Seamus knew this was foolish. He knew he would regret it. He had never killed a human directly before.

His bullies? Yes, he had indirectly caused their deaths, but he never expected it to end that badly.

And picking a fight with an entire squad of vampire hunters was obviously a terrible idea.

But the rage filling his chest made him reckless. No one insulted his dead mother and walked away without consequences.

BANG.

The first shot exploded through the air. Seamus saw the bullet clearly, as if time slowed for him alone.

He stepped aside, appeared in front of the shooter, and slashed across the man's chest. The hunter dropped instantly.

For a heartbeat, the silence hit harder than the gunshot. His movement was too fast to follow with the naked eye. Then the screams erupted.

"Kill that bastard!"

Bullets poured toward him. Seamus slipped through the gaps, dodging some, slicing others out of the air. The rest either missed or tore into the shooters' own teammates.

"Stop using guns! We are in close combat!" someone shouted.

But the fight had already devolved into chaos. The shooters acted like maniacs, firing wildly, uncaring even when the bullets ripped into their allies.

Seamus recognized the influence immediately. Dahlia. She stood to the side with a smile, hands clasped behind her back like she was watching a stage play.

He smirked and opened his mouth to thank her, but a sudden chill crawled up his spine. Someone was behind him. Someone who moved as fast as he did.

He turned sharply. A blade was already inches from his neck. Lulu flashed between them at the last moment and parried the strike, the metal ring slicing through the air.

"Hah, not bad," the man said.

He smirked, unbothered by the failed strike. His emerald eyes glinted under the dim light.

The color made Seamus freeze.

Emerald. The exact shade that reminded him of his mother.

But that was impossible. There was no way Alice had family among vampire hunters.

Right?

The man lunged at Seamus without warning. His blade sliced upward in a clean arc, fast enough that an ordinary vampire would have lost his head before blinking.

Seamus tilted back just in time, feeling the wind of the strike brush across his cheek.

The man pressed forward. His movements were sharp, disciplined, almost feral in precision.

He was not as fast as Seamus, not as strong, but he was close enough to be dangerous. Close enough to be annoying.

Seamus parried the next strike, boots skidding across the blood-stained ground as the man followed with a spin and a slash aimed for his ribs.

From his side view, he could see Lulu wanted to help but he screams, "Just protect my back Lulu!"

Lulu stopped in her tracks and nodded, didn't involve herself in this fight and decided to attack a nearby hunter that was close enough to Seamus.

Seamus stepped inside the attack and elbowed him in the stomach, sending him staggering back, but the man recovered immediately and charged again.

"You fight like him," the man said, almost amused while clashing blades with him.

"Like who?" Seamus asked.

The man only smiled and twisted his sword toward Seamus's throat.

Their weapons clashed again and again, sparks scattering with every impact. He could have ended this fight if he used Leah's evolution, but for some reason he didn't, he wanted to know who this man was and his relationship with his parents.

The hunters around them had stopped firing, probably Dahlia stopping her influence for not making things more complicated than this.

Though, they are indeed terrified of the effect of their attacks and the friends they shot that wounded or dropped dead.

Lulu guarded Seamus's flank, keeping others from jumping in.

Seamus finally saw an opening. He kicked the man's leg, forcing him down on one knee. His sword rose for the killing blow.

The man grinned up at him like he already knew something Seamus didn't.

Before the blade could fall, a scream tore through the chaos.

"STOP AT ONCE!"

The voice hit the crowd like a shockwave. Every hunter froze. Even Dahlia lifted her brows in interest. Lulu lowered her stance but didn't relax.

Seamus's sword hovered above the man's neck as a woman strode into view. She pushed through the hunters like they were nothing more than furniture blocking her path.

Seamus didn't know her, but from the way she moved and gave orders. It seemed she was the President of the Vampire Hunter Association or someone with a high position.

Because her existence alone was enough to silence a battlefield. Severe dark suit, silver hair tied back, sharp eyes that seemed to cut through anyone she looked at. Every hunter snapped straight, fear tightening their posture.

