I woke up, and my head was trying to split itself in two. A sharp, throbbing pain pulsed behind my eyes, so bad I had to squeeze them shut. I pushed myself up, my back scraping against the rough wooden headboard. The room was dark, but little lines of early morning light peeked around the curtains.
But the real pain wasn't in my head. It felt deeper, like it was coming from my very soul. My mind was a mess. I was seeing another life. A boy who was me, but wasn't. He was seventeen, rushing to school, stressed about an exam. The screech of tires, a loud crash, and then… nothing. That was it. A normal life on a normal Earth, with no vampires or monsters, ended in a stupid car accident.
And then, this life. A long, long stretch of 145 years. Cold. Lonely. The memories were hazy, but the feeling they left was heavy and sad. Remembering both lives at once was too much. It felt like my soul was being ripped in two.
Ding!
A sound, clear and electronic, echoed inside my skull. It was so sudden I jumped.
"Host detected," a flat voice said.
A glowing, blue screen flickered to life in front of my eyes. It looked like something from a sci-fi movie. The voice… it was like the ones in boys memory when he read those cultivation web novels. A system?
"Detected the host in extreme pain due to unauthorized memory unlocking," the voice continued, without any feeling. "This condition violates natural law. A solution is available to prevent soul destruction."
"Soul destruction?" I whispered, my voice rough. The pain spiked again, and I groaned, clutching my temples.
"The solution: You must permanently forget the memories of one life. Choose which life to erase. Failure to choose will result in catastrophic soul failure."
A choice? Forget one life? My previous life as a human was simple and happy. It was my only piece of normal. This current life, as a 145-year-old vampire, felt like a burden, full of a pain I couldn't even fully remember. But that human life also held knowledge. I knew things about this world's future, from the shows I'd watched. That was valuable.
The pain twisted inside me, a white-hot knife. I couldn't take it anymore.
"I choose," I gritted out. "Delete this life's memories. The vampire's memories."
"Confirm: Delete current life memory?" the system asked.
"Yes!" I shouted into the quiet room. "Do it!"
For a second, nothing happened. Then, a feeling of incredible lightness washed over me. The crushing, unbearable pain vanished instantly. It was like a weight I had carried for a century was just… gone.
But so was something else. A vast emptiness filled my mind where a lifetime of memories used to be.
***
I took a long, slow breath. My mind felt… blank. Clean. I was lying in a soft bed, in a room I didn't recognize. The walls were dark, and old-looking furniture stood around me. It felt familiar, but also completely alien.
I sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. The floor was cool under my bare feet. I tried to remember. I remembered deciding to forget. I remembered my name from before—a simple human boy. I remembered the car crash. But when I tried to think about my life now, this body, there was nothing. Just a void.
I stood up and walked to a large mirror on the wall. The guy staring back at me had messy dark hair and pale skin. He was handsome, with sharp features. He looked almost exactly like Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries.No he is Stefan Salvatore Now.
"So," I said to my reflection. My voice was new to me. "This is me now. A vampire. Not bad."
As I stood there, the blue system screen popped up again, silent this time. It floated between me and the mirror. On it, written in simple text, was a box that said [Novice Gift Pack], glowing with a soft light.
Curious, I reached out a finger and poked at the air where the box was. The screen shimmered.
"Congratulations, Host. You have received the Lucifer Morningstar bloodline."
The moment the voice finished, a fire ignited in my veins. It wasn't painful, but it was intense, a wave of pure power rushing through me. I could feel something inside me changing, rewriting itself. My vampire nature, what little I could sense of it, was swallowed up by this new, overwhelming presence.
Then, my back started to itch. It began as a minor annoyance, but quickly grew into a burning, tearing sensation. I cried out, falling to my knees. My back arched, muscles stretching painfully. It felt like my bones were breaking and reforming.
With a final, sharp tear, the pressure released. I gasped for air, my body sweating. I turned my head and looked in the mirror.
Wings. Massive, beautiful, white wings had erupted from my back. They were huge, stretching out and filling a large part of the room, each feather perfect and pristine.
"Wow," I breathed. The Lucifer bloodline was no joke. I flexed them slightly, and they moved like they were a part of me I never knew I had. I focused, thinking about putting them away, and they folded and shrank back into my skin without a trace.
I got to my feet, feeling stronger than I ever had in either of my lives. I walked to the window, pulled it open, and without a second thought, I jumped out.
The cold morning air rushed past me. I focused, and the wings burst out again, tearing through the back of my t-shirt. They caught the air, and I soared upward. The ground fell away, the trees and houses becoming tiny specks. I flew higher, breaking through a layer of cloud, the sun just starting to color the sky with orange and pink.
I couldn't help it. I let out a loud, "Yeahhhh!" The freedom was incredible. I decided to go higher, to see if I could break through the atmosphere, to see space.
But I hit something. An invisible wall, solid and unyielding, stopped me completely. I pushed against it, but it was like pushing against a mountain.
"Okay," I muttered, hovering in the air and thinking to myself. "So I can't go to heaven or hell like Lucifer."
A little disappointed, I flew back down, landing smoothly on the grass outside my room. I pulled the wings back in and looked at my ruined shirt. I went back inside, found a clean black t-shirt, and put it on.
I sat on the sofa and thought about the system. The interface appeared in my mind again. This time, it showed a simple status screen.
STATUS
Name: Stefan Salvatore
Bloodline: Lucifer Morningstar
Power: 20 times peak human
Speed: 20 times peak human
Devil Face: Activates in extreme anger.
Full Devil Transformation: All stats multiplied by 100. (LOCKED: Condition Unknown)
Immortality: True immortality. No known weapon in this world can harm you.
Heart Secrets: You can learn a person's deepest desire or secret through conversation.
I looked at the screen and a slow smile spread across my face. This was insane. I was basically a god in this world. My eyes lingered on the "Full Devil Transformation." I remembered the red, monstrous face from the Lucifer show. It didn't look pretty, but the power it offered was unbelievable. I tried to ask the system what the unlock condition was, but it stayed silent.
I sighed. "Well, at least no vampire or werewolf can hurt me now. And this 'Heart Secrets' thing will be useful. No one can lie to me."
My gaze fell on a old, leather-bound book on the coffee table. A journal. I picked it up and opened it. The handwriting was neat, but it felt like it belonged to a stranger.
"Entry: September 2nd. I am returning to school tomorrow. I must be normal. I must try. I saw a girl today, Elena Gilbert. The resemblance to Katherine is… unsettling. It is like seeing a ghost."
There was a faded photograph tucked into the pages. It showed a beautiful girl with dark hair and a sharp smile. Written below it was: Katherine Pierce, 1865.
I recalled the tv show Vampire Diaries where I only watched some episodes but that is enough for me to figure it out. Today was the first day of school. The old me was going to meet Elena, to get caught up in all that drama all over again.
I closed the journal and dropped it back on the table. I walked to the window and looked out at the town of Mystic Falls, now bathed in the full light of the morning sun.
"I'm not going for Elena," I said to myself, my voice firm. "I'm not going to follow some destined path." I am the devil and I had a second chance.
"I am going for me,only me."