MY SUGAR MUMMY IS A BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE

Elena's lips curled into a sardonic smile as she turned her attention back to Reggie and Randal. "Why are you two so fixated on being do-gooders? It's quite amusing, really. Before you met my dear sister Rose, your precious lord, weren't you mercenaries for hire? Killers? The most feared assassins to ever walk this earth?" Her voice dripped with condescension.

"Then, you were at your peak, in your true, undiluted forms. But now..." She clicked her tongue disapprovingly, eyeing them with mock pity.

Reggie's jaw clenched, but his voice remained steady. "We've learned over the centuries that all lives matter, Elena. Our past doesn't define us; it's the choices we make now that count."

"How quaint," Elena sneered.

Reggie continued, his voice gaining strength. "It's not just about the lives on that island. Our lives changed too. Blake nearly died! I nearly died!"

She burst into a fit of laughter. Her laughter was cold and brittle. "But he's still alive, isn't he? My 'bad' resulted in a good, right? So tell me, in what way should I be crucified?" Her eyes glittered with malice. "If anything, you should be thanking me."

As the words left her lips, Elena turned back towards the distant figure, her confidence unwavering. But in an instant, her expression morphed from smug superiority to utter bewilderment. Her eyes widened, almost bulging out of their sockets as she scanned the horizon frantically.

"Where... where is he?" she muttered, her composure cracking for the first time. "The man with the sickening aura... he was there just a second ago. Just a second ago!"

Panic began to seep into her voice as she searched desperately, her eyes darting back and forth across the landscape. The cool, collected Shelly of moments ago was replaced by a woman on the edge of terror.

Suddenly, a voice rose from behind her, rich and deep, dripping with barely contained fury. "You're right, Elena. We do have you to thank for all of this."

Elena whirled around, her heart pounding in her chest. There stood Blake, his eyes pouring out red tears that seemed to defy gravity, never falling past his cheeks. Those eyes, glowing with an otherworldly crimson light, bore into her very soul.

"Blake," she whispered, the name catching in her throat.

His lips curled into a smile that held no warmth, no mercy. "Which is why we're here to personally give you all the thanks you deserve."

The air crackled with tension, thick enough to choke on. Elena's eyes darted between Blake, Reggie, and Randal, her mind racing to find an escape route. For the first time in centuries, true fear etched itself across her features.

"Now, now," she said, her voice trembling slightly as she tried to regain her composure. "Surely we can discuss this like civilized beings?"

Of course Blake heard, he could hear all the way everything they were saying.

Blake took a step forward, his presence seeming to fill the entire rooftop. "Civilized? Like how you 'civilized' an entire island of innocent people?"

Elena's back hit the railing as she unconsciously retreated from Blake's advance. Her eyes, wide with terror, reflected the blood-red glow of his tears. "I... I was only doing what was necessary," she stammered, her earlier bravado evaporating like mist in the morning sun.

"Necessary?" Blake's voice was soft, but it carried an undercurrent of rage that made Elena flinch. "You'll learn the true meaning of that word soon enough."

Blake's voice trembled with barely contained fury as he took another step towards Elena. "Do you have any idea what you almost took from me? I have a beautiful daughter now, a loving wife. A life, Elena. A life you nearly denied me."

His red tears seemed to glow brighter as he continued, his words laced with pain and anger. "Every time I hold my daughter, every time I see her smile, I'm reminded of how close I came to losing it all. Because of you."

Blake's fists clenched at his sides, his whole body shaking with rage. "I died, Elena. I died and came back to fight a mad vampire lord, all to protect my family. Do you have any concept of what that's like? To feel your life slip away, to face the void, and then to be thrust back into a world of chaos and violence?"

As Blake's tirade continued, Reggie and Randal exchanged worried glances.

'This is bad,' Reggie thought, his mental voice tinged with concern. 'Blake's aura... it's shifting. He's going over the edge.'

'Can we blame him?' Randal's thought. 'After everything he's been through? Two years isn't nearly enough time to heal those wounds.'

Blake's voice rose, filling the rooftop with his anguish. "Every nightmare, every moment of panic when I can't immediately see my family - that's on you, Elena. You planted these seeds of fear and doubt that I fight every single day."

'We have a mission,' Reggie's thoughts intruded, urgent and worried. 'We need to find Damien. This... this isn't part of the plan. Nothing can happen to Elena, least not yet.'

'But how can we stop him?' Randal's mental voice was tinged with concern. 'This aura... I've never felt anything like it. It's pure, unadulterated anger.'

Elena backed away, her eyes wide with terror as she felt the full force of Blake's rage. Her thoughts raced, focused on a single, desperate plea: 'Duncan, where are you? Come back. Come back right now.'

Blake advanced, his voice dropping to a menacing growl. "You talk about necessity, about power. Let me show you true power, Elena. The power of a man who's lost everything and clawed his way back from the brink."

The air around Blake seemed to shimmer, distorting with the force of his anger. "You think you know pain? You think you understand loss? I'll make you feel every ounce of suffering you've inflicted on others."

'We have to do something,' Reggie's thoughts screamed. 'But what? How do we stop this without making things worse?'

'Maybe... maybe we shouldn't stop it,' Randal's mental voice whispered, a note of uncertainty creeping in. 'Doesn't she deserve this?'