"Freyja… why does Asgard still hunt me?" She asked, her tone languid and strange, like the beginning of a spell.
Around her, the gathered vampires shivered, a flicker of bloodlust rising in their eyes.
"I surrendered. I gave up the games. I only wanted freedom. So why." She smiled, slowly and bitter.
"Does Odin still refuse to let me go?"
It was the first time Soren had heard the voice of a charm witch, and now he understood the rumors.
Her words weren't merely heard, they wrapped around the listener, pulling them into a fog of desire, comfort, curiosity. A voice so enchanting that one might surrender their soul, happily.
Blade's fists clenched. He gritted his teeth, shaking his head.
He'd heard it once before, and though he had built some resistance since then, the voice still scraped at his mind.
But he was ready this time. He forced it away.
Soren, meanwhile, his eyes narrowed in fascination. Not at the voice, but at the power behind it.
He observed Lorelai calmly… then cast a sidelong glance at Freyja.
He made a small, nonchalant sound, somewhere between a hum and a chuckle.
Freyja noticed. Her eyes flicked to him in irritation.
But when she saw the steady, clear focus in his gaze, untouched by Lorelai's allure, she relaxed.
Barely.
"Lorelai." Freyja said coldly.
"It's been thousands of years. You don't need to play innocent. You never wanted peace. If you'd truly changed, we wouldn't be standing here."
Lorelai's smile didn't fade. "Always so self-righteous, Freyja. I wonder... do you speak for Odin, or for your own jealousy?"
"I speak for the people you enslaved with that voice. The ones who didn't walk away."
She turned slightly, whispering to Soren without taking her eyes off Lorelai. "She's mine. You and Blade handle the rest."
Soren nodded silently, already watching the edges of the room where vampires stirred like shadows made flesh.
But Lorelai's attention wasn't on Freyja anymore, it had shifted fully to Soren.
Her smile deepened, voice soft as moonlight on water. "And you must be the infamous Soren."
She descended a step from her raised dais, every movement graceful and slow, a calculated display of vulnerability wrapped in allure.
"I've heard stories about you. But seeing you… feeling the depth of your energy…" Her crimson eyes gleamed.
"It's like standing at the edge of a void… beautiful, endless, terrifying."
Soren remained still.
Lorelai let her voice dip, becoming more intimate. "With your power and my gift, we could break every chain the gods ever forged. The Nine Realms wouldn't bind us. Not even fate itself could stop us."
Blade scoffed under his breath. "Here we go again…"
But Soren simply smiled.
He took a single step toward her. "If I didn't know who you really were."
"I might almost believe you were gentle."
Lorelai blinked once, not expecting that.
"But I've learned something."
He leaned slightly forward.
"Perfect women are dangerous."
"Because they were built to be lies."
"So no offense, Miss Lorelai… but I have no interest in women who don't have cracks in their masks."
The smile on Lorelai's face froze. Her crimson eyes darkened as she inhaled sharply through her nose.
"Hmph." She scoffed coldly, her expression twisting. Her charm, the voice that had bent kings, made monsters kneel, and brought cities to ruin, had failed.
Worse, he mocked her for it.
For the first time in centuries, Lorelai felt something rare… raw and stinging… humiliation.
But along with it, something else ignited — a darker, deeper flame.
Obsession.
The irresistible, maddening need to conquer the man who resisted.
Across the room, Freyja watched it all with a silent fury.
She hadn't expected Lorelai's seduction or the subtle flare of jealousy it lit in her chest.
When Soren's eyes had lingered on Lorelai, even for a moment…grrrh!
"Enough!"
Her blade gleamed as divine light surged along its edge.
"Lorelai, put away your tricks or I'll leave you in Asgard's dungeons to flirt with stone walls for the next thousand years."
Before Lorelai could speak again, Freyja's sword sang through the air. A massive arc of pure radiant energy exploded from the blade, a blazing crescent of light racing toward Lorelai like a comet.
Lorelai's eyes widened. She smiled, but her body blurred into motion, twisting midair as she dodged gracefully. The blast tore past her and into the vampires behind her.
Screams echoed. Several exploded into ash on contact, their bodies obliterated by the searing divine force.
Lorelai quickly vanished deeper into the castle's halls, Freyja chasing close behind.
Soren watched the sudden shift with raised eyebrows.
That anger... it wasn't just about justice.
"Freyja, be careful!"
But the battle had already begun.
Dozens of vampires erupted from the shadows. They lunged toward Soren and Blade in a frenzied swarm.
Blade planted his feet beside Soren, his alloy blade flashing. "They're coming in fast! You ready?"
Soren smiled coolly, unfazed. "Always."
He raised his hand and silver spheres materialized from thin air, hovering with quiet menace.
In the blink of an eye, the spheres burst apart into thousands of microscopic silver iron sand particles, shooting outward in every direction like a storm of needles.
A shrieking wall of mist and blood as the vampires were pierced. Bodies staggered, limbs jerking.
But… something was wrong.
Despite being struck full force by pure silver, their ancient weakness, the vampires didn't ignite into ash as expected.
Instead, they kept coming.
Some screamed in pain, yes but their injuries closed unnaturally fast.
"Adaptive flesh?" Soren muttered. "Modified resilience?"
Blade didn't have time to theorize. One of the enhanced vampires barreled into him, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Agh!" He growled, as claws tore across his chest, slicing through his jacket and biting deep into flesh.
"BLADE!" Soren shouted, flicking his fingers.
A stream of silver sand formed a razor-thin whip that coiled and lashed the vampire off of him.
Blade gritted his teeth, staggering upright. "I'm fine, just… pissed."
He glanced at the blood on his chest and coughed. "Okay, maybe not fine."
Soren caught another vampire's throat mid-lunge, crushing its windpipe with a single hand. "We need to end this."
Blade spat blood. "Then no more playing around."
"You take left. I take right."
Soren nodded. "Deal."
Then they moved, two predators in a den of monsters.