My Stepmom Is A Vampire & Her Entire Bloodline Wants To Breed Me

Chapter 214: What Makes Human ’Human’?

Maria blinked because part of what he said made sense, and that alone disgusted her. Even so, she would rather die than see this world ruled by vampires.

She knew what happened during the great civil war. She knew about human farms, about cages built for blood, about generations erased quietly.

She would never let history repeat itself.

"You’re insane," she said, her voice shaking with anger.

"You praised human pride in front of Robert Latros, but you’re the one who abandoned the very thing that made you human just for power."

Mark raised a brow and laughed lightly. "Abandoned it? Look at me. Do my eyes look like theirs?"

"I’m still human," he continued. "I just have power like them now. The ability to wield Bloodstyle, to live longer than any normal human, and to never lose to vampires again."

He lifted his hand, and a violent wind began to twist slowly in his palm.

"You already lost the moment you worked with them," Maria snapped.

"What makes a human isn’t power. It’s effort, the will to keep going, morals, empathy. Things most vampires don’t even value."

Mark tilted his head, truly puzzled. "Then why say that when you’re a vampire yourself? Don’t you enjoy the strength you gained?"

"This power exists because I was human," Maria answered without hesitation. "And even now, I stand on humanity’s side."

Her certainty made Mark laugh, low and bitter.

"I thought someone who loved being human would understand me," he said quietly.

His gaze shifted past her, toward the moving image beyond the glass. Dylan was infiltrating the lab again, injured and desperate, searching for the Progenitor torso with everything he had left.

"You’re naive, Maria," Mark continued.

"You can see the future just like I can, but you refuse to accept it. Humanity will always lose to vampires. Even the man you trust, Seamus, is just another vampire hiding behind a mask."

Her eyes widened. "That’s not true. Seamus isn’t a vampire."

Mark turned his wheelchair toward her and smiled. "Of course he is. But it doesn’t matter anymore. You won’t live long enough for that truth to change anything."

"What?"

Maria tried to move, panic flooding in as the tentacles binding her arms and legs tightened. She struggled, but her strength meant nothing here.

A thinner tentacle rose behind her and forced her eyelids wide open. She thrashed until it released her, only for the chair to lift with her still trapped inside, but the tentacles moved and settled her back down again.

It wrapped around her head, covered her mouth, and pinned her in place.

"Mpphhh! Hhnhhhh!!!"

Another limb formed, shaping itself into a crude tool that hovered close to her face.

"You didn’t want to work with me," Mark said calmly. "So I’ll take those eyes instead. They’ll help us find the rest of the Progenitor."

He smiled, cold and satisfied. "You’ll still be useful to us. Just in a different way."

Maria screamed as the tool moved closer.

In that moment, all doubt vanished. Mark was not misunderstood and he was not an idealist.

He was a monster.

The power devours all of his reasoning. Mark in the past—the one Maria saw—did not exist anymore.

And that fact alone made her more terrified than the tentacles wanted to pluck her eyes out. Because what if she changed like him?

***

Diane and Seamus held onto each other for a moment longer, and the fact that he did not disappear right away calmed her heart.

It meant he was real, or at least real enough for now. He had supported her through the fight, and she had evolved not from pain or despair, but from her determination to keep going.

That realization felt strangely refreshing, as if something tight inside her chest had finally loosened. For the first time in a long while, she felt a sense of healing instead of exhaustion.

But then Seamus leaned closer and whispered near her ear, his voice low and serious.

"This isn’t the end. We still need to get out of this domain. Everything here is fake. Mark Latros isn’t dead yet."

Diane’s breath hitched. She had known it somewhere deep inside, not because she could defeat him, but because he was found too easily.

Just like Corvane, the Latros were never straightforward. They thrived on deception and misdirection.

Some of them were terrifying not because their Bloodstyle was overwhelming in combat power, but because they were patient, calculating, and cruel in how they hid their true intentions.

Just like Isolde.

That thought made her stiffen.

Which also meant Seamus could be fake.

She pulled back slightly, her eyes narrowing. "Yeah, but why should I believe you? You could be fake too, just like the last Seamus I met."

Seamus frowned. "Seriously, Diane? I stood there supporting you while you fought that fake Mark."

"And that’s exactly why it’s suspicious," she shot back. "You drove me away during Corvane, remember? You didn’t stand behind me like this."

She tried to step away from him, her suspicion growing stronger, but his grip tightened instead.

"Then what do you think a fake me would do?" he asked quietly. "Encourage you so you can evolve?"

"Well, yeah," Diane answered honestly, letting out a tired sigh. "Latros literally asked me to come here so I could ’evolve.’"

"Evolve, huh?"

Seamus finally loosened his hold and turned his attention to the surroundings. The room of flesh and bone still pulsed like a living thing, rising and falling as if it were breathing. His expression darkened as he studied it.

"This place feels different," he said slowly.

"Dylan told me about the Progenitor. These sanguine veins running everywhere don’t feel like they belong to a vampire."

He closed his eyes, then opened them again as a faint glow spread across the floor. A trail of purple light appeared, marking footsteps only he could see.

"I marked Maria earlier," Seamus said. "I can still trace her."

The glowing tracks led straight toward a wall, then stopped completely. Diane followed his gaze and narrowed her eyes.

"So she’s behind that wall?"

"Or outside this domain entirely," Seamus replied. "In the real world."

That realization made Diane’s jaw tighten. If Maria was outside while they were trapped in here, then destroying this place would not be as simple as killing whatever stood in front of them.

Diane looked around the living walls once more, her fingers tightening around Bone Reaper.

"But if this place isn’t owned by a vampire, then how do we destroy it?"