Chapter 5 – Never Again

“DON’T mention it. It was my pleasure. Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Dela Cerna,” Blaze respectfully said before turning his back on Mikaela’s family. He went to his car. But before he drove away, he still heard them arguing on the street.

When he glanced at them for the last time, he saw Mikaela walking out on her mother while the latter was calling her name furiously.

The corner of Blaze’s lips turned up. This was getting more interesting than he thought. He was right to spare Mikaela tonight. Seeing Sylvia’s frantic expression was worth it. She was already acting like that and to think he hadn’t started anything yet. Her husband on the other hand, looked as clueless as their daughter.

Blaze then glanced at the empty space where Mikaela sat earlier. He hated wasting time and yet, not only did he spare her life, but he also waited for her to wake up. It was such a provocative display. Thinking about the kiss he stole from Mikaela when she was asleep and the feeling of her soft and sweet lips against his made his body tighten. And to think it was just a kiss. What would have happened if he did more than that?

A mischievous smile appeared on his lips. One thing was sure. He would have Mikaela no matter what. He would enjoy this charade and would end it the minute he got bored.

When Blaze was out of their village, his car vanished on the highway and appeared in front of his mansion. He was humming when he stepped out of his car.

“Did something good happen today, your highness?” his butler asked. “It had been so long since I last saw you smiling like that.”

Blaze just smirked. He had a feeling that he was going to have a good sleep tonight. He took his jacket off and was about to head inside when he heard a sudden voice in his head.

“Wherever you are, come out and meet me right away, Prince Blaze. This is urgent.” The voice quickly disappeared after Silas stated the meeting’s location.

His smile faded. He could almost guess why he was being summoned. Even if Blaze’s servants immediately took care of the collateral damage that took place when he met Mikaela a while ago, he was sure that the Night King still heard about it. And the latter would probably give him an earful for it.

Blaze teleported and showed up on the rooftop of the tallest building in Manila. Silas was already there with blood bag in his hand. He was standing regally while staring at the city lights. He was alone on the rooftop.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” Blaze said. He put his right hand on his shoulder before lowering his head.

Silas chuckled. “Since when have you become this polite? That’s not you. Not to mention that this is not a formal meeting. I told you to call me by my name when it’s only the two of us.”

Blaze just grinned. He took the bottle of red wine in one corner. He drank straight from the bottle after removing the cap. He knew it. This was going to be another drinking party. There were three bottles of wine and three blood bags there. Ever since Cain, their previous Night King, had been cursed to sleep for eternity in a certain province in the Philippines, Blaze had become Silas’ drinking buddy.

Cain and Silas were the best of friends. They were the first Vampires ever created along with Trevor, his father. And it was all because of the experiment that the humans and the Mages started centuries ago. Blaze, on the other hand, used to be Cain’s student back when he still had a difficult time controlling his abilities as a hybrid.

Unlike what the others were thinking, being born with the greatest amount of power had its downside, too. His journey was not a flowery path at all. In fact, his power could end up as the one controlling him if he would fail to control it.

But nobody knew his struggles except for his parents and mentor. Even Cain had a hard time because of him.

After Trevor Stevens became a Vampire, unsure of what to do, he escaped from the clutches of the Mages and the scientists. From Europe, he went to North America and began a new life. And since his thirst and strength was uncontrollable at that time, he fed on humans and when he realized that his blood could heal them, he gave them his blood, but he unconsciously turned them into Vampires who all became loyal to him after becoming stronger.

When Trevor had adjusted to his new life, he built a town for the Vampires he turned where they could live freely without having to hide from the prying eye of humans. They hunted animals for living and secluded themselves from other Vampires.

Trevor was later recognized as the Ruler of the North. After a century, he fell in love with Vega, a Werewolf who was said to be the chosen child of the moon because of her unique traits, strength, and abilities. Among the wolves, she was the biggest, the fastest, and the only one with white fur and blood-red eyes. She passed by his town where they met and fell in love. The Werewolves disapproved of their relationship at first, but the Elders from Vega’s pack were appeased after Blaze was born since he was deemed as the strongest creature in the world for inheriting his father’s power and his mother’s strength and abilities, making him the first Vampire-Wolf hybrid in the history.

But when Blaze’s parents died after the Rogues attacked their town, the Vampires from the North merged forces with Cain who came to rescue them. That time, Cain was hailed as the Night King in many countries around the world. Despite the merge, the Vampires from the North still considered Blaze as their Prince. And Cain respected that and also made him a member of the Council and did not give a damn even if he knew the prediction about Blaze.

Because of Blaze’s influence, the Wolf Clan had eventually learned to accept the Vampires from Cain’s faction, too.

“What do you plan to do now that you have found Sylvia?”

Silas’ question had stopped Blaze’s train of thoughts.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, why would I tell you? So, your Knights could stop me?”

