*Before*

The aspiring Vampire King leaned into the cushioned backrest, making a silent creaking sound. His nape rested on top of the chair, his long raven hair following the gravity and strand after strand sliding down his cheeks over his ears and on the cushioned part of the setee.

He stretched out his fingers and then squeezed the handles, closing his eyes. A deep breath in and out... Demyan was ready to reclaim his memories from the original realm. Luka with Mirko sat down across him to observe it, taking glances at each other from time to time...

***
Demyan woke up in the middle of a castle ruin. His vision was blurry and his whole body was twisted by pain. Bothered; something was weighing him down; he glanced downwards. Someone was lying on him.

Long ash brown hair. "A human female." He realized they were still holding hands. He could tell, she was already dead. She was becoming colder by the second. Demyan lifted his upper body and gently put her down. Her hazel, but empty eyes were slightly open filled with tears staring into the abyss of the netherworld.

A cold chill ran down his spine after realizing that the nightmare had come true... He choked a little with tears blurring his vision before letting out a guttural cry...



Adrik flew down and averted the ongoing attacks on the couple. He had enough! He kneeled down, ramming his hand into the ground, then picking up some soil and spun one time to redistribute it, while chanting a spell. A circle of light with a greenish tint surrounded the trio, protecting them, repelling every arrow, or canon ball which flew at them.

Demyan kept crying, face buried into Petrona's chest... shaking her from time to time in a pointless attempt to wake her up. As Adrik stepped closer to them he felt... IT! He quickly unwrapped the shawl; Petrona's gift to him, as well, he dropped the armor and took off the shirt.

The time cracks began to vanish with some glowing and with a slightly burning sensation.
That caught Demyan's attention. He lifted his face filled with tears and watched, how those things disappeared from Adrik's body.

Adrik stood with his arms stretched out and his head pointing to the sky... in his real demon form. He was patient and ready to spill out everything after the last crack vanished. His power amplified. At last, he turned back to Demyan tearing him apart from Petrona's body.

Adrik grabbed her into his own arms, pressing his ear against her chest to listen...
Rage filled up his body. He hoped, this time it would be different. Holding her in his arms, her head tilting over his palm. Watching that broke something in him.

Adrik gently hugged her and then closed her partly opened eyes. Demyan disappointed him. Adrik slowly put down Petrona and walked next to Demyan. He turned to the vampire and punched him in the face making him fly to the ground.

"HOW COULD YOU LET HER DIE AGAIN!" Puzzled Demyan collected himself from the ground. "What the HELL are you talking about?!" Adrik pointed his finger behind him, at the lifeless body of Petrona. "I had high hopes, that this time around, you would save her, because of all the changes in this timeline! But you failed, once more! I should never let you near her!" 

His weird words didn't make any sense for Demyan. The secrecy, those cracks... Did he time travel? That would make sense! "Did this happen before?!" Demyan asked with tears in his eyes. Adrik sighed. "...YES! I used my demon powers to turn back the time. I wanted to save her..."

Demyan stumbled to the back. Through his head, shot that one sentence, that was said to him a few times... "You will bring her ill luck!" Desperate, Demyan grabbed on Adrik's belt, clutching it. His head hung down in the air mumbling something.

"PLEASE! I have to do something! Can you turn the time back, one more time?! I will definitely protect her!" This method was pointless and turning back time is the ultimate power consument. He needed to find some other way to revive her.

Adrik pushed Demyan from himself. "It wouldn't change the result. She had to die, but still it's not over. We can revive her with butterflies..." Demyan lifted his head up with a hoping glance in his eyes. "I will fly over to the Lush Lands and fetch one!"

Adrik cut him off. "Not needed. They are all gone..." Desperation returned to that poor vampire. "What?! ... What are you talking about? I saw them... not long ago..." Adrik sat on the ground taking the lifeless body on his lap, stroking her Petrona's hair. Demyan was appalled and wanted to snatch her from Adrik's claws, but...

"When the whole Lush Lands were searching for you, they uncovered the hiding spot of the butterflies and then a frenzy enfolded. They took and killed them all already..." Adrik glared at Demyan. The only way, which could bring back Petrona was already destroyed.

That information sunk into the sobbing piece of vampire. "So, everything is lost? I can't save her? What's the point of living then?! Dissolve the protecting spell and let me meet my fate..." Demyan stood up from his knees, which were covered in the dust of the Waste Lands, turning to the rebels, that surrounded them.

Slowly walking to the edge of the circle, with a sword in his hand, he grabbed from the ground not far from him. "LET ME OUT! NOW! I will avenge her death, even if I will die in the process..."

Adrik, combing through Petrona's locks with the claw of his index finger listened to Demyan's pleadings, pondering, if he let him do as he wished, or send him on a different mission. Should he trust him, one more time?!

Adrik watched him pacing back and forth on the edge of the glowing circle, charging at the rebels, that were shouting at him and calling for the Vampire King to come out. Petrona's body was ice cold, her skin white like a sheet of paper and her lips blue...

"Stop with your nonsense! There is one more way to bring her back..."