Standing in front of the princess, Zafan gripped the falchion with both hands and the wind picked up around him, making his hair float.
The creatures before him had gray skin, very similar to his, with black veins webbing under their exposed flesh and onyx eyeballs. But the odor coming off them was the worst, they smelled like rotten human food.
Gripping his weapon tighter, Zafan charged against them. He sliced the head of the middle one with one powerful slash but the other two flanked him and, out of the blue, a fourth one made a curve, dashing for Mina.
Dematerializing the falchion almost at the same time he morphed his body into a swarm of bats, the demonic bodyguard flew between the growing number of enemies. Zeroing on their target, dozens of bat feet grabbed hold of the creature closing in on the princess and threw him toward the front door. Grunts and growls resounded in the apartment as the creature landed over a few others, successfully blocking the entrance. At least for a few seconds.
"Go now, princess!" the demon hissed after retaking his humanoid form.
The female in question slowly shook her head, propping the baby over her hip with one hand and gripping the hilt of a shinny katana with the other. "I can help you fight. They are merely a bit stronger than humans. We can take them on," she affirmed with a glint in her silver irises.
Sighing, Zafan morphed into mist to then envelope four rotting monsters and slip inside them. With the sentient fog entering their noses, mouths and ears, the creatures began grabbing their necks, gasping for air.
Gripping the red and black hilt of the katana, Mina dashed between the twisted humans and swept her blade at the nearest one by her left. However, thanks to been wielded with only one hand, the katana didn't cut through the monster's neck, getting stuck at the vertebrates instead. Mina scowled at the same time the babe in her arm hissed at something at her front door.
The princess cursed herself for not paying attention to her sixth sense, the one which let her detect the auras of supernatural creatures and the one which grew exponentially when she was transformed into a vampire.
At the ruined entrance of her apartment, stood a Japanese man with black veins showing through the fair skin of his neck and hands. The aura coming off from him malevolent and full of hate.
He almost felt as a demon.
"Well, what do we have here?" the newcomer spoke as he stepped past the threshold. "A warrior princess in the flesh? I guess someone watched too many Xena reruns."
Arian squirmed in her hold, and she felt the prick of tiny, sharp claws on her skin. She needed to secure her baby and free her hands. "You don't know who you are messing with. When my hus-"
"Oh, but that's the plan, sweetheart. I'm not afraid of that fake Italian scum." The sounds of Zafan fighting an ever-growing number of enemies filled the apartment. Mina's gaze locked on the pitch-black eyes of the stranger as a couple of his goons surrounded her. "A monster like him trying to pass as human is ludicrous. Can he even find Italy on a map?"
Dread washed over the princess at those words. This man, human, demon, or whatever, knew Vergil's secret ... knew what her husband truly was and dared to attack her, nonetheless.
I underestimated the enemy.
Mentally pleading for her magic to work correctly, Mina visualized her baby wrap made from hell spider silk-which currently lay somewhere in her bedroom. She sighed in relief the instant the cool, soft material wrapped around her upper torso, successfully securing Arian, and leaving her hands free to fight properly.
The Japanese monster boss arched a brow at her, but she didn't give him time to react. Morphing into her demonic appearance, Mina flapped her bat wings with increasing speed. Wind began to circle her, gaining strength in seconds, and throwing the monsters surrounding her against the apartment's walls.
Vampires were demons with an air affinity, so the wind was always their friend.
The demon princess gripped her katana with both hands and dashed in for the kill. The first goon who stood in her way was beheaded with ease. The second fell not a second later, but instead of a clear path to the boss, what she found was a black needle-like appendage poised to skewer the baby wrapped around her chest. The origin of said appendage was the Japanese monster leader's index finger.
Her silver eyes widening, Mina let go of her katana and embraced Arian. She pivoted on her feet at the last second so that her back faced her enemy, prayed for a miracle, and ordered her body to teleport away. As the black appendage ripped through her left wing and shoulder blade, she disappeared from the kitchen area to reappear in the living room, near the sliding door. However, the momentum she had before the teleportation continued and the demoness crashed against the anti-UV glass, shattering it upon impact.
