Lucas coughed, smoke still in his lungs, and said,
"Well, it didn't end 100% bad. We all survived."
Alex glared at him.
"You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?" Lucas asked, wiping ash off his shirt.
"That thing where you act like nothing's your fault!" Alex snapped.
"You always try to twist it, like you didn't help kidnap someone and almost burn us all alive!"
Lucas looked away.
Then Alex looked around and frowned. "Also… why does every vampire here have red and black hair? Except that dude." He pointed at Cole, who was leaning weakly against a broken wall.
Jason stepped forward.
"Because he's not a vampire."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Why are you answering for him?"
Jason rolled his eyes. "Because he can barely stand. Look at him! He's tired, bleeding everywhere—we need to get him to a hospital."
Alex folded his arms. "And what exactly are we gonna tell them? That he got kidnapped for three days and nearly burned alive in a vampire cave?!"
Jason said, straight-up:
"Yeah. That's exactly what I'm telling them."
Alex groaned. "No. You're not."
Jason grinned. "Bet I will."
The vampires circled around Jason, eyes glowing, teeth bared, blocking any chance of escape.
Jason slowly reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out his black sunglasses, scratched on the edges but glowing faintly. He slid them onto his face.
Lisa laughed. "What, you gonna destroy us with those? That little thing?"
Jason didn't answer. Instead, he pressed his fingers to the side of the glasses.
A soft beep.
Then:
"Blood Silver Command—Activate."
A tiny drop of blood floated out of the corner of his mouth. Just one drop. It hovered in the air, glowing red.
The vampires burst into laughter.
Cole, still weak and shaking, looked up. "W-What is that?"
Jason didn't waste time. He slammed his hand to the ground.
A wave of silver shot out, wrapping him and Cole inside a glowing bubble—thick, shining, and almost humming with energy.
The small blood drop twisted in the air. It started changing—getting bigger, sharper, turning into something metallic. It stretched and pulsed, shifting from red to glowing silver.
The laughter stopped.
Lisa took a step back. "What the hell…"
Lisa laughed, her voice sharp. "Ha! You won't survive in that bubble either—it's silver!"
Jason tilted his sunglasses down just a bit and smirked. "It's fake silver. Just looks real. You guys react to the real stuff, not this metal-ish mix."
A few of the vampires started coughing up blood. Their skin twitched like they were getting burned.
Jason rolled his eyes. "Bye, bitches."
He reached over and tapped one of the glowing buttons inside the bubble. There were several symbols, but he pressed the one that looked like a small house.
FLASH!
In seconds, the bubble whooshed them out of the cave and straight into Jason's dorm room. The second they landed, the bubble faded into thin air like smoke in the wind.
Jason quickly laid Cole down on one of his lab beds. Cole was pale, bleeding, and barely awake.
Jason rushed over to his desk, grabbing tools, wires, and weird glowing bottles.
Cole blinked slowly. "W-What... are you... doing?"
Jason opened a drawer and pulled out a half-built mini robot, no bigger than his hand. "I'm making something that'll help you get better. It's got a bit of magic in it too."
Cole coughed. "Since when are you a tech guy?"
Jason smiled a little, still focused on his work. "Since I was a kid. I used to build robots from scrap just for fun. I never stopped."
He grabbed a small metal plate and clicked it onto the top of the tiny robot, then slid a glowing blue crystal into the center of its chest. The bot lit up for a second, whirred softly, then settled.
Jason held it up proudly. "And this… this is Healer Bot. It reads your vitals, repairs tissue, and boosts blood flow. Basically, it's your little metal nurse."
Jason grabbed a tiny remote from the table and pressed a glowing blue button. The little robot buzzed to life, its eyes lighting up like LED lights.
Healer Bot floated up a few inches, spinning slowly. "Hey! I am your robot to help you. I am a doctor who use magic to help you—help you—help you—help you—"
Jason blinked, then slammed the top of the bot with his palm. "Ugh—sorry. It's a bit broken."
The bot stuttered, then froze. A second later, it rebooted and spoke normally this time, "Hey. I am your robot to help you. Let's begin healing."
Its eyes turned bright white, like tiny flashlights. Red lines of light scanned over Cole's body from head to toe.
"Scan number one complete," the bot said in a smooth voice. "Removing surface blood now."
Tiny nozzles popped out from its sides and sprayed a soft mist that made the blood disappear. It also used a mini vacuum to clean up the rest, humming softly as it worked.
"Scan number two in progress," the bot said, floating closer to Cole's chest. Its eyes flashed blue this time.
Magical sparks glowed from its tiny arms, and it waved them slowly over Cole's wounds. The cuts began to close on their own, sealing up like nothing ever happened.
"Healing complete up to level two. Big deall signs improving," the bot said calmly.
Jason let out a breath. "Alright. We're getting somewhere."
While Healer Bot was healing Cole, Jason was busy with his new project. He was under a car, making something. It was an electric car — his new invention, a flying electric car.
Suddenly, his head started hurting. He dropped the wrench and hissed, putting one hand on his head.
Flashbacks hit him.
The time he was in the castle… no one knew his real identity. He moved to Duskhollow Academy since this year, but no one from his kingdom knew it… They thought he went to a sort of military-ish academy. Jason knew a way to convince his parents not to send him there.