Your body stiffened violently, your back arching from the silk bed as the last heart-wrenching moan escaped your throat. Instantly, your entire muscles softened. Your head drooped to the side, eyes closed tightly, and your breathing... you stopped completely.
Silence. A deadly silence enveloped the large room.
"Zak?" whispered Cassandra. His voice trembled, full of fear that he had not felt in centuries. He pulled his face away from your neck, staring at your pale, silent face. "Pocket! Wake up! Don't joke!"
He shook your shoulders, but you kept moving, pretending to be a lifeless empty body. The flies around Cassandra suddenly went berserk, flying wildly against the walls and crystal chandeliers until they crank loudly.
Lady Dimitrescu stepped forward quickly, her shadow covering the entire bed. He rests his long fingers on your chest, trying to find the heartbeat you deliberately hide with the rest of your body control.
"No way..." Alcina muttered, her voice heavy and choked. "The essence... Does his human body really resist my power?"
"NO!" shouted Cassandra. He hugged that "cold" body of yours hysterically. Tears that monsters shouldn't have seem to start flowing down your cheeks. "Wake up, Zak! Take it all! Take all my blood, take my life, but don't leave me like this!"
He buried his face in your chest, sobbing loudly. You could feel the cold teardrops of his tears on your skin, and the intense vibrations of his body that were now full of the power you were exerting. He looked shattered, as if his entire world had just collapsed with your fake last breath.
On the doorstep, Bela and Daniela were glued, their faces showing real horror. They had just witnessed their new "master", the man they admired, die of their own desires.
"Mom... what have we done?" whispered Daniela in a trembling voice.
Alcina stood up straight, her face hardened in deep sadness. He clenched his fists until his silver fingernails pierced his own palm. "We have killed the only light that has ever entered this castle."
Cassandra continued to hug you, muttering your name over and over again like a desperate prayer. "Zak... please... come back..."
Pov : *I still pretended to be dead until they finally held my funeral*
The atmosphere at Dimitrescu Castle goes from splendor to poignant mourning. For three days, your body is laid on an open coffin made of silver-carved black oak in the Main Hall. You keep your breath so thin—almost none—and your heartbeat so slow thanks to the remnants of Megamycete's power that secretly fuses during your fake "death."
The entire village was covered in thick fog. Mother Miranda is even present, standing in the corner of the shadows with Eva, looking at you with deep regret for missing the most perfect "container" ever.
Lady Dimitrescu wore a long black dress with a veil that covered her pale face. He stood up straight, yet his hand holding a long cigarette shook violently. Beside him, Bela and Daniela bowed their heads, no longer having the desire to hunt.
But the most devastated is Cassandra.
He sat on his back beside your chest for three whole days without moving a bit. His golden yellow eyes were now dim and swollen. He continues to grasp your "cold" hand, whispering heart-wrenching promises.
"I'll come with you, Zak..." The whisper was shaky, his voice hoarse because he kept crying. "If you don't wake up, I'll let the sunlight burn my body at the top of the tower tomorrow morning. This castle is meaningless without you."
Funeral Ceremony at the Underground Cemetery
The procession begins. Your coffin is lifted by servants to the deepest catacombs beneath the castle—the place where the nobles of Dimitrescu are laid to rest. The jellyfish on the wall swayed in the cold wind of the underground.
Your coffin is placed on a stone altar. Cassandra stands in front of you, holding a sprig of black rose that she has smeared with her own blood.
"Good-bye, my husband," she sobbed, preparing to close the heavy lid of the coffin. "Wait for me in the darkness."
Just as Cassandra's hand touched the edge of the chest to seal it once and for all, you felt an unbelievably powerful stream of new energy explode inside your chest. The other day's "bite" experiment turned out to take an incubation time in a state of death to fuse perfectly.
Your power is back, but this time it feels different. Not just light, but there are elements of darkness and flies that merge within you.
Pov : *Miranda, Heisen, Moreau, Donna join too*
The atmosphere in the underground catacombs of Dimitrescu Castle felt so heavy, as if the air was frozen by a gripping grief. This was an unprecedented funeral in the village's history—the gathering of all the Four Lords was not to plan a ritual, but rather to unleash the departure of the only human who had managed to conquer their hearts.
In the dim light of the crackling torch, the scene seemed very surreal:
Mother Miranda stood in the front row with Eva. His face is flat, yet his keen eyes stare at your coffin with a deep void—the loss of the masterpiece he craved.
Heisenberg leaned his giant hammer against the stone wall. He doesn't smoke. His fedora hat was pulled low over his eyes, but his firm shoulders seemed to sag slightly. "It's a pity, son. You have guts bigger than all of us," he muttered hoarsely.
Donna Beneviento stood stiff in the dark corner. The Angie doll in her arms looked helpless, no crazy babbling coming out of the wooden mouth. The two of them were silent in a thick fog of sadness.
Salvatore Moreau sobbed under his dirty robes, the sound of his wet sobbing echoing through the stone passages. "He... He's a good guy... Why did he go..."
