Then he pushed her.
Her back slammed against the table's edge.
He forced her to lay on top of the table. Against her will.
The bottle flipped.
Ronan laughed.
"I'm just here to earn my victory. Call him now."
Leyla, still confused.
She clawed at him to free herself.
But he was forcing a kiss on her. She struggled, shoving him back.
"Ronan, stop! I don't want you!"
Then, with all her strength, she pushed him.
The table flipped. She fell to the ground.
Silva's bottle rolled slowly to her.
She hugged herself. Shaking.
Then
a glass at the counter began shaking.
The door rattled, a gust of wind passed through it.
Ronan turned.
Abruptly, a drop of sweat ran down his cheek.
"Show yourself."
Then the lights flickered, started blinking abnormally.
All the glass at the bar trembled, violently.
The sounds clinked against each other.
The air turned eerie. The faucet turned on and off, on and off.
All the drinks froze instantly.
Then...
Crack.
The ceiling light above burst.
Darkness covered the hallway.
Then... just one light turned on
the one directly above Ronan.
A voice echoed.
"Who gave you permission to touch her?"
Ronan's eyes widened.
"Show yourself! Don't be a coward hiding in the shadows!" he hissed.
"Impatient?" he asked.
"Then choose... choose your way to die."
Lucian's voice, ghostly, horrifying.
Ronan's eyes darted left to right.
His hand brushed against the salt beside him.
Then, a metallic sound.
Clinks. sharp and fast.
Ronan turned toward the noise.
Suddenly.
a small knife flew
from the other direction,
straight into his cheek, leaving a scratch.
He wiped it slowly with his hand.
Yet Leyla...
She just watched, sitting behind the table,
the only place she felt safe for now.
Lucian looked at her. Then he saw it. Silva.
"Well, well... what do we have here?"
Lucian asked, his voice low.
"You not only touched my girl...
but you captured my friend?!"
He tried to snatch the bottle,
but Ronan quickly spread salt in front of him.
"You know what, Lucian?!" he snapped.
"I can't see you... but I can hear you.
I know where you are right now."
"Why don't you show yourself?
So we can settle this... fair and square?!"
Lucian replied,
"Do you want to see me?"
Then.
a figure emerged.
A bit taller than normal.
Glowing eyes. Fangs sharp.
His face covered in black scales.
His human form slowly fading.
"W-what... are you?!"
Ronan's voice trembled.
"You look more hideous than I remember."
Lucian lunged at him.
"Do you want your revenge for Maria?"
Ronan looked at him. Anger burned.
Ronan swiftly released the salt. Slowly.
then formed a motion, shaping it like an invisible whip.
It scratched Lucian's shoulder,
burning through part of Lucian's soul.
"Not bad, human."
Lucian's eyes glared.
Ronan smirked.
"I know a thing or two... about cursing filthy creatures like you.
But I'm not a fool fighting against you."
Then he grabbed the knife on the floor.
Yanked Leyla by the hand.
Pulled her in front of him.
A knife to her neck.
"You know, Lucian... creatures like you don't even care about others.
But you do.
That makes you weak."
The knife cut Leyla's skin.
just enough to draw blood.
"Wanna feel how I felt about Maria?"
"Tck!"
Lucian's eyes glowed.
He stared into hers.
His form turned to smoke, then lightning.
He exploded into her eyes.
Then,
Leyla smiled. Yet, that smile did not belong to her.
Suddenly, her strength multiplied ten times over.
She flipped Ronan's hand,
took the knife,
and thrust it into his chest.
Everything was too fast
for Ronan to react.
From inside Leyla's eyes.
it was Lucian. Looking directly into Ronan's eyes.
He felt it. A pull. Lucian's soul traveled from Leyla to Ronan.
Ronan's eyes absorbed Lucian's soul like ink on paper.
After the last of his soul left Leyla's body.
her memories returned.
All of them.
At once she remembered him. Lucian.
But it was too late...
She blinked.
In front of her, Ronan.
