In the starry sky, a single beam of light crossed the firmament, softening the hearts of those who still dared to look up.
Arisha awoke, dazed and disoriented. She sat up slowly and, peering through the corroded and cracked windows, saw him—Baco—standing just outside, spying through a slit, a finger over his lips, urging silence.
Flashes of light filtered through the broken glass. Something—or someone—was out there.
When she leaned closer to look, she saw them: a considerable elite unit patrolling the outskirts of the hospital.
—Where the hell have you brought us!? —Arisha snapped, hurling an ashtray at the slave.
The moment it touched Baco's aura, the object disintegrated into nothing, turned to ash mid-air. His crimson eyes glowed as if announcing hell itself.
Baco didn't even flinch. His eyes shone with an unsettling brilliance as he whispered:
—If you do that again... don't expect me to be kind.
"...Threats… Bastard," she thought bitterly.
To make things worse, Balt was still unconscious. Frustrated, Arisha grabbed a sharp white stone, ready to throw it—yet instead, she broke the tracking lock on her wrist.
—I'm not doing this for you, so don't smile, slave... I'm doing it because he's that bastard's watchdog.
"You mean the blond one… Mikha…?"
—Don't say his name —she hissed—. Another lying piece of filth.
She glared at him. But behind her rage, something deeper lingered: disappointment. Shattered admiration. Broken trust. The magic... was gone.
Then chaos exploded.
Gunfire. Screams. Shattering glass.
Second-generation vampires burst in—deformed, grotesque, unable to maintain human shape. Naked, with protruding spines like twisted ridges, starving for blood. They devoured anything living in their path. Abominations forged by the last drop of ancestral vampire blood.
—Damn it… —Baco muttered, clutching his head.
Bullets whistled past. A sudden arrow darted toward Arisha's heart. Without thinking, Baco threw himself in front of her, intercepting it.
They crashed onto the dusty carpet, one on top of the other.
Their faces were so close, their lips brushed—a kiss born of chaos, unintentional and paralyzing.
—There! —Balt shouted from the entryway, just as the doors exploded inward under brute force.
Confusion spiraled. One of the elite vampires, Elly, lunged at Baco, grabbing his arm to pull him away. But he caught her mid-motion, as if reading her thoughts, lifting her effortlessly and throwing her away from Arisha.
—He didn't hurt me —Arisha protested, still reeling from the kiss, the madness—everything.
Elly reacted with supernatural fury, slamming Baco against the wall and reducing it to splinters.
Then came the whisper:
—Miss… we found you.
And then chaos deepened.
A second arrow pierced through the window, incinerating one of the elite vampires on the spot. The shot was precise, silent, and lethal. From the neighboring building, a man cloaked in shadow hid his face behind a dark scarf. Only his eyes were visible—icy blue and burning with intensity, as if seeing through time itself.
Baco tried to move—but something held him back.
—It's a trap —Balt warned—. They were going to sacrifice you, Arisha.
He showed her the drawings Baco had scratched inside his lab cell: ancient symbols, distorted faces, visions of death, and… an emblem. A triskel, etched in blood.
—That man… —Balt whispered, his voice trembling—. He's a Protector.
—That's impossible. Protectors went extinct decades ago…
—No… —Balt insisted—. That is the last pillar.
The man on the rooftop pulled down his hood. There, partially hidden beneath his scarf, a tattoo blazed on his neck—a black, burning triskel. Sharp. Precise. Eternal.
—He's a Nevri —Baco murmured from the ground, bleeding—. A true one…
Silence fell like a tombstone.
Arisha, broken inside, released a slow breath, thick with fury. She slapped away Balt's outstretched hand.
—You… and that filth can rot if you want. And you, Baco… I thought you were different.