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Chapter 115: It's Mephisto & Hydra's Fault
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He didn't like the imbalance. He usually tried to compensate with good food, thrilling experiences, a fun ride on his chaotic journey.
But those felt like things he enjoyed, and they just happened to be along for it. Was that enough? Was he… suffering from success?
Oh well. He mentally shrugged, adding a note to his internal ledger; Devise meaningful, personalized gifts and experiences for Anna and the rest.
Possibly involving explosions or rare desserts.
They seemed happy, at least. Sometimes disturbingly so. Domino and Anna were practically competing to have their blood drained.
Yup. Definitely suffering from success. All due to his devastating handsomeness, unparalleled genius, and irresistible charisma, of course.
He basked in the thought for a moment, his narcissism shining brightly, a perfect, self-satisfied loop, while he waited.
Emma had been thorough. It wasn't one nurse, but three, who arrived quietly at the door.
They were professionals, their expressions neutral, but their eyes flickered with confusion at the scene; a pale young man in a rumpled white suit cradling a drowsy, disheveled young woman on a bed.
But they have been taught to never ask unnecessary questions. Just do their job.
Any doubts or gossip left were preemptively erased by the subtle, iron pressure of Emma's telepathy brushing against their minds.
They saw only what they needed to see or what she wanted them to see, a guest who had fainted, requiring medical attention.
Adam gently placed Anna on the plush sofa, making sure she was comfortable. "Domino, keep an eye on her, please."
"On it, boss," Domino said, settling into an armchair, her posture relaxed but her eyes missing nothing.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Adam's trust was a scarce commodity. Throughout the evening, tiny mechanical spiders, no larger than a nail, had been dispersing from seams in his cybernetic arm.
They now dotted the room's molding, the curtains, the light fixtures; a silent, omnipresent surveillance network feeding data back to Alice and him, just in case.
Satisfied that the immediate environment was secure, he followed Emma out of the suite.
She led him through hushed, carpeted halls to the most private sanctum in the mansion; her personal bedroom.
It was a reflection of her; a study in cool, elegant severity. Walls were a royal white.
The furniture was modern, minimalist, and undoubtedly priceless. A large bed was dressed in silvery-grey linens.
The only warmth came from a fireplace where faux flames danced with realistic holographic accuracy.
A low table held a bottle of wine that likely cost more than a car and two crystal glasses.
Dessert was an arrangement of delicate, geometrically perfect French pastries.
She poured the wine, the rich crimson liquid catching the firelight. She handed him a glass, her ice-blue eyes finally allowing the burning questions to surface.
"You've become a vampire." It wasn't a question. The fangs, the feeding, his appearance grace; the clues had coalesced into certainty. "But the sunlight. It makes no sense."
Adam took a sip. The wine was exquisite, a certainly aged, lovely wine that danced on his heightened palate.
It wasn't as delightful as a perfect crème brûlée or his new favorite delicacy, blood, but it was a masterpiece of its kind.
"The vampire is a creature of elegant contradictions," He mused, swirling the glass. "Eternal yet dead. Powerful yet cursed. A species of many weaknesses. And yes, I have turned. Although I'm a rather… bespoke model. As you noticed."
Emma nodded, her brow furrowed. "That explains the change and... Well, the feeding. Does it affect your mutant power?"
Adam shook his head. "A question I researched thoroughly beforehand. The two can coexist. It turned out I was right."
That's something he already expected before transforming; his lovely imaginary friends did the work and researched the topic.
Narrating in his mind that mutants becoming vampires did occur before in the Marvel comics, such as Bloodstorm, An alternate version of Storm became a vampire but retained her weather-manipulation powers.
There were even discussions about Jubilee, sheeding doubt on the topic as she was famously depowered by Scarlet Witch on M-Day before she was turned into a vampire.
While a vampire, she did not have her firework powers, but they concluded this was due to M-Day, not the vampire virus itself.
"A vampire without the weaknesses," Emma murmured, her gaze sharpening. "You did it for power, I assume?"
There was a flicker of something in her eyes; a judgment held in abeyance.
Had he become one of those pathetic, sun-fearing creatures that house the world's collection of allergies within them, she would have looked down on him with cold disdain.
To sacrifice one's mutant nature for such a limited, cursed existence would have been a profound disappointment.
But this… this was different.
"In a world containing organizations that want to melt the planet and demon lords who enjoy metaphorical; and possibly literal; dick-riding,"
Adam said with an amused chuckle, "One can always use more power. But more than that, vampirism synergizes beautifully with my particular skillset. The synergy with my mutant power is fabulous."
Emma's frown deepened. "Those words again. Hydra. Demons. How much do you know, Adam?"
Through her telepathy and the Club's resources, Emma was aware of the world's shadowy corners; magic, extradimensional entities, things that went bump in a much older night.
She knows even more than Shaw.
But it always felt like glimpsing fragments through a thick fog. Adam spoke of them like familiar, annoying neighbors.
"Hmm." Adam set his glass down with a soft click. He stood up, pacing slowly before the fire.
He turned to look at her, his stare intense and strange. "The world is stranger than fiction, Emma. Demons are real. Gods too."
"And maybe things that would use our planet as a toothpick. What we have; mutant powers, money, influence; it's pocket change in that casino."
He walked closer, his voice dropping. "You've noticed. You're too perceptive not to. Being a mutant, a vampire… they're just tools to me. Means to an end."
"I'm not like you, who attaches great importance to the mutant cause. But our paths are parallel. I want mutants to rise. A stable, powerful mutant population is useful. It serves the greater good."
"And the greater good," Emma finished for him, a slow, understanding smile touching her lips, "Is what's good for you."
"Beautifully said." Adam stopped before her. Intelligence is his love language; it always elevates one in his mind from being just a random NPC to someone beautiful.
"My mind… sees far. Challenges are coming that would drown lesser beings in despair. I need more. Power. Influence. Connections. And it seems my mutant power agrees."
He took her hand, his touch cool. "It has awakened a new potential in me. But before I can even consider sharing that… I need to know."
"Emma Frost. Do you want to be my partner? In life, in death, in the tangled mess ahead?"
"Not a romantic fling. A contract. A partnership from which there is no walking away. Think. This is a door that locks behind you."
He was offering a bond forged by Yin Yang Harmony. He didn't fully understand its depths; a dual cultivation trait promising shared growth, healing, harmony, and an unbreakable connection.
The 'unbreakable' part had given him pause. Eternal relationships, harems… He found the concept naive.
Emotions faded. People changed. And his stay in Hydra had taught him to despise any form of mental coercion.
But studying the ability's resonance, he sensed it didn't create love or loyalty; it preserved the bond itself.
It ensured that trust, once given, would not corrode with time or circumstance.
It was a failsafe for a soul pathologically averse to trust like him. Blame Hydra and Mephisto for the trust issues, he thought. They made me a hypocrite.