Chapter 190 - 190: Resolving Issues From The Past. (1/2)

[A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you so much for the support you are giving me without you all this would not be possible! I hope you like the chapter! Umu, Umu!]

......

Somewhere in Texas, in a town that seemed to be abandoned.

A woman wearing a modern maid's Outfit was walking towards a certain location. She had blonde hair tied in a ponytail, sapphire blue eyes, and was around 180cm tall.

The woman turned onto a street and looked straight ahead, as her vision seemed to widen a considerable distance:

”An old mansion, huh…” Maria thought hunters had bad taste in picking places to stay, as always.

Even though she was going to meet her supposed lover/boyfriend, Maria wasn't very excited, since she knew this was just a trap, not to mention that…

Maria looked up at the sky.

Above the clouds, a man with black hair and red eyes was watching the place.

Maria couldn't see beyond the clouds, but she knew he was there, she could feel it. Even if she wanted to, she could never forget Victor's presence.

”Is it okay for her to go alone, Darling?” Sasha, who was beside Victor, asked. As she still didn't know how to use the floating ability of vampires, she had to lean on Victor to stay still in the air.

Victor, who was lightly holding Sasha's waist, said:

”Yes.”

”...” Victor stopped looking at Maria and looked at Sasha:

”Are you worried about her?”

”I am not.” Sasha was honest.

Victor flashed a small smile when he heard Sasha's words:

”To answer your question, it's pretty obvious that this is a trap, so we should just do as Ruby said.”

”Use the trap to our advantage, huh?” Sasha spoke with a small smile. She still remembered the little meeting they had before coming to this place. Of course, Maria was not part of that meeting since the less the maid knew, the more likely it was for the plan to succeed.

”Yes.” Victor knew that, among his wives, Ruby was the most capable of thinking up complex plans, and because Victor trusted his wife completely, he would go along with whatever she proposed.

'Although…' Victor looked at the old mansion, focused on his eyes, and saw a strange 'darkness', it was as if he couldn't see beyond that point, a blind spot in his usually reliable ability.

Victor trusted Ruby and her plans, but he also knew that his wife was weak against unpredictable situations. Knowing that, Victor suggested that he would stay in the air with Sasha and watch over everything.

”In one place in the mansion, I can't see anything. Something like this happened in the past when I went to visit Clan Horseman, I don't know what it is, but stay alert.” Victor reported what he saw through the small communicator that was in his ear.

”Okay, Darling.” Ruby spoke.

While Victor stayed in the air with Sasha, Violet, Luna, and Ruby would stay on the ground and take care of the situation, reporting any unforeseen issues they found to him.

Today, they're just here to prevent something from happening to Sasha.

This was a family situation, Sasha's problem, and because of that, Victor didn't want more people to come.

And he very much doubted that Scathach, Siena, Pepper, or Lacus were interested in this subject.

For better or worse, Scathach only cared about her daughters. Although she'd known Sasha for a long time, and Violet too, she wouldn't intervene unless absolutely necessary.

”She's entering... Oh?” Victor looked carefully at the silhouette of the man who appeared out of nowhere; 'That darkness is obscuring my vision, I can't see beyond that. The man must have come out of that place...' That was an obvious thought.

But despite being obvious, it didn't stop bothering Victor, as he was very used to using his eyes to obtain information from enemies.

”A man's silhouette appeared, I don't know if it's Carlos, but I'm assuming it is because of his height.”

”...” Sasha squeezed Victor's shoulder tightly, and her eyes began to glow slightly blood red.

Even though Victor wasn't sure if the silhouette was Carlos or not, just hearing Carlos' name made the woman angry.

With the same smile, Victor said, ”Calm yourself, you'll have him delivered on a silver platter, Honey. Just wait a minute.”

”Yes... Darling.” Sasha's grip began to soften.

...

Maria went through the door of the old mansion and looked around. She noticed that this mansion was very old and was completely dusty. She then trained her eyes on the thing that stood out the most in this mansion, which was a broken statue.

She looked down and saw a tall bald man. His atmosphere was different, he was wearing different clothes, but she could recognize him.

”... Carlos...”

”Welcome, Maria.” Carlos exhibited a gentle little smile, ”I missed you.”

”…” Maria didn't know what to say, what should she say? Why did you call me? Is this really a trap? How did you rise so fast in the organization?

If she said; 'I missed you too.' She knew this would be a lie, but at the same time, true. At first, she missed him, but her feelings began to die down as time passed.

She didn't know if that was because of the thing she had turned into that night, or if it was because of herself... She didn't know.

And these were all just useless questions, and she knew it... She just didn't know what to say, and since she didn't know what to say, she was silent.

Carlos looked at Maria as if sizing her up, his face slightly distorted when he saw the outfit the woman was wearing.

”You became a maid of those leeches...”

”Yes. As you know, I didn't have much choice at first.” Maria spoke.

”Yes... I know... I definitely know...” Carlos looked at a broken statue that was behind him:

”I still have nightmares when I go to sleep of that night. The night I lost you.”

”…” Maria's gaze twitched a little. What did he mean by lost me? Maria felt something strange coming from Carlos' words, and, despite being a little sentimental, her logical side was fully functioning, even she was surprised by it.

She thought she would be more shaken when she saw Carlos in person.

But she was not feeling anything... Nothing? Wait, isn't she feeling something?

Actually... She was feeling something. She felt hungry! She felt that eating Carlos now would give her heavenly pleasure!

... HUH?

'What's happening to me!?' Maria held her head, and she started to doubt herself. When she asked herself that, she remembered Sasha's big smile:

”Ah... I understand now...”

This was destined to happen the moment Maria became a Ghoul.

What is a Ghoul?

It's a subspecies of vampires who only think about satisfying their own desires.

And what is the main wish of the Ghoul?

Eat!

Although a King Ghoul is supposed to be an intelligent being, that doesn't change anything, considering the word 'intelligent' just means they have the mental capacity to make decisions. It didn't mean anything about their feelings.

For a Ghoul, anything other than satisfying their desire was useless.

'She knew that... She knew that, and because of that, she smiled like that...' Maria thought of Sasha, her current master.

”...I still have nightmares...”

Maria awakened from her thoughts and looked at Carlos.

”Because of this nightmare, I decided to change, I decided to completely focus on getting stronger no matter the cost, and thanks to my efforts, I caught General James' attention, and he gave me strength.”

”...You...” Maria opened her mouth in shock when she saw Carlos's blood-red eyes.

Carlos started walking towards Maria:

”A philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche once said: He who fights with monsters must beware lest he also become a monster.”

Carlos adjusted the glove that was in his hand, and soon his right arm started to be covered by a kind of black aura, while his left arm was covered by a golden aura:

The man's skin began to grow paler, ”When you stare into an abyss, the abyss stares back at you.”

”Have you fallen so low that you became what you swore to hunt, Carlos!?” Maria stepped back a little,

”Yes, Indeed!”

”Idiot!” Maria yelled angrily.