Mila Torres spent an hour staring at her wardrobe, an experience she found more terrifying than a tactical raid. What did one wear on a "real date" with a telepathic, philanthropic, twenty-year-old vigilante king?
She had been a cop for eight years. Her identity was a shield, a badge, a set of rules. Vicky had shattered all of it. He had seen her frustration, her secret hope, her justice, and validated it. He had done what she only dreamed of: he had fixed the broken parts of the city.
And he had gently, irrevocably, stolen her heart.
She settled on a simple, elegant black dress. No badge, no gun. Tonight, she wasn't Detective Torres. She was just Mila. She felt vulnerable, alive, and her heart was a frantic, thrumming drum.
Vicky arrived at her apartment door at 8:00 PM sharp. He wasn't in his McLaren. A discreet, black luxury sedan with a driver (one of the Alpha Squad, she presumed, in a suit) was waiting.
Vicky himself was dressed in a dark, tailored suit, but with no tie. He looked less like a college student and more like the young, charismatic CEO he was. His presence was overwhelming, yet calm. He offered her a single, perfect white rose.
"Mila," he said, and his smile was genuine. "You look beautiful."
She blushed. A real, teenage blush. "You clean up okay yourself, Thorne."
"I have a place in mind," he said, offering his arm. "It's quiet. And the view is unparalleled."
The car didn't take them to a restaurant. It took them to the Veros University Observatory, which stood on a hill overlooking the entire glittering expanse of the city. It was closed to the public.
"One of my... 'investments,'" Vicky said, using a key to unlock the heavy oak doors. "The university couldn't afford its upkeep, so I'm funding its new astrophysics program. We have the place to ourselves."
They walked into the massive, silent rotunda, directly under the grand telescope, which was aimed at the stars. A table was set for two near a massive, floor-to-ceiling window. The city lights were a carpet of diamonds below them.
"Vicky... this is..." Mila was speechless. It was powerful, it was thoughtful, and it was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her.
"I told you I'd answer your question," he said as they sat. "But I wanted you to see what I'm fighting for first." He gestured to the city. "All of that. A network of millions of lives, all trapped in a system that's rigged against them. A system that lets bullies like Damien Vance thrive and good people like Ethan or Sarah struggle."
"And the 'Dock Rats'?" she asked, her voice soft.
"They're not just bullies," Vicky said, his eyes hardening. "They're a disease. A cancer that preys on the weak. The law, your law, is slow. It's chemotherapy that kills the patient. I... I'm surgery. I cut the cancer out. Cleanly. Instantly."
Mila looked at him, this man who spoke of justice with the calm certainty of a god. "You promised me one question. An honest answer."
"I did."
"The hospital. The docks. The 'Dock Rats.' You... you 'spoke' in my head. You healed Marcus Keller. You have the 'Red Flash.' You bought this observatory and a McLaren in the same month. I need to know," she leaned forward, her heart in her throat. "My one question, Vicky... What are you?"
Vicky met her gaze. He didn't hesitate. His Blood Sense was on, and her heart was pounding, a chaotic . She wasn't asking as a cop. She was asking as a woman who needed to know if the man she was falling for was a man at all.
"I'm what happens when the system breaks," he said, his voice quiet.
"I was a 'nobody,' Mila. Just like Alex the waiter. I was in love, and I was betrayed. My girlfriend left me for a rich, cruel man. I was... broken. I was at the bottom. And on the night I lost everything, I was given a choice."
He told her everything. Not the word "vampire"—it was too loaded, too cheap for what he was.
"I was chosen by something called the Progenitor System," he explained, his voice the only sound in the vast, dark room. "It gave me power. It gave me a new... 'race.' I am the first. The Progenitor. I have levels. I have stats. I get... 'XP' for defeating my enemies, whether they're the monsters that spawn in the city's shadows or the human monsters, like the Chi-using gang leader at the docks."
