Jorghan moved to the window and looked out carefully.

Three black SUVs had pulled up in front of the house, their headlights illuminating the street with harsh white light. Doors opened, and figures emerged—at least fifteen men, all wearing dark tactical gear, carrying automatic weapons with the confidence of trained soldiers.

But these weren't military.

Their equipment was too varied, too personalized. Private contractors, maybe, or gang enforcers dressed to look professional. And several of them moved with the subtle grace that suggested awakened abilitie,s enhancing their physical capabilities.

"Lizbeth, who are these people?" Margaret called up the stairs, her voice tight with fear.

"I don't know," Lizbeth replied, but her face had gone pale.

"Unless..."

One more figure exited the lead vehicle.

A man in an expensive suit, his posture radiating smug authority, his face showing satisfaction at having finally tracked down his target.

Lizbeth's husband.

The man who'd sold his own daughter.

"Robert," Lizbeth whispered, and the name came out like a curse.

Jorghan watched as the armed men surrounded the house, positioning themselves at all exits, ensuring no one could escape. They moved with professional efficiency, suggesting this wasn't their first forced entry operation.

"Don't worry," Jorghan said calmly.

Margaret and David were in the living room, David still holding his shotgun but looking uncertain about whether it would do any good against this many opponents.

Margaret brought Lily down.

Before they could discuss strategy, someone outside used a bullhorn.

"This is private security working under contract with the Raed Circle organization. The residence is surrounded. Send out the child Lily immediately, and no one else needs to be harmed."

David raised his shotgun toward the door.

"Like hell they're taking her."

"Dad, they have automatic weapons," Lizbeth said urgently.

"Your shotgun won't stop them."

"Then they can kill me trying," David replied stubbornly.

The bullhorn crackled again.

"You have thirty seconds to comply. After that, we're coming in. If anyone resists, they will be considered hostile and dealt with accordingly."

Lily pressed against her mother's side, trembling.

"They're going to take me. They're going to take me. I don't want to go, Mom."

"You're not going to go," Jorghan said, his voice cutting through the panic like a blade. He moved to stand between the family and the door. "When they come through, stay behind me. Don't move, don't speak, just stay still."

"You can't fight all of them," Margaret protested.

"There are too many, and they have guns—"

The front door exploded inward.

Not kicked in or forced open, but literally exploded, the lock and surrounding frame disintegrating under some kind of ability that turned solid wood into splinters. Six men rushed through the opening in perfect tactical formation, weapons raised, shouting commands.

"Hands up! Everyone on the ground! Now!"

More men came through the back door simultaneously, surrounding the family from both directions. Within seconds, they had the living room covered from multiple angles, their weapons trained on everyone present.

Robert stepped through the ruined front door, picking his way carefully over the debris, his expensive shoes crunching on broken wood. He looked around the living room with distaste before his eyes fixed on Lily.

"There you are, sweetie," he said with false warmth.

"You've caused Daddy a lot of trouble running away like that. But it's okay. We're going to fix everything now."

"I'm not going with you!" Lily shouted, her young voice shrill with fear and anger.

"You gave me to bad people for money!"

"I made arrangements for your future," Robert corrected, his tone becoming sharper.

"You have a valuable ability, Lily. It would be wasteful to let you just sit around doing nothing when you could be contributing, earning your keep. The Raed Circle will train you properly and give you purpose."

"They'll kill her," Lizbeth said, her voice shaking but defiant.

"Those expeditions kill most of the children they send. You know that. You don't care because you already got your money."

Robert's expression hardened.

"You don't understand business, Lizbeth. You never did. Everything has value. Everything can be traded for the right price. Our daughter's ability is worth more than any normal life she could have lived. She should be grateful for the opportunity."

"Grateful?" David growled, raising his shotgun.

"You sick son of a—"

Three of the soldiers shifted their aim to David immediately.

"Put the weapon down! Now!"

"Dude," Jorghan said quietly, and everyone's attention shifted to him.

"They don't want to go with you."

Robert noticed him for the first time, his eyes narrowing.

