The Villains Must Win-Chapter 286: Vampire Hunt 46

Lucian fought.

He charged again, blade flashing, fury cutting through despair. Every strike was aimed to kill, every swing a scream of defiance against Selis’s betrayal.

But Salister caught his blade with one hand, his grip iron, his expression unbothered. Emerald’s laughter, sharp and melodic, rang behind him, like the sound of glass breaking.

"Still the righteous fool," Salister taunted. "You fight as if one man can kill me."

"He’s not entirely human, my love," Emerald said softly and smiled mockingly. "He’s half vampire."

Lucian snarled, twisting his blade, but Emerald’s hand flicked, and an invisible force slammed him across the sanctum.

He hit the ground hard, blood spilling from his mouth as the weight of her magic pinned him like an insect beneath glass.

And through the haze of pain, his eyes found Selis again.

Selis stood frozen, her expression unreadable.

The Selis who laughed too loud, teased him relentlessly, and burned with stubborn hope was gone. What remained was a mask—blank, almost cold.

Lucian slammed against the wall again, the air ripped from his lungs as Salister’s clawed hand pressed down on his chest like an iron vice.

The half-vampire’s ribs creaked under the pressure, his body threatening to cave in. Salister’s crimson eyes glowed with hunger. This time, he wasn’t toying with him. This time, he meant to kill.

"Stop!" Selis’s voice cracked like a whip.

She darted forward, planting herself between them before Salister’s strike fell. Her hands flung wide, desperate but firm. "Wait! I freed Emerald—just like you asked. That was the deal! Order your vampires to stop this war. Leave the humans be!"

Salister paused, his fangs bared, gaze narrowing. His grip on Lucian loosened, but only slightly. "Leave them alive?" he repeated, as if the thought itself was absurd. "As long as your kind walks this world, they will hunt Emerald again. They will bleed her dry the moment they find her."

"This isn’t what we agreed on!" Selis’s eyes sharpened with fury. She glared at him, her voice slicing the air.

Salister chuckled low, a predator amused by its prey’s defiance. "You’re right, little human. My deal was with you, and I intend to honor it . . ." He glanced sideways, toward the chained figure who was no longer chained, who stood with a beauty as terrible as fire. His lips curved into something softer. "But what about my love? Does her voice not matter more than yours?"

Emerald stepped forward, her golden curls gleaming in the torchlight, her blood-red eyes alight with venom. "Humans have imprisoned me for nearly a century. Shackled me. Drained me until I was nothing more than a vessel for their greed." Her voice trembled with fury. "You ask me for mercy? No. I will not rest until every last one of them is brought to their knees."

The venom in her tone made Selis’s gut twist, but she forced herself to smirk anyway. "Hah. Just as expected. Villain couple through and through."

Emerald’s lips curved into a chilling smile. Salister squeezed her hand, pride flickering in his gaze.

"So you see," he said smoothly, "my beloved will never back down. Even if I wanted to spare your kind, Emerald will not allow it. She will end the humans herself."

Selis’s breath hitched, but her voice was steady when she asked, "So you’re saying . . . you’ll still kill all the humans? And this war will never stop?"

Emerald tilted her head, and then laughed—a lilting, cruel sound that echoed across the sanctum walls. "Not all. I’ll keep enough alive . . . as livestock for blood."

"Damn it, Selis!" Lucian coughed blood, staggering upright, his sword trembling in his hand. His eyes burned holes through her. "I told you they couldn’t be trusted! I told you, and you—!" His words broke into a snarl of rage. "You idiot!"

Selis sighed, her shoulders slumping with a strange acceptance. "Yeah. I already knew this was how it would go." Her eyes drifted to Emerald, then back to Lucian. A hollow smile tugged at her lips. "After all, what did you expect from the villains of this story?"

And then she said it. The words that silenced them all.

"Then turn us into one of you."

The room froze.

Lucian’s eyes widened in shock, the crimson glow in them flashing like lightning. Salister raised a brow, intrigued, while Emerald’s predatory smirk faltered for the first time.

". . . What?" Lucian’s voice tore through the stillness, raw and sharp.

Selis’s smile deepened, calm in the face of his fury. "I’m not going to be on the losing side of this war. If humanity’s doomed . . . then make me like you."

Lucian roared, fury exploding out of him like fire. "You’d rather become a monster than fight for who you are?! You’d rather be their pet than a human?!"

"Don’t be so dramatic," Selis said lightly, though her eyes betrayed the tremor in her chest. "It’s survival, Lucian. I’ve never loved humans anyway. So yes—I’d rather live. And you—" she tilted her head toward him with a sly grin, "—you’re already half vampire. You’d hardly notice the difference."

Salister hummed thoughtfully. "A pragmatic answer. I like her."

Emerald’s voice cut like velvet steel. "The only reason I haven’t drained you dry, little girl, is because you freed me. That earns you mercy. And that boy . . ." her blood-red gaze slid to Lucian, "already carries my blood. Whether he likes it or not, that makes him like my son."

Lucian’s body trembled with rage. "Whose son?! Don’t you dare—don’t you dare claim me, you wretched—!" His words dissolved into a roar. "I’d rather die than bow to you!"

Emerald blurred forward in an instant, her speed beyond human sight. Her pale hand gripped Lucian’s throat, slamming him against the wall once more. Her fangs glistened in the dim light, so close to his neck he could feel her cold breath against his skin.

"Careful, boy," she whispered, her voice dripping with menace. "With my blood inside you and my powers no longer shackled, I could make you obey me with a single word. Your struggles only make the temptation sweeter."

Lucian’s chest heaved as he glared at her, his defiance unbroken. "You . . . will never own me."

Emerald’s chuckle was soft, mocking, almost affectionate. "Oh, how deliciously stubborn. That only makes me want you more."

Her fangs sank into his neck.

Lucian’s roar of fury reverberated through the chamber, echoing against stone walls as Selis stood frozen, her heart tearing itself apart.