Chapter 9

Leona kept looking at the person in front of her in shock as the rain continued to fall on them, the wind moved the branches of the trees as the leaves fell down, the full moon hidden behind dark clouds, it had a strangely reddish color.

"Why do you make that face? Aren't you happy to see me?"

"You..." Leona said, surprised to recognize the person, then she began to tremble and then clenched her fists, furious. "Happy?" Leona murmured. "Thanks to you my life became hell!" she said in a voice of anger.

"Really? Oh, well, anyway, it's not that I care" the person said sighing, shrugging his shoulders, his hair was silver and short by the neck, his eyes were a dark purple and his pupils were thin and elongated slits, apart from the cloak, he wore a dark gray long-sleeve shirt, black long pants and shoes, and also wore black gloves in both hands.

"Why are you here" Leona said with a serious, cold look.

"Why?" the person said opening his eyes surprised, in a matter of seconds a slight smile twisted his lips. "I imagine you already know the answer, but I'll tell you anyway, I came looking for you"

"You... Do you really think I'm going back?! I'm not going to do it!"

"I knew you would say that, but it doesn't matter, you are coming back, now that I finally found you, it was hard for me to find you, this place is surrounded by a barrier apparently" the person said, tilting his head a little. "But, not only this time, every time I sent people to look for you, they came back without you" he said sighing. "I'm tired of waiting; time is over"

"And in the end, the Lord came in person?" Leona said with a tone of irony.

"Think what you want" the person said with a slight smile. "Let's go IM"

"Don't call me that way! I have a name! The one thing that I want right now is to beat you up! "

"It hurts that you talk to me like that..." the person said pretending to be sad. "But if you don't want to come... I'll have to force you" the person said staring at her as he took his hands out of his pockets.

"Tsk" Leona said as she put herself in defense position.

"Do you think you can beat me?" the person said smiling. "Try it" he said moving quickly to attack her, but, in doing so, Leona dodged the attack, standing behind him, when she wanted to hit him, the person disappeared and appeared behind her, but she realized it and before he hit her, she turned around and dodged it, moving aside letting herself fall to the ground, immediately, she wanted to kick him from the ground to make him fall, but he jumped back to dodge it, then Leona jumped towards him and began to exchange blows at a rapid rate, without stopping, while the person was returning the blows, he smiled. "You have improved in all this time"

"I don't need any flattery from you!" Leona said, without stopping attacking, in one of the blows, the person grabbed Leona's arms and hit Leona's head with his own making her back off and threw a dark burst of magical power into her stomach, causing her to crash into one of the trees.

"You know, you would save yourself the suffering if you came, those capsules that you apparently take, will not always help you, you may be able to save others, but, you can't save yourself"

"I would save myself the suffering ... That you of all people, are saying this to me..." Leona said as she took a breath and stood up. "Aeriales tempestas glaciales!" Leona shouted, she threw horizontally a tornado of ice and wind towards the person, this one, however, didn't budge to dodge it and the spell hit him fully causing an explosion, when the smoke went away, the person was standing calmly as if nothing had happened.

"Tsk" Leona said.

"I'm impressed" the person said turning around to see that the spell had knocked down some trees. "Even so, it wasn't enough to overcome my barrier, well, are you finished?" the person said staring at Leona, before she answered, he appeared in front of her and hit her stomach with his fist, making her go back a little by the hit and immediately the person hit her again in the stomach with the leg, sending Leona crashing into several trees until she bounced on one of the trees and fell to the ground coughing.

"Nothing will change, no matter how hard you try, the result will be the same as the last time" the person said as he approached. "Shall we leave?"

"No..." Leona said in a weak voice and a serious look, she was sitting on her knees, clutching her arm with her other hand.

"That look, just like her" the person thought stopping, then smiled. "Do you still think you can beat me? Don't you realize the difference in power? Or you don't want to admit it... It's funny, she also gave me that look, just like that time"

"What-"

"Do you still think it was because of your weakness? It was too easy to deceive her and in the end she died for her pretension"

"Shut up! Stop talking about her!" Leona shouted, throwing herself at him to hit him, but he stopped the blow with the palm of his hand and squeezed hard.

"You are predictable, you get carried away by anger without thinking and that makes you exhaust faster" he said with a cold look. "You are still too weak and you will never win because you are too naive" then he kicked her in the stomach, sending her through the air, he quickly got behind her, hitting her again crashing her to the ground, then suddenly appeared at her side and he stepped on her back, pinning her down.

