'Thank God! I won't be called to that bunker again.... But it won't be long before they call me at the other base.... That one is not better either'

'What was the use of taking cyber security as my area of study!.... I had hoped that wouldn't bother me as I was no use to them strength wise as I mostly inherited my human mother genes...."

'I... miss my mother so much and my sister. Why couldn't I protect them! Why am I so useless! Hunters can't kill humans physically but that doesn't mean they couldn't kill them mentally.'

'They ... turned my mother ... to a mere object ... so much so that ... she didn't wanna live anymore. I am so useless I couldn't even save her sanity.'

'They never cared about the feelings of women.... These vile, vile creatures. Why did I have to be born as one of them! I am so disgusting. I couldn't save my mother ... I couldn't ... save my sister ... from these monsters ... And now I have to do their bidding. I just wanna ...'

Nik gasped, as he felt the connection break. He couldn't take the anguish any more. He held his head as he felt the residual pain. He was sitting in the office of Celestine. He had been trying to hack and find out about the purchase of a huge amount of blood bags. But he was hardly able to concentrate on it, as felt Victor's thoughts.

Nik let out a scream. This was their only way to find the final base. What are they going to do now?

"Are you alright Nik? I heard you scream..." Seraphina enquired. "No cousin, I am not alright! I lost the connection. I couldn't find the location of the base. What will we do now?" Nik sobbed. Seraphina quickly went towards Nik to console him. "It's alright Nik. Don't beat yourself up about it. We will think of something else..."

✧✧✧

Victor felt a bit weird. He had been having this headache for a few days, and now it suddenly vanished. He didn't have time to think about all this. His superior had ordered him to help out their blood bag supplier, apparently they had been hacked. The hunters thought it was done by the group that had attacked the other two bases.

Honestly Victor didn't want to help find the hacker. He wanted those people to destroy the hunters. As Victor looked into it he was able to track the IP address of the hacker. That was a rookie mistake, he wondered if the hacker was inexperienced. He had tracked the address to a Restaurant-Bar named 'Celestine'. His gut said something was not right.

He was called to the base. But when the hunter there asked him about the Hacker. Victor said it was nothing to worry about and that it was probably a bug. The base had been full of activity. Victor got curious and asked one of the hunters what was happening. "Didn't you hear? They are planning to kill everyone here." Victor was surprised by the response. There were also thirty prisoners here and they wanted to kill them!

Victor felt conflicted. What should he do? Should he just let all those people die? His eye fell on his computer, he had been researching 'Celestine', apparently it was a popular spot for supernaturals to hang out. Could it be that the ones who had been attacking the hunters also hung out there. The restaurant was closed today. It wouldn't hurt to check it out.

✧⁠✧✧

Seraphina had called everyone to Celestine, they needed to discuss what to do next. They again were back to square one with no way to find the final base. Seraphina, Nik and Mortivus were leaning on the bar counter and were facing the entrance. Victor had just reached the restaurant. He was trying to look into the restaurant but wasn't able to see anything.

Nik noticed Victor from inside. "What is he doing here?" Nik asked out loud. "Who?" Seraphina asked, she turned to the direction Nik was looking at. "Cousin, he is the hunter with whom I had formed the connection but what is he doing here?" Nik was confused, there was no way he would have found out about the mind connection. "It seems like the hunters have themselves a turncoat." Mortivus commented.

"Nik, go bring him in..." Sera told Nik. Nik walked to the entrance. Victor was surprised to see the door open. "Come on in, hacker." Nik motioned Victor inside. Victor went inside not knowing what else to do. Victor was nervous seeing a mix of Vampires and werewolves inside. Victor rubbed the back of his neck. "By chance are you guys the ones that have been ... attacking the hunters?"

"What if we were? The question is what a hunter is doing here? How did you find us?" Seraphina squinted her eyes. "Well ... was able to track the IP address of the one who hacked the blood bag supplier to this place. So are you guys...." Victor was anxious, will this work out, could he save all those prisoners. "Yes we are. And you are here alone.... So what are you here for?" Seraphina answered. Victor let out a sigh of relief, he found them. They could help the prisoners.

