Chapter 22

“Did you know of this, Seraphina?” Daddy hollered in the hall, causing his angry voice to bounce everywhere. I don’t even bother wincing. I just look at the ground and will the tears away. Oh, if the tears were so easy to force back in…

“Answer me, Seraphina! Did you know that your escort was the son of Dagon?” My father demanded. The news had finally broken upon the entire kingdom and –worst of all –upon my father.

I bite my bottom lip, refusing to look up. The tears are forcing their way through my will. Damn it, I couldn’t stop them.

“It is not her fault, King-” Lorcan, standing beside me, tried to protest in my favor, but Daddy cuts him off angrily. My father is beyond caring whose fault it is. He is determined to pin in on me. Why not? It is my fault.

“This is not place for you to speak, Prince Marchand. I am asking my daughter whether she knew of her escort’s lineage, not you.”

“Don’t speak to my fiancé like that! Lorcan has done nothing wrong!” I burst out, the tears reinforcing my angry tone. Oh, why am I so angry? I am so angry at myself, for letting Kain go. How could I ever set him free? I missed him so much.

“Don’t you dare to speak to me like that, Seraphina! I am your father!” Daddy bellowed, face turning red, but I haven’t inherited his rage for nothing.

“My father wouldn’t ask me such meaningless questions! Kain is gone! You can’t find him again, so why don’t you drop it?” I challenged, channeling my anger towards my father, though Daddy hasn’t truly done anything bad. But I am angry at myself, and I will explode if I don’t let it out.

“The entire kingdom is afire with rumors of you being smitten with the son of Dagon Dragos! How can this be? My daughter will never fall for a Dragos!”

But I had. My dearest Daddy, who had been right on so many accounts, was wrong on this. I had fallen for a Dragos. A royal Dragos. The second son of the Dragos throne, brother to the current Dragos King.

“King Logan… I was the one who told Seraphina about Kain. It was I who knew.” Lorcan spoke up humbly, as if he couldn’t stand an argument between my father and I. Oh, how Lorcan had been protecting me all this while.

“YOU KNEW?” My father exploded, but I wouldn’t let Lorcan take the blow for me. I just couldn’t let him go through this for me. Lorcan has done enough for me. He is doing all he can.

“And he has done you service! He has helped you discover the Dragos spy within our folds! Why would you be so angered?” I burst out at my father, but it is obvious that he doesn’t appreciate my loss of control over my anger.

I don’t care.

“Do you know something, Daddy? I knew! I knew Kain was Dragos. I knew he was the son of Dagon. And I LOVED HIM!”

The shocked silence lasts a moment too long as my father’s eyes grow as big as saucers.

“SERAPHINA EMMA LUCIFER!”

My mother’s name does no difference in his bellow of my full name. But this must truly be the first time he’s ever spoken her name after her death. After she left, Daddy always regarded her as ‘the mother of my children’.

“I loved Kain, Daddy! There; are you happy now?” I screamed, and before I can receive the brunt of his anger, I exploded in the tears I’ve been forcing to hold back. I collapsed and cried so badly before my father that whatever anger turned into helplessness as he watched Lorcan hold me in his embrace, his familiar voice and warmth telling me it would be alright.

I couldn’t stand it. I just… I regret letting Kain go. But at the same time, I am so relieved. I am so angry. I am so hurt. I am so lost…

The emotions crashed into me like a tidal wave, and I clung on helplessly to Lorcan for support. He’s the only anchor I have left.

With my father’s excuse, Lorcan gathers me in his arms and carries me all the way to my quarters. He lays me on the bed that Kain always watches me sleep in. He tucks the cover over me, and he lays beside me. I hug him tight, and cried like I have never cried before.

This is a usual thing for Lorcan now. I have been crying like a baby since Kain left. And it has been months.

I fell asleep eventually, but the nightmares came again. The flashes of Kain, being tortured outside of the kingdom’s walls. The image of my escort being crucified, staked and dead. I woke up screaming yet again.

Lorcan was still there, woken up in his sleep too, by my screams. It is also a norm for him now, for I had been having these nightmares often. He hugs me and tries to calm me down, but I am hysterical.

I must do something.

Before my mind can fully make up a thought, I find myself standing next to a broken vase. The jagged edge of a piece of the porcelain is dripping with my blood. I looked down.

My wrist is slit open, and blood is gushing.

