Crimson Overlord

Amber never knew who her parents were. As far she can remember, she had always been a member of that orphanage. From what sister Mary had told her, she was not even two months old when she was put in the front of the orphanage doors. Amber had always been curious about what kind of situation could have made two persons decide to abandon their newborn, not even two months old? At first, she resented them, vowing never to forgive them as she could not understand their reason; however, as the years went by, she began to understand that life was not always rosy, especially after living in an orphanage. She forgot about them and began to live her life.

Life in the orphanage was harsh as donations became less and less, the number of children growing. The luckiest ones among them were rapidly adopted, while the unluckiest ones were still stuck here. At the age of sixteen, you would be forced to move out because, at that age, you are already considered an adult.

Amber was about to be sixteen soon; her sixteenth birthday was in a week. Among those that stayed being, Amber was not among the unluckiest ones; she voluntarily stayed behind; she felt grateful to this orphanage who protected her, raised her, and gave her meaning in life after her birth parents had discarded her. To pay this gratitude to the fullest, she decided to stay behind and help the orphanage until she became an adult.

Unlike her peers, she could not awaken her origin power, meaning life as origin master would not be possible; even so, she didn’t become gloomy, she never lost her cheerful personality coupled with her platinum blonde hair and ice-blue eyes, she was the maiden the most sought after in the orphanage, countless young masters asked her to marry them, but she refused, her only goal was to help the orphanage to become a better, a bigger place to welcome orphans and people like her.

Today, she went out to accomplish this goal; she had three part-time jobs, one in the morning, the second just after, and the last one began at 4 p.m; until late in the night. Sister Mary had suggested quitting the third-party time job for her security, especially because of the recent disappearances. The third job was the one with the highest pay; for this reason, Amber could not stop, and because she was the one that supported them financially, Sister Mary could only advise her to be prudent, never to take a shortcut, no matter what happens.

Night fell, tonight the blue crescent moon floated as if a wound was carved in the night sky. It was an exceptionally beautiful yet chilling night.

Amber just left her last part-time job and headed to the night market. Usually, Amber was a child who listened to Sister Mary’s advice the most. Still, tonight she decided not to listen, after all, tonight was special, it was Sister Mary’s birthday, she would turn thirty, Amber and other children in the orphanage had made a plan to surprise her, she would be the one to bring the gifts as she holds their savings. Not wanting to be late, Amber hurried to buy the presents; however, it was unknown why tonight night market was bustling; she ended up spending more time than she should have, so to make up for this, she took a shortcut.

Maybe it was because of the excitement to surprise sister Mary who should be sleeping as she tends to forget even her birthday; Amber didn’t see that nobody seemed to take this alley; it was completely deserted with no soul in sight, humming happily Amber passed through the alley when suddenly she stopped, she had a bad feeling. Or maybe that should be called conviction. She felt a chill out of nowhere, almost as if the hair on her back stood on end. In that instant, she regained her sanity and immediately understood that she had made a mistake; she shouldn’t be here, she should not have taken this shortcut, she must escape immediately.

In this moment of crisis, Amber felt a strength she never thought she had; immediately, she put that strength into her legs and started running. Unfortunately, the predator was faster than her and stronger; she hadn’t even run two meters before something caught her by the neck and dragged her into the dark alley.

”P-Please let me go.” Amber pleaded with difficulty but what answered her was a voice full of madness.

”Hehehehe! What a sweet scent; with your blood, I’ll be able to progress. You are like aged wine. I will slowly savor you.”

”Eeek!” Amber shrieked when she finally saw the thing holding her; it was a man; he was so skinny that it hurts to look at him, his skin was extremely pale, and because of his skinny frame, dark veins could be seen under his skin wriggling like hungry worms, his eyes were red. Upon seeing this skinny devil, Amber immediately remembered those disappearances and connected them to this man. A name came into her mind, something she thought was invented to scare disobedient children to go to sleep.

”A vampire !” She blurted out her predator name; the vampire was shocked that this frail human was able to identify him with one glance; for a moment, he even thought that she was part of the vampire hunter squad but soon discarded this thought as he could feel her fear, this human girl was afraid, so afraid that she began to shake.

”Hehehehe! Fear make them taste better.”

As he spoke, his fangs lengthened, he closed in, and Amber felt the vampire fangs sink into her skin and heard him sucking out her lifeblood. She struggled but couldn’t do anything, her resistance grew less and less as more blood was sucked out her body, she knew she was dying, she saw the past fifteen years flashing before her like she was watching a drama, she saw their smiles, she saw her who was like a mother cry and smile, today was her birthday, and yet she wouldn’t be able to celebrate it, Amber was unwilling to let her life go like this, she struggled one last time. Still, she failed; tears began falling as she weakly asked for help.

”S-somebody p-please h-help!!”