Hey! I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. This time, I'm uploading two chapters instead of one because in the next few days, I'm going to be on vacations, so I will be unable to update after I come back. I might not upload until next month (Frebuary), but it will depend in my mood. For now, enjoy these two chapters.

See ya in two weeks, guys!

23

Honestly, he didn't expect Lucian to react the way he did. When Aaron returned to the Hideout with the new armor, the vampire was waiting for him in their usual spot. He was resting, bathed already, and wearing light clothes despite of how cold the building was. The vampire was rather calm, Aaron thought he might get angry because he left, and even asked if the trip was safe, if a gunslinger had encountered him. The boy was completely confused with this behavior as he gave Lucian his new armor. The man started to undress as he took the thin vest.

"What's with you?", asked Aaron when Lucian finished putting the armor on.

"Nothing, why?", answered the other, noticing how shiny and new it was. He smiled. Sheridan did a nice work.

"Nothing? I went to Sheridan's mansion alone.", Aaron put emphasis in the last word.

"At last you told me where you were going instead of just running.", came the vampire's reply. Lucian hugged the boy, purring out loud. "Wait…", he sniffed the boy and Aaron started to panic. He had forgotten about Dyango, and now his scent must be all over him. "You saw that young man again?"

Aaron sighed.

"Well, he found me when I was heading back.", it was true. He hadn't have any intentions of seeing Dyango at all, though he wanted to. "You don't like him?", Aaron was starting to worry if Lucian didn't like Dyango at all.

"…Just a bit.", said Lucian. "I don't completely trust him yet, but I sense he is no harm for you, especially.", when his mate giggled, the vampire kissed his forehead, hugging him again.

When the boy went to tell Ernest and the other he had returned, he and Lucian curled up on their spot, covered themselves with the sheets and blankets and went to sleep. It was still nighttime but tomorrow was going to be an intense day, as Alice foreseen.

Around noon, both of them woke up. The rest of the vampires was still sleeping, even Dumas and Nish, but the humans were all up. Once they had breakfast (Lucian drank a bit of Aaron's blood that day), they started to see what Oyan's moves from the computer were. Alice was still angry because he couldn't figure out what was inside the strange and black barrier that Nish couldn't break. She expected it to be some sort of machine, a huge one as Dumas had told them, but wasn't sure of it. With that size, Oyan could hide anything there, from a machine to other type of weapons to use against vampires. Sending someone to look up was rather risky since they didn't know the composition of it, and didn't know either if a normal vampire could break it. They decided to ignore it for the moment and focus in the patron of attacking for that night. The soldiers were going to reach the Guild in a few hours and Oyan will have his reinforcements soon. Ernest, Kay and Lucian discussed the plan for that night while the others went outside to patrol the Hideout area.

About three in the afternoon, Dumas woke up. He was still sleepy after staying up all night, but he couldn't sleep anymore. The wait was killing him. Yesterday night he hadn't went to the first fight because Nish didn't let him, worrying about the former Duke's health. Perrault also expressed her opinion about and suggested to her master to stay in the Hideout, helping and taking care of the families sheltering from the North gunslingers and the war itself. Dumas, much like Aaron, refused the idea of staying without helping the others in fight, but understood rather quick and, with Nish, both of them stayed. Now, it seemed that Nish was going out tonight and, again, Dumas was going to stay, which he didn't like at all.

The horned man yawned, curling besides the sleeping albino vampire. He had noticed how clingy was to him and how good he felt by staying at his side. Dumas didn't know if it was because he was feeling love for him, or was just developing a simple friendship. Nish's feelings were very clear, though; he loved Dumas, but the former Duke didn't know if he loved the albino vampire back, he didn't know if it was ready to open his heart again. He didn't want Nish to go away, but didn't want him exactly so close. In truth, Dumas didn't know anything.

The albino man was a very nice person. He could socialize with everyone he came across with, he was very helpful with others, he laughed for everything making his friends laughs too, and he enjoyed life. But the biggest passion he had was the former Duke. Nish saw in him everything he lacked off and loved him for the person he was. He knew that Dumas could be shy sometimes and rather clumsy, but his strong personality was something the albino admired. He wasn't a man that one could easily step on, as Dumas would bite back if someone bit him first. He was very intelligent and cautious; so perceptive of his surroundings. Besides being physically attractive, those were other things that Nish liked about Dumas. The man can be soft and caring when he wants to, sharing his soft side with him when they were alone. Dumas often liked to curl on his body, feeling the warmth from it, sleep on him. Those simply things were the ones that makes him so important to Nish, since the partners he had before only wanted him because he was a strong and optimal mate for their children. They never really cared about the person inside his body, but Nish knew that Dumas cared for that even if the man says he doesn't.

