---

Nour was burning up.

At the time, running into the burning villa to escape Lucy seemed like the prudent thing to do.

But as he ran through the flaming corridors, he’d once called home he realized that might have been a grave mistake.

His plan to lose Lucy in the conflagration had worked perfectly, but he hadn’t counted on the intensity of the blaze.

‘I can’t take much more of this’ thought Nour as he burst through yet another wall of flames that were obstructing his path

Summoning the very last dredges of mana he had at his disposal, Nour once again created a thin and icy aura around his body to protect himself from the all-encompassing heat.

Since running into the burning building this move had been his saving grace from the flames but that would no longer be the case anymore.

“Come on, come on…Yes! It should be right around… this corner” he said in relief to no one in particular just as he reached his destination

His icy soot covered figure barrel rolled through a set of heavy oak doors that led to his study.

Nour had previously  magically enchanted this place to become his last stronghold should he ever need it and right now he was happy that he’d had such foresight.

Thanks to the magical enchantment the doors would keep the fire at bay, but not for long

 “Fuck! Where is it? Where is it?” he searched the room frantically

‘I have to find it before that she-devil catches-Ah! There it is!’

Wasting no time, Nour frantically pulled at the book looking switch that led to his secret escape tunnel. And with a loud creak the bookcase looking secret door lurched open to reveal a dusty and shadowy set of stairs.

‘Now I can escape from right under their noses!’ thought Nour jubilantly before rapidly descending the tight and  dusty stairwell.

The sound of Nour’s rapidly beating heart continuously pounded in his ears as he nervously continued his escape.

 Every now and then the stairwell would tremble as the fire consumed more and more of the building’s infrastructure, causing Nour to sweat and shiver in nervousness even more.

But despite the trepidation he was currently feeling a nagging question was currently on his mind.

‘Damn it how could tonight have happened? This feels like a nightmare’

He tried not to, but as he rapidly descended the steps, he couldn’t help but think back to the battle just minutes before.

‘I can’t believe that low rank mage Mars was able to push me to this poin- No it’s that bitch Lucy’s fault! If she never showed up none of this would’ve ever happened! And what was with that strange power of hers? I’ve never seen anything like it. And those bats! She has to be a magical beast or something… Hmph, no matter. I’ll lay low for a few days after this then I’ll surely have my revenge. Once I’m all healed up that bastard Mars is dead and I’ll make sure I crucify and burn that bitch. No more second chances’

At that moment Nour’s descent using the stairs ended abruptly as he caught sight of a wooden door in front of him.

Illuminated by slivers of moonlight, Nour could see that behind the crudely built wooden door was the outside world just as he’d  planned .

With his freedom now close at hand Nour launched himself through the weak wooden door and landed squarely on a patch of grass  just outside the west wing of his villa.

“Haha I made it” he laughed in relief

From where he landed on the grass  Nour could see and here the sounds of the raging blaze overtaking the rest of his villa.

As he looked upon the rising ashes and embers floating up towards the sky all he could feel was bottomless rage.

Nour had poured his life savings into buying that villa. It would be no exaggeration to say he was literally watching thousands in gold coins burn right before his eyes.

“I swear it. Those two will-“

“Pay for what we’ve done?”   Lucy’s voice asked from a nearby patch of shadows

Whipping around where he stood Nour couldn’t believe his eyes as he observed Lucy’s unharmed figure appearing from the darkness.

“H-How?! Impossible!” he exclaimed in shock while trying to stumble away

“Nuh uh uh, where do you think you’re going” said Lucy as she roughly lifted and slammed the powerless mage, “I bet you’re surprised I knew about your little secret escape tunnel huh? Tsk Tsk Tsk you really must do better at securing sensitive information , too bad there’s no pill for regrets huh?”

As Nour tried in futile to crawl away Lucy lifted him up by the throat once again.

“W-wait…P-please I… have…gold. I’m…useful!”

“Oh! You’ll be giving me that gold…and so much more”

With unrestrained glee Lucy maneuvered her mouth to Nour’s strained neck as her fangs slowly elongated .

“W-what are you?!” he screeched as black dots began to dance in front of his vision.

At the sight of Lucy’s fearsome fangs, Nour threw all the strength he had into one last try at struggling free from Lucy’s grasp, but it was to no avail.

Her grip around him and his neck were ironclad and inescapable.

“Thanks again for the ring” Lucy whispered with a snicker as her fangs finally made contact with Nour’s clammy skin.

Upon piercing his throbbing jugular,  warm and energizing blood by the mouthful began to flow into Lucy’s body.

The blood of the once mighty quasi–Great Mage rank ice mage was cool and refreshing on Lucy’s taste buds, nothing like the spicy and electric taste of Mars’s but she could tell that the viscous liquid was similarly rife with tyrannical blood energy.

“Aaah” he screamed in futility

As Lucy absorbed the huge amounts of blood energy with reckless abandon soon her body began to exude a shocking blood red aura.

‘I can feel… so much… power!’ she exclaimed to herself in glee

Her gold eyes shined brighter while her alabaster skin seemed to glow softly and even her claw like nails lengthened as they visibly increased in durability.

Lucy’s once seemingly frozen cultivation also began to skyrocket as she felt the blood energy in her body reaching the required levels for a breakthrough.

Frighteningly efficient!

Such was the vampire’s hallmark ability of consumption and assimilation.

Thanks to this uncanny trait, vampires could drink the blood of their victims and convert the power obtained into blood energy for their own cultivation.

Very little if any energy at all was wasted in this process, ensuring that vampires always reaped the full benefits.

A short while later Lucy finally loosened her vicelike grip, and with a dull thump the ice mage’s dead and dried up corpse hit the ground.

‘Mmm I feel unstoppable. More importantly I believe I can breakthrough to the Sire rank now! It’s surely took long enough. But I probably shouldn’t have my advancement just yet  there’s still many loose ends to take care of’

 

Lucy licked her lips and tried to calm the boiling blood inside of her. 

Just when the pulsing crimson aura around her figure subsided a bit Lucy felt a sudden tremble from the depths of her dead heart

‘Sera!’

“Sera!” she said and felt at the same time.

‘I must get to her, this can only be one thing!’

---