She looked at Seamus first.Then at the man kneeling beneath his blade. Then back at Seamus.

Her gaze sharpened.

"Both of you," she said, voice low and cold, "step away from each other."

Even the man's earlier smirk vanished, replaced by a tight, uneasy frown. Seamus closed his eyes as his bone sword crumbled into dust, scattering across the floor like faded ash.

The emerald-eyed man straightened slowly, tension coiling through his stance.

Her voice broke through the chaos, sharp and commanding enough to slice the room in half.

"How did this disaster even start? Why were all of you attacking him?"

The hunter who insulted Seamus's mother limped forward, blood dripping steadily from his forehead.

"He is the boy. The Crimson Nectar. We need to eliminate him before something worse happens."

She let out a humorless laugh, low and almost mocking. "So all of you are terrified of a teenager and a dusty prophecy someone scribbled a millennium ago, Gio?"

Color rose in Gio's face. "You saw what happened in Bork, Selena. That place collapsed and many of us died. And his father slaughtered our agents before that."

"Because you killed my mother!"

Seamus's voice cracked through the crowd. His anger, simmering for so long, finally burst.

"You were supposed to defend humanity. You should have defended her. Instead you betrayed her like cowards."

His chest heaved with uneven breath. "You preach justice while plotting to kill a baby who never harmed you."

"Now you pretend you were righteous? Your organization brought this on itself."

A heavy silence settled, thick and brittle. Several hunters looked away as if their own guilt had bitten them.

Then Gio reached out and grabbed Seamus by the collar, dragging him closer.

"We don't have a choice!" he snapped. "The Seven Great Covenants learned about you and several wanted to take you. That would have sparked a war."

"Ending you quietly was simpler than losing entire divisions. Your father ran and everything exploded from there."

His grip loosened slightly as his voice turned desperate. "Think beyond yourself for once. Do you want others dying because of you? Your death could have prevented all of this."

The emerald-eyed man pushed himself upright, breathing hard. "We didn't want to harm your mother. She shielded you. She paid with her life. And I will never forgive you for killing my sister."

Seamus's jaw tensed until it ached. He already knew how it felt to be unwanted — by his father, by strangers, by fate itself.

But hearing that the world might genuinely be better without him twisted something deep inside.

Maybe they believed their logic. Maybe they thought they were right. But he refused to surrender to that idea. He still had things he needed to do.

Before he could reply, Lulu's voice pierced the room. "That's not true. Seamus is not a curse. At least not to me."

Her hands were shaking, yet she stood her ground. "He cares about people. He risked everything in Bork for Velstrath, Draemir, and your own hunters."

"But when we sent help, where were all of you? You didn't send a single person. If there's shame to be felt, it's not his."

Her voice trembled, but her conviction didn't fade. "Maybe he carries misfortune. So what? He still fights to help others. You should start doing the same instead of pinning all your failures on him."

Seamus stared at her in disbelief. Lulu rarely raised her voice, yet she was trembling with courage now. Something warm and unfamiliar fluttered in his chest.

He pushed Gio's hand away and met his eyes firmly. "You heard her. I'll stay alive until the end. My life is mine, not yours."

He inhaled sharply. "This world keeps stripping things from me. So why should I offer myself to it? Especially for people who murdered my mother."

He laced his fingers with Lulu's and faced Selena. "We're finished here. Your people got hurt because of their own stupidity. If you want to discuss anything further, talk to me directly. Leave Velstrath and Draemir out of it."

He walked through the parted crowd toward the car, Dahlia trailing behind with an unreadable smile.

Diane rushed toward him as soon as they reached the vehicle, worrying, tightening her voice.

"What happened? Why were you suddenly attacked?"

"I'll explain everything at Draemir's castle. Let's leave first." He placed a hand on her shoulder as everyone got inside.

The drive away from the Vampire Association Headquarters was quiet.

But Seamus couldn't hide his smile. In the rear-view mirror, Lulu was smiling too.

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