When the new demon looked up and their eyes met, a shock wave surged through his body and heart. It was hard to miss the golden sparkles in her grey eyes and something in him told him that she was the one he has been waiting for. The one he has been looking for. The one his heart has been yearning for.

It felt like his never-ending hunger was finally satiated and thirst finally quenched. This feeling of completeness was so amazing and sudden that it surprised him. How could it compare to what he felt when he saw that fake angel?

Only now did he take pride in the fact that she was the only newly created demon that seemed to keep her senses. There was clarity in her eyes and not crazed madness. Her aura was a perfect stable hue of murky red which represented hate. This meant that her power was likely going to be stable and she would not have to struggle with the issue of fleeting emotions. The one he has always been waiting for was definitely not someone simple.

This led to his curiosity about her ability, identity, and behaviour. Understanding how eating was like an addictive drug to demons like her and how the quality of meat was like the quality of a drug, he could already guess that the meat tasted passable at best. Why would she not give up her human ways despite becoming a full-fledged demon?

She continued to impress him with her intuition and he lost all thought and will of leaving her side. It really pleased him that he was the one teaching her and not anyone else because this meant that her attention was completely on him. 

He could not help but feel tempted to tease her. The thought of her leaving him out of annoyance had not crossed his mind so when she turned her back on him, it shocked and angered him. No one has done that to him before ever since he came to power. Even angels did not dare to take their eyes off of him for fear that he would take their lives. More than that, another emotion built up inside him the longer he stared at her retreating back. 

The intense sense of loss made him desperate to keep her by his side no matter what. That was why he immediately teleported them into the dimension between earth and hell to give her what she asked for. For things like this, it was better to experience it first rather than learning through words.

After he calmed down with her pointing out his irrationality, he mentally reviewed their fight and was once again thoroughly impressed by her adaptability. He had confidence in her ability to learn and grow, especially under pressure, so he had no qualms about using himself as the subject of experiment for her hellfire.

Unexpectedly, her murky red aura turned increasingly intense the longer he left her to her thoughts. Such occurrences were normal if they were in the middle of a battle and would have been fine since she would have a balance of input and output. If this happened when there were no outlet, her power could rampage within her and turn against her, especially when she did not have any experience with containing a large power within her yet.

Although he had looked carefree on the surface in an effort to distract her, he carried unspoken questions and worries in his heart.

Why? Who was her hate directed at? Why did she change into a demon? She would have to feel enough hate that was comparable to a demon's hate for the change to be possible. The process is disgusting, painful, long, and arduous after all. What happened to her?

He was already willing to do anything to keep her by his side, now coupled with the recollection of the torture she must have went through to become a demon, it made him want to spoil her and give her a life that would keep her happy and satisfied by his side. 

He knew that it was probably crazy and out of the blue to be feeling this way for someone he just met, however he felt as if he knew her from long before. Perhaps this was the effect from dreaming about her for a long time. He never cared about the details after that, only doing what he wanted.

Although it was unexpected that she would ask to rest, he willingly went along with it. He felt so comfortable and at ease beside her that he was sound asleep before he knew it. It had been a dreamless peaceful sleep but it was not long later when it became a fitful one.

He sensed as if something precious was getting further away from him and he had to desperately chase after it or he will lose it forever but he was trapped in an endless dark space. He looked all around him and ran all over to try and find a way out. He tried to use his powers but nothing was working. Suddenly, a feeling of dread filled him from head to toe and made him freeze in his steps. He very slowly turned around to look behind him with bated breath. The moment he caught sight of the still body floating in a sea of red, he felt his blood run cold.

Vlad's eyes flew open to reveal eyes so black that one could not tell a difference between his pupil and iris. He sat up straight and looked around fervently. Where is she?

He looked at his hands and saw that they were completely fine. Was it all just a dream? It was just a dream?

For some reason her image in his mind became weaker and weaker the more he tried to recall how she looked. He could only remember her silhouette vaguely and that blood was everywhere. I thought that I finally found her. It felt so real... ... ...How horrible... To have a taste of what it is like to be with her only to be alone again.

