Daniela managed to see what the vampire had pulled out from inside her body, and she realized that, despite being harmed, imprisoned, and deceived by words, it had all probably been for the greater good she had prayed to obtain. Once she set aside the sensation of doom the vampire had made her experience, she began to feel conflicting emotions—guilt for having lost faith in a friend, and the belief that everyone around her would try to deceive her. Both feelings tore at the inside of her heart. She didn't keep crying, much less did she make herself vulnerable, but she couldn't stop looking at Jhades like someone begging for explanations so she could understand.
Their eyes met, and even though Jhades shifted his body from side to side, he kept his head facing the same direction.
"Here, press down on the wound," the vampire said, taking a rolled piece of cloth and placing it against Daniela's buttock.
Receiving his companion's signal, Regres decided to climb down off the bed and vanish into the air as he usually did whenever he wasn't needed.
"And why does it have to matter so much to me what she thinks of me?" he thought, still being watched by eyes that questioned him. "Why am I falling apart into pieces? It's hard to admit, but for a moment, taking advantage of my authority felt good—yet her gaze makes me feel guilty. The blood bag still trusts me when my most despicable, repulsive self is here in this room, looking at her naked, like food, like an object to abuse—my round, pure eyes reflecting a vampire."
"I'm not that good a liar," Jhades said. "Let's say I need you alive. Depending on your faith in others, you won't get anywhere. This is a convenient way not to try."
At the comment, Daniela was about to open her mouth to defend her beliefs, because she had more than a million reasons to hold onto hope, to believe in other beings and in the purpose behind actions.
But Jhades stopped her.
"Not long ago you asked me, 'How? Why this world? Why me? Why here? For what purpose?' Didn't you?" Daniela nodded. "Then, if everything serves a purpose, hurting and fighting for yourself does too. Let's say I'm in this world, here, with you, for the purpose of teaching you to rely on yourself—at the expense of you truly stopping caring about harming others, killing for a greater good, because after all… I killed for you."
Jhades was lying, but it also felt good to make someone with a noble soul feel guilty.
"The subjugators?! No! It's a lie—I could hear footsteps."
"That's another group. I killed them so you could live. Your presence is tainted… I'm one of the three 'fallen from the sky,' and that's what my brothers and I can do. What else did you expect? Were you looking for a way to change your situation without doubting the purpose you were willing to fulfill?"
With his words, the vampire struck sensitive strings—much deeper than when he'd said he belonged to the subjugators. Daniela was left speechless. Even though she could defend her faith as a celestial being, she couldn't justify other people's deaths she'd been involved in without realizing it. What was she supposed to do? Was she still a descendant of cherubim? Would her body become that of a fallen angel?
"You can't be a vampire," Daniela denied. "Your eyes, your reflection…"
"My reflection? What about it? I can make it disappear if you want, just like my body. If you mean my eyes, well… this black rubber they gave me keeps their real color from showing." As soon as Jhades removed the lenses, the powerful blue of his eyes emerged in the darkness, leaving the cherub descendant with no more questions. "Now, back to what's important: with this artifact, the subjugators can follow your steps and know where you are. That door is open. If they come, let's say it's natural they'll meet death—or do you want to die just to let them live?"
"What do you want me to do?!" Daniela asked, desperate, staring at her hands as if they had blood on them.
With a delicious smile in his mind, the vampire destroyed the tracker with his nails and savored the desperate expressions of the girl he was corrupting.
"Live. Fight. Kill to survive, in the name of the greater good… of your greater good, of your family that might still be alive, of the people who are innocent."
"I don't know if I can!" Daniela said, lifting her head to look into Jhades's eyes. Their gazes met again, but this time everything happened slowly. She couldn't believe how astonishingly bright the vampire's eyes looked in the dark—how he smiled with serenity and confidence, despite being able to kill at any moment. "What is wrong with you? We're talking about killing, you know. At least take it more seriously."
"No, we're talking about living," Jhades corrected her. "So far I don't know a single pureblood vampire like me who's ever ceased to exist. The question is for you—you're cornered with a limited life, and you clung to living while being enslaved, hunted, and raped by the very humans you dedicated yourself to serving. Are you going to keep resisting? Keep living, but this time turn the cards on the table: enslave, hunt, and rape if necessary. Come on—think of desperate people who want to live the way you were… I'm here, willing to follow you. How can you allow those who do harm to keep living their lives so easily? Is that the end of the road once you die? Don't let yourself lose your life with so little dignity, surrendered and at someone else's mercy—die fighting, killing."
