Vampire Nightlife

"Lukas?" Matthew asked again. "We really don't have time for any of this. It's best if we get going right away."

Lukas knelt down in front of one of the corpses and checked their pockets, before pulling out an item. "Key."

"Oh, quick thinking." Anthony whistled.

"He just touched a corpse." Philip peeked out the window, still looking pale. "He just touched a corpse."

"Do any of you know how to drive?" Matthew asked.

"I do." Anthony said.

"Here, take it." Lukas tossed them the key and then stood up. He looked into the direction of the forest and let out a deep and shaky breath. He really wasn't the master of making the best decisions, wasn't he?

"What's the matter?" Matthew frowned.

"…You guys should go ahead." Lukas slowly said. He couldn't believe he just said that, but he really just did.

"What is he going on about?" Philip asked.

"Lukas…" Matthew said.

"I think he's serious." Anthony blinked as he got on the driver's seat and turned on the van. "Hey man, do you have a death wish or something?"

"No. No—not at all. I have a girlfriend waiting for me. I have two girlfriends waiting for me." Lukas said.

"Wait, did he just say two?" Philip, who looked sick, looked up at that statement.

"You're starting to feel perked up over that?" Anthony chuckled weakly despite the situation. He glanced at Lukas and asked. "You're not going to be some kind of hero if you go back there and try to save everyone. You agree with me, right, Matthew?"

"Yes. Absolutely. I don't think you're thinking straight." Matthew looked at Lukas in concern. "Please come with us right now—when we get to Nyx, there'll be people who can actually do help and make a difference, but you… us? We can't do much."

"I… that's the thing." Lukas rubbed his face and let out a sigh. "I think that I can. Well, I'm not like a hundred percent certain, and there's a chance of me dying because of it…"

"Then get your head screwed on together and let's get out of here." Philip said.

"Wait, you think you can help?" Anthony blinked.

"What do you mean?" Matthew tilted his head.

Lukas coughed and realized that he said too much. But had he really? Theodore, Alexei, Stacy and Chaerin had seen how he was able to work with and deal with the things way back at the Veiled Forest.

Stacy knew that he had his hands on a relic dagger.

What would it actually be like to be honest? Just for once? To admit something and then see what would happen from there?

'I've lied about my past, about who I am and I'm pretending to be something I'm not—denying everything and now that I've met these people… well, they're still practically strangers to me. I don't know if I can trust them—but if I don't trust anybody… when will I ever do?' Lukas's head raced with thoughts.

Every minute that these people lingered here, the greater the chance that Rhea could come back and turn their life into a complete disaster.

'Chaerin… she asked me not to put myself in danger. She was so upset about it before after the Veiled Forest thing—well, she promised to stay with the villagers when Cervus was going to attack so technically she also put us in danger back then too, but she didn't want to see me risking my life and I'm just going to run and do the exact opposite of what she's saying now? How great of a boyfriend am I? Lily's gonna want to see me instead of not seeing me too…'

"Lukas!" Matthew clapped his hands in front of him.

"Alright, I'll show you guys."

Lukas glanced at the young man in front of him and then twirled his fingertips, the dagger of the Sanguise House appearing before them.

"That's…"

"Wait—?"

"That can't be…?"

Lukas had already held the dagger for so long that he barely noticed it, Stacy herself had took the weapon before but because she was a Vardoken—she really didn't feel it either, perhaps because there was a certain familiarity with it as someone from a fellow noble bloodline?

The three Vampires should have noticed it earlier when Lukas took out the Sanguise House dagger and used it against the giant spiders from earlier—wiping out the floor with them with relative ease, but now that there was nothing else, their gazes concentrated on it.

But the real reason behind their awe was for one reason alone.

Drusilla allowed her aura to leak through the dagger, imbuing it with her power that extended across the area and ominously crept up on the presence of the three Vampires.

Despite the fact that she did not wholly agree or see eye to eye with Lukas on most things, when it at least boiled down to presentation and class? She was going all for it.

The energy of the Sanguise House dagger made Anthony, Philip and Matthew's body to tremble lightly. There was an urge to just drop down to their knees and prostrate themselves in front of the weapon while Lukas held it without even feeling an ounce of the need.

Drusilla tried to exert more power into her aura, but somehow, Lukas was still concentrated on the other three Vampires.

He was going to be honest this time and it came out in a whirlwind of words.

"This… this is one of the relic daggers belonging from one of the noble Vampire Houses. This belongs to me—well, I uh, borrowed it. It was given to me, and I think I can use it to stop Rhe—that thing. I don't recommend you guys to stay here with me since it's dangerous. I highly suggest that you three leave and get back to Nyx. I'm not sure if the others are alive, but I'll do my best to stop things, okay? But yeah—I'm staying. That's what I want to make clear."

"…we should stay."