Hours Later, Rafael's Mansion
"90… 91… 92… 93… 94… 95… 96…" Rafael grunted, doing pull-ups with 60kg of weights strapped around his waist. He was sweating a bit, and after reaching 100, he landed perfectly, sighed, and removed the weights before turning to the treadmill.
He ran at 30-40 km/h for the next hour, and after that, he rested for 30 minutes before turning to the punching bag. He began hitting it repeatedly for an hour. Inside was a compressed fabric, so each punch wouldn't easily leave a mark, and each strike was precise and powerful. While his hands weren't wrapped, they didn't bleed as an average person's would. Due to him using his unprotected hands for boxing, his skin had gotten used to it. Each strike also expressed his anger, and after one hour, the bag tore apart from the repeated beatings.
After that routine exercise, he sighed as he looked at a ring, which had a design that was a bit Catholic with a hint of Roman. He remembered his first encounter with the supernatural.
It was a vampire auction, and how he got into it was simple: back then, before Atlas became well-known, he was part of a covert operation spearheaded by NATO but mostly used mercenaries and special forces. The objective was to kill a rebel leader who had been gathering large amounts of weapons and ammunition. He was tasked with scouting an abandoned Ottoman-era castle alone, considering his skills and due to irregularities and rumors surrounding it.
2011: Operation Slaughterhouse, Romania
Rafael was dressed in forest camo gear and armed with an AK-74. He was dressed like a Soviet forest infantry unit and was running through the forest at a fast speed toward his destination. After 10 minutes of running, he arrived at the vicinity of the castle ruins and saw that it was very run down and could almost collapse at any moment. But he felt something odd within it, so he activated his NVGs.
He began approaching the castle with measured steps. The only sound was Rafael's boots stepping on the grass and the wind howling through the forest. As he entered the castle courtyard, he saw overgrown roots and grass, yet he also saw signs of recent movement. He ignored it and moved inside the castle, where he saw centuries-old paintings and old rags from the late Middle Ages. There was no sign of dust, almost like someone was maintaining it. Rafael shook it off, assuming a rebel group was staying there for a bit, and continued advancing.
He eventually reached an entrance to a stairway leading somewhere. He first cleared the upper floors of the castle, finding some weapons left by the rebels, yet they were untouched, almost like they had been left there. So he went toward the entrance to the stairway.
As he headed down, he heard the distant sound of people clapping or a party. He reached the basement, and it was a mess. He saw bodies that appeared to be rebels, totally dried up as if there was no blood left in them. There were bullet shells on the ground, and when he inspected each gun, some were crushed while others had sharp claw marks. Inspecting the bodies, he saw bite marks on the necks.
"Could it be a vampire?" Rafael said, not believing it, since one of his mentors had said that they were mostly active in inner Europe, although Romania was their homeland.
Tack. Tack. Tack.
Rafael heard the sound again, but this time it was near the door. He readied his rifle and pushed the wooden door. He saw a bit of darkness, and when he entered, he saw curtains and heard the door shut behind him.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Nightingale Auction!" a pale man with a crow mask said, slamming a wooden hammer on a gavel. The audience seated below him clapped lightly. Rafael, seeing this, thought, 'What the fuck? I entered a hornet's nest.' Looking out, he realized he was in a balcony seat. Hearing that it was an auction, he opened one of his small backpacks that he brought in case he needed to "run."
He checked his money, and it was $10 billion, which he had "requisitioned" from not-so-kind people for the greater good. It was his own money and was going to be used for his retirement plan.
"Now that everyone is comfortably settled in, we have a dozen items prepared and ready to show you!" he said. Rafael, who was comfortably seated with his AK-74 leaning on the side of his seat, felt a cold hand touch his shoulder. He quickly drew his pistol from his thigh holster and aimed it at her face. The woman's face could easily seduce a regular man, with white hair and red eyes. With her small smile, Rafael could see some sharp teeth. He felt something trying to control his consciousness, yet a strong, locked energy surged, removing the foreign energy. Rafael knew she was trying to control him, yet the seal his mentor had placed on him stopped it.
"Mind if I sit next to you?" she asked in a polite tone. Rafael knew he couldn't beat her in his current posture, so he just gestured, knowing he must endure it. She smiled more brightly, and with a snap of her fingers, a chair manifested 5 feet away from Rafael with a small table in between them.
5 minutes later, the auction started, and several items were shown. Many bids were in the millions. Rafael, hearing those prices, knew this was not a normal auction since he was dealing with vampires who had the cash to spend. During that time, the woman next to him tried multiple times to get his attention, but Rafael was very focused on the auction.
"Next on the list is a very legendary weapon—a sword that was used by St. Michael himself before he ascended into heaven. He slayed demons using this weapon, forged from unknown materials. So, let's not wait any longer and start the bids at $10 million!" he said with his arms spread out as the weapon was displayed on a stand. Its design was shining a bit like silver, with a gothic style.
"$30 million," Rafael said, raising his hand. Now, out of all the items, he wanted this one.