"No, no, no," Daniela replied, angry.
"Ahh! You're making me angry. If you truly want to die, I can end your suffering here and now."
"No," she replied, timid and uncertain this time.
Weakly, the cherub descendant turned and went to the door with the intention of keeping it shut. Her face, on the verge of breaking, showed desperation when she heard voices on the other side.
"There has to be another way…" Daniela whispered.
"Alive or dead, I'll kill whoever gets in my way. It's not like there's any difference to me."
"As a vampire you can use the lost art of life!" she exclaimed, seeing a solution right in front of her eyes.
"Look at your body—your wound…" Jhades replied, as if pointing out the obvious. "To use the lost art of life, I have to love—literally. Even if we set aside that I managed to numb your pain a little with my saliva, I'm not a being capable of feeling love easily. Loving someone who isn't willing to fight to live is a little pathetic, don't you think?"
The footsteps on the other side of the door moved away. It seemed the tracker had been destroyed in time for the subjugators not to find the place, which made Jhades relax and sit back down in the chair he'd cleaned.
"Well then—besides problems, what else can you offer me, blood bag?" the vampire said, ready to keep pressing down on the shoulders of the cherub descendant. "We have to talk business. It's not like I necessarily act out of charity."
"I have nothing to give you," she insisted, naked, her back against the door. "I don't want to offer you my body, or be a slave, or be forced into sexual interactions or do other services."
The phrase "sexual interactions," coming from Daniela's delicate, fine lips, made Jhades remember his second day of training. He'd had sex with his teacher, who also belonged to the vampire lineage, and after that pleasant event, the pain of losing limbs and being skewered by a gigantic sword became constant. Of course, the training consisted of learning to tolerate pain, regenerate lost body parts and vital organs. Katherine was always there to help him recover whenever he lost consciousness. Jhades set aside the unpleasant memories of a tormenting past, lifted his hand, and stopped the girl with the following words:
"I'm not interested in something as trivial and unattractive as your body."
Daniela's mouth fell open at the vampire's words, which led her to ask, "You asked me to be your slave. So do you want my soul—or to be my beloved?"
"I needed someone to meticulously clear the path I walk, to act as a chair when I'm tired, and to treat me like master and lord in front of the others. You're not even worth turning into a doormat."
Jhades's words were blunt; they weren't denying that he wanted to love Daniela or have her soul. Pulling away from the door, Daniela went back to sit on the bed, brought her hands together in front of her chest, laced her fingers, and with her gaze begged the vampire:
"I'm asking you—selfishly—maybe not right now, and even if it doesn't exist, that love between us could grow and manifest over time. Help me heal the wounds of my body, recover the purity of my soul, and take me as more than a friend… I want to be your wife and lady."
"Definitely not," Jhades said, remembering his past—and also that he needed her alive as an excuse for his actions; he didn't need her as a woman. "I'm not going to feel love just because I saved your life, so not even by changing your degrading state am I going to love you at all… You'd have to truly give yourself to me."
Even though the last sentence the vampire said was ironic, the girl took it very seriously.
"I can only be truly given—in mind, heart, and soul—to the 'Lord,'" she replied, a bit frightened by the consequences the vampire's words carried.
She was afraid of "giving herself" to someone, because celestial and divine beings fall and are corrupted when they love someone who disappoints them. The "Lord" was the only one who never disappointed them, who gave everything for them, who loved them first, who wanted them no matter how stained they were; therefore, loving that entity and doing good without looking at whom was the secret to never "falling."
For Jhades, the "Lord" Daniela spoke of wasn't there. He didn't protect her or allow her to keep living. With his fangs in the full splendor of his nature, and with the intention of playing with his food and making her even more desperate, he added:
"I'm not your Lord. I'm a vampire. My nature can't be changed. I have to bite to feed, kill to live, and love you if I want to save you. But despite all these events that brought us together… would you be willing to voluntarily give me your mind, heart, soul, and blood? Wouldn't you make me your Lord? I mean, after all… Miguel allowed my entry and birth. I'm in this world, here, in front of you, for a purpose… isn't that so?"
