With the battle over, the pair started searching around the factory. Some of the vampires that were here fled while the fight raged on. Janus and Ana thought about going after them, but they felt it was more important finding information first.

After a little bit of searching, Janus soon came across the vampire boss’s office. It was a lot smaller than his father’s office and reminded him of those small-time factory offices, which in this case, explained the size.

There was a desk, a bookshelf behind it, a couple of plants in pots, and…what appeared to be a wine shelf. However, Vampires didn’t drink wine, which meant this was blood instead wine.

Ignoring the blood shelf, Janus started searching through the boss’s desk. There wasn’t much that looked important except a couple of logs involving supplies being shipped here, inconspicuously.

Then, while digging through a desk drawer, Janus finally came across something good.

“A journal, huh?” He picked up a black leather book written as a journal.

Opening it up, he looked at a couple of pages. This was basically a personal diary by the vampire boss, talking about his life since becoming a vampire.

It seems that when he was human, he was a low-ranking thug that wasn’t getting anywhere in his life. That is until his future master appeared and offered him a new life as a creature of the night.

Since becoming a Royal Vampire, this boss was tasked with gathering vampires to build up his army and also assist him in creating something. The boss didn’t write down what this something was since the master didn’t tell him.

However, it seems that the vampire boss suspected that they were making a weapon of some kind. The funny part to him was that he believed he was making only a part of the weapon.

“Janus!” Ana appeared, catching Janus’s attention, and out of the journal.

“What’s wrong?”

“You need to see this…”

Unsure of what Anastasia was talking about, Janus decides to follow Ana to whatever she was referring to. As he did, they soon came across a door that led to a room.

Opening it up, Janus was horrified by what he was looking at.

“Is this…”

“Yeah,” Ana answered with a grim expression. “It’s a human blood farm.”

In the room they were looking at, over a dozen humans were seen inside. They were strapped to medical beds and had IVs placed in various parts of their body from their arms to their necks.

A Human Blood Farm, or just Blood Farm, is a type of place where vampires take and store humans and strap them up as they drained them of their blood, storing them in vials, bags, etc. Blood Farms are only used by extremely resourceful and smart vampires, which means this little room is one of them.

The IVs were taking the people’s blood and putting them in big plastic blood bags. They were a lot of blood bags placed all over the place, which explains the skinny, pale, and death-like state the people were currently in.

Janus and Ana went further into the room and went to check to see if they were at least alive. However, as they checked their pulse, they grimaced as most of them were already dead.

“How many of them…”

“Probably all of them,” Janus muttered, looking furious. “The blood-sucking bastards likely killed them since they were no longer useful as they took the blood bags.”

It must’ve happened during the fight with the vampire boss. The vampires that remained probably came here and got rid of their livestock in order for them not to spill any information regarding the base and the vampires.

Janus and Ana continued looking through the blood farm room, feeling more and more appalled as they went along. They kept checking for pulses to see if they got lucky, but the chances of that were growing slimmer by the moment.

Then…

“J-Janus, I think I have a live one!”

“Where?!” Janus went over to where Ana was and was met with a very surprising sight.

“I-it’s a child…but I can still feel a pulse!” Anastasia wore a relieved expression.

They looked no older than seven years old. Eight at the most. She had long brown hair that went down to her upper back, and her complexion wasn’t all that good. However, it didn’t look as severe as the others.

“Despite being so young…she’s definitely a fighter,” Janus sighed with relief.

“W-what should we do now?”

“We call for backup to have them continue inspecting the factory in case we missed something. That and have them take care of the deceased and any other survivors we can find in this room.”

“Right…huh?”

Ana looked over at the child and noticed that she was moving about, like tossing around in her sleep. She then opened her eyes slowly, looking at her surroundings. Then she noticed Janus and Ana looking at her.

Her eyes began to tear up.

“Please, don’t hurt me anymore…” She pleaded, begging to be spared.

“I-it’s okay, we’re not the monsters,” Ana tried to reassure her. “My name is Anastasia. You can call me Ana if you like. A-and this is Janus. We’re here to save you.”

The little child looked at the pair, surprised to hear this.

“You’re…here to save me…”

“You and anyone else that’s still alive, yes,” Janus answered.

It took the child a moment to process this. Then, her eyes widen, like she just remembered something important.