Nish stared at Dumas. He had awoken long ago, but remained silent while holding Dumas in his arms and thinking about the two of them. The horned man seemed to be thinking to, in what Nish asked to himself, while possibly waiting for him to wake up. It was a beautiful sight and the albino vampire didn't want to miss it, he didn't know how many times more he could enjoy something like that.

What they were going to do after the war was over? Nish really desired to mate with Dumas at the end of it; he wanted to show Dumas that his feelings were strong and real, that he hadn't to be afraid of opening his heart again. He knew how it hurt, but one couldn't have their heart closed for the rest of ones life. He had to be cautious about that, showing Dumas that he had another chance to be the man he always had been but hide when he killed Ratatosk and took the title of Duke. Nish was succeeding at that, something that was lighting him, but other issues were still to be fixed. He needed a perfect moment for both of them in where he could finally mate with Dumas after the man had given his permission to do so.

And after all that, after the war, were they going to stay in the East? Nish knew the man wasn't going to like it if he suggested him to leave, since he had made new friends and family after eleven long years. But, where were going to live? The city would be destroyed when the war ends and they're not going to be a lot of houses still on their feet. They would need to rebuild them and that would take time; how much, he didn't know. The population was going to descend quiet a lot, only living vampires with humans and probably other people from other cities were going to come to the East when the rumor of a city where vampires and humans were living together in peace spreads. They had a lot of work to do when the war was over.

"You are awake, aren't you?", came Dumas' voice. Nish smiled. It was a pleasant sound to his ears.

"Indeed I am.", replied the vampire. "Did you sleep well?", Dumas nodded on his chest, receiving Nish's caress on his head.

"…Were you watching me?"

"Yes.", he could feel that Dumas was blushing and smiled again. "Why do you blush like that?"

"I'm not… that used still…", came his response.

"But you like it.", Nish kissed Dumas' left cheek.

"Who wouldn't?", came the horned man's reply, along with a naughty smile on his face. "What were you thinking of?"

"Ah…", he smiled, nibbling Dumas ear. "That's a secret."

They decided to go outside after taking some of the medical blood that were inside the boxes with ice. Sneaking out, both vampires walked in the woods, hand by hand, while eating the blood. It was a nice day despite of being in a middle of a war. The sky was clear and the Sun was bright as ever. Acuna was desert. No one was around, not even the humans that attacked Vanargandr yesterday. Dumas asked Nish where they would hide, but the albino didn't know either. They would have chosen a place underground to stay or Oyan might have provided them one.

The houses, most of them, weren't that bad as they thought. Sure, they had gun scars everywhere due to the solar bullets, but they were still on their feet. The explosives destroyed a few of them, but Acuna was a huge city. Although with the new group coming from the North, they didn't know if Acuna was going to stay like that for a few more days.

They continued walking towards Thirteenth Street, dropping the blood bags inside a trashcan when they come into one, and walked around. It was mostly infested with monsters, but occasionally they had run across some humans in it. It was rare, since vampires were still guarding it unless they were mere food held captive in it, like Dumas did once in New Culiacan. He now felt sorry for them, after all he did, but he knew that what he did now was not going to change what he did in the past, nor people was going to accept and forget the way he treated the humans in New Culiacan. Though he didn't know how vampires managed to live there when the local Guild was next to Thirteenth Street. Could it be that those humans were able to walk because all the vampires have been already killed? Or most of them were in the Hideout, helping them against Oyan? Could it be, too, that Oyan is making them stay there without moving until he manages to defeat Lucian and Ernest, and everyone that is with them? Dumas hoped that everyone in there had left and found a place where to hide until all was over, if not, he hoped that their souls were at last resting in peace.

"Not there.", said Dumas when Nish kept walking in straight path. "If you keep going, you will run into the Guild."

"What?", the albino turned around. "Thirteenth Street connects with the Guild?", the man nodded.

"That's why Ernest and the others could appear in no time when people needed it.", explained the man, being followed by Nish. He decided to turn on the right. "Having their Guild in a place like this it gave them a bit of advantage."

The monsters walked near them before disappearing in strange and lonely hallways. There wasn't anything interesting to see, but after walking for a few hours in it, Nish and Dumas started to feel that they were being not followed, but watched. The albino looked around as if he was eyeing the street, but was instead looking for the ones that were following them. He saw a black figure walking from time to time on the roof houses, but it was all clothed up. Nish thought if it wasn't Oyan's spy that was following them. It wouldn't be a surprise; after all, they were near the Guild. He commented it to Dumas, and the man agreed with it. He couldn't think a reason of why the spy could be following them, but they decided to play as they haven't seen him yet.

