The vans stopped in front of a huge abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Lola watched apprehensively as the thugs shoved them out of the vehicle, their handcuffs jangling with each rough movement.

Juana groaned in pain when one of the men dragged her without regard, while Arturo screamed in terror, kicking in an attempt to break free. Lola gritted her teeth, wishing she could do something to protect them, but her leg wound had left her weak and unsteady.

The warehouse doors burst open and an imposing man emerged, his face twisted in fury. Lola immediately recognized he must be the leader of that criminal group.

"Well, well... so here are the little fugitives," he muttered with a sinister smile... "What the hell is this?" Riquelme roared, fixing his steely gaze on the kidnappers. "Who is this policewoman and why have you brought her?"

One of the thugs, the same one who had shot Lola, stepped forward submissively. "Boss, this is the police officer who tried to stop us from taking the old lady. We had to subdue her..."

Before he could finish, Riquelme struck him hard across the face, making him stagger. "You idiots! Didn't I tell you I wanted this clean and discreet?" He spat with contempt. "How dare you involve the police in my affairs?"

The men kept a tense silence, some averting their eyes in shame. Riquelme then turned to Lola, who defied him with her chin held high despite her precarious situation.

"You..." he hissed with disdain. "I don't know what you had to do with all this, but I assure you, you'll regret it..."

At that moment, another man appeared on the scene. Lola recognized him immediately, feeling her heart freeze in her chest.

"Miguel!" she exclaimed with a mix of disbelief and disappointment.

Miguel seemed to find his voice upon hearing her, taking a step forward with a pleading expression.

"Boss, please! She had nothing to do with this. We had agreed that they would only bring the old lady, you wouldn't hurt anyone else, even the kid..."

Riquelme silenced him with a backhanded blow that made him stagger. His eyes burned with uncontrollable fury.

"Agreed? Since when does a worm like you give me orders?" he spat with contempt. "This bitch stuck her nose where it didn't belong and now she'll pay the price..."

He leaned menacingly toward Miguel, his voice turned to a venomous hiss.

"And if you don't want your daughter to pay the consequences too, you'd better shut up and obey..."

The poor man stood still, his eyes wide with terror. He shook his head frantically, all traces of bravery leaving him.

Riquelme turned his gaze to Juana. "Do you have any idea the shit you've gotten me into, you old bitch?" he spat with contempt. "My men say your demon tore apart several of our men."

Juana shrank back in fear. "I don't know what you're talking about, sir. Arnaud wasn't any monster, just a poor man who helped us when we needed it most."

Riquelme let out a mocking laugh. "Really? And how do you explain the dozens of men I lost last month, you stupid old woman? Do you think I'm naive enough to believe that a simple man could have caused such a massacre?"

"I... I don't know," Juana admitted in a trembling voice. "I never knew he had that strength until your men attacked us."

The capo frowned and turned to Arturo, who shrank back in fear. "And you, kid? What can you tell us about that demon?"

Arturo blinked in confusion at the strange questions. "A-Ar is my friend... He took care of me and brought me things to eat. Sometimes he growled and ate raw meat, but he's not a demon."

Riquelme snorted disdainfully. "Doesn't seem like we're going to get anything from you two. Maybe we'll have to apply more persuasive methods."

He signaled to his men, who immediately seized Juana firmly. The old woman let out a scream of terror when one of the thugs pulled out a knife and brought it close to her face.

"No! Please, don't hurt her!" Lola begged, struggling against her bonds.

Riquelme turned to Lola, fixing his gaze on her as if she were an annoying insect. "Shut up, officer," Riquelme growled. "This old woman is hiding more than you think... and I'll find out what, even if I have to rip it out of her limb by limb."

Juana began to tremble violently, shaking her head as tears streamed down her wrinkled face. "I-I don't know what you're talking about... I'm just a poor old woman who was trying to live in peace..." she babbled with a broken voice.

Riquelme turned to her with a contemptuous sneer. "Don't play innocent, witch. We know you were hiding that monster that attacked us in your shop..." He paused deliberately before adding in an icy voice: "And we'll find out why, even if we have to make you talk in pieces."

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Juana shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't know! I never saw him do anything like that! I swear I'm not a witch or anything. I'm just an old woman who wanted to help an orphan child."

Arturo broke into heart-wrenching sobs upon hearing those words, clinging tightly to Juana in an attempt to protect her. Lola felt bile rising in her throat at the sight of such cruelty.

"They're just a child and an old woman!" she shouted in an outburst of fury. "Let them go, you cowards!"

Riquelme didn't even flinch at her outburst. Instead, he turned to one of his underlings and nodded brusquely.

"Lock them up," he ordered in an icy voice. "And bring me Doctor Galvez, he said he wanted to do human testing. I want him to get to work immediately in that situation..."

Lola struggled uselessly as a pair of thugs grabbed her firmly, dragging her inside the gloomy warehouse. She could see out of the corner of her eye as others did the same with Juana and Arturo, who did not stop crying and begging.

