Free Web NovelChapter 90: Vampire’s bond
"It was two years ago when I first met Gabriel in a ball," Seraphina explained, her eyes lowered to the ground. The lamps cast soft shadows across her features as she walked beside Vlad. "He offered to dance with me. I did not know his intentions and agreed to dance with him. During the performance he began touching me inappropriately."
She released a small chuckle, laughing at her own childish mind from two years ago as she continued, "I did not know the intent behind his touch, so I said nothing. He mistook my silence for consent. It was then that he deluded himself into believing I liked him. Father understood the intent behind his inappropriate touch during the dance and burst into anger. He exiled him from the family, stripped him of all his assets, including his home, and banished him from our hometown with a warning that if he ever appeared before either of us again, he would kill him."
She turned her face at Vlad who was silently hearing her story. A serene smile of relief formed on her lips as she murmured, "Thank you for saving me. I would have killed myself if I ended up drinking his blood."
"No need to thank me," Vlad replied, scratching his temple. "I barely did anything."
After a brief pause, he revealed, "the woman that added sedatives to our food was your maid in the academy. She had the same voice as the one I heard when I accidentally arrived in your room."
"Oh, Maid Selena," Seraphina said, raising an eyebrow. "She was the maid father sent to take care of my daily needs in academy."
"You don’t look surprised that she betrayed you," Vlad asked, seeing the even expressions on Seraphina’s face.
"I already had my doubts. Only Sophia and Serena knew that I was leaving the academy for our meeting."
"You mean you already knew you will be targeted today?" Vlad’s tone was higher, carrying a flicker of shock.
"Serena’s moves were suspicious so I investigated her. Her son was killed by a vampire so she carried deep hatred for the vampires. I baited her out to expose her but I did not know that there was a Four Ring Mage plotting everything." She shrugged lightly, as if discussing a minor miscalculation rather than a life-threatening scheme.
"Gabriel was a Four Ring Mage?" Vlad gasped, his eyes widening. "And you defeated him."
The shock quickly vanished from his face as he struck her head.
Bonk!
"Ack! Do you have a death wish, commoner?" Seraphina hissed, her eyes sharpening at Vlad, her hand holding her head where rubbed the sore spot furiously.
"That was reckless of you, Sera," Vlad nagged, with narrowed eyes. "If you already knew that you were being targeted, you should have notified someone before leaving."
With this bonk on the head, Vlad became the only person to hit Seraphina of the House Cendral twice. The audacity of this commoner was truly outrageous. That was what Seraphina was thinking while rubbing her head although the words leaving her mouth were exactly in contrast.
"I am sorry. Because of my overconfidence in my skills, I endangered your life as well," she replied in a low tone.
Vlad released a long sigh. "You should have at least drunk those blood pouch or whatever before leaving." He shook his head, exasperation and worry mingling in his voice.
His brows suddenly furrowed as he asked, his tone turning suspicious, "I almost forgot to ask. Why were you so scared of drinking Gabriel’s blood?"
She instantly flinched from his question, her complexion turning pale.
"Th-that...it is nothing serious," she blurted, her lips carrying a forced smile. "If a vampire ever drinks the blood of a human or an anthropomorphosed being, that blood permanently fuses with the vampire’s body. From that moment, the vampire becomes bound to it, and any other blood they consume acts as a deadly poison."
"So it means you can only be satisfied by my blood now?" Vlad asked, his voice carefully neutral though a flicker of alarm danced behind his eyes.
Seraphina nodded, her cheeks burning, eyes straight ahead.
"H-how much will you need it?" Vlad asked, obviously nervous. He surely did not want to become her blood pouch for the rest of his life.
"Four to five hundred mls every month," Seraphina’s voice was barely audible.
"It’s a drag but once a month is fine," Vlad released a sigh of relief. "Now I understand why you were so afraid of drinking Gabriel’s blood."
"Hmm...hmm..." Seraphina nodded sharply as the duo entered the main building of the academy it’s familiar corridors stretched before them, bathed in the soft glow of enchanted lanterns. There was one more reason for her worries but she decided not to reveal it to Vlad. Not yet. She was neither sure nor ready to face the truth.
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Splat!
Blood splattered across the steel rods and the ground as Gabriel pulled the knife from his arm.
"Cough... cough... fucking hell," he muttered, writhing in pain. Somehow, the agony from the wound in his stomach, the dozens of burning petals clinging to his skin, and the knife wound in his arm was overshadowed by the pain from the kick the unknown boy had landed on his side moments earlier.
He lifted his shirt, revealing a hideous purple bruise stretching across his side. That single kick had nearly crushed his internal organs. Just before it landed, the murderous intent in that boy’s eyes had sent the same bone deep chill through Gabriel that Lucas had two years earlier.
"Wh-who was that brat!?" he muttered, pushing himself into a standing position with the help of a steel rod. "I-if not for him, Seraphina would have already become mi—Aghhh!!!!" frёeωebɳovel.com
He burst into screams as his tongue was suddenly set ablaze, flames erupting from his mouth.
"I warned you, Gabriel," a deep voice echoed behind him. "If you dare appear before me or my daughter again, you will regret taking birth in the same era as me." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Gabriel’s complexion turned deathly pale at the sound of the voice, his eyes widening in horror as he looked back over his shoulder. The fear was so overwhelming that his body forgot to send pain signals to his brain.
Standing behind him was a striking man with short, messy hair on top and long strands at the sides and back, tied into a low ponytail.
He wore an elegant long coat over aristocratic attire, his hands covered in black gloves. His deep black eyes stared at Gabriel with a hardened expression.
Gabriel could only let out terrified groans, having already lost the ability to speak. He clasped his hands together before Lucas, silently begging for mercy.
"Die," Lucas whispered, stepping forward.
The instant his foot touched the ground, volcanic, lava-like flames erupted from his body, spreading outward in every direction and consuming everything and everyone inside the warehouse.
The iron walls and ceiling exploded outward from the impact as a towering mushroom shaped pillar of flames erupted from the warehouse.
