My Horny Stepmom Turns Me into Her Vampire Slave

Chapter 214: B – The fall of a star

"Kimberly Almiris, you should be ashamed of yourself! How dare you call yourself a follower of the God of Light and then expose your body in such a disgraceful way? You’re nothing but a shameless whore! Don’t you ever set foot in my church again!" the elderly man shouts.

It doesn’t take long for security to drag the old man and the two young people with him out by force.

But it’s already too late.

Kimberly doesn’t say a word, but her body says more than enough.

Her eyes instantly fill with tears, and large drops begin falling onto the runway.

Then she collapses to her knees, completely shattered, sobbing between heavy, ragged breaths.

Elenoire and the young designer rush to her side at once.

They try to comfort her, but it’s useless.

Kimberly is clearly fighting with everything she has to keep herself from letting out a desperate scream beneath the spotlight of a worldwide live broadcast, and she doesn’t even seem to have the strength to get back on her feet and leave.

I try to catch her eye, but she avoids looking at me, as if she’s afraid of being judged by me.

What the hell am I supposed to judge? She didn’t do a single thing wrong!

The only one with a problem is that old bastard, not Kimberly!

That damn old man...

He’s probably the priest from the Temple of the God of Light where Naomi and I followed Kimberly a few weeks ago.

It’s not fair... Damn it... Damn it!

Kimberly is one of the kindest girls I’ve ever met.

She really gave it everything she had to make today go as smoothly as possible.

She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.

This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

Instead, it’ll probably become one of the worst, all because of that damn religious fanatic.

I clench my fists and grind my teeth, consumed by an uncontrollable mix of rage and frustration.

Something like this can’t go unpunished!

Maybe the right thing to do would be to stay here and try to ease Kimberly’s pain, but I’ve never been good at that.

There is, however, one thing I’m especially good at, and I can do it right now: destroy the source of her suffering with my own hands.

Those three couldn’t have gotten very far.

Besides, this entire section of Central Park has been closed off for the fashion show.

In other words, no witnesses. No Monster Slayer.

I shoot to my feet and sprint toward the direction they were escorted out.

Thanks to my superhuman speed, I catch up to them in an instant and step in front of them, blocking their path.

We’re still a long way from the exit, but far enough from the runway.

Perfect.

"Who are you? What do you want from us?" the elderly man asks.

"Who I am doesn’t matter. You made a huge mistake when you spoke about Kimberly like that. She’s a girl with a heart of gold—the last person in the world who deserves to be called a whore. And now, because of you, she’s completely broken, falling apart in front of photographers and journalists. The past can’t be changed, but I’ll personally make sure something like this never happens again."

"You... how dare you threaten a priest of the God of Light?!" the man snaps. "Wait... don’t tell me... You’re the boy Kimberly is always talking about? The one who dragged her into this world of sin and temptation? If that’s true, then don’t blame me for her suffering. Blame yourself! She was such a devoted and pure girl before she met you, and I warned her! I told her loud and clear that if she ever set foot on that runway, the doors of my church would be closed to her forever! And I’m a man of my word!"

Now everything makes sense.

So that’s why Kimberly was so anxious about this fashion show.

It wasn’t the fear of embarrassing herself in front of the whole world that haunted her. It was this old bastard’s threats.

He doesn’t deserve to live another second.

My eyes, cold and merciless, filled with killing intent, lock onto the three of them.

"Say your last prayers, priest. I’m about to let you meet the God of Light in person!"

My irises are just about to turn red, my blood axe only a heartbeat away from materializing in my hand, ready to put an end to their lives...

...when a high-pitched, desperate voice echoes from beyond the trees.

Someone is sprinting toward us at full speed, shouting my name.

It’s Kimberly.

"A-Axel, I finally found you..." she whispers, completely out of breath.

I don’t get it...

Why is she in such a hurry? It’s almost like she knew exactly what I was about to do.

That’s strange.

I’ve never given her the impression that I’m the kind of guy who solves problems in such a... permanent way.

Sure, I beat up that guy who was harassing her, but that was just self-defense.

And now that I take a better look at her, even though her eyes are still wet with tears, she looks more worried than emotionally devastated.

That’s really strange...

"Kimberly, how could you sink this low?!" the elderly man bellows. "When did you abandon the righteous path shown by the God of Light to follow the path of sin and lust? Dressed like that, shamelessly showing off your breasts and legs... It breaks my heart to think that not so long ago, you were the most devoted of all my followers. Is this the kind of people you keep company with now? Delinquents who threaten priests with death? You’ve disappointed me, Kimberly—more than I ever thought possible. I’ve already told you, and I’ll say it again: don’t you ever set foot in my church again. Was I clear?!" the priest adds as the two young people accompanying him respectfully lead him away.

Kimberly doesn’t answer.

She just lowers her gaze to the ground in shame while I use every ounce of self-control I have to keep myself from smashing his face in.

I walk up to her and hug her.

A silent, tight, loving embrace — tighter than I’ve ever hugged anyone before.

At first, she freezes, caught completely off guard.

Then she hugs me back and finally goes limp.

Now that she’s away from everyone else, she can’t hold the pain back anymore.

A heart-wrenching, freeing scream bursts out of her.

I feel her growing weaker in my arms, so I hold her up to keep her from collapsing to the ground.

Her tears soak through my shirt, endless and unstoppable.

We stay like that for what feels like forever, holding each other with her tear-stained cheek resting against my chest.

I whisper a few comforting clichés to calm her down—things like, "It’s okay. I’m here."

Somehow, they work.

Probably more because of the embrace than the words themselves.

It takes a few minutes before she finally starts to calm down.

"T-Thank you, Axel... thank you so much..." she whispers, her voice still trembling.

"It’s okay. It was the least I could do..." I reply, unable to hide the concern in my voice.

"Oh, there you are, Kimberly! You scared me half to death! What happened?! Why did you run off without saying anything?!" Elenoire calls out anxiously.

"S-Sorry... Yeah, I’m coming..." Kimberly stammers as she slips out of my embrace and hurries after her.