Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

"Nikolai!" A loud voice called out from the port, with Nikita's white hair swaying as she waved her hand energetically, bouncing around as Selene grabbed her shoulders and stopped the little wolf from causing such a large ruckus.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, all his fiancées grouped looking at him expectantly. Risa's eyes looked slightly red while she gripped her hands together, fiddling with her fingers upon spotting Nikolai.

Nikolai sighed with a faint smile, watching the passing people.

Various families that managed to escape seemed to be the majority.

"Go on, they're waiting for you Nikolai." Amphitrite whispered from behind him before quietly slipping into the crowd to avoid creating any issues.

Nikolai knew she'd return to the same mansion, but after receiving so much help. He didn't like that she felt the need to leave in this manner. "Wait," he called out, looking back, but Amphitrite had already vanished into the crowd of bodies and mixed scents.

'Forget it.' he thought, turning around, and with his first step, all the doubts faded as he rushed, taking faster steps until breaking into a full sprint towards the four women.

"You're all okay?" Nikolai huffed while spreading his arms and hugging the women in a large group hug, stroking Kumiko's silken gold hair and Risa's smooth shoulders. "I'm sorry to make you all worry so much."

"It's fine, you're just that kind of man," Selene pressed her forehead against his, gazing up at him with her calm red eyes.

"Idiot, I was so worried when you never appeared!" Nikita's voice was louder and more aggressive, but the arms wrapped around his chest, squeezing him and showing a different message.

Unlike the others, Kumiko remained quiet and nuzzled Nikolai's cheek, a faint smile on her lips, while Risa's eyes looked wet, struggling to hold back her tears as a low purr echoed from her throat, unable to stop herself from becoming emotional.

"We're fine Nikolai." Finally, Kumiko seemed to have recovered, speaking in her calm voice, her head turning to look at the other girls who nodded in turn. "I just think we should return home together."

"I see, but it doesn't matter to me as long as you are all okay."

Nikolai's hands brushed through their soft hair, enjoying the various sensations, from Kumiko's sleek and straight blonde hair to Risa's silky black strands, although Nikita's hair was a little messy, and she pouted when he removed a few knots.

"Let's head back, Leona's waiting by the car." Nikolai whispered as their group parted, the warmth and scents of four women lingering on his body.

"Hmm..." Selene blew hot air from her nose while enviously looking at Nikita, who skipped ahead in a pleasant mood, humming a strange tune to herself before slipping into the passenger seat. "I am jealous of her energy levels."

"Hehe~ you know I am the best!"

"Nikita, stop making a mess and sit down—you'll hurt yourself." Kumiko scolded, as the little wolf stood in her seat, poking her head from the sunroof, waving at the group while slapping the seat with her tail.

"Ignore her, Kumi. Come on, Selene, let's go rest... you've worried too long." Risa grasped Selene's hand, the vampire's eyes opening wide, before she nodded with a conflicted smile and Kumiko pulled Nikolai's hand as they filled the large car and prepared to return.

***

The mansion looked no different, other than the slightly dangerous air as if a powdered keg left exposed to an open flame, waiting for something to happen.

Nikolai's footsteps echoed through the mansion after the others had rushed to their rooms, asking him to wait and be patient because they needed to "touch up" their makeup. He brushed his hand along the carved wooden railing as he ascended the stairs, enjoying the smooth sensation. A creak sounded on the third step and a low groan on the seventh.

He finally reached the long, dark hallway and paused for a moment.

Selene's door remained slightly ajar, light leaking from the narrow slit like a beam of warmth against his cheek. Inside, the quiet murmuring of voices reached his ears, Risa's voice and a brief laugher that sounded like lovely bells.

'Forget it...' His hand hesitated and didn't knock, the thoughts mulling through his mind a little too heavy to enjoy their current atmosphere.

When he came to Nikita's room, the door was wide open, with clothes already messily strewn across the floor, like she'd emptied her suitcase with a joyful explosion. She was flopped on her bed, arms spread wide and tongue out as if pretending to be dead.

Meanwhile, Kumiko placed a blanket over her with a faint smile and the patience of a saint.

