Salvatore

"Darling, are you sure it's okay to leave Peter with Ben?" Mary Parker leaned close to her husband, close enough to keep their conversation from being easily overheard. The steady stream of footsteps and the constant announcements in the airport terminal were enough to cover her voice, and Mary Parker, who had received professional spy training, knew how to make that happen.

Richard Parker patted the back of his wife's hand and reassured her in an equally quiet voice. "Ben and May are both very kind people. They'll take good care of Peter."

With a sigh, Mary Parker realized that her husband still hadn't understood what she meant. Years of research had caused Richard to lose the instincts expected of a spy, making him more direct in his thinking. Or perhaps, when it came to the woman he loved, Richard simply didn't want to analyze the hidden meaning behind every word she said. That would make life too exhausting.

Peter had only recently learned to walk, and Richard's research had just reached a crucial stage. The couple spent most of their time in the lab, so they rarely saw little Peter. If she hadn't insisted that Richard set aside one day each week to spend with him, the couple might have vanished from Peter's memory, becoming the strangers he knew best.

After receiving Nick Fury's relocation order, they would no longer be Richard Parker and Mary Parker for at least a year. They would become another couple, two people with legitimate documents proving their identities, who had never before participated in public life. That meant they wouldn't be able to see Peter during that time. They wouldn't even be allowed to call and hear his voice—though if Nick Fury felt especially generous, he might send an agent to secretly record a video of Peter for them to watch.

Before leaving, Richard called his younger brother, Ben Parker. He claimed that he and his wife, Jenny, needed to carry out a highly classified experiment and wouldn't be allowed any contact with the outside world for at least a year. He asked Ben and his wife, May, to keep looking after little Peter, who had already been staying with them.

Ben and May, who had never had children of their own, agreed. Richard entrusted Peter's education to them as well. At least when it came to character, the upright and kind couple would surely raise little Peter to be kind and brave.

Soon, it was time for the Parker couple to board their flight. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had been keeping watch around them also moved into action. They queued like ordinary passengers, and there was nothing to suggest they were connected or communicating with one another, but they kept the couple within their protective circle at all times, ready to respond as quickly as possible if anything went wrong.

Nothing happened until the plane took off. The Parker couple weren't the only ones to breathe a sigh of relief; their bodyguards did too. The number of passengers on a plane was fixed, and aside from the flight attendants, no one would be wandering around a plane in flight.

"This is my first time on a plane like this. It's really interesting." A young man seated by the window suddenly made a cryptic remark, drawing the attention of the passengers around him, including the Parker couple and the agents protecting them.

A few agents shifted in their seats as if they were uncomfortable from sitting too long. In reality, they were taking small objects from their clothes—special weapons made by S.H.I.E.L.D. that could get past security. They had limited firepower and wouldn't damage the plane if used in its enclosed cabin, but they could effectively restrict a target's movements with powerful stopping force.

The young man was a typical white man. He wore a crimson shirt beneath a dark suit and was quite handsome, with jet-black hair and skin so pale it had no hint of color. Sunlight streaming through the window made his skin glimmer like a gemstone, much like the cinematic image the vampires had cultivated in recent years to improve their public reputation.

That image wasn't far from the truth. The young man really was a vampire.

Although he looked very young, he was among the first vampires to follow Victor and was his most loyal subordinate. Victor trusted him more than the humans who were willing to die for him.

But immortals were still subject to the limits of their lifespans. The higher a vampire's standing within their ranks, the longer they lived. Victor's life was long enough for him to scheme for power, but this vampire had reached the end of his—until a few days ago.

Victor had personally brought a briefcase to find him, while he lay in a deep sleep from which he could not awaken. Opening the case, Victor showed him two vials. "Salvatore, this is the future of the vampires. As one of the first to follow me, I want you to witness the dawn of that age with me."

Salvatore accepted Victor's offer without hesitation. He used a syringe to inject one of the vials into his withered body, and within minutes, he had been reborn.

He had regained his youth, and his remaining lifespan stretched beyond anything he could estimate. His condition was better than ever, and his combat ability was many times greater than it had been at his peak. As time passed and he fed, his abilities seemed to grow without limit. Most importantly, the things vampires had once feared could no longer hurt him.

Silver weapons, garlic... and sunlight.

The vampires had amassed vast wealth. With enough money, it wasn't impossible to develop sunscreen that completely blocked ultraviolet rays. But it was extremely expensive to make and could only be used for a limited time. Even Salvatore had only enjoyed its protection a handful of times. It felt like bathing in lava without being harmed.

But Salvatore no longer needed such products. He could walk freely in the sunlight and wear silver jewelry without fear. His diet had expanded beyond the monotonous taste of human blood to include garlic steak and all kinds of other human food.

And if Salvatore entered combat, he could transform into something inhuman. He kept his human shape, but seemed to don an exoskeleton infused with bat-like features. Its surface shimmered with a riot of colors, yet it was grotesque and terrifying.

In this form, Salvatore's abilities multiplied, and the vampires' vaunted regenerative powers grew to a frightening degree. The only drawback was that he quickly became ravenous, his sanity battered by an overpowering urge to feed.

The prey he craved most were his fellow vampires. The urge was driving Salvatore mad.

Victor, unaware of this, was delighted by Salvatore's transformation. It meant that he would gain the same power after injecting himself with the other vial of Amazon Cells. He then gave Salvatore a mission: to kill the Parker couple, as requested by Doctor Death through Doom.

Salvatore gladly accepted. He had no intention of returning to the vampires alive.