A scream tore from Maya's throat, abruptly cut off as the sensation of solid ground beneath her feet registered. The shock nearly sent her heart into overdrive.

Overwhelmed, she clung to Bane, her face pressed into the reassuring solidity of his chest, her nails digging into the tough leather of his jacket.

"It's safe. You can let go now," he murmured softly. His hands gently pried her hands from him as it was apparent she no longer knew how to move.

Her hands were trembling fiercely. With a firm yet gentle grasp, he guided her away from the ledge. Only then did she truly take in the scene around them.

Nested into the rugged cliffside was a small wooden cabin. From it, over the drop, extended an irregularly shaped wooden deck they stood on. The only apparent access to their position was through a series of vines—or ropes—draped from the sturdy branches of an enormous tree that extended tall along the cliff.

Bane's gaze focused downwards with an unsettled look on his face. Feeling emboldened, Maya gripped the fence and peered over the edge.

A wave of dizziness washed over her as she realized they were perched at least 30 meters high, towering over even the Amellan Wall. Encircling them were majestic pine trees, their long bare trunks culminating in clusters of branches that reached even higher than the forest canopy, as if straining for a sliver of sunlight the cliff obscured.

Down below, Elena was in motion, darting towards the base of the cliff. She seemed to be tracing the path of Maya's earlier scream.

Confusion flashed across her face for a moment before she tilted her head upwards, staring directly at them. Yet, she gave no sign of recognition.

A wave of relief washed over Maya—Elena was still alive. However, Maya's eyes widened in horror, spotting a vampire pursuing right behind her, ready to attack.

"Quickly, bring her up here," Maya urged, her hands moving in sharp, urgent gestures with fear for her friend.

"Sorry. No vampires allowed up here."

"Huh?" Maya blinked at his firm refusal. Was he just going to leave her to be torn apart by the storm they caused together? "What do you mean!? Get her up now!"

Fear ignited desperation in Maya, prompting her to pummel him with her fists in a frantic bid to persuade him to pull Elena to safety. Her childish hits didn't seem to faze him, but her screams caused concern.

Swiftly, he clamped a hand over her mouth, ensnaring her securely in his arms. She was left unable to utter a sound or make the slightest movement.

Maintaining his firm hold on her, he leaned over the fence once more to assess the unfolding situation below.

Maya's loud voice alerted Elena below. Locked in fierce combat, her anxiety for Maya's safety increased, prompting her to hastily stab her opponent in the face, forcing them to recoil.

Seizing the moment, she drove her knife into the vampire's chest. As they staggered backwards, she delivered a few more frenzied stabs, leaving them lifeless beneath her.

She knelt over the body, panting heavily from the exertion and adrenaline, before pushing herself away from the corpse.

Turning her attention upwards, she began to search for a way to climb up.

In the meantime, Maya struggled to free herself from the stranger's tight grip. Sensing her distress, he loosened his hold, fearing she might harm herself in her frantic attempts to escape.

"Bring her up. NOW!" Maya demanded, standing firmly.

Bane, reluctant, sighed and glanced down again. His hand reached out and yanked a lever connected to an intricate rope system, where a giant rock dangled ominously.

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Maya's scream filled the air as she feared the plummeting rock would crush Elena. However, the rock's descent triggered a hidden net on the ground beneath Elena. The rock's weight hoisted the net upwards, and in the blink of an eye, Elena was suspended in the air alongside them, entangled in the net.

The air was thick with dust and scattered leaves. He manoeuvred the crane from which the net hung, pulling it over the deck. As he backed away, he casually flicked a lighter in his hand.

"Let me out!" Elena hissed, tangled in the net like a ferocious animal.

"I like you right where you are," he said coldly.

As Elena grunted and took matters into her own hands, beginning to cut the net with a knife in her hand, he sighed and released the rope from the boulder's weight, making her crash into the deck.

Elena groaned in pain and was frantically trying to untangle herself, seething with rage.

He exhaled tiredly. "Are you satisfied? Now I have to kill her," he told Maya, a note of resignation in his voice.

"Over my dead body," Maya said sharply while inserting herself between them.

To her actions, something barely noticeable flickered across his otherwise composed expression. "…You really need to stop doing that."

It was unsettling that it happened repeatedly.

He took a deep breath, and his voice softened slightly. "Please understand, I can't let any vampires know about this place."

"We won't tell any vampires," Maya blurted out.

He stared at her incredulously, then pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

Their perspectives were at odds because a vampire was standing right beside her. It was natural that he was losing his mind as he'd experienced Maya's stubbornness for the first time.

"What the hell were you thinking anyway, roaming around the forest in the middle of the night with a vampire? Are you out of your bloody mind!?"

Why was he lecturing her? Why was he acting like he was responsible for her? They've just met. But it felt somehow natural that she shrank back like a child having done something bad.

"Stop yelling at her, asshole!" Elena mixed in, shouting at him.

"You shut up, leech," he snapped at Elena. "It'd be best you make yourself as small as possible so I may forget about you." He was navigating a troublesome situation because Maya would inevitably stand in his way to remove a dangerous creature. "I can't believe you'd let this thing attach to you…"

'Thing?'

"She's not a thing. Elena is my friend!"

"A friend!?"

"Yes. I get that vampires are ferocious beasts, but she is different!"

"Ha! I must have failed to see because this thing is the very staple of a ferocious beast," he pointed at Elena, who was silently snarling at him.

Elena did fight bitterly, resorting to some desperate measures that for an onlooker must've been quite damning.

"We were in a desperate pinch. I know she can sometimes behave frighteningly—"

"Could you not discuss me like I'm not here?" Elena mixed in but got ignored.

"Can't you tell that's her true nature?"

"I'd know her true nature because I am her friend!"

"Everything with a pulse is her friend! If a little act is all it takes, she'd do anything just for a drop of blood."

"You don't know shit about me," Elena attempted to defend herself again.

"I've met quite a few of your kind, love. I know how you tick," he shut her down.

"Sure, you prejudiced bastard," she grumbled. "Go pat yourself on the back."

"She doesn't drink human blood and doesn't live like an animal," Maya tried to convince him, feeling tears slowly welling in her eyes.

If all Elena had done until now wasn't enough to prove she was on their side, what else was left to convince him?

"Ooh? I'd buy that," his sardonic tone was suggesting Maya was being tricked.

"I don't know if you've noticed," Elena's voice was cold and steady. "Perhaps you're dense or forgot about what happened earlier, but Maya is a very special person. One capable of finding someone in the middle of the goddamned nowhere in the dead of night. It'd be hard to deceive her."

He squinted as if he caught something in her words. "But not impossible, right?"

A hint of a flicker of uncertainty seemed to flash in Elena's eyes, but she kept her expression out of it. "Anyway, can't you tell that she's important and needs looking after? If I'd let my death get in between us, where'd she be now?"

"That's what you call looking after her? You're the one who brought her into danger."

It was true. If Elena didn't go out tonight, Maya wouldn't have been here.

"She followed me! What was I supposed to do? Chain her up so she can't act on her foolish ideas?!"

Maya's quiet sob interrupted them, causing both to shift their attention toward her, regretting their harshness. Bane's expression softened. He seemed to wish to comfort her, but was uncertain how to do so.

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