Bloodlust Legacy: Carnage

"Compose yourself, boy!" Kennedy snarled, pulling Ezeikel back with force. He raised his hand and struck him on his head, knocking him to the ground.

"Ouch! What did you do that for?!" Ezeikel yelled as he rubbed his head frantically, trying to soothe the pain.

"I brought you here because you need work. Don't make me send you back if can't control yourself," Kennedy warned him, his eyes reflecting his emotions in that moment. "If you can't do that, then there's no point in you even being here."

'But you didn't have to hit me so hard!' Ezeikel complained inwardly, dusting himself off as he got back onto his feet.

"I'm sorry."

"That's better. Now, follow me," Kennedy began to walk at the fast pace further into the city, not caring whether he was moving too fast for Ezeikel to keep up.

'There he goes with his passive-aggressive behavior. Sometimes, he needs to just learn to let things go,' Ezekiel quickened his pace, still, it wasn't enough to keep up with Kennedy.

'I only have ten minutes left before I'm late. I can't let that affect my employee record,' Kennedy quickened his pace once more, and within seconds, Ezeikel could barely see his figure in the distance.

"Oh no," Ezekiel's speed walk quickly shifted to a full-on sprint as he pushed himself to catch up. He ran past the pedestrian side wall, made sharp turns through multiple street corners, he even had to jump past flower gardens and swerve past the locals traversing the busy neighbourhoods just to reach Kennedy.

His radical behavior had caught the attention of the people he swept past in his desperate sprint, causing them to complain about the scoundrel causing a ruckus all of a sudden. Though none of this affected Ezeikel, he was far too focused on reaching where Kennedy was to stop and explain himself.

After a couple minutes, his rapid speed began to decline. His breaths came out rough accompanying the sweat all over his shirt. He looked up, his eyes void of energy to see the figure of

kennedy in front of him standing in front of a large gate where a bunch of guards were present.

All of the guards wore the standard dark fitted clothing that guards anywhere in the kingdom would, however, on the right side of their chest, there was a star-shaped badge painted in a golden color which symbolized that they worked exclusively for Thane Emberlin.

"Wow, you made it. For a second there, I thought you were finally gonna come late," one of the guards said, bursting into a fit of laughter. His name was Carl. He looked to be in his mid twenties with short black hair and sharp facial features while boasting a muscular build. The same could be said for the others, as well.

They were all high-level grade one vampires, making them eligible candidates to guard the entrance to one of the settlement's most valued structures.

With the military power that the Darkhaven family possessed, even if the guards and other security personnel guarding these industries were to face threats beyond their scope of abilities, the military force would do their job of defending against any attack from enemy forces.

Kennedy didn't respond to the taunt. Instead, he simply pulled out his card and stretched out his hand to give Carl the card for inspection.

"Come on, man, lighten up. I was only joking," Carl said, collecting the card and inspecting it. "You seem to be in a bad mood today. What happened?"

Kennedy turned his head, seeing Ezeikel a short distance away, huffing and panting. Meeting his gaze, Ezeikel stood upright and rushed to meet with him.

"Is this your son? He looks like he's just run a marathon. Anyways, here, you can step inside," Carl gave the card back and gestured for the others to let Kennedy and his son enter.

Kennedy collected the card and walked past the large gates leading towards the compound where the large factory was built. Once the both of them had walked inside, the guards closed the gate and began to talk to each other.

"Carl, did you really have to tease the guy? You know how life can be for people in the West. They don't have it as good as we do," another guard said. His name was Barry. "You're making us look like bad people whenever you do that."

"Oh, please, Barry. You're acting like we're equals with them. Remember, one's power and resources determine their social standing, that's the vampire way. Just because people like Mr Emberlin make job opportunities for the less gifted, doesn't make all of us equals just like that. Even if you treat it like it's valuable, a rock is still a rock," another guard named Garth responded, his arms folded as he spoke.

