The Blood Thirsty ✨

CHAPTER 20 — WHEN MONSTERS BLEED

The creatures hit like a wave of teeth and claws.

They were once human — that much was clear. Twisted bodies, elongated limbs, eyes glowing sickly blue beneath cracked skin. Their movements were jerky, wrong, like puppets dragged by invisible strings.

“Possessed,” Dante snapped, blade flashing as he cut one down. Black smoke leaked from the wound instead of blood.

“Zoraver,” Nera growled.

Lina didn’t wait.

The golden light came when she called it this time.

Not wild.

Not uncontrollable.

It flowed from her palms like liquid dawn, shaping itself into a curved arc that slammed into the first creature mid-leap. The impact hurled it into a tree, where it dissolved into ash before hitting the ground.

Jaxon glanced at her, a flash of fierce pride in his eyes. “Good. Again!”

Three more rushed her.

Lina moved.

Light wrapped around her forearm like a shield as claws scraped against it, sparks flying. She twisted, drove her glowing hand forward — and the energy burst outward in a pulse that knocked the creatures back like rag dolls.

She wasn’t running.

She was fighting.

And she was terrifying.

Zoraver’s Eyes

Miles away, in a stone chamber lit by cold blue flames, Zoraver stood motionless.

Before him knelt a possessed villager, body trembling violently.

Its glowing eyes flickered.

And then—

They turned gold.

Zoraver saw through them.

He watched Lina fight.

Watched her power sharpen, her fear turning into fury.

A slow smile curved his lips.

“There you are,” he murmured.

She drove light through another creature’s chest, disintegrating it from the inside.

Zoraver’s smile faded slightly.

“Yes… grow stronger,” he whispered. “So breaking you will mean something.”

The Moment Everything Goes Wrong

Nera moved like lightning, covering Dante’s blind spots, blade precise and ruthless.

Until one creature didn’t attack from the front.

It came from above.

Dropping from a tree, claws plunging deep into her side before anyone could shout a warning.

Nera’s breath left her in a sharp, wet gasp.

Dante turned just in time to see the creature tear free — taking blood with it.

Something in Dante snapped.

He didn’t shout.

Didn’t curse.

Darkness exploded outward from him like a shockwave. Shadows solidified into spears that impaled the creature mid-air, ripping it apart before it hit the ground.

He caught Nera as she collapsed.

“Stay with me,” he said, voice low and shaking in a way Lina had never heard before.

“I’m not dead yet,” Nera rasped, teeth clenched. Blood soaked through her fingers where she pressed her side.

But there was too much of it.

Lina Unleashed

Seeing Nera fall broke the last of Lina’s hesitation.

The world narrowed.

Sound dulled.

Light roared through her veins like a second heartbeat.

“GET AWAY FROM THEM!”

Her scream wasn’t just sound.

It was power.

A blinding wave of gold tore outward in a perfect circle, slamming into every remaining creature. They didn’t just fall.

They disintegrated.

Ash rained down through the clearing.

Silence followed.

Heavy. Ringing. Unreal.

Lina stood at the center, glowing faintly, chest heaving.

Jaxon approached slowly. “Lina… it’s over.”

Her light flickered, then faded.

And she nearly collapsed.

He caught her.

Again.

Aftermath

Dante was already on the ground with Nera, pressing cloth hard against her wound.

“Don’t you dare pass out,” he muttered. “You hate losing.”

She managed a weak smirk. “Still… winning.”

But her skin was pale.

Too pale.

Lina knelt beside them, hands trembling. “I can try— I saw something, healing maybe—”

“Not like this,” Dante said sharply. Then softer, “You’ll drain yourself.”

Jaxon touched her shoulder. “Let him handle it. We move at first light.”

Reluctantly, Lina nodded.

But her hands still glowed faintly, like her power didn’t want to sleep anymore.

When Adrenaline Turns Into Something Else

Later, when Nera was stable and Dante sat beside her, refusing to rest…

Lina walked to the edge of the clearing.

Her hands were still shaking.

Jaxon followed.

“You saved us,” he said quietly.

“I lost control.”

“You protected us.”

She laughed softly, but it broke halfway. “I almost burned the whole forest down.”

“But you didn’t.”

She turned to him, eyes reflecting moonlight and leftover tears.

“I was so scared,” she admitted. “Not of them. Of what I felt when I fought.”

Jaxon stepped closer.

“Power doesn’t make you a monster,” he said. “What you choose to do with it does.”

Her breath hitched.

“You weren’t afraid of me,” she whispered.

“Never.”

That was the moment something between them finally gave in.

Not gentle.

Not planned.

She grabbed his jacket and pulled him down into a kiss that tasted like smoke, tears, and relief. His hands came up to hold her face like she was something precious and breakable — even though she’d just wiped out an army.

It wasn’t soft romance.

It was desperate.

Alive.

Proof they had both survived.

When they finally broke apart, foreheads resting together, breaths tangled, the world felt smaller. Quieter.

But not safer.

Because both of them knew—

This was only the beginning of the war.

And loving each other in the middle of it?

That might be the most dangerous thing of all.

Far Away…

The possessed villager collapsed, lifeless.

Zoraver opened his eyes, expression unreadable.

“Interesting,” he murmured.

Then he turned toward a massive stone door behind him.

“Prepare the second seal,” he ordered the shadows.

“If she wants to become a weapon… I will give her a battlefield.”