Lethal Beauty

LIX - Creatures of Eternity

They watched and waited as the perfect dhampir expired and disappeared into the world. There was sadness at her sudden passing. Sadness that deepened the hues of the darkened sky. As if the universe was momentarily mourning her fleeting soul.

If she ever had a soul...

Judy felt as if something stabbed her chest. This was her kind after all and now there were only two of them in this world.

"Help me get these humans out of here," Delbert murmured beside her. He was obviously referring to the shtriga that were turned human through Abel's blood. "You're still an agent, aren't you?"

She glanced at him. "What are you going to do? How would you explain the existence of these humans and why they were cured?"

"I will tell them about Eve."

The simple response rendered her speechless for a while. But Delbert only took a long drag on his cigarette and exhaled the smoke. "They know nothing about you nor Abel," he added, "They don't even know anything about Cain."

"I would like to continue working as an agent."

The confession stunned him all the same. He looked at her this time. "Are you asking for my opinion? If so, then it's a no. This association was created by the vampire guild. But since it is now controlled and infiltrated by the World Government, I think what used to be the safest place for you could turn out to be the most dangerous. I'll help you find a new job and identity. Trust me, it's better this way."

As was to be expected, Judy remained silent. It wasn't like she wasn't aware how this would end and even if she argued, she still couldn't win this case. Delbert was correct. She should've realized this since she was part of the system in the past. She was one of those failed experiments that instead of being given another chance of a normal life, the government decided that she should be thrown to the disposal.

For her, this wasn't something new but for Delbert...this was a shock greater than any doors opening before him.

"When I first entered the agency," Delbert explained, "I had no room for vampires and shtriga alike. But there was something in it for me. I thought I was doing something respectable. Something worthwhile. For the twenty years that I served the department, I looked down at the vampire race and only saw them as bloodsucking fiends. I considered myself a local hero. It worsened at the death of Ramona. I knew in my heart that she had fallen for that man...the same bloodsucking fiend that I used to hate, but I justified her infidelity by putting all the negativity that I have felt since, and for a long while, it made me feel good."

"Delbert...about Ramona---"

"---you don't need to rationalize things for me. I am no child, Judy. What I did was wrong. I was blinded by my hatred. Just like how humans and vampires were blinded by power and control."

It made sense, she thought. All of those people involved have one thing in common---DESIRE.

Eve was the perfect dhampir because of her inability to feel emotion until she met Mika. But Mika saw her as a doll she could manipulate and drive at her own will. Mika's desire to bring the whole House of Elders at her feet was her sole motivation for existing. Her own parents never looked at her the same way they did her siblings. She never knew nor understood what affection meant. Thus, she failed to realize that Eve was truly in love with her and would've done everything for her.

DESIRE was even the motivation of the World Government for authorizing an accord with the House of Elders. They even went above and beyond in creating human soldiers in the hopes that they could turn the power around. They used the existence of shtriga to justify the immorality of their ventures and let the insanity of Doctor Bernadette Harris and the others play a vital role in its success.