Chapter 3: I WILL Survive!

The bitter combat between the old man inside a young vampire's body and a seasoned wolf being drained to death continued for several minutes; while feeling strange.

Lucifer could tell when and how the wolf would attack him. If it would claw or bite at him, all the tells and knowledge flooded his mind in real-time, like some game cheat announcing the enemy's skills beforehand.

'What's going on, I am more of a lover than a fighter, yet I'm ducking and weaving like that Muhammah fella!'

His body twisted, the heavy paw of the wolf tearing several inches of wood from the tree's bark behind him, taking advantage of this moment.

Lucifer lunged forward, plunging his dagger into the wolf's chest; despite being an amateur, he felt something guiding him; just like when defending, it would reveal where to attack and what kind of effects it would have on the wolf.

Memories of his body? A lingering instinct of a vampire? He didn't know nor dare to complain as the old man pushed on!

"Hah!" With an excited yell, Lucifer's dagger buried itself deep into the wolf's chest, blood seeping from the wound as a squishy and wet squelch sounded as the dagger's dull blade tore its flesh.

'Strange... I used to be squeamish...'

He felt the wolf's insides being sliced apart, the soft and natural sensation causing him to doubt himself; usually, the old accountant was sure never like this; even a corpse on the television would make him feel uncomfortable.

'Yet I feel good...'

Lucifer's body was filled with a surge of endorphins and adrenaline.

The more blood, flesh and gore he saw caused his mind to fill with hunger and excitement, making his mind feel a sense of imbalance.

'There's no numbers....'

His mind felt as if numbers should be popping up, remembering the game as each attack would clearly state all the details.

This caused his mind to cool slightly, realising this was NOT a game, nor could he see his health or damage taken from the claw wounds along his arms or deep gashes from being bitten.

'How can I tell... Why won't you die?'

Lucifer began to focus on the wolf's body, his eyes glowing a dark red colour, but only the wolf could see, its body trembling before becoming more aggressive at the feeling of being this weak vampire's prey.

Unaware, losing all focus apart from the wolf's movements, body and reactions.

Suddenly...

He could hear a sound.

A resounding beat, desperately pumping away as if to compensate for the loss.

Ba-dump!

Ba-dump!

'Is this its heartbeat? It keeps skipping beats, palpitating? Does it feel anxious? Fear? Why do I know this is what these sounds and beating mean?'

Lucifer's instinct began to scream in his mind, telling him the wolf was near death! He would soon enjoy a wonderful meal as the blood became visible; the elated Lucifer could see the wolf's body transform into a series of red lines.

'Its status is [Danger] the last 20%!'

The wolf's veins and arteries appeared briefly as the blood desperately pumped to compensate for the losses.

Because of his focus and excitement at the moment, Lucifer lost focus due to this discovery.

The wolf's eyes flashed with a vicious and last-dash effort to save its life, leaping forward with a mighty pounce, the two heavy claws landing on Lucifer's chest and pushing him down against the tree bark on his ass.

"Fuck!" Lucifer exhaled as his spell was broken, and his dagger flung from the wound onto the ground.

Everything happened so fast that Lucifer was bitten on his neck, the sharp teeth pushing deep into his skin, lacerating and ripping apart his flesh, causing him to be heavily wounded by the time his thoughts returned.

"Ugh!"

Now feeling the burning pain and sharp teeth buried in his neck, unable to focus on casting drain, he began to panic.

'Not good, not good! What the fuck do I do... fuck fuck!'

Instinct started to dominate his actions; Lucifer wrapped both arms around the wolf's neck and pulled his body, causing a piercing pain in his chest as the razor-sharp teeth tore his flesh and sank further into his body.

Yet Lucifer seemed unfazed, dominated by his adrenaline and instinct fueling him to follow his mind and body's desire to live.

'Disgusting.... drinking a dog's blood... ueeeh!'

Lucifer's fangs began to grow as he opened his mouth wide, biting into the wolf's neck. It was like his jaw became a robotic arm, latching onto the neck of the wolf, unlike his first thoughts of rejection.

The moment he tasted this ambrosia named blood, he became addicted.