“M-my mom…w-what happened…” She then turned to her left, to another medical bed with a woman laying on it.

Just like the rest, she looked dead. Janus and Ana looked at one another, not sure on what to do.

Janus then walks over to the woman that the child is staring at.

“Is…she your mother?” Janus asked.

The child nods her head, tears building up in her eyes once more. After a moment, Janus then placed his hand on the mother’s neck, trying to find a pulse…but found nothing.

She was dead. Noticing Janus’s grim expression, Ana couldn’t help but feel sad as well.

“I’m…sorry, kid, but…?!”

Just as Janus was about to break the news, the mother soon gasped back to life, startling the three.

“M-mommy!” The child called out to her mother, relieved to see her alive.

“K-Katie…” The mother, still in a daze, looked over at her child. She smiled at first, but something changed and she frowned.

Janus and Ana were still surprised by what had just happened. When Janus checked the mother’s pulse, it wasn’t there. And it seemed like she’s been like that for a good while.

Not only that, but something about her appearance…alarmed Janus. His instincts were telling him that the mother…wasn’t who she used to be.

And if that was the case, he needed to make sure.

“Ma’am, I need to check your pulse for a second,”

Noticing Janus, the mother looked alarmed as she shrunk away from him.

“S-stay away…”

“I’m not a vampire. My name is Janus. I’m a member of the HMDD. I’m here to help you, okay?”

Considering that she’s been used as a blood dispenser for vampires, it was clear as day that the woman was traumatized.

“N-no, not that…! D-don’t come any closer or…I won’t be able to control myself…!”

As soon as the woman said this, Janus’s fears were soon realized. Ana noticed as well as she looked on in horror, knowing what the mother meant.

“…Ma’am, I need you to open your mouth, and show me your teeth.” Making sure that Janus’s suspicions were right, Janus decided to see the mother’s teeth, to make sure this was the case.

The mother hesitated for a moment before she slowly opened her mouth. As she did…two fangs appeared where her canines should’ve been. They were vampire fangs, a common trait that told you if a person was a blood-sucking monster or not.

Instead of dying…this person experienced something much worse. She’s experienced Undeath…

“Ana…” Janus called out his supervisor. “I need you to take the child…and leave the room, please.”

“…R-right.” Knowing what must be done, Ana unhooked the child, Katie, and slowly picked her up.

As this happened, Katie looked over at her mother, not sure what was happening.

“M-mommy…”

“I-it’s alright, sweetheart…” The mother told her child, trying her best to smile. “Y-you and the nice lady there wait outside…while I talk with this man here.”

“O-okay…”

Listening to her mother, Katie held on to Ana as they left the blood farm room, leaving Janus and the mother alone. Once they were alone, Janus walked around the room and started checking the other deceased, making sure that the mother was the only turned one.

“How did you turn?” Janus asked, his face expressionless.

“…Those bastards force-fed me blood. They did this while…” The mother looked over at the other deceased, giving Janus an idea of what she was about to say next.

She turned right around when the vampires were killing off their blood supplies. Though, that does raise a question in his mind.

“Why did they turn just you? Or were there others?”

“I…don’t know. All I know is that the vampires were in a rush…and they gave me blood, saying something like ‘let’s leave a surprise’ or something along those lines.”

“A surprise, huh?”

Those vampires intended to get Janus and Ana attacked by the mother. Probably as a last gesture of retaliation, among other things.

After inspecting the rest of the bodies, Janus concluded that the mother was the only turned vampire left. None of the others jumped up like she did, but he still kept an eye out while still watching over the mother.

“And how do you feel?” Although Janus had an idea as to how she felt, he still asked out of courtesy.

“…I’m really hungry right now. And looking at you…makes me drool.” The mother gripped her hands, a disgusted expression plastered over her face.

“Well, my blood’s poisonous to vampires, so drinking it would only kill you if you tried.”

“I’d rather die than live like this…”

“…I’m aware.”

Making sure that they truly were the only ones in this room both alive and undead, Janus then pulls out his sword. Noticing this, the mother looks a bit relieved, likely thankful that she won’t have to suffer like this for long.

“Before I…end this. I need to know if you have any useful information regarding the vampire boss. Like his master. Did they come here and do an inspection or something?”

If by chance the vampire boss’s master came here, he might be able to get some kind of clue as to what he was dealing with.

