The vampire boss stood before Janus and Ana. His vampire slaves surround the pair, ready to attack them when given the order.

“I didn’t expect guests so soon,” The boss smiled, though he looked more annoyed than anything. “Mind telling me how you lot found my place?”

“If I said we just happened to come here by coincidence, would you believe us?” Janus said, looking straight at the boss.

The vampire boss then laughs. His laughter could be heard all around the building and reverberated thanks to the echo.

“I would believe that you were full of shit! Besides, your uniform gives you away.” He pointed at Janus’s and Ana’s uniforms. “You two are hunters. Which means instead of just stumbling here by mistake, you got a lead that led you here.”

“Tch…” Janus clicked his tongue, not knowing what to do.

“Now, I won’t ask a third time,” The vampire boss got serious as he glared at Janus and Ana. “Who told you about this place?”

Janus tried to think of a way to escape the factory, but between the vampire boss and the small army of vampire workers that looked ready to devour them, he couldn’t think of anything.

Usually, he would just charge at the monsters and hail Mary it, but there’s one small problem. Janus then looked over at Ana who was next to him, holding her hand where she cut herself, the reason their in this mess.

Although Ana is hurt slightly, he can’t just leave her to her own devices while he does what he does best. The possibility of her getting overwhelmed and killed and extremely high in this situation.

“Hey,” The vampire boss snarled. “I already told you that I won’t ask a third time.”

Knowing that he was in a sticky situation, Janus decided to stall for time until he found the right moment to escape.

“A group of vampires we found on Upper Thames street told us,” Janus told the boss. “We got a report that there were some vampire activity happening near there and decided to check it out.”

“Upper Thames street, huh?” The vampire boss pondered. “That was the area that Henry was supposed to keep an eye on…so that bastard fessed up, huh? The moment I get my hands on him-!”

“Sadly you can’t since I killed him,” Janus said. “I figured he would report to you if I let him go, so I didn’t take any chances.”

The vampire boss looked dumbfounded by Janus’s statement. He then started to laugh maniacally again.

“Hahahahaha! You killed him, eh? Well, that’s one less loose end anyway, so I guess I should thank you for killing that bastard for me.”

Just then, Janus’s instincts kicked in, warning him of an attack. The vampire boss disappeared before their eyes and reappeared right in front of Janus.

The boss was about to deliver a fatal punch to the gut before Janus managed to move to the left just in time to avoid it. Janus then kicked the back of the boss’s leg, making him fall to one knee, and not looking back, grabbed Ana, and jumped away from the monsters that surrounded them.

Landing on another catwalk, he started running across it while still carrying Ana in his arms.

“W-what do we do?” Ana questioned.

“I’m going to get you out of the factory so you can get back to the base to get some help.”

“W-what about you?!”

“I’m staying behind and holding them off. If we both leave, we might not get another chance to find these guys. Not only that, but if this vampire boss is under a higher-ranking royal, then I need to deal with him while I can before he informs his master of what happened.”

Janus knew he couldn’t leave that royal vampire alone. Pawns and Rook vampires usually always follow the orders of a higher-ranking vampire. They were no different than the vampires they’d created that follows their command.

With that being the case, Janus can’t let that vampire report to his master. He needs to take him out and get whatever information he can out of him.

“That’s suicide!” Ana protested. “Even with your healing powers, going up against them is insane!”

“I won’t die that easily, even if I wanted to!” Janus snapped. “Right now, your life is more important, now stop arguing and follow-!?”

Before Janus could finish his sentence, another steel rebar appeared and pierced Janus’s shoulder.

“Argh!”

“Janus!”

The force of the impact caused Janus to lose his footing as he fell on the catwalk. As he fell, his grip on Ana came loose as she tumbled across the catwalk.

As the both of them groaned, The vampire boss continued laughing.

“Leaving so soon? Come now, grab a seat! Stay a little while!” He then grabbed two more rebars and hurled them at the pair.

Although the attacks didn’t hit them, they did hit the catwalk platform, weakening it significantly.

“C-can you move?” Janus asked urgently.

“Y-yeah…” Ana answered, slowly getting up.

“Go…now!” Just as Janus said this, the platform was slowly collapsing.

While Ana managed to get to a part of the catwalk that stayed in place, Janus fell with the rest of collapsed platform. Ana looked over at where Janus fell, completely terrified.

“Janus!” Ana called out.

“Get out of here, now!” Janus roared.

