The smell of roast meat wafted through the air. It smelled positively delicious, but to the nose of a vampire, it wasn’t all that great. They could eat meat and enjoy it just the same as humans, but after smelling the blood of a human, nothing could quite compare to it —the smell that would often be called a foul odor by humans was one of the most magnificent aromas in the world to a vampire’s nostrils.
Clara sat behind one of the tables in the school cafeteria. It was where people who’d lost their homes to monsters or felt unsafe could take shelter, protected by the government officials and whatnot. Not that there was any government. Cars were gone and the next city over was a hundred kilometers away.
Without cars, inter-city travel was be something that only a select few would even think of. Especially given the fact that there were little to no horses in the country. Biking was a viable solution, most likely, but riding a bike in a world infested with murderous mosquitos wasn’t exactly enticing.
Despite that, the government was more or less functional in Nerea. It was the capital city of the country and just about everything that you’d need for a proper government to exist was here. Disappointingly, not much had changed after the System’s coming. People simply started to stay inside more often and there was something of an unspoken curfew —leaving your house past eight o’clock in the evening was pretty much suicide.
The bloodsuckers were out then. Not the vampires, but the insects that did the same thing. But they were far weaker, not sentient. They simply attacked and tried to suck any human they saw dry, and out in the sun, they didn’t come out. Perhaps due to the fact that they dried up very easily. Their presence in the dark made them seem far too similar to vampires.
“Are you okay?” asked Hugh. He was a short guy with black hair in a buzz cut. Apparently, he dreamed of getting into the military, which wasn’t a trait shared by many. Most would rather not even get enlisted. They sat behind a table in the cafeteria of St. Lucas’ High School which was located in the basement, proving a perfect hiding place from monsters even during the night.
“I am,” said Clara matter of factly, her tone betraying nothing. There was only some hard bread and butter on her tray while most of the others piled up as much as they could. Without electricity, gas, and just about everything that made Earth a civilized society, most didn’t light up a fire to cook food, resorting to readily made things, “I don’t have much of an appetite.”
She wasn’t lying. If she had, then everyone in the hall would be her lunch. But she wasn’t hungry. Not yet.
Dressed in a black hoodie and jeans, she looked every part a goth teenager she was trying to look like. Then again, she was just a goth teenager before she was turned a few decades ago. But Clara didn’t remember much of her life before she turned —everything was a blur. Everything her parents told her came to her recollection as broken sentences and she didn’t even remember their faces now.
Next to them sat Adeline, a mage. She was the one that ‘saved’ them from the mosquitoes the night before. That served as a good opportunity for Clara to slip into the safe havens of humanity to spy for any hunters. Hugh… was lucky to meet Adeline. She had curly black hair that reached her lower back, lazily tied into a ponytail. And to top it off, she was tanned slightly.
The hall was full and each table had six or so seats, but some had eight or twelve. They stood out slightly. Everyone else sat with their families or at least someone they knew, but the three of them? They were complete strangers.
“You’re a mage as well, right?” asked Adeline after she chewed on some potatoes. The main dish for the day was mashed potatoes with roast meat chopped into large pieces. It had gravy all over it, making it look all the more appetizing. There was no salad or anything of the sort, though. They’d run out of those things after the first three days. She then asked with a grin, “Blood Sorceress, was it? Can you make those mosquitoes explode from the inside? Since they have a lot of blood in their bellies.”
While a part of Clara wanted to say that she could, and she could very much do the same to Adeline herself with a snap of her fingers—though without using her Class Skill, as that was more externalized— she refrained from it. With a gentle smile, she answered. It was a fake one, of course, “No. I can only control blood that has been spilled.”
“That is… a bit underwhelming, but I guess there’s no shortage of it,” said Adeline in a joyous manner, her voice loud. Her optimism was infectious. Clara found herself becoming just a tad bit more optimistic when she said that, “I can just burn them for you first. They’ll go boom, and then they’ll go whoosh.”
“I-” started Clara, and stopped. She was good at lying, very much so, but when it came to coming up with what to say in the first place, she was better off having some time to herself first. But then an idea came into her mind, “I would rather not fight. I-I’m afraid of dying… again.”
Of course, she hadn’t died during the Calibration. She just ripped apart any goblin that came close to her. Those disgusting creatures who were barely human children couldn’t take on a single of her attacks, but most of her job was done with her Blood Manipulation and Telekinesis.
