The room finally fell into a rare moment of true silence. After all the commotion involving Natasha, Charlotte, and the countless absurd situations that seemed to arise one after another, this momentary calm felt almost strange. The low fire in the fireplace cast soft shadows across the dark walls of the mansion as Victor remained seated on the sofa, his body relaxed for the first time in hours, though his mind was still far from truly resting.

Rakshasa remained seated beside him.

Or rather—

Partially on top of him.

Even after everything that had happened before, she had apparently decided that personal space was an optional concept when it came to Victor. One of her legs remained resting on his while her body leaned slightly against his shoulder, as if that position had become natural in an absurdly short period of time.

Victor no longer seemed to be fighting it.

Perhaps because he was tired.

Perhaps because he had simply realized that arguing with Rakshasa rarely changed anything.

Or perhaps because her constant presence was, strangely, beginning to seem too normal.

The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable. Rakshasa calmly watched the light from the fireplace reflecting on the antique furniture in the room while keeping her arms lazily crossed. But there was something different about her posture now. Something more serious.

Victor noticed this after a few seconds.

"You’re overthinking," he commented casually, still looking ahead.

Rakshasa let out a small nasal sound, almost a low laugh.

"And you think too little."

Victor shrugged.

"It works for me."

She slowly turned her face towards him, her red eyes reflecting the faint orange light of the fire.

"Sometimes I really can’t tell if you’re brave or simply irresponsible."

"Probably both."

Rakshasa remained silent for a few seconds before finally sighing softly.

Then she moved away from him.

The movement immediately caught Victor’s attention, because it was the first time since they had sat there that she had actually created a voluntary distance. Rakshasa slowly rose from the sofa, her long dark hair sliding down her back as she slowly adjusted the sleeves of her clothes.

Victor raised a slight eyebrow.

"Are you leaving?"

Rakshasa nodded once.

"Yes."

The answer came simply.

Directly.

But there was a slight weight to it.

She walked a few slow steps across the room before stopping near the tall window that offered a view of the dark night of vampire territory. For a few seconds, she simply observed the outside silently.

"I need to take care of some things," she said finally.

Victor didn’t respond immediately.

Rakshasa rarely explained her own movements to anyone. So the mere fact that she mentioned it was strange enough to draw attention.

"Dangerous things?" he asked without much emotion.

She let out a small, low laugh. "Everything related to me usually ends up being dangerous."

"Fair enough."

Another brief silence followed.

Then Rakshasa partially turned her face toward him again.

"And I also need to warn you about something else."

Victor rested his arm on the back of the sofa.

"Hmm?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Jake."

The name didn’t elicit an immediate reaction from him.

Victor just blinked slowly.

"...Who?"

Rakshasa really seemed to lose some patience for a split second.

"The idiot vampire who entered my territory."

"That guy you almost killed?"

"I almost kill a lot of people, Victor."

"Okay, fair enough."

She sighed slowly before continuing.

"He came to me trying to find out my intentions toward you."

Victor continued looking at her without much change in expression.

Rakshasa noticed this immediately. "...You don’t seem worried."

Victor shrugged again.

"Because I don’t even know this guy."

"That doesn’t matter."

"It matters to me."

Rakshasa watched him silently for several full moments, clearly trying to understand how that brain worked.

Or failed to work.

"Victor," she said calmly, "no one invades my territory alone without a serious reason."

He tilted his head slightly.

"And?"

"And that means there’s someone interested in you."

"That’s nothing new either."

Rakshasa narrowed her eyes.

"Interested in harming you."

"Ah."

Finally, a small reaction.

But still...

Much smaller than it should be.

Victor leaned back on the sofa again.

"It still doesn’t change much."

Rakshasa stared at him for a few seconds in absolute silence before letting out a low, disbelieving laugh.

"You really don’t feel fear, do you?"

Victor thought for a moment.

"I feel hungry more often."

She ended up smiling.

A small smile.

But genuine.

"You’re ridiculous."

"I’ve been told that before."

Rakshasa walked slowly back to him, stopping directly in front of him now. Her gaze drifted down for a few seconds to his face as the silence returned again, although now there was something different there.

Something softer.

More intimate. "Even so," she said calmly, "be careful."

Victor finally looked directly at her.

Rakshasa rarely spoke like that.

No irony.

No teasing.

No amusement.

It was a sincere request.

And that made it all the more weighty.

Victor held her gaze for a few seconds before answering.

"I’ll survive."

Rakshasa let out a small sigh through her nose.

"That wasn’t the worrying part."

He raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

She smiled again.

This time with that small, sharp, playful smile slowly returning.

"Nothing."

Victor clearly didn’t believe her.

But he didn’t insist either.

Rakshasa leaned slightly forward then, getting just close enough to rest her hand against his face for a brief moment. The touch was surprisingly light coming from her. "See you on the day of the Ritual," she murmured.

Victor simply nodded slowly.

"If you don’t show up before then."

Her smile widened slightly.

"Depends on how much I can control myself."

Victor let out a small, tired laugh.

"That sounds threatening."

"It was supposed to."

Then—

She stepped away.

And in the next instant, her body simply began to dissolve.

Not grotesquely.

Nor violently.

It was elegant.

Red shadows spread across her body as thousands of tiny bats emerged from the darkness like a living wave, completely enveloping her silhouette. The sound of wings filling the room echoed softly as the Rakshasa form gradually disappeared into that moving black mass.

Victor watched everything in silence.

His eyes following the bats as they crossed the open window into the dark night. And then—

She simply wasn’t there anymore.

The room returned to absolute silence.

Victor stared at the empty window for a few seconds before finally leaning back on the sofa.

"...These women are fucking trouble," he muttered to himself.

But even saying that...

A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

...Victor sighed then said, "Jake Valentine." he murmured, "Looks like I’ll have to deal with this on the day of the ritual... but oh well, whatever." he shrugged.

Casually remembering the past... or rather, the future he destroyed.

"The incident in 2 years... it’s good to start fixing this problem by cutting the evil at the root."