Chapter 67: A Dance In Darkness (Part 2)

Vampire: "You are sick to have studied us like that."

Abgere: "Maybe. But you are sicker to eat so many people and not feel a tinge of regret."

The vampire scowls at Abgere as he hears that.

Vampire: "Not feel regret? What do you know? I am not the one who wanted to eat them anyway."

Abgere raises his brows and motions him to continue.

Vampire: "That priest forced me to starve so I lose my mind and then put them in the same room as me so I can't control myself and eat them. I did just as he wanted me to. I couldn't fight back."

Abgere: "By priest, I assume you mean Halogen Dietrich?"

Vampire: "I don't know and I don't care."

The vampire gritted his teeth.

Vampire: "That bastard had done something to those people he sent them me to be eaten. He somehow did something to them that-"

The vampire dies. Without a warning, without any indication, without any buildup, he just dies.

Abgere: "…"

Abgere remains confused as to what the vampire would have been trying to say. And so he, the only one who can, finishes the vampire's sentence for him.

Halogen: "I put something in their blood that allowed me to make him follow my every command after he had eaten them. I assume that's what he wanted to say."

Abgere: "Tsk!"

Abgere turns his head from the corpse of the vampire to the priest standing near the not-present door to the room leading up from the basement.

Halogen: "It's a shame really. I had expected he would be able to take you out. But, oh well, you are a whore-addict's son. I guess you won't go down easy."

For just a moment, the thoughts of killing Halogen Dietrich disappear and a single question emerges.

Abgere: "How could you know?"

Halogen: "How could I know that you are Julius Rome's son? That's easy. You smell of the same filth."

Anger takes hold of him, making him tighten his fist and try to punch the priest while yelling,

Abgere: "I'm nothing like that piece of shit!"

He is unable to hit though. The priest just teleports away and reappears near the stairs.

Halogen: "You may be right. You are nothing like THAT piece of shit!"

Halogen scoffs at him, turning his gaze away in disgust.

Halogen: "While he used to hook-up with those filthy whores, you just came out of one. That is why you smell the same."

Abgere: "You asshole! Don't you dare say another word about-"

Halogen: "About the whore that was your mother!?"

Abgere charges at him again without any strategy and is unable to hit again as Halogen teleports away back to where he first appeared.

Halogen: "I knew that whore, you know?"

Abgere freezes as he hears that.

Halogen: "For whatever reason, Julius used to like her more than any other whore or slave he had around his house. He might even have actually loved her at some point in his life."

Halogen continues without a care in the world, his words rekindling the buds of poisons buried in Abgere's heart.

Halogen: "But when she said he was pregnant with you, he lost interest in her and threw her out at the streets."

Abgere tightened his fists, his hatred of Julius Rome rising back up.

Even though he had already given him a quite painful death, that just doesn't feel enough anymore.

Halogen: "After being thrown out, the first place your mother came to in hopes of shelter was this church – my church."

Abgere's attention focuses back on his words with that line, and his heart shattered with the next one.

Halogen: "To think that such a filthy woman would dare to think that she can enter this holy place!? It is the height of stupidity. But then again, what can I expect from a whore like her?"

Abgere: "What did you do?"

He asks.

Abgere: "What did you do then? Did you just turn her away?"

Halogen: "Turn her away? For thinking such a heinous thing as her stepping into this church, I couldn't have just let her leave without repercussions, could I?"

His mind silenced, his attention focused at one spot and malice the likes of which shouldn't even be possible coming from him, he asks.

Abgere: "What did you do?"

Halogen smirks and says.

Halogen: "See for yourself!"

He points at a door that didn't exist before. He points at that door that is straight ahead and not left or right like the two paths Abgere had seen before. Abgere walks up to the door and opens it and sees-

Abgere: "…"

There are chains, there is a hunter, there is blood on the ground, and there are also two wooden rods that one can keep a person tied to and they would not even be able to budge.

Abgere: "…"

Looking at that scenery, he says nothing.

Halogen: "Well, I'll be leaving now. Remember that what you are seeing right now is just an illusion created by me for convenience in showing you what had happened. It will disappear when I'm gone."

Halogen says so as he casually walks up the stairs and heads to the ground floor. And just as he said it would, the illusion in front of Abgere disappears.

Abgere: "… why?"

He remains there still.

Abgere: "What did she do to deserve this?"

He remains there still as the church shakes. The church shakes as if an earthquake had come.

Abgere: "Why did she-"

Abgere does not notice.

He does not notice that the entire church is going to fall on his head.

He just stands there, about to cry or vomit or yell or whatever Halogen wants him to do.

And so, the church falls – right on his head … or …

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A group of five walk down the stairs slowly as they make sure they don't get hurt from the rubble. They chatter within themselves as they do so. But they stop when they see a man lying on the ground with wounds on his head and his abdomen.

Sona: "This is going to take a lot to heal."

Kais: "Your spirits can still heal him though, can't you?"

Sona: "Of course they CAN. Who the hell do you think they are contracted to?"

Hearing that, Kais gives an awkward smile.

Gabriel: "Are you guys serious about saving this asshole?"

Gabriel, the man behind everyone else, asks so.

Gabriel: "You realize I am one of his prime targets, don't you?"

The man in the middle of the five and who has been staring at Abgere constantly sighs as he hears Gabriel.

Ethan: "Shut up, loser!"

Gabriel: "Tsk! You are probably one of his targets too, you know?"

Ethan: "Oh yeah, because I killed Ro Garland?"

Gabriel: "Of course."

Ethan: "Hmm, you are probably right. Eh, whatever!"

Ethan walks up to Abgere's unconscious body and look at it like he's analyzing a fossil.

Ethan: "Hah! We need him alive!"

He says as he turns to Sona.

Sona: "I'll see what I can do."

Sneha: "If you really want to save him, I can help too. I can't do the whole operation but my abilities can help in his recovery."

Ethan: "Thanks! That would be a big help!"

Even though his face remains as deadpan as ever, Ethan Kales seem to be serious about saving Abgere. And so, the group complies.

Kais: "I can help too … maybe."

They all then turn to Gabriel, expecting something out of him as he is a Hellfire after all.

Gabriel: "Fine, whatever! If he tries to kill me as soon as wakes up, it'll all be on you."

He says so to Ethan, who just shrugs it off, causing Gabriel to click his tongue in annoyance.

Kais: "Anyway, why do you want to save him so bad?"

Kais asks Ethan, out of pure curiosity. And Ethan answers with one of the most serious faces he has ever had.

Ethan: "Well, our opponents are monsters. And the only ones who can defeat monsters are weirdos – weirdos like us … and him."

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