The Accidental Vampire

“Maybe later….” Atlas still had some time to spend in the city while their carriage Driver was supposed to rest.

“Sure. I can wait. The doc will be really happy to see you!” The young boy smiled.

“Are you not scared of me?” Atlas asked, feeling odd. This closeness of Jason was making him uneasy. He didn’t know what it was about Jason, but something wasn’t right about him.

“You are our savior. Why will I be scared of you?” Jason asked. “If it weren’t for you, we would still be in the cell, rotting. You changed our life… You changed it for the better. You gave us the freedom.”

“What’s the benefit of it when the main cause is still the same. What’s the benefit when the kids are still being used by Vampires as food? I didn’t change anything. I just delayed the inevitable for a very small section of people.”

Even when Jason talked about the good that Atlas had done, Atlas still felt that it was nothing. Seeing a bigger picture, he realised that he was too small even with the strength of a Progenitor. He was like an ant who thought he could move an entire mountain just because he managed to shake one speck of dirt.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe you delayed the inevitable, but so what?” Jason asked. “So what if you only helped a small section of people for a little? What of it? Does it change the fact that you gave everyone an opportunity to be free? No matter for how short, at least everyone is able to experience the freedom that they craved!”

“One person can’t change the world. You are right about that, but so what? Who told you to change the world? Is it that if you help every single person in the world, only then your work matters? No. Every single life matters. Even if you saved just one person, that’s nothing to feel bad about. That’s nothing to regret.”

“Of course, it’ll be good if you helped more people, but helping fewer people doesn’t change anything. From what I can see, you’re doing your best already. You could’ve ignored the kids today, but you didn’t. That’s what matters.”

“You aren’t supposed to be a hero of the universe. You are also supposed to be only one person who can only do so many things. So if you’re feeling bad about not being able to help everyone, I don’t think you should feel bad.”

“If you want to see just how exactly you changed the World, come to the orphanage and see with your own eyes.”

Jason stood up. “I hope we’ll see you there.”

After explaining how Atlas’ actions mattered, he left.

Atlas stood up as well. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and walked inside a restaurant to see the customers were still hiding under the table. “You all can eat and leave. There’s no danger to you.”

Atlas told the men, not realizing that there was a trail of blood on his lips which made these people even more scared.

Atlas entered the private room where everyone had already started eating by now.

“Done with your walk?” Lilith asked Atlas.

Atlas nodded as he sat.

“There’s some blood on your lips.” Lilith pointed out, handing over a handkerchief to Atlas.

Atlas wiped the blood from his lips.

Soon, everyone finished eating. Atlas placed a gold coin on the table for the food before leaving.

The waitress saw him leave the money. By how she had realized that these people were just too unorthodox. Even after they didn’t need to spend money, they still left it.

For some reason, she also found herself attracted to Atlas physically, especially because of how he maintained himself. However, even she knew that she couldn’t do anything about it.

Someone who was as strong and influential as Atlas was never going to look at her, even with mild interest. Moreover, she was also scared of him since he was a Vampire in the end.

“Shall we go to a hotel to spend a night?” Lancaster asked, but Atlas shook his head.

“We have another destination. It’s a different place that I want to see,” Atlas answered as he led them down different paths.

Jason had already told him what path to take if he wanted to get to the Orphanage, and that’s what Atlas took.

The Orphanage was only at twenty minutes of walking distance from the restaurant.

Atlas stood before an old building which wasn’t in a great condition. Then again, he knew that the doctor didn’t have much money when he left. For him to buy even a building like this was a lot.

“An Orphanage?” Lilith asked, reading the name on the board. Just what were these people doing at an orphanage? Shouldn’t it be the last place that they should visit?

“Why are we here?” She asked.

“I’m here to meet an old friend if we can call him that.” Atlas pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The place surprisingly looked much better from the inside than it did feel outside.

What was even more surprising was that Jason was already waiting for them inside the place, as if he knew they were going to come.

“You’re finally here.” Jason smiled. “It seems you even brought your friends.”

“This guy? Isn’t he one from-“

“Severis Castle. You’re right. This place was made for the youngsters we helped escape, and it’s being run by the doctor.” Atlas explained the entire situation. “Since we were already here, I thought we should see this place.”

“Please come. I’ll lead you to the doc.”

Jason led everyone inside, leading them straight to the common hall. The entire place was filled with light.

Atlas was slightly surprised, seeing some children playing hide in seek. He recognized a few amongst them. They were also in the Severis Castle while the others were new faces. The children were smiling and laughing. They were enjoying their life! Even the ones he never once saw smile in the Severis Castle were having fun and enjoying themselves.

The others were on the ground, seemingly having a drawing competition.

“Look there.” Jason pointed to the wall, where a badly drawn portrait was hanging.

The portrait was so bad that it seemed like a joke at an initial glance, but it also appeared to be drawn by a child. In the portrait, there was a stick figure standing in the lead with a Sword. Many smaller stick figures were in the back.

“That leader is supposed to be you. It’s supposed to depict how you saved everyone here and led us to our freedom. Ignore the quality of the portrait since children here aren’t particularly good at drawing. We are trying to learn.”

“This place seems nice.” Atlas nodded, finding this place great. It was much better than they had. For a moment, he even imagined what it would be like if he were here as a human with Misella.