He could almost feel his dignity as a man leaking away into the cold night air, slipping out between the cracks of his ego one drop at a time. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he swore he could hear a little splash as it finally hit the ground.
"Why do you look so strange? Are you hurt somewhere?" Selene asked, glancing sideways at him as she kept moving.
Yeah, my pride as a man is hurt a little, Luke shouted in his mind—but didn't dare say out loud.
"Nothing," he muttered quickly, hopping down from her arms the instant his feet had the chance to touch solid ground. He brushed himself off like somehow that would erase the memory.
Before either of them could say more—
Bang! Bang!
Two sharp cracks ripped through the air, echoing off the stone walls.
Ping! Ping!
Bullets slammed into the pavement beside them, spitting up jagged chips of concrete that stung against Luke's legs. He hissed in pain and jerked back instinctively.
"Not good," he muttered, already moving.
Both of them broke into a sprint toward the car. Selene's movements were a fast, and almost too smooth —while Luke's shoes slapped the ground with every step, his breath coming in sharp bursts.
Another shot rang out behind them—
Bang!
Ping!—a bullet sparking off a nearby lamppost as they reached the car.
Luke dived headfirst into the passenger seat without hesitation, while Selene slid behind the wheel in one fluid motion.
The moment she twisted the key—
VRRRRMMM!
The engine roared to life, rumbling like a beast ready to charge.
Bang! Bang!
The rear window exploded, showering the backseat in glittering shards of glass.
Selene didn't even blink. Her boot slammed down on the accelerator, and the car lurched forward hard enough to shove Luke back into his seat. Tires screamed against the asphalt as they ripped out of the parking spot.
Another shot—Bang!—whizzed past the side mirror, followed by the sharp whistle of air being sliced in two.
Luke clung to the door handle as Selene swerved, weaving through the deadly hail of bullets chasing them into the dark.
"Whooh… it's a good thing we escaped fast," Luke muttered, sinking back into his seat. His pulse was still pounding in his ears, each thump a reminder of just how close those bullets had been. At least now, the sharp crack of gunfire was fading into the distance.
He let out a slow breath. Angry vampires with guns? Yeah, no thanks. That was not on his bucket list—not even on the very last page. The job he came here for was almost done anyway. Now, only Amelia is left.
"Selene, can we head to the railway station?" Luke asked, glancing at her while brushing a few stubborn glass shards off his jacket. They glittered briefly before falling to the floor mat.
In his head, the plan was simple—get there, find Amelia's corpse, and use it for the sacrifice.
Selene's eyes flickered toward him for the briefest moment before locking back on the road. "Why?" she asked.
"To collect something," Luke replied, keeping his voice deliberately casual, his gaze fixed on the blur of passing streetlights outside the window.
Selene didn't respond immediately. The low hum of the engine and the faint whine of wind through the shattered rear glass filled the silence. She thought back to what had happened earlier—how this guy had somehow made Viktor's body vanish right in front of her eyes.
It didn't take much to put two and two together. If he was asking about the railway station now, he was probably going after Amelia next.
"How did you make Viktor and Marcus bodies disappear?" Selene asked, curiosity flickering in her eyes as she stole a glance at Luke.
The way their corpses had simply vanished into thin air—it was something she still couldn't fully comprehend. Even after centuries of hunting Lycans she'd never seen anything like it.
Luke shrugged casually, a small, almost mischievous smile tugging at his lips. "Well… I didn't just make them vanish," he said, keeping his tone light but measured. "I exchanged them for certain things… from someone."
He paused, remembering his hard-earned lesson: no more full explanations. Some truths were better left vague, even to Selene. Besides, even he didn't entirely know where the sacrificed corpses had gone.
Selene's brow furrowed. "So... is this someone really is that powerful?" Her voice dropped, almost a whisper, as she tried to imagine a force capable of making bodies disappear without ever showing up.
Luke nodded grimly. "Yep. If this someone had wanted, we'd both be dead before we even realized what hit us."
He wasn't exaggerating. The higher-dimensional being who had thrown him into this chaotic web—transferring him across worlds, handing him a game-like system—was beyond anything Luke could fully grasp.
It wasn't some random cosmic accident; it was precise, deliberate, and personal. Always watching, always nudging him along a path he couldn't yet see.
This "someone" had handed him his personal cheat code: the very game he'd been developing, now transformed into a tool for survival in worlds he'd never imagined. Luke didn't know why—or for what purpose—but he had learned to respect its power.
Selene blinked, a rare flicker of surprise crossing her usually stoic face. For Luke to admit that this "someone" could kill them both without leaving a trace… and seeing how he didn't even flinch when faced with a hail of bullets. She couldn't help but wonder: what kind of existence was that.