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Shadows danced on the dimly lit walls of a narrow stairwell as the clacking of heels bounced loudly against its cold, stony walls. A set of feet marched with confidence upwards the rounding steps, the increasing darkness and the cooling, stagnant air having no effect on its owner whatsoever for he, without a doubt, was dead set on taking down his prey tonight. There was no turning back for him now, after all he had gone through just to get here, he had to march on.
Whether he would actually be able to accomplish his goal or even leave this place alive, Adam wasn’t so sure of the outcome. Though he didn’t allow such concerns to bother him right now, not when it might decrease his chances of winning even by a miniscule amount. All that mattered was that he appeared confident – strong – someone not to be underestimated, someone who came to this god forsaken place to strike down a beast. Did it matter that his heart rammed against his ribs? Or the fact that he could feel something climb up the back of his throat? What about the increasing sweat gathering in his palms? It could loosen his grip on his sword, couldn’t it? Then he– No. Adam shook his worries away and instead let that familiar anger flare up from within into confident warnings and threats that swiftly travelled up the staircase and out into a doorway where the shadow of a figure moved slightly. It seemed to have heard him. Good. He was the hunter here.
His steps only grew louder with confidence as the last few sets of steps presented themselves upon him and the face of a man, no, a monster, slowly came into his view. Hair like the pale rays of the morning framed a face with a skin of porcelain and eyes of sapphire, stopping delicately just above its shoulders. If any other person was in Adam’s place, they might mistake the monster for an angel and instead try to befriend the beast. That was, unfortunately, why so many have fallen to such a monster. Using their seemingly delicate, pretty features and promises of grandeur to charm their way into the people’s hearts minutes before they would tear that very same organ out of their mortal bodies. In his 26 years of life and many many years of expertly hunting beasts and monsters, nothing was deadlier than the vile creature Adam was marching his way towards. Nothing was worse than a filthy, blood sucking Vampire.
“You fucking leech! You think you can just raze a town into nothing, spilling blood everywhere and be free to enjoy the spoils of your destruction in the comfort of your home?” shouted Adam as the face of the vampire fully came into view. His blood boiled with anger as he recounted the scenery he arrived at nigh a fortnight ago. Ashes swirling along with the wind as dark, dried blood stained the ground that cradled the mangled bodies of the former residents of the small village. From the elderly to those barely able to walk, none was spared from the vampire’s rampage. Adam was by no means an amateur – in his field of area, victims and their corpses were a normal occurrence. This wouldn’t even be the first vampire he would slay, many others had burned to his sword before (and this one would too). But when he heard tales of a beautifully pale, golden haired man (the people’s words not his) dressed in ornate apparel clearly not belonging in a small secluded village apparently wandering amongst its residents at night, Adam knew exactly who the people were talking about.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Adam had arrived too late to save the villagers from the monster. A dull kind of sadness sat on his chest for but a brief moment before it returned back to a flaming fury. Tonight, not only was he going to avenge those poor victims from the village, but also its past victims ranging from centuries ago. Tonight, he was going to ensure that one of the pillars of vampire society would tumble and burn to ash.
Out of the corner of his eye, Adam spotted a boot and… was that a leg? It looked a little crumpled and unnaturally flat. Perhaps another unfortunate victim the leech had gotten hold of while he tracked its whereabouts. His grip on his weapon only tightened with burning determination as his steps increased in pace and his arms positioned themselves to a strike.
“Michael! Tonight it will be your blood that will be spilled inst–!!
Adam was by no means a clumsy man. Hot headed? Without a doubt. Reckless? Perhaps, but he usually had some idea of what to do. Granted, he wasn’t the most graceful man on earth, but he was swift on his toes and the slashes of his sword would cut through the air. So why now, of all time, did his feet decide to not cooperate and betray him? And in front of humanity’s mortal enemy?
Needless to say, his legs did manage to bring him towards the False Sun itself, though perhaps a little too closely for Adam’s liking as his face felt against the silken fabric of what possibly could be Michael’s waistcoat. As he moved his cheek an inch trying to do God knows what, Adam felt the rounded shape of a button. He had, without a doubt, fallen face first towards the vampire.
“I must admit I was prepared for a fight, the usual one…” A cool, silky voice sounded from just above his head, seemingly not too bothered by having a large man collapse on top of him. “But this kind of ‘fighting’...” a hum, then the vampire continued, “I profess I’m not too opposed to the idea–”
If imploding from shame was possible, Adam would have collapsed onto dust by now. Alas, he was only human nor had he bothered to learn of such magicks from his peers. His only option? To do what he had always been good at. Cut the parasite into unrecognisable pieces. Within a split of a second, the shame that enveloped him had completely drained away and his sword swung through the air, the blade heading swiftly towards the vampire’s neck.
