DAMON DU LAC

"Maybe I can help?" Yiran presented herself. "I can help you look for the thing that you were looking for since earlier."

Nicholas looked at his sister and smiled faintly. He raised his hand, created a barrier surrounding his bed, making sure that no one can touch Serina without his permission. "That's a good suggestion. You know most of my books as well so you might have an idea of that book called Vampires and their Sorcery"

"I think I have read that one, too. Wait let me – "

Nicholas was no longer listening to his sister because Kiro already unlocked the door to his knowledge. Nicholas has a great memory capacity but this was all thanks to Kiro's intelligence. At the same time, if his wolf refuse to show him the information he needed, no matter how he thinks about it, he wouldn't know. Just like this time. Kiro refused Serina to be his mate and didn't want to deal with her. However, sensing how anxious Nicholas was, as his partner, he really couldn't continue to watch him in despair. Thus, he opened up his mind and gave him free access to all the knowledge he stored up there.

"There's no need to look for it. I have remembered everything." Nicholas said, stopping his sister to continue looking for the book. "You can go back to your room and rest."

"O-okay." Yiran looked at Serina one last time and left. The moment she closed the door, she clenched her hands into fists and walked away. She hated it when someone took her brother's attention away from her. She hated the idea that someone else has occupied his mind.

Still, she left because she has no other choice.

Nicholas looked for all the information he obtained about sucking one's life force using sorcery. When vampires suck one's blood by biting the neck, the person will either die from blood loss or just fall unconscious from too much blood loss. However, if they suck someone's life force through sorcery, that person wouldn't die. The life force that the vampires suck isn't blood but the spirit that is attached to the soul of a person. It will only tire the person and make her sleepy. Sometimes, one would be hallucinating. And once the spirit is fully consumed, it will make the vampire even stronger but the victim will lose some of his/her memories. Worst of all, that person might turn dumb.

'There are many different forms of spirits and Serina probably has no idea that she has one. I couldn't even detect anything coming from her.' Kiro told Nicholas while watching the sleeping beauty on their bed.

'I'll try to probe to see what's in her in order to protect her.'

'No, you can't. Remember, she might not be our mate. If you keep protecting her and we find our real mate in the future, how will you explain things?'

'Let's not talk about it for now.' Nicholas brushed off the topic since he finally found all the methods to deal with the vampire that's latching off Serina's life.

A vampire could latch on to someone's life force by placing something that they owned into their victim's belongings. Nicholas also checked Serina's things when he visited her room earlier but he found nothing there. That crossed out this possibility.

The next possible scenario was of Serina bumping onto a vampire without her knowledge. However, when Nicholas visited her room earlier and when he carried her off to the hospital, he didn't sense any vampire on her.

'I don't want to go the third possible scenario but we'd have to do this, right?'

'Won't you feel guilty right after?'

'No, and we won't have to tell her about it.'

'Well they're human so they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.'

Nicholas and Kiro contemplated together if they should proceed to the next possibility. It wouldn't make sense if they skip this part and later on, after spending so much time, they'd find out it was the correct out. It would be frustrating.

"I'll check on her exposed skin first," Nicholas told himself and pulled the cover off of Serina. He checked her face, her neck, her arms, and her palm but he didn't see anything. "I don't think it's possible for someone to attach something to her unexposed skin."

'If we're dealing with a powerful vampire, it's possible,' Kiro retorted which silenced Nicholas.

He raised her hospital gown a little and checked her legs but there wasn't anything suspicious either. 'Let's just erase our memories after this.'

'I don't think you will. Just shut it and do your job. I'll turn a blind eye to this.' Kiro responded and curled his body to sleep in Nicholas' subconsciousness.

Nicholas untied Serina's hospital gown and saw her chest. Even if he wanted to not look at it, his eyes wouldn't just leave the sight. He took a deep and long breath, letting it out to calm himself before checking for any runes attached to her body. He scanned her upper body and found a small bat-like tattoo on the lower left side of her rib cage. It was so small that he mistook it for a birthmark at first.

Nicholas shifted his gaze back to Serina's face, observing her expression and making sure that she was really asleep. Reassured, Nicholas placed his warm hand on the black mark and started injecting his own life force in her. The warmth from his hand coursed throughout her body and Serina started to relax. The frown on her face has vanished and her breathing was regulated back to normal.

The mark on her side was slowly fading from her body as well.

