19. Hes not my enemy. #2
The front door revealed a dimly lit reception area. Blood spatter marked the wall behind the desk in a distinctive pattern—medium velocity impact, consistent with machete strikes. Bloody footprints led deeper into the building, some showing the tread pattern of Society tactical boots.
Nick followed them mechanically, his mind shifting into clinical assessment mode.
The domestic warmth of the morning—Luka’s careful touch, the simple act of help with buttons—felt like something from another lifetime as his training reasserted itself.
Thiswasn’tjust violence; itwasa message written in blood.
He’dused these same techniques on vampire nests, never on humans. The tacticswereidentical—methodical, efficient, designed to terrorize survivors. Hendersondrilled him on reading blood spatter patterns. Focus on the facts . Don’t think about who these peoplewere .
The main community hall revealed the full extent of the massacre. Bodies arranged in a semi-circle, positioned deliberately. Some showed signs of torture—fingernails removed, precision cuts along major muscle groups. Othershadbeen dispatched efficiently with single gunshot wounds to the head.
Nick’s breathing remained steady as he surveyed the scene, but his handsstarted trembling. Thesewerepeople. Living people with names and families and—
Stop . Analyze . Process . File it away .
Gasolinehadbeen poured over specific areas, small controlled burns rather than a full inferno. Another Society signature—enough fire to destroy evidence but not enough to attract immediate emergency response.
“Sometimes, Nicholas, the message matters more than the body count.” Henderson’s voice echoed in his memory, and Nick felt sick.
Theseweren’tcombat deaths. Thiswaspunishment. Intimidation. The same techniques drilledinto him during training, now applied to innocent people.
“This is my fault,”he whispered, the clinical detachment cracking like ice.“Theywerelooking for me. These people died because the Societyishunting me.”
Stay focused , the hunter insisted. Guilt gets you killed .
But he wouldn’t be silenced. Look what youwerepart of. Look what you helped create.
Luka moved through the carnage with grim focus, his nostrils flaring as he tracked scents only he could detect. His shoulders tensed, hands curled into fists. Nickhadnever seen this kind of focused intensity from him—not even during their hospital escape.
“They’re looking for me,”Nick said quietly, forcing his voice to stay level.“Thiswaspunishment, but also interrogation.”
Luka’s movements grew more urgent as he followed the blood trail down a narrow hallway. Nick matched his pace, providing tactical support while his stomach boiled.
The familiar oppressive silence felt calculated. Nickhadbeen on the other side of this equation too many times—the Society would sometimes leave a single operative behind after a cleansing operation, positioned to eliminate anyone who came looking for survivors.
“Patience, Nicholas. The sympathizers always return for their friends. Wait for the stragglers.”
How many times did I do this to vampire communities? How many nests did I help destroy because they dared to build families together?
A soft, strangled noise from Luka pulled Nick from the spiral of self-recrimination. The vampirestopped at a small office entrance, his entire body rigid, eyes fixed on something inside.
The smell hit Nick first—burnt flesh and gasoline.
Something that made bile rise in his throat.
Two bodies lay intertwined in the center of the office floor.
The smaller one—a young woman with dark hair—curled protectively around the larger figure.
Her arms encircled what remained of a male torso, her face pressed against an empty chest cavity.
The male bodyhadbeen beheaded and the severed head placed on a nearby desk, facing the embracing bodies.
Scorch marks radiated outward from the pair.
“ Haley ,“Luka mouthed, and small, devastating squeak escaped his throat.
Nick stared at the scene, his mind trying to process what hewasseeing.
The woman’s body showed defensive wounds—deep lacerations on her forearms, broken fingernails.
Shefought hard. But her final position told a different story.
Shehadn’tbeen trying to escape. Shehadchosento embrace the vampire as they died.
“She died with him,”Nick observed, voice thick.“Was that Alexei?”
Luka nodded once, sharp and pained, then sank to his knees at the threshold. His shoulders shook with silent grief. In all their time together, Nickhadn’t seen Luka lose composure. The vampire’s griefwasraw, unguarded—nothing like the controlled responses Nick expected from a predator.
