Chapter 4 | Burn

The kitchen door opened and a man in brown suit and pants walked inside. He placed his hands on top of the countertop, brushing his fingertips along its edges. The edges were cleaned to perfection as it reflects the recessed lighting. The man cleared his throat, in an attempt to get the chef’s attention.

"Are we ready to open, Chef?" Hiro, the manager of Scavenger’s Hut, asked. Hiro waited for Raverine's response but he is completely lost in his thought, his mind flying out of Earth’s surface while staring down to the floor. "Chef?" Hiro called him again that snapped him back to reality.

Raverine is wearing a double-breasted white coat, a grey apron tied around his waist, and black pants. He brushed his hair and took in a deep breath. He moved his eyes towards Hiro and nodded. "Yes, Hiro, open Scavenger's Hut."

Hiro bowed and walked out of the kitchen.

"Let's do our best today!" Raverine yelled at his station chefs and they started bringing out the ingredients and cooking equipment.

Scavenger's Hut was designed to simply attract our appetites. The kitchen was alive when customers kept arriving. The inside of the restaurant was vibrant to dine in but, opposite to the deeper view in the kitchen. It was hot, even the vents couldn’t take out all the heat at once, and they are loud, kitchen orders from every corner. The work is boiling their sweats out and pressuring them to move quickly.

"Lechón en Sisig for table one and Eggpanada for table four!" Raverine yelled and paste the order back on the top, along with the other pending orders.

"Yes, Chef!" His station chefs answered all at once. Some chefs kept coming back and forth to their stations while waiters and waitresses go in and out of the kitchen, carrying dirty plates to the sink while smoking hot, tasty foods are being delivered to the customers. Raverine dreamt this, his father made this restaurant for him. It's his pride and his father's pride to make Scavenger's Hut defeat La Rosa — owned by Calil Heresy, his greatest enemy — and receive its third Michelin star.

It was nine and dark when all the chefs are cleaning their stations. Raverine removed the pen tucked behind his right ear and placed it inside his pocket.

"Work is done! Everyone was satisfied! Great job!" Hiro shouted and went beside Raverine, "Have you heard the news, Chef?"

Raverine raised his brow and shook his head. "Tell me."

Hiro gulped and leaned closer to Raverine to whisper the news he heard earlier. As the words passed through Raverine's ear, he gritted his teeth and enlarged his eyes. He clenched his fists and went inside his office. He looked for his phone but heavy steps coming towards his office stopped him to do so. The door opened and Diego was breathlessly looking at Raverine.

"Raver!" Diego called, "Calil just got--"

"Yeah. Hiro just told me," Raverine gripped on his chair and lowered down his head, "Fuck it!"

"Damn, did you watch the interview?" Diego said and sat on the chair across from Raverine then placed his hand atop Raverine's desk.

Raverine scoffed. "That son of a pig just made himself the real champion." Raverine opened his laptop and searched for Calil's interview.

"Mister Calil Heresy, what's your inspiration for maintaining an exquisite, high level of cuisine?" a woman in the video asked.

Calil with crossed arms chuckled and scratched the corner of his left brow. "It's not what, actually, it's who."

"Oh? Is it a loved one? Friend? Family?"

"Well, my parents are both dead, may God rest them in heaven..."

Raverine snickered. "Talk like an angel, act like Satan..."

"Didn't he kill his parents? How sly," Diego said and crossed his arms as they continue to listen to the video interview of Calil, ‘The Great Chef’.

"My inspiration is my childhood friend," Calil chuckled before resuming, "Hmmm... let's just call him 'Bird'."

Raverine clenched his fist and knew who is that 'Bird'. Fucker... Raverine cursed in his thoughts.

"Bird's family protected and raised me after my parents died. His father taught me the basic ingredients of being a good cook then I dreamt of building my restaurant, in honor of Bird's very kind father, and now, I welcome everyone to dine in La Rosa," he stated and grinned in the video.