The vampire had used the name of the prince of the celestial militias—the entity who commanded angels, cherubim, and other divine beings in the battle of angels, gods, and demons—not because he knew who he was, but because Daniela had mentioned him.
"You can claim my body," Daniela said through tears.
The girl's sobbing, which delighted the vampire, drove him to keep touching sensitive points and make impossible propositions.
"No, it isn't only that…" Jhades replied. "It isn't just claiming your body—your soul, heart, mind, and blood. It's that you're able to give me everything of yourself, unconditionally, without me having to ask you. That you think for me, breathe for me, live for me, speak for me, offer the life of our offspring for me, renounce your death for me. Without measures or conditions, give all of yourself—both in misery and in joy."
Daniela's eyes went wide, and she realized she was in a very delicate position. To obtain Jhades's protection, all she had to do was give her loyalty and sincerity in exchange—but the requirements to obtain the love of someone so selfish were something else. "How could I do that?" she asked.
Jhades stayed staring at her, intent on hearing the answer that would allow him to love the girl who came from the cherubim.
"In that case," she said, her voice decisive, "I promise to make the conscious decision to give you everything I have, unconditionally, without you asking. I will think of you, breathe for you, live for you, offer the life of our offspring for you, renounce my death for you, both in misery and in joy… because you deserve it."
"Now, uncross your fingers and open your hands," said the vampire, wearing a very wide smile on his face.
After making her teeth tremble, Daniela separated the fingers she'd held together in front of her chest—she broke her faith, and the beliefs she'd had from the start. In that moment, when her prayer was no longer the same, the girl was caught off guard when she felt the vampire's hand touch her forehead.
Daniela's body prickled. It shifted, changed, evolved from within, to the point she couldn't tell whether she was falling while transforming into a demon of light—or reaching divinity again. Infected by desire, a jolt of lustful sensations, one after another, flooded her body. She felt a pleasurable, almost unbearable tingling in her legs, and a heart that raced as she did something wrong in the eyes of her "Lord."
"The pulsing sound of the veins in my throbbing neck—his lips—the wetness of his tongue—what is this I'm feeling?" thought Daniela, who still waited with open arms for the sinful body of a vampire, as the internal mechanisms of her heart engaged.
Like an angelic being, she unfurled her wings, which nearly filled the entire space, before the surprised eyes of the young vampire—who didn't lag behind. He stopped keeping hidden what he concealed; the bearer of the Priovan name revealed his wings as well.
Jhades's wings were completely different from each other, splitting the small room in two. One half was angel-white, radiant with magnificent plumage, while the opposite side looked dark and muted, thanks to the skin and bones of two extremities.
"My wings, awakened by you, are irrefutable proof that I truly am willing to love you," she said, almost breathless and in ecstasy. "Look, Jhades—the power love has created inside me. Watch how my wounds heal and this body, once abused, now rises in splendor and grace."
"How astonishing it is to play with someone's feelings," the vampire told himself. "I make her believe I can truly love her if she meets the conditions. She's so innocent—so corruptible—and charming."
With time slowed, in an atmosphere pleasant for the girl from the cherubim, flooded by overflowing sensations, she couldn't stop trusting in a new hope for her life. Suddenly, Daniela sighed, and it meant more than mere relaxation of the body. In the air leaving her lungs there was a palpable, momentary release of all her souls. She was being blessed by that exhalation—so much so that she added, "I'm so sleepy I can't even move."
"Take advantage and sleep a little," said the vampire, who fell silent with his usual malevolent smile. It wasn't that he had more to say in that moment—his mind was blank, and he could swear to all the heavens that he loved the girl, or at least that he was experiencing the pleasure she had made him feel.
Just to see the reaction of the girl who had just given herself to him in body and soul, he could leave as soon as she fell asleep, but nothing guaranteed she would stay alive. He returned to the chair that was clean, sitting there smiling and hungry, wanting to eat a little more. He made Regres appear and ordered him to go after the other subjugators who were prowling nearby, without Daniela noticing.
