Chapter Text
"I'm trying to keep you alive!" The vampire hissed. He pulled the dagger out of his back as if it were nothing at all, the wound seeming to close itself shut. All the hunter could do was stare in awe.
The vampire turned around to face him. He sighed through his nostrils, almost in defeat.
"Allow me to explain."
~~~
Seated across from the Asa was the vampire, whose name he learned as Maris.
"First of all," the hunter began, clearing his throat. "What happened just now? The cage, the blindfold, the restraints..." He trailed off, remembering the myriad of voices cooing around him and the cold, heavy steel that bound his wrists.
"You were being auctioned off."
The straight, nonchalant tone sent shivers down Asa's spine. "Auctioned...?"
The vampire crossed his arms in front of his chest"After we fell from the window and you hit the ground, I assumed you were dead. A fall from that height should have been enough to kill any human upon impact, but you were still breathing just fine. Except for a few broken bones, I think." The vampire cut himself off as he raised his cup to his lips, savoring the warm rose tea. "You're no ordinary hunter, are you?" Maris's garnet-colored irises flicked upwards to meet Asa's own topaz, and Asa was the first to look away. The vampire smirked.
"Anyway," he continued. "Forgive my frankness, but I initially intended to either let you die or take your blood for myself, but you were still alive." Asa shifted uncomfortably in his seat, narrowing his eyes at the vampire in front of him. A sheepish smile curled on his lips, revealing a set of dangerously sharp canines. "I merely jest. Besides, you look like you're strong enough to handle yourself. You had no problem burying a dagger into my shoulder blade."
"Get to the point, vampire."
"Instead of leaving you to a slow death, it would have been more profitable to me if I auctioned you off. Humans are valuable in the vampire underground, let alone a monster hunter such as yourself."
Asa's gut churned. "You... You're the one that decided to have me bound and sold to a room full of vampires? And for what?" The hunter's tone grew more and more infuriated with each word that spilled from his mouth. He slammed his hand on the table and grabbed Maris by the frill of of his jeweled cravat, lifting the vampire up from his seat and leveling their gazes. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't stake you where you stand."
"You fail to realize that I'm also the monster that saved you, did I not?"
Asa didn't answer. He stared.
"Any other monster in that room would have pounced and fed on you as soon as you were purchased. Any other vampire would have kept you brainwashed and locked up for their own uses."
The larger man knit his eyebrows in confusion. "So then, why did you buy me back? And for what reason could you possibly keep me alive for?"