Nish squeezed Dumas' hand lightly and smiled when the man blushed deeply. He suppressed a small laugh coming out from his throat. Nish couldn't help it. The scene was very cute. He liked to see how his actions had that reaction on Dumas. That meant the man was confused about his feelings, but was slowly accepting them if he let Nish stay around still. He was happy to see that, even if the wait was killing him. He wanted to mate Dumas already. He didn't know if he was going to come back alive from tonight's fight but he was going to do anything at his hand to return to him. Nish will hate himself for the rest of his afterlife for leaving Dumas alone, now that he needed someone to be with more than ever. The man was fragile even when he tried to act like a strong being, and Nish was thinking that Rymer had seen it too, and that's why he protected Dumas with all his soul.

He couldn't picture Rymer even when Dumas had described him too well. Nish was a bit jealous of him. The man knew Dumas so well, but he wasn't losing hopes. He knew he was going to get him sooner or later, but the thought of another one being Dumas' first was bugging Nish, though the man didn't care a lot about that. It just bugged him, that's all. He also tried to picture Lucian's feelings when he found out that Rymer was Dumas' mate from Aaron's mouth. The Dark Swordsman had said he would find another way to beat him then, but in order to open the Gate of Binding, he would have killed Rymer still. But then again, he would have to fight him before Dumas, probably, since the man was going to protect his mate from any danger. In the end, Lucian didn't have a choice but to kill Rymer, and Dumas would inevitably suffer for his lost either way.

What had pushed Dumas to become the man he was four years ago? In matter of years, Dumas was a newborn vampire, supposing it was Ratatosk who transformed him. He could have been easily influenced by this strong vampire and, in the back of his mind, wanted to be like him. Nish didn't know from where or how he managed to kill Ratatosk, if he did it alone or if he had the vampires that worked for him later already with him back then. If Stoker and the Poes where under Ratatosk's hands years ago, Dumas might have convinced them in killing their king and becoming the true rulers of the planet. Perhaps Stoker had a second thought about it, since he was a very experimented and intelligent vampire, but the Poes being young might had agreed immediately. But, what about Polidori, the so-called Immortal? Was he, also, with Ratatosk? Or did he descended to the planet after seeing how strong was Dumas? And Perrault? There were many questions that Nish didn't know the answer, but didn't want to ask Dumas fearing he could hurt the man with them.

Polidori was, as he called himself, a ruler of the cosmos, of the Galaxy, and gave to the vampires the technology to let them govern the planet. The paraSol, a system device that blocked the Sun's light, was the main fortress for vampires as well as Immortals. The Casket Armors were another thing that Polidori gave them capable of reflecting the solar bullets from the solar guns the gunslingers used and, with the Terrennials, Polidori was able to let each armor had an specific element, having different abilities thanks to them. Perrault always sticks with Dumas but Nish couldn't understand how and where they met each other. If the Terrennials were the ones protecting the planet from humans and vampires then, why Perrault sticks with him? But then again, Dumas was a man capable of convincing anyone that came across with. He could easily get everything he needed and complete his plan.

Ratatosk had the Beast of Destruction, Vanargandr, with him and was invincible with it. But Dumas managed to kill him, and Nish knew the Puppeteer was much stronger than Dumas and the rest of the vampires together. Ratatosk, using Vanargandr, could easily kill them all without effort, but yet he ended up dead. What happened to Vanargandr? He fairly knew thanks to what Dumas told him and what his late partners did, that Ratatosk had a vessel for that Beast. That vessel was fused with Vanargandr and the vampire could control the Beast by controlling the vessel with his Puppet Needles. Ratatosk did have Vanargandr under his hands in the last war, but he was a lot weaker, like if he hadn't the Beast's powers with him, only his body. Could it be that the vessel managed to escape? But it couldn't, it was controlled by the needles, unless the vessel get rid of them. The less it had, the less Ratatosk could control it. Maybe it was that way that it could escape and how Ratatosk found his dead at Dumas' hands.

What happened to that vessel? If it run away, then where it was? It couldn't have survived after all the things it had to endure while staying in Ratatosk's castle. In a situation where vampires were highly hated, it didn't have a chance of asking help. Gunslingers and other humans would think the vessel was a vampire and would kill it. It had to hide until everything was over. But another question suddenly popped; if the vessel had Vanargandr's powers, then how the Dark Sword had its powers? How could Lucian summon the Beast if it was in another's body? Unless when the Beast was sealed, the spirit of it left the vessel to return to its original body, to the sword. Maybe that's why Lucian could summon it, but Nish wasn't completely convinced. The newborn vampire certainly had something to do with that.

"Isn't tomorrow Full Moon?", suddenly asked Dumas. The former Duke was starting to feel uneasy with the heavy silence Nish's thoughts were doing.

