🩸Beautiful Blood -- Sadistic Vampire Keeping Human Pets

Enemies to Hostile Allies

   Nyx's mansion...
   Nyx spent restless hours pacing, checking the clock every minute that passed, until it finally hit midnight. And not a second later, there was a knock at her mansion doors, that she rushed to answer. Right on time.
   "Augustine! Do, come it!" Nyx swept her hand with exaggerated flourish beckoningly, and a tall, menacing man stepped inside. He wore a long black cloak with a hood he pulled down once he was in.
   "Long time no see!" Nyx exclaimed chipperly.
   "...Not nearly long enough," Augustine grumbled unhappily. He walked over and plopped down in one of Nyx's expensive plush couches and propped his feet up on the coffee table in front of it without bothering to remove his shoes nor his rain-slick cloak.
   The corners of Nyx's mouth tugged into a brief frown of anger at his blatant and passive-agressive disrespect before she schooled it into a more neutral expression. She couldn't afford to drive away her only possible chance of getting Asher back, despite there being some bad blood between her and the other vampire. She tried not to dwell on the past much. So instead, she just gracefully lowered herself into the chair across from Augustine, mirroring his laid-back posture.
    "I'm glad you could make it, I know it was an inconvenience to call on you last-minute like this," Nyx started.
   "Indeed it was," Augustine agreed flatly.
   "To start, I think we should--"
   "--Straight to business, eh? Isn't it polite to offer a guest a drink, at the very least? Or some fancy wine?" Augustine flashed her a crooked smile full of malice, and Nyx bristled furiously. He was perhaps the only one cocky and bold enough to outright defy and disrespect her like this. The only one who knew he could insult Nyx and get away with all limbs intact, thanks to his indispensable skill set. And he would leverage the heck out of the ounce of power he found in that just to spite Nyx.
   Nyx gritted her teeth, but kept herself in check, though her smile became more strained. "I'm sure that isn't necessary, considering I'm already paying you a hefty sum to track down a runaway -- I don't feel the need to further add to the price tag." She spat every word like potent venom.
   Augustine casually checked his nails. "But it wouldn't be polite to let your guest go hungry," he sneered condescendingly.
   Nyx froze, and for a second Augustine was genuinely worried he might have crossed the line, that she was a millisecond away from snapping, but then, she gestured sharply at a human servant. "Go get two of the feedable servants," she snarled, and the servant was instantly in action, not wanting to bring her wrath down. Barely a minute later and she was herding two young humans toward the vampires, both of whom looked near-petrified with unbridled terror.
   "Ah, there we are! Such generous refreshments from a gracious host!" Augustine drawled teasingly, and grabbed a female human by the wrist, yanking her to trip clumsily onto the couch he was sitting on. The girl whined in pain and tried to tug away from the crushing grip on her wrist, but Augustine's hand was like a steel trap.
   Nyx snatched the second bloodbag -- a teenage boy -- for herself and roughly pulled him over to sit in her lap, glaring daggers at Augustine the whole time.
   Augustine only smiled pleasantly, knowing he was getting under her skin. "Now we can talk business," he cooed. "First, I must understand the details of the escape. Did your 'prized pet' have a tracker?"
   Nyx swallowed her pride and answered without hesitation. "He did, but it was in the shock collar, which was unfortunately left behind. I have reason to believe he is in the possession of a woman who goes by Lily Varden. She is an old rival of mine, who offered an insane amount of money to visit my servant for a taste of his blood, and paid extra to be left alone with him unsupervised. I was suspicious, but let it happen, despite my history with her. It was a grave mistake on my part. I never should have let her anywhere near my valuable prize. Should've known she wouldn't behave herself." Nyx squeezed the boy in her lap's arm in her anger, making him flinch.
   "Hmm. I see." Augustine took the human girl next to him and brought her wrist to his mouth, biting down with no warning. His free hand wrapped tightly around her throat, choking out the scream of pain. He always hated the screaming. He raised an eyebrow meaningfully at Nyx.
   Nyx grumbled something under her breath, but followed suit, fisting a hand in her human's hand and wrenching his head to the side to expose his neck. The boy whimpered, then gasped as her fangs sank in.
   A few long minutes passed in silence as the vampires drank their fill together, before Augustine removed himself from the human he was feeding in, licking blood from his lips. The human girl was shaking all over, slumped weakly against him with a dazed look on her face.
   "I believe that a bit of work on my end will prove fruitful, now that I have a name. I can track down Lily Varden's location and give it to you. Do with that information what you wish. But if you want me to come with you to help reclaim your servants and offer my skills further... that will be an extra fee for my services."
   Nyx tore her fangs from her human's neck with an indignant sound. "Outrageous," she snarled, bloodstained teeth bared. "I have already paid you enough that such an additional assistance should be covered."
   Augustine smirked, eyes glittering darkly. "Seems I hit a nerve. I was under the impression you were rather desperate to recapture this particular servant, and as far as I know, I am your only option available for help. As a businessman, I would be a fool to pass up the opportunity to use that to my advantage." He shrugged nonchalantly, taking another pull of blood from his meal before continuing.
   "If you hadn't betrayed me all those centuries ago, I might have considered giving you a discount. Like you mentioned, you have a long memory, but so do I." The human in his grip had stopped struggling, slouched limply against him, still and unmoving.
   "If I recall, you were the one who betrayed me. I suppose this means you won't be compensating me for that?" Nyx growled dryly, jerking her head at the dead servant he'd drained.
   Augustine leaned back on the couch with a satisfied sigh. "Nah, you can afford it. Dinner's on you." He yawned drowsily from the blood, drunk on the high feeling. "So. Do we have a deal? I track down your lost boys, and travel with you myself to reclaim them?"
   Nyx scowled coldly, silent. "...You have a deal," she eventually forced out. Augustine was a powerful and dangerous ally, a skilled fighter on top of his other skills. And if Nyx was going to take on Lily along with her monstrous werewolf friend... she'd need the backup.
   Nyx snapped her fingers, and another servant appeared at her side. She shoved the barely conscious human she'd been feeding off of into their arms. "Take care of that," she ordered. The servant bowed and helped the injured boy awkwardly stagger away, dizzy and weak from blood loss. Augustine rose from the couch, his human flopping down where he'd been sitting, spilling a few lingering drips of blood on the couch.
   That's going to be a pain to clean up, Nyx thought, wrinkling her nose.
   Augustine straightened his cloak and pulled the hood up over his head. "I accept your offer," he rumbled. "I shall take my leave, and get to work on tracking Lily down. You have my word, I will find her, and you will be the first to know." He gave a curt nod, heading toward the door. Nyx saw him out, and once he was gone, she found a coy smirk tugging at her lips, a euphoric, hopeful sensation.
   You may be free now, Asher... but not for much longer.