Diego examined Raverine's calm face then diverted his gaze to his fist gripping madly to his chair. It was not just his pride as a chef and dignity of being the only son of Edmond Agustine that was ruined, it was his sanity too when he knew that his father was murdered. The vampire doctors explained that the cause of death wasn't murder but because of heart failure. They said that his father's heart stopped beating because he did not drink human blood for twenty years straight. It was a bullshit diagnosis, of course, Raverine and his mother, Jelita, knew that something was off. Raverine felt that Calil killed his father as Calil killed his parents. Raverine was ten and six years old when his father died and all he craved was revenge up until now. He also knew that Calil got his restaurant by joining the Die Dark — a gang of shadow vampires who sell and buy an ‘illegal wine’, an alias for ‘infant clean blood’ — and killing countless people ordered by the Die Dark. Raverine may be a vampire but he is not a monster that instantly kills his enemy. He would rather destroy them first until they lose their mind than kill them directly. Raverine still has no proof that Calil killed his father but he is determined to show Calil's dark sides.

"Raver?" Diego called, "Just let that dude rot in hell. You don't need to go extreme in taking revenge."

Raverine paused the video and sat on his chair.

"Exposing him would be a dangerous plan to do, killing him won't be easy either because he's part of the Die Dark. Your plan will only fail, Raver, he's too strong. His position is higher than yours. It would be your downfall if you continue to compete with him." Diego tried to change Raverine's mind from destroying Calil. "Look, you can't expose a vampire to a human world. Remember that, Raver, we are in a human world with our abilities continuing to weaken, so is our defense against humans. It would be everyone's death."

"Unless we find that mature clean blood," Raverine mumbled while drumming his fingers on his desk.

Diego groaned. "Impossible!"

Raverine heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes. "Tell your brother that I want to join Die Dark..."

Diego stood and slammed his hands on the desk, "Are you drunk? Don't be so stupid, Raver."

"Never mind, I'll do it myself." Raver stood and was about to go outside but Diego stopped him by gripping his arm.

Raverine gawked at Diego's hand.

"Join them and I won't bury your body when you die,” Diego warned.

"Don't worry, you won't have to," Raverine whispered back and forcibly removed his arm from Diego's tight grip.

Scavenger's Hut was closed at nine and everyone left with a relief expression when their work is done, well, except for Raverine.

***

City lights were like stars in the night sky and the streets were less crowded. It was already ten and dark when his Masonry Ferrari 812 Superfast was roaring so loud on the road. He is driving his car on his way to his house when Diego kept calling him.

"Diego sent a voicemail, would you like to hear it, Mister Agustine?" Alex, his A.I. assistant, said in a monotonous and computerized voice.

"Yes," Raverine said and a ding sounded before Alex opened the voicemail.

"You better clear your mind, Raver. My brother went through some serious acts before entering Die Dark. I did not even follow him to join Die Dark because they're a bunch of merciless, shadow vampires. You aren’t drunk but sober up your thoughts," Diego said in the voicemail.

Raverine did not react and accelerated his car. His head was burdened with heavy thoughts as if he was back to his old, lost self when his father died. He started to drink blood from teenage girls out of anger even though his father told him not to do it. As he sucked their blood out, he also sucked out their wasted life — ten teenage girls died because of him. His mother, Jelita Agustine, had to deal with Raverine’s stubborn and wild behavior while bearing her own grievances.

Vampire fangs release a poisonous toxin that could kill their prey by piercing their fangs through its neck or any part of its body that could hit the nerve. After a vampire sucked out a human's blood, the fang will release its toxin that will instantly slay the human body. At first, the toxin will weaken the body until it targets the heart and stops it from circulating blood.

Raverine seeks nothing but revenge up until the present time. But Diego and Diego's brother came to him and helped him by rebuilding his father's restaurant, Scavenger's Hut, and himself back to sanity.

"Alex, turn on the lights," Raverine said when he went inside his house. He went straight to the kitchen and opened a can of Punk Ipa Brew Dog then went to the living room. He withdrew his phone from his pocket and unlocked it with a fingerprint. He took a sip from his beer and looked for "Skoteinó" on his contacts. He stared at his phone while thinking about the decision he was about to do. He took in a deep breath and placed the canned beer on top of a small table. He clicked it and pressed the call icon to call Skoteinó. The phone started ringing until Skoteinó answered.

