Diego stood in the dim glow of the park's lone lamp post, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his jaw clenched like stone. The rusted chains of an empty swing creaked behind him as he shifted his weight.

"Okay, so now that these pathetic humans—childish as they are in their requests—have what they wanted," he said, "the grown-ups can finally talk."

"Don't talk like that about the people we protect, Diego," Celeste said, folding her arms with a stern expression, one stylish leather boot braced against the lower rung of the climbing frame she leaned on.

Celeste, Diego, and Alex stood in a quiet play park near the mayor's home that same night after the party. A plastic seesaw rocked ever so slightly under a gust of wind. The distant wail of sirens faded as police cars dove into nearby streets, their lights briefly reflecting in Alex's dark red sunglasses. He stood still, spine straight, like a shadow rooted in place.

"You know how things work," Celeste added with calm authority, her tone firm but even. "When a murder is involved, humans deal with this through their police forces."

"I just want to make clear that they won't get to the bottom of it," Diego said, his eyes narrowing as he tilted his head defiantly. "Their work is useless. And to make things worse, they wasted our time. Our, as in the ones who will actually do something about it." He jerked a thumb toward Alex with a scoff. "This bloody vampire could've used his compulsion skills to get us out of trouble, just saying."

"Diego!" Celeste stepped forward, chin lifted, her brow furrowing.

"No, I won't use compulsion," Alex said, his voice low and steady. He slid his hands into the pockets of his black trousers, his posture casual but resolute. "It's not right. If I used it, I wouldn't be any better than Masters."

"A vampire with a soul," Diego muttered, his lips twisting into a sarcastic grin. He took a slow step forward, gaze flicking to Celeste with mock admiration. "You were right, Celeste. He's truly one of a kind. But useless when we need him."

Celeste rolled her eyes and exhaled through her nose, arms still crossed. "Diego!"

"What? If he's useless, Michael will be pissed off—at you." Diego's voice sharpened as he pointed directly at her, shoulders tense. "You were the one adamant to spare this idiot's life, so you'll be to blame for all this mess if this renegade doesn't prove his worth."

Alex's head snapped to the side to stare at her, lips parting slightly in surprise. What? She vouched for me, to spare my life?

"Oh, shut up," Celeste muttered, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, her posture rigid but composed. "Michael won't be pissed off. He sees things my way."

"You lost the scroll—he is pissed off, believe me." Diego ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I know anger when I see it. It slowly builds up to wrath, which I detect extremely well given my background, remember?"

Alex's shoulders stiffened, his expression unreadable behind his glasses. It wasn't the right time—yet. His background? Interesting.

Celeste let out a breath and looked up at the night sky for a second as if asking for patience. "Forgive him, Alex. When Diego's this obstinate, there's no reasoning with him."

"Can we speed things up, please?" Diego tapped his foot impatiently and kicked a small stone that skidded across the ground. "I'm late for a vampire hunting session back in Margate."

Roger appeared, striding across the asphalt path toward them.

"Sure," Celeste said, turning to face him. She clasped her hands together in front of her abdomen. "Roger's here. We can... begin," she added, her eyes dipping for a moment, as though bracing herself.

Roger gave the group a quick once-over. "Hi, I'm back."

"How's Hellen?" Celeste asked as she stepped closer, her concern evident in the tightness of her brow and the gentleness in her voice.

"Fine, given the circumstances," Roger replied, coming to stand next to Alex. "She's taken some tranquillisers and will soon fall asleep, like the rest of the Brooks. She thinks you've gone to bed, too."

"Good," Celeste said, nodding. She took a deep breath and straightened her spine, turning to face both Alex and Roger. "Let's do this. Alex, how about we start by fulfilling that deal I talked to you about now?"

Alex slowly exhaled and lifted his head to look into Celeste's eyes, drawn by their intensity. "One of my truths for one of yours."

"Let me begin," she said, voice unwavering. She looked up briefly at the night sky, then focused on him again. "You asked me what I am. Well, I'm an angel. Not sure if you figured it out by now."

Alex gave a small nod, shifting his weight. "How come an angel can be this wicked, though?"

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, an amused smile touching her lips. "Wicked?"

"You toyed with me," he said. "Ashamed me. Tried to murder me in the kitchen. Lied in public to a bunch of people. Need I go on? What kind of angel does that?"

"One of a kind." She flashed him a playful smirk, tilting her chin. "Now, it's your turn to answer. How did you manage to preserve your soul?"

Alex rubbed a hand over his face, then dropped it, his fingers brushing along his jaw as he thought. "I haven't, I guess. I don't feel like I did."

"But you didn't become a soulless vampire, draining people and falling into all kinds of sin," she said, stepping closer, eyes searching his face.