I look up. Lorcan is there, yelling something at me as he rushed towards me. I drop the porcelain piece and fall from my feet, feeling dizzy. Lorcan catches me in his embrace, and lowers me to the floor, hand pressing on my wound. He’s shouting something I don’t understand, seemingly to call for help. I feel fuzzy.

Finally, I feel no pain. I smile sleepily.

Drops of water land on my cheek. Is it raining?

I look up, and my eyes focus on those beautiful black eyes. He’s saying something… begging me. There are tears in his eyes. I reach my uninjured hand up to him and wipe it off his cheek. I feel weak.

He grips that hand, still crying. This is the first time I’ve seen him cry.

No, Lorcan… don’t cry. What is wrong?

Finally, as if mufflers had finally been removed from my ears, the sounds all came rushing back to me.

“I never wanted this…” He was saying, still crying. “He wanted to protect you. All he wanted to do was protect you. Can’t I do the same? Can’t you ever forgive us all, and move on? I hurt as much as you do, Seraphina. I liked him too, no matter his hatred against me. I trusted him to protect you! And now… I am the only one left to protect you…”

He was still pressing on my gaping wound, but he pressed his forehead against mine, keeping my upper body resting against his hard chest. Distant sounds of running footsteps came.

“Protect me… Lorcan.” I say dreamily. Dream Lorcan is crying. I don’t like that. My Lorcan always smiles. Lorcan always smiles. He’s always there for me.

Someone else –most probably a medic –takes my bleeding wrist from Lorcan’s grasp. His hand is freed, and he clutches me even closer in his embrace. I feel his tears rolling and dropping on my face.

“I will protect you, Seraphina. Just let me in. Let me take Kain’s place. I will protect you as best as I can. Forgive us all.” Lorcan begged.

“Okay.” I say, feeling floaty. “Okay. Protect me… I forgive us. I forgive Kain… I forgive myself. I forgive you…”

He hugs me and continues crying as I black out.

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“Protect…”

He is gone.

Protect. All he wants is to protect. Me. He wants to protect me.

I don’t know how a dead person can still bleed, but he is still bleeding from his gaping hole in his stomach. I ignore the blood.

For the first time since my memory loss, I let my fangs out. I sink them in the dead man’s throat.

The vampires around me make gurgled cries, as if they don’t know what to make of my reaction. Definitely not a reaction they want to see from their vampire princess –to sink her fangs into a dead man that she loved. But this is no time to cry. Kain is gone. I have a new purpose.

Protect.

Why do I need to have people protecting me? I can protect myself. I am Seraphina Emma Lucifer. I can summon a level five demon. I have Valrog as my demon familiar. I have Ren as my backup. I have everyone on my side. Yes, Kain has gone. But I am still powerful.

I will avenge him.

His last warmth seeps into me, and his skin turns ashen. I drain him dry, and finally, the blood stops flowing from his abdomen, because I’ve sucked it all out. I feel his last essence with me, his blood within me. I lay him down on the floor and push his fringe away from his face.

He is smiling.

I smile at him too, sliding my finger over his cheek. So soft, so kind.

I will cry later.

“Where is Linus?”

“Seraphina, we should-” Mila tries to speak, but I silence her with a glare.

“Where is Linus?” I ask again.

“He’s hiding with his mages. We can’t sense him.” Ren offers, so I turn to him. I see a fire in his eyes –fire similar to mine. We both desire very much to render Linus limb to limb for what he did.

“Can demons sense him?”

“If the mages protecting him are weak and if the demon is strong enough.”

“Can Valrog sense him out?”

Ren looked uneasy, but shrugged. I don’t bother waiting for more hints. I step back from Kain’s body, motion for everyone to move back, and cover my hand over Valrog’s symbol on my wrist.

“Valrog, come to me.”

My demon familiar rises from the ground, kneeling. I don’t even have to ask –he knows what I want.

“I can sense the vampire you call Linus, Mistress. He is upstairs, in the royal hall. He is waiting for your resistance forces with three other mages weaker than this Ren.”

“Who are they? The mages –are they demon-callers or elemental mages?” Ren interrupted me.

“They are those who have betrayed your Word. You have lost contact with your people for so long that they believed that you have left them for good. They are without leadership, and without leadership, they run rampant.” Val answered, but I wasn’t up to deciphering their conversation. It was obviously something the mage was hiding from all of us, and I had an idea that the secret was about to be revealed soon.

But right now, I wanted to kill. I want to kill a vampire called Linus.

