I asked almost bored as the nurses wrapped the last of the bandages around my palm. One of them glanced at me mid wrap, eyes flicking between me and the empty space where Demon Drac hovered.
Then she wisely said nothing and returned to her work. Smart girl.
Demon Drac, meanwhile, puffed his chest out proudly, eyes gleaming like someone who'd just walked out of a therapy session and declared himself completely cured.
"Of course I do! Who do you think coached H*tler?"
I blinked once. Then again, slower.
"...And he lost in the end. Even had to put a bullet in his own skull."
I said while standing up as the nurses stepped back.
"Tch. Technicalities, my man. Technicalities,"
Demon Drac huffed, following me as I exited the Medbay and made my way to the train rail again.
He jogged beside me in those ridiculous flaming Hawaiian shorts, sandals clapping like sin on tile.
"Okay, okay, look. I'll throw you a freebie. A juicy, succulent, cosmic bone."
I stepped onto the train platform, the trains doors sliding open with a hiss.
"Come here,"
He said, beckoning me in close with a clawed finger.
"Closer. No, closer, don't make me whisper across realities here."
I sighed but humored him, leaning in as the trains doors sealed behind me.
He leaned into my ear, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"That thing inside you…"
He paused.Eyes darted left.Then right.Then back to me.He swallowed.Hard.
He looked like a demon who just realized the room got a little too quiet.
"It's… it's a woman."
I frowned.
"What?"
He nodded rapidly, now clearly sweating.
"Yeah. A woman. An extremely old like universe old, possessive, f*cked up, grumpy, delusional, sadistic b*tch with daddy Issues"
He started glancing upward.
"And her name is D..."
Mid word, he choked.Literally.His neck split open.
Like an invisible blade had cleaved it from the inside out.
Thick, red blood gushed from the wound, spraying across the trains wall.
He gasped, gurgling. Clawed hands flailing at his throat like he could claw the pain away.
"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I WON'T TELL HIM, OKAY?! I WON'T! AND...AND I'M SORRY FOR CALLING YOU A PSYCHO B*TCH!"
The wound began to seal. Slowly.Terrifyingly. Like something was forgiving him just enough to let him live.
He collapsed onto the trains floor. Slumped against the wall, panting.
Pale, even for a demon. One shaky claw produced a cigarette pack from nowhere, and he stuffed four into his mouth at once and lit them.
Inhaled like he'd just escaped execution.
"F*ck... For a moment I thought I was a goner,"
He muttered through smoke, voice raspier now. I stared at him for a long moment.
"...mind explaining what the f*ck just happened?"
He exhaled, smoke curling like a noose.
"It seems like I underestimated her Interest In you"
He paused as If fearing that his head will get lopped off.
"So don't even ask, bro. Just... don't. Otherwise my head's getting lopped off for real next time. No respawns. No refunds."
Hearing this I sighed It seemed like something worse than Demon Drac had its claws in me. And it was watching, listening, observing.
...
The boys drinking session had spiraled out of control fast.
In the rec lounge, half lit by flickering overheads and glowing neon floor panels, the five battlebrothers were draped over couches, counters, and each other like a pile of very drunk, very angry war beasts.
The air reeked of hard liquor and the kind of rage that had no more targets.
"To the end of the f*cking world!"
Paul yelled, raising his bottle, eyes red, voice slurred.
"May the c*nts who nuked it rot in the ashes they made!"
"F*CK the East,"
Robert growled.
"F*CK the West too,"
Darius added.
"North and South can suck my overgrown d*ck,"
Julian slurred before hiccuping and collapsing onto the floor, giggling.
Airid just stared at the ceiling with a bottle resting on his chest.
"First warlords, then monarchs, dictators... and then we thought we found the perfect ruling system, that's what we get a bunch of old c*nts with nukes trying to see who has the bigger d*ck."
They all went silent for a while. The sound of a slow ballad hummed from a nearby jukebox, an odd mix of military funeral march and jazz.
Then, Robert spoke, voice quiet.
