Seraph Of The End: Omega - Chapter 3.2

That was all of four years ago.

The vampire city of Sanguinem was a large city beneath Kyoto. It was extravagant with buildings in an 18th-century design, with churches and cathedrals, and elaborate archways made of stone and tile.

"Next." a vampire called.

You stepped up out of the line of other human children, "Taiyou Hyakuya." you stated your name.

The vampire looked at you, before glancing down at the tablet in his hand and pressing a button on the touch screen device, before nodding at you, "Next." he called.

Hands in your pockets, you moved along, walking passed the vampire up into the building behind him, The blood harvesting area.

It was a building filled with thousands of stone beds, hooked up to machines with tubes filled with red. All around you, other human kids were hopping up into them and vampires standing by inserted a needle into the collars you were all forced to wear and their blood was sucked out.

You found the nearest one and sat down on it yourself. Seeing you do so, a vampire made their way over and pulled one of the tubes down, a needle on the end of it and inserted it within the opening of your own collar.

You barely even noticed it piercing your skin. You were just that accustomed to it, and with much larger points.

The vampire sword you'd gotten four years ago was special like that you'd found. And from eavesdropping and asking around, you'd figured out what it was and how it worked. It was a magically forced sword, beyond that of a normal blade, and had the ability to suck the blood of the user, and when it did, it enhanced all of the wielders physical abilities, and had a handy dandy cool little magic attack it could use as well.

It was why it was a blade for vampires. Because they regenerated what they lost. And even with your much superior recovery rate compared to other humans, it still wasn't something you could use to the same level as a vampire simply because your healing ability, could never measure up to one of theirs.

'Now, what game will I play tonight?' you mused in thought, waiting for them to finish taking your blood.

Your home was a shit hole, nothing compared to the old orphanage. Just  a tiny roughly cobbled rickety brick house that was slanted to the side. You were lucky it even got electricity.

And that was only thanks to you amusing that absurd monster Crowley, the red haired vampire you met long ago. Someone whom you found out was a Progenitor, the noble ranks of vampires and the strongest of them all, a thirteenth one to be precise.

Which meant he was even farther above the average vampire, than they were to a normal human child.

You'd wandered into him a few times over the four years you'd been at this crappy vampire city, and got you the privilege of having electricity after you swindled him with another bet and offered him your blood.

After all, it was illegal for vampires to drink blood straight from a human within this city. But, that didn't mean that humans couldn't offer it on the sly here and there for some benefits.

Crowley was much easier to get along with than the other vampires in this city, despite how strong he was in comparison to most of them.

Didn't mean you wouldn't rip his head off when you had the chance though. Your eyes flickered down to the collar around your neck. Not only was it used to take your blood, but it was basically a symbol of ownership, as if you were some some pet, a dog even.

No, more in line with chattle actually. 'Live stock.' you snorted. That was how vampires referred to all the humans within this city. And you couldn't really blame them. They were simply higher up on the food chain than humans. They were predators, apex predators at that, and humans were merely their food source.

You hadn't allowed yourself to be deceived by the way Crowley let you away with a few things and gave you a few benefits for amusing him. He would kill you on a whim if he felt like it.

You put that out of mind for the moment as the vampire beside you pulled the needled tube from your neck and handed you a carton of juice to drink to make up for your lost blood, before shooing you away.

You made your way out of the building and began making your way back home. Your days here were busy after all. You had to do your daily training and get dinner started.

And play your games of course.

And you couldn't exactly train anywhere but inside your home. You couldn't allow the vampires to know how hard you worked at it.

Every day the words of Mahiru from four years ago resonated within you. A reason to live?

You couldn't find that while in here. And while your games allowed you to stave it off bit by bit. It didn't change the rage that built within you, being treated as no more than a farm animal.

One day soon, you were going to get out of here.

You left the blood collection building behind amongst a crowd of other children. While all of them were stumbling around or leaning against each other to fight off the symptoms of anemia, beyond a slight dizzy spell, you as always recovered in just a few moments and were fine to casually go on your way.

You made your way through the throng of other humans, walking passed the others still waiting in line to be sent in to have their blood taken and the vampires overseeing them. You passed through an archway under a large stone bridge and made your way down to a fence that hung over a steep ledge.

Your home was right down below it, so you could make a quick short cut just by hopping over and sliding down.

"Taiyou?" a familiar voice said your name.

