"Artillian, I'm scared, I don't want to die." said the girl in Artillian's arms as she bled to death. She was the light of his life; she was his purpose, his goal...and his crowning achievement. Yet she only had a few moments to live, if you can call the state she was in living.

Artillian wanted to comfort her, but no words were coming out of his mouth. "Where will my soul go? Do I still have a soul? Tell me Artillian... do I?" she asked in a desperate attempt to cling to the last of her humanity. Once again Artillian was at a loss for words. Before he could reply, her body turned into ashes and her figure disappeared from his arms.

Her voice, her laugh, her eyes and all that she was would be gone from him for all eternity, and there was nothing Artillian could do about it. Artillian remained kneeling on the rooftop, holding nothing in his arms, for her ashes had been blown away by the wind.

Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours and hours became days. For an entire week Artillian just knelt there staring into nothingness. Without her his life had no meaning. Without her this cruel world would chew him up and spit him out.

*Clap Clap Clap*

"Bravo, Bravo." Artillian looked up to see the source of the clapping, to see the person responsible for all of his suffering. Malachi that was his name, all Artillian knew was that he was a vampire. One that was very perverse and treated human life like it was trash.

He was tall, slim, devilishly handsome and extremely charming. He had grey hair and blood red eyes, with a pair of fangs popping out of his mouth.

To him all of Artillian's struggles were mere entertainment. A way to pass the time, for time was all Malachi had. As he stepped closer his clapping got louder and louder. He was also not alone. Two red haired women were standing with their arms entwined with his.

Their bright red hair and their incredibly revealing outfits would normally spurn a young man's spirit, but this only served to further Artillian's disgust.

"I apologize for being tardy but I had to go find some replacements you see. As you can tell quite the replacements they are. Ladies, let me introduce you to my old friend, Artillian! He has been kneeling at the same spot for an entire week! Imagine that!"

The women who came with Malachi showed expressions of surprise, which then immediately turned into ridicule. They knew what had happened on this roof top, so they couldn't help but look down upon Artillian for doing what he did.

Suddenly, Malachi ripped open the chest of one the girls, revealing her upper body. She showed no resistance, quite the contrary she seemed elated. She understood what Malachi's intentions were and prepared thusly. Like a specter, Malachi appeared behind her and bit into her neck.

The other girl couldn't help but reveal a look of envy at what was occurring. Malachi drank the girl's blood and had his way with her breasts at the same time, completely lost in the euphoria of the moment. After a while he ceased what he was doing and ravaged her mouth.

He let go of her and started to clean himself up nonchalantly, as if he wasn't doing anything obscene a moment ago. "I believe the people of this world call this flavor German. It's quite tasty, absolutely one of my favorites, next to Cuban and Brazilian. One can't forget the tropical flavors." said Malachi as he fixed himself up.

After he was done he noticed the look on Artillian's face and was surprised. Apathy, there was a complete absence of emotion on Artillian's face.

Malachi had intended to toy with Artillian for a bit longer, but the latter seemed to have lost the will to live, much to Malachi's disappointment. "No anger? No sadness? Come on boy! Don't be so pathetic!" Malachi walked toward Artillian and crouched in front of him.

"Look! The man who killed the woman of your dreams, your one true love is right in front of you! How can you just give up so easily?! It's no fun this way!" bellowed Malachi as he slapped Artillian's face around a little bit, yet this did nothing to spark any emotions.

Malachi then smiled. "I have a brilliant idea! I will allow you one move, one free attack, I promise that even if you cause me a lot of pain I will not retaliate. Look, I won't even block." Malachi's words did little to move Artillian.

Artillian knew Malachi's strength well, well enough to know that even if he was a thousand times stronger he would not be able to cause a single scratch on his perfect skin. Malachi knew this as well and realized that his attempts were futile, but surprisingly, someone was interested.

"Let me have that one attack." This voice was neither servile nor overbearing. It was relaxed and the speaker did not shout, yet everyone there had no doubt that even if they were a mile away they would still hear it.

Artillian looked up to see the source of the voice, only to see the shock of his lifetime. Malachi saw Artillian's shocked expression, but he had never seen the youth in front of them, nevertheless, Malachi was on guard, simply because he could not sense the youth's presence, even when he spoke.

Malachi was a vampire, a denizen of the night, his cultivation was at the peak of his species, yet an ordinary human had managed to sneak up on him, this situation was unprecedented.

The newly arrived youth was dressed in simple oriental robes. He had a rusty old scabbard on his waist. He was dark skinned, moderate looking and had a somewhat imposing aura. Yet that was not what frightened Malachi the most.

This? How is this possible? I can't see his cultivation?

Malachi could not see his cultivation let alone sense his presence, which meant one of two things. First being that the youth had a higher cultivation than his, which was impossible because Malachi was on the brink of Immortal Ascension, any cultivation level higher than this would automatically send you to the higher realms; this meant that only the second option was true.

This youth has far greater attainments into the Dao than I have!