❤

"Gabriel! Gabriel!"

Barely able to support Henry's tall built with one arm, she knocked repeatedly on the large wooden doors like a mad woman till her palm turned red from the constant contact.

"What in God's name are you doi-"

The words froze at the tip of his tongue as Gabriel stopped midway, staring horrified through the slit at the disheveled woman standing at his doorstep.

Long locks of tousled hair lingered over half of her pale face while the rest of it was covered by smears of dried blood and dirt. A sleeve of her coteharide along with the previously long flowy rim had been torn ruthlessly exposing parts of her naked shoulder and legs to the onlooking eyes.

She looked nothing like the lady he had met this evening.

Rattled by her rumpled image, his eyes shifted to the man she was struggling to support, only to widen twice in size when he realised who it was.

"What happened?

Taking in Henry's blood soaked cloathes with patches of Faith's dress tied around his head and torso, the question came out of Gabriel's mouth on its own accord.

"The villagers.. attacked."

She was becoming more and more breathless while trying not to let Henry fall down.

Opening the doors wide, Gabriel immediately stepped forward to grab Henry out of Faith's clutches. As soon as Henry was out of her grasp, she fell down on the floor with a loud thud. All the newfound energy was evaporating out of her system rapidly.

"Step inside and close the doors behind you, Credința. Someone might see you."

Upon hearing Gabriel's command, she lowered her eyes for a moment, as if she were assembling enough power inside her body to get up from her hunched position. Soon enough, she lifted her empty gaze before placing a hand on the wall behind her for support. With quivering hands, she was eventually able to lock the doors on her third attempt.

"What was their motive?"

She could hear Gabriel's voice become more and more distant before furious ripping sounds started resonating inside the quiet building.

'He must be tearing Henry's shirt to expose his wounds.'

Turning around, she staggered to reach the small room at the back where she had seen Henry getting carried by Gabriel.

"They consider me a... misfortune for the town."

She let out the words lazily as she slowly trudged towards the dark room. Her legs were barely able to keep up with her weight as she stopped several times on her way to support herself against benches with the help of her arms.

She was expecting another question in return but no sound followed her statement.

Staring silently at the floor, she continued moving forward till she reached the dingy entrance of the small room. Her fingers gripped the door frame tightly, exhaling a large puff of air as she leaned her head against the stone wall, peering inside wordlessly.

Shock crossed her features as soon as she witnessed Gabriel heating one side of a metal rod in the fireplace whilst an unmoving Henry lay sprawled on a sheet near him amongst several torn bloodied pieces of clothes.

"W-What are you doing?" She stumbled hastily to Henry's side all the while glaring with apprehension at Gabriel.

"Branding his wounds to stop the bleeding and reduce the chances of pus formation."

Unbothered by her hostile behaviour, Gabriel continued heating the metal while gazing quietly into the fireplace. The orange halo of the burning wood was getting reflected by his cerulean irises, resembling a wildfire caught inside a fierce storm. At that moment, his eyes reminded her of the warmth her mother's soft gaze once held. The pair didn't look anything like it belonged to some crazy vampire hunter turned priest.

'Is he really a bad person?'

Her view of his flaming irises was cut short as Gabriel moved his head in the other direction, taking the red hot rod out of the burning flame.

Impulsively, a small gasp broke out of her lips as her eyes fell upon the sizzling piece of metal, causing Gabriel to turn his gaze back towards her,

"You may not want to witness this."

His voice came out low, almost sounding as if he were worried.

"I'm.. fine."

Despite Gabriel's warning, she held her breath, remaining rooted to her spot near Henricus.

Huffing a frustrated sigh, Gabriel moved his gaze away from her features, directing his attention back to the unconscious man lying before him.

For the umpteenth time that night, tears started gathering into the corners of her eyes as she watched the scorching metal make contact with Henry's swollen torn flesh. Soon after, Henry's eyelids parted for a small moment as he let out a muffled scream from the painful contact.

"Ah!"

He was clutching his fists tightly as he started thrashing wildly on the floor, trying to move away from the source of his pain.

"Try holding him down."

In spite of her initial reluctance, she eventually followed Gabriel's command by placing her hands on Henry's shoulders, trying to hold him down with her weight. Smell of burning flesh was invading her nostrils, making her painfully aware of the intensity of the situation while Henry continued to jerk in her feeble grasp.

Not being able to handle his painful moans anymore, she applied a bit of pressure on his shoulders, peering down straight into his tearful gaze with her own glassy eyes,

"Calm down, Henry."

His lurching body stopped as soon as his blurry vision registered her familiar face looming over his battered body. She could see him blinking his lashes insistently almost as if he couldn't trust the view before his eyes. Scarcely, another moment had passed before a lone tear silently rolled down the corner of his eye whilst he continued staring up at her with disbelief.

"M-Mila-ady."

She could hardly make out the incoherent word escaping past his quivering purple lips.

