My Most Precious Human

Final encounter

As soon as we crossed the Greystoneville borders, I heard of the first attacks already starting in the

northern part of the town. Leo was there with two battalions to repel the degenerates. So far they

succeeded in keeping the enemy right outside the borders, but the hybrids' numbers were increasing

by the minute.

Sariel was relentless about keeping me close to him. I had to assure him that I wasn't going to do

anything reckless and that I treasured my life enough not to make any rash decisions. The only time I

was allowed to leave his side was when Patrick came to tell me that he had something for me.

"Your King must sincerely trust you," I snorted as Patrick led me to the car.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"He didn't want me to pee alone, but the moment you showed up, he just let me go to do whatever." I

gave him a suspicious glance.

He burst out laughing and then replied, "Yes, you can say that he trusts me. He wouldn't allow anyone

near you except for General Gotha and me."

"Because you and Leo are his best warriors?" I grinned.

Patrick smiled wryly. "That, too…"

I stopped, intrigued. "Is there any other reason?"

Patrick sighed heavily, telling me that he would rather not continue talking about this issue, but my

narrowed gaze at him stated clearly that I wasn't going to let it go. He gave up.

"General Gotha is gay… and I'm married," he tossed and hurriedly opened the car door for me.

My jaw literally dropped. I stood with my mind blank as if something had just hit my head. I couldn't

care less about Leo's sexuality, but I had never seen a ring on Patrick's finger.

"How long have you been married?" I popped out unknowingly as I got inside the car.

"Ten years," he sang with a dreamy grin.

I doubtfully scanned his face. The fact that he would still look like a teenager if he wore a high school

uniform didn't help determine whether he was telling the truth or not.

"How old are you?" I inquired, shamelessly.

He smirked, locking his eyes on me. "I'm 28. Binna and I met at school. We got married right after

graduation."

I smiled, seeing how agitated he was just mentioning her name. His whole face was glowing.

I knew I was being nosy, but still, I needed to ask, "Does she work for the Palace? How do you even

get to see each other?"

Patrick laughed, seeing how eager I was to find out more about him. "She works at her family's law

company in New Argent City. She is a half-breed like me, but she is more of a human than a vampire.

When we met, I was already Master Gotha's student, working for the Calvets. She came from a rich

family, which didn't necessarily want a military man to marry their daughter. We eloped and started to

live on our own. It took them five years to forgive Binna and ask her to come work for the family

company. I have yet to prove my worth…" He finished his story with a wry smile.

He must have been working hard all those years to earn his place in his wife's family. It sounded so

unfair. His wife's family must have been the Vampire King's subjects as well. What could prove his

value more than the fact that he was one of the King's most trustful men?

"I don't get it… You became a Commander in the Royal Army. The King favors you. You are a great

guy, and you are handsome as…" I paused, registering his grin getting wider. I cleared my throat and

let a nervous chuckle escape my throat. "You're handsome." I put a period after my praises.

"Thank you, Lilith." He winked at me and then sighed, "Unfortunately, Binna's family was never too fond

of the Calvets. They still have a hard time accepting Sariel Calvet as their king… but that can change

once we destroy the army of degenerates and JD, whoever he is."

I smiled and patted his shoulder. "It will change," I assured.

I didn't ask where Patrick was taking me, but soon realized we were heading straight to Randall

D'Apolito's mansion. It felt strange to see the area open and free of the hostile energy I had

remembered. As we stopped in front of the main building, I noticed that some stains of blood remained,

yet the bodies had already been buried.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"You wanted a weapon, didn't you?" He chuckled, getting out of the car.

I narrowed my eyes at Patrick, wondering what he was up to, but then followed him through the

entrance. "Aren't you going to tell me where we are going?"

"You will know soon enough," he grinned wickedly, climbing upstairs.

He led me to the part of the residence I had never been to. We walked down through a long corridor

leading to something resembling a training hall. As we walked closer, I noticed tatami mats on the floor.

"This was your father's private training room," Patrick explained, stepping on the mats.

I swallowed hard, entering a room perfect for Kendo practice. I could never imagine my father

practicing any form of martial arts that required focus and mental discipline, not to mention respect for

your opponent. I guess that, sadly, those were the qualities he had kept hidden from the outside world

while revealing solely the vicious and brutal face of his. Nonetheless, his unexpected passion for

Japanese sword martial arts was going to be used for something good.

As I walked closer to the wall, I saw various swords presented on the wooden supports. I picked one

that had a scabbard decorated with a painting of a beautiful green-eyed white dragon. It somehow

reminded me of my mother, and I immediately hoped that it would give me some of her strength. Once I

drew a sword, I saw the most beautiful and smooth blade I had ever seen. Its edge was sharp enough

to cut a skull without putting much strength into it. It was exactly the thing I needed.