"In a new and completely unknown world, undoubtedly there could not have been a more wonderful night in your lives, you three… 'fallen from the sky.'" Inside his mind, an ancient voice resonated. "In the time I've spent on this moon that many called a sun, I made sure the course of events was ideal for you. Because of this, you learned things you couldn't have known on your own—things you would have refused to learn any other way. You learned to speak, to understand the new language and human customs, not to kill irrationally. All of it, for the most part, from the power generated by the interest of a conditional love. Have you found someone who loves you? Perhaps it's true—what you believe. But with perfect conditions and the influence of others, even the wildest beast can perceive the delight of playing the hero and obtaining the pleasures a woman can grant in gratitude. Not only that: you will go back looking for that happiness, so much so that you confuse suffering with well-being."
From his room, the older man watched as the children of the gigantic embroidery were being arranged, and he set himself to thinking:
"Now that they know what a woman is—now that they're powerful and intelligent like gods—they'll refuse to keep wandering this world and living like purposeless animals. Pity there isn't much time. Gilgamesh has given the order; for some reason, he did it a little faster than I was calculating. He's anxious to reunite with his friend—the one he dreamed of, the one he waited for so long—so he won't go insane. Immortality is dangerous for a human; so much so that, even when he realized how selfish he was being, he went blind to what it could become."
The man let out a breath of air as he looked at the different screens that made up the place, then continued his inner monologue:
"I can't blame him. Fear is what eternal life represents—especially when, after obtaining it, no one you love can obtain it with you. Gilgamesh, you can be sure it will benefit you to fight a monster you won't be able to defeat. Maybe it's the only way to mend the hole your old friend left. King, I hope you can understand that everything usually has a price—especially in a world of imperfect natures like this. The feelings you managed to experience, as a consequence, will open a safe road to perdition if you give them room, because after all, a sorcerer's weakness is to cry out when he has feelings. Let the show begin!"
Jhades and Dante could never have imagined it; they didn't even remotely perceive that they were being caged. But Rey knew feelings could become nearly indestructible bars and grates for those they imprison, so he never lowered his guard, despite having had multiple orgasms and despite Lía falling asleep like a baby.
The hybrid stood motionless, eyes closed, sharpening all his senses, because after all he was in enemy territory. The question tormented him: "Can I escape from here?" and the answer was, "Yes—but I wouldn't be able to take her with me." In circumstances like these, keeping that broken creature he'd grown fond of unharmed was of vital priority.
"After all, straightforward things are less problematic than running," Rey thought as the night went on. "As the main plan states, as long as I can get to my opponent's neck and cut it as fast as I can, everything will be over and she won't have to be involved. Even so… what do I do with the rest of the humans?"
Imperceptible to a normal person, the subjugators surrounded all the rooms where the slaves were, and they already had the corridors colonized. Little by little and in silence, the women and girls were pulled from their rooms, practically asleep, and taken elsewhere.
Rey could have told Lía what was happening, but it wouldn't have made any difference. All that was left was to wait—and the fact that they weren't killing anyone was a good sign; it meant they wanted to capture them alive.
After a few hours, the subjugators finally secured the rooms where the three fallen from the sky were.
The door Jhades believed he'd broken never had been, and at the right moment the entrance closed automatically, turning the place into an airtight zone that filled with gas with paralyzing effects for vampires. Meanwhile, Dante had no strength and had fallen into a deep sleep, thanks to the orgasms he'd had with Marín.
It was a hard blow to Dante and Jhades's pride when they opened their eyes and found what their carelessness had caused: they had to accept an imminent defeat in a battle they hadn't even had the chance to fight. Turning and witnessing how their newly acquired weaknesses were crying—bent at the mercy of чуж hands, bound, gagged, and threatened with weapons—broke them.
The fatal mistake the two brothers had made was believing they were smarter than humans—a race that had lived for millennia and possessed the knowledge of all their ancestors in hunting supernatural beings.
However, despite breathing the same gas and having spent a considerable amount of physical strength, Rey created several copies of his body around the bed in order to protect the vampire woman. He kept his face intimidating as a welcome to all the men who hadn't been invited. Even naked, he met each invader's eyes, intent on making his willingness to fight and kill prevail if it came to that—though he hoped they'd come to their senses, back down, or make the slightest mistake.
Rey also understood that his presence didn't provoke the same fear as when he arrived in Belldewar. He didn't look as savage; he was clean; his sharp eyes that once shone with the whiteness radiated by an infinite Pythagorean star bordering the pupils and adapting to their dilated size were disguised by black contact lenses. Nor did he feel the need to waste energy and worsen his condition by increasing the dimensions of his body.