"Yes, Henricus."

He fluttered his lashes in reply as if he were motioning with his eyes, asking her to lower her ear close to his lips.

Stealing a quick glance at Gabriel, who was busy cleaning the debris away from Henry's wound, she directed her gaze back to the stupor man in her clutches. Her hold on his shoulders tightened as she gradually lowered herself down to hear his gibberish speech.

With sheer strain, his mouth breathed his next words against the soft skin of ear, leaving a small smile lingering at his shivering lips after he was done speaking,

"T-Than-nk y-you.."

'What?'

She blinked back tears as water began brimming into the rims of her eyes, overflowing to the point they fell straight on Henry's paling cheeks, mixing with his own bloodied tears to the point they could no longer be differentiated.

"Hold his head."

Gabriel's voice caused her to divert her attention away from Henry's dirt-encrusted cheeks to the speaker itself who now, was moving nearer to Henry's head, ready to perform cauterization on his other injury. It seemed to be a pretty big gape. Staring alone at it was making her stomach churn.

'It must hurt a lot.'

Stiffling a sob, her hands grabbed the sides of Henry's face as she gently stroke his hair away from his eyes,

"You're going to be fine. Okay?"

She had no idea whether he was able to absorb her words with his semi conscious state or not yet she gave him a big smile through the brimming tears trailing down her chin. She didn't want him to feel any pain. The process itself was ripping her heart apart.

'I wish he were here.. If only he were here..'

From the corner of her eye, she could detect a reddish orange object enter her peripheral vision before Gabriel's voice once again resounded through the dark room,

"It is time."

Soon, followed by his statement, the whole room was filled with gut wrenching screams. Henry's body seemed to be in a turmoil, torn between shutting down due to blood loss and howling out loudly because of the immense burning pain produced by his burning skin.

The view was beyond disturbing.

Not being able to look at it anymore, she turned her head to the other side, pressing her lips hard together, trying not to steal a glance at the helpless man in her arms.

Sometime during the procedure, Henry had fainted through the pain, but the smell of burning flesh still lingered in the air, urging her to keep her head turned in the other direction.

It may have been some moments but in her head, it felt like an eternity before Gabriel's voice once again found her disturbed mind,

"Done."

Slowly, she moved her head back to see Gabriel stepping back from Henry's unconscious frame.

Unbeknownst to her, a sigh of relief broke out of her lips.

'Oh, God..'

Carefully placing Henry's head back on the ground, she stood up to face Gabriel,

"What happens now?"

"We wait."

"Is he out of danger?"

She watched as Gabriel turned still for a moment before slowly lifting his head to look square into her eyes emotionlessly,

"I have closed his wounds, but he has lost a lot of blood. I cannot say anything regarding his survival."

His answer left creases of worry between her brows as her eyes found their way back to a sickening pale Henry.

~*~

Choking sounds reached her cloudy mind, much resembling the constant knocking at a window created as the wind lashes gainst it heavily, foretelling the arrival of a disastrous storm. Her eyebrows furrowed with the ceaseless disturbance as she rubbed her eyes lightly, trying to clear the fog around her head.

"May God have mercy upon your soul, child."

A remote voice reverberated through her skull, urging her to pay more attention to the person speaking next to her,

'Gabriel?'

Suddenly, her eyes opened wide as she sat up abruptly from her lying position where she had fallen asleep uncomfortably on the floor. For a moment, all her eyes could see was an endless cloud of darkness, engulfing each and every corner of the room before it finally became accustomed to the lack of brightness in there.

"Where's Henry?!"

Her eyes ran wildly around the room, searching blindly for the wounded man.

"He is here."

Whirling around on her knees, she came to face a grim looking Gabriel leaning upon a wildly gasping figure.

Crawling on all her fours, she rapidly moved towards the shadow, before stopping midway to put a trembling hand to her lips,

"W-What..."

There lay in a pool of his own sweat was a deathly pale body of her vassal, Henricus. His tanned skin had turned into a chalky white appearing much more alarming than his previous state, accompanied dangerously by a combination of dilated pupils and quivering purple lips that parted every now and then producing terrible gasping noises.

Horrified by the new turn of events, she opened and closed her mouth alternatively, desperately trying to finding her lost voice,

"W-What's... h-happening?"

"I don't think he has much time left. His breaths are turning shallow. His heart is going to stop any minute."

"No!" Raising her head up to look at the priest, she all but shouted.

No statement followed from his side after her unwelcomed outburst. His silence along with Henry's laboured breathing was driving her insane,

"Is there another way to save him? There has to be!"

Her hands were tangled inside the heap of her raven locks, gripping them tightly from their roots.

"I am afraid. We do not have access to vampire blood." Gabriel's voice came out aloof.

Burrying her head between her folded knees, she wrapped her arms around herself, refusing to accept the situation,

"Don't give up on him! Please, don't give up on him!"