Neither of them noticed him—he moved on before they could.

The further he travelled, the quieter and more serene the mansion became. Not dead or asleep like his cute lovers, but as if holding its breath, waiting for something.

Nikolai finally reached his room and entered, closing the door without turning on the light. The window remained open, allowing the soft whistle of wind to brush against the heavy curtains and carry the distant scent of the mountain forest.

His bed released a low creak when he sat on the edge, his fingers rubbing together.

"What do I do?" Not speaking from fear, or rather, it was something deeper, like a tangled dread that caused his chest to feel tight and a weight to loom in his stomach. A quiet voice repeating a single truth that he didn't wish to hear.

Lunaria is going to die.

You cannot save her

The voices were merely the projection of his thoughts, whispered in his own voice.

He stood up before he could talk himself out of it and sought the truth and needed to meet his mother.

With a low sigh, he walked back outside and to the end of the corridor and opened a narrow door that he had discovered while studying before attending the ball. "Where is it... oh? Here!"

Click!

The wall shifted, creating a low, rumbling echo as the mansion started to transform. A spiral staircase lowered, leading down into the manor's depths, lit only by small enchanted sconces that bloomed like blue roses, faintly guiding him down.

"It's cold..." rubbing his hands together Nikolai couldn't help but hug his shoulders from the bitter chill that seeped into his bones.

He reached the chamber below—half-forgotten, built long before Nikolai had ever lived here. The space was circular. Countless books sealed in metal clamps filled the walls with the lingering scent of lavender and burning dust.

What made the room oddly bizarre was the huge, humming tanks in the centre, different from the old-fashioned decorations, that were modern and new.

Inside the tanks, a beautiful and well-maintained body floated with an almost perfect ratio.

At the far end, standing with her back turned, wrapped in a faint pink aura, stood the only person who would understand what he might ask.

"Mother."

"...You could have waited until morning," she murmured without turning around while floating off the ground, her face barely visible but much clearer than in the past.

"I couldn't sleep," Nikolai said quietly, walking forward with the face of a man on death row.

Elizabeth's eyes weren't detailed, but he could feel her gaze as she furrowed her brows and floated closer. "What happened, my dear boy?"

He stopped three paces from her. "It's about Lunaria... and, what happened."

For a moment, she stared at him with a quiet but focused stare as if she knew everything, yet still cared more about her son than the truth.

"What's wrong with her, although she caused trouble... that girl wasn't a bad one." His mother's soft voice helped calm Nikolai's mind, but his stomach churned with crushing guilt towards her.

"Its..." Nikolai spoke about what he learned, the conflict and frustration inside that made it stifling to breathe, and he couldn't relax. "...and I don't know what to do."

"I see." Elizabeth watched her son quietly, her eyes flicking to the body in the machine, her lips trembling before forming a faint smile.

"Even if she is our enemy, would you save her?"

"She was a child when I met her. And she gave up her life for Selene." His voice cracked—just slightly—but enough that he clenched his jaw. "You once told me that love doesn't obey allegiances."

A long paused filled the room as her lips slowly curled into a bitter smile. "Do you love her, wasn't it only a puppy love?"

He took another step forward and tried to hug his mother, but his hands pushed through her body that rippled like slime. But, the thought and intention were enough. "I just want her to live, I'm sorry for being a horrible son, asking such an unfair request."

Another pause, but warmer and less stagnant.

"She will not be the same," Nadezhda said without looking at him. "Not entirely. The soul may live, but the body will reject her at first. The nerves, the blood, the instincts—they won't belong to her. She will suffer. And she may never forgive you."

"She'll be alive."

"She might hate you for it."

"I'll survive that."

She lifted her eyes slowly to meet his desperate gaze, and her lips curled into a delight smile.

"You silly boy, I will need three things," she mumbled. "Lunaria's body and spirit, that girl Amphitrite and Selene's permission."

"Why hers?"

"Because if you do this for Lunaria without telling her twin, she might not survive that either."

Nikolai's lips pressed into a thin, hard line.

Then he nodded once.

"I'll get them," he said.