"Violence breeds even more violence. Against me you will have no salvation," Rey said, thinking that whoever had taken the trouble to teach him and make him adapt to human customs wanted him alive—and would keep him that way.
Rey could tell that the gas he was breathing, rather than feeling relaxing, had over time stolen more than half of what remained of his strength. And he was willing not to show resistance as long as he felt his life wasn't in danger.
The masked men's ragged breathing filled the space; after all, they were human, and the simple fact of making eye contact with a 'category three' threat was enough to earn a death sentence.
"Neither of the other two is capable of moving with this level of gas concentration," one of them announced. "By order of His Majesty Gilgamesh, the most powerful and supreme who can make this moon called a sun tremble—do not fear capturing him, and facing death if necessary."
"You talk too much," Rey said, irritated that it wasn't the first time he'd heard that name.
Cornered, the young man defended himself as they all rushed him, intending to capture him.
Seeing that the target was putting up more resistance than they'd anticipated, the humans gave the order to fire and avoid vital points. Rey redirected the trajectory of a few projectiles with the tips of his fingers, managed to dodge most of them, and allowed a handful to strike his body. It wasn't hard to deduce that the rapid movements of that boy were the reason soldiers were dropping one after another. The more men fired, the more men died from their own bullets. For every man that fell, two entered through the bedroom door. The person restraining Lía ordered his companions to stop firing. At that order, those present stopped shooting.
Rey turned his face and saw the brutal reality: the gunfire and the humans who'd given their lives had been nothing but a distraction. The main objective of the most skilled soldier was to press the muzzle of his pistol to the temple of the unconscious vampire sprawled on the bed. Even though Rey had several copies of himself in the room, his senses weren't in the best condition, and despite trying to make a silent invocation, he realized his heart chakra was completely blocked.
Having Lía captured made him feel things he wasn't supposed to feel. Those feelings could influence his spells and make even the simplest one end his life on the spot.
"Despite the damage you've taken, you're still moving. Before long you'll adapt to our weapons and they'll become useless, but she doesn't have those abilities," the man said in a threatening tone, yanking the hair of the unconscious doctor's body as she lay naked on the floor. "I still want to do this the easy way."
Rey let out a growl of disgust and made the copies he'd created with his black-aura control art disappear. He felt the invisible chains binding him, keeping him from acting. He could cleanse his chakras in seconds, but every action on Lía's part triggered a reaction in him. Even if he survived the negative effect of a botched invocation, he valued the girl who'd helped him too much to gamble the outcome of a disastrous situation on luck.
Given the target's cooperation, the man with the pistol said, "That's it. Like that… she'll be fine as long as you cooperate. Now kneel and put your hands on your head."
Rey obeyed the demanding orders, and the moment his knees touched the floor, a man approached him from behind and, using a dagger with something inside it, stabbed him right in the middle of the spine at the level of his ribcage.
Rey lost control—and all sensation in the lower half of his body. The "fallen from the sky" looked with resignation at the sleeping face of the vampire he cared for so much.
The liquid inside the dagger was injected, and with that the young man began to see everything distorted. Dizzy and stunned, Rey ended up collapsing onto the floor.
A deathly silence fell over the room. Many couldn't believe they were still alive after facing a category-three. "Impressive—who would've thought a beast like that would be tamed by the love of a prostitute," one of the soldiers said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence while expressing his joy at being alive.
The man keeping his pistol trained on Lía barely heard the comment before he swung his gun and, pulling the trigger, killed the one who'd spoken.
All the weapons in the room were locked by a safety mechanism, and the subjugator's pistol was the only one that could be used.
The others raised their hands in the air, resigning themselves to listen to the words the man barked out, his mood sharply irritated:
"Three of my best men will never see their families again, and four will be in the hospital for a long time. Any 'property' or 'slave' who dares to praise trash like this will meet the same end. Understood?!"
Snapping to attention toward the furious man in command, they shouted, "Yes, sir."
"Now—sing the hymn in honor of the fallen heroes who will gather in hell and, even so, will keep fighting to achieve victory."
After following the subjugator's order, those present took up a salute and began to chant the combat song—one that was familiar to Rey's ears.