As I write this, my thoughts are getting scattered, I am not sure wether I am talkig about my son, the war or anything else. They’re just my thoughts getting mumbled, jumbled, or worse. My mind is getting worse. My life is fading, I can feel it… there’s a certain… looming thoughts, a pressure I cannot shake.

  As Yasa held Kai by the throat, a knock reverberated through the air. The muffled voice of a young woman called out from behind the solid door. “Miss Yasa, the food you ordered is ready.”

  “Tsk.” Yasa clicked her tongue and threw Kai on the bed, his head knocking against the frame. He didn’t dare cry out in pain, though. His eyes followed Yasa as she opened the door, grabbed the food - a plate full of richly seasoned meat - and thanked the young girl with a shiny silver coin.

  “I guess everybody has secrets, don’t we?” She asked, placing the food on a table. “Even if your secrets might put us at risk. Shoot, you nearly killed me, and you had the chance to. So the question remains, why didn’t you?”

  Yasa grabbed a piece of meat and bit into it like a hungry hyena, staring right at Kai, whose belly growled.

  “I’m not… a killer…” He struggled to say through the pain and paralysis.

  His response earned a light chuckle from Yasa, though it was clear she wasn’t amused. “A vampire who isn’t a killer. And how did you manage to stay alive for so long? I know of your kind and of your illness, don’t think it’s a secret. A vampire that’s still alive is a killer. A vampire that wants to keep living will feed, and will therefore kill.”

  It was Kai’s turn to laugh, though his chuckle resembled the cries of a yipping fox more than it did a laugh. “What’s the difference between killing and killing to feed?” He asked, amused by Yasa’s logic. Humans killed humans, vampires, elves, and dwarves. Léandro treated killing others as a normal occurrence, and the adventurers didn’t shy away from doing that either.

  Kai knew the reason he didn’t want to feed, the reason he didn’t want to indulge in the part of him that could be deemed a monster. Even though it was his choice, he didn’t want to lose what little made him human. He saw it all too well, what not feeding did. He admitted that the feeling of drinking blood felt better than anything he’d ever tried before, and it tasted more heavenly than celestial dew.

  However, he did it when he wasn’t himself, when something else took over, when someone else was in control. He didn’t feel like himself, not like when his parents gave him his first dose of blood. He was afraid of losing what made him, him, the part of him that remembered his human life.

  He raised his head, fighting against the effect of paralysis, and stared right at Yasa, who had put the meat down and fallen deep in thought.

  “The difference is,” she started, placing one leg over the other. “That feeding is a primary urge for your kind. You treat other beings like food, you… do awful things to them. When we kill it’s with reason, to protect ourselves, to protect something or someone, or hell’s be damned, out of selfishness. When you feed it’s purely to keep yourself alive, and necessity becomes a pleasure. You and your kind are perverted creatures that cannot stop their hunger even after it’s fulfilled. You just want more, and more, and more.”

  Kai found the generalisation funny, but couldn’t deny it. He wasn’t sure, but without his self-control, Hideyoshi would have died. Anyone else in his position would have finished the job and killed him. His expression softened upon thinking of him, a bitter taste appearing in his mouth. How could he have been so stupid? Another person gone from his life. He regretted it deeply, yet he couldn’t check up on him or ask what happened afterward.

  “We just want to live…” Kai whispered in a coarse voice. “We just want what everyone else wants, to live. It’s not my fault that I have to drink other people’s blood to survive.”

  Yasa sighed, frustration clear in her voice. “You’re right, it’s not. Just like pigs don’t have a choice but to be slaughtered for us to eat. However, we fight back, vampire. We will not tolerate being treated as nothing more than food. All vampires are enemies, and the fact that you are not dead right now makes me a traitor to the kingdom and anyone else who’s suffered for thousands of years under your kind’s rule!”

  By the end of her speech, she didn’t bother to hide her anger or disdain, nor her disgust for Kai and his people. He could understand why, as he was human once, but the ‘kill on sight’ idea never sat right with him. Of course, he could do little except endure and hide himself, but he didn’t like it.

  And he couldn’t change Yasa’s attitude either. It was clear she held a deep hatred for him and vampires as a whole, but he didn’t know why she didn’t just kill him. She clearly had the strength and the opportunity.

  Just as he thought that her sigh echoed in his ears. “Natasha told me to keep you safe, at least until we reached Lustra. I planned to do that. If she thinks that highly of you, then you can’t be that bad, yet… She was wrong.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Yasa paused and sighed, looking out the window. “That’s what I thought, and I still think so, but I’m not as sure of myself. Even when you overpowered me, you didn’t go for the killing blow; that’s what surprised me the most. Not your stupid transformation or strength, but the fact that you controlled yourself.” After saying that, she stood up and walked toward Kai, pouring a potion down his unwilling throat.

  “This will help you with the paralysis poison. Eat up when you can move, we’re leaving as soon as the others wake up.” After saying that she headed to the bathroom then left the room dressed in her armor.

