Michael spoke up:
"You captured me because of the Dragon Ball, right?"
"I hid it, but before you came, I gave Selene the location."
"It's been a while now—it must be in her hands already."
Hearing this, Lucian twirled his fingers and said:
"You're telling me that you had a Dragon Ball that can grant any wish, and you think we captured you because of it?"
"And you gave such a wish-granting Dragon Ball to the vampires?"
At that, Lucian bent over laughing:
"Ha… Ha… Ha…"
"That's the funniest joke I've heard all century."
"If that Dragon Ball really granted wishes, why didn't you use it yourself?"
Seeing Lucian's reaction, Michael froze. Only now did he realize that the werewolves didn't capture him because of the Dragon Ball.
Which meant handing it over to Selene of his own volition had been… incredibly foolish.
Hopefully Selene would at least remember to deposit that one million into his bank account.
He slumped and muttered:
"Pitiful. The werewolves have been fighting the vampires for so long and don't even know about the Dragon Balls."
"Selene knows all about them and was even willing to pay a steep price."
"She said black market buyers are offering five million dollars per ball."
"They have to be collected in a set of seven to work. Do you think a powerless guy like me could gather all seven?"
"And since you're not after the Dragon Ball… why did you capture me? I'm just an ordinary person with no power or influence."
Lucian eyed him up and down, uncertain:
"You're being honest?"
Michael, annoyed by the suspicion, no longer felt like talking. He hadn't sold the Dragon Ball to someone else because he didn't want to explain its powers in the first place.
Lucian didn't press further. He walked over to a laptop and logged into the dark web, searching for Dragon Balls.
Sure enough, he found listings: $5 million each.
Seeing actual buyers and sellers made him start believing Michael.
"Damn it!"
"Kraven, you useless piece of trash! Something this important and you didn't tell me?!"
Lucian was furious. A Dragon Ball that could grant any wish—that was beyond miraculous—and those damn vampires had gotten a head start.
If he got his hands on the Dragon Balls, he'd make just one wish:
That the world be rid of vampires—all of them, dead.
With that thought, he looked at Michael and asked:
"How many Dragon Balls do they have?"
Michael opened his eyes and replied:
"Now you believe me?"
"I don't know how many they have, but the one I had should be with them now."
"They believe in the Dragon Balls' power, so they must at least have one."
"No matter how many they have—as long as they haven't collected all seven, it's fine."
Lucian's eyes gleamed as he gazed at Michael. With the Elder vampire's blood and Michael's blood combined, he could surpass both vampire and werewolf bloodlines.
Then, leading his evolved werewolves, he'd invade the vampire stronghold. Whether to wipe them out or seize the Dragon Balls, he'd hold the advantage.
Michael shivered under that gaze. Lucian picked up a syringe and started drawing Michael's blood.
"I've told you the truth about the Dragon Balls—now tell me why you really captured me."
"Your war has nothing to do with me."
Lucian wiped Michael's arm with an alcohol pad and looked at his bound form.
"No, no, no. It's our war now."
"You're already a werewolf. The vampires will kill you the moment they see you—just because of what you've become."
"I don't know what deal you made with them over the Dragon Ball, but trust me: once they learn what you are, you're dead."
Michael remembered how they looked at him when they discovered he'd been bitten.
Then, his eyes fell on the necklace around Lucian's neck. Suddenly, memories resurfaced—clearer than ever.
He saw Lucian chained to the floor in the vampire castle… and a vampire woman executed before him, burning to ashes.
Lucian then rolled up his sleeve and injected Michael's blood into his own veins.
"They forced you to watch her die. Sonja!"
"That was the spark of war!"
"I saw it—it felt like I was there!"
Lucian chuckled and spoke again:
"We were once slaves—daytime guardians for vampires."
"I was born into servitude. But I never hated them. I even married a vampire."
"But that was forbidden by the Covenant. Viktor feared interbreeding, terrified of it."
"So Viktor killed Sonja—his own daughter."
"Burned alive by sunlight, just because she loved me."
"This war is his—Viktor's war."
"He spent 600 years trying to exterminate our kind."
Hearing this, Michael asked the one question he cared about most:
"Selene said she'd protect me."
Lucian sneered:
"Only if she wants to die."
"If Viktor finds out, she's dead too. Maybe you'd have had a chance if you were still human—but now, as a werewolf? No way."
At that moment, a squad of armed werewolf warriors entered and said:
"Chief, something happened to Laz's team."
Lucian cursed:
"Damn it! What the hell happened?"
"Tell me everything—now."
He left Michael's holding room and listened to the report.
As the sun began to rise, a new day dawned.
The news made Lucian's expression turn grim.
Laz had successfully killed the vampire Elder—but then his team was taken away by the Assassin Brotherhood and never seen again.
The intel came from a witness who saw Brotherhood operatives escorting Laz and his team away.
Lucian couldn't help but feel that this was the result of Laz selling information to the Brotherhood—he'd essentially handed the enemy a weapon.
It felt like he'd just shot himself in the foot.
…
(End of Chapter)
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