"No. What I preserved is some sense of morality," he explained.

"How?" she asked, her voice gentle but firm.

"We need to know what makes you so fucking unique, you idiot," Diego cut in, stepping forward with a sneer. "Our eye scans show you have a soul, a dim one, though."

"Diego, language," Celeste said, her tone sharp as she threw him a warning look.

"Eye scan?" Alex asked, lifting his head, brows drawing together.

"A special skill that enables us to distinguish a being with a soul from one without it," Celeste replied, her tone softening. "It's not a device. It's in our nature's eyes."

"So, morally-driven vampire, how did you do it?" Diego pushed again, moving into Alex's space with a scoff. "Why have other vampires never been able to be like you?"

Alex sighed. "I don't know."

"You must have some idea," Diego insisted.

Alex's hands tightened slightly, his mouth pressing into a flat line.

"Masters, the one behind Mr Fontana's murder, fed Alex his blood. His family was brutally murdered—and he was forced to witness it during his transformation," Roger said firmly, stepping up beside Alex like a shield. "To make matters worse, Masters forced him to feed from his mother until he killed her. She was his first and last innocent victim."

"The feeding frenzy," Celeste murmured. Her hand flew to her forehead, her face tightening in disbelief. "When vampires feed for the first time and make their first kill. It was your mother." She shook her head slightly, visibly affected. "That's how you turned? It's despicable."

"Finally, we get what we came for," Diego said with defiance and sarcasm. "Thank you."

"Can you stop being an insensitive dick?" Roger asked with defiance himself, taking a step forward to Diego in a menacing attitude.

"Insensitive? You're one to talk," Diego replied, his pride gladly colliding with Roger's. "We could've got to this bit of information sooner if you and your human vagina weren't driving on lust like an F1 vehicle in the garden when Celeste was about to get this from him."

"This guy is insufferable," Roger whispered at Celeste while pointing at Diego, almost losing his temper. "Hellen's my girlfriend, and we do what we want with our lives."

"I agree," Celeste said. "You and Hellen can do as you please. We simply... bumped into an awkward scene, that's all." She sighed. "Can't be helped now. Can we focus?"

Alex stared at Celeste. Her serious demeanour was enlightening, like getting a fresh perspective of her. So, she didn't interrogate me further on the veranda because she saw I was feeling awkward because of Roger and Hellen making out. She wasn't escaping or dodging the issue like I thought; she was being considerate instead.

"So, this is what I think happened," she explained, taking a few steps back and forth in an analytical mood. "In an act of whimsical depravity on Masters' behalf, he made you drain your mother until you killed her during the feeding frenzy. I think that the way you turned marked you as different from the very start due to the trauma—maybe?"

Alex's gaze embodied disrespect and self-loathing as he heard that theory. If he hadn't had his dark glasses on, they would've seen it. "The blood which gave me life when I was born was the one which fulfilled my transformation into the undead piece of garbage that I am now."

Alex dropped his head. His posture slouched slightly.

"I always thought that it was an abomination. Had it been somebody else's blood..."

Celeste froze. Her pupils dilated. Alex noticed her pulse quickening with nervousness. "You may have never been able to preserve your humanity, Alex."

"Maybe so," he replied in a rusty whisper, "but the unbearable pain for the atrocious crime I committed wouldn't be there."

The silence between them felt thick. The roundabout creaked again in the breeze, turning slowly like the wheel of time.

"You were forced to," Celeste said, her tone even and direct, arms crossed tightly as she tilted her head slightly. "Vampires cannot control themselves during the feeding frenzy."

Alex gave a faint shake of his head, his gaze cast downward. "I feel guilty for it, nonetheless."

She offered a bittersweet smile, one corner of her mouth lifting as her eyes softened. "Understandable, but I'm glad that you're a vampire with morals, Alex."

The air thickened between them again, the silence falling like a blanket. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked twice, then went quiet.

"My turn," Alex said, straightening slightly, his voice slicing through the stillness. "What is Diego?"

"I'm your worst nightmare, renegade," Diego replied with a smirk, arms spread slightly as he took a half step forward, puffing out his chest.

"Diego..." Celeste's tone turned sharper as she fixed him with a piercing glare, her eyes narrowing like drawn blades.

"Fine." Diego threw his head back with a dramatic eye roll. "I'm an ascended demon."

Roger's brow furrowed. "What's that?"

"Like a fallen angel, but backwards," Diego said, gesturing with his hands in an upward sweeping motion. "A demon who is chosen to do good, after proving their worth." He shifted his stance to face Celeste, posture softening. "This beautiful lady here put me to the test, and I passed." His voice took on a glow of pride as his gaze lingered on her with unconcealed warmth. "She saved my life. Now, I'm an angel despite my background."

