Flashback—4years ago
It started simple. Training sessions with his mother, Lana, and his aunt, Elizabeth, were exhilarating at first, but soon, they became repetitive. Predictable. He could already anticipate the next strike, already see the patterns in their attacks—just too powerful to block or counterattack. The exhilaration he once felt dulled into monotony.
And since his bond with Vynessa allowed their emotions to merge at times, she, too, was affected. What he felt, she felt—his excitement, his boredom, and soon, his craving for something more.
They needed new entertainment.
A hobby.
The Dark Forest was an untamed land filled with creatures that even seasoned adventurers feared. That made it perfect. With no human challengers, Lycius and Vynessa turned to the next best thing—the monsters.
At first, it was simple hunting. They stalked their prey, tested new techniques, and pushed their abilities further with each kill. The rush of taking down powerful beasts was intoxicating. It filled them with purpose.
But soon, even this lost its thrill. The monsters became too easy to kill.
That's when their methods changed.
They stopped merely hunting. They began experimenting.
Instead of swift kills, they started dragging out the deaths, seeking new ways to alter the fate of their prey.
With meticulous precision, Lycius would slice the spines of his victims, studying their bodies with the curiosity of a scholar. He refined his techniques, ensuring each incision was perfect. Mistakes were unacceptable.
Vynessa, for a half-angel, was unnervingly cruel—second only to Lycius himself. She did not just enjoy the bloodshed; she relished in it. Lycius, in turn, found his passion in the act of slicing, decapitation, and control.
Their experiments grew more elaborate.
Beheadings became an art form for Lycius. The cleaner the cut, the greater the satisfaction. He would hang the headless corpses upside down, filling medieval buckets with their blood—Vynessa's prize.
The organs? Those belonged to him.
Lycius would extract each organ with surgical precision, keeping the body alive for as long as possible before its inevitable demise. The harvested organs were then fed to the remaining beasts, testing how their bloodlines reacted to consuming their own kind.
At first, Lana and Elizabeth paid little attention. To them, it was just another childish phase, a hobby unworthy of concern. They had not yet seen what their little Lycius and his bonded companion were truly doing.
But that changed within months.
It was the evolution of their hunt.
Their fascination never faded. Their games never grew stale. But something did change—
They were running out of prey.
The beasts of the Dark Forest, once countless, were now dwindling. The stronger creatures had grown wary, hiding deeper within the forest's vast, treacherous terrain.
Lycius found this unacceptable.
He would not allow his fun to end so soon.
It was then that he conceived a new plan. If the prey would no longer come to them, then they would simply bring the prey here.
Turning to Vynessa, he demanded to know everything she could recall about the world beyond the forest. Kingdoms, towns, adventurers—he wanted to know it all. But she was young when she had come here, and her knowledge was limited.
That was fine. He did not need much.
Adventurers were greedy, drawn to power and riches. If he created the illusion of treasure, of opportunity, then they would come.
And they would be his.
His next prey was no longer the mindless beasts of the forest.
It was humans.
The blood of monsters had lost its appeal. The true test of his abilities, of his art, would be against something that could think. Something that could feel fear.
And when the time came, he would blame them for whatever happened.
Because who would believe that he was the true monster?
The shift in Lycius did not go unnoticed for long.
Lana and Elizabeth, once dismissive, soon realized the horrifying depths their precious Lycius had descended into. When they finally witnessed what he and Vynessa had done, there was no longer any room for indifference.
This was not mere play.
This was evolution into something beyond even their expectations.
Lycius was not ready for such power. Not yet.
And so, they made a choice.
With rituals unknown to even the most ancient beings, they sealed away his darkest desires, burying them beneath layers of suppression. They did not hate these parts of him—they feared what he would become too soon.
They would allow him to awaken at the right time.
But until then—until he was ready—Lycius would live under the illusion of restraint.
And he would never even know.
Not until the day the seal finally broke.
End of Flashback
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Present...
Lycius was not the only one whose mind was clouded by dark desires.
Vynessa, though she had just saved her mother from certain death, found herself haunted by a lingering regret.
Why?
Why had she let Lycius's prey escape?
The weight of the decision gnawed at her, yet something deeper stirred within. The bond between her and Lycius had evolved beyond the physical, beyond words. They could hear each other's thoughts, feel each other's emotions, and when their eyes met, it was as if they were staring into mirrors of their own souls.
They gazed at each other, their eyes locked—not out of necessity, but out of habit.
They had done this so many times before.
Admiring each other.
Every detail.
The sharpness of their eyes, the curves of their lips, the lines of their noses, the points of their ears—everything about each other was perfect.
They had never needed to say it aloud.
And yet, Lycius's mental voice resonated in Vynessa's mind like a whisper that threatened to consume all reason.
"Something is strange… Why do I feel as though I've just acquired something important… that has been stolen from me?"
A flicker of recognition passed through Vynessa's expression.
"You know… now that you mention it, I have the same feeling as well."
They did not know what had changed, but something had.
Something had been unlocked, but neither of them understood what it was.
They did not dwell on it, though.
Because in that moment, a sensation long buried—forgotten—had begun to rise again.
A thrill.
An exhilaration.
A hunger.
The craving had returned.
"Blood…"
Vynessa's voice in Lycius's mind was like a sultry whisper, intoxicating and filled with longing.
"I want blood. I want to taste it, revel in it, dance on it, and most of all…
Kill for it."
Her voice was the first to break under the sheer weight of their shared hunger.
It was not just hers.
It was theirs.
A hunger once silenced had returned with vengeance, merging their desires into a singular, overwhelming craving.
Vynessa turned her gaze to her mother—Xylara.
The succubus stood there, frozen, staring at Vynessa with tears rolling down her cheeks.
She couldn't believe it.
She refused to believe it.
Her daughter, the child she had lost for six years—was right before her.
There was no mistake.
"This is my daughter."
She had spent years imagining this moment. What would she say? What would she do? Would her daughter embrace her? Hate her?
But Xylara didn't know this.
The girl before her was not the child she remembered.
Six years ago, Vynessa had been a sweet, bright, beautiful little girl.
Now?
She was still beautiful—but in a way that was utterly twisted.
A cruel beauty.
A blood-loving beauty.
And that was the only thing left of the girl she once knew.
Vynessa smirked.
Bloodlust shimmered in her violet eyes.
Had it not been for the undeniable pull of the mate bond, had they not discovered that Xylara was connected to them…
She would already be dead.
The mere thought drove Vynessa insane with excitement.
She could see it in her mind—
"Lycius would use his scythe to behead her with absolute precision, and then I would use my force manipulation to extract the blood from her body into my sub-space container…"
The scene was so vivid in her imagination that Lycius saw glimpses of it through their bond.
His lips curled in amusement.
It was such a weak vision.
If he had been the one orchestrating it, he would have made it so much better.
He saw Vynessa as an angel—his angel—but one that had yet to reach her full potential.
If only she knew what true carnage looked like.
But that was a story for another day.
Right now, they had more important things to do.
Their hunger had returned.
Their wrath demanded an outlet.
And something innocent and lively needed to die.
Now.
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