"Why don't you leave it, you can't against me, you are nothing to me, all you've done so far is go from one place to another aimlessly, it's time for you to return, only delays the inevitable" he said looking at her seriously. "Aren't you tired of living like this? Why you keep trying to survive if the end is going to be the same"

"Dammit" Leona thought, digging her nails into the earth with force under her hand for impotence.

"The time you were in this place, you met several people, didn't you? It would be a pity if something happened to them" he said. Leona's pupils grew smaller.

"You-" Leona said in a weak voice and anger. "If you know what I mean, stop opposing it, but I can't understand why you care about what happens to them, you only know them a few days ago, I doubt that you matter to them, tell me, do you see someone helping you? I already told you once, nobody will come to save you"

"He's right, just like that time, no matter how much I want it, in the end, no one will come... Why, what reason there is to continue, because of me, she died, I wasn't strong enough and although I trained the result is the same" Leona thought with a shadow covering her eyes.

"It seems that you finally understood" he said looking at her. "Then I will only make you lose consciousness" he said preparing to hit her, suddenly, a projectile of ice was throwing towards him, when he noticed it, he jumped back and dodged it.

"Rachel..." Leona thought.

"And now, what's up" he said, looking at where the attack came from, then he saw some people floating in the air.

"Apparently anyone can pass the barrier, I'll have to talk to the old man"

"Anyone can enter and you can't go out, mistress, ke, ke, ke"

"Chachazero, say you again a comment of yours and I'll leave you locked in a place where you will not see the sunlight again"

"Mistress"

"I know, Chachamaru"

"A vampire, a robot and something that seems to be a doll, what a weird combination" the person said.

"Hmph, for a while, I noticed that someone had crossed the barrier and was loitering around here... Who are you?" Evangeline said as she descended from the sky with Chachamaru.

"Who I am? My name is Airon, it's all you need to know, and you? What have you come for, if you did come for her, I'm sorry to tell you she is mine, look for someone else to be your victim, unless you are her knight in shining armor"

"For your information, I'm sorry to tell you that you aren't going to take her and about who I am, I'm known as the Dark Evangel and I am no knight in shining armor, idiot"

"Dark Evangel? I heard that name some time ago, but the rumors said it had been defeated, since when are you interested in saving humans?"

"I don't really care" Evangeline said shrugging her shoulders. "But I know someone who is going to be bothering me if I let you take her away from here, and I don't feel like listening to them, besides, why are you so interested in taking her? It seems you know each other" Evangeline said, tilting her head to one side with curiosity.

"You're right, we had already met on another occasion, do I need an invitation to come here and take her with me?" Airon said, kicking Leona in the stomach, pulling her away from him a little.

"Mistress" Chachamaru said looking at him seriously, Evangeline raised her hand as gesture so that Chachamaru wouldn't say anything.

"I warn you that I'm not in the mood, so unless you want to face me-"

"I don't plan to fight a vampire and more knowing who you are" Airon said looking at her seriously. "At least not for now... I'll have to change my plans" he thought. "Nevertheless, I will come back to take her away"

"Are you running away?" Evangeline said with a slight smile on her lips.

"It is more like a retreat" Airon said shrugging his shoulders. "Enjoy while you can, Leona" Airon said, looking over his shoulder. "See you, Dark Evangel" Airon said with a malevolent smile, looking at Evangeline, then a glowing black magic circle appeared on the ground and he disappeared.

"He is gone" Chachamaru said.

"It gave me the impression that he is not human, even if he had the appearance of one" Evangeline said.

"Do you mean, mistress?" Chachamaru said looking at her, Evangeline sighed.

"It doesn't matter, now, we have to take care of the girl" Evangeline said looking at Leona. "Kagurazaka is going to be a pain in the ass as she see her like that" Evangeline said approaching Leona.

"We can leave her that way and hide her, if someone ask about her, you can tell them that she went on a trip, ke, ke, ke" Chachazero said in Chachamaru's head.

"I don't think it's a good idea Chachazero..." Chachamaru said.

The rain was still falling, and falling hard from the dark grey sky, Leona couldn't do more than stay there while her body suffered from the blows and the cold, the rain fell on her face making it look as though she was shedding tears, she was lost between her emotions and thoughts, and she didn't even feel that Evangeline had approached her until she spoke.

"Girl" Evangeline said, looking at her, Leona turned her face and gave a spiritless look.

"Why you came, I thought you didn't care"

"To my chagrin, I have to watch who goes through the barrier in this place, so I immediately noticed that someone had passed through it, but I didn't think it was related to you" Evangeline said, Leona looked away in another direction.

