Was there any way to get out of this mess? Samael wondered.

Just one problem concerning Lilou. He couldn't control himself. Deep down, he knew what he had unleashed was dangerous.

Yet, out of desperation, he did it anyway. Why? Because he was afraid.

In this time, standing in the middle of the heart of Knotley, Samael couldn't even move. It would take him a while to stop this anger building up within him.

All he could do was to trust Fabian to get her back. Why… why now?

"How pathetic…" Samael whispered under his breath, blaming himself.

If he didn't take his eyes off of her, he could have prevented this from happening. But he let himself get distracted. Now Lilou was being taken away from him; and to think this had happened under his watch.

No. That was not the case.

Samael. He already knew the moment he fell for her, she'd be in danger. After all, everyone wanted him dead or alive to use for their own benefits.

To inherit the purest form of blood, his life was never his own. No matter how he tried his hardest to get away from his fate — rebel, get banished, do what he pleased, travel the world — he would always end up back in this hell.

Back to where people urge him to lead. While the rest wanting him dead for good. There was no way out.

What was the point of receiving immeasurable strength? If he couldn't protect the only being who had loved him, accepted him, showed him what there's more to life. The sole reason he remained sane after waking up and the only life he treasured.

Samael's breathing grew heavier every passing second. Every breath he took suffocated his lungs.

"Lilou…" He whispered her name helplessly. "… what should I do?"

Suddenly, Lilou's bright smile flashed before his eyes. He gazed at the illusion of Lilou standing before him. She walked towards him, cupping his cheek, smiling.

Her earnest gaze warmed him up. And her affectionate touch calmed his jumbled thoughts.

Lilou was his salvation. Her presence, smile, her love, touches, and just her existence alone was his sanctuary. She's the only person in this world who could make his chaotic thoughts into a standstill.

The thick red mist covering Cunningham gradually receded. Lilou's illusion faded.

Initially, Samael's first course of action was to annihilate everyone. Lilou might die in the process… but he could just revive her back as a vampire.

It was a crazy and selfish impulse decision. However, now that he could think straight, Samael didn't want that.

Killing her with his own hands was something he shouldn't and would never do. Because if he did, Samael knew this genuine emotions wouldn't be just love, but an obsession.

Lilou wouldn't want that. Her idea of love and romance differed from his.

"They're driving me crazy, Lilove." Samael ran his hands through his argent hair in distress. Grinding his teeth in frustration.

"Ahh… really."

The corner of his lips curled up into a ridiculing smirk. His fangs grew back into small canine, but his claws remained.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

'Fabian,' Samael called out telepathically, which reached Fabian.

'My lord?' Fabian's voice rang in his head.

'Rufus, Klaus, Claude, Cameron.' Samael called them one by one, and all those names mentioned heard his voice inside his head.

'I'll be gone for a while. Protect Lilou with all your lives.'

'My lord, what are you…' Rufus' voice didn't go through as Samael shut him off.

"Hell is what they want. Then hell it is." Samael muttered before shutting off his emotions.

When Samael opened his eyes, his eyes exuded with nothing but evilness. His aura, the way his eyes drooped, and how the side of his lips hooked up were different.

It was as if he turned into an entirely different person in a blink of an eye. His ridiculing smirk grew broader as he licked his lips.

Samael cracked his neck sideways, hissing in satisfaction.

"How nice to be back." He sneered before disappearing from his spot.

*

'I'll be gone for a while…' Fabian blinked ever so slowly as he landed in front of the hooded man, carrying someone covered in a cloak on his shoulder.

He gazed at the blood on the concrete ground. His brow arched. Getting the hint that this man fended most of the red needles.

"Impressive." Fabian mused. "But please, return my lady."

The hooded man cocked his head to the side. His smirk revealed.

Fabian nodded slightly. Within a fraction of a millisecond, Fabian suddenly appeared behind him. The tip of his dark, flaming spear hooked the hood back as it slowly draped down to his neck.

If the man wasn't carrying someone on his shoulder, he would've pierced his neck. However, Fabian needed to be careful.

As the hood fell down, Fabian squinted his eyes. Bald, revealing a deep scar behind the back of the man's head.

Instead of turning around, the man cocked his head back, breaking his spine and neck like a jelly. Black sclera, ash colored iris, and slit black pupils.

"Undead."

Fabian's expression grew more solemn seeing his appearance. He shifted his eyes briefly at the person on his shoulders.

And what he was most afraid of crawled under Fabian's skin. The person on the shoulder trembled as it peeked from the hood.

It was not Lilou.

"Maleficent, they're all yours." Fabian whispered as he figured these were decoys. Samael and Fabian fell for it.

Fabian swung his dark spear towards them. Upon doing so, the two separated as they stood on either side of him.

In a heartbeat, Fabian exchanged blows with them. Two against one. But Fabian handled them well. As Fabian grazed them, dark blood with a pungent scent of rotting flesh wafted his nose.

His grip on the dark spear stung. The dark spear felt excited at the demonic aura in their blood.

"This country had stooped this low...?" Fabian ground his teeth, first time showing his disappointment and anger. Without thinking twice, Fabian struck one of them mercilessly.

Cleanly cutting his head off of his body. Dark fumes arose in the air. Fabian held his breath instinctively.

"Ahhh!!" Just then, his other enemy yelled while attacking Fabian from behind.

Before Fabian could block the attack, it stopped and collapsed; dead. Fabian caught a small pebble covered with dark blood on the ground; the same pebble that went through the other undead's head.

Slowly, Fabian raised his gaze. As soon as he did, he caught Samael's figure standing on the tip of the towering church in Knotley. He was throwing and catching another pebble in midair, staring in his direction.

"My lord…" Fabian whispered upon seeing Samael's nonchalance and demeanor.

Samael smirked. Fabian's grip on Maleficent tightened until his fist trembled.

"Is this what you really mean when you said you'd be gone for a while?" He gulped.

Because right now, Fabian recognized that that wasn't Samael from the past months. That aura that even from a distant made his dark spear trembled in excitement.

That person… it was not Sam. It was the wicked third prince of the royal family.

The real Hell.