Ana hesitated for a moment but decided to listen and ran off to leave the factory. However, after running for a little bit, she was soon caught off by the vampire slaves that the royal vampire was working to the bone.

They snarled and hissed at Ana, looking at her like food, which in this case, she was. Their husky and skinny appearance made them look like starved animals, and they were certainly hungry.

“B-blood…” One vampire slave croaked.

“Need…t-to…feed…” Another groaned.

“Damn it…” Ana was blocked off.

Pulling out her sword, she pointed it at the vampires. They hissed in response, clearly afraid of the blade.

“Don’t make me kill you,” Ana warned.

If it were a normal vampire, Ana wouldn’t have hesitated to cut them down. But these vampires were recently turned against their will. They were victims. This caused Anastasia to hesitate in killing her enemies before.

Although they were afraid, the vampire slaves were so hungry that their hunger overrode their fear. They then charged Ana, not carrying about the consequences.

Leaving her no choice, Ana swung her blade and started taking down the vampires one by one. Despite her hand being injured, she handled the blade very well as she cut down the monsters.

The first vampire lost his head as his body tumbled to the ground, the second vampire first got his arm chopped off and then his torso got cut in half, his intestines gushing out as the bottom torso fell to the ground. Then the third vampire got stabbed in the chest, completely frozen as his body shriveled up after getting his heart pierced by the sword.

With the three vampires taken care of, Ana kept running so she doesn’t get caught by more. However, while running, more and more of the vampire slaves started showing up. Instead of stopping, Ana simply kept running until she managed to get away from them.

In the corner of her mind, she couldn’t help but worry about Janus who was still on the collapsed platform.

Meanwhile, Janus struggled to move away from the collapsed catwalk. As he stood up, he grunted in pain from the burning sensation in his shoulder.

The rebar was still lodged in there, causing him tremendous pain. Usually, his healing factor would kick in and fix it, but with the rebar still in his shoulder, it won’t heal.

Which means he needs to pull it out. That in itself is no easy feat, considering how snug the rebar was in his should.

“Agh…this is gonna hurt,” Janus grunts as he grabs the rebar with his left hand, getting ready to pull it out.

Then…

“Need some help?”

“A-agghh?!” Janus felt a searing pain from the rebar being pulled.

Not only that, but his entire body felt like it was getting pulled up. Just then, Janus looked over and saw the vampire boss grabbed the other end of the rebar, a sadistic smile on his face.

“Up we go now.”

“Kgh….!” Janus grits his teeth, trying to endure the pain.

Then, once Janus was high in the air, the vampire swung down and to the right, flinging him out of the rebar and crashing into the factory floor. He hit the floor with such force that he made a couple craters as he tumbled across.

“There we go!” The vampire boss said with a gleeful smile.

Meanwhile, Janus struggled to get up. From the pain in his shoulder and his recent crash into the floor, he was pretty banged up…for the moment anyway.

“You’re quite something, you know that?” The boss spoke up. “Not a lot of humans can take on a vampire like myself. But you? You managed to harm me. Even if only for a moment.”

Once he got close enough to Janus, he grabbed the HMDD member by the neck and punched him in the stomach.

“Kgh!” Janus coughed up blood from the punch.

“Wow, you’re still conscious after one of my punches. That takes some endurance, you know that? A normal weak human would’ve fainted from the pain or died from it! Hahaha!”

Just then, Janus reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a knife, aiming the blade at the vampire boss’s neck. However…

“Uh-ah!” The boss swiftly grabbed Janus’s arm when he was at least an inch from piercing the blade in his throat. “That was quite dangerous. You could’ve hurt me.”

The boss grabbed the knife and tossed it away. He then hurls Janus into the floor again, making another crater.

“Urgh…” Janus groaned.

“Still kicking, are we?” The vampire boss mused. “Isn’t this the second time I launched ya against the floor? I should’ve broken plenty of bones to keep ya from moving. And yet you’re still going!”

As the vampire chuckled to himself, Janus did his best to pick himself up. As he did, he reached for his gun in secret. Once he got a hold of the gun, he pulled it out and tried shooting the vampire.

But he soon disappeared in an instant, like he was never there.

“Guns, huh?” The vampire boss appeared as he grabbed Janus’s arm that held the gun.

“A-agh!” Squeezing his hand, Janus’s arm got crushed by the force, causing him to let go of the gun.