"Thank you, Patrick," I said, putting the sword back into the scabbard.

"You're welcome. I'm glad I could help," he responded with a cute grin on his face.

"You helped a lot." I pressed the sword to my chest, thinking how much this blade would make my fight

easier.

When Patrick and I came back to our center of command in the central district, I had learned that I

would have to draw the sword quicker than I expected. Every fighter had already been mobilized to

protect the borders from all sides of the town. Sariel and his battalions were facing the biggest part of

the army that tried to enter Greystoneville from the west.

For the first two hours, the Royal Army, supported by some of the Moon Hill wolves, was shooting

sliver-aconite bullets and using explosives from the hurriedly built fortifications. The problem was that

we had only as much ammunition and bombs as we could prepare in the short amount of time, and the

hybrids just kept coming in the never-ending parade.

We were in constant contact with other groups of warriors spread around the borders. At first, they

were all under attack, but then their strategy changed. At some point in the fight, the hybrids stopped

attacking every corner, decreasing their numbers everywhere else aside from the western border.

Nonetheless, we couldn't leave those other sides of the town unguarded in case their strategy changed

again. Their move was smart. They could attack us with everything they had, but we couldn't risk

bringing all our warriors to fight against them, too afraid of the possibility that some smaller groups of

hybrids could get inside the town through unprotected fortifications.

"We're out of bullets." Those words came as a chilly wave, reaching the hearts of the warriors that

stood at the west border.

We all knew what was going to happen next. As Sariel walked to the front of the gate, the werewolves

turned into their beast forms, and the vampires pulled out their sharp claws. Before the gates opened,

Sariel faced the fighters.

"Over ten thousand soldiers of the Royal Army are on their way to join us, attacking the enemy from the

back to crush the entire army of degenerates. We need another hour. If we survive until then, the

victory will be ours!" Sariel's words caused an agitated uproar and a wave of fighting chants.

He grabbed my hand and squeezed it as if he wanted to give me the strength to fight. I smiled at him

and pulled out my sword. The gates opened.

A heartbeat later, we were swallowed by the sea of hybrids, colliding against them in a vicious, brutal

fight. A wide stream of blood began to flow through the ground nearly seconds later. Swinging the

katana in my hand, I slayed the spiteful creatures with merciless cuts. A longer sword allowed me to

keep a safer distance to avoid their claws and teeth, but handling a more massive blade required force

and quickly drained my energy.

"There's too many of them!" I heard the desperate screams of the soldiers, stomping on the tons of

bloodied corpses and facing twice as numerous hordes of hybrids.

After forty minutes, I saw our warriors dying in front of me. It was terrifying, but it also made my blood

boil. I wanted to destroy those monsters charging at us. I wanted to kill them all. Sariel stayed not too

far away from me, glancing every minute to check if I wasn't hurt. Our eyes kept meeting now and then,

and when they did, I smiled as I wanted to assure Sariel that I was all right and that he should only

focus on fighting.

Finally, after little more than an hour, we heard a loud signal spreading across the air. Our

reinforcements came to destroy the degenerates from behind their backs. New energy came into our

hearts, and with roars and growls, we charged at those monsters even fiercer than before.

"The troops on all other sides of the border have already crushed the hybrids completely and are on

their way to help us!" Someone announced.

We were winning, and as I saw Draven and the others joining us in the fight, I knew that it wouldn't be ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

long until we fully annihilated the degenerates and claimed our victory. Ten minutes later, the hybrid

army became smaller than a hundred. We were slaying them, one by one, pushing through the pain,

the exhaustion, and our limits.

At some point, I found myself further away from Sariel, but I wasn't worried. The battle was almost over.

My hands were trembling, and my palms were filled with blisters, but it didn't make my grip on the

sword handle any less tight. I ran further to find another monster to kill, but then I saw Patrick and a

huge hybrid coming from behind while he was busy fighting one in front of him.

"No!" I screamed, watching the monster raise his claws, ready to rip Patrick's flesh.

I jumped at the beast, cutting its head off with my sword. Patrick turned around right after I saved his

life, but in his eyes, instead of relief, I saw horror. A split second later, I spat blood. As I looked at my

chest, I registered spikes of claws that were piercing right through me. The pain. I looked at Patrick. He

was running towards me. Someone roared. I closed my eyes and opened them again with an agonizing

howl as the claws were pulled out of my body. After another heartbeat, I was lying in Sariel's arms. He

shouted something. He screamed my name. I reached out my hand to touch his face. I was tired, so

tired.

I closed my eyes.