Damiens clawed hand pinned Fay's neck to the cracked stone. Despite the situation, she grinned. Shark-like teeth were on display, and her scarlet eyes flickered with lust.

'I am not in control.'

"Where's my meal? Where's my prey? HONOR THE HUNT. WHERE IS MY FEAST?"

"Right here, husband~." Two snow-white arms caressed Damien's cheek, calming his mind.

Useless.

A vampire's wrath is hard to calm, and like a raging typhoon, it soars and crashes, never ceasing, never-ending.

Until the hunt is done.

Damien spotted his retreating prey in the corner of his eye; she hobbled towards her silver knights; she smelt of fear.

The knights raise their swords, apprehensive as Damien rose, "Stop, Vampire!" A knight shouts. A swift claw silences the knight as his head flies, mortal steel pulverised under fist and claw.

A fountain of foul blood showers Damien as he advances, but he doesn't rest to feed.

Swine blood is incomparable to a juicy lamb, after all.

Damien's blood boils, changes occur, and hunger consumes his mind; luckily, a snack lies ahead.

Knights of Silvermoon block the Vampire's warpath with little success. Steel blades bounce, spells fly, flesh regenerates, and the hunger intensifies.

The lamb runs, and a short man blocks the path, "Damien, WAKE UP, cease this now! You are different, remember? Control it!"

The words fall on deaf ears.

The short man brings out a dagger of silver; it shines in the moonlight.

Danger.

Wind surrounds the man; he moves fast, too fast.

Damien tries to conjure up a spell, anything to move. Yet his mind is a clouded mess; the spells fizzle out as wasted mana.

'Is this how my Father died... wait, my Father? A Vampire? Is my Father a Vampire... no? He was human... was? Who am I?'

Damien looks down with a dazed expression as Beldroth stabs and stabs, turning Damien into swiss cheese. Innumerable holes spray blood.

Two soft mounds of flesh press onto Damien's bareback as the world goes black, "Don't leave me..."

"Never." Damien snarls as his head whips around at an impossible angle, jaw unhinging, fangs meeting succulent flesh. His grin was ear-splitting.

Euphoria like never before washes the insanity away like a summer breeze, pleasant and calm.

Beldroth stopped stabbing; he fell backwards with wide eyes, a bloodstained blade in his shaking hands. "O-oh G-god W-what have I done...."

Fay's scarlet eyes met Beldroths; they were sinister and filled with fury.

As Damien drained her succulent blood, she grinned like a shark at the shaking man, "Damien is a reasonable fellow, as I am sure you agree? Run now, little man, back to your mistress. We have much to discuss in the coming days."

Beldroth dropped the knife at his feet; it clattered on the hard stone as he stood to run, "F-forgive me, Your Highness." he said quickly and bowed before running.

Fay brushed Damien's hair from his face; his eyes shut as he brought his mind to rest.

"Sleep... I'll take care of you."

Fay giggled as she picked Damien up in her embrace; with surprising strength, she carried his massive form towards their castle while whistling a foreign tune.

***

Emilia sat in the farmer's carriage doorway with a glassy expression. A silent sea of corpses lay around her; within seconds, Damien's claws slaughtered over twenty knights of Silvermoon, and he made it look easy.

His fingers smashed through enchanted armour like paper; his hand crushed the knight's helmets, blood exploding from within. Damien tore the bodies to shreds while looking at her with primal hunger. She, a Princess of Kassinki, felt hunted.

A few knights milled around, checking the corpses for their identities and recovering any valuables. While inspecting the damage, some whistled in admiration; others cried beside a fallen comrade.

"It's all my fault," Emilia admitted as she gripped the hem of her dress, knuckles white.

Beldroth sighed from beside her, "That's not strictly true-"

"I stepped on a monster's pride Beldroth." Her head whipped around to face the short man, "I deserved it; I allowed my rage to consume my reason. When we met back in Kassinki and before the duel, I could see unfathomable wisdom and intellect behind those eyes. But as he hunted me like a lamb, I couldn't see anything but hunger. He may be the most intelligent and human Vampire this world has ever seen, but he's still a Vampire and should be respected as one."

Bledroth was still shaking slightly, fear yet to leave him. He turned to meet Emilia's haunted expression, "Princess, if we wish to survive with a lion amongst us, we should befriend its feeder."

Emilia nodded, "Vampires are unchained creatures of lust and power; that black-haired woman appears more reasonable but did you see..."

"Aye. She isn't human. Close, but something else entirely."

"Any ideas?" Emilia asked as she leaned back and gazed at the moon; it comforted her and helped heal her shaking heart.

"Scarlet eyes, sharp teeth, and immense strength all suggest some type of Vampire. Yet her cheeks were rosy, and she lacked claws but instead has small petit hands belonging to a female human."

Beldroth paused to take a swig from his silver flask, crude alcohol cascaded down his throat, warming his body and stilling his mind.

"Ahh, that's the good stuff. Anyway... another point of concern is that Damien drank her blood and began healing his wounds."

Emilia frowned, "Don't Vampires always heal? Not even mortal wounds are fatal to them."

Beldroth nodded, "Aye, they do, but I inflicted the wounds with a silver blade; they shouldn't have closed for hours."

"Her blood is that potent?"

Beldroth nodded.

The silence dragged on between the two; it was a frightening thought. If silver couldn't kill him and he stood casually below the sun... how could he die?

Beldroth broke the silence after another swig from his flask, "Should we run?"

Emilia chortled; some soldiers glanced over but quickly averted their eyes.

"Run! Hahaha." Emilia patted Beldroths small shoulders as if she had heard the funniest thing.

After a while, she calmed and spoke seriously, "This peninsula is a prison, Beldroth, my insane brother resides to the south, a cave crawling with immortal creatures of blood to the north. Running is not an option... only surviving, and how does one survive? They pick the winning team."

Bledroth stared at Emilia for a long time. Eventually, he shook his head in vain, "What would your mother think of this... she would be mortified."

Emilia shrugged. "There are few men worthy of me."

***

"How long has it been?" Damien asked the dazzling naked beauty beside him.

Fay had a cheeky smile, "Hm..." she placed her slender finger on her chin, scarlet eyes staring into his with playful curiosity. "Three days and nights, I believe."

Damien looked around the trashed room. Apart from a plate of meat and grapes on the bedside table from which Fay was happily eating, everything else reeked of sex and blood.

Damien sighed as he supported his head on the pillow, "Had fun?"

Fay traced a finger down Damien's chest and hummed as if amused, "I would be after a few more days... I have some fight left in me~."

Shaking his head, Damien could only laugh, "Woman, the room looks like a whore house mixed with a battlefield. I think you have had enough."

She pouted.

"At least for now." Damien winked as he stood from the bed; it creaked as he went. Fay hugged his neck briefly before letting him go. Despite her bold remarks, she fell asleep when her head hit the pillow.

"Rest well—my Blood Queen."

Damien willed mana through his spatial mana circuit, and with relief, a rift in space formed, and an all too familiar golden pocket watch appeared in his hand.

He flipped the lid open and found what he was looking for.

[Blood Magic (D -> C)]

"Shit."

He snapped it closed. There was work to be done.