♢♢♢♢

Arnaud was still suffering in the darkness with the images assaulting him. His inhuman nature was constantly reaffirmed in every battle fought, every life taken to feed. No matter how much he avoided it, violence and death seemed to be his only path.

But then, Arturo's face materialized in his mind, unleashing a torrent of conflicting emotions. The little boy had been a ray of hope in his solitary existence, someone to protect and care for without resorting to brutality.

For a brief period, Arnaud had believed that perhaps he could find a place in this world, a reason to exist beyond the eternal cycle of death and destruction. But in the end, his monstrous nature had condemned him once again.

The scene of the massacre against those thugs played before his eyes, making him shudder with regret and remorse. Was he destined to always be a violent and ruthless being?

A child's sob suddenly pierced his thoughts, unleashing a torrent of painful memories that assailed him viciously. The scene materialized before his eyes:

A small redheaded boy, huddled in a corner, crying inconsolably as he gazed upon the corpse of his assailant. His white eyes, a vampiric trait, sparkled with tears of fear and incomprehension.

"Why didn't you defend me? Why did you abandon me to his mercy, mother?" the little boy sobbed bitterly.

Arnaud shuddered as he relived that harrowing memory. A trauma that had marked him even before his maturity. A stigma that had haunted him over the centuries, fueling that inner fire and turning him into a fearsome and ruthless monster.

But was that anger really necessary? Or was it just his convenient excuse to give in to his darkest, most violent impulses? He contemplated the images of the massacre he had perpetrated the previous night against those thugs. That ruthless brutality, was it really part of his nature or just an addictive vice?

For a moment, he considered the idea of simply letting go, of surrendering to the darkness of hatred... Perhaps then he would finally find the peace he had longed for.

But then, the memory of Arturo assailed him again, this time with overwhelming force. The little boy had accepted and loved him as he was, without judging his monstrous nature. He was the only person in centuries who had given him a true sense of warmth and belonging.

And now, those villains had forced him to leave Arturo's side, condemning him once more to loneliness and suffering. Arnaud felt the anger begin to boil within him, fueled by years of pain and resentment.

Had he not tried countless times to walk the path of righteousness and compassion? And what had been his reward? Nothing but rejection, persecution and violence at every turn.

A bitter realization struck him with force: the world was not made for creatures like him. No matter how much he tried to adapt or contain his nature, there would always be someone willing to judge and condemn him for being different.

If fate inevitably pushed him down the path of violence and destruction, then so be it. He would no longer fight against his essence, against what he truly was.

Suddenly, a heart-wrenching scream rang in his ears, shaking him to his core. "Arnaud! Arnaud, help us!"

Was it a hallucination? Arturo's voice, filled with anguish and terror. In an instant, all of Arnaud's doubts and musings dissipated, replaced by a primitive, searing fury.

Those villains had not only condemned him, they had also dared to threaten the safety of the only person who had given him a spark of warmth in his solitary existence. They had destroyed the home Juana had provided them. That transgression was unforgivable.

He let out a deafening roar, a cry of defiance against the weight of years of suffering and oppression. No more laments or regrets. From this moment on, Arnaud would embrace his violent and ruthless nature without restraint.

If the world rejected him and condemned him to be a monster, then he would be the most fearsome monster that ever existed.

"I will be a relentless predator whose only law is survival. I will be their death."

Those who dared stand in his way would know the true definition of terror.

♢♢♢♢

"Here's your guinea pig, Galvez. Do whatever you want with her, but I want you to give me results now..."

The scientist nodded with delight, wasting no time in inspecting his new "subject." He examined the gunshot wound on Lola's leg with a sickly gleam.

"Good God, we need to stop the bleeding or she'll die..." he muttered worriedly.

The doctor looked at them all with a mixture of revulsion and disdain before fixing Lola with an inquisitive stare.

Lola could not help but shudder at that clinical, cold gaze, as if she were a mere specimen under his scrutiny.

"Take her to my laboratory, I'm eager to see how the spawn's cells behave in a human."

The thugs nodded and began dragging the prisoners toward a door at the back of the warehouse. Arturo, terrified, began to scream and struggle.

"Arnaud! Arnaud, help us!"

His screams echoed down the hallways, ringing in Arnaud's ears as he was in the laboratory.

Suddenly, a frantic movement began. Arnaud's remains, which until recently seemed inert, came to life abruptly. Even the experiments of Galvez began joining and expanding at a dizzying speed, as if responding to a primal impulse.

The cells regenerated and fused, forming an ever-growing and more defined mass. Slowly, a humanoid figure began to take shape, though thin and with some missing parts.

A guttural roar shook the laboratory. The creature opened blood-red eyes, filled with primal rage. Arnaud had been reborn, his consciousness clouded by the memory of his painful childhood and Arturo's cry of anguish.