"It has nothing to do with you and I don't want your compassion" Leona said in a weak voice, as she sat up on the ground.

"I'm not feeling sorry for you; I would like to know the reason why he has an interest in you"

"I told you it has nothing to do with you" Leona said, still not looking at her.

"Yes, it does, because if he has come here it's because of you and as I keep an eye on those who come without permission, I must know who he was" Evangeline said, looking at her.

"Don't worry about that, I'm the one he wants, this place doesn't interest him, that's why all I have to do is leave here and he won't bother you anymore"

"Are you going run away?"

"..."

"Where is all that strong personality of yours?" Evangeline said raising an eyebrow. "I thought you were one of those who don't run away, I guess you aren't like that"

"You... You don't know anything" Leona said giving a hard look to describe in the arm where the bandage was, it was like sadness and anger. "He is right, the end will be the same, no matter what I do"

"I can't really understand you, but what I do know is that you won't solve anything by running away, you should face him instead of running away like a scary cat"

"You already saw how he beat me, even after having trained all the time, but it was no good, he didn't even flinch"

"Then think of something to make you stronger"

"It is easier said than done" Leona said raising her voice a little, looking at her. "As much as I want it, no matter how hard I try, nothing will change!" Leona said, narrowing her eyes. "It is like he said, in the end the result will be the same, I'll end up being-" Leona stopped and looked away from Evangeline.

"Being what?" Evangeline said staring at her, Leona didn't answer.

"Girl, look at me" Evangeline said in a firm voice, crouching down to her height, Leona still not looking at her, then Evangeline put her hand on Leona's chin and turned her to look at her. "I said look at me, being what?" Evangeline said staring at her with a serious look.

"Being something that I will not be able to control" Leona said in a painful voice. "It will devour me and I will not be able to be what I am now" Leona said finally. "That dude was the one who made them experiment with me, even though I managed to escape, that's why those capsules help me control thirst and prevent me from becoming completely, but it will not be useful forever, I don't know for how long, it can be days or maybe years"

"So, they experimented with you and now you are like a fake vampire"

"I didn't want to be like that" Leona said looking at the ground with a mixture of different feelings. "I didn't want them to kill her... Why it wasn't me instead of her! ... I'm not a damn fake thing!" Leona thought closing her eyes and clenching her fists.

"You refuse to accept the obvious, until when you plan to continue like this" Evangeline said, Leona looked at her with a sad expression.

"What-"

"Sometimes, it is better to accept what one is to be able to move forward, in this way, it is less painful, otherwise, you will always be suffering from something that you can do nothing to remedy"

"You..." Leona said looking at her, Evangeline put a hand on Leona's cheek.

"I understand that you don't want to accept it and that you feel confused, but you should stop denying the obvious, get rid of that fear and accept what you are now, but what you will achieve in the end is to destroy yourself" Evangeline said with a serious and look deep, suddenly, Leona felt her cheeks blush and looked away quickly.

"You... Why you are so kind to me suddenly..."

"If that's what you think" Evangeline said, removing her hand from Leona's cheek. "You are going to have to give me something for this"

"Eh?" Leona said confused, blinking several times. "Sorry?"

"You would not think you weren't going to have to give me something in return for saving you and everything else, would you?"

"Eh?!" Leona said, Evangeline began to examine the body carefully. "Wh-What?" Leona said, covering herself with her hands.

"Luckily, you don't have anything serious... You are going to have to come so that Chachamaru to heal the wounds again, honestly, I hope this isn't constant"

"It's not necessary, I'm fine" Leona said, getting up from the ground.

"Oh, really?" Evangeline said, doing the same as Leona.

"Yes" Leona said, then Evangeline hit her ribs hard.

"Ah!" Leona shouted, kneeling on the ground and moaning from the blow. "You... Damn vampire! What was that for!" Leona shouted putting her hand on her ribs, looking at her.

"Oh, your strong personality has returned, as you can see, you are in no condition, so you come with us" Evangeline said as she went to Chachamaru, Leona sighed and went with her.

"Leona, can you walk on your own?" Chachamaru asked.

"Yes, don't worry" Leona said going towards her.

"Come on Chachamaru"

"Yes, mistress" Chachamaru said, while Leona went behind Evangeline. "I thought that nobody would come to save me, but suddenly, she appeared..." Leona thought.


End of chapter 9. Thanks for reading, I would like know your opinion about the story so far in the reviews, it encourages me to keep writing. Also, thanks to Miz-KTakase for helping me with grammar and thanks for the reviews I received! :)