"Do you have a wife?" Lucien remains incredulous. When all that shit happened, his eyes shone intensely, but he quickly regained control.
He inhales and exhales a couple of times, regaining the balance he had achieved before.
However, Selene wasn't finished...
"And I'm not your only wife; you have three more besides me." She finished dropping the bombshell.
Another heavy silence fell in the empty living room.
Lucie sank into the comfortable sofa. Do you have more than one wife? How did it all happen? Did he use up all his luck in one night?
"Hahaha..." She lets out a laugh that is somewhere between nervous and incredulous; there have been too many changes in less than a day.
She became a vampire, and if she doesn't control her bloodlust, she will become an irrational monster that only creates destruction... As if that weren't enough, she now has four wives.
'What the hell!?' His eyes begin to glow an intense blood red, and he starts sniffing the air. "Tsk," he clicks his lips, regaining control.
"Your control is quite impressive," Selene praises him, crossing her legs sensually.
Lucien ignores her and asks with deliberate breath: "Why do I have four wives?"
"I don't know, it just happened." She shrugged her shoulders hours ago, when she accepted her fate: to be bound to the man standing before her.
Sigh.
Lucien lets out a long sigh, as if that act could momentarily distance him from all the chaos happening around him: "And may I know the names of my other wives?" he asks in a married tone.
"They are Kaitlyn Foc, Chloe Nadir, and Arlene Vânt," Selene replies disinterestedly.
Lucien commits the names to memory so he won't forget them. "And what are the next things I need to know?" he asks, returning to the subject when she said she was his wife.
"Oh, right, I was forgetting." She smiles amusedly: "The second thing you need to know is that you should never trust other supernatural beings, no matter how friendly they seem or how much you receive from them."
He nods; it never hurts to hear this kind of information; it prevents future problems.
"And, most importantly, weakness in our world is sin; if you are weak, you will be a slave, so always keep in mind to keep your instincts under control and never settle for your current strength," Selene says the last sentence with a serious expression, showing her two fangs.
Lucien swallows dryly but nods firmly.
Suddenly, the tense atmosphere in the living room disappears as Selene sensually rises from the sofa.
"Follow me, I'll show you the basics you need to know about us vampires."
He followed her out of the room and down to the basement.
Upon entering, he froze.
The basement wasn't a basement. It was an underground stadium. As big as a basketball court, with reinforced metal walls that looked like they were designed to withstand nuclear explosions.
That wasn't all; there wasn't a single light bulb, but she could see perfectly, even in the corners. Was it part of her vampiric powers? As creatures of the night, they should have night vision, right?
He watches as Selene walks to the center of the room and turns around.
"Pay attention," she said in a serious tone. "We vampires have several racial powers."
"Which are: regeneration, claws, turning into bats, floating, and walking through walls." Selene listed each one, then began to demonstrate them.
She creates a piece of ice and cuts her arm without her expression changing in the slightest. Five seconds pass, and a new hand appears; the one on the ground turns into blood.
It is because of this ability that we vampires are considered 'immortal' beings, but it is not all-powerful. If any of the Inquisition's weapons wounds you, you may be left with permanent injuries.
Lucien nodded, understanding, but it was still a powerful ability; it made them practically immortal.
Vampires, as a race that does not age and is immune to human diseases, were truly immortal; they only had to lock themselves in a room and live forever.
She moves on to the following demonstration: her nails grow into claws, and she attacks the armored wall with great force.
CLANG!
A loud metallic sound echoes through the sonata, but Lucien frowns in annoyance, even though he sees that Selene's nails are intact.
"This ability has the strength of steel," I explain without giving too much away.
Then she shows the other missing racial abilities, such as turning into a bat and floating; the last one is walking through walls. Selene showed it because it's too obvious.
After the demonstration, she continues with the explanation.
"Now we move on to the individual powers of vampires: one is inherited from the parents, and the other is acquired at birth; that is, all vampires have two powers."
A spear of ice materializes in Selene's hand: "I inherited the power of ice from my father," and a ball of reddish light appears in her empty hand: "And I awakened the power of light."
"So, do I have two powers too?" asked Lucien, since he wasn't born a vampire.
"I don't know." She shakes her head: "You weren't born a vampire, so I can't be sure." She was sincere in her words, as there aren't many records of vampires turning humans into vampires.
Vampires do not see humans as equals; to them, they are just walking food. Why turn food into one of them? If they did, they would simply be creating problems.
Clap.
Selene clapped her hands, catching Lucien's attention as he relaxed, and said, "To test your powers, we'll do it in combat, so attack with all your strength. But remember: don't let your instincts get the better of you."
Lucien nods, but makes no promises because his vampiric instincts are too strong; without further ado, he attacks.
In the next second, he disappears.
He appears in front of Selene, with a red glint in his eyes, and throws a punch that cuts through the air.
Selene blocks it with one hand, with an almost insulting calm.
Lucien spins on his heel and throws a side kick. Selene only takes a step back; the blow passes so close that it raises a gust of wind.
With a quick movement, she grabs his leg and throws him like a bag of trash.
BOOM!
Lucien flies through the air and crashes into the reinforced wall. Dark blood pours from his mouth. He leans against the wall, his body trembling, and the gleam in his eyes intensifies until they look like burning embers.
A bloody aura envelops him like living smoke.
In an instant, he disappears again and reappears behind Selene, attacking with outstretched claws.
CLANG,
A metallic sound echoes throughout the basement. The claws collide with a barrier of ice that forms in front of Selene in a fraction of a second.
The surface cracks.
Crack... crack...
The barrier shatters into dozens of sharp ice spikes that shoot forward, piercing Lucien's torso as if it were butter.
Lucien stands frozen for a second, looking down, watching the spikes pierce his chest, shoulders, and part of his abdomen.
"Ghh..." he lets out an almost animalistic groan.
The spikes melt immediately afterward, dripping blood mixed with ice-cold water.
Lucien falls to his knees, but his wounds begin to close quickly as he growls through clenched teeth, off balance.
Selene watches him with a calm expression. "Control yourself," she says, this time in a firm, authoritative tone.
But Lucien is no longer listening.
With a violent thump, its bat wings burst from its back, unfolding like black blades. In the next instant, it lunges forward like a bloody missile.
Selene remains unperturbed.
With a minimal, almost elegant movement, she forms an ice spear that pierces Lucien's stomach, stopping him in his tracks. Before he can react, a reddish light envelops the weapon, blinding him.
Then come the blows.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam.
Precise punches land on his torso and ribs, followed by a violent upward kick that smashes his chin and lifts him off the ground.
Selene takes a step back, observing him as if evaluating an incomplete work.
'This should be enough to knock him out.'
However...
Crack.
Lucien grabs the spear still piercing him and, with brutal force, breaks it in half. His eyes burn like embers as he throws a straight punch at Selene's face.
Selene easily blocks it with her open palm.
"Now that's a surprise," she murmurs with a predatory smile.
She closes her fist.
And strikes.
BAM!
The impact is so strong that a shockwave distorts the air behind Lucien.
"Puaj...!" He spits blood as the air rushes out of his lungs.
His body falls to the ground like a rag doll, shaking, desperately searching for the oxygen that is escaping him.
After a few minutes, Lucien slowly sits up, breathing heavily; he had let his instincts take over. 'Controlling them is much more difficult in combat.' He looks at Selene, while a spear of blood materializes in his hands.
"Don't lose control again; next time I won't be so kind." She creates a new ice spear.
"How considerate of you," Lucien smiles, tiredly.
"Let's continue."