The two hunters, terrified, take two steps back, but quickly adopt a nervous stance.
They were the warriors chosen by God to fight against all the supernatural creatures that inhabit this world; as his warriors, they cannot die without a fight.
With supernatural speed, Lucien appears in front of the hunter Richard, who is unable to react; his nails grow, but before they can pierce Richard's heart, a barrier stops him.
Lucien took a step back; his hand was torn to shreds, the flesh and bone reduced to charred pulp. The pain shot through him like a red-hot iron... but in a matter of seconds, the flesh twisted and returned to its original form.
He immediately lowers his head; a buzzing sound reaches his ears; he takes two steps back from the black-haired hunter who almost cuts his throat.
"Those two hunters work well together, but..." Selene looks away, and a smile appears on her lips. "Hahaha," she laughs and returns her attention to the battle unfolding before her.
Lucien moves nimbly down the street; his eyes dart quickly from side to side. He hasn't had a chance to counterattack. The two Inquisition hunters moved in sync, and he did so mainly out of vampiric instinct.
As the hunters, who were initially nervous, began to gain confidence, because the vampire, despite being strange, was not all-powerful; moreover, they had the numerical advantage.
Lucien blocked a kick that sent him rolling; he received several blows. His wings spread out behind him, and he lunged at the hunters.
In an exchange of blows, Lucien attacked with claws and kicks, while Aster dodged them with footwork, and Richard assisted him by blocking every time it was a deadly blow.
Lucien attacks with a powerful kick, but Aster blocks it with the palm of his hand, and, on his side, Richard seems to land three punches to his face.
He recoils without closing his eyes, feeling his face melt under the blows charged with sacred energy.
The hunters close the distance again, giving him no chance to breathe, but several drops of blood around Lucien fly off like projectiles.
Richard steps forward, raises the Bible, and creates a barrier with the power-charged pages.
Bam, bam, bam.
The gosta hits hard, creating small explosions.
Luciene appears in front of the barrier, closes her hand, and just as she is about to strike, a prayer is heard.
"Oh, great Devil, I offer you my soul as sustenance in exchange for power and strength.
May these pure blasphemers go to purgatory to be turned into your slaves."
One of the black sheets with Latin writings in blood gains strength as you shoot toward Hunter Richard's barrier.
At the same time, Lucien threw a powerful punch with all his strength; his fist struck the barrier.
Crack!
It shattered into many pieces like glass.
"Oh, my God..." Richard muttered as he saw the shattered fist approaching his face.
Bam!
When Lucien's fist struck the hunter's face, it collapsed, separating it from his body.
Swoosh!
A strong breeze blew, kicking up dust and trash from the ground. Shortly after, the decapitated body of hunter Richard fell heavily to the ground.
Aster, who is in shock, receives a powerful kick to the ribs that sends him flying into a building.
Boom!
"Ugh...!" The black-haired hunter spits out a mouthful of blood and loses consciousness for a second.
Before he can recover, he is pierced by several blood projectiles that make him shudder, leaving his body covered in wounds. Lucien appears at high speed, breaks his neck, and drinks his blood.
After finishing off the two hunters, Lucien falls to his knees, breathing heavily; his eyes stop shining intensely, and rationality returns with greater force.
Lucien noticed that the Bible pages on the walls had lost their power and were falling.
The noise from the street enveloped them; Selene grabbed Lucien, and they disappeared from the scene before any civilians could see them.
Suddenly, a scream broke the nighttime calm:
"Aaaahhhhhh!!!"
A civilian saw the hunter's body. The scream attracted more voices, hurried footsteps, and fearful murmurs.
"A corpse, a corpse!"
"My God, someone call the police!"
"Run!"
Chaos spread like wildfire; the street was filled with panic and confusion.
At the top of a building, Lucien and Selene watched the chaos unfold. Within seconds, sirens could be heard.
"What did you do before?" she asked, referring to how quickly he had regained control.
"I just made a bet," Lucien replied, finishing his recovery.
"A bet?" Selene raised an eyebrow, curious.
"Yes," Lucien nods and begins to explain: "After the first encounter with the hunters, when they tore me in half, I let instinct take over, but I did my best to maintain at least a shred of rationality."
Selene blinked, surprised by Lucien's feat. Although it may seem easy, what he did was extremely difficult; on top of that, he did it in combat.
The slightest mistake would have turned him into a bloody mess.
"And you came up with that when you were split in half?"
"That's right, but it was a risky bet. But it seems I won the bet in the end." Lucien wasn't sure it would work, but luckily for him, it did.
Because in that state, he moves by vampiric instinct, that is, his body moves most effectively; what was truly dangerous was maintaining that shred of rationality.
'Ugh, I can't use this too many times,' he thought with a sigh.
Selene looks at Lucien with surprise; it seems that turning him into a vampire wasn't such a bad idea after all.
'I wonder how Kaitlyn will react when she finds out how Lucien used his vampiric instincts.'
A few days later, Lucien and Selene disappear from the roof of the building and head to the hospital where Lucien's mother is staying.
...
In front of the hospital where Lucien's mother was admitted.
Some nurses and doctors came and went dressed in their medical gowns, some drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
Lucien inhaled and exhaled, not knowing why he was so nervous. Perhaps he feared his mother's reaction when she saw the radical change he had undergone in such a short time.
They entered, receiving all kinds of looks, until they reached the reception desk.
"Can I help you?" asked the receptionist with a tired expression; she had to work a double shift today.
"I'm here to visit my mother, Carmila Ricci," said Lucien, using his mother's full name.
"Oh, your mother is Italian," said Selene, who was standing next to him, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"Yes..." He smiled and looked at the receptionist, waiting for her response.
The receptionist was typing absentmindedly on the computer, her face lit by the screen's glow. "Carmila Ricci..." she murmured. "Yes, she's in room 15A, but no visitors are allowed at this hour. You'll have to come back tomorrow afternoon."
"Look at me."
Selene's voice was nothing more than a whisper, soft and enveloping. The woman looked up and was caught in those wine-red eyes. Her tired expression froze, and little by little, her face became empty, like that of a puppet waiting for orders.
"You'll let us in to visit Carmila..." Selene said softly, each syllable caressing the human mind like damp velvet. "And when we leave the hospital, you'll completely forget this encounter."
"Understood..." whispered the receptionist, her voice dull, mechanical, without a shred of free will.
Selene, smiling slightly and satisfied, walked with Lucien toward the hallway.
Be far enough away from the reception area.
"What did you use before?" he asked with great interest.
"Vampiric charm, you have it too," Selene replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I see," Lucien nodded. If he had known that earlier, he would have saved himself a lot of trouble dealing with his former boss, but now was not the time.
Swallowing hard, he looked at the door marked 15A. On the other side was his mother, breathing deeply.
He opened it.