To His Hell and Back-Chapter 278: They Call Me Death-I

Arabella thrashed in Johann’s grip, her fingernails digging into his skin in a desperate attempt to break free. But his grasp only tightened, cruel and unrelenting, as if he meant to peel her scalp from her skull with sheer force.

"The sword," Johann snapped to his companion, dragging the others out of their daze. They had been staring, entranced by Arabella’s struggle, by the fury burning in her eyes rather than fear.

One of them quickly unsheathed a blade, tossing it to Johann. He caught it with ease and smirked, the expression slicing across his face like a wound.

"I’ll never understand why humans think they can defy us," Johann said, his voice dripping with cold amusement. "So soft. So predictable. Always crying, always hoping. And yet still convinced they have power."

He tilted her chin up with the edge of the blade, relishing the tears brimming in her eyes. But when he looked closer, he faltered.

It wasn’t despair staring back at him.

It was rage. The uncontrollable rage that for the first time Arabella had ever felt.

It was such a pure anger that she couldn’t describe, almost driving her insane.

Hurting her was one thing- but to hurt the people around her? That was the limit for Arabella.

Something inside her had whispered to attack Johann but her body was much too powerless against these vampires. Her eyes moved to the gun across her, and the firm decision to kill the vampire entered her head.

Arabella’s gaze burned with a silent, seething fury— unyielding and unafraid. Upon the glare, Johann’s smirk faded. He didn’t like it when prey stopped being pitiful. He didn’t like it when they looked back like they might bite.

"You’re not powerful," he said, more to himself now than to her. "You’re nothing. You live because we let you."

But Arabella wasn’t listening.

She couldn’t listen to his words anymore as suddenly something twist inside her body. The whispers to attack Johann seemed to have grown stronger to the point she could almost hear the voice of a man whispering beside her in such a deadly seduce, "This one is easy to kill."

Arabella refused to listen to the voice, not because she didn’t want to kill the vampires- hell she wanted to do it herself.

Rather it was due to how the voice slipped into her ears, as though it was going to push her from her consciousness, wanting to take control of her once she feed into his words.

"Are you scared?"

Arabella didn’t answer, she couldn’t- after all the person who speaks to her wasn’t tangible. He wasn’t in front of her- he was inside her head.

"It’s alright if you are scared," his voice seemed to thin a little yet his tone though deadly seemed so gentle, like the voice of a concerned father. "I’ll take care of it for you."

But how?

"I’ll kill them for you."

No.

"Just rest."

Her heart thundered. The pain at the back of her skull had morphed into something unrecognizable— heat, pressure, a blistering force that surged through her like molten fire. Her blood boiled. Her breath came short. The world spun.

And then it changed.

"Arabella?" Isabelle’s voice reached her through the haze, but it sounded distant, as though echoing from behind a closed door. She tried to reach out for her from the ground— but the moment their skin touched, Isabelle recoiled.

Arabella’s flesh was burning hot. So hot that her fingers seemed to have scalded.

Isabelle couldn’t reel the fact into her head as the next moment, she saw how Arabella gasped, her body slumping forward. The forest suddenly turned empty. The change in the air was clear and though they couldn’t understood what had happened, they could feel it, like a thin thread had wreathe around their neck, ready to kill them.

The vampires around her tensed, their grins faltering. Even Isabelle paused, eyes narrowing.

Johann scoffed after a while, refusing to admit that the human had scared him for a moment. "Scared herself to death?" he mocked. "Perfect. Makes the beheading easier."

He raised his sword, the gleaming blade ready to be colored red. ƒreewebɳovel.com

But a hand yanked him back.

"Wait. Look—" His friends’s words died on his tongue as his gaze dropped to Arabella’s hands. Johann who was confused followed his line of sight and there did he saw the black marks that appeared from her fingertips.

And they were moving.

Her fingers twitched violently, spasms jerking through them, and then— something began to emerge. Black markings surfaced beneath her skin, like ink rising through paper. Letters. Symbols. Something so ancient to them.

None of them recognized the script. It was too old, too foreign. The language didn’t belong to this era— or perhaps even this world.

The markings twisted up her arms, coiling around her elbows like vines made of fire and shadow. They shimmered faintly, as though pulsing with breath.

"Wh- what is that?" one vampire choked out, stumbling back. The shock caused for him to fall on his bottom, crushing the leaves beneath him.

Even Johann’s grip loosened, the sword in his hand lowering unconsciously as he stared, entranced and unsettled.

The runes writhed as if alive. And Arabella... moved.

Not like a girl in pain.

Like something waking up.

Her hair lifted slightly, as though caught in a current of wind that no one else could feel. The air thickened. A strange hum began to build around her, a low vibration that made their bones ache, their fangs retract, their instincts scream.

As Johann shifted his gaze to Arabella’s face, his entire body shivered in goosebumps when suddenly she snapped open her eyes, staring at him with such empty look on her bright green eyes.

Arabella’s eyes opened.

They were glowing.

The eerie green glow from her eyes seemed to have gotten brighter, as though it was alive.

"What the fuck is that?!" Johann demanded for answer but no one there could reply, not even Isabelle who thought she had known everything about Arabella.

Arabella slowly moved from the ground, her arms stiffly moving like a puppet. Finally after a brief struggle, like a fawn who had just learned how to walk did she stood up straight.

Her eyes slowly focused on her enemies and suddenly a wide grin colored her once paled face.