PUREBLOOD

The neighborhood was rather quiet, she thought to herself as she was washing clothes that morning. It was good anyway, although it was due to another vampire attack.

"Where's that priest of yours, kid?"

"I know you're gangsters. Go away." She heard little Henry scream out.

"Look at this rude runt."

She sighed. Couldn't there be a day where there would be no noise on the street? She thought to herself as she lifted the basin of soapy water. She was going to teach them a lesson.

The guy who seemed to be their leader was tapping Henry's head by the time she arrived. "That rude mouth of yours."

"Don't touch me" Henry protested.

"We need him to sign this. Our construction work is getting held up because of all of you. Don't think we're going to go easy on you all because you're orphans, so hurry and get him, will you?"

She'd had enough, she thought to herself as she bit her lower lip. Angrily, she stomped towards the men, the basin on her hands. "Hey assholes, who the hell do you think you are, you better shut your faces and scram out of here before I tear you a new one." She yelled and made to pour the water on the leader when he dodged and swiftly grabbed her at the back of the neck.

"Ouch" She yelled.

"You again? Can't we have a day without you trying to be a hero?"

Her siblings rushed towards the man but were stopped by his bodyguards.

"And where are we supposed to go if you get rid of our house?" She asked and he tightened his grip on her neck.

"Do you think I care, feisty little bitch?" He snarled.

"Excuse me...can someone give me some directions?"

They all turned to see a guy behind them looking through the street like he was lost.

"What the hell..."

"Can you tell me how to get to the nearest police station?" He asked, flinging a cigarette through his fingers.

"Can't you see that we're in the middle of something? Go find it yourself." The leader said.

He seemed not to care.

"Ah..ok."And with that, he turned to leave.

Mr. Gangster leader turned to them and gave a nod to his men who shoved the kids away.

"You little rats should tell the priest to come out now or else my fists will do the talking on your sister's face." He said and she groaned as he grabbed her neck harder.

Her expression soon turned to a surprised one when she saw the guy with the cigarette returning back. "You know...you should really watch your mouth or do you want to spend the night in a slammer."

Mr. Gangster leader was surprised at his level of courage so he let go of her immediately and turned to face him."Who the hell do you think you are? One of the bodyguards asked. "Alright, you asked for it." He smiled.

The second bodyguard was about to make an attack on him when he discovered something and panic was written on his face as he whispered to his boss who frowned. "Fuck this, we'll be back next week. The priest better be around." He said and they ran off, throwing mean glances at him as they did.

Her siblings threw their arms around her and she gathered them in hers. "Sorry, was I too late?"

"No, you came at the perfect time." Henry replied.

"I was just about to give them a beat down." Henrietta said and Henry scoffed.

"Liar, you were rather quiet."

"By the way, don't tell Father Michael that I swore."She pleaded. He'd yell at her again if he knew.

"If you'll do the laundry for a week." Henry said, a wicked smile on his lips. He hated doing the laundry.

"Ok, deal"

"Yes!"

"It's better to avoid scums altogether like that next time." The guy with the cigarette said as he turned to leave.

"Wait." She called out and he turned to look at them over his shoulders. "Thanks so much for today."

He tore his eyes off them with a sigh. "No need to thank me. I just hate seeing lowlifes trying to make money like that." He replied as he went down the stairs in front of the building.

"Oh, wait. I can tell you how to get to the police station." She said and he slightly lifted his hand without shooting her a glance. "I already know where it is."

A sigh escaped her lips as she slowly turned to the house. She'd been living there, in the church runned orphanage since ten years back. The neighborhood was known to be a run down so bullying by gangsters happened frequently. She was used to it though...apart from one thing.

"Riña, go out for once. Don't you have friends?"

"As a college student, can you at least try to join a club and go to school events?"

Her siblings always nagged at her to go out and have fun as most college students did as she was the biggest loner on campus. Since she didn't know anyone in her major, she had to say hi to everyone on campus and have lunch all by herself. Was her campus life ever going to be fun-filled? Was anyone going to like her after knowing who she really was.

Her mind went back to the incident that had happened on her way back home two days back. A body whose neck had been pierced by fangs had been seen lying in its' pool of blood, two streets from hers. People in the bus where she had been seated were talking about it as the bus drove past the scene and Riña turned to the mother of the deceased who wailed loudly.

"I told you there's no noodles." Henry screamed, jerking her out of her thoughts.

"But that's what I want."

A sigh escaped her lips as she headed for the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

"Riña, Henrietta is craving noodles after dinner and we're out of it." Henry replied

"Really? Don't worry Henrietta, I'll get some at the convenience store."