“Those pesky things were always a nuisance.” He then raises his leg and crushes the gun under his boot, twisting it to grind it up.

Moving his leg, he kicked Janus square in the stomach, sending him tumbling backward. Janus coughed up more blood as he still tried to get up.

Just then, the vampire boss slams his foot on top of his back, keeping him in place.

“A-agh…!”

“Sorry, can’t have you try anything else. Oh, and look what we have here…” The vampire boss then looked over ahead of them.

Janus looked in the same direction and his eyes widened with shock. Ana was currently getting dragged by a couple of vampire servants. Although she didn’t look hurt, she definitely looked out of it.

“Good, you got the other one,” The boss sneered. “I can’t get the show started unless both of our guests aren’t here.”

“J-Janus…” Ana called out to her partner, looking weak.

“Ah, you bastards couldn’t help yourselves, could you?” The boss sighed. “Maybe I starved you too much.”

Janus was confused at first until he noticed that Ana’s neck was red…it was her blood. Those bloodsucking bastards took some of her blood. No wonder she looked out of it.

“Whatever, I’ll punish you lot later,” The vampire boss grumbled as he picked up Janus by the neck.

“J-Janus!” Noticing this, Ana called out to Janus, not knowing what could happen.

“Alright, little miss. You’re going to watch as I drained the blood of this bastard.”

“No!” Ana tried to break free, but the vampire slaves held her tight, keeping her from escaping.

While that happened, The vampire boss brought Janus closer to him. He smiled evilly as he looked at Janus’s injured state.

“Any last words before I turn you into a husk, little hunter?”

“…” Janus said nothing as he glared at the monster.

He then did something a bit unexpected. He spits in the boss’s face, blinding him for a moment.

Wiping away the spit, the vampire boss glared at Janus.

“Bite me, asshole,” Janus smiled.

“You little…! So be it then!” Enraged, the vampire gripped Janus’s shoulders as he pulled him and plunged his fangs into his neck.

“A-agh!”

“Noooo!” Ana cried out, trying once again to free herself.

The vampire boss indulged in Janus’s blood for a few moments. Then, his expression hardened as his eyes widened with surprise.

“R-raaagghh!” The vampire boss pulled away from Janus as he howled in pain.

His grip loosened on Janus, as the hunter fell to the floor. The vampire boss fell to his knees and held his mouth with his hand, blood dripping out.

“Y-your blood…w-why does it burn?!” The boss kept cradling his mouth as he glared at Janus, then he saw something unexpected.

Janus pulled himself up and all of the injuries he endured were slowly healing. The bite mark on his neck, the scratches on his body from getting tossed to the floor, and even the gaping wound from the rebar were closing up.

“Y-you’re healing…?” The boss questioned in surprise.

“Ugh…man, that sucked,” Janus groaned as he stretched his body, his appearance as good as new despite the blood that remained.

“Answer me, bastard!” The boss grew enraged. “How are you healing?! And why does your blood burn?!”

“P-poison blood…” Ana muttered, catching the vampire boss’s attention. “In the report…it said that his blood was poisonous to monsters…like it was burning them.”

Janus said nothing at Ana’s statement as he glared at the vampire boss, completely fine.

Poison blood. This was another one of Janus’s traits along with his super healing factor. It was discovered a long time ago that his blood was poisonous to monsters, like vampires and such.

Due to this ability, Janus abused it and made vampires drink his blood, none of them knowing that they were basically screwing themselves over.

He’s done this so many times that he’s been given a title by the vampires and other monsters. And that title was…

“T-the Poisoned Helsing!” The vampire boss pointed in horror, his face a lot paler than before. “Y-you’re the Poisoned Helsing!”

The Poisoned Helsing. A title given to Janus to warn monsters not to eat him, or they will meet an unfortunate end.

All Janus did in response was give The vampire boss a sadistic smile. The smile made the boss’s skin crawl, making him want to run away.

“You have no idea how hard it was to keep that act up,” Janus spoke up. “At first, I was planning on healing the moment you pinned me down and beat the shit out of you. That is until Anastasia appeared while being taken in by some vampires. You’ve would’ve used her as a hostage if I didn’t act defenseless.”

Thanks to Janus’s super healing factor, he could’ve recovered at any time during his fight with the vampire boss. And he was planning to until Ana got into the picture. If he had gone through with healing and fighting the boss, that bastard would’ve used Ana as a hostage and kept him from acting.