"Yeah.", lazily answered the other. He was still in deep thinking, but then all the ideas and situations of the vessel, Vanargandr and Lucian faded out as he remembered one thing. "Mating season!", he cried.

"So what?"

"So what?", repeated Nish, stopping and looking at Dumas. "Mating season! How are, we, vampires going to fight if we are only concerned in getting laid?!"

Dumas started to laugh loudly at Nish amusement, but the albino wasn't exactly finding it funny.

"Why do you laugh? It's not funny!", the ice vampire groaned.

"We don't also look forwards to fuck. Our mood changes too, and we become more aggressive.", answered Dumas. "Ernest and Lucian might want to take advantage of that and Oyan's careless about it."

"Hoooow?!", cried Nish again. "We will not want to leave the Hideout because we will want to fuck!!"

Dumas sighed.

"We will be able to get outside the Hideout. Lucian has some pills that will reduce a little bit our ranging hormones.", explained the horned man. "He got it from Sheridan when we were staying at his place."

"You sure those pills works?", Dumas shook his head. "So, this will be the first time we are going to try it?"

"Possibly. We don't lose anything trying them."

When they decided to return, it was already late. The Sun set long ago and the Moon was slowly rising from the horizon. The time to fight was getting closer and closer. Dumas and Nish made it to the Hideout and prepared themselves to fight. Lucian was in his usual state, calm but growing anxious at each passing second. The rest were also preparing, trying to calm down, and staying with their families and friends. Ernest was fixing his Dragoon while Kay was lubricating the twin guns Ninja. But Aaron was standing besides a window, arms crossed over his chest, his gaze fixed into the nothingness, not really caring about the things happening around him. He had an expression of being in deep thought, often touching the right side of his neck.

The boy had been arguing with Ernest and Lucian while Dumas and Nish were gone. He was definitely going to fight this time, but both men were being stubborn with him once more. Aaron couldn't take it anymore; he wasn't a kid and he knew how to take care of himself, and was going to prove it even if Lucian and Ernest didn't like it at all. He was going to fight and was going to protect those who were important to him. This time, he was not going to stay and wait for them to return. Besides his loyal Knight, he had a new power he could use while fighting. His dark powers were slowly growing stronger and Lucian was now aware of it, knowing that the young man had a lot to do with it. He must have been the one that told him about that and the one that had trained him in order to use them. But that wasn't concerning Lucian right now. The next day Full Moon phase will start, and his body was already shivering at the kinky thoughts his mind was thinking. Several times before, when Dumas and Nish were out, he tried to get a hand on Aaron, but the boy rejected him every time. That left the vampire in a needy state and very horny, having to release by himself or taking several really cold showers in less than an hour.

But Aaron had it though, too. As a vampire's mate, he was starting to feel Lucian's change of moods, and his hormones, too. Aaron noticed it when he started to feel lightly hot when Lucian was around him, something that never happened before. His body was naturally responding to his mate's one, and he didn't know if it was a natural thing being Full Moon phase close, or if he was going to be like this every time he stays around Lucian. He desperately wanted to jump on the vampire, but didn't seem right to do it in the Hideout, where everyone could listen or suddenly run into them when they were in the middle of their act. And being Aaron the boy he was, he surely didn't want that to happen and for it, he rejected Lucian's alluring ideas.

Ernest's shouts were the ones that made Aaron return to reality. The man was gathering everyone before leaving. The boy knew he wasn't going to be able to get out of the Hideout if he didn't leave before them, and that was what he was going to do. Leaving the window's spot, he looked up for his Knight, he put on his usual gunslinger's clothes, the boots, gloves and some armor over the thin black sleeveless shirt. Once ready, Aaron decided to run away from the Hideout using one of the same windows. He stepped outside and run towards Acuna.

No one noticed Aaron's run off. Ernest, Lucian and the rest left the Hideout and went straight to Acuna. The vampires were all wearing the armor underneath their normal clothes, while Lucian and Dumas were still using their old ones. They might be now kinda old, but they worked still. The group divided in two, and Ernest took another path, as they were a few meters away from the city. Lucian disappeared in the shadows and Nish and Dumas were left alone with the second group. The night was clear and the Moon was lighting everything under it with its almost full circle. Everything was in silence, but each vampire could hear the gunslinger's breaths and heartbeats, everyone hiding before attacking.

Just as the clock tower's bells announced eight in the evening, Oyan and his men decided to come out from their hiding places to attack.

The first crash was rather violent. Both groups attacked at the same time to the enemy, to the vampires, and took them lightly of surprise, not knowing they would move at the bell's sound. Everyone started to counterattack, but Lucian was still hiding in the shadows, waiting. The number of gunslingers was still low, and he knew Oyan had asked for Froggy's help. Lucian was waiting for Froggy's move, one of Oyan's cards under his sleeve. He wanted to destroy him already and then continue with the rest, until no one was staying alive on the street. Lucian grinned in the shadows. He couldn't wait for it.

