The Outbreak

"You want to know why I want a substitute for blood?" Orissa saw Ryan pondering quietly and asked him. When he nodded, she told him her thoughts.

"Okay, we feed on humans, but what would happen if we couldn't hunt or were confined somewhere, artificial blood would help. If we reduce the need to hunt living humans, they won't be able to gather too many people out of fear."

"Odelle, any ideas for the high-rise?" Seeing Zaylee run around curiously, Orissa turned to Odelle and hoped Sierra would watch the little happy psychotic vampire.

"We need to darken the windows to keep the sun out. Since we don't sleep, we can forgo the beds for now but we'll need chairs and other items or the newcomers will think we're not sincere enough."

"I can do that. It'll take time but if I spare no expenses, we might be able to have it done in two weeks. We might need to have our own kind working on anything beyond that to keep suspicion to a minimum." Ryan didn't think much of the request since it was beneficial to them all.

"We need people from the IT field, same for science and medicine so we can have the substitute made. We'll also need to find people proficient at making weapons and armor. Even if we are durable, I don't think any of us want to walk around naked after your clothes are burnt off or riddled with holes."

"I see your point. Even if we can endure it, our clothes can't. Majority of professions aren't crucial right now, but we can always recruit people later." Ryan took his phone out and scrolled down with a low grunt.

"I assume you got your list? Then we should leave soon." Orissa looked at Odelle and smiled teasingly earning her a playful growl from the taller woman.

"What she means is we killed off a group of wolves in retaliation, so if any catch the scents and come here, there will be a fight." Even if there were sixteen vampires present, fighting a battle of attrition until dawn was pointless.

"I'll go make sure the ghoul infects a few more people and then catch up. You three can help them prepare." Orissa controlled the ghoul and walked to the window and leapt out after the ghoul.

"She's spontaneous." Ryan smiled a bit at how carefree Orissa was, which earned him an eye roll from Odelle as they called the other vampires and told them to pack up.

"Where's Orissa?" Zaylee walked over holding a candy from God knows where beside Sierra. A brief explanation made the vampires vanish as they grabbed their belongings and headed to the garage.

"Sixteen of us, and I have a few SUVs nearby, I'll have people drive them over." Before, Ryan had guards to protect him, but he let go most of them after becoming a vampire.

When the SUVs arrived and the vampires put their stuff in the backs, Orissa appeared from the woods to the right. From her calm expression, the other Royals knew her plans were underway.

"I can say there's at least twenty ghouls now." Orissa climbed into the back and sat besides Zaylee who had somehow managed to find a tablet and was exploring it's features with amazement.

"I have another residence in Jules City, the high-rise is also over there." Ryan sat in the passenger seat and had one of his workers drive the SUV since he himself didn't feel like driving.

"Then let's get going, there's so much to do and so little time." Orissa leaned against Odelle who poked her side, making her jolt upright, much to Zaylee and Sierra's amusement.

.,.

(First PoV Switch Mid Chapter)

Half an hour later...

"Ms. Kira, we have some reports... but we aren't sure what to make of them." A man walked in, and Irene realized he was the chief of police, someone she could only look up to now seemed to be at loss.

"We keep getting calls of some weird creatures attacking people and it's spreading quickly. It seems to have come from the northern part of the city." The police chief seemed to be painfully aware of how his sentence sounded, but it was what he was told by his operators.

"We have three VPA Squads on standby and more in the vicinity, send them in." Kira looked up from the microscope and blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust.

"I think you should see the footage from one of our fallen officers first." The police chief handed a tablet over so Kira played the video and watched as an officer rushed towards an injured person to help when a pale emaciated figure charged out of the shadows and knocked the officer flying.

Before the officer could get up, more and more figures rushed out of the darkness, some from alleyways and some climbing down building walls and rushed over, their mouths filled with jagged teeth on full display right up until the officer's camera was covered in blood and blood curdling screams kept sounding before being cut off abruptly.

"It seems that anyone who is bitten will turn into one of these things and we keep losing officers every minute trying to evacuate the citizens." The police chief had never seen something so hideous and ghastly but he didn't show much surprise outwardly.

"I need to study one. Try to capture one quickly, I hope this isn't some new virus." Kira mumbled and walked back to the microscope and looked at the dead cells that bore almost no resemblance to a human's.

"What can you tell from the blood you got?" Irene replayed the video and if not for the situation being far from a joke, she'd wonder if she was seeing some new horror film rather than that actually happening somewhere outside.

"These blood cells are dead and are slowly withering, but it's extremely delayed, not at all comparable to the other dead Sanguine Carrier because nothing but ash was left of it moments after."

"Why is this diff-" Everyone's phone who was in the room chimed and everyone knew the city was now under martial law and that no one under any circumstances should leave their homes. Anyone found outside after an hour would be detained indefinitely.

"It's getting worse! The estimates show that there are over four thousand of these things and it keeps jumping!" An analysis expert cried out in disbelief because who knew better than them they weren't ready to deal with whatever these things were.