CHAPTER 122: INTO FOREVER

Elle dug her fingers into the ground, anger vibrating through her small frame.

She bared her teeth, ready to curse the old man who’d been in her way but a voice tore into her ears faster than her fury could rise.

Roanna’s scream crashed through her head.

"You foolish daughter! How could you let Sarah be defeated like that?!" the Matriarch roared.

Elle froze. Her lips trembled. "I—I’m sorry, Mother..." she murmured.

"Sorry?!" Roanna barked. "I only have you now as Lucien turned into a lost cause!"

"You are precious, and yet you are nothing but waste! I spent more than a decade perfecting you, and you keep disappointing me!"

Her mouth went dry. Elle’s eyes burned red; the scold felt like acid in her gut. Tears threatened, hot and humiliating.

Being mocked by her mother twisted her stomach into knots. She had never meant to disappoint her so badly.

"Don’t forget I raised you! You are dead meat without me. Leave that old man and go to the Cage of Crows, your true body has been found!"

Elle’s heart slammed against her ribs. Horror flooded her. This had to be the skunk-haired woman’s doing and her father’s.

That useless father who would never stop chasing her. Rage and panic collided with something colder: betrayal.

She lifted her chin and stared straight at Ulrich.

"Want to try again?"

"Watch me!"

Elle launched herself forward, wings and claws burning. Clones exploded from her like fireworks—dozens, then hundreds—fanning out to confuse him.

Without Sarah’s protection—without that puppet that tethered her to a body—she was exposed, a single vulnerable point. She felt it like a bruise: alone, a crow without its nest.

Roanna had hidden that weakness deep in the manor, a shameful secret so no one could touch it. Now here it was, spread out and raw.

How did they discover it? She wondered as Ulrich’s smoke-hands swept through her doubles, crushing them into ash or slicing them with a long, precise blade.

"Is this the limit of your power?" Ulrich called out, voice carrying across the sky.

Elle’s fingers clenched until her nails bit into her palms. She birthed monstrosities from nightmare—lava-spawned beasts, twisted soldiers of stone and flame—only to watch them fall apart at his touch.

Still, she persisted. Determination bent the sky. She tore a rift open overhead—a portal straight to the Cage of Crows—her only chance to reach her real body.

Mid-step, a cold grip wrapped around her left hand. Ulrich’s smoke had coalesced and seized her, fingers of fog hardening like iron.

"AAARRGGHH!!!" she screamed.

Pain flared through her limb like being crushed beneath a thousand weights. She thrashed, trying to wrench free.

"Run," he said, smirking. "Or would you rather see your father one last time?"

"NO! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I WILL KILL HIM AND THAT SKUNK LADY!" she howled.

A ring of fire erupted behind her as she spat molten crystal at Ulrich; he parried with the sword, scattering the projectiles into steam.

"You have plenty of time to kill him, if that’s truly what you want," Ulrich said, calm as a lecture.

"But you never do. Deep down, you still care about him, don’t you? Your soul is tangled with countless desperate, suffering children... so all you actually feel is pain."

"I’M NOT! I’M STILL ME! A LADY!" Elle shouted, voice fraying.

She hated her father with every burned fiber of her being; he’d left her in that dark place, while her mother was the one who had built her up, who made her strong, kept her by her side when she was weak and worthless.

Roanna was the reason she had survived not that deadbeat father.

Ulrich’s expression softened, just enough to unsettle her. "Very well," he said. "I will let you meet him one last time. I will set things right."

"Your father is dying, so are you. Both of you will find peace in the afterlife, away from this cruel world."

Ulrich moved forward with a sharp burst of speed. Elle barely had time to react before he cut through the rift in front of her instead of striking her down.

The air split apart, and the portal shattered, pulling them both into the collapsing realm.

Elle’s eyes widened in shock. Her gaze quickly caught the white raven in her father’s trembling left hand and the dagger in his right.

The sight filled her chest with rage until it felt like her veins would burst. When her feet hit the ground, she shouted with all the fury she could gather.

"YOU WANTED TO KILL ME NOW, AFTER YOU ABANDONED ME?"

She tried to rush toward him, but Ulrich’s smoke coiled around her body, locking her in place. Every movement only made the grip tighter.