"There's nothing I can do."

"Do something. Please, I beg you!"

The choking sounds were becoming more and more louder, causing her to cover her ears and rock herself back and forth.

"Get a hold of yourself, Credința." He sounded genuinely worried for her.

Suddenly, a sharp intake of breath pierced their forbidding surroundings before the gloomy building became engulfed in a deadly silence.

"Oh, my God,"

Her head shot up instantly only to find that the battered man in front of her had gone dangerously still.

"No! No!"

Repeating the same word over and over again she crept up towards the unmoving man. Her warm hands found his clammy skin, clutching his slumped shoulders tightly till her knuckles turned white as she shook his motionless body violently,

"Wake up, Henricus! Wake up!"

No matter how much her hands fumbled around to find a pulse or shake him awake, he didn't make another movement.

"You can't! You can't leave me! You can't leave Ares! He only has you!"

She had no idea what gibberish nonsense she was spewing out. She couldn't control the rush of emotion she was feeling at that moment. She couldn't imagine facing Ares after letting this happen, something that had happened only because of her unnatural arrival in that time.

'I can't.. I can't..'

Out of nowhere, a hand gripped her shoulder from behind, urging her to come back to her senses,

"There is a way."

"... What?"

Her hands halted their meaningless thrashing as soon as Gabriel's words settled inside her mind. Turning her head slowly, she found him peering down at her with creased eyebrows,

"There's a way, but I would not suggest you to go after it."

Her jaw dropped involuntarily as she realised what he was trying to tell her. There was a way to save Henry. There was hope after all.

Henry could be saved.

"Tell me!"

Not knowing how else to convey her desperation, she spun around hastily, gripping Gabriel's hands tightly in the process,

"Save him, please. Save him. I'll do anything you say!"

"Do you swear upon your honor to listen to any of my requests?"

"I will! Just save him, please!"

Nothing else mattered to her more in that moment. Nothing other than saving Henricus Christensen.

"Turn him into a vampire."

The death grip she had on his warm hands loosened instantly as she stared dumbfounded at him,

"What did you say?"

She watched confounded as the man before her crouched down in front of her to reach her eye level. He held her gaze with absolute seriousness for a whole second before his eyes lowered down to stare at her bruised throat,

"The necklace Ares gave you, isn't just an ordinary pendant. Originally, it's a small vial that contains the vampire's venom which he presents as a gift to his beloved when they bond. It's a token of his love and loyalty."

'Vial..?'

Impulsively, her fingers wrapped protectively around the pendant dangling down her neck.

"What I am trying to imply is that a vampire's venom has the ability to turn a human into a vampire itself. When vampires intend to turn someone, they release their venom directly into the human's blood stream which is not possible in this condition, but if you make Henry drink it, it shall also do the trick as the venom would still be absorbed into his blood through his gut, although the process would take much longer to complete this way,"

His gaze stayed glued to the pendant for another moment meaningfully before travelling back up to her bewildered eyes,

"But I must tell you, you should never turn a human against their will."

"Why.."

There was a brief pause in her speech before she proceeded to complete her question,

"Why are you telling me this? You're a hunter."

"Because," He licked his lips, glancing sideways before looking back into her familiar irises,

"Before that, I am a father. And a father can never watch his daughter beg."

The hold she had on the pendant tightened as her eyelids lowered down slowly, avoiding eye contact with the man gently peering at her,

'Is he saying the truth? Can I trust him?'

"Hurry up, Credința. He does not have much time."

The grave voice dragged her back to the reality, forcing her to face the decision she was dreading the most.

'Should I really do as he says?'

Her fingers were furiously rubbing the cold surface of the platinum pendant as she gazed up into space,

'Henry was already a vampire when I met him in future. He's bound to turn one day, one way or another.'

"You need to make a decision, right now."

Not wasting another moment to dwell on baseless thoughts, she abruptly yanked the locket out of her neck, shocking the priest before her with her sudden action. Not paying any heed to his stare, bumbling fingers continued moving about in a hasty manner to remove the rose snaking around the stakes. After one or two clumsy attempts, it finally came off.

'It's really a vial.'

In one hand, she held the beautifully carved small rose in her palm while the other hand delicately grasped the opened vile made of two tiny stakes resembling a cross between her fingers. In the orange glow coming from the fireplace, a translucent liquid could be seen floating inside it.

'He was telling the truth.'

Suddenly Henry's chocolate brown irises flashed before her eyes urging her to switch her stare in an alternate manner between him and the mysterious vial. Glancing one last time at the disassembled pendant in her hands, she clutched her hand into a fist, spinning around swiftly.

With one hand, she grasped Henry's unbelievably cold cheeks, pressing them inward to open his mouth before bringing the vial close to his purplish parted lips.

"Forgive me, Henricus."

She whispered to no one in particular just before she flushed its contents down his throat, all in one go.