3 Bleeding steel three

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should...

***

Did I make a mistake by extending my sympathy towards this bloodsucker? What if he actually decides to drain me dry?

I stared at the knife that stuck into the wall. He'd used so much force that the whole blade got into the wall. I imagined if that was my head. The blood would slowly seep out of the raw, gaping wound.

Vampires. Creatures from fantasy novels that subsist by feeding on the vital essence of living. Blood.

Undead creatures that often visited loved ones.

Is that how this thing plans to repay my help? By impaling my head like it's a kebab. Okay, let's refer to it like it's actually alive. He's supposed to be asking why he's here and not trying to kill me.

I closed the doors behind me and once I turned around, it was just a few feet away from me.

Haha... shit.

I looked up at him. No matter how shameless he is, he should remember I'm his saviour. After all, it was him who was grasping unto my feet a few hours ago and pleading for me to save him.

Taking careful glances, I noticed something, something I wanted to see in his eyes, something that would put me at ease, something that proves that maybe he really knows what gratitude is, the ugly emotion that consumes the innocent and endangered from within...

It was... fear.

DRAEKAI

I surveyed my surroundings.

Apart from its unfamiliarity, it didn't seem dangerous. Still, I could not get complacent. I don't know who saved me, and neither do I know why they saved me or what they hoped to achieve by saving me.

A wounded vampire is a liability. Luckily, my rejuvenation powers weren't dormant here. I strolled to the body-length mirrors and my eyes drank in my appearance. I think I was in a different skin covering.

Where are my clothes? And what the hell am I wearing? I still had my grey hair and red eyes. My face looked similar too but my pale skin wasn't there anymore. What happened?

I took a few short steps to the centre table. There was a bowl of fruit and a knife sitting in the middle of it. I heard the door slowly creak open. I didn't know who my saviour was and I don't know where I am. What if the person entering is a dark-winged vampire?

Plucking the knife out of the red fruit, I aimed for the wall hedged to the doorframe. He appeared stupefied. He wasn't expecting that but I could see now that he was my saviour.

I flashed over to his position. I needed to know what kind of vampire he was. And how he wants me to repay him. Dark-winged vampires have black hair and White-winged vampires have grey hair. I'm glad he's not a dark-wing. They would have turned me into a sex slave but... what is he? Why is his hair golden...?

"I see you've figured out that I'm the one who saved you. Do you bloodsuckers think it's funny to greet people with knives?"

"Bloodsucker?"

"Yeah. Aren't you a vampire?"

"Yes, I'm a White-winged vampire. So what are you?"

The boy's head stopped right at my shoulder level but he was looking at me like he'd seen prey. His thin lips curved upwards and his pupils dilated.

"I'm a human."

"What are those?"

He seemed delighted that I didn't know his race too. He pointed at the knife in the wall and I yanked it out easily. At my strength, he smiled. At my question, he walked around me and pointed to the chair.

I sat down on it.

"I'll explain all about humans if you can tell me what you were doing in that alleyway, bleeding."

This was his condition but that was not what bothered me the most. I had no information or the like regarding these "humans" so I don't know how they repay favours for each other.

I hope it's not something like slavery. Blood and gore could work since I heal in a fraction of a second but...

... If I healed quickly why was I bleeding in that alleyway, to begin with. Why didn't I just heal... at the beginning?

"I don't know. One minute I was in a cell dying and the next thing... I was just... there."

He had blue eyes. It was a strange sight because I'd only seen red ones all my life.

"How old are you?"

"Nine centuries old."

His eyes smarted.

"Good."

He seemed satisfied with my answer. Is that the perfect age to hire servants here? Maybe that's how I'll repay him for saving my life. By serving.

"You mentioned being in a cell... you were imprisoned?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

He took the knife from my hands and cut a piece of the red fruit that looked like flesh. He saw me staring at him.

"In case you're wondering, this is called watermelon. It's a fruit."

"Oh..."

I had no idea what fruit was but it looked red and it caused my throat to burn for the taste of blood.

"Here."

He handed me a juice box. I read the name of something weird on it "strawberry...?"

"What is this?"

"It's juice, now peel the straw and stick it here."

He said indicating the only soft section on the top. I obeyed and he did the same with another one in his grasp. Then what?

He pulled it to his lips and sipped. I could make out a faint yellowish liquid moving through the transparent straw he sucked from. I moved the flexible white material to my lips and sipped.

What entered my mouth was not juice.