She summoned a clone to attack, but it shattered instantly. Her Vitalis Core had weakened after being pushed far beyond its limits.

Every blood style and skill she had thrown together was now collapsing inside her.

"Elle," David said quietly, his voice trembling.

The dagger shook in his grasp as though it carried the weight of his entire heart.

Fleur stepped forward and blocked his path. Her eyes burned with a cold, unyielding focus.

"So this is how you keep your Sanguine Veins endless, Roanna. I know you are in there, listening and watching us like a coward hiding behind a child."

Elle laughed through her anger. "Do not you dare mock my mother."

Fleur scoffed, her tone sharp and disgusted. "Mother? Your real parent is right there, fighting to save you. You still dare to call your tormentor a mother?"

She grabbed Elle by the collar and pulled her close. "You make me sick."

She turned to David. "Stab the raven. That thing is not your daughter anymore. It is a prison of stolen souls."

David’s hands trembled as Elle screamed and thrashed, the smoke holding her down. Every word she cried cut through him like a knife.

"She is not my daughter," he whispered. "She is not Elle anymore."

He wanted to believe those words, but they felt like poison on his tongue. The girl before him was still his child, the same one who used to cling to him and beg for stories before bed.

"My baby," he said, his voice breaking.

The white raven in his hand was light, yet it felt impossibly heavy, as though he held his entire world within it.

Memories pressed into him one after another. Her laughter, her small hands, her warmth.

Her mother had left, and he had stayed, and now he would betray her in the cruelest way a father could.

"I am sorry, Elle." His voice was hollow as he raised the dagger.

Then her screams softened into cries. "No, Daddy. Please, do not. I am sorry. It was all my fault."

"I promise I will change. Please, do not kill me again. Do not leave me again."

David stopped. The blade trembled above her.

Fleur’s voice came from behind him, steady and hard. "That is not Elle. That is Roanna."

He stepped closer, his breath shaking. Elle looked up at him with tears in her eyes and a weak, desperate smile.

"Thank you, Daddy," she whispered. "I will never hurt anyone again."

David’s expression changed. His grief turned to quiet hatred, and his tone sank into something cold.

"You wretched creature. I will drag you into the same hell you made my daughter suffer."

Elle’s expression twisted into fury. "You are just a lowly human. You will never—"

David scoffs, "Hah! Let’s meet in hell then you will know!"

Her words stopped when David drove the dagger into the raven.

A sharp scream filled the air. Every crow hanging across the realm cried out at once as their bodies twisted and fell apart.

Elle’s body cracked, the sound echoing like glass breaking, and then she turned into ash.

The realm trembled and melted away, fading into a quiet garden under a soft light.

David fell to his knees, staring at the ashes in his hands. The raven’s remains shimmered faintly as his strength faded.

"I am coming, darling," he whispered. "We can be together now."

His body slumped, his head falling forward. Fleur reached for him, but he did not respond. She lowered herself beside him and pressed her hand to his chest. There was nothing left.

She closed her eyes and prayed that father and daughter would meet again in another life, whole and unbroken, free from all pain.

The three vampires stood in silence. None of them spoke. The only sound was the soft wind moving through the garden as the light fell upon the man and the small pile of ash he held.

.

.

.

David opened his eyes to a blinding light. The air felt soft and warm, and he could feel the gentle sway of pampas grass beneath his fingers.

The wind moved through the field in slow, graceful waves, brushing against him as if it had been waiting for him to wake.

The horizon glowed with gold, so bright it painted the world in peace. Somewhere ahead, a small voice called out, clear and joyful.

"Daddy, come here!"

He turned toward the sound. There she was, Elle, her golden twin tails catching the sunlight, her blue eyes sparkling with life.

She held her favorite doll tightly to her chest, just like she used to.

Tears blurred his vision as his lips trembled into a broken smile.

"I can finally be with you again."

He started to run, his steps light against the endless field, each one carrying him closer to her laughter. Elle ran toward him too, her voice echoing through the golden air.

When they met, he pulled her into his arms, holding her as the world around them faded into pure light.

David smiled, at peace for the first time, and let himself drift away, his heart finally whole as he walked with his daughter into forever.