“Val, lead the way.” I interrupt before Ren can say more, and Val nodded. He doesn’t protest –like the rest of my vampire companions. I ignore them, and follow Val out of the cell I’ve been led to by Mila and Gabriel. I stop to take one last look at Kain, and then walk out.

No turning back.

Now I understood why Kain never turned back to look at me. If he did… if I did, then I would never leave.

The vampires give up protesting and followed me instead. Ren catches up and falls step with me, uncharacteristically silent. Kain’s death has gotten to him more than I thought it would.

Death and destruction fills every hallway that we turn into. Bodies strewn all across the place –belonging to both sides of the wall. Everything was silent –the kind of heavy silence that usually follows after death. My heart pangs at every single body that I see, but nothing can get through my hard shell of pain anymore. Protect my heart. I will protect my heart.

There is no prep talk. No strategic planning. No talk to prepare us to our death. I am a leader, but I do not lead vampires to fight. I trust them to follow me, and do all they can to survive and fight for their cause. That is all I need from them.

I will deal with Linus myself.

Val turns us down to a familiar hallway, and I see the large doors at the end of the corridor. Beyond that door is another long stretch before we reach my father’s throne. My kingdom’s royal dais.

The anticipation within the party that has volunteered to come with Lorcan rises, but I feel nothing more. A few vampires checked their guns to make sure they had enough ammo, and others did some last-minute sharpening on their stakes. They knew this was the last stretch of their war.

Lucifer or Dragos. This is the last fight.

“Fina, wait.” Dante says right before we reach the door, and for the sake of my brother, I stop and turn, eyes demanding him to state his business. Until Linus is dead, I am no sister. I am no princess of Lucifer.

I am Kain’s avenger.

Dante covers his hand over his wrist. “Khra, come to me.”

Val stops along with me, watching wordlessly as the other demon rises from the ground. Khra takes on the form of a phoenix, but brimming with black flames and red eyes. She circles around in the air a few times before her massive form –only  a little smaller than Val in size –hovers above the ground, flapping to keep her altitude and sending short gusts of wind.

“Khra, you must aid my sister in her revenge. From now, you are no longer my familiar, but my sister’s. You will protect Seraphina and follow her heeds.” Dante said seriously, never wavering eyes from his demon familiar that had taken to him ever since he started learning to use his Luciferian powers.

“Master Dante, Khra has-”

“Our blood agreement is null. You will protect Seraphina until your death. This is my order.” Dante interrupted with force, and the phoenix turns her head to regard me for a long moment. Then her beady red eyes turn to my demon familiar hanging behind me, motionless.

“Valrog, is she worthy?” Her musical voice struck like a harp’s chord, and I had no doubt that she often used it to ensnare her prey.

“As worthy is any master can be. This one holds fire in her heart.” Val agreed, and while I am glad to know my demon familiar thinks me worthy, I am impatient to put my sword through Linus’s chest.

“Very well. I will serve Seraphina. But until the end of this fight, Master Dante. You cannot annul your blood agreement so easily.” Khra announced, and glided through the air to take her place beside my demon familiar.

I passed Dante a grateful look, and then turned to continue my route down to where I would spend my last few moments of my life.

A large black wolf my size stood right in front of me, front paws bent in a bow. Beside it stood my younger sister with a weak smile, the tears still flowing from her eyes.

“I don’t know if Zion is much of a help, but he promises to protect you as much as he can. He’s not high leveled like Val or Khra, but he’s the best I can summon at the moment.” She says, then sniffles, as if this was truly the last time she would see me.

A trickle of emotion crept to my steel heart and tried to penetrate through. I know I should thank my siblings for their love and care for me –to send their own demon familiars to help me and leave themselves vulnerable. I know I should make Khra and Zion protect their respective masters instead, to make sure my siblings are at least safe.

But I don’t.

I need to avenge Kain. I have put everything I have at stake on the table. If I lose…

Then everyone is going to die with me.

I looked back at the faces of everyone following me. All of them were grim with the passing of Kain, but there was determination in those eyes. Some were determined to protect me. Some were determined to end the war.

I picked up a sword from a fallen warrior nearby and raised it in the air.

“Protect. Or die.”

There is no cheer. In a situation like this, we know we cannot cheer. We are disadvantaged. We do not have enough warriors to deal with Linus. Even with my demons, and Ren’s powers, we are outnumbered.

But this is it. Our last attempt.

I walked to the door and opened it slowly.

This is it.

Protect. Or die.