Smiling. Yet it wasn't his smile.
Then, blood burst. Ronan's.
He was stabbing himself.
Again.
And again. Laughing uncontrollably.
"Ronan, STOP!!!"
Leyla screamed, pleading.
"Somebody make it STOP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
She held his arms. But he was too strong for her.
Then Leyla called him.
"Lucian!! STOP, you monster!"
Leyla sobbed. Her voice cracked, trembling.
Her cries folded into rage.
"I didn't wish for this!
I didn't wish for you to kill him!
I wanted you to kill ME!!
You're disgusting!"
She picked up the bottle. She threw it at him.
It shattered.
Silva was freed.
And so was Lucian.
slipping out from Ronan's body.
Then her voice broke, sobs.
Tears ran down her face.
Then...
"L-Le...yla..."
Ronan's final words...
before he collapsed to the ground.
Leyla ran to him.
"Ronan!" she screamed. Yet his pulse was faint and silent...
Leyla cried.
Mourned for him.
Then she felt it.
Lucian's hands about to touch her shoulders.
She flinched. Faced him.
"Don't touch me!"
She screamed. "You're disgusting!" she shouted, looking down.
Tears streaming.
Lucian's heart split.
Hands trembling.
Eyes turned glowing. But this time rage. Light. Fire. Dance.
Slowly his form changed.
Then five-year-old Silva hugged him from behind.
"Stop, Lucian!" she screamed. "Don't turn yourself in!"
Then the whole café shook.
Glass started to break one by one, falling from the shelves.
Leyla looked at him.
"I'm sorry, Lucian," she tried to reach him.
But the ground was unstable. She fell to her knees.
Then she saw it.
The vision of him and her.
On a train. The memory she didn't remember.
He was there, watching her.
"I love you," he whispered in her ear.
"Lucian!!!" Leyla screamed.
But Lucian's eyes weren't his anymore.
Then Lucian tried to speak.
but his voice, his words, turned to a roar.
Then Silva closed her eyes.
"Forgive me, Lucian... I had to do this before you turned completely."
She opened the portal.
A black hole.
Opened behind her.
A golden chain. Piercing onto his heart.
Binding him.
Instead of blood.
black oil coated the golden chain,
dripping to the ground.
Lucian growled, trying to tear himself free.
Growling, clawing at the floor. He moved forward.
closer to Leyla. She just watched him.
Speechless. Crying.
But at that last moment.
Lucian's hands reached hers.
Her hands trembling.
Almost cupping his.
Yet a final pull.
The black hole swallowed him like a sinkhole.
It took Lucian.
Leyla's leg moved, chasing him.
Until he completely vanished.
With it—Leyla fell to her knees.
Sobbing and crying.
"Where did you take him, Silva!?"
"To the place where time is timeless.
He will be frozen in time."
Then Silva looked at her.
"This is probably the best for now. I didn't kill him.
I just kept him."
Leyla cried on the floor.
Then Silva asked,
"Can you live like this? Remember everything?"
Leyla shook her head frantically.
"Then a choice." She extended her hand to her.
"Join us. Be among the dead. And be free."
Leyla looked at her, shocked.
Silva's red eyes softened.
She lowered her hand slightly and whispered,
"If you ever change your mind...
you know where to find me."
Then she faded.
Gone.
Then the café burned.
The news stated.
Ronan killed himself and burned the place down,
out of desperation.
.......THE END.......
Epilogue
In a tiny bookstore.
She switches off the lights.
Left just one blue light.
She gathered her bag, her book.
Then she turned.
A figure.
A little boy, tilting his head and smiling.
Leyla froze. Her book dropped to the floor.
"How did you get in here? Are you lost?
Can't find your way out?"
Then they gathered the scattered books.
After the last one, he handed it to her.
She escorted him to the door.
She opened it. She looked.
Shocked. "How..."
Then the door opened he ran outside.
Her legs froze. She looked down at her book.
(The Last Spring)
The end.