rose to his eyes as he went over the present situation.
'Does this have something to do with the Eater that attacked Ferret and Mihail?'
It was too exact a timing for it to be a coincidence. According to Ferret, who had been one of his first targets, the Eater in the gigantic suit of armor was apparently after a vampire called Theodosius.
Theodosius Waldstein. Relic remembered hearing the name from his father.
The Waldstein family was spilt into two bloodlines--a line of vampires and a line of humans. The Human line, however, was severed completely several years after Relic and Ferret were born.
The last member of the human branch was an orphaned boy named Theodosius. But he had been bitten by a vampire and lost his humanity.
Relic did not hear anything about what happened to the boy afterwards. But he was quite certain that his father knew.
'I don't know what Theodosius might have done. Maybe he murdered that Eater's loved ones.'
From the horrifying show of fury the Eater directed at Ferret--a vampire he had only just met--Relic supposed that the man must despise the entire Waldstein family, or perhaps all of vampirekind.
'But... I can't let him get away with hurting Ferret and landing Mihail in the hospital. I... I won't forgive him for making Ferret cry.'
He clenched his fists, quietly but passionately honing the outrage he had suppressed earlier in the hospital.
'And... If he's even dragged Hilda into this...!'
The air around Relic changed; countless shadows began casting themselves from the pavement and the walls.
The shadows then took on the form of bats and began to fly in a circle around Relic, slowly closing in on him. And once the circle narrowed, the bats were absorbed into Relic's body.
The werewolves, awestruck by the sight, took a step back without thinking.
When they transformed into bats or fog, most vampires could not transform anything but their own bodies and the clothing they wore. Even those who were a cut above the rest could affect little more than objects that they were touching directly, like the ground beneath them.
Relic, however, had produced bats even from places that he was not in physical contact with. The werewolves knew what this meant; and as they beheld the shadow cast in Relic's normally warm eyes, they shuddered in silent fear.
"...We'll go ahead and report to the viscount."
"Thank you. I'll search for her from overhead one more time." Relic said with a nod, and glared at the night sky.
The shadows underneath him shook, and a second later, a flock of bats were launched into the air like water out of a geyser. The sound of their wingbeats filled the air, and the great mass of shadow disappeared into the sky with a powerful noise.
There was nothing left where Relic had been standing earlier. The werewolves looked on with both worry and expectation at their not-quite master, and quickly left for Waldstein Castle to report to the viscount.
They moved so quickly that they left nothing but a gentle breeze in the wake of their departure.
Relic was flying through the air in the form of countless bats, looking over his hometown.
The festival lights glinted off the ornaments made specifically for the celebrations. The entertainment district shone more brightly than usual.
But there was something off about the scene.
With a sense of discomfort about the city he called home, the bats quickly dispersed.
The thousands of bats circled the sky over the island several times, and Relic was finally able to pinpoint the origin of his suspicions.
But this only led to the worsening of his fears.
'The island... It's too quiet.'
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