Alex pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, suppressing a snort. Is that why he likes her that much? That settles it. He's jealous because she's also put me to the test and passed. She's also spared me. He feels threatened, like I'm gonna steal her from him. Possessive bastard.

"He still preserves the demon eyes," Celeste said with a soft laugh, throwing a playful glance Diego's way. "Says he looks way 'cooler' that way."

Alex shifted slightly, his fingers curling in his fists. Behind the red tint of his sunglasses, his eyes rolled. So that's what makes him so dangerous, I guess. He's originally a demon.

"My turn now," Celeste said as she stepped forward into the centre of the group, her tone turning serious. "Is this Masters the one we're after? Archangel Michael tasked Diego and I with hunting all the vampires in the world to cleanse it from these soulless creatures. He warned us about the Original Vampire, but never mentioned him by name."

"Yes, he's the first vampire that existed," Alex replied, voice low, eyes momentarily flicking toward the ground.

"And he's creating some sort of multinational-company-looking vampire empire as we speak," Roger added, resting a hand on his hip, face tight with concern. "With lots of subsidiaries around the world."

"He wants to rule it," Alex said, his voice growing heavier. He took a step toward them, shoulders squared as though bearing a weight. "Probably gets any potential defiance from any other vampires out of the way, while creating massive human-breeding farms to feed all his loyal minions."

Celeste pressed her fingers against her lips and then folded them under her chin, her eyes clouding. "This is worse than we thought."

"Archangel Michael never mentioned any of this?" Alex asked, watching her reaction closely.

"No," she said, voice faltering. Her hand dropped to her side, brows knitting together. "I don't think he knows."

"How come it's just the two of you hunting vampires?" Alex asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"You don't think we're powerful enough to do it?" Diego scoffed, stepping toward him in mock offense. "Stupid bloodsucker."

Celeste rolled her eyes and looked away, a faint shake of her head betraying her annoyance.

"No need to get defensive," Alex replied, holding up both hands in a loose shrug, his smirk barely visible. "Just asking."

"We are," Celeste said, lifting her chin. "But it's feasible. At least, Michael thought it was."

"How about other creatures of the night?" Roger asked, shifting his stance. "Demons, werewolves? Do you hunt them too?"

"We've got other teams on them, genius," Diego said, throwing a glance over his shoulder, the corners of his mouth twitching in a crooked grin.

"Diego, please." Celeste let out a long breath and shot him a pointed look. Diego threw up his hands and stepped back, finally holding his tongue as she turned again to Alex. "Masters assumed you wanted us as allies. Is it true?"

"Maybe." Alex ran a hand through his hair, jaw tightening. "How do you feel about it?"

"Could be useful," she replied, her eyes narrowing as she measured his face. "He said we're nothing to him. Is he that powerful, or is it just a bluff?"

"No bluff," Alex answered, voice like gravel. He glanced sideways at the trees edging the playground, then back at them. "I've fought against him several times over the last two centuries—and failed miserably. I keep training hard, hoping to outmatch him someday."

"And about becoming his right hand?" Celeste asked. "How do you feel about that?"

"He said I needed to kill every single one of you in order to achieve that," Alex said with conviction. "Not gonna do it. I wouldn't beg for his forgiveness even if he asked me to do something less bloody. I hate him to the core."

"Glad to hear that," Celeste whispered.

"He may eventually want to kill me if I keep defying his authority, though," he added.

"Will he want to kill anybody else if you don't fall in line?" she asked.

"Of course, he will," he replied. "Remember what you heard me say in the high-tech store the other day? I wasn't joking when I told Roger to break up with Hellen... or stop enjoying the company of any woman."

She nodded vehemently as if she realised she had been a fool and chuckled. "You weren't being a git. Now I see why."

Alex and Celeste stared at each other, and her eyes sparkled with newfound admiration, bright and curious like they were seeing him for the first time. She shifted her weight with a subtle sway, the hem of her short, diamond-trimmed dress glinting as it brushed against her smooth thighs.

His gaze drifted down her body, slowly, hungrily, lingering on the curve of her hips and the inviting confidence in her stance. Glad that his dark glasses concealed the lustful look in his eyes, he clenched his teeth. What am I doing? Ogling at her? Seriously? Just because she realised now you weren't being a dick the other day, and that cute gaze full of admiration coming your way?

She tilted her head playfully, a teasing smile dancing on her lips—utterly unaware of the heat in his stare.

Alex Walker, you're a vampire... and an idiot. She's an angel—she's not for you.

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Finally, they get a chance to actually talk about serious matters. Will this team in the making prosper, or will it bring more trouble? 😉

Stay tuned to know more!

XOXO

Mar