Noticing the state of his little one, Klaus began to get distressed, desperately, he stopped his fight and approached the boy without looking back.

“ERICK!”

Hearing the anguished voice of his guardian, Erick finally managed to take control of himself, knowing how easy it was for him to let himself get hurt when he focused on saving others, this bad habit coming from his upbringing and training where letting others perish had been indoctrinated into him, never teaching him how to handle defending others and himself at the same time, something Jake had warned him about.

Feeling guilty for putting him in danger, Erick launched himself towards Klaus, tackling him to the ground just before the demon managed to hit him. He immediately covered the back of his neck, preparing for the impact of the ground and, surely, the next attack of the Diagvelia.

Just as the boy had saved his guardian, Aubrey managed to pull him by the collar of his shirt, just in time to avoid the impact. The demon turned his attention to the vampire.

“Stop risking yourself like that!” Bry was still holding his clothes, with great force, stretching them.

“Sorry but I must give him back the time he lost because of me” Erick broke free, grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at the mass that was now heading towards Klaus, still on the ground worried about the boy.

Taking him off guard and with the surprising force of the throw, the rock managed to hurt the Diagvelia, blood splashing from a throbbing hole in his body, the demon looked resentfully at the boy.

During the commotion Vincent got ready to fight again, he called his weapon, which was still where it all had started, he caught it in the air as it passed over him, with the sphere in its reduced state. Spinning it around as it got enlarged again.

«I can’t keep being still anymore».

Bry stood in front of Erick to protect him from the demon’s wrath, but the boy didn’t allow it, he pulled her arm and tried to put her behind him.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get out of here!”

“But if you-”

The demon lunged at the children, with one of its beaks in front, pointing directly at them. Instinctively they both grabbed each other’s hands, Bry’s right shoulder colliding with Erick’s left shoulder, extending their other hands in front in a last attempt to block the imminent blow. The other boy and the vampire were ready to jump and stop the impact, but it didn’t come. As they brought their shoulders together, where Aubrey had her birthmark, a white light came out of their raised hands, with a great flash the demon was disintegrated, leaving behind a shiny black stone, similar to obsidian, just like the one that later that day would be left by the demon attacking Jake and Cloud.

The Diagvelia was purified.

Erick and Aubrey looked confused, Klaus surprised and somewhat worried, while Vincent laughed out loud.

“How stupid” his laughter echoed in the silent forest, bouncing off the trees and leaves around the clearing “it really thought it could kill them just like that, but it activated them” a couple of tears came out of his eyes “and it ended up destroyed” he wiped his tears and let out a loud sigh “oh well…”.

The others watched him without knowing how to react, the sweet laughter of that innocent-looking little boy did not fit with the atmosphere he provoked, a certain air of uneasiness invaded them.

“What a great afternoon, how fun.”

Vincent bent down to pick up the stone from the purification, but was blocked by the vampire's crystals, covering the fragment with a small dome.

“I'm sorry kid, but I'll be taking that.”

“I don't think so, fangs” his previously cheerful smile showed hostility, with the implication of a threat.

Vincent hit the ground hard with both hands, the metal one shattered the powerful crystals while the other penetrated the earth. With a quick movement he raised a curtain of dust and disappeared among it without a trace.

«Not even Jake is able to break my crystals so easily, how did this child do it?»

“And after that we returned home”

Jake was silenced, stunned. Erick smiled proudly of his feat in defeating such a powerful entity. Klaus held back a laugh at the contrast in their expressions.

“And when we got home I scolded the twins for putting themselves in danger.”

Another surprise for Jake, as Klaus had casually spilled Aubrey's identity in front of Erick, the same one he had discovered just that morning when he dropped his cousin off at school. He forced himself not to react, hoping it would go unnoticed.

“Oh, my, what an adventure… But what happened to your classmates?” he changed the subject.

“We found them outside the forest, they didn't remember anything. Not even how they got there to begin with.”

“Since it's over, it’s time to go to your room and sleep” he poked his healed cheek.