"Hello? Agustine?" His voice sounded like a terrorist, completely synthesized to a thick, modulated voice.

"Skoteinó, do you sell wine?" Raverine asked and leaned his back to the sofa.

The guy on the other line let out a faint chuckle and gave Raverine a short answer, "Old Plaza, the large tree at three in the morning."

Skoteinó ended the call and left Raverine with an unsure expression. He was not scared, rather, he has this boiling feeling inside him which he can simplify to the word ‘revenge’.

***

Raverine is wearing a black hoodie and maroon pants with a black mask covering his mouth and nose only. He walked towards the large tree planted in the middle of the old plaza. He looked around and thought, ‘No people but some joggers are passing by the plaza.’

He waited for three minutes until a man in his 30s walked towards him. He was wearing a white smiley mask covering his face completely and a hoodie. His steps quickly intensified and Raverine saw a knife hiding from his hand. Raverine waited for him to attack and dodge it by simply gripping at his wrist then quickly twisting it to his back. Raverine knocked the guy on the ground then placed his feet on top of the guy's back while still gripping his wrist after he removed the knife from his hand. Raverine heard that the guy was laughing, so he let go of his wrist and moved back away from him. The guy stood and tidy himself.

"Well done, Agust," he said and chuckled, "You are always better than my brother."

Raverine laughed and returned his knife. "Diego..." Raverine whispered, "Both of us have the same strength since you trained us well."

"Nah, he's dumb," Skoteinó said and leaned to the large tree, "So... you gonna buy?"

"Yeah, have it?"

Skoteinó chuckled and removed his white smiley mask that revealed the tattoos on his face. The tattoo that attracts Raverine the most is the official insignia of Die Dark — a smiling skull with a bloody fang. The tattoos were all over his dark-toned face. He also had piercings on his nose and lip — a typical look of an outlaw.

"I ain't a seller, Agust," Skoteinó looked at him and Raverine saw the scar on his left eye, "I am a killer. Now, if you want to buy then call this." Skoteinó gave him a piece of paper with a number on it, Raverine looked at it carefully then back to Skoteinó.

"Thanks."

"You gonna drink it?" Skoteinó asked then unwrapped a green bubble gum.

"Yeah," Raverine replied and inserted the paper inside his pocket.

"Why?" Skoteinó threw the gum inside his mouth and started to chew it, "You know that it does not completely return your vampire abilities, right? Why drink?"

"Do I need to be interrogated before buying the wine? Is that a new rule from the Die Dark?"

"Oh... so defensive. I like guessing people's minds but my guesses are mostly wrong. I just want to know if my guess about you, buying a wine, is correct... that's all."

Raverine chuckled, "What's your guess?"

"Hmmm... My first guess was you want to drink it to stop yourself from aging? But... Nah, you are looking too good to do that. I bet many girls tried to chase you, eh?" Skoteinó joked that made Raverine chuckle. "My second guess is that you want to kill somebody?" Raverine scoffed that made Skoteinó exclaim. "Ha! I got it right... or wrong. Well, I wish you luck but I don't believe in luck."

Skoteinó laughed and Raverine smiled mirthlessly. "Yeah..." Raverine whispered.

"But let me tell you a rumor," Skoteinó whispered, " A shadow vampire said to me that you can regain a little amount of your ability if you..." Raverine furrowed his brows and moved closer to him.

"If?" Raverine questioned.

"If you choose a one-year-old wine. Just smell the wine and you'll know it when it makes you a little bit thirsty."

Raverine bit his lip and nodded, "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

They shook hands before parting. Skoteinó wore his white smiley mask back and walked away from Raverine. Raverine stayed at the plaza while staring deeply into the piece of paper Skoteinó gave him.

"191919 — DD — cancel ones, enter three," he read the message on the paper and returned it from his pocket.

He was feeling a little bit guilty but his mind kept whispering to him, ‘Trust me, it's going to be worth it.’