The lights weren’t as blinding as they were before.

Took a while for it to happen, but eventually, the circular rims of lights weren’t the only thing my eyes could perceive. I was able to tell one thing apart from the other now, know the difference between light and dark.

For example, the cracked glass panels glimmering at the other end of the room filtered in the rays of a midday sun. That I could see as clear as daylight. Strain myself a bit more, and I could just barely discern the little grains of soot and ash that caked the concrete.

Unsurprisingly, our little civil disagreement here had transformed the room from a scene of rotting abandonment into a scene of complete and utter devastation.

Sadly, near-sightedness has left me unable to appreciate the finer details so… I can only imagine how the room actually looked.

What was plain to see though, were the many bodies sprawled about the place. Victims were all accounted for and breathing, even the one Adalia had bitten into still exhibited signs of life, albeit, only faintly.

And speaking of… there lay slumped the little she-devil herself. Slumbering away as if all was right in the world, her slanting head pillared by her sister’s, whom too was peacefully adrift in dreamland.

Two sisters, reunited once more, laid to rest beside one another. It was a moving view… now if only they weren’t such terrifying creatures of death… maybe then I’ll be able to go ‘aww’ and gush over the sight of it.

It was right then that Ria sprung back up to her feet, prancing about the place bored out of her mind. It was also right then that I decided that I should try doing the same.

Standing up and walking was a process done without much effort. Which was… strange. Wasn’t my foot…?

“Eyy, cripple no longer I see!” Ria’s voice was overbearingly cheery. “Shame, there goes parking privileges… government relief… pretty girls fawning over you… guess you can blame your Elf for that.”

“You know, for a mythical being that shouldn’t even exist… you seem to know a lot about the modern world,” I said.

“What can I say? Irene does her research. You get yourself swung around a pretty little girl’s neck, you tend to learn a thing or two.”

Makes sense. As far as mythical beings go anyway… honestly, I didn’t even know what made sense anymore.

Mobility and sight. As I walked about the ruins, as I sifted through what was within sight, together they brought me stumbling towards something else to be regained.

Seeing her silvery locks draping over her peaceful expression, with her pointed narrow ears twitching away blissfully in slumber... it brought back another emotion that I was lacking.

I felt happy. As happy and relieved as I could feel.

That’s when it finally clicked for me. The pain, the suffering, it had finally ended. That the whole harrowing ordeal I had gone through was truly, at long last, finally over.

“Standing already?”

Irene had made her return, her blurry outline standing in the distance with her arms crossed.

“Can only see five feet in front of me, though,” I replied.

“Five feet’s good enough. We’re leaving,” She said, then turning towards Ria, continued. “Go wake the vampire.”

“What? Me?” Ria shook her head. “They’re kinda having a moment there, sleeping together. I’m not going to risk getting bitten. Vampires get grumpy when the sun’s out.”

Irene looked as if she couldn’t care less.

“Go wake the vampire,” she repeated.

“I think you’re forgetting that I don’t take orders from you anymore.”

No response to that, Irene kept her lips sealed tight. She looked to me instead, raising her eyebrows and not saying a word. Yet somehow that was all it took for me to understand.

I turned to Ria. “Go wake the vampire."

Seeing her face, right then, I don't think I'll be forgetting that utter look of betrayal she gave to me.

“Wow, okay, fine, you guys suck.”

I think she took that rather well, all things considered.

----------------------------------------

Hauling over to the entrance of the building wasn't exactly much to talk about. Pretty much, we just moved in silence.

Down the steps, and into the hall of the ground floor, however, was when I finally came to realize that I was walking blind here.

Literally and figuratively.

What was the plan? Hell, if I know. I’m just following the leader at this point. Leader being that stark red blurry figure limping in front of me, and she didn’t seem like she was in the mood for much talk.

So asking her was out of the question.

Alternatively, I did have a companion walking alongside me. Perhaps I could risk asking her instead.

So I went for it. Then immediately regretted it.

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“You’re taking my sister with you,” is what she said.

“Pardon?” is what I said.

A nod of the head is what she responded with.

A cry of astonishment is what I left her with.

Both Irene and Ria from the front spun back to view the commotion that was happening from behind. Which, in retrospect, was a rather bizarre sight.

There I was, with Ash in arms, carrying her like how a groom would to his bride. Meanwhile, Amelia stood beside me, very much displeased by my less-than-composed reaction.

“She’s sleeping,” she warned me with a piercing glare.

I knew she was sleeping. I could see that she was sleeping. Hard not to notice a vampire carrying another vampire, especially when said vampire is piggybacking off the other vampire.

Well, excuse me for being shocked. Didn’t know it was customary to be taking along a ticking time bomb with you after it had nearly blown up in your face. My bad.

“Why though?” I asked aloud, desperately hoping that someone would be kind enough to bestow upon me with a reasonable enough explanation to justify such a bold proclamation.

And that someone turned out to be Irene herself. Explaining the reason as she walked us out of the building.

Apparently, despite all our efforts, and my death… Adalia wasn’t cured just yet. Plan did work, make no mistake about that. Adalia won’t be going berserk again anytime soon, but what my blood did to her was basically the equivalent of giving an insulin shot to a diabetic.