On the other hand, Aaron was slowly approaching one of the fights. He was lucky that Lucian was concentrating into Oyan, who was on the first group that attacked, while the boy stayed with the second group, far on the east part of Acuna. But Ernest was there, as soon as he noticed, and tried to fight and remain unseen. He knew it was going to be hard but he couldn't stay doing nothing anymore. The gunslingers were strong, but his years inside the Guild and the ones he spent with Lucian were something that made difference between him and the others, as he could easily dodge and anticipate the enemy's move, giving to him a small advantage towards them. But Aaron was still reluctant in killing the gunslingers. He saw the vampires, even Ernest, killing without doubt, but he couldn't just do it. Although when one of the north gunslingers tried to kill him, Aaron took the Knight and shot straight into his head, much like Dyango did when saved him time ago. The man's blood poured from the wound like a red river and the body fall on the ground, lifeless.

Aaron gasped. He just… He just…

He gripped his teeth when a rookie from the North tackled him. But Aaron groaned as he took the boy's arm and shoves it off from his body, smashing him on the floor, aiming and shooting afterwards, not thinking. Aaron gasped again. What was with him? This wasn't like him at all. He knew Ernest was that type of man but him… Aaron scared about this new face of his own, run away from the fight, turning into a hallway, hiding. He stopped, trembling. What was with him? What was happening to him? He wasn't this aggressive nor had this murderous feeling deep in him, at last not back then. Was a side effect of the dark energy? Was a sudden change of personality because he was now a vampire's mate? Was he actually getting the curse? The last question made him shiver in fear. He wasn't ready to change that much, he wasn't ready to renounce to his humanity; he wasn't ready to give up all his human memory, all his feelings, all his friends, his only love. What if he transforms into a vampire and forgets about Lucian? Aaron whined, putting his hands on his mouth, small tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Why that face?", asked someone appearing from the shadows and, to Aaron's relief, it was Dyango. "Did you just notice something new?"

But instead of being happy, Aaron growled angrily.

"You knew about this!!", he yelled to the young man. "You knew the dark powers were going to affect me sooner or later!!"

"You must had been a fool to think otherwise!!", replied Dyango, grinning and showing his fangs. Aaron could notice that, this time, his eyes weren't the usual calm grey; they were shining in a bright red, and they were slowly being dyed in this bright color too. "Dark Matter doesn't make exceptions. It corrupts the body of where it is staying, having a vaccine or not.", Dyango titled his head to the left. "Thought yours it's corrupting your young and fragile body slower since you are a vampire's mate.", his grin went wider. "Isn't that nice?"

"Who the fuck are you!?", demanded Aaron in a loud voice, gripping his Knight tightly and aiming to the man, who didn't move an inch.

"Why do you fucking care?", answered Dyango as his shadow grew bigger and stepped out from the floor. "You have a fight to win, someone to protect, and someone that's waiting for you to return. You should not give a shit about me right now, since your precious person is about to get killed."

Dark Shadow appeared but morphed instants later into a strange vampire with extremely long and crimson hair. This form was as tall as Dyango and his clean and white clothes made a huge contrast with the young man's ones. The fluffy collar around his neck and the long, black whip around his waist were the last things completing this strange image. Aaron looked at it, he hadn't seen anyone like that before. He could tell the form was a male, but his androgynous appearance made it difficult to tell.

"Let's heat up things a bit…", mumbled Dark Shadow as he disappeared in said shadows, just when a metal screech echoed in Acuna.

Aaron turned around, watching a huge, green serpent machine rising above the buildings, producing that noise again. It must be Oyan's new weapon, perhaps the one that was being covered by the barrier! Aaron gasped at the immense machine, thinking that Ernest, Lucian and the others were going to be in deep problems.

"You knew about this, too?", asked the boy, looking at Dyango with burning anger in his eyes.

The young man laughed.

"Think, boy.", said Dyango. "I'm not friend or foe, why would I ever tell you about it?"

"Fuck you.", was Aaron's last words as he run back to the fight, more especially, towards the strange machine.

The young man purred, jumping to the nearest roof, watching from there all the chaos that Nidhoggr's machine brought. The vampires were all puzzled at it and most of them didn't know what to do, not even Ernest, who was watching the strange serpent with fear. The vampires started to attack with their usual shadow powers, but they were no use against the strong iron protection from the machine. Nidhoggr had rebuilt the shield to resist those attacks, having a huge advantage against them. He fired his laser cannons, breaking the ground floor underneath the vampires, killing and mutilating a few of them with that attack.