“–if it means resolving things in a peaceful manner.” Michael held a tight grip on his wrist, the sliver blade inches away from his neck seemingly non-existent. With a slight, painful twist to his wrist, the blade fell pitifully away from his grip, its metallic clatter a deafening noise in the room.
There was a tension in his body, frozen by panic, shock, and possibly even fear. Here he was still as a mouse, unsure of his next move for he could die in the next second should Michael deem it so. Face down, his head still leaning against the night creature, for he could not bear to look the thing in the eyes right now, something shimmery caught his attention. How could he forget? Eve always insisted he carry the cross with him, wear it around his neck to appease possible religious fanatics, assure them that he worked with the church not against them. The cross, as effective as it was towards the religious folk, had no real effect against the supernatural except perhaps to confuse them for a second as to why a hunter would bother to depend on them in the first place. This cross, however, was in fact a small silver dagger. Would it kill the monster before him? Adam wished so, but unfortunately the most it could do was possibly to have the vampire let go of him. That would be enough. No, it had to be enough, otherwise…
With a sharp inhale, Adam unsheathed the small dagger and attempted to stab the vampire in front of him…only to feel something cold grasp onto his left hand. The tip of the blade disappeared into the waistcoat, though from the lack of reaction from Michael, it seemed to not have pierced into his flesh.
“Are you fucking with me?” Adam hissed between his teeth. How was it that Michael seemed to be able to read his next moves? Without much of a choice left, Adam struggled and thrashed against the vampire’s grip, his left hand still trying its best to pierce beyond the fabric of Michael’s attire. “Let go of me, asshole! Or I swear you’ll die a hundred times worse than all of your victims combined and then some more!”
Michael merely quirked a brow at Adam’s display, unfazed by the barrage of curses and promises of death hurled towards him. Slowly, he loosened his grip on the human, enough to prevent the thrashing man from possibly twisting his wrists but still having Adam tied to him.
“First you throw yourself at me, then soon after promises of death,” Michael idly noted, though Adam swore he could see the faintest smirk at the corner of the vampire’s lips. “I think you might’ve misunderstood vampires um..?”
“Garth,” he answered with a scowl, though a slight red was beginning to spread from his cheeks. He was sure the bastard was playing with him. “And I did not throw myself at you! I– I merely,” he gulped before quietly admitting as he looked down and away from Michael’s stupidly pretty face, “I merely tripped.”
However, a soft, withheld snort caused Adam to snap his attention back to the vampire in front of him, as red fully encased his face up to his ears, from shame or anger, he wasn’t sure anymore. All he was sure of was that Michael was not taking him seriously at all. In fact, it seemed that the vampire was mocking him! The angelic looking blood sucker from hell.
Noticing the human’s exasperated expression before him, Michael reigned in his amusement, his lips returning to its original flat shape. A smile remind within his thoughts however. “How adorable.”
“Ah, from the House of Garth. Apologies, I didn’t mean to offend,” Michael placed a hand on his chest, where his heart should be, allowing Adam’s left hand to finally be free.
Though, for all his wit and aptitude for killing creatures of all kinds, Adam hadn’t exactly mastered the skill of diplomacy and delicacy, not that he ever tried especially now, when he faced one of the most vile creatures of the night.
“Your face is offensive,” hissed Adam at Michael’s show of sincerity. If Adam was crude and blunt, then vampires were his complete opposite. The leeches were masters of speechcraft and deceit. The bastard in front of him didn’t even have a beating heart!
Michael moved his free hand from his chest to his face, his long, slender fingers carefully gliding over his perfectly smooth cheeks before it began tracing his sharp jawline towards the end of his pointed cheek where perfectly kissable lips were just above it. Adam tore his gaze from the vampire and instead focused a glare at a wall away from the charming face before him.
“Don’t fall for their charms Adam!” he reminded himself. That was it. Definitely. Michael was, without a doubt, using his vampire magic to get Adam to lower his guard. There was no way he was actually eyeing the leech. It was a leech! A blood sucking vampire! Adam mentally slapped himself as he steeled himself to keep glaring at the wall.
“Offensive?” Michael pondered aloud before moving closer to the human ensuring he was in view at the very least, “I’ve heard nothing but compliments from your kind, but I suppose my appearance does not match your palate?”