"Well, I was actually just teasing him back there. You all know I tease anyone when I have the chance. We can't always be stiff and act like golemns, right?" Carl spoke, shrugging his shoulders with a smile on his face. "Whether you see them as ants or not, it doesn't change the fact that they work here at the end of the day."

"Tsk. You and Barry are just plain naive. Don't you know that if you keep on lowering your standard for them, they'll eventually start to think that they're on the same level as us and they'll stop treating us with respect?" Garth spat, his tone laced with irritation.

'These fools and their endless bickering. They're too busy arguing that they aren't even doing their job anymore,' another one of the guards thought, moving forward to inspect the card of another employee who had just made it to the entrance. His name was Franklin.

Meanwhile, Kennedy and Ezeikel had made it to the front of the factory. Just as Ezeikel thought, it was a colossal structure that spanned for several miles within the enclosed space. After climbing a set of stairs leading to the front entrance, Kennedy had to repeat the process of showing them his employee card before he would be allowed to enter.

'All these formalities just to slave away at work. Man, these people really have no intention of cutting corners on anything, do they?' Ezeikel thought as the both of them finally made it into the factory.

Beyond the large doubke doors, there was a passageway that stretched several meters towards the other end. As the both of them walked through the hallway, Ezekiel wondered what he would see on the other side. Eventually, they made it to the end, stepping into a large room filled with over a hundred people, with each person performing various asks on the resources placed before them.

"And this is where I work. What do you think?" Kemnedy asked, looking back at Ezeikel. "I know what you may be thinking. Why did I suddenly rush off when you don't even know your way around this city? Well, you should already know your answer from what that guard said. At least you were able to catch up with me in the end."

Ezekiel wanted to say something, but then decided not to. Instead, his attention shifted to the large space where many people were present working tirelessly to produce the needed end products for Thane Emberlin's business to continue booming.

The temperature of the atmosphere was quite high, considering that they were using heat when working on metallic parts . Vampires were of course resistant to natural conditions such as heat and cold, however, it mostly partained to those who were at grade two and above. Those at grade three had a harder time coping with the intense heat.

"As you can see, this is one of the metalworks sections. You can't handle the heat, can you?" Kennedy could see Ezekiel's body shaking in response to the heat. "In that case, let's move someplace else. Now that I've checked in for the day, I don't have to start work immediately since I explained to the head of the division that I would be bringing you in to the workplace today."

Leading the way as usual, Kennedy walked across the large room, moving past those hard at work on his way to the other end. It was during this process that he stumbled across some of his friends working in this section just like him.

"Kennedy, how are you? Is this your son that you're always talking about?" One of the workers asked, taking a break from his work to have a chat. Just like the other workers present, he wore the standard protective gear over his clothing with mask over his face to protect himself from the glare and intense heat of the flames during his work. His name was Garlon, a vampire who lokked to be in his mid forties with messy black hair and a thick mostache.

"Yes, this is my son, Ezeikel. Today's the day this boy finally becomes a man," Kemnedy responded with a bright smile on his face. "now that he's eighteen, I don't have to be the only one busting my ass everyday just to make emds meet. Now, he'll know how it feels like to work everyday with our live dependent on it."

"That's good to hear. Anyways, let me not keep you two waiting. I'm sure you're showing him around the place right now. Let me just get back to work," Garlon said, pulling the mask back onto his face abd shifting his attention back to his work station.

"Sure thing," Kennedy decided to continue what he was doing as well, leading Ezeikel out of the metalworks section.

As the two made it inside, no longer could Ezeikel feel an intense heat overwhelming him. Instead, the space was dedicated to woodworks, as everyone in the room worked tirelessly in manufacturing wooden structures and appliances of various shapes and sizes. Despite the air being laced with saw dust and other airborne particles, it was still a better condition for Ezeikel than the previous room.

'This is much better. A couple more seconds, and I would've past out,' Ezeikel said to himself as he looked around the place.