Passio was one of the vampiric gifts inherited by Ardea family. Its uses were mysterious, since its power depended not only on the strength of the user's blood, but also on the strong will it carried. Each of the vampiric gifts comes in six stages, and each stage reveals a different facet of that power. In the first stage, Passio has the power to attract other beings, create a passion, influence the feelings of desire. Already in the second stage, the effect is opposite.

The immortal that uses Passio second stage can attract the most horrendous feelings of the target and can pass out a common mortal only with his will. Jared did not know, but his unusual characteristic was not to be afraid of death, but for having already accepted her. It gave him the willpower that no other immortal possessed, for he was capable of facing deadly challenges that would make other vampires run for their non-lives.

His unusual will then leveraged the use of his powers, making the second stage Passio much more dangerous. Brooke, who was already familiar with dealing with this power, when used by other vampires, could not predict what would happen to him at that moment. As he raised his gun to shoot Jared once more, his knees hit the floor. He could see his deepest fears coming true and tearing his own soul. He saw Elizabeth, his teacher, abandoning him and felt again the mortality that had beset him, the years he had suffered through racial persecution, discrimination arising from his human days, the death of his wife and son hanged for a crime he committed.

He dropped the pistol on the floor stammering and crying, trying to get into why he had to suffer it again, a few seconds later, he regained consciousness, and was looking at a wounded Jared, pointing his own pistol to his head. Brooke then gathered all his strength and swung a punch, as powerful as his second gift, Valentia, could expand.

Valentia, a very simple gift but extremely dangerous, can multiply the already powerful natural strength of a vampire to extremes, depending on the stage reached by the user, Brooke was already an accomplished practitioner of the art, managing to reach the third level of power, being able to turn a small vehicle with a single punch.

He could not throw a punch with complete precision, for he was in a strange position, but that was enough. The blow hit the side of Jared's abdomen, causing an impressive effect. Fresh blood and entrails spread like an explosion across the wall and floor, coming from a horrendous jet from where his old dysfunctional kidney probably stayed.

Jared started his way toward the ground and Brooke was breathing deeply. He was relieved because he knew that he would not last another wave of the Passio writer's coming, that's when something completely unexpected happened.

"Toooh." With a heavy step forward with his right leg, Jared stood up, using his supernatural desire to move on, and then vomited a lot of blood on the floor. Brooke looked completely terrified at him, and stepped into position to strike a new punch.

"BAM" Brooke lost half of his vision just before he hit the punch, not quite understanding what had happened to him, he was staring at the ceiling as he knelt on the floor, his arm stupidly stretched up.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Brooke had been shot in his right eye, and his punch clearly missed the mark when his head was thrown back, when he tried to resume his posture, received another shot.

And another shot, and another, until Beretta's comb in Jared's hand was emptied. Brooke was completely disfigured by the shots, his body arched from shore to the floor and slowly regenerating, his only functional eye staring at Jared, he saw his fangs entering his flesh, sucking his being, and all he could think before his final death was ...

"Monster"

It was already 3 in the morning when Jared woke up, he was thrown into an unoccupied lot, now used to dump garbage from neighboring houses. There he could see a trail of blood where he would probably have crept up there. Jared could have died if the sun had been rise, but it would seem that not everything would be so simple for him.

Vague memories passed through his head about what he had done, he remembered firing on that man, and then losing consciousness. The huge tear in his shirt revealed where the hole had been opened by that punch that looked like a bomb, and now, was complete regenerated.

He ran to the bus stop and took the path toward the city center. He wanted to talk with Emily about what had happened, how they should leave everything behind and leave town.

A short time passed until he noticed the bus taking a different route. He got out of the vehicle at the first stop, not sure himself if he had taken the wrong bus.

It was with little time of observation that he saw that strangely, all the vehicles and pedestrians were avoiding the way in that direction. Having a bad feeling, Jared started to run to the hotel, as he was getting closer, he had a frightening sight. Part of the building was on fire, there were bodies of men dressed in special police clothes scattered along the runway, and some crumpled in vehicle roofs as if they had fallen from a high altitude. In the sky without stars was purple symbol, the eye of Horus.

He hurried down the main corridor, each step wet with unknown blood intensifying the anguish within him. Nothing else reminded him of the hotel's former luxury corridor, everything seemed destroyed. Jared felt the heat and smoke intensify, the smell of death everywhere.

Finally he felt fear, not the feeling itself, but the aversion to an inevitable destiny. The door to that room was in front of him, he could see his hand slowly turning the hot golden knob, burning his flesh. But he felt no pain, just walked in.

A few minutes passed as he processed that vision, bodies burned and charred all around him, sights of a violent battle on every side, an extensive mark of blood that painted the ceiling to the wall, as if a body had been dragged in a bizarre way, and at the end of the mark, nailed to the wall with a black marble stake across her chest, was she.

Emily had her clothes torn, her voluminous black hair disheveled, and the eyes that once had such dark black were blurred.

"Emily!" Jared pulled her from the wall, hugging her. He cried like the first time he cried when he gave up his life. She then, with her last strength, sighed his name. She could no longer see and her body was beyond cure. Emily could barely reach out and touch his face.

She was happy, centuries of loneliness, and finally there was her soul mate, escaping through her fingers. How many times had she not dreamed of this moment? She wanted to touch him with her still warm hands as if she was still mortal. Many things had gone wrong, many lives she had stolen, but finally, could rest in the arms of the one who saved her life without knowing.

They kissed one last time, she offered her soul to him, and he offered his soul to her. As they embraced, the flames closed the curtain of their story together.