The vampire had the audacity to come closer to Adam and even do a little head tilt with his bright blue eyes glimmering like precious jewels even in the dimness of the room they were in. How did he manage that? To always look so perfect no matter the angle; not that Adam thought Michael actually looked good. No way. It was all a façade anyway. Sooner or later all that sweet charm would fade into monstrous hunger. He did, however, find it a little odd how he was still alive and ‘conversing’ with Michael. Was he really that much fun to play with? Usually vampires weren’t fans of his ‘colourful’ personality, as many others have said before, and would’ve simply broken his bones already or at least attempted to kill him already. Michael, however, seemed to enjoy it.
“Of course not,” Adam scoffed at the vampire. “I mean, look at you. You’re…” he eyed Michael up and down, from the flowing golden that was his hair, down his smooth pale neck, his lean, strong body up to his long, slender fingers. The vampire was pretty? No, he couldn’t say that. Beautiful? Couldn’t say that either. Alluring? Perhaps, but there was no way he was going to admit that aloud. “...you’re tiny. Right! Too slim, like a twig! Not how a real man should be.”
“Oh?” Michael placed his fingers on the underside of Adam’s chin, caressing the skin there before pulling him even closer towards him. “And how should a man look, might I ask?”
Being this close to Michael, Adam could now truly see how spotless the vampire’s face was, completely void of any imperfections as if every feature had been delicately and purposely placed there. He could feel Michael’s breath cool and pleasant against his skin like a welcomed reprieve from a suffocating heat. An instinctive gulp went down his dry throat, and for a few precious seconds, Adam was truly speechless.
“Hmm? Won’t you enlighten me, hunter?”
“I– I, well,” stammered Adam as a slight shiver travelled up his spine. As much as he wanted to pull away, Michael’s fingers, and perhaps something else, stilled him on the spot. He cleared his throat, forcing his own green eyes to meet the vampire’s own icy blues. “Well, somewhat like me! Tall and big and menacing! Not delicate looking like you.”
“You say I look delicate?”
“It’s not a compliment.”
“You are not much taller than me,” Michael noted as he eyed Adam up and down, taking every bit of detail about the human.
“You’re still shorter, and skinnier. It’s not a good look,” Adam insisted as tried to turn away and hide away from the vampire’s obvious gazes. “Quite hideous really.”
“Truly?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Well then.”
All of a sudden Adam felt himself stumble backwards as his other hand was finally released from the vampire’s; he hadn’t even realised he had begun using the other’s hold on him to remain standing. Then, a shadow slowly began to climb atop of him, starting from his shoulders up to face until it covered him and went past beyond his height. With the use of dark, vampire magic, the creature in front of him shifted and transformed from frail, pretty noble to someone who was at least a head taller than him, shoulders broad and wide, wavy golden locks tied behind in a low ponytail. Without a doubt, it was still the same vampire, the same perfectly pale skin, the same precious bejewelled eyes, the same silken gold hair – just bigger and taller, and exactly how Adam thought in his mind a ‘manlier’ version of the vampire would look like. Not that the previous appearance was unpleasant. Wait. Adam gave pause to his thoughts. Michael looked exactly how he imagined him in his head… Did..?
“Did you fucking read my mind?” Adam covered his head protectively with both hands despite knowing the futility of such an action. A fluster began to spread once more across his face up to his ears, his heart beating against his ribs just like at the beginning when he climbed those stairs, but also a little different.
“Have I become more pleasing now?” asked Michael with a sweet smile upon his lips as he stepped closer towards Adam like a predator closing in on its prey, his shadow towering over the human, making Adam feel, for once, quite small despite his tall stature of 6 '1".
“You–!” He quickly picked up his silver sword off the ground, pointing the sharp and deadly end towards the vampire.
Michael stopped before the blade could actually pierce through his waistcoat, though it seemed they had arrived at an impasse. “Why are you hesitating?” he asked.
Why was he hesitating? At this point, with all the conflicting thoughts clashing within his head, Adam wasn’t so sure anymore. He could easily just push his sword through the fabric and into the flesh, ending the vampire here and there – that was what he had spent nearly two weeks tracking Michael for. But despite all his training, despite all his rational thoughts screaming at him to just be done with all this, his grip on his sword faltered, not completely lax, but also lacking the intent he had earlier. This vampire was…odd. An absolute lunatic. But he hadn’t killed Adam when he easily could’ve earlier and still wasn’t attempting to harm him even now.
“Either push your sword through or drop it.”
The fight just wasn’t there. There was no point in attacking someone who wasn’t willing to fight. Adam tried to explain to himself the reasons for his own bizarre behaviour, at least he actively was until he caught a glimpse of a body not too far behind Michael.
