"We have a guest host~" Ardelean's voice started echoing through the darkness Christopher found himself in.
Looking around, he was in his soul again, but it looked a little different.
His soul had a little 'lighter tone' and was not that dark, which helped Christopher to navigate himself around.
Seeing the tothem that was enveloped in Lilith's flames in the distance, he got up from the ground and walked towards it.
Arriving at the totem, he saw Ardelean standing in front of it.
The next thing he saw were two smaller totems that appeared next to that enveloped in Lilith's flames.
"What do these totems even mean?" asked Christopher and stood next to Ardelean.
"They are the representations of all powers you possess" replayed Ardelean and looked at Christopher whose gaze was on the smaller totems.
Seeing they were covered with something, he crouched down and looked at them a little closer.
One, which was taller, was covered in yellow lightning and the other one had small stone shards levitating in strange patterns around it.
"The smaller one appeared when you consumed the energy from that flail. And the other one appeared after the killing curse. That's why you didn't die. You consume it and change it into a raw power, which is almost impossible cuz the one who wants to do it needs to have an incredibly strong soul and will."
Christopher opened his eyes wide "Do you mean that..."
Ardelean nodded.
"Yes, you wanted to be with your wives so badly that you unconsciously consumed the power of that curse."
"But don't think it doesn't come with consequences. Your soul is forever painted by that curse, and whenever you go, death will follow."
"Interesting... And what's this?" Christopher pointed to another tall to them, but it didn't have any power on or around itself.
Ardelean shook his head "I don't know yet, but try to use your vampiric powers more. Maybe, you have more power than you think."
Christopher nodded "What were you saying before? What guests?"
Hearing that, Ardelean's face formed a bloodthirsty smile.
"Someone wants to kill you and your new family members. That's why I brought you here. I don't want to see another pathetic fight like that with the riders. So come, I need to teach you some new techniques that can come in handy..."
[... A few minutes later ...]
After the training with Ardelean, Christopher's conscious got back to Vicki's bedroom.
Lying on the king-sized bed and feeling the warmth of his wives' bodies again, he smiled internally.
It was a welcoming feeling.
His big and black, bat wings, which appeared during his blood-drinking session an hour ago were still visible, completely covering and protecting his wives' bodies, while they were all sleeping together.
A black cloud appeared in front of the bed and two masked assassins came from it.
Christopher with his senses felt that, so using his special vision that somehow ignored his eyelids, the world around turned black and white, revealing two dark silhouettes looking at the bed and preparing their weapons.
Using his inner voice, he asked 'How many?'
["Five assassins and twenty soldiers are in the mansion, ten soldiers and one individual are waiting outside. Two assassins are in front of you and three assassins are in the room of the countesses. One in each room."]
In Christopher's hands, which were hidden under his bat wings and placed on Rose's and Claudia's thighs, appeared his well-known, two beautifully engraved Colts M1911.
'Let's see how you two are resistant. Is there any way I can protect the countesses in time?' thought Christopher and while still using his special vision to check the assassins, he started pumping a dark power into his two pistols through his hands.
Thinking about something he saw in a movie, he focused on his senses as hard as possible and suddenly, echo waves began to leave his head, flowing through the entire mansion and its surroundings.
["I can protect them don't worry, just don't let yourself be pierced by that dagger. It's made to destroy souls. Another weapon that can kill vampires... and dragons."]
The assassins suddenly jumped at Christopher, wanting to kill him, but were shocked when he opened his golden eyes and pointed his two pistols at their faces.
The mark on his left hand started glowing purple as the time around slowed down.
Seeing the wide smile on Christopher's face, the assassins broke in cold sweat.
"This was a bad decision guys" escaped Christopher's lips when he pulled the triggers of his pistols. Two fully black bullets flew from the barrels toward the assassins' foreheads.
The bullets penetrated their heads and after a second exploded while their headless bodies were sent flying toward two windows that were behind them.
On the other side, the recoil from the pistols sends Christopher with the bed through the wall as the time around starts running normally again.
'Ugh, that was a little too much energy I think' he thought, looking at the hole he made with the bed.
