Chapter 16: Sweetest Blood.

After walking around the city and appreciating the peace and bustle for a while, I decided to head back. While walking through the dense crowd, I let my guard down, admiring the bustling marketplace around me. The various scents of street food, perfumes, and the general liveliness of the city filled my senses. Then it hit me. My vampire instincts roared to life, my fangs threatening to extend as I felt a sudden, strong craving consuming my rationality. The reason was the overwhelming smell of the sweetest blood I'd ever encountered crashing into my nostrils like an overflowing ocean. The scent was so rich, so intoxicating, that it made every other blood I'd smelt before seem like sewage water in comparison. My vampire bloodline reacted violently to their proximity. The scent of their blood was intoxicating beyond description, calling to every instinct I possessed. I could practically taste the power flowing through their veins, sweet and overwhelming in a way that made my throat dry with sudden, desperate thirst. This wasn't ordinary blood. This was the blood of someone with an extraordinary bloodline, and my vampire nature recognized it as the finest delicacy imaginable. When did I start thinking of blood as tasty? My bloodline is affecting me far more than I'd realized. I found myself turning my head frantically, searching through the crowd for the source of that incredible aroma. My powerful senses locked onto the direction where I thought it was coming from, and I began moving almost unconsciously toward it. Lost in my search for that tantalizing scent that was coming ever so closely, I bumped directly into someone's shoulder. Our shoulders rebounded against each other with surprising force. I could feel that the person I'd collided with was no weakling. After all, my body was enhanced, and only someone with considerable strength would be able to make my shoulder rebound like that. The moment our bodies made contact, that sweet blood scent exploded in intensity. It was coming from them. I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to bare my fangs at him. My hands trembled as I forced myself to maintain control, to appear normal despite every fibre of my being screaming at me to feed. I turned to face the person that bumped into me. But the words died in my throat as my eyes landed on his face. The moment I saw him, something moved within me. The person looked at me with mildly curious eyes, though not overly interested. Just a natural reaction someone might have when a stranger stares at them unexpectedly after bumping into them. I recognized him immediately. How could I not? Those pitch-black eyes that seemed to absorb light itself, the black hair tied back with two strands framing his face. His features belonged in magazines, and I could practically see the hidden protagonist halo above his head. Kyle Morrison. The main character himself. I stared for a second longer than socially acceptable, fighting both my shock at meeting him and the overwhelming urge to sink my fangs into his neck. I had realised that the sweet scent was coming from him. But this was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here yet. According to the novel's timeline, Kyle should arrive in the city tomorrow morning, not today. He was meant to come early to prepare for the academy's examination. My actions had already begun altering the story's flow. When I killed the Elite-ranked serpent in the Whispering Woods, I'd disrupted the local ecosystem. The creature had been an apex predator whose presence kept other magical beasts away from that territory. With the serpent dead, various monsters had migrated back into the area, including the wolf packs that had originally fled. Kyle had been traveling toward Luminara with his sick sister, following the same forest routes described in the novel. But the sudden drop of magical beasts in the area had allowed him to take shorter, more direct paths to arrive at the city. What should have been a long journey had become relatively straightforward, causing him to arrive half a day earlier than planned. "Is something wrong?" Kyle's voice snapped me out of my daze. He'd clearly noticed that my reaction wasn't normal for a simple shoulder bump between strangers. I swallowed hard, fighting the burning sensation in my throat. His voice alone made my vampire instincts flare again, as if even the sound carried traces of that intoxicating life force. Regaining my composure, I shook my head quickly. "Sorry for bumping into you. I was just feeling unwell." "Brother, what's wrong? Is this another meanie?" A teenage girl's voice suddenly reached my ears. I forced my gaze downward to find a small figure tugging at Kyle's sleeve. Emily Morrison. Kyle's younger sister. She wore a simple pink dress with her hair arranged in neat ponytails. Despite their modest circumstances, Kyle had kept her well dressed. She was the light of Kyle's world, the only family he had left after their parents died in a beast attack on their village. Emily was Kyle's weakness and motivation. Whatever she wanted, he would move mountains to provide. She represented everything good and innocent that he fought to protect, and harming her was the fastest way to transform the noble protagonist into a merciless force of destruction. The sight of her innocent face looking up at me with curious eyes made my stomach twist. She had just called me a "meanie," which definitely wasn't creating a good first impression with Kyle. Without waiting for either Kyle or Emily to speak further, I turned and walked away. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with Kyle or his sister. The overwhelming scent of his blood was making it difficult to think clearly, and I needed distance before I did something irreversibly stupid. I could have easily used my family's resources to help them find proper lodging. A few words to the right people, some coin exchanged, and Kyle would have developed a positive opinion of me. But I deliberately chose not to. Having Kyle think well of me wasn't something I wanted. Good impressions led to friendship, friendship led to involvement in his adventures, and involvement in protagonist adventures led to death flags and plot complications I couldn't predict or control. More importantly, being near him was dangerous for obvious reasons. Unlike the other characters, I had no plot armour to save my ass when the overpowered enemy arrives to fight the mc. The way my vampire bloodline reacted to his presence was terrifying. If I spent extended time around him, I might lose control entirely. I wanted to blend into the background and have nothing to do with the main character or anyone in his circle. I felt Kyle's gaze following me for several seconds as I disappeared into the crowd, but he made no attempt to pursue me. After a moment, I heard his attention move back to more pressing concerns. "What was that about, brother?" Emily's voice drifted after me.