From the cracked stone windowsill, I crouched and stared inside her room.
Seishan was there — her gray skin glimring softly under the moonlight that poured through the stained glass. She wore a thin nightgown that clung to her body, the fabric pale and near transparent. Every slow movent of her breathing made the light catch along her curves.
She froze, sensing . Her expression twisted between irritation and sothing that looked like resignation.
Her lips parted. "Please, Alucard… you've got to stop coming into my room unannounced in the middle of the night." She sighed, her voice hushed and lodic. "What if I was changing?"
I leaned lazily against the fra, smirking.
"I'd die a happy man, Sei."
My grin widened. "Anyway, how about you invite in? Sitting on this ledge is killing my back."
She sighed again — longer this ti — and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"You're invited inside my room, Alucard."
Before she could blink, I pushed off the window, flipped backward through the air, and landed flat on her mattress with a heavy bounce.
"Thank you," I said, lacing my fingers behind my head and closing my eyes.
I reached into my armor and placed a tal bucket near her nightstand. The dark liquid inside rippled faintly under the candlelight.
"Your supply," I said. "Freshly harvested. Don't drink it all at once."
Her eyes softened for just a second.
I'd beco her supplier — the one who kept her alive. There was sothing faintly satisfying about that.
I stretched, sinking into the soft sheets, and continued talking.
"Sooo… Sei, about that paynt for the at I brought to the castle — and the blood I gave you." I peeked one eye open, grinning like the devil himself. "If you don't have the mories to pay with, you could always pay in another way."
Her skin darkened, almost black, and she turned her face away, muttering under her breath. I caught sothing about a "handso bastard." No idea who that was.
"As you requested, Alucard," she said finally, her tone edged with irritation. "I have your mories."
I sat up imdiately, catching her cold hands in mine. We were both blood-born — no warmth, no pulse — but there was sothing faintly alive in her touch. A subtle heat that wasn't physical.
"Then how about we make the transfer?" I said quietly. "Crossbow and arrow mories are preferred."
Seishan hesitated for a heartbeat, then looked directly in the eyes. The connection snapped like a current — bright and cold.
The air filled with a whisper from the Spell:
[You have received a mory: Swift Crossbow]
[You have received a mory: Piercing Arrow]
[You have received a mory: Double Shot Arrow]
"Perfect," I said, grinning. "Sei, I could almost kiss you."
She opened her mouth to reply — but I was already gone.
I vaulted through the window, my cloak flaring out like a shadow given wings.
"See you again for our bedti activities!" I called, laughing as I fell.
The castle wall rushed up fast. I sliced my palm mid-air, letting blood spill freely. It shaped itself into a crimson spear, which I hurled downward. The spear pierced the wall, slowing my descent as I caught it and slid the rest of the way down.
When I landed, Beast was waiting — crouched low, its eyes glowing like dying coals. It growled softly in greeting.
"Miss ?" I asked. It tilted its head. I took that as a yes.
I absorbed the blood spear back into my hand with a faint hiss, then began walking. The moon hung low and fat, bleeding light over the ruins.
I passed a familiar hole in the outer wall — and there she was.
Aiko.
Still short, still hunched over a desk surrounded by flickering candles. Her small hands moved rapidly as she counted soul shards, muttering numbers under her breath. Cute in a gremlin sort of way.
I chuckled and flicked a soul shard through the gap, followed by a letter. It landed neatly on her desk. She looked up, startled, scanning the shadows like she might finally catch this ti.
She didn't, of course.
This had beco our ritual — anonymous notes, half-mocking, half-helpful. I never signed my na. I'd send her tips: which parts of the Dark City were safe, hat information to sell, what areas the Host avoided. She'd leave letters back, tucked into the wall.
Once upon a ti, she tried to catch in person. Now, she just smiled when she saw the letters.
I lingered for a second longer, watching her face in the dim light — that flicker of peace she got when she worked.
Then I turned, gaze drifting toward the faint glow of the upper district. The ho where Effie lived.
My jaw tightened.
I could pay her a visit. Or Kai.
But why would I?
They abandoned — left to rot, to be devoured by that fiend.
I could forgive Aiko. Even Seishan.
Maybe, one day, I could forgive Kai.
But Effie… no. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
If she wanted forgiveness, she'd have to earn it — bleed for it.
The wind carried the faint echo of the city's heart — screams, laughter, and the endless hum of nightmares. I walked deeper into it. The streets grew narrower, darker, alive with whispers.
Unseen eyes followed from the shadows, and sowhere behind , I heard the faint rhythm of footsteps.
I didn't look back.
If sothing wanted to follow into the abyss, then let it.
The city swallowed whole — and I didn't resist.
I reached the cathedral. Its towers lood like the ribs of a dead god. I climbed up the side, slipping through a window into my quarters, and fell backward onto my bed.
The silence was almost comforting.
Then — a knock.
Three slow, deliberate taps.
I sat up.
"Have you heard," ca an almost familiar, cheerful Irish voice muffled through the door,
"of our Lord and Savior, the Sun God?"
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