You paused, hand resting on the fence and looked over your shoulder to find a girl of age with you leaning against, dressed in the whit hooded dress girls were given to wear by the vampire, rich brown hair tied into a tick braided ponytail that hung down the front of her shoulders and chocolate brown eyes.

"Yo, Akane." you gave the girl a casual wave.

Akane laughed lightly, "You never change," she said, wiping sweat from her brow, "Nothing ever fazes you huh? Even back at the orphanage you were just like this."

Akane was the oldest girl of the orphans back at the Hyakuya Orphanage, of age with Mikaela, Yu and yourself.

"Well, there isn't really any need to change," you shrugged. It wasn't like you were afraid of the vampires or anything. You were leery of the higher up ones, but not afraid. You'd learned a lot over the years here, and one of them was that most of the low level vampires couldn't fight for shit, idiots with little skill and you were sure you could overcome a few of them if push came to shove, "Orphanage workers or bloodsuckers, it makes no difference to me."

Akane shook her head, pushing up off of the wall, "You sound like Yu calling them that, you better watch none of them overhear you." she warned and began walking over to you, only to stumble mid-step.

You caught her by the shoulders and kept her upright, "I'll keep that in mind," you snorted, giving her a look over, "You okay?" you asked. You weren't especially close with Akane or her 'family', you'd spurned the offer to join in with them from Mikaela long before Yu had shown up at the orphanage, content with your games and anime.

But, Akane always went out of her way to check in on you here and there and speak to you, so you had a bit of fondness for the girl.

"Just a bit light headed, but I'm fine, thanks." she gave you a weak smile and straightened up.

You raised your eyebrows at her before snorting, "Here." you held up your hand, showing the juice carton still in your hand.

"..I can't take that," Akane shook her head, "You need that to recover your strength after having your blood taken." she tried to push it back to you, but you just grasped her hand and placed it in her palm.

"I'll just toss it away if you don't take it, it tastes like crap." you replied, rolling your eyes. It was true though that it was good for replenishing lost blood. It was full of special nutrients designed to keep the human body very healthy and produce a lot of blood.

And it wasn't like you didn't have more back home. You hadn't just been idle beyond your entertainment and training. You'd stealthily scoured this whole city looking for weaknesses and escape routes, and beyond that, where things of worth were kept. And you'd found where the nutrient drinks were produced and broke in a few times. You had a massive stash of the drinks stored in a hole in your crappy house.

They tasted like crap. But, they were great for giving your body great amounts of protein and such for building muscle. And with your enhanced recovery rate, it meant your physical abilities grew at quite the rapid speed.

"Are you sure?" Akane bit her lip.

"Just take it." you rolled your eyes and shook it in her face.

The brown haired girl gave a lip bitten smile, before accepting it, "Thanks Taiyou." she said softly as she unscrewed the cap on it and began to drink it down in great big greedy gulps.

She pulled it from between her lips a few moments later, panting deeply and giving a great big sigh of relief.

"Better?" you asked.

"Much, thanks Taiyou!" Akane beamed at you.

"Good, then I'll see you later Akane." you nodded and gave the girl a small wave, and turned around preparing to hop over the fence.

But before you could, the brown haired girls hand was on your shoulder, stopping you, "Wait, Taiyou!" she shouted slightly, and when you turned to look over your shoulder at her in confusion she was beaming prettily at you again. It was a smile that made your stomach tingle with butterflies and your cheeks heat up slightly, "Why not come to our place for dinner tonight? Mika managed to get his hands on ingredients for curry somehow and I'm planning on making it tonight."

'Hoh?' your eyebrows raised in interest. The ingredients for a curry wasn't something you could get lightly down here in Sanguinem. The only way actually, was to be given them by a vampire. Which meant Mika must have gotten an in with a vampire, probably in return for his blood.

"Sorry, but I've got things to do tonight," you rejected her lightly. Her face fell and it made your stomach clench for some reason, "Why don't you come to my place tomorrow instead?" you found yourself saying.

The blinding smile that appeared on her face almost made you choke, "That sounds great! It's been ages since we spent any time together!" Akane happily replied and surprised you by leaning over to place a soft little peck on your cheek, "See you tomorrow!" she pulled back and then hurried off.

You touched a hand to your cheek and watched her leave in a bit of a daze, and it was then you noticed, that your lips had involuntarily tugged into a smile.

It took a few minutes before you managed to regain your composure and head home.

But even then, your thoughts lingered on Akane. Something about her made it that you could barely concentrate on anything because of thinking of her. And despite blurting it out on the spot, you were excited for tomorrow.