The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 70: I’m...

Luciel scanned his wife from head to toe. After seeing her step back, he could feel himself alienating, and her heartbeat started to go faster.

He frowned after seeing her like this. Helen had promised to always be there for him.

’Of course, why shouldn’t she fear me.’ He sighed, turning away from her.

"What do you want?" Luciel asked with a low tone. It was like a brewing storm.

"Where are you going?" She asked, clenching her fist as she stepped forward, focusing on her breathing.

She was taking in deep breaths and slowly exhaling, trying to steady her heartbeat since she knew that Luciel could probably hear it now.

"Away from this place." He replied, not bothering to look at her before continuing to walk again.

"To do what?!" Helen raised her voice, going after him. She couldn’t just let him go away like this.

Luciel stopped for a second before continuing with his pace. If he left this place, then that meant he would have to live on the streets, running away from hunters and other predators, but that still sounded better than staying here.

"I’ll figure it out." He was confident in his survival skills, and so far, he always found the way, even in the most dire situations.

And if humans saw him as nothing more than a vampire, so be it. He would survive as one.

"And what about the things you fought for?" She gulped, gathering some courage before speeding up and walking in front of Luciel.

She looked him in the eyes, trying to find her husband. He was upset. Helen feared that if he would leave this place just like that, then there would be no going back.

"You mean the people?" Luciel stopped to walk, squinting his eyes and moving his head to the side a little.

Helen nodded at Luciel’s question. She had a glimmer of hope, but her husband’s reaction crushed it.

"They can all day for all I care." He growled, raising the corner of his lip, and revealing a sharp fang.

"So you will let everything you had built so far fall into water?" Helen argued, pressing her hang against the wall when Luciel seemed like he was about to walk away.

Helen’s lips tightened, her eyes searching his face for any sign of the man she married. She knew Luciel as a different kind of man. A guy who would fight for what was right, no matter the cost or consequences.

For him to just give up like that was something unheard of.

"The ship had already sunk," Luciel said with a hollow voice, moving away Helen’s hand so he could walk away without looking back.

Helen listened to her husband’s heavy footsteps echoing through a hallway, staring at his back while he had his hands inside his pockets.

Watching him march away brought tears to her eyes.

"Luciel, wait..." Helen begged. They finally managed to reunite and she didn’t want this to be her last memory of him.

Luciel sighed and closed his eyes, lowering his head as he heard his wife’s plea. He stopped once more but didn’t bother to look at her.

He still loved his wife, but after lingering around humans for a little bit, it was clear that he had no place there anymore.

The scent of humans was agitating him, even now as they argued. The only reason why he still didn’t attack anyone was that he was getting used to this agonizing feeling. It was like stepping into the cold see and then getting adjusted to the temperature.

The thirst he would feel was sometimes even worse than the one when he had before his first taste.

And the treatment he was getting from the hunters didn’t help him at all. He personally knew some of them. He fought with them side by side. Protected them.

He even killed Alukah for them, a vampire who had a crazy ambition to enslave humanity and turn them into livestock.

Luciel tried to endure this treatment, trying his best to do what was right, but no matter what, no one was willing to look past his vampirism, except Alex and Helen.

"Please..." Helen pleaded, bringing her hands together. She felt desperate because she couldn’t see a way to reach out to her husband, there was no opening or a crack that she could attack.

It was true that she hadn’t fully embraced his vampirism. Sometimes, she would get scared for a moment or doubtful.

From time to time she would even see him as a test subject worth studying since seeing humans who fell victim to the successful vampirism was an extremely rare sight to see.

After all, it wasn’t like you could see your husband return from the battle with red eyes, fangs, and claws, with a craving for human blood.

But no matter what, she loved him and nothing could change that.

"Luciel... If you don’t want to fight for them, then fight for me... For us..." She said quietly, using the moment of silence to her advantage as she instinctively moved her hands on top of her abdomen.

"Helen..." Luciel started, finally turning around, the vibrant glow in his eyes slowly diminishing until only a deep, crimson-red color remained.

"I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be in a place where everyone wants to cut my head off." He finally approached her, putting his hand on top of her head.

"No, you don’t understand..." Helen placed her hand on top of Luciel’s that was resting on top of her head, slowly moving it toward her stomach.

"What do you mean?" Luciel raised his eyebrow, his gaze constantly shifting from his hand that Helen moved and her hazel green eyes.

"Luciel... I’m..." Helen gulped, hesitating. If she didn’t say the words now, she might never get the chance. Luciel was insistent on leaving, and if she couldn’t stop him, she knew she wouldn’t forgive herself for not telling him the truth.

When she was about to speak, there was this lump that would form inside her throat due to constant fear of a small possibility of Luciel not caring about the baby.

She could imagine him just turning away, walking out of this place. As a person who knew him the best, she could see just how much he had changed.

Not only was he walking inside a vampire’s body, he also adopted their behavior which was getting more prominent each day as his vampirism was slowly reaching its end.

"You are... What?" Luciel asked with visible wrinkles on his forehead. He could hear her heart rhythm going out of control and her breaths getting more rapid, waking up the predatory instinct gnawing at him in the back of his head.

"You can’t just leave because..." She stopped again, tightening her fist. It was now or never.

"Because... I’m pregnant!" Helen finally blurted out with a pitched voice so fast that one could barely understand her, but Luciel heard every letter that was spoken.

Luciel froze, his hand still resting on Helen. His wide crimson eyes stared into hers. He was about to speak by slightly parting his lips, revealing his fangs, but no sound came out as the weight of her words sank in.