At first, Nidhoggr didn't want to bring out his machine, since he didn't know if Lucian was going to attend that night. But Alexander ended up convincing him and in the next second, he was riding his machine, sneaking into Acuna, hiding with the camouflage ability of it. He grew really impatient about the fight, wanting to start right now, but had to wait and, when it started, he truly couldn't help himself and revealed his presence to the others by attacking them. Nidhoggr's main target was to see where the hell was Lucian hiding and trying in getting it out from his spot.

Which wasn't that hard, actually.

The vampire soon reveled himself before the huge machine, finishing his transform to his full form. A tail has grown from his back, following the column until stretching out from it, all made from bones. Lucian looked up, the Machine King looked back. The vampire grinned.

"I knew it was you.", Lucian murmured, snapping his knuckles. "It looks like you managed to survive."

"I can say the same thing to you, Dark Swordsman.", replied Nidhoggr, his voice sounding like some sort of obsolete robot. "Although you don't stand a chance against this new Machine King."

"We will see.", he opened his wings and jumped in the air, agitating his tail behind him. "If we don't try, how we will know, then?"

Lucian roared, launching towards the green serpent, slashing it with his claws, dealing small damage to it. But this didn't stop him as the vampire attacked again, but got hit by the machine's tail. The nearest wall from a house, hurting his left side of his body, stopped Lucian's fall. His fall was followed by several missiles Nidhoggr sent, but some of them exploded before hitting Lucian thanks to his long, boney tail. Other reached their target, and the vampire received severe damage from them. He was getting pissed at the kid. Growling, Lucian's hands shone in a red light before summoning shadows at will, going straight up towards the machine that, being the agile reptile it was now, dodged them easily.

The serpent slipped back and rushed forwards suddenly, not giving Lucian time enough to think in a possible way to block or run, as the head of the machine hit him on his middle body, making him throw up some blood and stomach acid all over the snout of the serpent. His air was also cut from the hard hit, and his lungs were desperately trying to reach the minimum of oxygen his mouth could inhale. But Nidhoggr didn't let him a chance to recuperate. Using the teeth of the machine, he lifted Lucian by his wings and threw him again on the floor, hearing him moan in pain as he tried to stand up.

Lucian cursed under his breath, feeling the blood slip from his mouth to his chin, and then, to the floor. His middle section was burning in pain; his insides were hurting like hell. Dumas said Nidhoggr sucked at alchemy and there was no other way he could have done those upgrades without it. He had to admit, he had underestimated the vampire kid and though he didn't learn alchemy in all those years. Lucian grinned, spitting some of the blood to the ground as he stood up, swinging his tail again.

The battle continued for another thirteen minutes. After that time, Nidhoggr saw that his machine was starting to get abused by Lucian's claws and tail, while the vampire was already getting tired of doing the same thing over and over again, but thanks to the first hard hit, he was slowly weakling. The amount of time left to keep moving was counted, yet he didn't know how much time he had before that. Lucian was waiting for the next attack when, suddenly, his right arm shot upwards. Confused, the man watched his limb, trying to get it down. But it wasn't responding. What was happening? He tried to move, but his feet were like glued to the ground, and his other arm was slowly getting numb. He knew that feeling… He knew it very well…

Lucian heard the machine flop on the ground and the jaws opened, letting Nidhoggr come out from it, holding a strange amulet in his hand.

"How the fuck are you doing this?", asked Lucian, his eyes glowing in rage.

"With the needles.", answered Nidhoggr, seeing with pleasure the man's scared expression.

"I removed them all! I did it all by myself, I hadn't forgotten a single one!!", shouted, moving in the invisible ties. "I removed them completely!!"

"Then how do you explain that I'm controlling you, if you don't have any needles left?", the vampire boy approached the man. He looked at him straight into his eyes, lifting his head up seeing that he was still shorter than Lucian. "Or is it that you really forgot one?"

"What are you talking about?!", yelled the man, swinging his tail dangerously. He couldn't do much in that position, seeing that Nidhoggr could easily dodge his attack. "I removed them all!", Lucian flinched when the other placed a hand on his chest.

"Not this one.", his hand went through the armor and inside his body. Lucian growled, angry that Nidhoggr was touching something that belonged to Aaron, but soon started to shake when the boy was taking out nothing else but Vanargandr, the Dark Sword. "And with the help of this friend…", he took the sword with both of his hands (even when he was a vampire, the weapon was still heavy for some reason), murmured some words that forced Lucian to the ground and, without waiting, impaled the sword on Lucian's body, the blood quickly leaving the body through the weapon. "I will achieve what Ratatosk couldn't do."