“And what? Risk their lives? If you noticed, they maintained quite a distance tonight. Even if I command them to come here with me, I doubt if they would do it willingly after you sent many of the Knights flying when you went berserk after you found out about the Vampire who helped hid Sylvia. They only tried to stop you, but they ended up severely injured when you took your anger on them. So, the answer is no, Blaze. I would never send my Knights on a suicide mission.” Silas shook his head. “Not again. Cain did tell me that his favorite student is dangerous, but he did not tell me you are that dangerous. He and I are going to have a long talk once he wakes up.”

Blaze emptied the wine bottle. He had been betrayed by his own best friend and his closest relative. He learned that it was his cousin, Algernon, who had helped Sylvia escaped decades ago. Algernon knew how Blaze had desperately sought for Sylvia, but his goddamn cousin pretended to be innocent in front of him while stabbing him in the back. And it was all because of his one-sided pathetic love for Sylvia.

If not for the Vampire Knights, he would have killed Algernon a week ago, the latter begged to be killed anyway. Since he was from the North, he was under Blaze’s authority. He could punish that bastard however he wanted, and nobody would ever take it against him. But he chose to send him to the Moon Tower instead. It was the prison created solely for the supernatural beings. Algernon would rot in there for eternity as the prison slowly and painfully strip him off his powers. The prisoners there would rather die than be locked up. But death was a gift which Blaze would never ever bestow to his cousin. Not in this lifetime at least.

The Coven who was involved had been caught, too. And they were now paying a hefty price over what they did.

Blaze opened another bottle of wine as he stared at the starless sky. “Are you saying you are going to support me?”

“Well, Sylvia had committed a sin and she has to pay for it one way or another. And she was under my wing. If she was still a Vampire, I would have punished her myself. The Council will throw a fit if they would find out that you are messing with the humans, but I honestly don’t give a damn. You have my blessing so just go ahead and do what you want.”

Blaze eyed Silas suspiciously. “Why are you doing this?”

“I trust you, Blaze. I trust my best friend’s student. And I believe I’m a good judge of character. I have lived for centuries after all. And you are like a younger brother to me. If Cain is here, I’m certain he will do the same. It’s not like the Council can rally anyway. They knew they could not win against you.” Silas chuckled. “But I should warn you. Sylvia’s offspring is not an ordinary human. Her future children had been blessed by your mentor long before he chose to reside here in the Philippines so things might not go exactly the way you planned since that Mikaela girl is pretty special.”

“What do you think is the worst thing a human like her could do to me? Kill me?” Blaze smirked. “I would love to see her try. I was in a hurry to find Sylvia to punish her myself but now that I saw her, I realized I wanted to take things slow. I like to see her desperate. From now on, she will always be on her guard, afraid for the time I will drop the bomb and expose her. I’ve wanted to kill her for so long, but her life alone will never be enough to appease me.

“Now that Sylvia has a family of her own, now that she has people she wanted to protect, she would tremble in fear every day knowing that I will always be around them. She would never understand how much pain she put me through until I make her own child experience it. And just so you know, Silas, even if you did not give me your blessing tonight, even if you are the Night King, you still can’t stop me. Nobody can.”

There it was again. Blaze could feel the fire burning in his stomach again. He shut his eyes as he remembered his daughter’s lovely face.

Kate…

When he opened his eyes, the city lights were gone. There had been a power outage in the entire City. And he was the root cause of it. He shook his head as he tried to calm down. When he motioned his hand, the lights were back.

Silas sighed and patted his shoulder. “You know why I’m letting you have your way? Because I’m hoping this could help you heal, Blaze. The Coven was caught and annihilated. You have fulfilled your promise not only to your brother but also to your mentor.”

Blaze breathed heavily upon remembering his brother Claude. He was Vega’s child from another wolf who died a long time ago. Trevor accepted Claude and treated him as his own. The four of them would have continued to live together peacefully if not for the Rogues.

“You have lived for others for so many years,” Silas pressed on. “Maybe after this revenge one-o-one of yours, you could begin living for yourself. You can fall in love and build another family again. I’m sure Danielle and Kate will not take it against you. Don’t you feel lonely? Don’t you wish to have people who would welcome you home after a long exhausting day?”

Happiness? Love? For some reason, Mikaela’s smiling face crossed his mind and how she enveloped him with her pure warmth in a brief moment that they were together.

In the past, even sworn brothers would wage war against each other because of Sylvia. The only thing Mikaela did not get from her mother was the color of her eyes. Sylvia’s were blue. Mikaela inherited the rest from Sylvia including her face that he despised the most and yet, when he looked at her and saw her shy smile, his anger subsided. Maybe because she was still untainted. Her soul had too much light in it. And Blaze wanted to change that.

No matter how innocent Mikaela was, he would not be fooled by that face anymore, by someone who had the same blood as Sylvia’s. Never again.

Blaze had learned his lesson the hard way.