The Nightmare Is Over

IT was a long journey that took an entire night. After hours that seemed like forever, Damien and his knights finally reached the actual slave house. They traversed several villages and a coastal town before arriving at the slave house. It was at the frontier, almost near the border of the Eastern Territory. And it was far from the Gregory Estate. Yet Bridget said it was 'close'!

"That wretch!" Damien broke his knuckles in resentment.

The sun was rising brilliantly, greeting the new day. But it did not match Damien's temperament. Instead, it overawed him with disgust and wrath. Just thinking of the time his sweet little sister had to endure in this shabby old hut maddened him more. Every muscle in his body craved for an act of great revenge.

His bloodthirstiness desired some living sacrifices. It seemed like today he would have an early morning training for killing.

In a flash, some creatures appeared. Damien grinned in delight. His advent must have woken them up.

A gang of thugs from the slave house welcomed their uninvited arrival by surrounding Damien and his knights in a circle.

Damien did not let his knights interrupt him because he wanted to settle it by himself. The fight was almost like a performance of his special revenge. His vengeance was for a personal reason, anyway.

An eye for an eye, right?

Damien wielded his sword skillfully. He killed and eliminated everything that was on his way to the entrance. He disregarded those creatures like they were trash. The thrill of slaughtering and the smell of blood gave him a wave of satisfaction. Yes! He wanted more. More! His thirst for blood was voracious. The stink of blood was loathsome, but he enjoyed them immensely.

It pleased Damien that those imbeciles decided to at least put on a fight. It made him more entertained. "Oh! Yes! Come to me!" He crushed them like pulp! He would love to exterminate them slowly, with an agonizing death.

There was no telling of his subsequent step. Damien was not himself, as he fulfilled his deepest desire to kill those creatures.

The fight seemed to go on quickly. And it ended when the corpses and their blood were covering the cold ground topped by thick snow. The blood on the snow looked like red paint decorating a white canvas. It was breathtakingly beautiful in Damien's eyes. He admitted sometimes he could be an artist.

Yet Damien was unscathed.

Damien removed the blood by shaking off his sword. And the remaining blood splattered to the ground, leaving a long mark. Another ART! He named his masterpiece 'The Blood of the Sinners'.

Afterward, Damien moved toward the entrance with style and crushed the door.

BANG!

There. At the end of the living room, the Boss and his imprudent minions tried to escape through the windows.

"Oh, come on! The fun is yet to come!" Damien charged forward with Joker's smile. His bloodlust overcame his sanity. Damien wanted to tear them apart into thousands of pieces. And feed their remaining to his hellhounds.

But before doing so, Damien wanted to let them see the beginning of HELL! He tied them with some help with magic and hanged them in reverse at the ceiling.

"I know my sister is here. So…" he took a breather. "Which one of you touch the girl named Grace?"

They did not answer, but their eyes showed the direction.

The person mentioned could not face Damien properly. And his body was trembling in fear. Then Damien stood in front of him. Without warning, Damien crushed his fingers!

"Any last words?" Damien allegedly trying to give a second chance.

"I… I just followed orders!" He stuttered.

Immediately, Damien swung his sword and beheaded the pathetic creature. "What a cliché of last words before dying."

"Whose order?" Damien asked the others. And they all looked straight at their boss.

Damien chuckled. "Say hello to HELL!"

It took some blows to finish them. Damien reminisced, relishing every single moment of it. The look in their dreadful eyes as Damien lurched his sword deep into their chest was wonderfully satisfying. Damien used his bare hands to crush their bones and reached for their inner organs. And as the last strike, he squashed their filthy hearts like crumpling a piece of paper into a ball. Those screaming in pain and agony gave Damien extreme contentment. Their screaming voices were like a collection of classical music in his ears.

The blood stank in his uniforms and dirtied his face. Damien wiped off the blood in disgust. "Ah! I avoided the blood, yet it still reaches me. I don't want to see Grace in this state. Dang!"

Damien put his sword back into the sheath. His sanity returned as he heard the cries of children downstairs. And he immediately rushed to it.

___

"YOU healed me? How can you do that? It was like high-level magic. I can't believe you!" Grace was astonished. She asked questions continually. Grace knew that magic controlled and surrounded her realm, but she never heard of healing magic before.

"Yeah. My caretaker always said that I'm gifted," answered Yuki. Calm.

"And you're a human? How is that even possible? How did you end up being here? This is not the place for your kind!" Grace said. She was blown away!

Grace's behavior surprised Yuki. Is this the reason Grandma Ito kept telling her to keep quiet about her power and not telling others?

"Hey, look. How about we keep this a secret? Can you do that for me?" asked Yuki, half-desperate.

"Of course, I will. You healed me! I should repay your kindness. When I'm back to my home, I will tell my brother to reward you handsomely." Grace's eyes were shining with eagerness.

"You should keep quiet about my ability, okay? I supposedly should tell nobody," explained Yuki.

"No problem!"

Grace's answer comforted Yuki's heart.

Yuki patted Grace's head. "Grace. I cannot stay here any longer. I have to go home. My family needs me."

"Your family?" Grace was a bit confused hearing the word 'family'.

"Well, technically, they are not my actual family. Grandma Ito is my caretaker since birth. But I always think of them as my real one."

Grace nodded as she understood Yuki's difficult situation.

Yuki was anxious. "I'm worried about them. I don't know what happens there," said she.

While having a conversation with Grace, Yuki heard her stomach grumbling.

"You're hungry? You can have my bread. I'm sorry that it is spoiled though." Grace handed her piece of untouched bread.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry to say this. But how could you last by eating this?" Yuki poked her finger at the bread. It was hard.

"In the law of surviving, you can't choose. Just accept what they give you and never complained. If you do, they won't feed you anymore," explained Grace while heaving a sigh.

Yuki looked at the others opposite them. "How about those vampire children?"

"They need blood like they need a drug. If those vampires missed their food, they might go insane and turn berserk," explained Grace.

Turned berserk? Yuki stared at Grace. "Have they ever tried to hurt you, Grace?"

"Well, sometimes. But I fought back, of course." Grace crossed her arms. "I could show you the marks they gave me, but you healed them, so I can't show any proofs."

"Good job, Grace. You did great. You have to treasure yourself more. Girls cannot have scars on their precious bodies." Yuki hugged Grace as if it was natural.

Grace did not push Yuki away because she was stunned for a while. When was the last time someone hugged her this warm? She could not remember.

ARGHH!

Suddenly, they heard a scream from upstairs! It was so loud that it made those sleeping children awoke instantly!

"What's happening now?" Yuki hugged Grace tightly. If anything dangerous would happen, Yuki would not hesitate to protect Grace.

The scream was disturbing and terrifying. And the children cried out in fear. It lasted for some moments before everything calmed down.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

They could hear footsteps running downstairs to their cage. Yuki was prepared for anything. And Grace closed her eyes. She taught it was the moment she was going to die.

"GRACE!"

Grace looked up. She recognized that voice! The voice she missed so much for months. All her nightmares disappeared in an instant.

Grace could see her loving brother was finally there. To save her.

"BROTHER!" Grace shouted in joy!