Despite its body desperately trying to fling him away, Lucifer's fangs punctured deep into the wolf's neck, a delicious, gooey and warm taste filling his mouth.

'So tasty... what is this....more... I want more!' His hazy mind thought while sucking on the wolf's neck, blood now oozing from the small holes, making its fur sticky and matted with fearful yelps and howls for help as the wolf panicked.

A sweet taste like wild berries desperately sucking in the delicious juice as he felt his weary and tired mind being healed rapidly along with the ticklish feels of his wounds repairing.

In its fear, the wolf stopped biting his chest for a moment, desperately pulling its body, trying to escape, yelping with sorrow repeatedly as its body became frail, before convulsing and dropping onto Lucifer's chest limp, being drunk to the last drop.

A while later, Lucifer regained his mind as he observed the situation.

He felt a little nauseous from drinking raw blood, for a moment, worried about disease or parasites.

Nevertheless, these thoughts were brief as he suddenly felt a strange pleasure fill his body, forcing him to grip the ground and bite his lower lip as if he was sleeping with a woman for the first time; his entire body, no his existence, quivered in ecstasy.

'This old man had an accident! How embarrassing!'

A purple light fluttered from the wolf's corpse, entering Lucifer's chest bit by bit.

[Level UP] - Flashed in the small grimoire that hovered like a ghostly shadow above his wrist, but he was too focused on feeling pleasure in his body to pay attention.

'Is this Ether?' He thought to himself, the strange substance explained in the game that people would call EXP or experience because it was easier to say or remember.

Lucifer took deep breaths, his body slowly calming down from what seemed to be the most powerful orgasm he has since... 'Eh? Since... what? Something... I cannot remember...'

Frustrated, he began to run his fingers through his sleek medium-length hair, it seemed to be a soft and full head of silvery white hair, a little cliché but most vampires in their world had fair hair from blonde to silver some rare existences managed to have black or red hair.

But those were unique and mythical vampires with a high-level bloodline.

'At least I'm not a damned bald [Forsaken], the lowest form of vampire, not even able to maintain their logical thought, deformed monsters that could only feed and devour mindlessly.'

His calm mind returned, sitting against the tree trunk with thick wolf claw marks... his body stained with blood from both him and the wolf...

"What do I do now?" He asked, feeling a sense of disconnection from his current body and life.

"Am I still me?" His questions were to nobody but himself.

Would he live as the man he was before, carry his burdens and drag that life along, or undoubtedly live a new life from the start? And only able to remember the key memories and things that might help him.

Living not as Lucifer Argentus, but merely Lucifer, the vampire?

"Let's deal with this wolf corpse first... Maybe try to find somewhere to clean...."

He looked down at the wolf's face, its eyes filled with terror as the flesh felt a little dried and tight, like a dried sausage.

"Forgive me, little guy... it was you or me....'

His mind returned to an old pet dog from his childhood.... 20 years together... the wolf and taking his sick dog to the vet began to mix before he shook his head In denial.

"I cannot be like this... Not if this is the Sword of Celestia... I have to accept the things before my eyes!"

This reminded him that this world is not his old one, that sort of soft thought, animal rights... Not killing enemies... This was something he needed to abandon at this moment or as soon as possible.

Lucifer grabbed a thick twig with a spade-like tip, using it to push into the ground slowly; he did a lot of gardening in his life; this was quite simple for the old man.

"Let me bury you as the first thing I have killed in this world and the last thing I mourn or regret. Allow me to use you to sever this weak part of me that is only a burden in this new world where even your closest friend could betray you over a mere item or gold coin."

Thus Lucifer spent the next hours digging the ground below the enormous tree that saved his life into a small pit, peeling the soft fur from the wolf and wrapping it around his body like a primitive caveman before dropping the fangless wolf corpse into the ground, his red eyes watching as he slowly piled the dirt back inside.

He swore he wouldn't bring the naive thoughts of his past life into this one.

He MUST survive!

From this day onwards, the Lucifer Argentus from accounting, who loved playing board games, playing with the dogs at the park, and drinking scotch, would be gone forever.

The vampire Lucifer must become his true identity for safety, the future, and happiness.