“I don’t think your victim over there would be too pleased if I give up now,” he said, tightening his hold onto the hilt once more.
“Oh, him?” Michael moved to the side, hands presenting the mangled corpse behind him to Adam. “A gift for you.”
Then it hit Adam like a giant troll punching him through a wall. For a moment he thought he finally found a different vampire, that despite his lunacy, Michael might’ve been unique from his kind, that perhaps there was misunderstanding. Turned out, he was just better at hiding his tendencies, perks of being an ancient vampire he supposed. Of course, they all turn to their true base selves in the end, Adam should’ve seen it coming.
“I heard you were tracking him down, so I thought I could make things a little easier for you.” Michael moved over towards the corpse, a displeased look painted upon his face.
“Wait, what?”
“Of course, I also didn’t agree with what he did to those villagers,” Michael recalled the tragedy that befell the villagers, his lips turning downwards into a frown, a dark shadow cast on his face as he stomped unto what should’ve the head. “Some of those people were rather affable towards me.”
“W-wait a second!” Adam moved towards Michael and nearer to the corpse on the ground. Now that he really paid closer attention to the corpse, he noted the distinct lack of red blood that was supposed to have pooled around the body. Instead, there was soot and ash spread around a dessicated figure beneath a bunch of torn garments. This was not the corpse of a human. “You mean to tell me that he was the one that attacked the village? Not you?”
For once something else other than cool amusement or unreadable indifference formed itself onto Michael’s face.
Seemingly taken aback by Adam’s question, Michael turned his attention back towards the human, a sad disappointment plastered all over his face, the shimmer in his blue eyes looking almost like crystalline tears. Adam almost wanted to reach over and give the vampire a reassuring pat, but held back instead. It would’ve been strange from his end. Mad even, for a hunter to even think about apologising to a vampire.
“No, it wasn’t me,” Michael answered Adam, dejection nigh palpable from his voice alone. “I would never attack unprovoked and never for fun. It’s not within my nature.”
Before he knew it, a scoff escaped from Adam, “Not within your nature, really?”
“I tell the truth.”
“You’re a vampire,” Adam hissed at Michael. “Perhaps not the worst of your kind, but a vampire regardless.”
“I am my own person, Adam. I’m not shackled to my birth despite how you and your fellows may think so.”
“How do you–?”
“I am knowledgeable in many things, Adam,” Michael answered his question for him as he made his way back towards the human, his shadow looming over once more. “Of course, you are too. The difference is, I know my proclivities quite well. My needs and wants.”
The vampire leaned down towards Adam, one hand sliding its way up the human’s shoulder, fingers briefly tracing his collar bone before resting his hand lightly against the nape. Michael whispered, fangs so close to Adam’s neck and yet the hunter attempted no escape, “Are you aware of yours?”
Adam could almost feel himself wanting to bare his neck, giving the vampire all the access he needed for a drink. He wondered how it would feel like. Would it be an unbearable pain? Maybe something on the pleasurable side? Perhaps a mixture of both sensations?
“A hunter likes to chase, no?”
Too close. Michael was too close and Adam didn’t like it. “Who would chase after you?!” Adam snapped back, finally having broken free from his brief trance, as he pulled himself away from the vampire using his silver sword to further increase the space between them. He desperately needed the space away from the vampire, to be able to breathe, to think rationally. He was slowly getting swayed by Michael’s words, and that was dangerous.
This time Michael made no attempt to bridge the distance between him and Adam, it seemed he had pushed the human enough for today, though he allowed himself a victorious smile at Adam’s response. “Who said anything about chasing me?”
Before Adam could defend himself from his mishap, Michael began heading towards the door, stopping just before the stairwell to turn back at Adam one more time.
“In half a fortnight, at midnight, in this very same place,” Michael informed the hunter, that same victorious smile from earlier still on his lips. “If you would like to continue your hunt for me.”
Then, in a flash the figure before Adam vanished into a mist swirling down the dark stairwell.
Adam wished he had thrown his sword towards the bastard leech’s face then, only he had already been drained of energy for the night, and perhaps the following night too. Others have warned him about the Auruses before, many others have told him about their dangerous encounters with that ancient vampire family. He had even read and studied several journals and books about that hellish family and their unending capacity for cruelty. He was quite sure, and Michael’s very presence only proved him correct, that Michael was in fact the Michael from the Auruses, direct son of the clan leader. And yet here was Adam, dumbly standing in an empty room, seriously contemplating returning to the place as per the invitation of an Aurus. Honestly, even he wondered if there was something wrong with him sometimes.
“Fuck me.”