LOGINRAYMOND'S POV
I ran until I reached the sleek black car and practically threw myself inside.
I couldn't see what was happening in the alley through the tinted windows.
I simply sat there, shaking.
When the door to the car opened a minute later, I jerked in fright.
But it was only Jude who slid into the driver's seat with nary a hair out of place.
There was only a small film of blood sitting on his white shirt.
"Are you alright?" he asked without looking at me, staring ahead.
I nodded, too shocked to speak.
"Good," he said and started the car. "We have a lot to talk about."
I couldn't get the screams out of my head as he began to drive away.
I kept replaying what I had witnessed in that dark alley.
I remembered his movements that were too fast for the human eyes to track.
He had torn through those vampires like they were made out of paper.
I could still see the blood that splattered across the brick walls.
There were the limbs he had torn off and the heads he had separated from bodies.
"You're shaking," he pointed out with his eyes on the road.
"You killed them all," I whispered.
My hands wouldn't stop trembling even after I pressed them into my thighs.
"You just... ripped them apart."
"They deserved it since they dared to touch what belongs to me."
I noticed that his knuckles turned white from gripping the steering wheel.
"Nobody touches what is mine."
The car suddenly swerved, and he pulled into an empty parking lot.
He cut the engine and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes.
"What is wrong?" I asked him as I noticed how pale he had become.
"I am fine, just drained from using too much power," he said through gritted teeth.
He turned to me, his mismatched eyes fixing on me
"I need blood."
My stomach dropped. "Now?"
"Yes, Raymond, now."
"Can't you wait until—"
"Raymond," he growled, "You can either willingly give me your blood or I can take it by force. It is your choice."
I swallowed hard, tugging at my collar as fear threatened to smother me.
"Fine."
Jude unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over the center console.
His cold hand gently brushed my cheek as he turned my head to expose my neck.
I flinched when his lips met my skin.
"Relax," he murmured. "It will only hurt more if you are tense."
I tried to steady my breathing just as his fangs sank into my neck.
I gasped.
But the sharp pain quickly melted into that same strange pleasure from before.
The heat that flooded my entire body pooled in my groin.
My teeth clamped down on my lower lip to stop myself from making any embarrassing sounds.
But a soft moan escaped anyway.
Jude pulled back slightly with blood—my blood—on his lips.
"You seem to be enjoying this," he smirked before glancing down at my bulge.
My face burned with shame as I realized then that I was hard.
"It's not... I don't..."
"Your body can't lie, Raymond."
He leaned back and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"And neither does mine."
My eyes followed his lowered gaze and landed on the bulge in his slacks.
When I lifted my gaze, our eyes met again, and something electric circled us.
And before I could process what was happening, his lips crashed onto mine.
It was nothing like our first kiss.
This one was hungry, raw and demanding in a primal way that aroused me.
I lied to myself that he was just neutralizing the venom again.
But this was different.
I knew it deep down
His hands were everywhere—in my hair, on my chest and sliding down my thighs.
He cupped my bulge and squeezed.
I moaned and he used the opportunity to further deepen the kiss.
I pushed him back then, coming right back to reality.
"Stop," I managed to say breathlessly. "I told you that I'm straight."
"And I told you I don't care," he growled before grabbing my wrists.
I tried to push him away but he pinned them above my head with one hand.
His other hand was still on my thigh, inching higher and higher.
My body was hot, my brain clouded by everything that was him.
I wanted him so badly.
The evidence of desire in my pants was enough testament to that.
"Let me go!" I stammered, heaving.
Jude's eyes darkened.
"You signed the contract and now you are mine to do with as I please."
"This wasn't in the contract!" I screamed with a mixture of fear and anxiety.
"You should have read the fine print," he whispered evilly against my ear.
"What fine print?"
"Paragraph six state that I can have you sexually whenever I want."
A shiver of anticipation ran down my spine as I realized that he had played me.
His tongue traced my skin and I closed my eyes in a bid to ignore how good his touch felt and how my body responded to it.
My mind protested.
Suddenly, the air whooshed around us and I felt a strange pulling sensation.
When I opened my eyes again, we weren't in the car anymore.
We were in what looked like a massive bedroom with dark furniture.
It had floor to floor ceiling windows that I didn't recognize.
"What... how..." I stammered, looking around in disbelief.
"Teleportation," Jude said casually as if he was explaining why the sky was blue.
I backed away from him until my legs hit the edge of the bed.
"Take me home."
"This is your home now."
My head snapped up from panic in time to see him stalk towards me.
He stood, unbuttoning his shirt.
"Remember that you have to move in at the end of the week anyways. I just assisted you to speed up the timeline."
"You can't just kidnap me!" I screamed as my jaw trembled with fright.
"It didn't. You agreed to it."
He tossed his shirt aside and revealed eight stone and that were covered in tattoos and symbols that I didn't recognize.
"Now, where were we?"
I tried to dart around him but he caught me easily and tossed me onto the bed.
The impact instantly knocked oxygen out of my lungs and he was on top of me before I could recover.
He held me down and straddled me as he pinned my wrists down.
"Let me go," I muttered weakly.
Waves of heat washed over me as the mark on my neck fervently began to burn.
I squirmed underneath him as our bodies rubbed together.
The frottage delivered a kind of pleasure that forced me to be still.
"You're still in pain," Jude observed as his eyes travelled over my body. "It seems that the kiss wasn't enough this time."
"Then bite me again," I suggested desperately. "Quell the pain."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"There's another way."
"What? There is?" My brows furrowed, and I instantly had a bad feeling crawling up my chest.
He smirked and leaned down to brush his lips against my pinna.
"Yes. There is something that will make the pain stop instantly."
"What is it….?" I drawled, my eyes widening in anticipation
"Suck my cock, Raymond."
