"Let go of me, Asher." Seraphina screamed harder as he pushed her go the bed. She crawled back, shaking her head negatively.
"Even Lucian won't be able to come save you where you are now." Asher said as he went over to her in bed as she viciously trembled. "What's wrong? Reminded of the past?"
His last words came out mockingly as he grabbed her shirt, ripping it in half as he gazed at her perfect body. "Oh my goodness, I've forgotten how good you looked underneath those clothes. Even though I never tasted you, I will tonight." He smirked as he pinned her hands above her head, trapping her between his legs.
"Please, don't…" Seraphina pleaded as scenes of a teenage girl running on a silent road flashed across her mind. "Asher,,, please don't…"
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she remembered those men heading towards her, glaring at her like she was some food for pleasure. "You can remember it right?" His voice came out in a low chuckle. "I thought you said you got over it already."
Seraphina couldn't say a word and she just trembled as he kiss her her neck down to her shoulder. She didn't tremble in pleasure, it was all in fear. "Who ruined your perfect skin?" He asked, touching the gunshot mark on her skin.
"Please…" Seraphina pleaded as her sight started to blur, her chest rising and falling as she was having a panic attack. "Lucian…" She whispered and just then, a loud bang came from the door and a body came flying in.
"Get your hands off her." A chilly and dangerous voice came from the door. Asher's grip around her wrists loosened as he turned to look at Lucian.
"I was expecting you to show up. Always protective I see. But let me remind you, she belongs to me and has nothing to do with a heartless being like you." Asher said and before he could react, Lucian slammed him against the wall and Asher immediately shifted into his wolf form to give him an advantage of slipping out.
Lucian tried to grab him again but he jumped out of the window. "Angel." Lucian's voice echoed in her ears as she looked at him through her panicked state. "Please relax. I'm here now."
He pulled her closer to himself, running his fingers through her hair as he felt her slowly relax in his arms. "It's fine, I won't let him come near you again." Lucian said as he draped his jacket over her shoulders gently before lifting her in his arms to take her out of the house.
Gabriel was already waiting outside the house with Lucian's car waiting for them. "Do you have a death wish?" Lucian glared at Gabriel who shook his head negatively. "Then why the hell did you let her leave on her own?"
"My apologies, your highness. It's all my fault." Gabriel bowed his head but Lucian just ignored him and placed Seraphina well I'm the car before driving off at full speed.
Gabriel got into Esmeralda's car after checking to preventing being tracked and drove back to the mansion. Esmeralda was standing outside with Naomi as they all arrived.
Naomi followed Lucian in to take a look at Seraphina and that gave Gabriel the opportunity to speak to Esmeralda. "I won't take the blame for you next time. Stop acting immature." He said as he tossed the keys at her before walking into the house.
"What is wrong with you?" Esmeralda gritted her teeth in anger as she stormed back into the house.
Naomi examined Seraphina and checking she was okay, she let Lucian into the room. Seraphina was still shook and just covered her head in a blanket as she trembled. "I'm sorry I didn't get there in time." Lucian apologized but she shook her head negatively.
"Did he hurt you in any place?" Lucian said as he pulled the covers away from her head and he saw the hickey Asher had imprinted on her and his eyes darkened. Seraphina noticed his glance and hurriedly turned away not even realizing it was a hickey.
"He gave you a hickey." He said in his possessive tone. He took Seraphina's shoulders and lifted her up gently before he kissed her neck, trying hard to control his urge to bite her as he printed a hickey on the other side of her neck.
"What are you doing?" Seraphina asked, pushing him away. She touched her neck and looking at the other, he didn't know why jealousy rose from within him.
"You loved it and willingly let him give you a hickey but you're pushing me away." He said with a small scoff. "I'm sorry."
"Wait… I did not mean it like that." Seraphina hurriedly grabbed his hand before he could use that opportunity to isolate himself again. "Thank you for saving me."
Lucian walked into the underground room with his hands perfectly tucked in his pockets. Unlike before he went into isolation, his skin was pale and looked a bit sunken in. Not everyone would notice that but Gabriel noticed that immediately he stepped into the room since it also affected his aura.
"Your Highness, do you need blood? We can get it for you immediately." Gabriel quickly said. Although Lucian couldn't go out of control, he needed to be on the safer side. Anyone who gets on his bad side can become vampire food in an instant.