In the city, in one of the most expensive hotels owned by the du Lac family, Damon opened his eyes and twirled the glass of wine he was holding. Earlier this morning, he arrived from Europe in order to meet with the Vallardi family. He was planning to tour himself a little before the appointed time but he didn't expect to bump onto one of his favorite delicacies.

The girl was looking a bit sleepy as she got onto the bus. There wasn't even any seat left so she had to stand all the way to her stop. Damon also got onto the bus and stood right behind her. She smelled so sweet and delectable. She wobbled and swayed from side to side, her head was hitting on his shoulder while she tried to get some sleep. Suddenly, the bus braked without any warning and she almost fell over if he didn't hold on to her.

"Thanks." She mumbled softly before shifting her eyes on his hand which was holding her waist. He left his mark on her and he was glad that he did. She really has a very strong life force that could help him enhance his abilities. Slowly, he started sucking her life force without her knowledge.

However, at this point, the source of his meal was cut off. He tried his best to locate her using the link he has placed on the mark but he didn't expect that someone would cut it off as well. It would have been fine if he was a lesser vampire but he was one of the pure-blooded vampires. He was close to the royalty and yet, someone has managed to cut off the source of his meal.

Damon's scarlet eyes twinkled in interest. He wasn't informed that someone more powerful than him is living in this city. 'So, she was probably a mate to one of those vampires.' Damon thought. 'Mate, huh? Utter nonsense.' He thought to himself before taking a sip of his wine. He didn't feel anything aside from the emptiness from having his dinner snatched away from him.

Back in the Vallardi mansion, Serina was already dressed in comfortable clothes but she was still unconscious after the ordeal she went through. Beside her on the bed, Nicholas was reading some books about dragons and vampires. He was waiting for her to wake up but even when morning came, she was still unconscious.

'Are you sure she's alright? Why isn't she awake yet?' Nicholas asked Kiro inside him.

'She'll be fine. Just give her time to rest. Don't expect her to be up and running after what happened. She's been drained of her life force for one whole day.'

'I know and it's really worrying me. What if she'd become dumb after this?'

'Aren't you happy if that happens? She won't be able to leave the country and go to Europe.'

"I'm not that selfish," Nicholas muttered under his breath. He looked towards Serina beside him but she didn't show any sign of waking up. "I'll go and cook some food for her first." He waved another layer of barrier around her before stepping out of his room.

As soon as the door closed, Serina opened her eyes, and a blush crept up on her face and ears. Her heart was beating so fast and she felt her face getting warmer. 'How the hell did I end up here? And where is this place? How come we're not at home?'

'Don't jump to a conclusion yet. I think he just helped us.'

'Helped us? Were we in trouble?' Serina questioned since she felt nothing's wrong with her but that was different from her dragon whose life was being sucked out from yesterday morning until last night.

'I am not really sure how I should put this but I felt that someone was killing my spirit.' Brittislava told Serina. 'Although I have no physical form as of now, someone can still harm me through some sorcery and other stuff.'

'Someone can do that?'

'Uh-huh. Wait. Let's not talk about it here.'

Her dragon retreated to the back of her mind and Serina was left to deal with the aftermath alone. She was already awake for more than two hours but she smelled something so familiar that made her want to sleep once again. She didn't have to open her eyes to know the source of that manly scent. She knew that it was Nicholas and when he spoke, it confirmed all her suspicions.

"So, how did I end up on his bed?" Serina asked herself, still not knowing the answer to this troubling question. She wanted to leave the place but she has no idea where she was.

On the other hand, while she was resting in his bedroom, Nicholas and his family received a guest. He didn't know that a guest was coming and he wasn't in the mood to entertain one especially someone with scarlet eyes. He hated the vampire's kind as of the moment.

"I'm going back to my room," Nicholas stated and left the living room. He was supposed to cook but he gave up the idea and just grabbed some bread, cheese, and a glass of warm milk. He didn't want to leave Serina alone with a vampire currently inside their abode.

Even so, Damon already caught Serina's scent in Nicholas. 'So, it wasn't a vampire, but a werewolf was able to cut my source of food? How can that be possible?' Damon thought while keeping his eyes on Nicholas who was already walking back upstairs with a tray of food.

"Your son's mate is very sweet," Damon commented with a slight smile on his lips and he even made sure to use his power of mind link to let Nicholas hear his words.