"$50 million!" someone in the crowd said.
"$100 million," Rafael countered.
"$110 million," another person shouted.
"$500 million," Rafael said in a more cold tone, and no one else spoke.
"Anybody else? Well, going once, going twice, sold! To the man in the balcony," the man in the crow mask said. Soon, a person wearing a butler's attire approached Rafael, carrying the sword in a sheath.
"Your cash, sir?" he asked.
"Here, take it from my bank account," Rafael said and handed over his card. After a few minutes of processing, the man handed the card back, and Rafael nodded.
"Thank you for the purchase, sir," he said and bowed a bit before disappearing into the shadows. Rafael placed the sword to his right, and the lady spoke again.
"You do realize that you're the only human here?" she said in a seductive tone and slowly reached her hand out, but Rafael slapped it away, wanting to shove his pistol down her throat.
The auction continued, and the items reached into the billions. The lady continued her approach, albeit Rafael slapped her hand far harder, and she winced from it.
"Up next is a book that contains knowledge of all supernatural communities around the planet. It's still incomplete but has valuable information, and there are only 3 copies, and this is one of them," he said, and everyone gasped.
"Let's start the bid at $500 million!" he shouted. Many people wanted to raise their hands until an echoing voice was heard.
"$5 billion," the lady next to Rafael said in a decisive tone. Many people turned to look at the person who said that bid and quickly shivered in fear, knowing her identity.
"I will give you this as a gift," she said. From the start, Rafael still wore that mask, hiding his facial features, but luckily, most of Rafael's scent was removed due to his mentor, and he had a pendant in his pocket that blocked outside influence into his mind, but it nearly stopped working.
'I will tear the mask away, see your face. I know your scent, unlike any other shitty smells; yours is better,' she thought. Rafael looked at the book, and instead of pushing it away, he kept it, since he knew that the woman's target was to get his attention.
As soon as Rafael turned and headed toward the bathroom, four vampires followed him. The woman looked at the bathroom with an amused face, hoping that Rafael would call out for her help.
Inside the Bathroom
Rafael turned around and saw the four vampires ready to give him a beating. But Rafael was quick to attack. He drew his pistol and fired two shots into their chests. One of them tried to punch Rafael after he fired his next shot at the third man, but Rafael pulled him and fired three shots into the vampire's chest and then aimed at his lower chin and fired again.
After that, several screams, shouts, and small pleas were heard, and it lasted for 5 minutes until it went silent. Rafael came out with blood on his clothes. As he exited, he saw the woman smirking at him and spoke.
"It seems you had a good time," she chuckled lightly, hoping that Rafael would realize his mistake since the vampires around him were partly under her control due to her royal blood.
But at that moment, Rafael's patience was fully extinguished, and chaos ensued as he threw several flashbangs and soon drew the sword he had bought, since he knew his guns wouldn't damage her unlike the rest.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Many vampires were caught in the crossfire, and most of them covered their eyes while Rafael drew the sword. She saw it coming and charged toward him with her claws drawn.
Clang. Woosh.
As the fist and sword collided, a small shockwave erupted. Rafael and the vampire began exchanging blows. Each strike was superhuman, which shocked the vampire, and she began matching his intensity. But Rafael didn't care. She thought it was a competition, but no—Rafael wanted to either kill her or severely injure her.
During the clash, Rafael pulled out a grenade and tried to shove it down the woman's mouth. But before it exploded, she threw it to the side, and it landed on a group of vampires who were keeping their distance.
Boom.
As the first grenade exploded, Rafael threw the rest like baseballs. With each parry the woman made, more vampires died. Soon, the vampires began running away, sensing the danger, since if they got close, either a claw or a bullet would come at them.
Later, the auction's guards were about to intervene but stopped in their tracks, realizing the woman's identity and trying to isolate the rest of the people.
30 Minutes Later
Despite the battle dragging on for so long, both sides showed no signs of stopping. The woman had some scars across her body, but they healed quickly. Meanwhile, some of Rafael's clothes were torn, and both exchanged one last attack before stopping to take a breath.
The woman had a cut on her left arm while Rafael had a permanent claw mark across his chest.
"You're good. I have to admit that you nearly made me use my powers," she said, looking at Rafael with more seriousness than before.
"Neither did I, but I have to kill you," Rafael said and began charging forward. The woman charged as well, and when their attacks connected, the shockwave caused the ceiling to show signs of collapsing.
So, Rafael, seeing this, used his remaining flashbangs and a few smoke grenades. Luckily, he had brought C4 with him in case he needed to demolish the castle, and within 6 seconds, he set them up. When she found him, she was met with a strong kick to the stomach. Rafael triggered the explosives, effectively destroying the ceiling. He was able to reach the door that had led him to this place, and after arriving back at the castle ruins, he requested an airstrike and destroyed it.
Later, Rafael came back to the base, reported back, and re-armed himself. He charged toward the rebel camp, where he faked his death but still killed the rebel leader and left the operation to its conclusion.
To be continued