“Ow ow ow! It burns!” the boy still felt the side effects of the healing, the momentary pain refreshed his memory “Oh, by the way, we have visitors.”

“Yes… I know, I'll talk to them early tomorrow morning.”

The three of them went up the stairs, said goodnight to each other and entered their rooms. Erick, like the day before, threw himself on his bed and fell flat from exhaustion. Klaus and Jake took turns getting ready in his bathroom, the vampire going first.

“Hey, Jaky,” Klaus called out as he finished changing, while his lover brushed his teeth “Mr. Park, isn’t he the mobster fox who took over your childhood home?”

Jake nodded. He finished rinsing and dried his mouth with a towel next to the sink. Sitting at the foot of the bed, Klaus stretched, lifting his arms behind his neck, his nightshirt and underwear revealing the long, pale pink scars that circled his arms and legs, sunken into his skin, a reminder of what he was willing to sacrifice for his lover. The vampire was proud of those marks.

For his beloved, the marks had a somewhat darker meaning, the moment when he almost lost him, and at the same time, the moment when he knew how important the vampire truly was to him. Seeing them brought him the comfort of his ability to survive and, although he felt ashamed and guilty about it, a great feeling of pride for being worthy of such appreciation.

Once he finished his grooming, Jake went to the bed.

“Are you going to intervene?” Klaus stood up, heading to the left side of the bed.

“I hope I can do it legally but…” the young man lifted the blanket on the right side and thawed himself on the soft mattress “... he may not even know I exist.”

“Will you also talk to Aubrey?” the vampire laid down next to him “she-”.

Jake cut his words off by turning to be on top of him, curled up on his chest face down, speaking with a capricious voice and clenching his fist, tense and uncomfortable.

“I don't want to think about that,” he exclaimed as Klaus caressed his hair and the back of his neck. “She already has a family that adores her… and Lady stayed with her, it's okay like that, she doesn't need us.”

“You say that now but I'm sure that sooner or later you'll have to do it.”

“I know… I know but, what if she realized what I did back then?”

Thoughts about his time in the orphanage invaded his mind, that horrible place he had to face after the death of his father, uncle and aunt.

“She sure hates me.”

The tension in his hand and face increased with the speed of his thoughts, his eyes began to shine with that characteristic light of discomfort. Seeing him so restless, his boyfriend took his head with the hand that had been caressing him, pressing his chest, and turned to his right, leaving them face to face lying on the bed. To comfort him, she hugged him affectionately.

“That's impossible… you'll figure it out anyway.”

Jake looked at him sweetly, amazed again at how easy it was for the vampire to move his heart, this time filling it with warmth and calm with such simple gestures and words.

Klaus sighed, tired from the day and his journey, feeling the weight of it all leave his body as he was now holding his beloved in his arms, in the house where they were raising together the child he considered his own, even though their age difference was not much, only eight years.

“I'm exhausted.”

The man hugged his beloved tighter. In no time, they both fell into a deep sleep.

During the night, Jake's nocturnal habits led him to completely roll over, with his head at the foot of the bed and his feet at the headboard, tangled in the blankets; while Klaus remained static in his position.

Their sleep was abruptly interrupted as soon as the sun rose, with a panicked cry coming from their beloved child. They both got up instantly. They ran to Erick's room, leaving their blankets scattered on the floor behind them. Jake was running ahead, given his proximity to the door when he heard the little boy.

With Erick's were already Cloud and Cloe, as they had slept in the room next to his, trying to deescalate his panic without success.

“Please calm down” the young blond raised his hands towards the boy.

“CALM DOWN?! HOW- AHHHHH!!”.

The strange sensation in the boy's left shoulder disturbed him with each vibration, as if something alive wanted to get out of it.

“I know it's weird but…”.

Cloud continued trying to reason with him while the boy waved his arm around his room, trying to get rid of whatever was wrong inside him.

“If you listen to me for a second…”.

“ARE YOU SEEING THIS?!”.

“Do you want me to calm him down?” Cloe interceded, shooting out a spark of electricity from the tip of her index finger.

“Not for now” Cloud wasn't sure how safe that would be.