Chapter Three

“I read the news. Congratulations on another success,” Kyle said after catching up to me. Judging from his polished boots and his quiver full of sharp arrows, I could immediately tell that he was going on a mission, possibly later tonight. He then casually slung an arm over my shoulders and leaned in close to whisper, “But didn’t you go solo? It wasn’t like you to torture him after shooting an arrow to his chest.”

My heart went frantic at our close proximity, but I have learned over the years how to play it cool. With a confused frown, I whispered back, “What do you mean I tortured him? I shot him and then that was it.”

“Hmm, I guess the media was exaggerating again,” he thought out loud while an adorable pout formed on his lips. “They said the corpse looked like it was ravaged by dogs. The article went into gore detail about the claw and bite marks, and how he was sucked dry.”

We turned to another hallway and was immediately greeted by the huge framed portraits of all the captains the guild had over the years since it was established. It adorned both walls so walking through this particular hallway had always been my least favorite part in wrapping up a mission. It didn’t help either that each captain in the portraits held a frightening scowl on their faces.

Why was it a requirement to scowl in photographs? I wish somebody smiled in pictures for a change.

“Sucked dry?”

Kyle inched closer. Our cheeks were touching, making the butterflies in my stomach go haywire. “All his blood was sucked out of his body. There wasn’t much of it on the pavement, they said, so it looked like a vampire did it or whatever.”

My heart skipped a beat, but for a different reason this time. The mark over my guild tattoo throbbed as if it had a life of its own. “A v-vampire?”

“Yeah,” he dropped his arm to clutch at his stomach as he laughed boisterously. “I almost choked on my coffee while I was reading the newspaper earlier today!”

I recalled how I noticed a shadow that night and how the corpse had gone missing shortly after that. When I fell nearly to my death, Calum Reed was the first person to find me. There was no way that those two incidents were mere coincidences. 

Sucked dry.

A shiver ran down my spine. I better be extremely careful, even more so than I already was.

“Journalists can be conspiracy theorists sometimes,” I forced a laugh. If Kyle wasn’t as entertained as he was right then, the boy would’ve noticed my discomfort. “Anyway, I need to meet the captain. I’ll see you around.”

“Sure,” he waved at me before turning around to leave. 

Mr. Morgan was sitting behind his desk when I came in, his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose as he skimmed through seemingly hundreds of sheets of papers stacked on his table. They were probably job requests that needed to be checked out before they get posted on the board for the rest of the guild members to choose from.

We were assassins-for-hire, but the captain always made sure that our kills were for the better.

He noticed me come in and looked up from studying the job requests. “Oh, Avery.”

“Good afternoon, sir,” I greeted with a salute.

“I read about your mission on the paper today,” he smiled at me, wide enough that his golden tooth showed. “Good job as always. At this pace, I’m sure you can keep your 100% success rate until you retire.”

I chuckled at the compliment. My shoulders yet again felt the pressure of being expected to be the best, to be the one on top. 100% success rate on missions. Being eyed to be the next captain. It was too much, but as with all the other things that I found rather overwhelming, I have learned how to cope with them, how to carry the burden without crushing under its weight.

“I hope I can, sir.”

“I’m certain you will. You’re our best member after all.”

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My smile widened as I stuffed the pouch full of gold coins into my satchel. The captain was generous enough to give me some bonus coins because he, apparently, liked the gruesome claw and bite marks that I left on the coachman’s body. My recent target had molested more than ten women, including a prepubescent 12-year-old, so I understood Mr. Morgan’s sentiments.

It was definitely Calum Reed’s handiwork, but for a few more coins, I didn’t mind taking credit.

My little celebration was cut short when a carriage suddenly stopped a few steps from where I stood. If I took a couple of steps forward earlier, I would’ve been trampled by the horses. I huffed in annoyance and was prepared to give the coachman a piece of my mind when the door of the carriage flew open.

“Speaking of the literal devil,” I mumbled through clenched teeth upon making eye contact with a familiar pair of red orbs. Then, with a louder voice, I told him, “You almost killed me!”

I noticed a bag of ice sitting on his crotch, right where I had kicked him earlier before escaping his mansion with nothing but a blanket on. The event was as embarrassing for me as it was for him, so I didn’t think he had any right to complain.

A frown was etched on his face. The sly, confident smirk that he had on during our previous encounter was no longer. “Get in, Avery dear.”

“No,” I scoffed and attempted to walk away. 

But before I could even take a single step, I heard his bone-chilling voice speak once more. The mark on the small of my back burned as if it, too, was responding to his command and hostility.

“I said…” he trailed off for suspense. When I looked back at his face, his eyebrow was twitching noticeably like he was holding himself back from getting violent. “Get. In.”

The sun still hung high in the sky, and Calum Reed didn’t know where I lived, so if I wanted to, I could just choose to run away and hope that his carriage wouldn’t be able to catch up to me. But my gut feeling told me that I would be in bigger trouble if I do so, thus, I begrudgingly hopped into his carriage.

Darkness enveloped us instantly the moment the door was shut. I sat on the bench opposite him and fiddled with my fingers, looking at anything but his eyes. 

“I admit that you deserve the credit, Avery dear,” he broke the silence, at last. His words sounded affectionate yet the chill in his voice was the opposite. “No one—in my whole couple thousand years of existence as a vampire—had dared to kick me in my man parts.”

I failed to suppress my laugh despite the awareness that I wasn’t in the place nor the situation to do so. I felt the vampire’s piercing glare on me, so I covered my mouth and shrunk into my seat. With the most apologetic voice I could muster, I mumbled, “Sorry.”

No one calls it their ‘man parts’.

Also, he’s two thousand years old?

My mind was going everywhere, but at the fact that I was at the mercy of a, possibly, murderous vampire. I should be afraid of him. But because of the realization that he could be vulnerable too, he didn’t come off too daunting as he should.

“I would appreciate it if you refrain from doing that again,” he continued to say, sounding more irritated this time. “Your blood is unlike I have ever tasted before, but I will not hesitate to take drastic measures if this adorable rebellion of yours continues.”

My right hand gripped the hilt of my sheathed knife. “I’m sure I already told you that I want nothing to do with you.”

“I am certain I clarified that the bond was already made. Because of that, I cannot feed on other human’s blood but yours.”

“What?” I snapped my head towards him, my eyes wide in disbelief as my hold on my knife’s handle loosened. He didn’t seem like the type, but I hoped that he was just joking. My hopes were crushed upon seeing his serious face. “How is that my problem, though?”

“You might seem fine now, but later on, your body will crave for me so badly that even a stubborn girl like you would not be able to resist it,” he continued to explain, deadpan. “Contrary to what you think, this is not a parasitic relationship. From now on, we need each other to survive.”

The shock got the best of me. Instead of forming proper questions, the words got stuck at the tip of my tongue, and the only thing I managed to croak out was, “W-What are you…?”

“Let me phrase this in a way that your little human brain can comprehend,” he said slowly, mocking me by talking as how he would to a child. Then, he leaned onto his knees, resting his chin on his interlocked fingers, as he bore his red eyes into mine. “You and I, Avery dear, are stuck with each other until you die, which I reckon would not be that long considering your line of work.”