Claudia, Vicki, and Rose opened their eyes wide where they found themselves on the corridor, but still in Vicki's bed.
Looking at Christopher's arms that were broken, thanks to the recoil of the power he used, but never stopped holding them, a feeling of love and worry flew through their hearts.
Claudia was the first who cut the silence because Rose and Vicki were just too shocked.
"Darling? What happened?"
"We have guests. My beloved wives, look for your mothers, I'm going to welcome the intruders" replayed Christopher and kissed his three wives passionately.
Seeing him rising from the bed and still without his shirt, the three started daydreaming, but it didn't last long as they looked at the two headless corpses near the windows of Vicki's room.
'Ughh that's gross' thought Vicki while seeing the blood of the assassins that were painting her room.
'Ardelean, did you protect them?' thought Christopher as darkness covered his body, while he was walking towards the stairs.
["Yeah, I formed a barrier around their bodies, they'll be okay don't worry"] he replayed to which Christopher nodded as the darkness that was covering his body disappeared, revealing a fully black suit, a black shirt with a golden tie.
The jacket of the suit he was now wearing had two thin gold lines on the chest, forming a letter V, and under it were two gold buttons.
Each sleeve had two gold buttons as well.
In his hands were his two pistols but when he looked at them, he saw that their barrels were destroyed.
["Don't worry I'll repair them, but for now, try something else"] said Ardelean as the two pistols disappeared from Christopher's hands.
Walking down the main staircase, he saw Lorie, Anna, Amanda, and Henrietta fighting against the soldiers, while the other five maids were lying on the ground,... dead.
One soldier suddenly aimed for Anna's head and pulled the trigger, but when the bullet was in front of her, she raised her dagger and cut the bullet in half, splitting it into two pieces that flew near her face and penetrated the necks of two soldiers, that wanted to shoot her from behind.
["That was badass"] Ardelean said as a wide smile appeared on Christopher's face.
'MASTER!' Lorie thought when she saw Christopher on the stairs and killed the soldier that appeared in front of her.
But, she let her guard down as her eyes locked on her master, and when she took a step towards the stairs, she just heard Anna's voice ''LORIE NOOO!!!'' before five bullets flew through her body.
Feeling the pain, she wanted to scream but another bullet flew through Lorie's head.
Seeing her body falling on the ground in slow motion, darkness started leaking from Christopher's body, crawling on the walls like snakes, covering the entire mansion hall.
Feeling the killing intent, everyone stopped fighting and looked at the monster on the stairs.
Anna's eyes widened when she saw Christopher's emotionless face with his gold but lifeless eyes.
One after the other, the soldiers started falling on their knees and trembling in fear, Anna and Amanda smiled internally as the same thought crossed the remaining three maids' minds.
'You guys are fucked!'
Hearing "Maids, leave me with our guests alone please~" Henrietta thought 'Who is this? Is it that man? He's hot somehow, even when he looks like a monster now.'
Ending her casual thoughts she picked up Lorie while Anna and Amanda woke up from their stupor too and picked up the other dead maids from the ground.
Walking towards him, they looked at the ground but were shocked at the gentle tone he used "Second-floor ladies~."
His eyes then fell on Lorie's face for a second.
But what shocked the three maids more was when they saw a small tear that fell from Christopher's left eye.
'Even when I don't know her that much, my heart hurts when I see her like this again.' he thought as his eyes locked on the ten remaining soldiers who kneeled on the ground near the main entrance while the maids turned and ran at the second floor.
["It's because of your heightened senses"] responded Ardelean.
Christopher's lips parted, revealing his white fangs as his now demonic voice started echoing through the mansion hall.
"Who send you here worms?" a simple question was heard by every soldier, but this simple question made the soldiers almost piss themselves in fear.
After a few seconds "Oh, so you don't know?" Christopher asked and again, no one answered.
Two black chains covered in Lilith's flames appeared wrapped around Christopher's wrists as he immediately sent the left one towards the soldier who shot Lorie.
