A thin figure soon came into view, hobbling unsteadily even as she tried to maintain a high speed sprint.

As moonlight poked its way through the foliage, he got a clear glimpse at the woman, and inadvertently let out a gasp.

“Who’s there!?” She immediately backed up against a tree, eying Leonardo’s hideout with caution.

Resisting the urge to slam his head into the tree after his slip up, Leonardo brushed off his mistake with a soft cough then exposed himself.

It’s not as if he was enamored by her beauty. Even if Aphrodite descended — he ought to have had more self control and not reveal himself. Rather, the opposite held true. The woman’s appearance was horrid, hence his involuntary shocked gasp.

A claw mark ran across her face, from her cheek all the way down to her throat. It must have grazed her recently, because it shone with a menacing bloody hue even in the dark.

She covered her abdomen with a hand, where a much deeper cut was exposing her entrails. The other arm was outright broken, hanging limply at her side.

‘Are there bears in Malta?’ Leonardo wondered as he walked out of his blown cover and approached her steadily.

“Don’t worry, miss. I mean you no harm.”

Exposing his open arms, he approached her for a closer look even as he fretfully looked around as if expecting an animal to continue chasing her.

“What kind of beast attacked you? I can have a look at your wound if you like, I’m quite good at—”

As he was tooting his own horn, the woman rested her back against a tree then slumped over, collapsing unconscious.

Any trace of wariness she had disappeared, but the same couldn’t be said for Leonardo. He approached her cautiously and prodded her shoulder with a finger. Only after ensuring she’s truly unresponsive did he assess her condition again.

Moving away the hand pressing on her abdomen wound, he tore off his shirt and wrapped it around her. He then slung her over his shoulder and somewhat unsteadily made his way to the monastery. He wasn’t in the best condition himself, and now he found himself saddled with another life.

Despite complaining inwardly all the way home, he never once for a second considered abandoning her. Such was the result of his inherited teachings and martial practice, with compassion engrained at the core of his personality.

Placing the woman on his laboratory table, he washed his hands thoroughly then proceeded to remove her bloodstained clothes.

Now that he had ample light, he realized the situation wasn’t quite as simple as he thought.

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The clothing she wore had an almost modern functionality aspect to them, boasting several pockets that hid throughout the numerous layers of soft leather. Somewhat reminiscent of an assassin’s garb, he guessed for sure that she was no simple woman.

Despite his curiosity, Leonardo didn’t inspect those hidden pouches or the apparent dagger sheathe. He reined in the drive to know more, because he was in enough trouble as is.

‘Hm, she’s rather cold. I hope she’s not hypothermic.’

As he was cleansing her wounds off, he realized the woman was practically freezing, though he paid it little heed and moved on with urgency.

Stitching her abdomen wound closed, he reset her shoulder and put her broken arm in a makeshift cast. If he had magic, he could have done a better job, but now he could at most prioritize saving her life rather than hope for a perfect recovery.

Cleaning the blood off his cloth, he then cleared her scarred face.

‘Hmm, now that the blood’s off, it’s kind of badass actually.’

Without the blood and grime caked across her face, the woman didn’t look half bad. The ominous claw mark still marred the side of her face, but Leonardo thought it was a unique charm, even if slightly distasteful on a lady.

Having finished the cleanup, he tossed the bloodied rags in a bin and left the underground laboratory to fetch a warm blanket.

‘Wouldn’t want her to freeze and die from a cold.’

Coughing just as he was stretching lazily in the sun, Leonardo couldn’t help but lament that it was already dawn and another day came without him getting any closer to a cure.

Once his fit subsided, he reboiled a pot of water and tossed in a hand of powdered mix of herbs. Then, he remembered he had a patient so he made her a cup too.

Carrying the tea tray and a blanket, he made his way to the cellar. As he drew closer to the door, he heard a soft thud.

Thinking the woman awoke, he knocked on the door gently before entering, but found her unmoving on the table.

“Must have been the wind.”

Shrugging carelessly, the young oblivion guard laid the blanket over the woman, once again noting how cold she was.

‘She… didn’t die, did she? Be pretty awkward if I was dealing with a corpse all along.’

Perking his ears, he failed to hear a heartbeat or any signs of breathing. As such, he leaned in closer.

As he nonchalantly placed his ear closer to her nostrils, he made a colossal mistake. A random, unexpected mistake that nonetheless would reshape the trajectory of his life forever.

He felt a sudden sting on his neck. Before he could rationalize what happened, his arms lost strength and he fell over. A hand caught him in a vice grip, steadily holding him in place. His neck was pierced deeper this time.

His eyes widened in shock, and despite making an effort to struggle, it was all in vain.

Leonardo’s mind was blanking rapidly, the traces of his resistance eroding quickly. With the last traces of awareness intact, he finally realized what happened.

He’d been bitten. In his carelessness, he practically stumbled into the mouth of a predator. Willingly and stupidly, he offered himself on a silver platter.

‘What a fool I am…’ he lamented his fate at one point, steadying his horrified gaze as he prepared for an untimely demise.

‘This is… not bad,’ he continued just a moment later, his ecstatic eyes widening as his body trembled involuntarily from sheer bliss.

As her fangs extended into his artery, he felt the blood rush through his veins like a violent flood.

Yet, it was not pain he felt. The approach of death no longer scared him either. Even as the woman drained his life spring, all he felt was ecstasy and joy.

The venom from kiss of death flooded his mind like a tide of drugs, making the strongest opioids pale in comparison. His body sunk in a state of unmatched bliss, and even as his instincts screamed at him to resist — it was all to no avail.

His body and mind simply wouldn’t listen. He was no longer in control.

The vampire was.