“I…don’t know much. All I know is that the vampire boss…referred to his master as a she.”

“A woman, huh? Anything else?”

The mother shakes her head. “I’m afraid not.”

“Got it…” Janus then raises his sword, ready to behead her.

“Please…make sure my daughter is safe and happy…”

“…” Janus said nothing when the mother mentioned her daughter.

He was then reminded of the past…how he lost his family to monsters and how he more or less grew up alone…even when he was part of another family.

That loneliness…was not something anyone should bare. Not even that child…but there was no other way to save the mother since she’s already turned.

Although there are rehabilitation for people who were turned and still wish to be a part of society, it’s not developed enough for the mother to safely be a part of it.

And there wasn’t even a way to cure her vampirism…except there actually was.

“Good grief…” Janus then lowers his blade and sheaths it, causing the mother to look confused.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Giving you another option.” As he said this, he pulled out a familiar-looking vial out of his pocket.

This was the red liquid that was called serum that he took from his home. He said that he’d be able to find some lab rats to test this serum…and now he did.

“What is that…?” The mother asked, looking a little alarmed.

“This…is your ticket back to becoming human.” Janus twirled the serum in his hand. “It’s an experimental serum I concocted that can reverse your vampirism.”

“S-such a thing exists…” The mother said in surprise.

“…Like I said, it’s experimental.”

Technically speaking, there wasn’t a cure for vampirism or any other monster infection. At least, officially. That meant that what Janus had in his hand was a completely experimental drug that he was not one-hundred percent sure will work or not.

He’s been doing trial runs and a lot of trial and error. This serum is currently the latest formula…and it was time to do a test run of it.

“While experimental…you are technically the second person I tried this on.”

“D-did the first person get cured…?”

“He did…but the process of curing his vampirism was…very painful, I guess that would be the best word to put it.”

Saying this, Janus started remembering his first test subject. Like the mother, he was a vampire. However…he wasn’t forced into becoming one, but rather turned willingly.

Not only that, but he has been a vampire for quite a long time. Longer than the mother, at least. And unlike the mother, he’s embraced that vampire side and did some unspeaking things, so curing him…wasn’t all that bad, considering he was in pain.

However, now the mother will have to endure the same thing if she wants to go back to being human.

Janus brought the serum over to the mother, his expression turned serious.

“Although the process is painful, I guarantee that you can be cured.”

“W-why are you going so far for…someone like me?” The mother asked, her face filled with confusion.

“…Because I don’t wish for your child to end up like me; an orphan.”

Janus knew what it was like to lose his family and end up alone. Although he was adopted by the Helsing Family…he still ended up alone in the end.

He didn’t want that for the girl. And he definitely didn’t want to be the one that made her an orphan.

After hearing this, the mother hesitates for a moment before grabbing the serum. Her hands trembled as she did.

“W-will I truly be cured…?”

“…I wouldn’t be giving you this option if I wasn’t a hundred percent sure.”

This was all that the mother needed to hear. Putting on a determined face, she uncorked the vial and quickly downed the serum in one gulp.

Then…it didn’t take long before the effects started to kick in.

“A-aaaaggghh!” The mother screamed in pain, her body shaking violently like she was having a seizure.

Every breath she took gave out a heavy wheeze…and a growl. Her fangs protruded violently from her mouth as red veins started to engulf her body.

She continued spazzing for a while until she raised her body up and made a deafening scream that caused Janus to cover his ears. After she stopped screaming, the mother collapsed in the medical bed, completely unconscious.

Once he knew that she wouldn’t try anything, Janus went to check for her pulse…and miraculously found one.

“Heh…” Janus chuckled with relief, knowing that the serum worked.

And just like that, the mother was back to being human.

“Janus! What’s happening!” Soon after, Ana rushed back into the room, wielding her sword and ready for a fight.

“It’s alright, Ana. Where’s the girl?” Janus soon noticed that the girl, Katie, wasn’t with Ana.

“A-ah, she’s behind the door, waiting for me since I heard a loud roar and thought…” Ana then looked over at where the mother was and looked confused. “U-um, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just tell the backup group that there are two people they need to attend to, not just one.”

“T-two…?” Ana looked at Janus with a hint of confusion as she looked back and forth between him and the mother.

All Janus could do was chuckle, knowing that explaining what just happened was going to cause a lot of confusion.