Lucian waved him off before walking over to his seat, the holographic screens immediately popped up and a lot of notifications blinded his screens. "What's the issue?" Lucian asked with a raised brow and he went through it all.
"A family is messing with the order of the humans and vampires. I don't know how they did it but a family is managing to turn humans into vampire ghouls. Although from reports from the men, they are only able to turn a very few humans into ghouls." Gabriel explained.
Vampire ghouls weren't dangerous but having someone break the pact between the creatures was the issue here. Vampire ghouls were minions to higher-ranked vampires and had to obey their master no matter what.
There was only one person who Lucian knew could turn as many humans to ghouls and he was in Dante Van del Turo's custody so he knew it wasn't from him.
"So what else have you done about this?" Lucian asked as a maid walked over to him with a large jar of red liquid and a glass cup which she immediately poured him.
The sweet scent of human blood reached his nose and his fangs immediately elongated. He had starved himself purposefully in a way that he wasn't only starving for food, he was starving for blood also.
"Human blood," Lucian said, looking down at the cup filled with blood.
"The doctor came while you were away. Some of our men needed human blood to recuperate from not having one for a long time so we asked the head of the human race for supplies from their hospitals. Fresh blood. No need to worry about going against the pact, Your Highness." Gabriel assured and in the blink of an eye, Lucian gulped the entire content of the glass, some Rollin down the corner of his lips.
After downing four more glasses, he finally let out a satisfied sigh before licking his blood-filled lips. "That tastes nice and refreshing." He chuckled gently and his color started to return to him gradually. His sunken face had returned to normal and his eyes were no longer red.
"What should we do about the ghoul issues, Your Highness? The person behind it might be going after you and wants something from you because no one was worth turning humans into ghouls for except you and your men." Gabriel explained.
He wasn't wrong. No one would waste the privilege each family had by creating ghouls to fight against each other.
"First it's the invisible bullets, now the ghouls." Lucian frowned as he swiped across the screen, trying to get information but he didn't know where.
"What should we do in case they attack the people?" Gabriel asked with a raised brow.
"As you said, no one would ever turn humans into ghouls unless they wanted to face me or any other four clans. But it is happening in my clan, I know it has something to do with me." Lucian replied, his gaze not leaving the screen before him. "And besides, that would only lead them straight into my territory where I can get them easily and know who sent them."
"I just need to find out what they want or who is behind this nonsense. Make sure no word spreads out about the humans turned into ghouls." Lucian ordered and Gabriel nodded and just then, Naomi walked out of her lab.
"Oh, you finally decided to come back to do your job. Isn't that nice?" Naomi said in a mocking tone as she traced the scent of blood to his glass and as she was about to pick it up, he grabbed it, gulping it instantly. "At least save me a drop. I've been in there working my butt off while you went into isolation because of your girlfriend."
He tried ignoring her taunts but she still won't let go of the matter. "What? Is that a lie? Weren't you in isolation because of what happened between you guys?" Naomi asked and she was nudged by Gabriel who asked her to shut up instantly.
"Fine, so what's the new issue?" Naomi asked.
"We have a ghoul situation," Lucian replied, sending one of the holographic screens to her so she could go through it.
"No, this is bad. We don't know the classification of ghoul they are and we can't just charge into battle with them without knowing how dangerous they are." Naomi said and Lucian nodded gently. at least she was of help.
"Your Highness, I think we have a problem here." Someone rushed over, handing the hologram tab which had the drawing of the entire landmark drawing of the house they were in and miles surrounding them. "There's something strange coming in this direction. It's not human and it's not complete vampires."
"Ghouls!" The three exclaimed. "Well, that explains it." Gabriel shrugged before heading into the weapon room to get rid of those coming from afar.
"How close are they?" Lucian asked.
"If they're able to get through guards, they should be here any minute."
***
Seraphina walked down the curb in the garden with a sigh as she plucked out flowers. She hadn't seen much of Lucian the other night and she wanted to go over to him but she stopped herself. "And he probably might be busy." She mumbled.
Suddenly, she could feel the air on her skin rising. She felt a strange presence around her and it was nothing she had felt before.
Slowly, her head turned towards the direction of the words. In there, stood a figure, staring in her direction and despite the sun just setting. She could see a predator looking at her.
Before she could move, a scream escaped her lips as she covered her mouth. It was right behind her, its teeth buried into her leg. "LUCIAN!!"
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