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 …
*******************************
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."
*******************************
All hail weirdos!
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Sona: "Wow! This sure was a waste of good money."
She says after moving her fingers across the entire house we are in.
Ethan: "What was?"
Sona: "This kind of spacious and more-than-comfortable house being given to you to live in. It's kind of a waste of money."
Ethan smiles sardonically in response.
Ethan: "And, well, this kind of spacious and more-than-comfortable house allowed me to study everything I did and is the reason why we are all here and not in much worse emotional, psychological and physical predicaments and also this is the place that we are using as our base."
He seems quite passionate about arguing that this house was not wasted on him. And well, I personally want to side against him, like I always do, but I think he is right, like he is most of the times.
Kais: "You know, Sona, he kinda has a point."
Sona looks at me with a disappointed gaze. I don't really know why but it does make me feel a bit bad about my response.
Sona: "The reason why this is a waste of money is because all it would take is one flick from a guy like Walter Schmidt to destroy it. And I think you have a lot of Walter Schmidts as your enemies."
Well, that's also a good point. If the house was cheap, it getting destroyed wouldn't mean much. But the owner of this house, with pretty much all of his actions, has been basically asking people to punch him in the face and he's living in such a great house. That's, like, asking for the place to be demolished.
Three bedrooms, one library, a living room, a garden, a yard, a pool, a store room, and some other miscellaneous types of rooms are present in this house. To be honest, I do kinda feel jealous of the fact that this jackass has been living in such a big house while I have been living in, what – a one-bedroom flat?
Sona: "You look like you are pretty much ready to destroy it yourself."
She says so with somewhat of a grin on her face.
Kais: "Not completely out of the question."
And so I answer with somewhat of a grin too. And of course, since the whole point of all this is to annoy the winner of our 'annoyance of the life award', we turn to look at his face.
If my understanding of him is correct, then he'd try to change the topic to get out of this. And we won't let that happ-
Ethan: "Congratulations! You two are perfectly in sync. I'd say you two should marry already."
-en.
Kais: "…"
Sona: "…"
Ethan: "Why the red faces?"
*******************************
Deciding that taking turns to keep watch over Abgere was the best option and that more than just one person should keep watch over him (just to be safe) has lead to now, when the three of them of are talking about demolishing the house and marrying each other and whatnot while Sneha and Gabriel keep watch over their quite seriously injured but stable patient.
Gabriel: "Sneha, I wanted to ask you something."
He says, not with the intention of just starting a conversation but because he really does want to ask something.
Gabriel: "Why did you decide to leave Vermillion and join up with that weirdo?"
The rather tall woman sitting diagonally-left from Gabriel and diagonally-right from Abgere sighs and answers,
Sneha: "The answer lies in the same reason that I joined Vermillion in the first place."
Gabriel finds himself surprised but continues nonetheless.
Gabriel: "I never got to find out what that reason was."
Sneha: "I wanted to find the person responsible for killing all of my teachers and fellow students at the temple I was brought up in."
Gabriel, like every other high-ranking official in Vermillion, knew that she was brought up in a temple and that her fellows at the temple were killed in the carnage of 12 years ago. That, and they also knew who was responsible for it.
Gabriel: "Didn't you already know that Barry was the one who did?"
Sneha: "Not before joining Vermillion."
She says and takes a glance at Abgere to make sure he is stable and then continues,
Sneha: "After I joined Vermillion, I found that out. But, for whatever reason, it just never seemed real to me. I just wasn't convinced that a psychic who had been known as such a kind person for so long would suddenly go on a rampage and do something like THAT."
Gabriel: "…"
Sneha: "I probably also didn't want to believe that a psychic going nuts was all there was to that disaster. I didn't want to accept that it was just bad luck that they all died. I wanted there to be an enemy I could blame this all on."
As he is someone whose hate towards Bronzer for the murder of his fiancée and in-laws has reached a high point, Gabriel can understand that emotion.
However, to him, there always has been Bronzer to blame it on.
He has never felt the need to find someone he can blame. So, he can't completely relate. That is why, he asks his next question, something he wouldn't even bother asking if he could relate to her.
Gabriel: "Did you want revenge for what happened?"
Sneha: "Nope. Not at all."
She says and gets up as if to say she has no intention of talking about that any further. And as if just on cue,
Abgere: "ah … hah"
Abgere starts regaining consciousness.
Sneha: "Well, we better tell those three."
Gabriel: "Right."
*******************************
Within a minute, all six people in the house gather in one room.
Abgere: "Wh-wh-"
Ethan: "If you say 'who am I?' I am going to rip your head off."
Well, all of us saving him only for him to forget his memories would be pretty aggravating.
Abgere: "Uh, where … the fuck … am I?"
Ethan: "Well now, that's better."
The man hanging onto the bed that Abgere has been placed on, smiles, and continues,
Ethan: "You are at my house. And if you don't know who I am, I am Ethan Kales."
Abgere: "Wh-what … did you say your name was?"
Ethan: "Why? If you have ever heard this name before, I doubt you could have already forgotten who it belongs to. After all, it's the name of the person who put a bullet in Ro Garland's gut."
Sometimes I think this guy wants someone to break his arms and legs. Other times I don't because I realize that he is more of a sadist than a masochist.
Abgere: "…"
Despite the silence, I feel an overwhelming urge to push Ethan out of the room.
The glare Abgere is giving Ethan at this point is quite scary, even though I have no harm coming my way.
Abgere: "And you all?"
He glances at us as he asks,
Abgere: "You are his allies? Accomplices?"
Okay, I take that back. His glare is at all of us and if any harm comes, Ethan would be the first but then this guy's hostility will lead him to us too.
Gabriel: "Look, let's just calm down and-"
Abgere: "I think I know you. Aren't you Gabriel Washington, a Hellfire?"
Gabriel: "Oh boy!"
Abgere: "You piece of shit needs to die!"
Abgere tries to grab Gabriel by the collar, which obviously does not happen because Gabriel moves away and Abgere can't move very well with all his wounds.
Sneha: "Okay, Gabriel, calm down!"
Abgere: "You are in Vermillion too, aren't you?"
Sneha: "I was, not anymore. And more importantly,"
Abgere: "There is nothing more important than killing you piece of shits!"
Even Sneha back away a little, feeling his hostility cutting through her heart. And so,
Slap!
Abgere: "Tsk! What the-"
Slap!
Abgere: "…"
Sona: "You are getting on my nerves, you half-assed edge-lord."
Yeah, the best person to deal with this kind of situations – deals with it.
Ethan: "Nice catch."
Ethan says to me without turning my way, causing me to turn his way in annoyance.
Sona: "And by the way,"
She says with a mocking smile as she brings up her other hand (the one she didn't slap with) which is holding a peculiar item,
Sona: "You are not wearing your mask anymore."
Abgere: "Huh!?"
And for whatever reason, Abgere seems more surprised and troubled by that than he was when Ethan told him his name and flaunted about killing Ro.
*******************************
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