CHAPTER 3: BLACK LOTUS

"Never hesitate, huh?" Karina mumbled as they reached the headquarters to report. The other members looked at each other with confused faces.

Alice didn’t mind her taunts, and they went on their way. She's too enraged to care about the woman's bickering.

They were welcomed by the secretary of Clarisse Monroe, the head of the hunter’s association in their country. She was better known for her alias, Black Lotus. She was also the woman who saved Alice’s life.

"You’re pretty early. I assume nothing went wrong?" She welcomed the team with a huge smile. Alice heaved a sigh. She still doesn’t get how the woman who was deemed the deadliest hunter who’d killed the most vampires has the bubbliest personality. People who didn’t know the woman would easily think that she was harmless, then die if they tried to do anything reckless.

Alice rolled her eyes but answered anyway, "The only problem here is that you put newbies right into the field. Do you know how these kids cowered in fear earlier? What is this? Are we out of hunters?" She was barely keeping it together earlier. Their lives are at stake every time they face a vampire. They could get killed with one wrong move.

Everyone behind her, except Karina, looked guilty. They barely finished their third assignment as a team. They were understaffed, to top it all off.

Black Lotus heaved an exhausted sigh. She turned to the rest of the team.

"You guys are dismissed. Have some good rest, you all. " Her eyes only went back to Alice after everyone had left.

She gestured for Alice to sit, "I’m sure that this will be a long talk. Please sit down."

"Why didn’t you tell me?" She was fuming with anger. Alice didn’t expect that the woman would lie to her.

The older woman’s eyes squinted. Alice didn’t know if the woman was acting or not; she was angry either way.

"Sorry, I can’t follow. I’m certain that I told you everything you needed to know about your teammates, the remaining few ones." She added with a hint of sulking.

"That vampire. He was at the masquerade ball. You told me you haven’t found him, but that monster is just around the place, playing around and having the time of his life! " She spoke without a pause.

Black Lotus couldn’t answer for a moment. Her mellow expression turned into a firm one, "There were vampires with whom we couldn’t deal, not with so many lives at stake. That vampire you’re talking about is roughly a thousand years old. We don’t stand a chance. "

She hissed, almost like a vampire would.

"I would kill him myself. Now give me the information about him, or I will take it myself. " She knew how dumb it was to challenge the head of their organization, but she didn’t have all the time in the world.

All of her previous lives came to an end on their 28th birthdays. She remembered exactly ten of her previous lives, and all of them never passed a day without dying. It’s exactly six months before she turns 28. She didn’t survive this long just to be killed for the nth time.

The woman remained firm in her decision.

"Fine." Alice stood and walked away without looking back. However, she didn’t go out of the headquarters but walked straight into their database.

People have been asking her what her business is, but Alice was in too foul of a mood to even explain. She just wanted to know enough information about that vampire and she will be off on her own. She was never expecting anyone to help her kill that vampire. They had already provided her with enough.

"Give me access to all of the vampire profiles you have." She gave the order to the person in charge.

The man calmly stood and tried to mediate the situation, "But you already have access to it, Ms. Alice."

Her expression didn’t change.

"I need the restricted ones too." She saw him swallowing nervously.

Alice figured that the man wouldn’t easily give her what she wanted. She pulled out her gun and pointed it at the man.

"This could kill a vampire, but so could you if you don’t give me what I need." He quickly raised his hands in fear. Everyone knew that Alice never joked around and was serious about her threat.

The glass door she locked for a reason shattered. Alice put down her gun and looked at Black Lotus, whom she thought was the only person she could count on.

"Stop wreaking havoc and follow me. I’ll tell you what you need to know. "

--

She crossed her arms impatiently while the woman pulled out several folders.

"He went by many names, just like any other vampire did. He is currently known as Elijah, and like I told you, he’s roughly a thousand years old, and it’s impossible for you to take him down alone. "

She glared at her, "Do you not hear what I said earlier?"

The woman snatched the folders and checked the information gathered so far. It only made her furious, seeing that they had already found the vampire a year ago and hadn’t told her anything.

Black Lotus’ reaction didn’t change. She knew perfectly what would happen if Alice tried to fight the vampire.

"Things are different now. I could protect you, Alice. You don’t have to try to kill him. " She argued, only thinking about the woman’s well-being.

Alice let out a frustrated groan. She rarely trusts anyone, which is also why she doesn’t feel disappointed when people try to upset her. But it is different for Clarisse. She treated the woman as her only family after she ran away from a place she couldn’t even call home.

"This isn’t what you promised me. You told me that if I joined the organization, you would do anything to help me." She was the one who gave her hope that this would stop and that she could live and break the cycle.

"That is what I’m doing. I am helping you to stay alive. Do you think I’m doing this just because I want to? No, I’m doing this for your own sake. You’ll die if you fight head on with that vampire."