"Can I come with you?" She beamed.

"It's late Rietta,stay at home with Henry. I'll be back before you know it." She replied and headed out of the house.

The nearest convenience store was almost closing by the time she arrived as it a couple of minutes to curfew. "Riña, what brings you..."

"Can I have some noodles, please?" She asked and the store owner hurriedly went in to get them.

"Thanks Mr. Thomas." She said and made to give him the money. "You can keep it dear."

"But Mr. Thomas..." "You should hurry along now, Riña. It's almost curfew."He smiled and she bowed slightly in appreciation. "Thanks and goodnight Mr. Thomas."

"Have a goodnight dear."

She turned to head home and was two blocks

away when the street lights started to flicker. A frown settled on her brow as she raised her head to look at it. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it on the outside though,so what was...

"So this is where you shithead has been hiding..." Her head whipped round to look at the direction where the voice came from and she was surprised to see Mr. Gangster leader again,this time bullying someone else. She carefully hid beside a shop and slowly peeked out her head to see what was happening.

"Please, have a little patience ... I'll pay you your money." The man pleaded.

"A little patience, a little patience,that's what you say all the time...but then I see you coming out of a bar, with girls flocking around you.Life must be so good, right?"He snarled and Zuriña raked her hands through her hair, wondering whether to interfere or not.

"Please..."

"There's no way you'll be escaping a beat down today, my friend." Mr. Gangster leader said and started throwing punches all over the man's face. Zuriña closed her eyes not wanting to watch the long scene but the sound of the punching soon stopped and she could hear little groans. On opening her eyes to see what had happened, a soft gasp escaped her lips and she had to cover her mouth to prevent her from getting caught.

The man who was being beaten up had transformed into a vampire and he'd thrust his hand through his creditor's body.

"I told you to have patience, didn't I?"

Zuriña blinked hard as she completely hid herself out of sight. Trying to abscond to safety, she ended up bumping against a trashcan behind her. Fear washed through her as she hurriedly made to rise, making more noise instead and she cursed aloud, hoping the vampire wouldn't come for her.

A cold shiver ran down her spine as she felt a dark shadowed cover her and she slowly turned to see the vampire who'd killed the leader of the gangster before her."Please... please..."She swallowed hard.

"Why am I getting excited all of a sudden?" He chuckled as he approached her.

"Don't come near me.... don't come... Someone help... please."She stuttered as she crawled backwards and he smiled.

"There's no one here, darling. Are you afraid? Come on, don't be. After all, vampires were once humans...humans like you." He replied and she could see his fangs had elongated. He lurched towards her and she stuck out her foot in response, trying desperately to get away but he grabbed her ankle.

"Please don't do this...." She cried and he pulled her underneath so he was over her. She tried to force herself out of his grip but he had her pinned to the ground.

"Look into my eyes...this power is a gift. It makes people who are weak superior over others."

She kept struggling and he tightened his grip on her arms as a wicked smile crossed his lips. "Guess what?"

She was too afraid too ask. "I won't kill you..."He said and slowly lowered his lips to her ears, trailing down his tongue."...I'll bestow this gift upon you...I'll make you a vampire"

"NO!" She screamed.

2

"NO!"

He made to sink his fangs into her neck but a punch sent him flying to the air and he landed with a dull thud. The wind sent her white hair flying to obstruct her face and she buried her face in her palms. "Not again..."

He groaned and she lowered her hands as she turned towards where he was. Blood seeped from his mouth and his eyes slowly turned to her.

"You messed with the wrong person today." Zuriña said and more blood dripped down his jaw as he tried to speak.

"Please...help...me."

"You should have listened when I told you to leave me. No one can ever recover from my punches...so die, let the world be relieved of a vampire like you."

"What...are..." He coughed up more blood.

"What am I?...A superior vampire...a vampire from birth."

Her wristwatch beeped and she looked down at it.

"Darn, it's curfew." She cursed and leapt into the air.

A kitten was licking its' paw when she zoomed across roofs and in less than a minute, she jumped down in front of the building.

"Zuriña...."

"What happened to your hair?..."Henry was saying as she dashed to her room. She began to fumble through her things, throwing and tossing them around as she searched for the only thing to calm her down.

"Where's it? Where did I put it?"

"What are you looking for?" Rietta asked.

Henry on the other hand seemed to understand the situation, so he turned to the laundry basket in the room. "Here it is." He said.

She ran to the laundry basket like someone who was possessed. And there it was, the crown of thorns.

"Phew." She sighed as she wore it over her head before plonking on the bed.

