"And there I was... Arriving at the last moment, when all hope had been lost." Luciel continued to talk about one of his many tales, choosing the one where he earned the title "Ray of Hope."
It wasn't a story with an ending that one would call a happy one because of Helen's mistake, but if not for that, he would have never had a chance to meet her. It was because of her mess-up that he had been called as a backup.
Luciel did pin the blame on his wife that the mission had almost failed, but he never told her that, knowing that it would ruin her self-esteem even more.
"Leading a small party, we fought against the many." He looked at the twelve children who were sitting around him, listening to his story with glitter in their eyes, wanting to hear how their hero saved the day.
"The vampires were vicious. One hit could mean the death of us. I was young back then, but I did not show fear. Vampires could smell it." Luciel lied to the kids. He wouldn't mind telling them how afraid he was, but a lesson that it was okay to be scared wasn't what they needed right now.
They needed someone to believe in, to give them hope, and Luciel was providing them just that, leaving out the horrible details.
The stench of blood still lingered in his memories. A gruesome sight of hunters being torn apart or turned into bloodhounds.
When he arrived on the scene, more than half of the hunters were already dead.
All of this happened when Luciel was only twenty-three years old, a young vampire hunter who had just started to make a name for himself.
Seeing the battlefield in chaos, he felt afraid, thinking that this would be the death of him. Orders stopped coming, there was no teamwork, and the hunters were sacrificing each other to try and survive for a little bit longer.
"Seeing the battlefield being out of control, I took the lead. "If you wanna live, then follow me!" I shouted, waving my hand for everyone to regroup." Luciel made it sound so easy, but it was a real pain in the ass trying to get everyone to start listening to his orders.
"Oh! And what happened next?!" An eleven-year-old boy asked, raising his hand in the air.
Luciel smiled after seeing the boy's excitement, putting the tips of his fangs on display.
What was surprising was that the kids didn't mind that he was different. They were scared a little bit at first, but they quickly got used to him.
Unlike adults, kids don't care about appearances as long as you are nice to them.
Still having a gentle expression on his face, Luciel got up, picking up the kid and raising him high into the air.
"Isn't it obvious? I slashed those that threatened us!" He said with a heroic voice, slowly coming to an end, "And as a finisher, I called upon myself a power of the divine realm, chasing away the evil vampires, saving the day! After that event, people started calling me Ray of Hope."
Luciel finished his story, staring at the excited faces of the kids in front of him.
"And what did you do after that?" Marta asked when Luciel was putting the boy on the ground, letting him free.
"After that... Hm..." He tapped his chin, looking at the moon before his gaze fell back towards the children that were under his protection.
"I met the love of my life and we will live happily ever after." There was a hint of melancholy in Luciel's voice as he spoke those words.
He didn't see Helen after his funeral. Luciel felt worried since he didn't know anything about how she was doing. Did she move on, did she find peace and... Is she still alive...
"All right kids, let's go back inside, the day had just started for me, but you need some sleep!" He stretched a little, not allowing the kids to ask more questions.
"Awww, tell us more!"
"Yes!"
"Please mister Luciel..."
The children complained, not wanting to go to bed yet, presenting one more problem in Luciel's journey.
"Now now...." He tried to calm them down a little, "You don't want creatures of the night to steal your dreams now, right? So be good and go to bed." He shooed the kids, leading them inside the house, but when Marta was about to enter, he placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from entering.
"I still have some questions I have to ask you." He whispered into her ear once everyone got ready to sleep. Some were on the sofa while some squeezed into beds.
Luciel led Marta to the spot where they previously talked. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, staring at the girl with cold, crimson eyes, giving her a small fright since the last time she saw him like this was when he killed the evil vampire.
"So..." He started, placing his foot against the wall, "How were you guys captured?"
Marta was slightly surprised by Luciel's question, for a moment, she thought that he wanted something more sinister, but it turned out, that he just wanted some information.
She gulped, not wanting to remember the details, so she decided to just give him a quick brief of the events she could remember.
"Some of us were living on the streets where no one cared about us. During the commotion, we got dragged into that factory one by one." She started, her breaths starting to become more rapid."
"I heard that families of the richer kids got attacked, killed on the spot or they were dragged away by some invisible force."
Luciel could feel her heartbeat speeding in rhythm, waking up his predatory instincts that he was trying to suppress, making him yearn for blood.
Marta made a small stop, taking in a big breath, "As for me and my sister, we got escorted by two vampire hunters, but they led us here..." She started to shiver, starting to remember the fear she felt back then.
"After that-"
"Was there a name mentioned between the vampires that stood out?" Luciel cut her off, everything about her was screaming that she was about to go into a panic attack, so he didn't want to push her any further, she already told him more than enough.
"Yeah..." She slowly nodded, "Nosferatu..."
Marta took a step back, shivering in fear once she saw Luciel's eyes starting to glow vibrant red as blood inside him started to boil.
'Nosferatu... You...' Luciel didn't know how to feel about this, he was furious, regretting his decision to put a little bit of faith into vampires.
He felt like he got played, and made a fool out of.
Luciel clenched his fist, hitting the wall behind him while letting a deep growl escape from his throat.
This was the first time Marta saw Luciel so furious. His whole presence made her feel more scared than when they were trapped by Seline.
Noticing that Marta was about to scream, Luciel quickly approached her, placing his palm against her mouth to stop her from screaming while putting his other hand at the back of her head, hugging her tightly.
"Shhh... It's all right... Everything is fine..." He started to calm her down while staring in the distance.
The only thing that was visible in this pitch darkness was his vibrant red eyes.