The Firelands

38 - Let Me In

13thday of the fourth Month, Joker's Moon

3:00 pm

Midnight City

When they reached the centre of town, Orlander pointed at the group.

"You must start searching for him. We do not have time to waste. I will alert the council to send out a warning. Be careful, just because he has gone rogue does not mean he has lost his sanity, it just means he's more dangerous because his emotions will be locked down and his primary goal will be to feed."

Zedkiel nodded. "We shall start searching now." He turned to the other two, pointing them in different directions. "We will split up. Watch yourselves."

The other two nodded and raced down different roads while Orlander ran for the city council.

Theth glanced up at the road he had gone down. Child's Way, he knew this road, they had walked down it earlier for dinner, the surrounding roads were mostly wide, with shops, cafés and restaurants with a few smaller side roads between. He looked around, hating the darkness. With his hair and dark clothing, Kalen could easily just blend into the shadows and if what Orlander said was true, that he was still in control of his mind – somewhat – then he'd be as clever as ever and could simply avoid them.

He turned onto another road just as an alarm sounded. Hideously high pitched, it fluctuated through different tones, impossible to ignore. The reaction was instant.

The staff of the shops, cafes and restaurants ran to the doors, locking them, keeping the customers tucked away inside, pulling down blinds and yanking closed curtains, turning off the lights. People who were casually walking down the streets panicked. Parents with children grabbed them up into the arms. Many took flight, soaring up into the air and vanishing over the rooftops, speeding home or wherever was safe. In mere seconds the streets were completed deserted and quiet.

Deserted apart from one sound that had been let out at the exact same time as the alarm. A scream from down one of the smaller side streets up ahead.

Theth quietly ran over. Peering around the corner, his jaw simply dropped, eyes widening.

There was a young man in the street, and from the fangs that glistened in his mouth – visible because his mouth was stretched wide in a silent scream – he was a vampire.

He was wrapped up in water. Completely trapped in a ball that was suffocating him. And before him stood Kalen, standing with his arms folded, leaning one shoulder against the wall, legs crossed at the ankle as he watched. Theth shook his head, his thoughts flying back to the teacups he had seen in Orlander's office.

Teardrop! It hadn't been anything so specific as a teardrop. It had been a water drop. Orlander had witch blood; of course he'd had tealeaves that gave warnings and predictions. If he had looked into Orlander's cup, he could bet his wings it had shown something along the lines of fangs – or something to point to Kalen. Orlander wouldn't think anything of it; he knew he was going after a rogue vampire. He didn't know Kalen was the Dragon Knight of Water however, so he couldn't put two and two together. But Theth would of if he had looked. Those images spelt out that Kalen was about to come into control of his power over water, like Incendio over fire.

"Kalen!" Theth snarled.

Kalen looked back over his shoulder and smiled. Theth almost stepped back. He hadn't seen those fangs before. They weren't coming down from his canines; they must have come from the roof of his mouth.