𝐌𝐘 𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

九 | 𝐀𝐁𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄

adulation (n.)
adoration. worship.
admiration. devotion.
reverence. favor.

「 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑬 」
𝐀𝐁𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄

꧁꧂

God, I'm starving.

    (Y/N) clutched her stomach tightly as she curled onto a ball on the dirty floor of her cell, not even a cot or bucket for convenience since most that stayed down there died quickly. Though, she wished for some semblance of comfortable living, she'd rather stay there than have to put up with Ferid's abuse. He had been gone for about a week on an important mission from what she had gauged from the whispered conversations he'd had with Ayal, and though she was thankful, she also wished he had remembered to tell Ayal to feed her.

Even then, just thinking about the uncaring attendant made her grimace.

He's a jerk.

Her head then snapped up at the sudden clanking of the small slot on the ground in the middle of her cell door, Ayal, as it would be, crouching down to slide in a tray with scraps of food and a half filled small cup of water.

Her eyes narrowed.

Well...

Speak of the devil.

"Eat," he demanded, practically growling at her, having never been too fond of how Ferid took her in. "Master Ferid has assigned me some... tasks that he would like to see fulfilled. Luckily, they all involve you, human." The smile he gave her sent chills running down her spine, his voice lowering an octave as he continued, "So... you'll want all your strength."

     Glancing down at the measly pickings that he had given her, (Y/N) swallowed thickly, however complied, almost gagging at one point from how disgustingly bland and tasteless it was. Grabbing the cup of water, she hastily gulped everything down. Wiping her mouth, she then yelped when a clawed hand dug its way into her scalp, gripping her hair and making her cry out in hopes of mercy as Ayal dragged her down the stone corridor.

    "Shut up," he hissed, finally throwing her at the stairs. "All of your useless begging is irritating."

    "W-What the fuck?" (Y/N) whispered, nursing the back of her head.

    "Excuse me? Speak up, filthy livestock," Ayal paused, cocked his head at her, and then laughed. "No! You're not even that! Your blood, I've heard, is absolutely horrid! No... now, you're nothing more than an insignificant piece of filth that has no use other than being a hindrance to what's around it. It's honestly pathetic."

    Glaring up at the vampire, the ever present red eyes and pale skin and sharp fangs making her want to scream, (Y/N) slowly picked herself up. Wiping off the dirt that clung to her clothes, she slowly began to limp up the stairs. She was that weak due to her lack of food and everything else that Ferid had put her through, some of the wounds she carried having already faded to scars while others had not. As she didn't know where she was going, Ayal led the way down the darkened halls, almost another maze to her of sorts, before stopping in front of a pair of large oak doors.

    He pushed them open.

    She wished he hadn't, for as soon as he did, she felt an ominous presence that made her stay rooted to the spot. Her eyes flickered over half-eaten corpses of children, some being all bone while other still had their rotting flesh. Just seeing a scene like that made her want to break down. Tears she didn't know she was shedding ran down her face and streaked through the little bit of grime that lay situated on her skin. As she took in short, gasping breaths, she wondered how everything that she knew had gotten so twisted, how something like dying or torture or endless hunger and thirst had become a daily occurrence to her.

    She almost count stand it.

    "Why...?" She murmured, shaking her head, having to lean against the doorframe for support. "Why... how... how could you do this?"

    "Hm?" Ayal glanced at her shaking form, the smirk on his lips making her want to hurl. "Oh, this? I didn't do this... but Ferid did, before he left. He asked me to escort you here so you can help him clean up this little mess. It's the least you can do after we're wasting all of this time and effort into keeping you alive."

(Y/N)'s eyes narrowed, watching as he ran a hand through his raven hair, the cascading locks falling to the nape of his neck. Calmly walking toward him, he raising a brow when she stopped just in front of him, the look was quickly wiped from his face when she unexpectedly breathed in deeply before then whipping her arm up and across his jaw. She had punched him. While a sting was present where the hit had landed, his head had only snapped to the side, no other part of his body moving except for his eyes, they having widened a considerable amount in pure shock and puzzlement. He had never expected this human he thought of as a sad excuse for a living creature to ever stand up against him.

Never.

But what he wasn't surprised about was how the little butchering had triggered it.

"Well..." he hummed, letting his eyes glide back to look at her, his head then moving as well. "Isn't that an interesting reaction?"

In almost an instant, he had her pinned down, his legs on either side of her body while his hands held down her own. No matter how hard she struggled or how much she tried to resist, he did not allow her up, instead staring at her with a gaze like that of someone who was ready to kill.

And someone who enjoyed it.

━━━━━━━━ ꧁ ♥ ꧂ ━━━━━━━━

「 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑼𝑬𝑫 」