Irina turned her head slightly and looked at Liam with open surprise.

"How come you don’t know these things?" she asked, genuinely confused. "Were you grown in a lab or something?"

Liam did not answer.

He just smiled faintly and kept walking behind her.

But inside his head, her joke did not feel like a joke.

Grown in a lab.

The thought stuck.

His mind drifted back to that day. The day everything changed. The day he was hit by that car. The screech of tires. The sharp impact. The cold pavement against his skin. The feeling of his vision fadind.

He remembered closing his eyes, certain that was it.

And then waking up.

Back in his room.

No hospital. No explanation. No scars.

Just that message floating in front of him.

System awakened.

He knew someone had taken him there. He did not teleport himself. He had been unconscious. But who? And how? And why?

Did someone pick up his body? Did someone experiment on him? Did someone install whatever this system was inside him?

Was he changed that night?

His jaw tightened slightly.

Irina’s voice snapped him out of it.

"We are here."

"Hm."

He raised his head and blinked.

They were standing in front of a familiar door.

The room where Leonid had been chained.

Liam frowned slightly.

"What are we doing now?" he asked. "We have everything we need from him already. We should be killing him already."

Irina did not answer immediately.

She simply pushed the door open.

Liam stepped in behind her.

And stopped.

Leonid was sitting at the small table in the middle of the room.

He was eating.

Actually eating.

There were plates in front of him. Real food. Not blood.

There were no chains at all.

No cuffs.

No bindings.

He was free inside the room.

Liam’s eyes slowly lifted toward Irina.

Since when were they feeding him?

Irina closed the door calmly behind them.

"Leonid has been different since he woke up," she said quietly. "It was like he regained his senses."

Leonid glanced up at them.

There was no wild rage in his eyes now. No feral hunger. Just confusion. And something close to shame.

Liam did not look convinced.

"But that doesn’t change the fact that he killed dozens of people," he said flatly. "He deserves to die too."

Leonid’s fork paused mid air.

He looked at Liam.

There was something painfully innocent in his expression. Like a man waking up from a nightmare only to be told the nightmare was real.

Irina stepped forward quickly and grabbed Liam’s arm.

"Outside," she said firmly.

She pulled him out into the hallway and shut the door behind them.

Then she turned to him, her face serious now.

"You need to calm down."

Liam pulled his arm free.

"Calm down?" he repeated. "He ripped people apart. I saw what was left of them."

"He didn’t even know what he was doing," Irina shot back.

Liam’s eyes sharpened.

"He still did it."

Her jaw tightened.

"Leonid was just a normal boy," she said firmly. "An innocent scientist. He was turned into a vampire without consent. You think he asked for that? You think he wanted to wake up craving blood?"

Liam said nothing.

"But if you think he is the only horrible one here," she continued, her voice lowering, "then maybe you need to check yourself too."

That hit.

His expression did not change much, but something in his eyes flickered.

She saw it.

"You have killed," she added quietly. "You have crushed bones. Torn through bodies. And you did it fully aware."

"That was different," Liam said immediately.

"Was it?" she asked.

He opened his mouth.

Closed it again.

His breathing slowed but the intensity in his gaze did not fade.

Irina stepped closer.

"He lost control because he was freshly turned," she said. "New vampires are unstable. Their instincts take over. It is blood and hunger and chaos in their head. Most do not survive it."

"And he did," Liam replied coldly.

"Yes," she said. "And now he is fighting it."

There was silence between them for a few seconds.

From inside the room they could faintly hear the clink of utensils against a plate.

Normal.

Too normal for what he had done.

Liam ran a hand through his hair.

"You are making excuses," he muttered.

"I am giving context," she corrected.

He looked back toward the door.

"You cannot save everyone."

"I am not trying to," she replied. "I am choosing who deserves a chance."

He looked at her again.

"And he deserves one?"

"Yes."

His jaw clenched.

Irina’s voice hardened slightly. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"And one more thing."

He met her gaze.

"Leonid is under my protection."

Her eyes were steady. Not angry. Not emotional. Just firm.

"Hurt him," she continued quietly, "and you will find out how quickly you can get on my bad side."

There was no shouting. No dramatic aura. Just a simple statement of fact.

Liam stared at her.

The hallway felt smaller suddenly.

He could feel the line she had drawn.

He looked at the door again.

Then back at her.

His expression remained controlled, but the fire behind his eyes did not die down.

He did not like leaving threats unfinished.

He did not like leaving loose ends breathing.

But this was her territory.

Her pack.

Her rules.

For now.

He exhaled slowly.

Neither of them backed down.

The tension stayed there between them, thick and quiet.

When they entered the room again Leonid was no longer eating.

The fork was lying on the table beside the plate. He had already wiped his mouth clean with the back of his hand and was on his feet. He stood straight, shoulders relaxed but his eyes alert.

He looked at Liam first.

"I heard everything you guys were talking about."

Irina rubbed her forehead slowly.

She had forgotten.

Super hearing.

Not just sharper than a human’s. Sharper than most werewolves too. Leonid had been a scientist before he was turned. His mind had always been sharp. Now his senses matched it.

Leonid watched her and shook his head slightly.

"It’s not like you two were quiet about it," he said calmly.

There was no accusation in his tone. Just a statement.

Then his eyes moved back to Liam.

There was no anger there. No challenge. Just something heavy.

"I know what I did," he said. "Even though I was not in control, I still did it nonetheless. And I take responsibility for my actions."

The room felt tight again.

Liam crossed his arms slowly.

"And how do you take accountability for your actions?" he asked.

His voice was not loud. It was steady. Cold.

Leonid did not hesitate.

"After you people are done using me," he said quietly, "I want to die. I want to be killed in a nice slow way."

For a second the words just hung there.

Liam’s eyes lifted slightly. He had expected denial. Excuses. Maybe anger.

Not this.

Irina shifted her weight from one foot to the other but she said nothing.

Leonid continued to look at Liam, almost searching his face.

"Do you think I want to continue living like this too?" he asked.

His voice cracked slightly at the edge but he did not look away.

"I never asked for this. All I wanted was to help people. That was my work. That was my purpose. I was killed in the process." He swallowed. "And as if that wasn’t enough, the universe decided to punish me with this curse."

His hand tightened briefly at his side.

"I can’t live this way."

There was no dramatic movement. No rage. Just raw honesty.

Liam said nothing.

"So I understand that you might not like me," Leonid continued. "Trust me, I don’t like myself either."

That landed heavier than any shout could have.

Silence filled the space again.

Leonid looked down at the plate for a moment. Real food. Something he barely tasted anymore. Something that did not satisfy what he had become.

Slowly he picked it up.

He walked past Liam first.

Close enough that Liam could hear his breathing. Steady. Controlled. Not the breath of a monster in frenzy. Just a man trying to hold himself together.

Then he paused slightly beside Irina.

"If you need me," he said quietly to her, "I am outside."

She did not respond immediately.

He walked toward the door and opened it.

No chains stopped him. No one blocked his path.

He stepped out and closed the door gently behind him.

The room felt emptier than before.

Irina turned her head slowly and looked at Liam.

She did not speak.

She did not argue.

She just looked at him.

There was disappointment there. And something else. Maybe expectation. Maybe a silent question.

Liam met her gaze.

His face was calm but his eyes were restless. The image of Leonid standing there asking to die replayed in his head. It did not sit comfortably with him.

Monsters usually begged to live.

This one had asked to die.

Irina held his stare for a few seconds longer.

Then she shook her head slowly.

Not dramatic. Not angry.

Just a small motion.

After that she turned and walked out of the room as well.

The door closed behind her.