"Not bad, quite handy! And quick on his feet too!"
Using the weak light in the room, Ye Qi finally had a clear view of the person who was talking—He was wearing a tuxedo where a red corner of a handkerchief peeked out from the left breast pocket. He had blond short hair and clear green eyes, a middle-age, dapper looking individual. However, surrounding him was an air of blood that could only be picked up by the likes of Demon Hunters. Regardless the thing that attracted Ye Qi's attention the most was the pair of bat wings that seemed to extend out of the gentleman's back.
"A Noble Vampire!"
Ye Qi widened his eyes with shock. Including the time four years ago, this was the second time Ye Qi came across the pair of bat wings that represented power and standing within the Blood Race. Various scary thoughts and warning about Noble Vampires cropped up in Ye Qi's mind. Instinctively, Ye Qi lobbed the test tube of Holy Water at his opponent.
However, the vampire before Ye Qi suddenly disappeared and the golden liquid splashed to the ground.
"That's some quick reaction you have there, boy."
The voice came from behind Ye Qi, and it was dangerously close to the young Demon Hunter! It sounded like the vampire was whispering into his ear!
Ye Qi lunged forward and turned back to swipe at his enemy. However, before Ye Qi's knife could make contact, a cold palm gripped his wrist like an iron vise. A painful twist later, Ye Qi's knife dropped to the floor with a clatter.
Ignoring the pain that radiated from his right wrist, Ye Qi pulled out his Revolver 500 and started firing. Ye Qi emptied his bullets right there and then. The power of the revolver itself combined with the anti-demon bullets Ye Qi had bought for the occasions, Ye Qi was confident any shadow creatures, even a Noble Vampire would be taken down after being shot five times at close distance.
However, to Ye Qi's shock, with the wave of his hand, like magic, the five bullets were caught by the vampire's sleight of hand. Even though the Holy Magic Runes on the surface of the bullets were reacting with the Dark Energy pooling in the vampire's hand, causing the vampire's hand to burn with smoke, such surface damage was like a mosquito's bite to creatures like vampires who had great regenerative power.
Ye Qi knew that of course so he tossed the Revolver 500 at the vampire's face as he grabbed for the vials of Holy Water on his waist. However, no matter how fast Ye Qi was, he couldn't be faster than a vampire.
"Tsk tsk, I have to say, you disappoint me!"
Before Ye Qi's right hand could reach the vials, his whole arm was dislocated by the vampire, it protruded at an impossible angle. Ye Qi screamed from pain.
"Yes, good, scream for me! Let me hearing that blood-curdling scream…" The vampire laughed as Ye Qi's screams filled up the room. However, the vampire suddenly howled because Ye Qi lowered his head to bite at the vampire's neck. "F*ck, how dare you even harm me!" The vampire hissed as he pulled Ye Qi off him. As he did so, the vampire screamed again because Ye Qi who refused to loosen his mouth was pulled away with a piece of the vampire's flesh still hanging on his lips.
This surface injury was nothing for the vampire but when he saw Ye Qi swallow his flesh and blood, the Noble Vampire burned with fury. His other hand that still held Ye Qi squeezed and it broke Ye Qi's shoulder.
As Ye Qi's screams reverberated to the building, the vampire clamped his hands around the young Demon Hunter's neck to pull his into the air.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to let you die so easily! You will first have to pay for the damage you have caused me. We are definitely going to have some fun…" The vampire whispered in a velvety tone as he stared into Ye Qi's face that was red from lack of air.
Ye Qi who was slowly losing his consciousness did not catch what the Noble Vampire said next. In his mind however, another voice was talking.
"Human, do you want to live?"
The voice was soft but powerful, it was definitely different from the dulcet tones of the Noble Vampire. However, for Ye Qi who was dying, it could be the voice of heaven, and it would not have mattered. His mind was already too addled from the lack of oxygen.
"Looks like we have to communicate another way!"
The voice began again. Ye Qi suddenly felt the pressure on his neck loosened and he found himself standing in a hall with giant pillars of fire.
The sudden change of environment made Ye Qi scan the surrounding with guard.
The hall's walls, and floor were made from a faded green slabs of square stone, they looked to be a part of a bigger jigsaw puzzle. The hall had no ceiling but only a hazy mist of darkness. Other than that, the most eye-catching feature was definitely the fire that rose about several hundred meters into the air. Ye Qi's eyes scanned the room and saw there were nine such giant fire pillars which littered across the sprawling hall. The fire rose from the ground and continued into the mist above the Demon Hunter's head.
"Human, do you want to live?"
The voice repeated itself in Ye Qi's ears. It caused Ye Qi to look around to locate the source of the voice. However, around him were only the pillars of fire and the black mist. There was no one there. Even though Ye Qi was not sure what was happening, he could still remember being strangled alive by the Noble Vampire. This sudden change of events made him suspect that this was a trick by the vampire.
"Magical Illusion? Apparitions?"
These two words flashed across Ye Qi's mind. Instinctively, Ye Qi reached for the Spirit Dust hanging on his waist. However, his fingers found nothing. Not only the Spirit Dust, but also the vials of Holy Water and Detector had disappeared. Also Ye Qi realized his body was in a half-opaque state, not unlike the apparitions Ye Qi had fought before. This discovery chilled Ye Qi's heart as he whispered out, "I'm dead? Or this is some kind of illusory magic?"
"Human, you are not dead yet! But if you don't act soon enough, you will be!" As the voice disappeared, the black haze above the young Demon Hunter suddenly parted to reveal a scene—a powerful Noble Vampire was singlehandedly holding a young man in mid-air, he was choking the life out of the young man. The face of the young man was turning purple, he was dying from asphyxiation.
And that young man was Ye Qi himself.