Dawn- An age of Darkness
Chapter 368 - And For That-

"Sorry."

The girl dusted her robe and sat down, breathing still a bit erratic. "I'm sorry as well. I should have been prepared."

"Prepared? Are there ways to deal with half vampires?"

It was night and the last I checked, garlic didn't work. 

"No, I meant, I should have been prepared to offer my blood to you. After all, in order to bring out your full strength, you have to drink blood eventually. And yet, you were trying your best to hold the urges for my sake."

Was it me or was she under the wrong impression?

"If I'd bitten you, wouldn't you have become a vampire?"

I felt like a walking calamity for a second. 

"Halves can't make vampires or followers, to my knowledge."

And yet, when she said that I felt at ease. 'What is this feeling?'

"Still, I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened."

And- 'I'll make sure it doesn't.' Though I didn't quite know how.

Yeah, I was a half-vampire or something. 

Yeah, I was pretty much dead. 

Yeah, I didn't know if I had feelings or not. 

But even now, I didn't want to go around harming other people. 

The feeling was odd. Even I couldn't understand why. 

But I didn't want to be the reason for someone's pain. 

Maybe that was stupid, and maybe that was just flawed, but I was flawed, and I was definitely stupid. 

She smiled. "Thank you for being so considerate." But the girl was a bit too easygoing. 

She clearly didn't have her guard up. 

Maybe this was the norm?

I didn't understand enough about vampires to even think of any ways to deal this these things. 

But I did feel terrible. After all, the girl trusted me. Perhaps she was an idiot to do so, but- she trusted me. 

…

Anyway, with that bit over, I continued eating. 

I also hunted at night and made quite a bit of stock and tried using that chant I wrote down earlier from the chest.

And as I thought, it really was a storage chant. 

But my hunger never really went away.

***

The next morning, we made extra effort to travel faster. 

There was nothing but grass and just small monsters around, so traveling was a lot more efficient. 

I made extra effort to eat food and hunt for live prey. But as the day went by, my body felt more and more sluggish. 

I needed blood. 

I needed human blood. 

Or at least something that was humanoid in form. 

We took shelter by some trees in the noon. 

I was very much out of it, barely able to focus but I had to. If I let myself be at ease for even a second, I'd have attacked the girl again. 

So, I had to maintain focus even if my body screamed at me. 

"You can heal my wound, right?" She said, standing next to me. 

The sunrays trickled down through the leaves. My body was too heavy, so I had to lie down but- even now I couldn't quite relax. 

I nodded. Though at this stage, I wasn't so sure. 

She made a stern face and cut her palm. It happened so fast. 

Bright red blood slowly dripped out; almost in slow motion. No, my reaction had just sped up. 

My mouth salivated and I couldn't think of anything anymore. 

My nose sent signals to my brain: delicious. 

Everything went blank. No, it went red. 

By the time, I regained consciousness, I was still on the ground, licking her hand, while she sat beside me, looking at me with empathy and pain. 

But my thoughts were clear, very clear. Perhaps the clearest. 

"I didn't do anything to you?"

"No."

I was still licking her though the wound had mostly stopped bleeding and she seemed slightly paler. 

With a sigh, I cast healing magic on her. "Sorry, you had to do that. And thank you."

I didn't think the day would come when I'd end up being saved instead. All this time, I thought I was already gone, I didn't need saving but, I was wrong. 

"It's okay," She said. "It's okay."

"Okay." 

I was still weak. In one way, or the other, still naïve. 

Which was why, I knew, I still had room to grow. 

I still had things I wanted to do. 

And I still had people I wanted to kill. 

I could run around all over the world, I could go hide in a cave or something, I could distract myself all I wanted, but, in the end, I had to face reality. In the end, I had to face the cruelty. 

'No more running.'

A lot of people gave their lives for me. A lot of people suffered. 

And a lot of people died. 

Which was why-

Which was why- I had to go on.

And for that, I was fine being weak. 

For that, I was fine being a fake. 

For that, I was fine pretending. 

"Let's quickly get your mother out and-" I paused.

The girl with me was a demon. 

I didn't know what her thoughts on the empire or the emperor was, but I couldn't just say something so bold either. 

Instead, "-And move on to my main quest." I smiled.

She smiled, totally excited. "RIGHT!"

***

With that drink, my stamina had again reached the near-endless range. I actually felt better than I did when I'd eaten that boar the other day. 

In fact, I felt invincible. 

The girl, however, was severely weakened. I guess I drank quite a bit of blood. And she didn't scream, she didn't run away from it. she faced me directly. She'd saved me from that hunger. 

For that I was grateful.

"I could carry you if you want to, or would you like to take a break?"

It was almost afternoon. "I'm fine. If we keep this up, we'll be by the city gates around midnight."

Midnight?

"Would it make a difference if we got there by midnight or would entering then be easier?"

"It won't actually. The guards are always up and there's only one entrance."

"Then let's take a break. We'll reach tomorrow morning."

"But-"

"I'm sure you're worried about your mother. But executions generally take place in broad daylight, not in the dead of night."

And since her mother was a leader of the rebels, it was easy to imagine the lord of the place trying to behead her in front of the rebels to crush future revolts. 

Though a bit reluctant, she gave up and we rested. 

She seemed slightly different… perhaps still tired from the blood loss. 

Afterward, we continued.