Chapter 20

When the day dawned, before the sun even hit his window, Oliver was already awake and felt the clear discomfort in his arms. 

Even though some time had passed and there were no broken bones, the strength of the blows he had received was still abnormal. 

After the bat escaped, he had equipped the cape and ran across the rooftops trying to find the blonde, but in the end his search was in vain, the bat had simply disappeared among the houses and rooftops. 

Oliver would get up and see in the mirror in his room, his arms were still marked from the fight and it made him frown as he thought. 

'It was the first time I was so damaged in a fight. But my luck is that I wasn't the only one.' 

Soon he remembered the night before and the last moments where he had managed to hit the arrow. 

With hurried steps he went to the bathroom and got ready to go to college. 

On the way, the combat scenes were still fresh in his mind, putting his hands in the pockets of his overcoat and he rambled. 

'If he has a relic that's easy to hide like that, it's his advantage. Even if I try, it's not easy to hide my cape or bow in my clothes like him. It makes me wonder, what should his relic be?' 

When he raised his head, he saw himself facing the college and continued, arriving at the cafeteria and sitting at the table, then taking out his notebook again while thinking. 

'I doubt he'll want a second rounder in college and now that I'm expecting an attack, he won't catch me off guard anymore. But he has something bothering me since yesterday...' 

He turned his eyes to the exit and little by little the students began to enter, the common ones and those who were previously on the list of suspects, Oliver watched them with just a glance while he turned his eyes to the screen of his notebook. 

His fingers quickly typed and he entered the same blog that had talked about the discoveries, little by little Oliver looked at the quotes with different eyes and stopped the cursor, underlining the part of the article he said. 

'In recent years, strange things have been happening more and more frequently. Animals and people are found completely bloodless and many people have disappeared without a trace.' 

Oliver squinted slightly as he returned to the main message that had caught his attention, but soon he reduced the underlined area and stopped just at: 

'Animals and people found completely drained of blood.' 

With that, he pasted the part into his browser and searched for the cases that the blog had talked about previously. 

In the past he had found more of the same, some were from years ago and seemed like just internet urban legends, however, some were recent and even had images of goats and oxen with marks on their necks. 

Many pointed to the supposed legend of the Chupacabra, but Oliver thought more carefully and placed his fist on his cheek, turning his eyes towards the exit as he looked for his suspect. 

'His superhuman strength, but I could still keep up, he had no apparent relic, but what made me think the most was him turning into a bat.' 

With another tab, Oliver searched for vampires and found classics in books and even games that mentioned the capabilities of vampires that involved transforming into bats, superhuman speed and strength. 

He looked serious as he thought. 

'Practically every place has its own version of vampire, some are described as pale and striking in appearance, some have red eyes, some can walk during the day while others turn to dust in contact with the sun. It's like there's a different vampire for every place in the world.' 

Once again Oliver turned his eyes to the exit, watching more students enter while he was still looking for his suspect. 

'Maybe that guy from yesterday was responsible for what happened to these victims and animals, but there's something that bothers me...' 

He quickly turned his eyes to the notebook where there was a photo of the world map with some red dots painted on it, it was his own notes that demonstrated the same appearances of bloodless animals or even humans. 

But what bothered him most was knowing that the distance between the attacks and the reports was gigantic, some started in Europe and others even went to South America, if it was just one person, they should be able to travel kilometers easily, in addition to being quite old since many reports were from before 1900. 

Oliver leaned his elbow on the table and thought. 

'In many works the ability to transform humans into vampires is portrayed, depending on the work it may be weaker or stronger than the "master" vampire as portrayed in the works.' 

Little by little his thoughts were clearing and he remembered that in the fight, the blonde had not shown any apparent relics. 

All the patterns he had seen previously fit well with a vampire, even if he didn't clearly remember seeing claws or fangs, still in the stories some had the ability to modify their body. 

When he opened his eyes and walked back to the exit, he thought. 

'I still can't say if he was stronger than me using all the relics, but even with the bow and quiver he managed to give me trouble, I have to avoid being ambushed again, especially if he's not the only one.' 

However, his thoughts were interrupted by the bell that sounded, allowing students to enter the classrooms. 

Oliver squinted when he realized that he hadn't seen the blonde enter, so he put the notebook in his backpack and headed towards his classroom, passing through the other rooms, still looking for the blonde, but he didn't find anything, making him question himself. 

'He was absent, showing up with that wound on his shoulder without a good excuse will end up generating more suspicion on his side, but he should appear soon.' 

Class time passed and soon Oliver went to work at the television station. 

His routine had gradually returned to normal and he now had access to the company's computer, once again researching vampire cases, but using different keys so he could find some answers. 

Even when he left college he hadn't met the blonde, creating that strangeness, even though he had the advantage, he still felt uncomfortable. 

On the company's computer, he found information about people and animals without blood in more detail, noticing complaints and even information from all over the world. 

Some were clearly repeated images while others seemed true and original, making Oliver squint as he saw the images and read the articles. 

It was as if the Master Vampire's reach was across the entire world, but there were still clear traces in some materials that indicated different dates or even forged images, making Oliver scratch the middle of his eyes in thought. 

'How does he manage to cover this entire range? According to the guy on the blog, much of this started a few years ago. But there are those who have been talking about this for centuries, after all the story of vampires and Dracula himself is a classic.' Oliver frowned realizing how little information he really had, going back to thinking. 'It's not even possible for him to do all this alone, they are places very far from each other. But I don't think it's a real vampire doing this, he's probably like me and has some relic that gives these abilities.' 

His mind wandered and he remembered the fight against the blonde, making his eyes squint again. 

'I think I had all that difficulty yesterday against a guy who didn't even carry a relic.' Little by little more thoughts came as he looked at the computer screen. 'If it was a relic user, he must have been going very easy on me for me to be able to fight without the cape, there's no way that could be the case. Probably the master vampire was just trying to send a message through him.' 

Placing his arms on the table, little by little Oliver came to the conclusion that the enemy he had made was much greater than he could previously imagine. 

Apparently, the blonde could be just another ordinary human that the bearer of the relic transformed. 

Just the ability to have super strong and fast soldiers who, according to legends, are submissive to their master and have a reach all over the world, already made him a formidable opponent. 

However, as a master vampire, he must also have superhuman strength and speed like the blonde or perhaps greater. 

'Maybe I'll find the real master vampire soon, but now that I've messed with them, this time the problem is much bigger.' He crossed his arms and sighed, giving a nervous smile as he continued to think. 'Well, how am I supposed to get out of this?'