The searing pain coursed through my body like a live wire. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to scream.

“Still holding out, huh?”

Gwen sneered, her fingers curling around a small, specially-made knife. “This blade is coated with holy water. The wounds will burn endlessly.”

She sliced into my arm with practiced precision; each cut forming an intricate, eerie pattern.

The wounds never hit anything vital but were designed to maximize agony.

The flesh beneath my skin sizzled, the faint smell of burning filling the air as the holy water worked its corrosive magic.

“You know…” Gwen murmured, her voice cold as she worked.

“Sebastian doesn’t care about you. He needs you only as an experiment. Once I’m human again, you’ll be nothing.”

I kept silent though every fiber of my being screamed in agony.

Seeing me unmoved only seemed to fuel Gwen’s fury.

She set down the knife and reached for a wooden box, its edges worn with age.

“This, I prepared just for you.”

She opened the box, revealing a dusting of silver powder inside.

“Pure silver dust. Melt it and inject it into the bloodstream; how do you think that’ll feel?”

She poured the powder into a small crucible, setting it alight over a flame. The silver melted, glowing like molten lava before she drew it into a syringe.

“Sebastian said you can’t die. But he never said I can’t make you wish for it.”

Gwen’s smile was cruel as she pressed the needle against my carotid artery.

I couldn’t hold back any longer. A scream, sharp and blood-curdling, tore from my throat.

Gwen’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she watched my torment. “This is just the beginning, Eulalie.”

“Tell me, why doesn’t Sebastian’s blood work on you?”

I gasped for air. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Liar.”

She refilled the syringe. “If you want to die, I’ll grant your wish.”

Just as the needle descended, the door slammed open.

Sebastian stood there, his expression dark, as though forged from iron.

“Enough,” he growled, his voice a low rumble of danger.

Gwen immediately set the syringe down, her face morphing into one of feigned innocence. “Sebastian, I only wanted to help you uncover the truth.”

Sebastian’s gaze lingered on me, his eyes darkening as he took in my broken state.

My condition was ten times worse than when he had left, my body nearly broken. The silver running through my veins made me convulse uncontrollably.

“You’ve crossed the line,” Sebastian’s voice was ice as he turned to Gwen.

Gwen pouted, aggrieved. “I just wanted to help…”

“Get out,” Sebastian’s voice sliced through the air, cold as steel.

Gwen froze, unable to comprehend the sharpness of his command.

She looked from Sebastian to me, her eyes darkening, then gritted her teeth before turning to leave the lab.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Sebastian stepped closer.

“Still won’t tell me the truth?”

I weakly closed my eyes, the weight of silence pressing on my chest.

“Very well.” With a sharp gesture toward the door, he commanded it open once again.

My parents were led in and as their figures entered, the blood in my veins turned to ice.

“Mom! Dad!”

I cried out hoarsely, struggling against the restraints that cut deep into my flesh.

“Eulalie, my child…”

My mother’s voice trembled as her eyes fell on me, her tears flowing freely. “What have they done to you?”

Sebastian chuckled, a sound like cold stones grinding together. “Reunion time’s over. Eulalie, tell me what you did, or…”

He suddenly drew a silver knife and pressed it to my father’s heart.

“I’ll let him die right here in front of you.”

“No!”

My scream echoed through the room. “Let them go! They don’t know anything!”

“Really?”

Sebastian sneered, the tip of the knife pressing into my father’s chest.

“I suggest you tell the truth, or your father dies today.”

My father weakly raised his head.

“Eulalie, don’t worry about us.”

Then, he turned to Sebastian, eyes filled with hatred.

“It was Eulalie who saved you. She gave up so much for you. How could you…”

“Sacrifice?”

Sebastian mocked, repeating the word.

“What right does she have to talk about sacrifice?”

“If it weren’t for her, Gwen wouldn’t have become a vampire and I wouldn’t be bound to this cursed blood pact!”

“Blood pact…”

A flicker of realization passed through my father’s eyes, quickly replaced by sorrow.

“Eulalie, you lifted the blood pact?”

I opened my mouth to deny it, but it was too late.

Sebastian’s expression shifted as he caught my father’s reaction.

“What did you say? Did you lift the blood pact? That’s possible?”

My father hesitated, then let out a sigh.

“A vampire can dissolve the blood pact unilaterally. But the price is their life.”

“She’ll turn to ash in a day.”

Silence engulfed the laboratory.

Sebastian turned to me, disbelief flooding his eyes.

“You’re insane. You’d rather die… just to escape me?”

I didn’t answer, but my silence spoke volumes.

“Is there a cure?”

Sebastian suddenly grabbed my father by the collar, his voice trembling with desperation.

“There must be a way to reverse it!”

My father shook his head.

“No, it’s irreversible.”

“No! There has to be a way!” Sebastian roared.

Just then, my mother stepped forward.

“Sebastian, death is my daughter’s choice. Let her go with dignity.”

“Shut up!”

Sebastian shouted furiously, grabbing a syringe filled with liquid silver from the table.

“Say one more word and I’ll let you taste this!”

My father broke free from the guards and shielded my mother with his body.

“Sebastian, can’t you see? Eulalie loved you and you crushed that love under your heel!”

“Love?” Sebastian scoffed. “A monster can love?”

Before the words were even out, he drove the syringe straight into my father’s chest.

The silver fluid rushed into his veins.

My father let out a harrowing scream and collapsed, convulsing in agony.

My mother threw herself to the ground, holding him close, her tears falling uncontrollably.

“No!”

I cried out hoarsely, struggling so hard the restraints tore through my skin, peeling away flesh.

“Spare them! I was the one who lifted the blood pact; it was my choice!”

Sebastian turned to me, his eyes wild with madness.

“Why? Tell me why!”

At last, I couldn’t hold it in any longer; tears and blood spilled down together.

“Because I was tired of your hatred. You despised the blood pact so much, so I gave you back your freedom.”

He stood frozen as if struck by a thunderbolt.

In his eyes flickered an emotion I had never seen before.

Regret?

No. Impossible.

My father’s tortured groans shattered the stillness.

My mother gave him one final glance, then reached into both their chests and removed their hearts with her own hands.

“Eulalie, we love you.”

Their bodies turned to ash before my eyes and with them, my heart shattered.

Something deep inside me snapped.

The blood pact's dissolution accelerated.

Large patches of skin flaked away, exposing ash-like tissue beneath.

“Eulalie…”

Sebastian’s voice trembled for the first time.

I looked up, my tears long dried.

He reached out, wanting to touch me, then stopped, his hand hovering midair.

“I didn’t want this…”

I smiled softly, closing my eyes as my body disintegrated into a pile of ashes, scattering among the remains of my parents.

At last, I was free.