"Are you okay, Riña?" Rietta asked.

"Yeah, I just need a minute."

Henry winked at her and took Rietta's hand in his.

"Come on Rietta, I'll make you some noodles."

"Okay." She replied as they turned to head out of the room.

Riña sighed once they were out of the room."I'm really such a klutz..." She mumbled.

The crown of thorns had been designed for her by the priest, Father Michael who'd taken her in when she was young. He'd known she was the type to transform if she was to be triggered but he'd figured out the only way to get it under control was by putting on the crown of thorns.

She hurriedly sat up and turned to the mirror. Her hair starting to fade back to brown and her claws were slowly disappearing. "Hey Riña, why didn't you take it with you? You'd have been in trouble if you'd been spotted by a human."

It wasn't just trouble though, it would have been a serious one. She'd have to quit school and forget about living like a human. Humans were so scared of the vampire race so she didn't have much of a choice.It wasn't easy too, hiding who she really was.

A can materialized on her desk the next afternoon and she raised her head to see the new professor before her. "You're Zuriña, Zuriña Anderson, right?"

"Yes, professor."She replied and lowered her eyes to the can before lifting her eyes to meet that of the professor's.

"I noticed you were still hard at work even after the class, so I got you this to help you remain focused." He explained.

A smile crossed her lips. "Thank you so much."

"Keep up the good work" He said as he retreated to the professor's table where two other students were waiting for him and Riña found her eyes glued to his back.

"Hey, Zuriña."

She turned to see a coursemate of hers approaching her so she wore a smile, since she didn't know his name.

"Hey Zuriña." He smiled

"Hi"

"I'm Roshan. We've met before, I'm always sitting behind you in a couple of classes."He said.

Oh, really? She wondered. She hadn't noticed.

"Yeah"

"I was wondering if we could do Professor Park's assignment together, since it's a pair work...that's if you're yet to have a partner in mind though"

She smiled at his nervousness. He looked cute. "I don't"

"Does that mean we could be partners?"

"Yeah." She smiled

"If it sits well with you, could we discuss about the assignment over lunch?"

This was among the part of 'pretending to be human that she hated the most'

"Sure, I was feeling hungry anyway." She lied as she rose up to gather her books.

The campus cafeteria was a bit far from their lecture halls so they walked.

"By the way, did you hear the news? A vampire murdered a whole family." A guy was saying.

"I heard about it...Those vampires are really going to kill everyone at this rate." A girl replied.

"I wish they'd all drop dead. Those monsters"

She dropped her head as her expression changed to a sad one. She couldn't be close to people ever since she was a child so she'd attached herself to picture books. She'd always been envious of friends who'd sit and play together and she'd always prayed for one too. Her prayers looked like they'd been answered when one day, Yian, a boy smiled down at her with his hands towards hers.

She had been criticized a lot since she couldn't attend school, but for the first there was someone who didn't care about that and was ready to spend time with her.

From then, they had met up everyday and he had told her things he couldn't tell anyone in school and during those periods, Zuriña almost forgot that she was a vampire.

But the saying was right, happy moments didn't last forever. He had come back from school one day with his entire face swollen and when she had asked what was wrong, he had said nothing.

They had met less and less after that incident and eventually lost touch. She had gotten mad...mad that she had not been able to help him after everything he had done for her. And so she had decided to help him.

And on one of the days Yian had been bullied on the streets, she had disguised and used her strength to beat up the bullies who ran away like the cowards they were.

She had remembered taking off her disguise as she ran towards him to see if he was alright, only to be greeted with the look of fear and panic as he had realized what she was.

"Please...spare me..."

"Zuriña, Riña." Roshan called and she jerked out of her thoughts.

"Right, I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

Someone bumped shoulders with her and she raised her head to see an unfriendly face glaring down at her. "Watch where you're going, bitch."

"You're the one who bumped into her first."He made to protest and Zuriña noticed that students around where whispering and murmuring amongst themselves.

"Wait a sec, he's that upperclassman. So he could seriously come back to school?" Roshan scoffed and she turned to him.

"What upperclassman?"

"He's known for having a screw loose and is infamous as he causes trouble anywhere he goes. Everytime he goes out to drink, he beats up his classmates and extorts money from them. He smokes in lecture halls too. Funny enough, I heard he's been friends with Professor Park since high school. It's a surprise how they are so different." Roshan said and she turned to him.

"How do you know all of this?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Upperclassman talk."

"Let's go. Checking caught up in this won't do any good."

Brad threw an empty gallon of water and staggered home, like a drunkard that night. "This thirst won't leave." He muttered to himself, unable to count the number of water gallons he'd drained that day.