Jude’s POV“Morning’s quiet for once,” Raymond said, light already spilling through the broken-in windows.“Feels wrong,” I muttered, dragging on a shirt, the soft cotton still smelling of smoke and metal. “No alarms, no assholes trying to kill us.”He grinned, brushing my arm. “We earned it.”“Damn right.” I looked out across the stronghold. The ruins finally looked alive again—market stalls half-built, kids running where we’d once fought. The world breathing again.“You thinking about the blade?” he asked, joining me by the window.“Always. Thing started all this.”“It ended it too.”“Yeah,” I said, watching the sunlight flare off the rebuilt tower. “Guess that’s balance.”Dante’s boots thudded behind us. “You two lovebirds up yet? There’s breakfast—or something that pretends to be breakfast.”Raymond laughed. “If it’s your cooking, I’m skipping.”“Smart man,” Dante said, clapping him on the back. “But eat anyway. Akira says we’re toasting the end of the world at noon.”“End of the
Raymond’s POVMorning light crept across the stone floor like it had finally chosen to forgive this place. It caressed the walls of our repaired chambers in the fortress, soft gold oozing through the gaps Jude still hadn’t filled. He constantly stated, “Let the light remind us what we survived.”I blinked awake to the sound of him talking over a skillet. The stench of burning eggs hit first.“Ray,” he murmured, voice scratchy with sleep. “Don’t you dare say anything about the smoke.”I sat up, stretching till my shoulders split. “Wasn’t gonna. I was just going to compliment the… um, texture?”He flashed me a look over his shoulder—part threat, half smirk. “Texture’s fine. You’re eating it anyway.”That’s Jude. Gruff as hell, but there’s a warmth under every cuss word. He pushed a plate in front of me and leaned against the counter, like he wasn’t watching for my reaction. I forked a bite, chewed dramatically, and nodded.“Perfect,” I said. “Tastes like victory and mild carbon.”He lau
Jude's POVThe house was too quiet.Way too quiet.The kind of silence that was dense, heavy, and strange, like fog. The wind always sounded odd when it hissed at the windows, like a whisper that didn't belong there.I stood in the middle of the room with no shirt on and runes carved into the floor around me. I could sense Raymond's power, a faint silver light, shimmering in the air and throbbing across my skin like a heartbeat. The last piece of the curse was buried deep inside me. It was eating away at the edges of my thoughts.Raymond moved quietly behind me. I knew it was him without even turning around. His warmth and the subtle pulse of his energy, which had been as familiar as my own breath, were palpable to me.He muttered, "You're trembling."I let out a quiet sigh. "Not out of fear."He turned to look at me, his face exhibiting a mixture of fierce resolve and fear. "Isn't it still inside you? The hunter's thing. "Yes." My voice sounded harsh. "It is inextricably linked
Raymond’s POV“Stay behind me,” Jude growls, shadows sliding across the cracked stone. “That bastard’s still breathing.”“I’m not hiding,” I say, voice rough. “This ends with me.”“Hell it does,” he mutters, stepping forward, eyes burning red. “You think I’m letting some ghost from your past take another swing?”The air’s heavy with smoke and relic dust. The ruins of the cache still glow faint, blue veins pulsing like dying stars. Every breath tastes like iron.“He’s close,” Akira says, low. Her eyes scan the darkness. “Tracks go through that archway. Burn marks—same weapon type.”“Seraphin steel,” I whisper. “Old pattern.”“Then it’s personal,” Dante grunts. “Let’s smoke him out.”I shake my head. “No. I face him first.”Jude turns to me, jaw tight. “Ray—”“This is mine,” I say. “He came for me. For what I am.”Jude’s shadows twitch. “Then I’m right beside you.”“Always,” I say.He gives a low, dark laugh. “Damn right.”We step through the arch. The air shifts—cold, sharp. The Master
Jude’s POVThe first explosion hit before I could finish cursing.Stone dust rained down from the ceiling, coating the relics in pale ash. The tremor ripped through the ruins, shaking the floor under our boots.“Shit—” I spun, instinct kicking in. “They found us.”Raymond’s head snapped toward the breach. The relic cache we’d just unlocked—its walls still pulsing with Seraphin light—flared like a beacon for every hunter in the goddamn world. I felt his pulse through the bond: sharp, alert, scared—but ready.“Back-to-back,” I ordered, drawing my blade. “We hold this ground.”He smirked despite the chaos. “You mean you hold it while I play flashlight again?”“Don’t start,” I growled. “You burn too hot and you’ll drain yourself—”A screech cut me off. The first wave crashed through the broken archway—half a dozen Guild hunters, armored in black ashsteel. They came in like a storm of blades.I met them head-on.Steel rang. Sparks flew. I parried one blow, twisted, and slammed my hilt into
Raymond’s POV“Looks like the rogues left us a damn treasure chest,” Jude muttered, eyes glinting red under the ruined outpost’s flickering lights.“Treasure?” I said. “You mean the cache that tried to eat your shadows five minutes ago?”He smirked. “Yeah, that one. You coming or staying scared?”“Scared?” I stepped over the cracked altar, dust and rune ash sticking to my boots. “You were the one who said, ‘Don’t touch anything glowing.’”“That was before you started touching everything glowing.”I grinned. “You said to stay curious.”“I said stay alive.”“Same difference.”He gave that low growl that always sent a shiver through me. “You keep talking like that, sunshine, and I’ll pin you to that wall.”“You threaten me with a good time?”“Maybe I promise.”The air hummed between us, heavy with old magic.Akira’s voice cut in from behind the rubble. “If you two are done flirting, there’s a lock mechanism here. It’s breathing.”“Breathing?” I asked.“Like a heart,” she said. “Relic cac