“So please don’t talk about that again,” Clara added. She couldn’t act suspiciously yet. After night fell, they would all turn into cattle or die. But for now, there could be hunters hiding behind every corner for all she knew. A moment of inattentiveness could result in her death. It was her duty to make sure that there were none before night fell, and she was pretty sure none were present with only an hour of daylight left.
“Alright,” said Adeline and quieted down, still with a smile. She then turned to the only other person sitting behind the table, “Well… Hugh, right? I heard that Warriors have a System-integrated weapon given to them after they complete the Calibration. Can I see it? I’m a big sword fanatic.”
Their words faded into the background as Clara absent-mindedly looked through the hall. There were one or two people that looked like they could fight. Apparently, they were the ones that guarded the school. As it was a boarding school, it had quarters for people in one of its three compartments. Then there were two compartments that had classrooms. All of them had three floors so there was ample space.
Still no sign of the hunters…
It was fishy. They were always snooping around everywhere, but somehow they weren’t doing anything now. Then again, they would have lost most of their advanced equipment from the System’s coming. It was really a blessing in disguise. They didn’t have anything to fear now. Even guns didn’t work and they barely even faze the vampires. It was obvious what awaited humanity.
“So… where are your families?” asked Adeline as Clara snapped back to reality, “Since you aren’t with your families, I mean. Otherwise, you’d be rushing back home or something.”
“I’m from the countryside,” said Hugh. He’d finished his meal faster than Clara had finished eating half her bread, “So they’re probably out on the farm. Since they’re several hours away by car, there’s really no getting back to them safely. But they’ll be fine. They have more of a chance of surviving than I do. And I’m alive as far as I’m aware.”
There was an awkward silence over the table.
She didn’t know what dying felt like, so she couldn’t really understand the trauma associated with being killed in the Calibration Stage. Apparently, a lot of humans suffered from it.
Stolen story; please report.
“Do you miss the internet?” asked Adeline, trying to bring back the mood. She was that one talkative girl in class that everyone loved because she was constantly bumbling, “I miss social media, and my phone’s dead too. Not being able to take selfies is weird. But I’m more attuned to real-life now so it’s a blessing in disguise.”
Clara noticed Hugh staring at her as the duo conversed. She’d long since gotten used to being stared at. But that did bring up something that she was trying to not think about: where was Sean?
While she couldn’t say that they were dating, he was the closest thing to a friend she had. All the vampires and just about every resident in the Undercity viewed her as royalty, and rightly so. She was the heir apparent of the Vampire Empress.
Maybe it was time to replace him?
No, she shouldn’t. Not when they’d be playing an active role in the matters of the mundane, but she was bored already.
Clara grit her teeth as she looked down at the tray. It was annoying, not being able to interact with others. Many embraced the fact that they were royalty and abused their rights. She… she didn’t feel comfortable, vestiges of her human life breaking her out of her stupor whenever she tried to embrace it. It wasn’t natural.
“Anyways, I heard that some people started making parties and killing those monsters. Kind of like parties from games. So umm, wanna make a guild? The System apparently has an option like that and we can chat with each other and stuff,” said Adeline, and Clara frowned after she heard that.
Carmilla was right. Humanity had to be suppressed, and fast. If they started viewing life as a game and the transition was to ever be completed, then they wouldn’t be able to dominate them as easily. Now humans could grow stronger just by reading books and working out physically to break their limits.
Everyone would be a hunter.
They had to be tamed as quickly as possible.
And they’d benefit from it, too. There was little to no corruption in the court. Not under Carmilla’s rule and faction. About Amarok’s side, Clara did not know. He’d apparently escaped the assault but they were gone now, either dead or on Carmilla’s side, having acted as spies for years.
Her resourcefulness often terrified Clara.
Would she be able to live up to such a grand figure’s name?
“You don’t have to fight, though,” said Adeline as she looked at Clara, “It’s just that… it’d be better for us loners to stick together and all. We’ll be safer that way too, I think. If you ever need me, big sis can just come over and burn any creepy weirdos that are scaring you.”
Right. She was a few years older than Hugh and her. Only biologically, though. Chronologically, Clara was in her sixties.
“Sure,” said Clara. She did hear of the Guild option before from Carmilla, but she told her not to join the ones the Undercity had created. Everyone had Appraisal and Guilds apparently showed up on its results.
“I’ll do it,” said Hugh, “So what will the name be?”
“I guess Loners works. We can probably change it later,” said Adeline and tapped a few times on an invisible screen. You couldn’t see the screens of others.
A notification popped up.
System Notification
You have been invited to join the Guild ‘Loners’. You will get access to the Chat and Raid functions of the System upon accepting.
A) Accept
B) Decline