The sword's crimson eye opened violently, shaking in excitement. The two halves started to open, too, making the wound wider and bleed even more. Lucian growled in pain, unable to do anything in his stun state. He only could watch how Vanargandr's spirit was slowly taking over his body, dying it in black like the weapon itself.

"Should I remember you I'm not exactly a submissive bitch?", growled Lucian when only his head was left from the strange curse. His hands changed into long claws, and his legs morphed into canid ones. His once boney tail transformed into a wolf-alike one, black as the night.

"You will be in a mere of seconds.", assured Nidhoggr seeing how the curse took completely control of Lucian. Over his head, it grew a pair of wolf ears that twitched quickly when the sword melted over the vampire's body. The red eye of it was now placed in the middle of Lucian's chest, glowing in a bright red light. "Let's see if you can be my new toy."

Murmuring another thing, he ordered Lucian to stand up. He grinned widely when the controlled vampire obey, standing in his now taller form, growling under his breath, his eyes dull and empty, not responding to his normal self, which was buried deep inside his brain thanks to Vanargandr's power. Just when Nidhoggr thought nothing else could go wrong, Lucian started to change again, this time, to a more animal shape. The vampire boy feared that Vanargandr tried to return to its original form and that was what exactly happened. In matter of seconds, before him was a bigger wolf from the first time, with eight red eyes looking around, with a death aura all around him. His fangs and teeth were seen under the moonlight and his paws, dyed with blood, were tainting the ground underneath them.

"Never knew Vanargandr's power could make you like this.", mumbled Nidhoggr, seeing how the Beast was waiting for new orders, despite that he knew the one ordering him wasn't his true 'master'. "Well, why don't you go and kill the vampires that are getting in my way, eh?"

Moving against his will, Lucian roared, launching towards the remaining group of vampires and attacking them without doubt, using the dark powers within the Beast to do so. Nidhoggr returned to his machine and wet behind Lucian, trying to catch the ones that managed to escape from his sudden rampage.

This whole time Aaron had been watching, not knowing what to do when Nidhoggr had captured his mate. He couldn't risk being caught, he couldn't attack the vampire boy from such distance, and he didn't know if that huge machine could spot him once he had fired. Having to watch was worst than knowing your mate had become a killer beast without knowing that was ally or foe. He still didn't know why Dark Shadow morphed into that strange crimson, haired man or why Dyango suddenly turns over him in such tight and dangerous situation. Aaron didn't know what to do. He wanted to go out and help, but a force stronger than his will was making him stay where he was, in a dark hallway, protected by the walls of the houses around him. Not even his voice could leave his throat, so he couldn't yell or say anything, not even when the group of vampires was starting to shrink at an alarming speed thanks to Lucian's new form and Nidhoggr's machine.

But the worst was only beginning. No one expected to Lucian suddenly go crazy, berserk. He had lost control of his emotions, roaring, growling and biting the air like mad, his air all spiked up, his tail shot up in the air as a sign of aggression. He was mad, really mad. Aaron could make it to the battle field, seeing how the vampires were escaping with Ernest's help. Gasping, the boy saw how Dark Shadow was mocking his mate, hitting him with the long and black whip, floating around him, cursing him, humiliating him. Why he was doing all this? Who was that image that made Lucian so mad, so angry? Who was that man that might have done something in Lucian's past that made the vampire hates him so much? But one thing was for sure; if no one stopped Lucian's rampage, then Acuna and everyone in it was going to disappear.

Dark Shadow got hit by one of the wolf's paws, crushing under an old building. Lucian panted hard and deep, his hair still up, his eight eyes glowing brightly. His emotions were a whirlwind; he couldn't control them since he was fused with Vanargandr. But he wanted that man dead, he wanted him reduced to ashes, he wanted to choke him with that fucking whip of his. He roared again, releasing his shadows that started to envelop the whole area. Nidhoggr tried to stop him but Lucian wasn't listening anymore.

Aaron and Nidhoggr saw with surprise how Dyango jumped from the nearest roof to Lucian's back, not fearing the angry man at all. The vampire noticed it and started to move, wanting to get Dyango off his back, but failing miserably. The shadows stopped their walk for a moment as they slowly returned to Lucian, attacking Dyango as the man stuck a hand inside the wolf and, when he grabbed what he wanted, left, landing on the ground. As the others saw, he was holding Dark Lance Jormungandr with both of his hands.

"You are not the only one capable of doing that!!", shouted the man, as he impaled the lance in his middle section like the vampire boy had done with Lucian and the dark sword.