The chain wrapped itself around the soldier's body and he started screaming "AAAHHHH" because of the flames burning his soul.
A wide and crazy smile formed on Christopher's face as he just placed his right index finger on his lips.
"Shhh, you are disturbing a night's peace" he spoke, making a silent gesture.
The chain started crawling towards the soldier's mouth, covering it entirely as his comrades were just looking at him with a sad or horrified expression.
["Punish them, mutilate them, destroy them!~"] heard Christopher in his mind as he pulled the chain back towards himself, turning the soldier's body into ashes.
[... Two minutes before the events in the hallway, Celeste's bedroom ...]
Celeste was lying on her bed, sleeping with a big smile on her face.
She was in her small world where she was trying some 'dirty' things with her son-in-law.
Suddenly, hearing a loud noise, she opened her eyes and saw a man in black with a faceless mask, hanging above her while pointing a knife at her neck.
"Hello, Countess Celeste," said the man, immediately wanting to slash her throat but he couldn't move his hand.
Looking at it, he saw a purple barrier blocking him, and a second later, his body flew towards the ceiling where he got stuck by strong blasts of wind that were coming from Celeste's left hand.
Celeste got up from her bed as the assassin's gaze immediately fell on her naked body.
Feeling his eyes on her, an almost invisible sword made of pure air appeared in her hand.
Locking her eyes at the assassin, she started levitating towards him and placed her sword on his neck, asking "How does it feel hmmm? You just came here, to our home, wanting to assassinate me and probably others as well. How dare you? Who sent you here?"
Seeing that the assassin is silent, she narrowed her eyes and slowly slit his throat "You are no use to me if you're silent you know. So. Just. Die.~"
With her face, painted by the assassin's blood, she landed gently on the floor, turned to her left, and opened the door that was near her.
Leaving her room, a faint breeze started circulating her body, forming a beautiful black dress with golden laces around her wrists and on her chest.
The assassin's blood that was covering her face started disappearing as a bitter expression appeared on her face.
"Ugh, why is the assassin's blood always so gross?"
Arriving near the stairs, she saw Elizabeth and Rose talking and looking at a wall that had a cobweb-shaped crater in itself, while Isobel was looking at another assassin lying in front of them.
After a few steps, she saw Vicki, leaving Isobel's room and Claudia, running toward her.
Arriving in front of her aunt, she hugged her "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks to your husband. Hmmm, so there are more, huh" said Celeste, looking at the assassin on the ground, who started to gain his consciousness again.
Hearing Celeste's voice, Isobel turned to her and nodded, while Elizabeth started speaking.
"Christopher somehow knew they were coming and protected us from them, while the maids were fighting the soldiers in the hallway."
"Why would someone want to kill us mother?" asked Rose and bent down to the assassin.
Seeing his chance, the assassin looked at her, and mustering every bit of his power he could, he launched himself on her and quickly pulled another, a little smaller dagger from his sheet that was on his tight, wanting to pierce Rose's heart with it.
The blade almost touched her skin and before Elizabeth who was the closest could do something, a purple barrier enveloped Rose's entire body at the speed of light, breaking the blade of the dagger when it touched her.
Elizabeth grabbed the assassin's head and squeezed it, making it explode.
'You saved my daughter again. I'm so useless that I can't even protect my daughter, thank you.' taught Elizabeth and started walking with the group towards the stairs.
"Elizabeth, your instincts are weaker from that day you were poisoned," said Isobel, seeing the frustrated expression on Elizabeth's face.
Elizabeth wanted to say something but stopped when she heard Christopher's voice in her mind 'No, you are not useless Elizabeth, you just have your guard down that's all. This is our home, after all, a place where we should be safe.'
"Is something wrong Mother?" asked Rose this time and Elizabeth just shook her head and started walking again, but now with a small smile on her face and little blushed cheeks.
"I'm going to train later in Redwillnet."
The group was walking slowly towards the stairs, but before they could approach them, Anna, Amanda, and Henrietta appeared from the corner, holding their friends.
The only one who was still alive was Lorie, but she was slowly and painfully dying too.
...