Blood and Silver [slash]

Part 6 - Hope

"But..." Kelron just couldn't believe it. The vampire who had gotten so terribly close to him, and the sinister bloodsucker he had wanted to defeat for years – they were one and the same!

"But... why? Why did you lead me here when you knew my intentions?" he gasped.

Silverian's gaze was solemn. "I wanted to see if you would keep your word and really be able to defeat me. I have searched for a very long time for someone like you, Kelron. Someone who can end this conflict."

"You don't understand! I fought for you! I wanted to win so I could save you!" Kelron shouted, feeling an anguish he had never known before. "I wanted to survive this duel to prevent you from dying!"

"And why would you care?" There was a sudden tiredness in the vampire's soft voice. "You could have killed me and would be free to go back to the humans – knowing that our kind keeps their word until the very last."

Kelron didn't have an answer. The terrible truth squeezed his heart with its icy claws, breaking his whole world apart bit by bit with every passing moment. He had already given up everything and left it behind to follow the only thing that still made sense - just to realize now that he had imagined that as well.

Despite all this, he wasn't able to kill Silverian. Kelron's promise was binding, and he just didn't want to end the vampire's existence. He had been set on killing the cruel bloodsucker who had made him into the person he was now. But instead, the paladin was obliged by his own wish to protect that very same creature.

Silverian had now changed Kelron's life for a second time and just as irreversibly.

Kelron let go of his sword. "Why?" he whispered. "Why all this? Why me?"

Silverian approached him until Kelron had no choice but to look at him. "Because I wanted to prove that deadly enemies can become allies. That a paladin can accept our kind as living beings equal to himself. That this whole feud is unnecessary. For all that, I am willing to take any risk. When I saw you for the first time, I just knew it, Kelron. I knew that you would be the one to change the future of humans and vampires alike."

"And why did you kill my father? So that I would grow up to hate you for sure?" Kelron asked incredulously.

Silverian nodded. "Partly. I told you the truth when I said that I defended myself when your father attacked me. And I regret every victim I had to kill on my way. War means killing or getting killed."

Kelron turned away, a shudder racking his whole body. "You used me from the very beginning!" he hissed. "I was nothing more than your little experiment!"

"No, Kelron. You were my hope. You still are."

"Hope?" The paladin laughed bitterly. "If I go now, you're going to die. And you have no assurance that anything will change. On the contrary, I now have confirmation that bloodsuckers just toy with us humans and that Lord Valendar is the coldest and most insidious bastard the world has every known – and that he will perish thanks to me."