They were all the same, everywhere he went. They seemed to know about how he blew up all his jobs interviews and how he came back to the uni after nine years.

But it didn't matter, did it? He thought as he leaned over to look at his himself at the rear view of a parked car.

I've been reborn, he thought to himself.

Elijah Park was going through some folders he held as he made his way towards his parked car, where Brad stood. "Hey Brad, long time no see."

Yeah, long enough for you to start acting up around me. He thought to himself.

Elijah walked towards him with a smile. "I was wondering what you were up to when I heard you're back in school, but I didn't see you around."

Look at him. He and I are completely on different parts even though we started college at the same time. How did a moron like him get hired? Ugh, he was probably have fun when I was running around during job interviews. How dare he? How dare he try to have the things I can't have. He thought.

It doesn't matter, Brad. You can make him unable to have those things anymore, a thought struck in and his eyes turned red as his claws elongated.

He buried his claws in the car's bonnet and with a turn, the car was upside down.

Zuriña stayed back to work after school hours to work on the assignment two days later when Roshan rushed into the class.

"Zuriña, did you hear?" He asked and she lifted her head.

"Hear about?"She asked.

"Professor Park..." His voice trailed off and she could see the panic in his eyes.

"What about Professor Park?"

"He...he died."

"What?...How?"She asked and he walked up to where she was seated and lowered his voice. "He was murdered...by Brad."

"Brad?"She asked, the name not at all familiar. "The upperclassman we were talking about yesterday"

"The upperclassman?... He murdered Professor Park?" She asked

"That's not all...I heard he was able to kill him because... he's a vampire." "Vam..vampire?"She swallowed.

A text came into their phones and Roshan slipped his out of his pocket to check it. "There'll be a class this afternoon by two. The class governor just texted us."He read out and raised his head. "You'll come, right?"He asked. "Yeah."She said.

There was no way he would go scot-free, she would make sure of that.

Brad puffed out smoke as he looked out from the school's rooftop. The police had declared him on thehe wanted list since he murdered Elijah. If not for that surveillance camera across the road...

A text came into his phone and he took a drag from his cigarette before he slipped it out of the pocket. It was from an unknown number. "This should be interesting..." he muttered as he smiled to himself.

Roshan and Zuriña headed out of the hall once classes were over. Zuriña was particularly glad to see the end of the class as she had a lot on her mind.

"How far gone are you on the assignment?" He asked, on their way home.

"On a scale of one to ten, I'd say I'm on six." She replied. "Wow, that's nice. Looks I've got a hard worker for a partner."He said and they laughed.

"By the way, I have a couple of documents at home that could help us and serve as references."He said.

"Really?Could you bring them over tomorrow?" "Sure, but how about we get a little bite somewhere first?"He asked and she faked a smile.

"Sure."

The Chanbridge hall which was still under construction was rather quiet that night when he arrived. "Why would someone wanna meet here?"He wondered to himself as he walked in.

Directions were marked on the pillars and he smirked as he followed them.What was this? A prank the cops put to get him. How dare they? His claws elongated as he walked on. He would teach them a lesson never to mess around with him.

He had fully transformed when he arrived where the silhouette of a person was seated and he figured he was the one who sent the message.

"Who are you?" He asked as he approached the seated figure.

"Why did you kill Professor Park?" The person asked and he scoffed.

"Oh,he was your professor?"

The figure perched down as it began to walk towards him and the silhouette faded into darkness, slowly revealing a girl who had her lower face covered.

"A girl? The one who sent the message was a girl? Whoa...you must really have some guts."

"You're yet to give me an answer to my question."She said and he laughed as he held up his claws to look at.

"People should know their place in life. He was a cheap bastard, one who felt he had the right to look down on others just because he was living well...He had such an inflated ego."

Zuriña could not believe her ears. So he'd killed Professor Park just because he felt inadequate in the comparison. Professor Park didn't deserve to die, not that way.

"So that's the reason? The reason why you killed him?" She asked and he replied, nonchalantly.

"Yeah."

A loud sigh escaped and lips. "The world has become a scary place to live in, because of people like you. Kids can't come out to play and they cower in fear at night...I want you to turn yourself in and you need to apologize to Professor Park's family and suffer the consequences of your actions..."

He interrupted her by punching her hard, one which sent her few metres from him. "Hot damn, that was one hell of a punch."He chuckled and a cold shiver suddenly ran down his spine. "You thought that punch was incredible, didn't you?"

