Seamus couldn't believe what was in front of him. His body froze, unmoving, as the monster kept calling his name, searching for him.
"Seamus... Where are you... Seamus..."
Its voice was hoarse, like it had swallowed a thousand shards of glass. Crimson strands—like red hair twisted into blood-made threads—slithered through the hallway, reaching into nearby rooms as if hunting him down.
But the longer he stared, the more that monstrous shape became familiar. The red hair… the way it called his name…
"Viviane?"
Seamus quickly covered his mouth. 'Shit! I shouldn't have said that out loud!'
The monster—Viviane—snapped her head toward him. Black tears streamed from her eyes like ink.
"Seamus... why did you betray me?" Her voice echoed down the hallway, soaked in hurt and rage. It made his skin crawl.
"What do you mean? I didn't!" He stepped back, trying to put distance between them as the blood threads followed his every move.
"You're lying! You had sex with my mom!" Viviane shrieked, her jaw unhinging wide as more threads burst from her mouth.
Now Seamus knew he had to run.
[Ding!]
[Analysis complete.]
[Vampire: Viviane Haven Velstrath]
[Sagacitas Percentage: 10% (Very low and dangerous. Subject lacks control over herself or her powers.)]
[Insignia Detected: Hybrid – Elemental + Dominion Blood Style.]
Seamus barely registered the system's voice. None of it mattered. He couldn't fight her because he wasn't that different from a normal human. He probably couldn't even get close.
Those red threads, his instincts screamed at him not to let them touch him. They were dangerous and could possibly kill him.
So he did the only thing he could. He turned and ran.
[Excellent instinct!]
[If even one red thread pierces your body, Viviane will gain full control over you!]
"Damn it, stop commenting and HELP me!"
But the system didn't respond after that, it was gone as if running away together with him.
Seamus ran, his life depended on it, his breath sharp in his throat, heart slamming like a war drum. The halls were shaking, filled with the echo of footsteps that weren't his.
Viviane's voice followed him, ragged and furious, soaked in betrayal.
"I told you," her voice howled from behind. "I told you if you betray me, I'll kill you. And then I'll tear apart your soul!"
He turned a sharp corner, slipping on the polished floor, nearly losing his footing.
"I didn't betray you!" he shouted, ducking as another line of burning red thread shot toward him.
It embedded itself in the wall, hissing, small embers crackling from where it landed.
"Your mother! She manipulated me with whatever power she has!"
The system told him that he had been under some kind of hypnosis. The one that made him relaxed and follow Isolde's order.
However, Viviane didn't care. The only truth in her chaotic brain was that he betrayed her, sleeping with her mom without her permission!
The wall beside him exploded, fire blooming across the corridor like it was alive. He shielded his face and pushed forward, coughing in the heat and smoke.
Another thread shot toward him, this one blazing with fire, snapped toward his leg. He jumped over it, but it caught the hem of his pants and lit it up.
Seamus quickly rolled across the floor, slapping the flames out before they could catch onto his skin.
"You think lies will save you?" Viviane screamed. "She seduced you, and you let her! You liked it!"
Her voice cracked something inside him. Seamus gritted his teeth and kept running, his legs already sore.
He knew talking with her was no use, her mind was in complete chaos. Worse, he didn't have any skills to tackle her.
"Damn it! Why am I still useless even when I have a system and a vampire too!" he screams in frustration. "Usually, people get strong, right?!"
Seamus started talking bullshit. After all, he might have died in the hands of his yandere GF. He turned his head a bit, to look at Viviane.
She was indeed in so much pain. Physically or mentally as her hands started to turn black, burned by her power.
He started to feel guilty and blamed himself for how powerless he was. 'I... I should have been stronger than this.'
He clenched his hands regretfully, but he knew this wasn't the time for self-loathing.
Seamus dashed down the next hallway, barely ducking under another searing line of thread that ripped through a chandelier above.
Glass fell around him, and he raised his arm to shield his eyes as he sprinted through the mess.
Seamus bit his lower lip and finally said, "I didn't have a choice! You think I'd ever choose her over you?!"
"I will always choose you, Viviane! You are the only one I love!"
But, Viviane couldn't hear him over her broken heart and her rising power that couldn't be stopped.
The temperature spiked, heat pressing in on him from all sides. A thin wave of fire crept along the walls. Her thread wasn't just fire anymore. It was alive, chasing him like it had a mind of its own.
He turned into another hall, lungs burning, only to stop dead in his tracks.
Viviane stood at the end of it.
Her eyes were hollow, the whites drowned in black veins, tears of pitch still dripping down her cheeks.
The threads hovered behind her like a halo of red, and some of them had caught fire, flickering and crackling in the air like lit fuse wires.
"You can't run from me, Seamus," she whispered. "You're mine."
She raised her hand, and the air around him pulsed. Then she slammed her palm forward.
A blast of fire and force shot at him like a wrecking ball.
Seamus dove to the side—barely in time—as the window beside him shattered under the impact. The blast punched a hole straight through it, scorching the edges.
"Fuck!"
Without a second thought, he lunged through the broken frame and into the cold night air.
Glass bit into his skin, but he didn't stop. He landed hard in the garden, tumbling across the dirt and rose beds, scrambling to get back on his feet.
Behind him, Viviane jumped down from the same window, her burning threads spiraling around her as she landed with unnatural grace. Her eyes searched wildly, red flames dancing across her fingertips.
"Seamus!" she screamed, the heat of her voice causing the nearby grass to blacken. "Don't run away from me! You said you love me!"
"I do! But I don't want to die yet!"
Seamus darted toward the hedges, trying to make himself small and hidden. But his limbs were shaking, his breath too loud. His shoulder throbbed, maybe from the glass or the fall, he didn't care. He had to keep moving.
But before he could take another step, a hand shot out from the ground beneath the roses and grabbed his ankle.
"What the—" he gasped, trying to pull back.
The soil split wide like a mouth opening beneath him. Dark roots, thick and pulsing with strange energy, wrapped around his leg and yanked hard.
Seamus clawed at the earth, panic rising in his throat as his body was dragged into the crack. He tried to scream, but the garden swallowed him whole.
The last thing he heard was Viviane's voice shrieking his name in the night.