The Accidental Vampire

Jason finally took the lead. “He helped the ones that were kidnapped and helped them return.”

“Hmm? They are back?” The doctor seemed elated to hear the news. “Thank God! Where were they?”

Jason hadn’t told the doctor about their return until now, just to surprise him. And that appeared to work. The man was double surprised. Firstly, the children that were missing were back, and so was Atlas!

“I was passing through the city when I stopped to eat something…”

Atlas informed the man about everything that took place tonight, from him finding the kids to him meeting Jason and finding out about this place.

“You… Thank you. You once again helped us.” The doctor was really grateful to Atlas. “If only all Vampires were like you…”

“By the way, are they your friends?”

He still didn’t know who the people behind him were. However, he was sure that if they were accompanying Atlas, then they must be special in their own regards, maybe even as strong as him.

“That’s right. They are my friends. Anyway, it was good to see this place. I’m glad I selected you to lead the children. We will be leaving now. We still need to find a hotel to stay in.”

Atlas stood up, preparing to leave. He had seen the place, and he was quite happy with what he saw. However, he still had more things to do.

“By the way, we will be casting some spells around the orphanage, which should give this place some protection. There will be a Vampire Warding Spell as well, which will stop any Vampire from entering the place until specially invited inside. So be careful who you invite.”

“Why don’t you escort us out?” Lilith asked the doctor. “I will tell you what each spell that we’ll cast does. With that, you should know better what to do and what not to do.”

The doctor agreed. Even though he had important papers to go through, Atlas was more important at the moment. He left the papers on the table and started following after them.

The youngsters in the orphanage watched Atlas leave.

The girl who had taken Atlas’s sign stood up. “Are you leaving?”

“If I don’t leave, how will I come back?” Atlas asked in return.

“So you’ll come again?” the girl asked.

Atlas nodded. “I will.”

“Promise?” The girl asked again.

“Little girl, you are really good at drawing. Keep it up. One day, you’ll become a great artist.” Atlas changed the topic since even he knew that the chances of him coming back were almost non-existent. He just said he will, without meaning it.

He himself didn’t know if he was going to live an entire month or not, let alone promise to return here. His own future was uncertain for him to promise anything at all.

He left the Orphanage and waited outside. In the meantime, Lilith started casting a spell and establishing a boundary around the entire orphanage.

Atlas could’ve helped her, but for him, it was more important to reserve his energy if he could, especially since spells consumed much more of it, as they were directly linked to a soul. He left the job of spells on Lilith, only reserving them when he had to fight or when it was absolutely urgent.

Lilith was also more experienced when it came to spells, which made her faster as well. Even though Lilith was casting the spells alone, she was still so fast that within ten minutes, she cast five protection spells around the orphanage. She also gave him a paper where a spell was carved, telling him to tear the paper when he was in danger.

She also informed him about how the spells were going to protect him and what precautions he needed to take for it.

After they finished, Atlas bid his farewell to the man and Jason. He was still having a strange feeling about Jason for some reason, but he decided to ignore it for now. Maybe he was just a strange person. Even when they were imprisoned, he was still strange, so it did make sense he would still act strange now. Maybe that was just his personality.

“Wait.”

It was only when Atlas started leaving that the Doctor asked him to stop.

“Yeah?” Atlas turned around.

“If you are looking for a hotel, that means you’re going to stay the night in the city. In that case, why don’t you stay right here?” The doctor asked.

“Do you have extra rooms?” Atlas asked. The place didn’t look that big, and the number of kids inside wasn’t low. It was going to be surprising if they still had some extra rooms that were free.

“We can adjust for one night. I can get four rooms free.”

“You mean by making other kids adjust and leave their rooms. It’s fine, don’t worry about us. You don’t have to do it,” Atlas shook his head, rejecting the offer. He didn’t want to disturb others just to have a room to stay in.

Moreover, it wasn’t as if there were no hotels in the city. For him, it was better if he didn’t stay here.

After rejecting the offers, he and the others left, disappearing in the darkness of the night.

The doctor was left behind, standing at the orphanage entrance. After a momentary sigh, he entered the orphanage again. Jason also walked in, after taking one last glance outside. The doors closed.

****

Atlas went to the nearest hotel and not four rooms once again.

“Can’t we get three rooms? I can share with you?” Luna suggested, seeing Atlas book four rooms.

“If you’re so eager to share, I’ll share my room with you.” Lilith rolled her eyes.

“Cough, I’m fine with four rooms. It was just a suggestion.” Luna hastily backtracked. It was better for her to stay alone than to share a room with Lilith. For some reason, she was scared of Lilith since she could be really sharp with her words. Moreover, Luna knew that Lilith didn’t like her. Sharing a room with her wasn’t a great idea from any angle.