Meaning to say, she’s going to need periodic doses to help stave away the psycho within her.

“So I’m essentially a blood bank?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around it all. “Some kind of human-size prescription pill for an illness?

Irene simply put it clearly with a very firm, “Yes, you are.”

“And none of you bothered to ask me if I’ll be okay with this? You guys just… went ahead and decided for me while I was lying possibly dead on the ground?”

Amelia wasn’t looking my way, Ria was too busy trying to contain her laughter, and Ash was simply fast asleep. Leaving just Irene to answer in their stead once again.

“You rather the alternative?” She said, angling her head sideways to look at me. “She’s going to need your blood at all times otherwise she’ll just frenzy again. Best way for that is if she sticks with you. Anytime she hungers - then there you are.”

“It will only be temporary…” Amelia added quietly. “Just until I am able to find Terestra.”

“Besides,” Ria continued, barging into the conversation with a grin on her face. “Not like you’re going to refuse anyway are you? You’re just not that type of guy.”

----------------------------------------

Leave it to the weather to be as relentless as it could be, the sun’s scorching rays were as hot as phoenix fire. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit.

Or was I?

Based on how Amelia reacted, the sun might as well be a ball of hellfire and brimstone. There she stood, watching us from the shade of the building. directly below the threshold between the indoors and outdoors.

Ria was just gawking about, but then that’s just par for the course now.

Meanwhile, Irene and I were shifting the two unconscious beings into the backseat of her car.

Ash went in first. I was careful with how I went about placing her, ensuring she was fitted snugly with no visible signs of discomfort whatsoever.

Adalia’s placement was done in a rush. The sun was a big no-no after all. So we couldn’t really stress about how she was placed, we just tossed her in without a care in the world.

Unsurprisingly, her sister didn’t approve of our brash methods. Could see her over there glowering in silence. Thankfully, we had the sunlight to keep her from doing anything more other than sulking in a corner.

Maybe, I was too harsh on the sun. Thanks sun.

As Irene started the ignition, I had another thought pop into my head and I was amazed about how I never really addressed before.

Chalk it up to my lack of emotions, I suppose.

“Are we just gonna leave the victims up there on their own?” I asked.

Irene spoke from the driver-side window. “I’ll pretend I got an anonymous tip. Send some people over here to get them, they’ll be fine.”

“How about 4 and 5?” I turned my eyes to the building once more. “Didn’t see them at all. What happened to them?”

“Adalia had already released them shortly before your arrival.” Amelia was the one who answered me this time. Amelia, whose eyes stared into my own. “She intended to release them all. She never approved of taking humans. I only did what I had to do… to save my sister, even if it meant going against her wishes.”

“You’re justifying yourself,” I said, noting her lack of hostility. “Why? Do you honestly care what I think of you?”

“My sister came to you,” she said. “As your blood was spilled… she came to you, a human. I shouldn’t have brushed it off as her being delusional. I should have taken it as a sign of something much more… that you were much more than you were. I don’t expect you to forgive the things I’ve done to you… I don’t want you to. I just want you to understand. That everything that I’ve done, I did for her.”

Calmness and conversation. Two things I never expected to have with her. But things can change. Circumstances can change. Feelings, however, weren’t as simple as that.

“I died.” I simply said. “Try and make me understand that.”

Her silence spoke more than words ever could. There wasn’t any anger in her stare, nor even a shred of resentment. Just a quiet moment of acceptance.

I changed the subject.

“You’re not coming with?”

Amelia shook her head.

“I’ll visit. Time to time. Wherever you end up staying, I’ll find you.”

I nodded my head and that was that, into the passenger seat I went with Ria swooping in a blaze of gold just as the door swung to close, perching herself atop the headrest and ruffling her feathers.

“Where we heading?” I asked, turning my gaze to the driver at the wheel.

“Not the same motel, that’s for sure…” Irene muttered, stepping onto the pedal. “Another motel, possibly… first your home, pick up a few more of your things.”

“What, why, what happened?” I asked.

I noticed that I’ve been asking a lot of questions lately. Why was I in the dark about so many things?

“Well, for starters, the room we were staying in is just gone,” Irene explained. “After spilling your blood, well… uh… things got messy.”

“Adalia came after you? Is that how you got those wounds?”

It was hard not to notice them. The way every bruise and cut on the surface of her skin gleamed under the sun. The way her face would flinch with every sudden movement she made.

Fighting Amelia all by her lonesome… I was surprised her injuries weren’t worse. I mean, it’s a Matriarch we’re talking about here, weren’t we?

Weren’t we?

Judging by the way her expression suddenly went rigid, I don’t think she was.

“The Matriarch didn’t do this to me,” she said, her voice going soft.

It was confusion, mostly… an innocent question asked

“Then who…?”

Then as my voice trailed away, horror struck me, as did the realization. I wanted to deny it. I looked at her, hoping she would deny it. Reassure me that it wasn’t what I thought it was.

But it all fit, didn’t it?

I could still recall how her eyes were back then, back at that hallway where she first came to our rescue. They were staring at me the same way now.

With the same feeling of apprehension, the same feeling of dread, she spoke again.

“You did.”