So, he decided to play along. Make the vampire boss think he was at an advantage, and the moment he took his blood, the gloves were off. Thanks to his poisonous blood, he had the upper hand now.

When monsters drink Janus’s blood, it isn’t just a burning sensation that they feel in their mouth and throat. They also become physically weaker. And that’s when Janus won.

Janus then walks over to the vampire boss. The boss, in response, crawls away out of fear. N-no! S-stay away from me! Y-you lot! Save me!”

In response to their master’s call, the vampire slaves let go of Ana and charged at Janus.

“You really should’ve stayed by Anastasia,” As Janus said this, he pulls out his sword and then slashes at the vampire slaves in one motion.

Then, all the vampire slaves that rushed at Janus were severed. Their body parts and entrails coated the floor with crimson blood and vampire meat.

The vampire boss looked in horror as he witnessed his men get turned into sashimi. Ana watched the scene in both surprise and awe.

Janus then sheathes his blade, while walking over to the vampire boss once again. He towered over the once mighty vampire royal as he glared at him.

“You have two choices,” Janus said. “Tell me who you work for…or I’ll make you tell me.”

The vampire boss's voice croaked as he spoke. “I-I can’t do that…M-my master will k-kill me.”

Janus kneels and stares directly at the boss, his eyes unwavering as he spoke once more. “What I’m about to do to you…will be far worse than whatever your master does. Killing you is mercy…but torturing you? That will be a kind of hell you will wish you got out of. Especially when I’m the one torturing you.”

Janus pulls out another knife and shows it to the vampire boss. As he twirled it around in front of the monster, he continued talking.

“You know, when I first discovered that my blood was poisonous to you bastards, a lot of ideas came to mind. Especially when it comes…to torture.”

Using the knife to cut his blood, Janus’s blood started to pour out.

“And I came up with a really fun idea. An idea you might be familiar with. You starved your servants and made them work so they can feed. So, my idea is to starve you to the brink…and make you drink my blood, little by little.”

Janus watched as his blood dripped on the ground, drip by drip.

“Can you imagine it? You’re so thirsty for blood that you don’t even care that it’s mine…and as you drink it, you are basically destroying your body. I bet that sounds like a lot of fun, huh?”

“A-ah…ah…” The vampire boss quivered with fear.

He knew that everything that Janus would do to him wasn’t a bluff. He will torture him the way he explained. And he will make the vampire boss tell him everything he wants to know, whether he likes it or not.

“Ready to talk,” Janus asked, glaring at the vampire.

“A-alright, I’ll talk…!” Fearful of his fate, the vampire boss surrendered. “M-my master is-kugh?!”

“What the-?!”

Before the vampire boss could confess, blood started pouring out of his body. His mouth, nose, eyes, and even his ears. Blood was coming out of every part of his body like a faucet.

Due to the blood loss, the vampire boss collapsed to the ground, causing Janus to panic.

“No, no!” Janus rolled the boss over and tried to save him. “Stay with me, you bastard! You’re not allowed to die until I get what I want, you hear me?!”

Janus tried his best to stop the bleeding, but it got so bad that the vampire boss was dead the moment he hit the ground.

“Dammit…goddammit!” Realizing that it was too late, Janus smashed his fist against the ground, creating a small crater in it.

With the vampire boss dead, finding the actual vampire master mind is going to be impossible right now.

“Dammit! Shit!” Janus kept swearing. “I should’ve realized this would’ve happened since he’s a royal’s pawn!”

“W-what do you mean?” Ana asked, more or less recovered after getting her blood drained.

“To keep important information from getting out, a mid or high-ranking royal vampire would place a sort of condition on pawn and rook royals. If they try to confess, they’ll self-destruct, getting killed in the process.”

This was a common procedure for royal vampires, especially Mid-rank royals. In order to prevent information leaks, practically any and all Pawn and Rook royals are placed in this condition.

Janus has encountered this situation a few times, and adapted well to getting information out without that condition was activating. However, it wasn’t the case here.

“Tch! I got so preoccupied with getting information that I neglected that stupid condition these guys were put under.”

“What do we do now?” Ana asked.

“Regarding the Mid-rank royal nothing for the moment…” Janus answered, down-casted. “For now, we should investigate the factory while we can. Maybe we get to find some useful information regarding the royal vampire here.”

“Right…” Ana walked over to Janus and helped him up.

The pair then started their search inside the factory.