It happened the same that it did with Lucian but, instead of becoming a big wolf, Dyango turned into a winged snake with eight red eyes. His jaws opened horizontal rather than vertical, and his wings were huge enough to let him, if he wanted, fly. Dyango hissed, showing his forked tongue before launching towards Lucian, who roared back, biting the snake's head and kicking him with his back legs. Dyango coiled back head-butting Lucian's middle section and making him throw up blood once more. Angry, the wolf growled and sneaked to Dyango's right, dodging his tail attack and jumping on him, sinking his fangs and teeth over the scaled skin of the snake, pouring blood from the wound and hearing Dyango moan in pain.

Being a snake, he coiled around and bit Lucian's back, trying to get him off his body and making him fall on the ground, but the wolf was being stubborn, spreading his legs to find more support, sinking his fangs deeper into the soft meat. He quickly let go to bite again, this time closer to Dyango's throat. But the young man wasn't going to finish this soon. His tail coiled around Lucian's middle and forced him to let go by constricting his lungs and stomach, preventing him to breath. The wolf roared again and, to Dyango's surprise, a bunch of shadows materialized in the form of spikes and went through his body.

Nidhoggr sneaked away. It was the perfect opportunity to let Oyan capture Lucian. Aaron stayed, watching how both Beasts crashed into each other, hurting themselves. He couldn't stand it anymore, he couldn't stand that his mate was getting hurt by a man who was trying to trust. Feeling angry with himself, he summoned his dark powers and created several spikes with it that threw towards Dyango. The spikes went through his body like the others did but, strangely, they hurt more than the others. Now that Aaron had the snake under control, he moved to his mate who tried to attack the defendless Dyango, only to be stopped by Dark Shadow, who had hit him with the whip. Lucian almost ate him when he turned around far to fast for the shadow vampire. Aaron took advantage of this situation and shot some ropes with his shadows that coiled around Lucian's wolf body, tying him up and forcing his fall on the ground.

Dyango slowly returned to his human form, bleeding messily from the wounds, holding Jormungandr in his left hand. Dark Shadow helped him to his feet, dodging one of Lucian's attacks. Looked like the ropes weren't enough to stop his rampage. The wolf broke them, stood on his feet again and prepared to attack if it wasn't for those ropes again, that coiled a second time around him. The wolf fall, once more on the ground but, this time, couldn't break free. Knowing that he couldn't, Lucian started to struggle, trying to cut the ropes but soon discovered why he couldn't; they were not only made with dark Matter, but also from blood. And not anyone's blood. It was Aaron's blood and that prevented him from moving at all.

"And to think I thought I could stop him…", whispered Dyango. Dark Shadow returned to his original form. "That kid's amazing…"

"Well, it's the Moon's mate after all.", replied the vampire boy. "It wouldn't surprise me if the kid managed to restrict his powers using only his blood."

"Let's go…", he moaned in pain, Jormungandr shaking in his hand. "The gunslingers are coming, and our little friend doesn't like that I'm separating him from the master."

Dark Shadow laughed as he disappeared with Dyango in the shadows, while Aaron was fighting against his own weakness at the moment. Having to use so much blood to stop Lucian from destroying everything had a cost. Sure, he did managed to do it, but now he could barely move due to the little blood he had left in his body, enough to make him walk towards Lucian and fall next to the wolf's snout. Aaron rested over him, panting hard, his skin losing a bit of color, but a smile was drawn on his face as he petted the soft hair if his mate. The rapid heartbeats of Lucian quickly lowered to the normal peace and his eyes were still red, but this time he was aware of his surrounds and surprised himself seeing his mate over him. He emitted a soft growl, letting Aaron know he was back.

"Ah…", Aaron panted, looking straight into his eight eyes. "Are you alright?"

"…Yes…", answered the wolf, his voice sounding a lot deeper the usual. "I thought you wouldn't stay in the Hideout like I told you."

The boy laughed.

"You guessed right.", he rubbed his right cheek against the snout, sighing. "What just happened? Why Dyango could transform like you?", before Lucian could answer, the wolf growled angrily again, his hair spiking up. "What's up n---?"

"Don't move.", said Oyan, aiming with his gun towards Aaron's head, who slowly turned around. The barrel of the weapon was placed between his eyes. "Although you can't do much in your current state.", Lucian growled again, gripping his teeth. "You can't do much, either, Dark Swordsman."

"That doesn't stop me from trying…", dared the wolf, but he knew it wasn't an option. He couldn't risk Aaron's life like that.

Two gunslingers separated the boy from the wolf, who growled again when both man grabbed Aaron, who couldn't move because of the blood lose. He was rather pale and his legs were shaking under their own weight.

"Well, I think we will have to carry you.", said Oyan, watching how the machine slipped under the wolf, placing itself comfortable for both of them. "And we need to keep you warm if we don't want you to die."

"Fuck… you…", whispered Aaron when other members gave him their jackets or coats.

Oyan laughed, ordering to his men to return to the Guild, with a smile from ear to ear. Today's hunt was surely worth.