Damien entered the large greenhouse. The first thing that caught his attention were all the plants and greenery, but more importantly, the artificial sunlight that placed a coating of light over the entire structure. He walked further in towards the center, and there he saw them.

A beautiful pale woman with fiery burgundy hair, and lined up by her sides were various people. Some he didn’t recognize, and deduced to be the caretakers of the greenhouse, but there were children and another woman he did recognize. The people from the orphanage. The woman named Eclair was the owner of the orphanage, and like a second mother to him. In fact, the entire orphanage was like a family to him.

Everyone lined up beside the pale woman had a hazy and empty look in their eyes.

Finally, the pale woman spoke. “So nice of you to come here, Damien, it isn’t polite to keep a lady waiting. Let me reintroduce myself, I am the vampire lord Rose.”

“Go to hell.” Damien said bluntly.

“I have already been to Hell, it’s quite a nice place, actually. Well, let’s get this over with. I’ll slice off your limbs and have you watch as I torture the people you love.” Rose giggled and approached Damien slowly.

“Wait! Do whatever you want with me, just let them go. I will never forgive you nor myself if I knew they had been harmed because of me.” Damien begged.

“Ohhh, you just gave me a good idea.” Rose said, and bit into Damien’s neck, drinking his blood. Damien’s eyes became as hazy as everyone elses. “I will have you kill them all yourself.” she giggled once more.

“I command you, choke everyone you care about to death.” she said in a menacing voice.

He lost control of his own body, aware of every action he was making, and slowly approached Eclair.

He closed his hands around her neck, and began tightening his grip while tears left streaks of water down his cheeks.

*Flashback*

‘I have a plan.’

“Will it be able to save them?”

‘It has a much higher chance of saving them than what you intend on doing.’

“What’s the plan?”

‘You need to stay alive long enough to have her decide to drink your blood and control you.’

“How the fuck is that a plan?!” Damien asked, confused.

‘Having you controlled will drop her guard, and buy me enough time to materialize myself in those harsh conditions. I have told you before that the arrogance of some of the notable Greater Demon Clans will be their downfall, have I not? You just need to come up with a way to make her think that controlling you is better than her killing you outright.’

“I will trust you this once. I will do whatever it takes, sacrifice my body, or even fight all the Greater Demon Clans from Hell itself to protect my family and those I care about.” Damien said with a fire in his eyes.

*End of flashback*

While gripping on to Eclair’s throat, Damien’s left arm vanished.

A black arm materialized behind the vampire lord Rose. Before anyone could react, it pierced directly into her chest, and through her body, pulling out an organ. It was Shaitan’s trademark heart grasp.

‘You know, Rose, you have always stolen the hearts of plenty men in Hell, but am I the one to have stolen your heart this time? Ahahahah.’ Shaitan spoke telepathically to Rose and joked while grasping her heart in his hand.

“I am already in enough pain without you having to tell your horrid jokes.” Rose said while coughing out blood.

“How… Were you able to do it? There’s light… all around… us… you shouldn’t have been able to… materialize.” blood was flowing out of her mouth as she spoke.

‘Where there is light, there will always be a shadow. It may just take longer for the shadow to appear, but darkness will always live. You’ve lost, Rose. If I had fully possessed his body, no matter how infinitesimally small the chance, you just might have overpowered my will and been able to take control of me. It is only because we were working together as one that I was able to defeat you in such a disadvantageous situation.’ Shaitan stated proudly.

“Working together as one, huh… So it wasn’t a mistake.” Rose said with a pensive look on her face.

No one would be able to tell her that only possessing Damien’s left arm was actually indeed entirely a mistake, and he had planned to take full control of Damien in the beginning. Of course, Shaitan could have, but he deemed it too embarrassing. Shaitan closed his hand, and the heart inside of it was instantly destroyed.

Rose’s body collapsed, and the haze in everyone’s eyes disappeared at the same time while they too, fainted and fell to the floor.