Arisha stood there, a fragile silhouette bathed in the fire that lit the dark, cold night of the catacombs.
Her crimson eyes burned like two small suns. She should have run, she should have fought—but instead, she froze when he stepped forward.
Baco.
His blood dripped from his neck, staining the ground, but he didn't care.
He let go of the wound and moved toward her, as if the fire at his feet didn't exist.
As if the only thing real was her.
Arisha looked away, heart pounding.
This path was unknown, forbidden. She wasn't ready. She wasn't supposed to feel anything.
But when Baco's hand closed around hers, something inside her snapped.
"I don't know when it began... but I'm not willing to step back anymore."
His voice was low, like a growl born of pain and need.
A spark, reckless and violent, bloomed between them.
Balt, hidden in the shadows, felt his skin crawl.
He fired an arrow straight at Baco.
Baco caught it without even looking. He broke it in half and threw it into the flames.
The ruins moaned around them, abandoned houses now hollow graves.
Baco lifted his gaze and spoke in a tongue older than the stones themselves:
—"Dic domino tuo quod hac nocte vidisti et quod mortua est."
(Tell your master what you saw tonight... and that she died.)
Then he appeared in front of Balt, palms pressed to his face.
"Go..." he whispered.
Arisha shook off the trance just in time to see the beasts lunging toward them.
She lifted her weapon, fired over Baco's shoulder.
The spell broke.
She stumbled back, breathless.
"You and me... it makes no sense, slave... What did you do to me?"
Baco's voice cut through her confusion, raw and angry.
"Do you want to go back to them?" he asked, blood and fire shining in his regenerating chest.
Before she could answer, a rustle in the shadows pulled them back to reality.
Voices.
Footsteps.
The enemy was coming.
Baco grabbed Balt's unconscious body, and without another word, they vanished into the ruins, swallowed by the night.
Final Scene:
Under the cold lights of the council chamber, Mikhael received the report without looking up. The messenger knelt before him.
"She's gone," the explorer whispered. "The specimen is gone, and Count Balt has lost track of her, just like Miss Arisha's. They've vanished without a trace. Even with the tracker, all communication with Balt was lost."
Mikhael leaned forward; his voice was like a sword wrapped in silk.
"Then unchain the hunters. Just bring her back to the hunt. I want her back... dead or alive."