The afternoon sunrays spilled inside, bathing a good portion of the living room with undeterred UV rays.
Two sets of screams filled the apartment, two vampires suffering as their skin burned and peeled off their bodies.
Realizing what his prey was, Akito yelled some orders in Japanese and the mutated Yakuzas immediately took the writhing vampires away from the sunlight. It wouldn't do if the woman died before Vergil Larsa was present. Akito wanted to see the agony and hopelessness on the demon's face as his wife was tortured and killed before his eyes.
Along with the baby, of course.
Both vampires were dragged to the safety of the kitchen area amid moans and groans while the heavy dark coffee curtains of the living room were closed, casting the apartment in gloominess.
As the night sensor kicked in, turning on the lights, Akito noticed the disappearance of the undead male. A second later, his neck was being threatened by the point of a blood-covered falchion.
Like that filthy weapon would stop his plans!
"Release Mina or your minions will have to scrape your brains from the street below," the vampire rasped.
Akito smirked at the demon. The poor fool didn't notice just how weak he looked or how many openings his stance had. The sun had done a big number on him.
Putting all his strength on a well-placed kick to the undead's solar plexus, the Yakuza boss sent the vampire crashing against the sofa. A female scream filled his ears before he threw the angelic sphere at the male. Light exploded upon contact, making everyone moan and cover their eyes.
When the glow of the artifact vanished, Akito turned his attention to the prey he came to capture. The female vampire barely had strength to rise from the floor, choosing to sit wrapping her charred wings around her two critters-the one whimpering softly despite her attempts at calming him and the one in her belly.
He had hit the jackpot. If he killed these three in front of Vergil Larsa, the demon would be broken forever. Taking off his head will be as easy as cutting pie.
Akito's mouth twisted into a grotesque smile, and he leaned toward the woman. "Now, you will come with us, sweetheart, or your child will be the one to suffer my wrath." His black eyes gleamed as equally tainted roots emerged from all five fingers of his right hand and twisted around each other to create a thicker cone-shaped appendage that seemed wickedly sharp.
The anger in Mina became molten lava. Her veins felt scalding hot under her skin and just when she thought she would burst in flames, a familiar warm calmness settled over her. The fire that ran in her veins changed from fury to a desire to purify as it flooded her whole being. Onyx tears of joy flooded her eyes as she felt, for the first time in months, that once familiar burning at the back of her eyeballs.
It was the God Spark. Even after turning into a vampire, she still had the God Spark.
Knowing the burning in her orbs meant her irises had changed to molten gold, Mina confined all her power to her hands and grabbed the asshole's face. "I will not go quietly, hijo de puta."
The heat in her hands intensified and...
Nothing.
Her hands were enveloped in golden light meaning the God Spark was on full power. Her assailant should be writhing in agony right now. Why wasn't it working? Why wasn't it burning the motherfucker before her?
Could it be I...
She had felt malice, hatred, anger, and... She never once felt darkness in any of the
intruders' auras.
Her eyes widened once again, black blood accumulated on them, and a solitary tear ran down her right cheek. Liquid onyx staining her grayish vampiric skin.
She was so used to feel negative feelings inside dark creatures that she had subconsciously associated one thing with the other.
And now that mistake would cost her dearly. For the God Spark only worked on creatures born from darkness.
"Are you trying to kill me with your little light show?" Akito asked, pinning her with a soulless stare.
Another black tear ran down the woman's cheek and her arms fell limply to her sides, the earlier fire all but gone.
"I wish I could," she whispered as her arms embraced the little demon inside the baby wrap, and her vampiric features vanished, leaving her human appearance in its stead. Turning her attention to the male vampire trapped in an enormous, winged energy sphere in the middle of her living room, Mina bit her lower lip and trembled in silent fury. "I wish I could."
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A/N: The drawing on the multimedia was done by me on 2014. It shows Mina's demon form.