  Kai watched with as much perplexity as he did intrigue, and immediately began to feel the effects of the bitter medicine. He gradually regained feeling in his arms and legs, then his entire body, and he could finally move slowly enough to crawl his way to the table.

  His stomach growled from hunger, though not thirst. For one reason or another, his desire to consume blood has temporarily vanished, but he wasn’t sure when it would come back. He knew it would, just as it did before. However, he could only breathe gravely as he struggled to chew on the still-sizzling meat. It had a rich texture, soft enough to bite on but hard enough to enjoy.

  Kai remembered the last time he ate cooked food. It was with Karfi and Tausi, right before he left abrubtly The bacon and eggs couldn’t compare to the dish before him, yet, somehow, the delicious meal tasted bitter.

  …

  Kai got dressed in whatever he had in his storage ring. He still wore all black, but the clothes he wore before weren’t as clean, and definitely not as well-fitted. As the door to the room creaked open, inviting him to leave, he found Onyx sleeping peacefully in the hallway. Kai’s silver and violet sword lay next to him, and he could only imagine how much pain his companion went through to bring them back.

  He awoke the fluffy beast with a light pat, and Onyx’s emotions of joy and worry flooded him before he awoke completely. I’m here now, I’m sorry. Kai told the Obborik with his hands wrapped around Onyx’s fluffy neck.

  In response he found his compaion’s tongue dampening his face, and he also got reminded that he forgot to put the mask on. He cleaned his face as fast as he could and slapped the fox mask, hoping that nobody saw him. Looking right and left with a racing heart, he deduced that the hall was empty, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

  Let’s go.

  Awrf!

  Kai picked up the swords and put them away as he stood up, then descended to the main lobby. There, he saw Yasa, Lutha, and the burly man sitting quietly on the large sofas. Opposite them stood Léandro and Lilith, smiling and talking to each other. The rest of the lobby was empty, save for a few clients checking out.

  Upon seeing Kai, the two parties had very different reactions. Léandro smiled from corner to corner and waved him to come over, while Lilith’s lips creased into a less obvious smile. On the other hand, the burly man glared at him, Lutha stared at Onyx, and Yasa avoided his gaze completely.

  Kai shook his head and walked over to them, sitting down in the middle of a chair with Onyx behind him. The following silence was deafening, but luckily didn’t last long as Léandro’s lips parted. “Where did you go last night?”

  His question made him look over to Yasa, and the two locked eyes for a quick moment before looking away. Nobody noticed the brief exchange, though, as it was hidden by his mask. “I couldn’t sleep,” Kai replied simply, saying a half-truth and omitting the rest. “I just got some fresh air.”

  Léandro shot him a skeptical look but didn’t press the matter further. He paused for a moment, his cheeks reddening, then asked. “I didn’t do anything weird… did I? I don’t remember much.”

  Kai held back a chuckle and shook his head. “No, you didn’t do anything weird.” He put emphasis on the verb but didn’t explain it further. Léandro’s flushed face gave away that he understood the implication, but now couldn’t help but wonder what he had to say. Kai decided to remain quiet on the subject, as he couldn’t tell him, at least not in front of everyone.

  “Where are the rest?” Kai asked, looking around for Melon and the short, chubby man.

  “Still sleeping probably,” Léandro replied with a yawn. I should be as well, I’m still hungover.”

  “You shouldn’t have drank so much then.” Lilith scolded him but her voice was more playful than serious. Kai chuckled, as he remember that she was the first one to go out cold.

  Léandro’s face flushed even more, though, making him look like a ripe tomato.

  Yasa and the rest waited patiently for the three to stop talking, and she gave Kai an encouraging look. He cleared his throat and turned to the prince. “Listen, we, uhm, we will need to leave soon.”

  “Really?” Léandro said without thinking. It’s only been two days since they met up until now, and too much has happened within those two days. “I thought you would stay for a while.”

  “Your Majesty, Yasa interjected, “There are things happening in Lustra that we must take care of. If what Ichor said is true, then it’s been in a bad state for years now. At first, we were still receiving some responses, but it’s been dead silent for months. We’re not sure what’s going on, and we must make haste.”

  “I understand,” Léandro said begrudgingly, though it was clear he couldn’t quite accept it. He glanced at Lilith, whose expression seemed even sadder than his, but he knew that they couldn’t keep Kai for themselves. “I wish we could celebrate a bit more, but I suppose you can’t stay here alone?”

  Kai shook his head. As much as he wished to, part of him waited in Lustra, and that was the most important reason for his eagerness to travel there. “Maybe after I am done with my business there. I will travel back to Nivero… and hopefully meet some old friends.”

  Léandro nodded. “Alright, when are you leaving?”

  “As soon as possible,” Kai said, following Yasa’s glare. “We don’t have too much time to spare, sadly.”

  “Then let me arrange a carriage for you. I’m sure it would be better to travel like that, it would be safer and faster.”

  Kai looked at Yasa, whose expression boredered between refusal and helplesness, but in the end gave an approving nod. She knew better than to refuse free transport, especially when the had to hurry.

  “We would appreciate it.”