He whipped around to see her standing there in one piece, not looking injured a bit. "What the...It was a clean hit..."A wicked smile crossed his lips on realisation of what she was. "Oh, I get...you are also a vampire. It all makes sense now...I see why you had the guts to call me here."

He raked his fingers through his hair.

"You must have been dying to drink blood...How did you manage to attend classes?..." He paused for a minute to observe her. "Take off your mask...Didn't your mum tell you it's rude to cover your face when you're talking to someone?"

He was surprised when she didn't move, so he tried to provoke her even more. "Oh...I know... You're hiding your face because you are messed up if anyone finds out who you are... Just take it off, I won't kill you.I just want to see how pretty you are..."

"You seem to be jumping into conclusions so let me set it straight. I am wearing the mask for your sake. The moment you see my face, I'll have to kill you."

He scoffed as he approached her. "But do you know, a vampire's physical ability determine how much that damage they can take, so you can pretend to be tough all day but a girl like you is going to get your ass kicked by me." He said and threw a punch that sent her flying to hit a pillar. He advanced towards her before she could recover and lowered her mask. "You are a pretty one, but it's all for nothing in front of me."He said and threw another punch.

Riña made no attempt to block his punches or avoid them but allowed him to display the amount of strength he had.

A vampire's strength was doubled the moment they transformed so it relatively depended on how the person was originally.

He remembered how people always looked down on him because he was jobless, how his mother always spat on him and told him he was a failure, how lecturers had always told him that his grades would him expelled. He had hated his life back then until the day at the bar where he had been reborn.

He gave her one last punch on the stomach and smiled as he rose to his feet.

"Like I was saying...girls are as weak as..." His voice trailed off and his eyes widened like he'd seen a ghost when she roes to her feet,with no scars or wounds.

"Is that all you've got?"

"How is this possible? I'm sure I got some good hits in..."

"Yeah, you did but are you sure that the bones you felt were breaking belonged to me?" She asked and he looked down at his hands which were now crooked and were dripping with blood. His blood!

He dropped to the ground and groaned in pains. How was this possible? How could she be so strong?

"Help ... please..."

"It hurts? Have you ever thought about how much pain Professor Park must have gone through when he died? His family members are gonna suffer that pain forever, thanks to you. How could you kill your friend?"

He cried as he panted. "I was jealous...I must have been really crazy to have done that to Elijah. My family was well-off and his was poor but he had a better life than me." The pain must have subsided as he slowly made to rise.

"Honestly when I think about it, he was the only true friend I had...I mean who would have let me use them as a toilet?" He burst into laughter.

She raised her hands to her face and yanked down her mask. "I can see why your life sucks. It's because you pass all the opportunities you get."

"Why take off the mask when you're about to die?"He asked as he leapt into the air, advancing towards her.

To his surprise,he seemed to slow down when he was so close to her and that gave her a chance to trail a finger around his fist.

"It's a known fact that vampires can regenerate so you must think I'm wasting my time... However, I'll make sure you can't regenerate." She said and squeezed his fist before she crashed him down the fourth floor.

Most of his bones were now broken and blood trailed down his jaw as he recalled the warning given to him by the guy who'd turned him.

"There's one thing you need to be aware of. If you ever find yourself facing a vampire called an "angel of death", keep your mouth shut and show respect. They're the kings and queens of the vampire world and... actually never mind."

"What's that?"

"You can't really run into one anyway. You'll be as good as death if you did."

"What are you talking about?"He'd asked.

"It's what we call...the white haired vampire."

He slowly turned to look at Riña who was advancing towards him with her hair which was now white.

The entire building shook vigorously as he crashed into the ground floor. Riña walked towards him, unhurt as usual, looking like she'd just come from hell.

"Please, don't... don't kill me... I'll face the consequences..."

She grabbed him by the neck and leaned down. "You want to face the consequences?...then die." She said and buried her claws into his body and he helped in pain.

His yelping reduced and his body slowly disseminated with the wind. Riña dropped her head as the face of her childhood friend flashed through her mind. He'd also said the same words as Brad, but she'd been so innocent back then.

Sighing, she rose to her feet and headed for home.

The vampire task force were at the scene the following day and members of the crew tried to look for evidences. One of them was particularly frustrated with the crew's progress.

"What's the use of having a vampire task force when the corpses disappear without a trace. How on earth do we investigate this?"

Another member sighed. "How do we catch a demon?"

"Should I call an exorcist?" The first man asked.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes..."His voice trailed off when his eyes caught the new detective.

"I really wish we could get an exorcist..."

"I think we just found a solution to this." He whispered.

"Huh?"

"The demon hunter is here."