To His Hell and Back-Chapter 256: Let’s Have Fun-I

Cain paused for a moment. The hesitation in his eyes caused for his hand to paused midair. They were both raised together and due to their age difference, Cain spent most of his time taking care of Hans since he was just a baby. They had always agreed on the same thing, had the same ideal, but that was only until their parent’s death.

Sitting down Hans continued his words, "I understand your hatred. How could I not?"

His wife Rina turned quiet. The look on her face seemed to hesitated when she look upward and saw how Cain had also hesitated.

Hans, unaware, still took the glass from the table and held it with both hands, "Father and mother were both found with pin pricked marks on their necks. We didn’t know what it was at the start as it was the first time vampire appeared in our village. It didn’t help that the magistrate never cared to take a look or find the cause for their deaths. By the time we knew how the killer could be a vampire, Rina’s mother already passed away from similar cause and that’s the wound we all have."

"It’s not that the killer could be a vampire," Rina answered, snapping, "It was a vampire."

"But I do not think it is," said Hans as he played his finger on the top of the glass.

Angered, Cain snapped, "What do you mean by the killer not being a vampire?! You have seen the mark as well! The bite mark!"

"Brother," Hans sighed, "The reason why I became a castle guard was so I could come closer to vampires and see for myself the bite mark wound. You don’t know about this but the death of our parents and Rina’s mother is related. The three of them were the only one who had the wide land back in this village, the one that the magistrate had always wanted to own."

"You’re saying that the magistrate was the one behind their deaths?"

Hans looked to his eyes and went quiet for a moment, "Brother do you know what the magistrate said when he first stepped out of his carriage? He asked why Rina, the other victim’s family is there when he just wanted to come here to ask you for the sake of investigation. But it was just an hour since we found Rina’s mother in the woods. The information didn’t even reach to the village head’s ears. How could he, who had been inside the carriage for four hours of ride knew of her death?"

"N- NO," Rina who heard this jumped to her feet and backed away, "No. No. Hans you’re lying! That’s not the truth. That is not!"

She seemed horrified by something, as though this truth had led her to do something she didn’t wish she had to do but had done due to her rage and hatred.

Even Cain didn’t want to believe it. Though what Hans had said was factually correct, he didn’t want to think this was the truth and continued to deny his words.

"What about the pinpricked marks?! It was a small two bite wounds."

"It was too thin to be counted as a wound from a fang. Do you know how large a vampire’s fangs diameter is? They aren’t as small as the one on our parents. I’ve looked at their bodies for hours, so I could not be mistaken. Even if it was a fang of a vampire, only a baby would have such a tiny pin pricked wounds. I suspect that the magistrate hires the killer to mask it as a vampire’s attack but they don’t know how vampires would kill. Do you also know that vampires tend to kill by slicing open necks? They bite their partners but they slash their prey’s neck."

"No, no," Rina murmured, her voice fragile, trembling. "If it wasn’t a vampire... then all of it... everything I’ve done—"

Hans’s eyes darkened. He looked at her then, not with accusation, but with a grim understanding.

"Because I thought—" Rina’s voice cracked. "Because I knew they did it!"

"No," Hans said, voice still calm but heavier now. "Because you were in pain. We all were. And no one ever told us the truth. That’s the kind of grief that makes people into monsters."

Cain stood frozen, unable to meet Hans’s eyes. His body trembled, with rage, and the sharp, awful sting of doubt. Doubt, and betrayal.

"You... knew and you can’t tell this to us from the start?!" Cain yelled. "No. I know what this is about. You’re lying to me so you could have that princess by your side. You’re lying to me because you wanted to make a reason for her to be accepted despite the fact that she is the same as the ones who had killed our parents."

"IT WAS HUMAN!" Hans snapped. "It was humans who killed our parents. Why can’t you try to understand that, brother?! I’ve told you, I’ve told you how their deaths were fishy, how something was out of place, how I think that the killer can’t be a vampire. But since then you have accused me of wanting to side with the vampires because I fear them. That’s not the truth- I- I also once despised the thought of being with vampires because they scare me, because a part of me doubted myself and wondered continuously if they were behind our parent’s death. But the truth? The truth is that the humans were the one who had killed them, not vampires. It was their greed and now you have been bought by their lies."

"No. NO. NO!"

"No- but what I have done... the baby..."

Hans’ face grew pale when he understood what Rina was talking about. Not the baby in her stomach, no. The baby she had adopted, the vampire baby.

It was odd. He thought they had changed but from their conversation, it’s clear that they all still hold a grudge against vampire.

Who would have known their hatred had been pointed toward the baby... the innocent baby...

Hans stood up, slamming his hand on the table and walked to the staircase. Rina tried to stop him but she couldn’t as Hans rushed to the second floor and looked to find the room. There was a crib in the darkness and blood that had spread and pooled all over it.