Mila's mind reeled. Levels. XP. Monsters. It was the language of a video game. It was insane.
And it was the only thing that explained everything.
"So... Marcus? Elias?" she whispered.
"They are my 'followers,'" Vicky said. "When I gave them my blood, it bound them to me. It healed them. It gave them the same power, bound by my own. They... they are my bloodline. They are the first members of my organization. The Crimson Pact."
He had laid his entire secret, indefensible life at her feet.
"So you are a monster," she breathed, but there was no fear in her voice. Only a profound, shattering awe.
"I'm a new kind of king, Mila," he replied, his eyes filled with a sad, ancient intensity. "And I'm building a new kind of kingdom. One that protects the Sarahs and the Ethans. One that destroys the 'Dock Rats.' I'm a monster to my enemies, yes. But... what am I to you?"
Mila looked at him, really looked at him. At the man who had shown her his true, kind heart at the hospital. At the king who had just told her an impossible truth. At the predator who was, somehow, the most moral person she had ever met.
Her choice was made. It had been made days ago.
She stood up, walked around the table, and stopped in front of him. He remained seated, watching her, his Blood Sense reading her chaotic, soaring heart.
"I think..." she said, her voice shaking, "you're the only person I've ever met who's actually good."
She leaned down and kissed him.
It wasn't a gentle kiss. It was a collision. It was her entire life of rules, of frustrations, of loneliness, crashing into his new, terrible, beautiful power. It was acceptance. It was an oath. Vicky's eyes widened in genuine surprise before he stood up, wrapping his arms around her, returning the kiss with a passion that was both human and something more.
It was the sealing of their pact.
The Night's Business,
Vicky took Mila home at 2:00 AM. Her mind was a whirlwind of new, impossible realities, but her heart was, for the first time in her life, completely at peace. She was no longer a cop. She was the partner of a king.
Vicky's night, however, was not over. He was a king. But he was also a predator. And he still needed XP.
XP: 5,100 / 7,200 (To Lvl 12)
He met his Lieutenants at The Vault. The mood was electric.
"Master," Marcus said, "the Behemoth's death has agitated the network. We've located a new hive, larger than the last, in the industrial sector's drainage system. The Stalkers here are... different. They're Lvl 12, and they spit some kind of acid."
"Corrosive Stalkers," Vicky mused. "Good. We need the challenge."
The hunt was fast, brutal, and precise. Vicky, fueled by the night's emotional victory, fought with a new level of confidence. He didn't just fight for himself. He fought for his new world. For his Queen.
He, his two Lvl 7 Lieutenants, and the nine Lvl 6 Alpha Squad members descended into the hive. The Corrosive Stalkers were a true threat, their acid melting concrete.
"Elias! Battle-Cry! Draw their fire! Alpha Squad, Blood Arrow volleys, aim for the acid sacs on their throats! Marcus, you're with me! We take the Alpha!"
The battle was a symphony of crimson energy. Elias, in his full Knight's armor, tanked three acid-spits, his Blood Shield sizzling but holding. The Alpha Squad's arrows were precise, detonating the sacs, causing the creatures to melt their own hive.
Vicky and Marcus (Lvl 7) blurred past the chaos, moving as one. Vicky activated Titan's Strength. He didn't just fight the Lvl 16 Corrosive Alpha. He executed it, his Level 2 Blood Arrow forming a massive, hardened spear that he plunged straight through its armored head.
The hive was cleared in ten minutes.
VICKY THORNE: STATUS
XP Acquired: (15x Lvl 12 Stalkers @ 200) + (1x Lvl 16 Alpha @ 1,200) = +4,200 XP
Total XP: (5,100 + 4,200) = 9,300 / 7,200
LEVEL UP! Level 12 achieved.
Level: 12
XP: 2,100 / 8,400 (To Lvl 13)
Stat Points Available: 3
STR: 17
SPD: 16
END: 16
Chi: 10 / 10