Ella was frozen solid the moment those sharp black eyes stared intensely at  her. She was scared yet mesmerized at the dangerous yet handsome man standing in front of her. Renzo called him Glenn. He was taller than Renzo by a few inches. He had his long black hair neatly ponytailed. He was wearing a long black overcoat and black boots. Dangling on his belt was a pair of wooden stakes.

Ella, Kate, and Renzo were heading towards the only car left at the nearly empty parking lot when, out of nowhere, that stunning man appeared. With a captivating smile, he approached Ella and scooped her up in his arms without any difficulty. 

None of the three could retaliate because neither of them could move. And as much as Ella wanted to, she could not tilt her face away when Glenn leaned his head so close to hers that she thought he would kiss her. Fortunately, the stunning man only whispered in her ear, “Don’t be afraid. It’s not you I want to kill.”

One moment he was a handsome man. The next second he transformed into a giant bat. He tightened his grip around Ella’s waist before flying away from the parking lot.

Ella had never been afraid of heights, but with only a giant bat holding her waist while they were thousands of feet above solid ground, she could not help but feel terrified. Her heart was pounding as if it would jump out of her chest and her head was throbbing as if her brain would explode from seeing an image of her bloody and broken body after falling from such high altitude.

Gratefully, the giant bat had flown miles without letting go of her waist. He landed on a rooftop of what appeared to be an abandoned building before putting her down on safe ground.

“Stand here and stay still. Obey me and nothing bad will happen to you,” his deep voice was threatening and his intense gaze was ominous that Ella found herself extremely compliant. It was a good thing that she was an athlete. She was used to following strict instructions.

Without looking away from her, the giant bat magically transformed back into Glenn. He was walking around Ella and examining her closely from head to foot when another giant bat landed on the rooftop.

The moment its feet touched the ground, it surprisingly transformed into Renzo. A deadly glare flashed in his eyes once he coldly commanded, “Let her go.”

“I can’t do that,” a captivating smile curved on the lips of Glenn as he gently caressed Ella’s cheek. “I like this beautiful lady. The moment I laid eyes on her, my heart pounded strangely,” like he did earlier, he moved his face closer to hers as if he would kiss her. Ella found herself wondering if her deafening heartbeat was caused by fear or by fascination. The smile on the lips of the stunning man widened and, as if he could sense Ella’s confusion, he softly whispered in her ear, “My heart never pounded this loud for a very long time. And I can feel that your heart is beating as wildly as mine.”

“Let her go!” Renzo angrily bellowed and, in a split second, he was standing behind Glenn. His hands tightened on the shoulders of the stunning man, forcefully dragged him away from Ella, and tossed him on the rooftop ground, hard enough to leave cracks on it.

Ella had been thoroughly trained to follow movements at an incredible speed. She always had to carefully observe her opponents. Know when and where they will attack so she could counter it excellently. She was good at it. But whenever Renzo moved, that ability of hers was being greatly challenged. She could barely follow the movement of her newly earned coach.

One moment Renzo was there in front of her. The next moment he vanished into thin air and instantly appeared in front of Glenn who was, at that moment, just getting up on his feet. Her new coach punched the stunning man hard on the face and the latter was thrown a few meters away, rolled in mid-air, and gracefully dropped on the ground crouching, his knuckles ready to retaliate.

“What are you two doing?! Stop right now!!!” Ella desperately bellowed but the moment she took a step towards Renzo and Glenn, they both yelled back at her.

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!” they commanded with such intensity that Ella had frozen solid to where she was standing.

It was like being defeated on a match. No matter how hard Ella tried to move, her body felt too weak and frightened to do so. Losing was truly a hateful experience. She hated the men fighting in front of her for making her feel so frail and beaten.

Renzo and Glenn were punching each other, hard enough to make normal people bleed and incapacitated. But none of them were collapsing and Ella could neither see a single bruise nor a trace of blood on their face and the rest of their body.

While Ella wondered if those two fighting in front of her were still humans or had evolved into something else, she found herself wincing as Renzo violently punched Glenn on the face, make a quick three hundred sixty turn before landing a fierce kick at the abdomen of his opponent.

Glenn was pushed a few meters back but instead of looking hurt, he laughed mockingly at Renzo.

“This will never end,” he ominously stated as he pulled one of the stakes dangling on his belt. “I don’t want to waste more time on you. What I want is to spend more time with the love of life,” he glanced at Ella and winked. “Wait just a little more, my love.”

He thinks I’m easy to win over?! Ella was clearly annoyed. He thinks I will love him just because he is strikingly handsome and remarkably strong? No matter how hot his appearance is, I can also see that he is overconfident, dangerous, and cunning. I cannot love a man like him. My standard for Mr. Right is not that shallow!

Ella gasped when Glenn pierced the stake at Renzo’s chest. A stab that deep would make normal people bleed and faint but Renzo remained standing.

“You cannot kill me,” he coldly uttered, looking unhurt.

“Can’t I?” Gavin laughed. “Is that the reason you let me stab your chest?” He suddenly looked menacing as he told Renzo, “This recklessness will be the death of you.”

The stake piercing Renzo deep in the chest had been covered by a blue flame, causing his eyes to widen with fear. He stepped backwards and faltered. His confidence vanished and was replaced with dread.

“The more you pull away, the faster you will be destroyed,” Glenn threatened. He was extremely delighted at the sight in front of him that he failed to notice another giant bat landing behind him.

When he did realize, the bat had already transformed into Dan and stabbed a stake at his back. Glenn had frozen solid and collapsed face down on the ground, taking Renzo with him.

“Stay away from my friend,” Dan kicked the motionless yet still stunning man away from Renzo then quickly wrapped an arm around the waist of his friend and lifted him off the ground as if he was as light as a pillow.

“Hang on. Don’t die,” Dan whispered and in a blink of an eye, he vanished and reappeared in front of Ella. “Let’s go,” he wrapped his other arm around her waist before transforming back into a giant bat and soared as fast as he could away from Glenn and that abandoned building.

Despite the strong and cold wind blowing against her face, Ella opened his eyes and glanced at Renzo. He was hanging lifeless at the other arm of Dan. The stake was still piercing his chest. His wound was deep but Ella could not see any blood trickling from it. Even the stake was clean.

“Renzo, wake up,” Ella called out but her new coach remained unresponsive.

“Renzo,” she reached out a hand to touch his chest and feel his heartbeat but Ella failed to sense anything.

She fearfully raised her hand towards his nostrils and her heart pounded with dread when she could not feel his breath.

“Renzo, wake up!!!” she desperately pleaded but Renzo remained as still as a corpse. “WAKE UP!!!”