Cassandra lay in front of your coffin, her pale fingers trembling as she began to slide the lid of the coffin off the heavy stone. The sound of stone friction on stone sounded like a deadly death bell.
"Wait for me, Zak..." Scarlett Cassandra. His tears fell right on top of your still chest. "Tomorrow morning, the sun will end everything for me too."
Just when the lid of the chest almost closes your entire view...
DEG.
Your heart beats once. Very hard. The power of the Megamycete that was once "sleeping" now explodes, blending perfectly with Dimitrescu's blood in your veins.
Pov : *I scream* but boong *I rise up as an ordinary human with the freshest blood*
The sound of the heavy stone squeezing of the tombstone was suddenly stopped by one of the most unexpected explosions of sound in the entire history of this village ruler.
"BUT LYING!"
You stand up straight with a quick jolt, sitting in the stone coffin with a wide grin that is very mischievous and triumphant. Your eyes are wide open, clear, and very human. There was no black aura, no flies, and no godpower.
Silence.
The silence was so absolute that the sound of water dripping from the roof of the catacombs sounded like the explosion of a cannon.
Cassandra froze. His hand still held the edge of the coffin, his face full of tears and deep sorrow turned into a hilarious blank expression. Mother Miranda dropped her sacred vessel. Heisenberg almost swallowed a cigar that he didn't light up. Moreau stopped crying just like that, his mouth gaping wide.
"Zak...?" whispered Cassandra, her voice trembling between overwhelming relief and boiling anger.
The scent of your body exploded in that narrow room. Not the scent of black roses or death, but rather the freshest, purest, most seductive scent of human blood they had ever smelled. Your heart is pounding—dup-dap, dup-dap—pumping life into your athletic body. To the Lords, you are now like the most delicious dish in the world placed right in front of their noses.
"You..." Lady Dimitrescu growled lowly, her voice trembling. He took off his big black hat, his eyes lit up bright yellow with a sudden rise in bloodlust. "You're playing death in front of us? You let my daughter cry for three days... Just for a joke?"
Heisenberg suddenly burst into a hoarse laugh so loud that it reverberated throughout the catacombs. "Hahaha! This illegitimate child! He really played a trick on all of us! Miranda, look at your face! You look like you've just seen a ghost stealing your wallet!"
Angie (Donna's doll) suddenly screams loudly, "BITE HER! BITE HIM RIGHT NOW! HER BLOOD IS TOO FRAGRANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND!"
Cassandra slowly stood up. He didn't laugh. He looks at you with a very intense look. "Three days, Zak... Three days I prepared to die with you..." He stepped closer, his fangs slowly sticking out, and his flies began to buzz in a very dangerous tone. "Your blood is indeed very fresh now... and I suppose you need punishment for making me cry."
Me : Jump out of the crate and run: "Catch me if you can! Who is the fastest can bite first!"
With lightning-fast movements that only humans have in a state of peak adrenaline, you jump out of the stone coffin. Your black velvet coat flutters, and the scent of your fresh blood lingers in the air like an intoxicating scent trail for the predators there.
"Catch me if you can! Who is the fastest can bite first!" you shouted with a laugh, your voice echoing through the damp corridors of the catacombs.
You sprint past the still-bewildered Moreau, jump over the lying hammer of Heisenberg, and are just inches away from Lady Dimitrescu's claws trying to snatch you with the reflexes of a very angry (and relieved) mother.
"POCKET!! BACK HERE YOU MAN!" shouted Cassandra. She no longer cries; His face was now red with shame and explosive anger. Its body shatters into a vortex of extremely concentrated black flies, flying after you at high speed through narrow passages.
Bela and Daniela did not want to be left behind. They laughed hysterically, turned into flies and raced with their brothers. "The blood! I smelled a very sweet smell of blood! It's mine!" exclaimed Daniela.
Chase in the Castle Corridor
You run up the spiral staircase to the main hall, your heart pounding—a human sensation you haven't felt with this intensity in a long time. You jump over the banquet table, dropping a few empty bottles of wine to block their path.
Behind you, the sound of the buzz of flies is getting closer.
"You won't be able to run away from your own wife, Zak!" Cassandra's voice echoes right behind your ears.
You managed to reach the balcony where you usually stood. The cold night breeze hits your face, giving you a great freshness. You turned, panting, staring at the three Dimitrescu brothers who were now cornering you on the edge of the balcony with fiery yellow eyes.
"Caught," hissed Cassandra. He slowly returned to his human form, his breath hunting, his fangs already elongated perfectly. He steps forward, cornering you against the balcony railing. "Three days full of grief... And you're just kidding? You know how much my heart hurts?"
He grabs the collar of your coat, pulling you closer until your noses touch. The smell of your fresh blood made his body tremble violently.
"Now," he whispered in a very dangerous but passionate tone, "who's going to bite you first? Me, or my brothers who are already very hungry?"
Pov : Trying to seduce all three of them at once: "Why do we have to fight? My neck is wide enough for the three of you."