"Who the hell are you? Another one of Lizbeth's desperate attempts at protection? It won't work. I have legal custody of Lily. I have a contract with the Raed Circle. And I have fifteen armed men backing me up. You're nobody."

Jorghan's expression didn't change.

"They. Don't. Want. To. Go. With. You."

"I don't care what they want," Robert snapped.

"This is about—"

He didn't get to finish.

Jorghan moved.

One moment he was standing still, unarmed, seemingly helpless.

The next, blood essence exploded outward from his body in crimson spirals that filled the room like living things.

The nearest soldier screamed as blood essence invaded his body through every pore, seizing control of his circulatory system. Jorghan compressed the man's blood, increasing pressure until vessels burst throughout his body. The soldier collapsed, blood pouring from his eyes, nose, and ears.

The other soldiers opened fire.

Bullets filled the air, the sound deafening in the enclosed space.

But Jorghan's blood essence formed a barrier, a wall of solidified energy that caught every projectile, holding them suspended in midair before dropping them harmlessly to the floor.

He gestured, and blood essence lashed out like whips.

One tendril wrapped around a soldier's throat, crushing his windpipe. Another pierced through tactical armor as if it wasn't there, finding the heart beneath and stopping it instantly. A third severed a soldier's leg at the knee, the man falling with a shriek that cut off when more essence invaded his lungs and drowned him from the inside.

The awakeners among the soldiers tried to respond with their own abilities. One created a shield of blue energy, trying to protect his teammates. Jorghan's blood essence simply flowed around the shield, finding gaps, exploiting weaknesses, and invading bodies through any opening available.

Another awakener threw balls of fire, desperate to burn away the blood essence.

But Jorghan's power wasn't physical blood anymore—it was essence, energy given form and purpose. Fire passed through it harmlessly while blood essence continued its work, killing with surgical precision.

As each soldier fell, something else happened. Something that would have surprised Jorghan if he'd had time to notice.

His internal system—the bloodline-granted ability that managed his essence—activated automatically.

It reached out to the dying soldiers, particularly the awakened ones, and began absorbing their blood.

The energy they'd developed, the power their bodies had accumulated through the Convergence, flowed into Jorghan like water finding a drain.

The mana these awakeners possessed was different from blood essence in quality but similar enough in nature that his system could convert it, store it, and use it to fuel his abilities.

The massacre lasted maybe fifteen seconds.

Fifteen soldiers who'd entered the house confident in their numbers and firepower. Fifteen bodies now scattered across the living room, bleeding from wounds that defied explanation, their mana absorbed and converted into fuel for the being who'd killed them.

Robert stood frozen in the doorway, his face pale with shock, his earlier confidence shattered completely. Behind Jorghan, the family huddled together, equally shocked but at least still alive.

Jorghan walked toward Robert slowly, blood essence still swirling around him in crimson patterns, his eyes glowing with red light that made him look demonic in the destroyed living room.

"You were saying something about having fifteen armed men backing you up," Jorghan said softly.

"Would you like to revise that statement?"

Robert tried to speak, couldn't, and tried again.

"What... what are you?"

"Someone who keeps promises," Jorghan replied.

He raised his hand, blood essence condensing into a blade-like shape pointed at Robert's throat. "I promised Lizbeth her daughter would be safe. I promised Lily no one would take her. You tried to violate those promises."

"Please," Robert managed, finding his voice through terror.

"Please, I have money. Connections. I can pay you, give you whatever you want. Just don't—"

"I don't want your money," Jorghan interrupted.

"I don't want your connections. I want you to understand what happens when you sell your own child to people who would kill her for profit."

His hand moved forward, the blood essence blade extending, preparing to pierce Robert's heart and end this pathetic man's existence.

"Stop."

The voice came from outside, calm and commanding, cutting through the aftermath of violence like a knife through silk.

Jorghan paused, not lowering his weapon but turning his head slightly to identify the speaker.

A figure stepped through the ruined front door.

Young, maybe late teens, with features that were eerily familiar. Dark hair, sharp cheekbones, and eyes that were almost but not quite the same shade as Jorghan's own.

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