"Mom, you said we were going for a romantic walk. So... what the fuck are we doing in Red Hook?"
"Oh, come on. You really are impossible to please, my little Darko..."
She lets go of my hand and wraps both arms around mine.
The moment her huge breasts press against it, I get hard.
"What could be more romantic than a moonlit walk by the water, just you and me?"
"Just you and me, huh...?"
I glance over my shoulder.
There are two bodyguards walking behind us.
And as if that weren't enough, two more are up ahead.
Ugh... having absolutely no privacy sucks...
"Just admit it. You only wanted to come here so you could check for yourself whether the lycans kept their word..."
She gives me a sly smile.
"Never even crossed my mind."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure..."
Anyway, it looks like the lycans really did abandon this area.
According to the agreement, it's neutral territory from now on.
Neither vampires nor lycans are allowed to enter the area anymore.
And yet, here we are...
"Hey, Darko, look over there..."
Anastasia points toward the half-open door of what looks like an abandoned warehouse near the docks.
"...how about we slip in there for half an hour? You've never fucked me in an abandoned warehouse before..."
I instinctively glance at the four bodyguards.
Not a single one of them reacts.
Of course not. No one wants to piss Anastasia off, but still...
God, this is embarrassing.
But my mother isn't the kind of person who takes no for an answer, so I don't really have much of a choice.
She's about to drag me into the warehouse when she suddenly freezes.
She glances behind me, and the lust in her eyes vanishes instantly, replaced by a serious look.
By now, I know that look all too well.
It can only mean one thing.
Trouble.
When I turn around, I see two huge guys standing just a few steps away.
"Get out of our territory, vampires," one of them growls, raising a fist.
As he does, I catch a brief flash of white light around his hand.
The unmistakable sacred power of a Monster Hunter.
Anastasia glares at them in irritation.
"Your territory? Since when did Monster Hunters start fighting for control of the city too?"
"That's none of your business. Turn around and leave if you don't want this to end badly."
"No one gives me orders."
With a quick gesture of her hand, she orders the four bodyguards to attack the Monster Hunters.
Despite having the numerical advantage, the four vampires are taken down almost instantly.
A few well-placed punches to the head are all it takes for the Monster Hunters to kill them on the spot.
And it's definitely not because our men were weak.
It's just that those Monster Hunters are ridiculously strong.
Now all four of them are lying in pools of blood, their skulls crushed in.
Just like the bodies found in Hunts Point a few days ago.
Anastasia stares at her dead men for a few seconds, a hint of regret in her eyes.
Then she looks back at the two hunters.
Her expression turns cold and ruthless.
"I see... unlike every other Monster Hunter, you don't work for the United States government, do you?"
"I already told you, it's none of your damn business. If you and your little dogs had left when we told you to, maybe you would've survived. But now it's too late."
"Yeah, too late... but not for me."
Anastasia motions for me to step back, and I obey without arguing.
Then she extends one arm.
A massive scythe of solid blood forms in her hand.
My mother is about to take on two powerful Monster Hunters all by herself.
I should be worried, right?
Not even a little.
Just because Anastasia usually walks around with bodyguards doesn't mean she needs them to protect her.
Quite the opposite.
Allies and enemies alike fear and respect her. And not just because she's the head of the Bloodshade clan.
There's another reason.
Anastasia is the strongest vampire in the world.
She darts toward the nearest Monster Hunter and, with a single lightning-fast sweep of her scythe, takes his head clean off.
Then she immediately charges the second one.
He throws a punch surrounded by white light, but Anastasia is too fast.
She dodges it with ease, then stomps down hard on his knee.
The Monster Hunter tries to regain his balance, but a second stomp comes down hard on his other knee.
With both legs broken, he collapses to the ground.
Finally, Anastasia drives the sharpened end of the scythe's handle through one of his wrists and pins his other wrist down beneath the tip of her heel.
She's literally nailed the Monster Hunter to the ground with ridiculous ease.
I expected nothing less from her.
She really is the best.
"I'll ask you one more time. Who do you work for? You're mercenaries, aren't you?"
"I-I'll never tell you, you filthy bloodsucking bitch!"
"We'll see about that."
Anastasia presses her heel down even harder on the Monster Hunter's wrist.
She twists it like she's grinding out a cigarette against the floor.
A horrific scream rips from the man's throat.
And yet, he still refuses to talk.
"Oh, so you're a tough one. Looks like I'll have to be a little more persuasive."
Anastasia kicks him in the arm so hard that the bones snap and the tendons tear.
Then she moves her foot between his legs, the tip of her heel hovering just inches above his groin.
She stares him straight in the eyes.
The fear on his face is obvious.
And yet he stays silent, teeth clenched, bracing himself for the kind of pain no man ever wants to experience.
The moment Anastasia brings her heel crashing down on his genitals, I instinctively cover my own balls.
As a guy, I don't even want to imagine what that must feel like.
Compared to this, the kick Emily gave me during our fight suddenly seems almost harmless.
The man doesn't even manage to scream.
The pain is so intense that he passes out instantly.
"Damn it, I thought he'd be tougher..."
She was probably planning to torture him a little longer.
In the end, she takes his head off with one clean swing of the scythe and orders me to throw the bodies into the water.
I do it without saying a word.
"My little Darko... the streets of this city are getting more dangerous every day..."
Oh, no.
No.
Not overprotective-mother mode again...
"...so I'm tripling your bodyguard detail."
There it is.
Shit. I knew it!
"And that's not all. I'm also telling my brother to increase your training. Once a week clearly isn't enough anymore. I'm tripling that too. Three evenings a week. And I don't want to hear any arguments."
As if arguing would change anything...
Ahhh... what a mess.
I need to fix this situation as soon as possible.
At this rate, she'll end up not letting me out of the house at all.