Born in Blood



Liam watched with furrowed brows as Blood Bats tore through the air, a cacophony of screeches ringing through the air.

He needed to subdue one, and fast. 

It wouldn't be long before they were found. 

He kept himself hidden pretty well, but the armored Blood Bats over the skies were rapidly combing the ground. They were pretty damn fast, too.

Zooming distantly, he spotted Nord, Rin, Niveh and Nessa moving towards the north.

They were smart enough to split up and not move as a group, seamlessly blending in with the crowd.

Good. He didn't have to worry about them. 

Liam's mind raced. 

He couldn't just use his blades to strike down a Blood Bat and potentially kill it. 

Not to mention, failing miserably would no doubt grab the attention of his pursuers.

He had one chance to grab onto a decent Blood Bat midair, kick or kill off the person riding it, then circle around and pick up his crew.

Whether or not he could be discreet was an issue for later.

Heaving a sigh, Liam closed his eye and dimmed the noise around him, honing his focus to a blade's sharpness. 

Absolute serenity calmed his mind, dispelling any paranoid or anxious thoughts.

When he opened his eye, he wasn't worried anymore. 

Slowly, Liam cocked his body just below the tower's tip. Simultaneously, the layer under his skin hummed, tightening his already tense muscles.

With his target in sights, Liam's knees sprang like a coiled spring, propelling him through the air with explosive speed!

He must've miscalculated the strength in his body, since he reached a height of 16 meters in less than an instant!

At the peak of his ascension, Liam felt as though a lightning bolt was about to tear through the churning clouds and strike him back down. 

Thankfully, no such thing happened.

But… what goes up, must come down.

Liam began to plunge rapidly, like a torn kite falling down, guided only by the gales of wind. 

WOOOSH!

Below him was the stream of Blood Bats… only, he was a little too far to the side. 

Liam didn't have time to curse, as the bat closest to him was swiftly passing by. 

Leaning himself forward to ride the waves of wind, Liam spread his arms to slow down his dive and control his trajectory.

Meanwhile, the vampire riding the beast was completely oblivious to the raining figure above him. 

He was casually steering his beast when Liam shot at him from the side, blade in hand, sticking it into the vampire's neck and using the man's body to cushion his fall.

That… turned out to be a mistake. 

The vampire's grip on the bat's fur was still tight as he died. As soon as Liam killed him and essentially used him as a pillow, he fell lifelessly on one side and the bat began to tilt excessively. 

WOOOSH!

Cursing, Liam barely managed to catch the bat's hair as it slowly rolled and started to fly upside down. The vampire's corpse fell right off, but the screeching bat didn't stop flying.

At that point, the onlookers in the distance caught sight of the bat and thought some sort of event was taking place. 

Instantly, they began cheering!

Hanging like a loose thread in the wind, Liam shifted his balance and pulled himself up from the beast's hair, and in doing so, caused the bat to perform an inverted nosedive straight towards the earth.

Liam's grip slipped more than once, but he pulled himself up by the skin of his teeth. 

Just as he and the bat were about to smash flat against a building and turn to mush, Liam pulled upwards, missing death by an inch.

The crowd of vampires roared and started to cheer loudly. 

At that point, it was impossible for Liam not to get noticed by the Bloodguards, both aerial and on land. 

Even the Legionnaire noticed him as she made her way towards the north. An enraged grimace formed on her face as she increased her speed.

"Is… is that him?" Nord muttered to himself in amazement. Grounding his teeth, he used wind to bolster his speed. 

Rin did the same with a slight frown on her face. Her feet burst with miniature explosions as she jumped across buildings with wide strides.

Nessa and Niveh began to synchronize their abilities – the former used a heavy water spell that catapulted both of them forward, and the latter used her strings to direct their launch and soften their landing.

There weren't too many people that saw their abilities, since they were in a fairly desolate area of the outskirts.

Those that did were visibly shocked. 

Vampires had a dark underside. Liam himself had seen so. Within the deeper parts of the city, fresh human parts were being sold for a heavy price. 

Hearts, hands, limbs, skin, eyes, even nails. Human flesh was a delicacy, and their blood was even more so. They were grown in farms, after all. 

So to see their cattle using powerful abilities, gave them a jolt of disbelief. 

Meanwhile, Liam steadied his mount, scouring the ground for his group's sight. 

Finding them, he did a sharp turn and lowered himself to the ground. 

'Faster! Fly faster!' Liam shouted inwardly, sensing the armored Blood Bats, Bloodguards and Legionnaire making a beeline towards him. 

Blood-red auras grew in his vision as several long-ranged attacks shot at him from behind – bullets, javelins, nets meant to ensnare his beast, and claw-shaped arcs of blood.

Liam promptly swerved and rolled his beast. Most of the bigger attacks whizzed by, but a blood bullet managed to pierce his beast's flesh, forcing it to screech in pain.

Still, it flew on, only a bit slower than normal. 

In a moment, Nord and Liam were going to intercept. 

The red-eyed boy ran with all his strength and then leapt through the air, his hands stretched. 

At once, Liam's hand clasped tightly with his, and he threw the boy over the beast.