Night Falls, I Am The King

I stood in a corner of the Crystal Dome Estate, the smell of engine oil mingling with the sweetness of champagne.

The medals in my pocket were digging into my ribs. I'd earned them three hundred years ago, on the battlefields of the Old World, when I was still trying to be human. Now they were just a reminder—a reminder that I shouldn't be in a place like this.

But Elena was there.

The daughter of her benefactor.

At the end of the long table, Lucas Valentine slammed a roll of parchment in front of Elena. It was a blood pact, the oldest form of marriage contract in the Dark Council. Once signed, she would belong to the Valentine family, her very soul subject to the Council's disposal.

“Three.” Lucas counted down, his pale fingers tapping the table. “The supply agreement for the special drug is now in my hands. Whether your mother’s life support device lasts one more day or one less day depends on your pen.”

Elena gripped the pen, her fingertips turning white. Wearing a faded dress, she stood amidst the silks and jewels like a fawn lost among wolves. Tears streamed silently down her face, landing on the parchment and spreading into a small ink stain.

"two."

My fist clenched tightly in my work pants pocket. My fingernails pierced my palms, and the taste of blood spread in my mouth.

Do not move.

Ten years ago, her father shielded her from a silver bullet fired by a Vatican demon hunter with his own body. Before he died, he clutched my collar, blood seeping from between his fingers, and uttered his last words: "Seal the power. Don't let the Vatican find you. Don't let Elena... live in that world."

I agreed.

So I repair cars. I take out the trash. I work the night shift at the junkyard. I watched Elena grow up, go to college, and take care of her seriously ill mother. I protect her from the shadows, never getting close.

Until Maria Hospital cut off the supply of the special medicine.

Until Lucas cornered her at the table.

"one."

Lucas stood up, clapping his hands with a sinister grin. Two massive, enhanced bodyguards approached—low-ranking, modified blood slaves, their muscles bulging and their eyes bloodshot. They grabbed Elena's shoulders and slammed her heavily onto the table.

She struggled. The chair overturned, making a screeching sound in the deathly silent hall.

"Wait! I'll sign! I'll sign!" she screamed.

Lucas waved his hand, his smile becoming increasingly twisted: "Too late. Your hesitation makes me very unhappy."

He picked up the silver letter cutter from the table and walked towards Elena. He pressed the blade against her index finger, intending to cut her skin and forcefully draw blood.

The dignitaries in the room watched the spectacle with their glasses in hand. The judges, police chiefs, and bankers of Kuroki City remained silent. This engagement banquet was not a ceremony, but a display—a display of the power of Lucas Valentine, the son of the Speaker, and a display of the desperate plight of his benefactor's orphan.

The blade touched Elena's fingertips.

I moved.

There is no vampire speed. There is no unsealed power. It is merely a sprint to the limit of human potential—learned three hundred years ago on the battlefield with flesh and blood.

I shoved aside the bodyguard on my left. The enhanced body staggered back two steps, knocking over a floor lamp, but was unharmed. I pulled Elena behind me, and she fell into my arms, her shoulders trembling like leaves in the wind.

The entire room fell silent for a second.

Then bursts of laughter erupted.

Lucas's companion—a high-ranking vampire in a blood-red dress—screamed sarcastically, "A poor driver like you dares to play the hero and save the damsel in distress?"

Lucas stared at me, his smile slowly fading. "I know you. The night shift driver at the junkyard. Do you know what you're doing?"

“I know,” I said, my voice hoarser than I had expected. “I don’t agree to this marriage.”

"Then kneel down." He pointed to the marble floor. "Kneel down and apologize, and I might consider sparing your life and letting you go back to smelling your engine oil."

I didn't move.

The medals pressed against my ribs like a piece of burning coal.

Lucas's face darkened completely, and he waved his hand: "Break his legs."

Four bodyguards surrounded them.

I have not been unsealed.

But the fighting techniques remain. The muscle memory of those who fought in human wars and crawled out of piles of corpses.

The first bodyguard threw a punch, but I sidestepped to deflect the force and elbowed him in the ribs. He groaned and staggered back.

The second one choked me from behind, and I lowered my head and bit his forearm—not with fangs, just human teeth. He screamed and let go.

The third and fourth pounced at once.

I can't escape it anymore.

A fist slammed into his face. His head hit the marble floor. The taste of blood rose in his throat.

Elena screamed, "Stop!"

I got up.

He was kicked down again. His knee slammed into the ground, and his bones groaned as he endured the strain.

Two ribs are broken. Blood is flowing from the corner of my mouth. My vision is blurring at the edges.

But every time I fall down, I immediately get up.

His eyes were fixed on Lucas.

Like watching the enemy general on the battlefield three hundred years ago.

The laughter gradually subsided. Glasses hung suspended in mid-air, no one taking a sip. The powerful and wealthy exchanged glances, their playful banter turning into an uneasy silence.

Lucas stopped laughing.

Feeling embarrassed, he walked over himself, lifted his foot, and his leather shoe hovered above my left hand, which was bracing me on the ground.

"Who do you think you are? A hero?" He looked down at me, his voice filled with the rage of being offended. "In Blackwood City, no one can defy the Valentine family. I'm going to break your hands so you'll never be able to hold a steering wheel again."

I waited for him to step on it.

Then, with his right hand, he grabbed his ankle from behind, channeling the last of his strength into his wrist, and twisted it forcefully.

The sound of bones cracking echoed through the hall.

Lucas screamed and collapsed to the ground, his face deathly pale, rolling on the Persian carpet clutching his broken leg. I used only the limits of human strength; I had no vampire speed, no supernatural abilities.

But that's enough.

I stood up and helped Elena up.

"Let's go."

The door closed behind me.

Outside, the cold night wind of Kuroki City carried the smell of the sea.

Elena gripped my arm, her voice trembling: "They'll come after us... my mother's medicine..."

"I'll figure something out."

She shook her head, tears welling up again: "You don't understand, Lucas controls the entire city of Blackwood. The police, the hospitals, the courts... no one can help us."

I looked into her eyes.

Those eyes were exactly like her father's.

"Believe me."

I heard Lucas's maniacal roar behind me. He dragged his broken leg to the door, pulled a large-caliber pistol from his coat pocket, and pointed it at the back of my head.

"stop!"

I didn't stop, and pulled Elena along as we continued down the steps.

Lucas's finger was on the trigger, his knuckles white. But he didn't fire. Every corner of the Crystal Dome Estate was under surveillance, and all the dignitaries present were witnesses. He could rule Blackwood City with absolute power, but he couldn't shoot a "human" in broad daylight.

No gunshots were fired.

Instead, there was the sharp crack of a glass shattering on marble. Lucas had smashed the glass; the sound, a manic and venomous blast, came through the loudspeaker.

"Seal off the entire city! I want that driver to know that in Kuroki City, the law and the bullets belong to us!"

The sound of sirens ripped through the night sky from afar.

Getting closer and closer.

Dozens of police cars poured out of the manor's various exits, their red lights slicing through the night, their searchlights blinding. The exits were blocked, and laser sights were aimed at my and Elena's chests.

Elena's hands were trembling, her nails almost digging into my arm.

I touched the medal in my pocket. The bronze edges were cold and sharp.

If it comes to that...

I looked into the distance. Under the night sky of Kuroki City, the cross of the church gleamed coldly.

The silence agreement cannot be broken.

But the benefactor's daughter cannot die.

I gripped the medal tightly, put it back in my pocket, and, pulling Elena along, walked into the depths of the night without looking back.