The Society’s message couldn’t have been clearer. This deliberate tableau of human and vampire locked in a final embrace wasdesignedto disgust and horrify. To showcase the“perversion”of humans who sided with monsters.
But Nick didn’t feel disgust. Looking at Haley’s body wrapped around Alexei’s remains, he saw something the Societytold him couldn’t exist—genuine love between human and vampire. The kind worth dying for. The kind that said I won’t let you die alone.
And suddenly, every justification theyhadever given him crumbled to dust.
The hunter tried to reassert itself— Compromised . Stockholm syndrome. Theseweremonsters and collaborators —
No.
Theywerepeople. They loved each other. And we murdered them for it.
The hunter’s voice faltered, weakened, and then retreated deep into the background. Not gone, but muffled—like a radio turned down to audible static.
Nick felt the retreat in every atom of his body. That voicehadbeen his constant commander for years, providing orders even when everything else fell apart.
Luka reached toward the bodies, his hand trembling in the air. He couldn’t seem to bring himself to touch them, as if afraid they might disintegrate. The grief etched into his featureswasraw, unguarded.
“We need to leave,”he said quietly. They’dbeen here too long. Standing exposed while Luka grieved made them perfect targets. But he couldn’t bring himself to rush the vampire’s mourning.
Luka didn’t respond. When he looked up, those familiar jade eyesvanished completely—pupils expanded until no iris remained, just pools of absolute black.
Nick’s hand moved instinctively toward where he used to keep his knife on his belt. Every muscle in his body tensed as a primal fear flooded his system. Thiswasthe apex predator his trainingwarned him about—a creature given fangs and hunting instincts honed over a century.
Luka’s face held statuesque stillness that raised every hair on Nick’s neck, as a low sound—not quite a growl, not quite a snarl—rumbled from his chest.
This wasn’t the gentle vampire who shared vulnerable moments with him. This was death.
Every instinct screamed at him to run, to fight, to do something other than stand frozen like prey.
Strike now . While he’s distracted . Go for the throat .
But that impulsewasn’this training—itwaspure animal panic. And underneath the terror, Nick forced himself to look past the black eyes and fangs to the raw anguish etched into Luka’s features.
Thiswasn’tbloodlust. Thiswasgrief so profound it that it bypassed all the parts of Luka that made him him . Thiswasthe beast that lived inside Luka, the one he kept carefully controlled, breaking free in a moment of overwhelming loss.
He’s in pain. He’s not my enemy.
The realization cut through Nick’s panic like a blade.
This creature kneeling in front of himwasn’tsome mindless predator.
Itwasthe same person who asked permission to smooth his hair, whocreated blanket nests, andstayed awake to protect him.
The same person who showed him what gentle touch could feel like.
Nick’s hand trembled halfway to where his weapon would have been, then slowly uncurled, dropping to his side.
“Luka,”he said softly, stepping closer instead of retreating. His voice shook, but he held his ground.“I know this hurts. But we have to go.”
The black eyes fixed on him with unnerving intensity. For a heartbeat, Nick wondered ifhe’dmadea fatal mistake—if the beast wearing Luka’s face would see him as threat or prey.
Instead, recognition rippled through the darkness. The low rumbling stopped. Luka’s features softened, though his fangs remained extended.
“They’re gone,”Nick continued, voice steady despite his racing heart.“Staying here won’t bring them back. But it will get us killed.”
The predatory stillness began to fade as the black receded from Luka’s eyes, jade bleeding back through like dawn breaking.
His shoulders sagged, almost defeated. He looked at Nick with something like surprise, as if shocked to find him standing close instead of running.
His hands shook as he pushed himself to his feet.
Nick felt his pulse settle as Luka’s human face returned. Whatever beast lived inside the vampireretreated, leaving only grief and exhaustion. The fangswerestill visible, but they didn’t look like weapons—just another part of Luka that he usually kept hidden.
I saw his beast and I didn’t run. Nick realized with wonder. I chose to stay.
They turned away from Haley and Alexei’s bodies without another word, but the profundity of the tragedy nagged at the inside of his skull.
NickhadseenLuka at his most dangerous and chosen trust over fear.
That choice felt like another small death of his old self, and another step toward whoever hewasgoing to become.