"You know what gets me?"
The others grunted or muttered.
"We weren't alone. Not really. But we were lost."
Robert slurred the words slightly as he lifted the half empty bottle and waved it in a slow arc above his head.
"All of us have someone still alive parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews but no way in hell to save them from this g*ddamn apocalypse"
Julian nodded, his eyes heavy.
"Drac changed that. The crazy bastard didn't just pull his own blood out of the fire. He pulled ours too. Every single one. Like some kind of... end of the-world p*kemon trainer, just out here collecting people."
That earned a chuckle from Paul, then a snort from Darius.
"He got his nieces. His cousin. His g*dsdamn hundred year old grandparents. And while he was at it, he threw our people in tanks too, like it was nothing. Like it was obvious."
Darius raised his bottle, voice rougher than usual.
"To the wana be vamp bastard. Cold as ice. Meaner than a minefield. But he always f*cking delivers."
Airid didn't say anything.
He just leaned back, staring up at the ceiling with glassy eyes, before silently raising his drink in toast only for Dracula's voice to ring out.
...
MC POV
"Jeez. I'm touched."
I said as I did five heads turned at once.
"Now, pass me a bottle before I start crying."
Paul didn't hesitate. He chucked one across the room like it was a live grenade.
I caught it one handed, twisted off the cap, and took a long sip as I walked over and dropped onto the nearest open seat with a groan.
We sat there, surrounded by the low hum of the ship, distant sirens, and the faint mechanical murmur of systems cycling in the background.
For a moment, none of us said anything. Just the sound of glass tapping metal. Breathing. Thinking.
Then Julian broke the silence.
"So seeing that to you cooled off and are back to normal Drac… like I asked earlier what now?"
The question hung in the air, suspended between drunk exhaustion and bitter clarity.
Robert exhaled smoke through his nose. "Can't go back home. Not much to go back to anyway."
"Not unless you want to grow a third eyeball from the fallout,"
Darius muttered. Paul tapped his bottle against the floor, eyes on the swirling amber liquid inside.
"We've got a spaceship. We've got supplies. We've got people in tanks. Survivors. Family."
Airid finally sat up, his eyes bloodshot but focused.
"That makes us one of the last functioning powers left in the whole damn species."
They all looked at me then. I took another sip.
Rolled the liquor around in my mouth and swallowed.
I leaned forward, elbows resting on my knees, the bottle dangling from my fingers like a noose waiting for a neck.
"First… we start rescuing who we can."
The room was dead quiet now. Even the hum of the ship seemed to fade.
"We stuff as many people as we can on this bird. Civilians. Survivors. The useful. The willing. And we stock up, hard. Food, medicine, tech, raw materials. Nothing fancy. No golden statues or historical paintings or any of that sentimental bullsh*t."
I looked up at them one by one, my voice steady, cold.
"The past is the past. F*ck it."
They were all listening now. Stone still. No interruptions.
"And once we've done that…"
I took another sip, then sat back in my chair. "We leave. We get the f*ck off this radioactive, backstabbing, apocalyptic hellhole. We go out into the stars. New worlds. New systems. New everything."
A pause. Long. Heavy.
"There's just one 'but'."
Their eyes narrowed. The weight in the air changed. I met their stares head on.
"I'm planning to make Invicta…"
I let the words drop like stone.
"...the G*ddess Imperatoress of humankind."
Their faces didn't react at first. Not visibly. But behind those yellow-gold pupils, something shifted. They fell silent.
Then Airid, stoic, reliable Airid the brains of the gang tilted his head slightly.
"…Why?"
His voice was flat. But not hostile. Just… waiting.
I took a slow breath, gathered my thoughts and spoke.
"Because humanity that Is killing, chaos, and anarchy Incarnate needs someone above us to rule us"
I turned, bottle in hand, voice quiet but firm.
"We can't trust humans neither male or female with power. Not anymore after this s*it show. Give a man a throne and he'll turn it into a guillotine. Give a council a crown and they'll sell it for gold."