Vampire Cultivation System in a Hidden World of Monsters

Chapter 90 Reawakened Inner Fire and Trust Issues (mild 18+ content) (not really skippable)

I woke up to the sound of bending metal and splitting wood. The sky was falling. Oh wait, that wasn't the sky, that was the ceiling. Oh shit! I picked up Maven out of bed, naked, and ran naked through the doors of the bedroom, back into the hall as the bedroom collapsed.

A massive blue oni stood beyond the boundaries of where the room once stood. It was obviously the culprit. It saw us and lumbered around the room. I started running and the oni obliterated the section of hallway I had just been in.

It peeked its head down into the hallway to see us and began running through the hallway, destroying it as it went. The oni was twice as tall as the hallway, so as it ran at the hallway, its torso broke apart the ceiling and roof of the hallway.

I ran down the hallway and a ways around the corner and set Maven down. She had finally started to wake up and orient herself. "What's going on, Dylan?" She said.

"An oni is after us. I'm going to fight it. You stay here where its safe," I said.

"Ok," she said, rubbing her eyes. "Be careful."

I ran back to where the Oni had destroyed the perpendicular hallway and was looking through the rubble trying to find our bodies. I came out of the still intact portion of hallway and confronted the monster.

It wielded a long metal club with spikes along the shaft. It roared at me when it saw me and said, "You killed my brothers. Now you must die!"

"I did? I'm sorry. Are you like a boss monster or something?" I said.

"Yeah. Can't you see my long ass health bar and the name plate above my head?" He said.

I looked down and noticed the health bar. It really was long. It continued for another ten feet to my right. Then I looked above his head. There was in fact a name plate there. I guess I just hadn't noticed because he was so tall. It said, "Oni Captain Takeshi."

"Huh. I didn't see those before. I guess I was just kind of looking at you and didn't notice. Do we have to fight?" I said.

"Yeah. I'm programmed to fight any players that I come across and you register as a player," Takeshi said.

"Oh. Well I guess let's get this over with," I said. I put my hand on the hilt of my sword, ready to draw it.

Her bright blue eyes watered, and tears began to fall down her cheeks. Her lower lip stuck out, but I could tell it was involuntary. She wasn't using it to try to manipulate me, so I let it slide.

"Maven. You are not a floozy. You are a person that I care about, despite not knowing you for an especially long time. You strike me as someone who has been used and taken for granted for a long time. I understand the fear that you hold in your heart, but know this. I am not using you until something better comes along," I said.

"I am taking control of you, because you are someone I want by my side. Someone I want to share part of my life with. I am the kind of person who when I see something or someone I want, I want to have them, to hold them, to possess them, to control them, to own them. That's who I am."

"I would never do that against someone's will. I only want to possess those who want to be possessed. So if that's not something you want, I will be sad, but I will let you go. You are your own person. You can make your own decisions over what you do and don't want."

"However, if you do truly want to be mine, that means being one of my possessions, not being my only possession. I am building a team. No, I'm building a family. A family that will fight against injustice, protect the weak, and defeat the powerful."

"To do that, I will need many possessions that I can make strong, so we can achieve our goals and so we can protect each other. Is that something you want, or am I going to have to let you go? I am not pressuring you or threatening to pull back my protection down here, in this dangerous place."

"I will continue to protect you until you are safe, and then let you go if that is what you desire. But I need to know now, are you mine, or are you your own?"

"I-I-I'm just not used to this! This is nothing like anything I've ever experienced before! I've never met someone like you. I want to be with you. I'm just afraid that giving up control will be the wrong decision," she said, tears streaming down her face.

"You can take the control back anytime you want," I said, "if I do something you don't like or don't agree with. This is a completely voluntary relinquishing of control and it always will be. But if you need reassurance, I will always act in your best interest and the best interest of the family. Now, once again, I ask you, do you want to be mine?"

"Y-yes," she said rather softly.

"I'm going to need you to speak up darling," I said. "I'm hard of hearing. It's all the rock shows I've played."

"Y-yes!" She said.

"Yes, what?" I said.

"Yes, I want to be yours! I am yours! I am your possession and yours alone," she said, wiping away her tears.

"Good. I know that was hard. Giving up control is scary. I will always protect you. I will always keep you safe. Now let's go get dressed. There are a lot of things that need to be done, and getting arrested for public indecency is not one of them," I said.