"You need to save the prisoners. They are planning to kill them all. We need to hurry." Victor said in a hurry. This was it. The prisoners could be saved. For once in his life he would have done something good. "So you are here to help us?" Nik asked Victor. "Yes! I can't see all those innocent people die. Please save them." Victor begged.

"Do you know the location of the base?" Seraphina asked Victor. "Yes. I do."

✧⁠✧✧

They all reached the rundown asylum. Seraphina felt the anticipation. The final base was there under this asylum, once they rescue the people here, this nightmare would be over for all of them. But the moment they reached the basement, something felt wrong. Her gut was telling her that this is not the end. The thing they heard were the huffs of the necromancer witch. The witch laid down on the floor in the same place where she probably conducted the last ritual. Seraphina made her way to the witch. She had been stabbed in the back through her heart, but she wasn't dead. Well she couldn't die. The witches who did blood magic couldn't die so easily.

"Why did they do this to you?" Seraphina whispered as she kneeled down near the witch. She was devastated at the sight, alarms were going off in her head. The basement was silent, too silent. Victor was already shivering.

The witch looked at Seraphina, she still had dark veins around her eyes but looked much more human but the pain was reflected in her eyes. She took a deep breath and coughed up blood as she spoke, "I ... am in ... so much pain. I have been like this for more than a day... but I just don't die. I am ... Morgana Nightshade, I am a ... necromancer witch... I didn't want to do ... any of this .... They made me ..."

Seraphina was dreading the result of this conversation but she had to know, "Who made you do this? The hunters?" Seraphina asked apprehensively.

"No ... No ... not them. It was ... the king. He is a necromancer.... He controlled me. He has the ... Bloodbound Grimoire ... The royals ... didn't destroy it .... The king is a maniac. .... He has the ring.... The ring with the blood energy.... Aah! Arg! Please help me .... Please kill me... I don't want to live... not like this ... it hurts so much." Morgana begged. Seraphina was hyperventilating, too taken aback by this revelation. This was all her fault. Why? Tears left her eyes but before she could drown further, Mortivus's voice brought her out "Put her out of her misery, only you can do it."

Seraphina focused back on Morgana again, Mortivus was right. She couldn't let Morgana be in pain any more. Seraphina summoned her sword, the only way known to kill a blood witch. "Before I do ... this, I want you to know something, Morgana. None of this, you hear me, none of this is your fault, you were a victim in the hands of someone much more powerful than you." Seraphina said in a firm voice.

Morgana's eyes soften before she nods, both thanking Seraphina and asking her to go on with it. Seraphina sighs. She plunges her sword through Morgana's chest, to end it swiftly. Seraphina falls to her knees as she lets out a scream and then sobs. This was the first time she killed an innocent person. But Seraphina already felt she was to blame for all of this. Nik and Sylvia were looking worriedly at Seraphina, they could already guess what was going on in her head. The others were shocked with the revelation too but they didn't understand the depth of it yet.

Suddenly Seraphina gets up. She had to know, she had to confirm. Seraphina walked aimlessly through the basement as she searched like a mad woman while the others followed her. Mortivus was close behind her. Victor knew what she was searching for, he felt he was to blame, he was too late.

She came across what looked like cell doors, there were around 30 doors, all were open. Seraphina's pace slowed, her hands shivered as she grabbed the door and opened it further. "No! ... No!" Seraphina sobbed. There laid a corpse. She went to another cell, the same, then to another. "That is enough. Stop!" Mortivus grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "No! No!.... This is all my fault." Seraphina sobbed. "You know it isn't." Mortivus consoled her. "No it is... I should have KILLED THAT BASTARD YEARS AGO!" Seraphina screamed.

Sere's knees buckled as she hits the ground. "It's all my fault!... I could have stopped it... stopped it!" She continued to mutter constantly. "All for nothing,nothing at all."

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