His shoulders slouched, he hung his head low, and he clenched his hands tightly. The black of his eyes spread such that his originally white sclera became black too. Black thin wisps of smoke began swirling around him and the vegetation around him began decaying almost instantly. The decay spread outwards in a circle with him as the centre. Any animals, including birds flying, in the vicinity would drop dead immediately and become reduced to ashes, leaving not even bones behind.

"What're you doing now?!"

The most beautiful sound he would ever hear in his life rang out loud and clear. His eyes became as wide as saucers and he snapped his head up to look at her in utter shock. She was standing just outside the circumference of the devastation that surrounded him with a shocked expression as well.

When Vanora had walked away from Vlad and calmed her emotions down somewhat, she realised that she could hear a faint sound of water crashing some distance away. Understanding that it was likely a waterfall, she decided to check it out. Perhaps she could take a quick bath if time permitted.

She ran towards the source of the sound.

It did not take long for her to reach her destination. It turned out that she was at the bottom of the small waterfall and the area was quite secluded with dense vegetation all around. She estimated that she was around 2 kilometres away from Vlad.

Not worrying about the time she would take to return when he woke up, she took the time to stare at her reflection in the water. Before this, she never had the chance to properly observe her appearance in this world.

According to the original soul's memories, she had short shoulder length dark brown hair. However, what she saw now was a full mane of blood red hair. She looked horribly unkempt with all that she had been through. Even the blood and dirt that was on her mouth had not been washed off and she was covered in more grime and dirt. She looked at her faded brown clothes that consisted of a simple shirt held together with a cloth string and baggy knee-length shorts. Her body was not exactly fully developed either. She was still a malnourished 16 years old.

What beauty was he talking about? His eyes are probably faulty.

BaoBao kept quiet as he did not know how to defend Vlad. It was true that she looked in no way presentable to anyone.

She stripped out of her dirty clothes that were more like rags by now and briefly washed them in the river. She hung them on a low branch of a nearby tree before entering the cold river. After rubbing off all the blood, dirt, and grime and rinsing through her hair, she relaxed in the water and was about to review her earlier battle with Vlad when BaoBao informed her of him waking up.

He doesn't look good. You better rush.

Vanora hastily put on her wet clothes and ran back to Vlad.

It took around 2 minutes for her to reach him and she already noticed from a distance away that there was a growing sphere of devastation spreading from him. She stopped a distance away from him and yelled out to him, "What're you doing now?!"

When she was met with his pitch black eyes, her heart jumped. She knew that Vlad has black eyes but had not been prepared to see it in person. Her brows slowly knitted together as she noticed that his eyes seemed to be glistening in the sun.

Is he...?

He's crying. Vanora. He's crying. Is this norma-

He teleported to her immediately and held her in a tight embrace.

"You're real! You're really here!"

Now that Vanora was prepared for an overly dramatic response from him, she responded a little faster. She immediately patted his back and comforted him. "Of course I am. Did you have a bad dream?"

"I thought that everything that happened between us was a mere dream. I woke up to find that I was all alone and that my hands had no signs of being burnt by hellfire. I didn't like it one bit." He explained while still holding onto her tightly.

"What are you talking about?" She gently pushed him away and grabbed his arms to hold it up. When she looked at him to talk again, his eyes has already returned to its red colour. "Look at how your sleeves are almost burnt to your shoulders. How did you miss this?"

His face held surprise which gradually changed to an expression like he just had a revelation. Vanora sighed. He did not seem this emotional nor careless in the book. She really wondered why he was acting in such a way around her. "Anyway about me being apart from you, I simply went to take a quick bath."

He blankly stared at her and finally noticed her damp clothes and hair. She was already half dried from the wind created from running at a fast speed. He brought his hand to the top of her head and gently combed his fingers through her hair. His eyes obviously lingered on her neck before his gaze traveled along her jaw to her pale pink lips. He gulped noisily as he could not help but picture her bathing in the river and leaned ever so slightly towards her.

Vanora was calm this time because she has reasoned to herself earlier that he was simply acting out of lust being the demon that he was. She got ready to stop him the moment he got too close but he stopped suddenly. He looked off in a distance behind her with a serious look, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Sorry, I've been neglecting your needs." He smiled wryly. "I'll bring you to a place for a good bath."