Chim swiftly put on his sweater and was about to answer the door. I grabbed his shoulder.
"Not a clever idea" I whispered.
"Just trust me." he whispered back.
We looked into each others' eyes for a moment, there was another set of knocks.
"Coming!" Chim said, his voice sounded groggy and exhausted. I knew then he was putting up an act.
Smart.
He messed up his hair and went to the door. I stood beside it to hide in the darkness of the room behind the door when he opened it.
"What is it?" he believably looked like he had just woken up. I couldn't see who he was talking to.
A deep robotic voice replied. "I have a letter, says to be delivered to this hotel room." It was a robot.
"Really? That's strange." Chim said innocently.
I could hear the robot hand him the letter.
"Thanks" Chim said and closed the door.
He looked at me with an expression that I haven't seen on him before.
"This isn't good" he handed me the letter.
He was right. The moment I saw the sigil I knew what it was.
"That's a pure blood sigil isn't it?" his voice was shaky.
I opened the letter. Only one word was written.
Boo.
"We need to leave." I hastily grabbed my jacket and threw Chim his.
"They found us?"
"Yes. We'll go our separate ways. She's not after you." I explained as I walked out of the hotel.
He grabbed my arm. "I don't know what's going on but what I do know is that you're a good person in some trouble. I also know that if you get injured you will refuse to heal since it means having to drink from someone innocent. We also both know that blood bags are hard to get since they're in the hospital. As far as I see it, I'm the only human that will give you permission to survive."
"I'm not going to use you again..." I explained.
"You're not using me since I'm the one deciding and besides, I know a place we can go hide for now." he pulled my arm forcing me to follow. His grip on my arm tightened.
Why?
Why would he want to do this? I need to be cautious. He's a lot more cunning then he used to be.
This side of him, I must admit, is kind of exciting.
As we ran outside it started to rain. Not uncommon for this city. We tried to blend into the crowd. Which was difficult for me. It's been so long since I have seen so many people at once. I usually try to stay in the back alleys and the darkness.
I was on the look out for anyone out of place. She must be near.
"This way" Chim said so quietly I almost missed it. I followed him into an alley way. He stopped in front of a wall.
"It's here."
"The wall?"
He smiled a bit and walked through the wall. That's when I realized it was an illusion. A hidden door of sorts, made by holograms. How did he know this was here?
There was a stairway leading down, it was dark.
"Where are we?" I was starting to get nervous. It reminded me of the fight club I escaped from.
I think he could hear the worry in my voice. He faced me. His heartbeat was strong and steady.
"Do you really not trust me?" he was right I should trust him.
I continued to follow him down the stairs. After a while we reached a door. When he opened it there was a whole city that came into view. How did I not know of it's existence? I continued to quietly follow. I was shocked trying to take it all in. The neon lights. The shops, humans working and robots doing the heavy lifting. There wasn't anyone like me from what I could tell. We walked up to a small shop that was part of an entire building. He took out a key card and the door opened. When we walked in Chim turned on a few lights. The room was dimly lit with a mixture of cool and warm tones. A small apartment but still charming.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Whoever's following you won't find you here" He sat on the couch and tapped the spot beside him. Inviting me to sit next to him.
I did.
"What is this place?"
"My home" I was about to ask another question, but he interrupted. "Are you going to tell me what kind of trouble you're in?"
I sighed.
"Crimson. She's after me."
"The pure blood?"
"Yeah... You know her?" I asked.
"I know of her. Luckily never met her in person. Why is she after you?"
"I..." I hesitated. Why did he make me feel safe? I should be protecting him. "I'm her favorite. She likes to play with you. Get into your head. Make you... Do things you don't want to... I left but I'm still her property in her eyes. If she finds me herself, I lose my control. She..." Panic started to overwhelm me, remembering how her voice used to be inside my head. How she made me...
His warm hands grabbed my face forcing me to look at him.
"I might not know you well, but you are good. I'd be dead already if you weren't who you are. She's not going to find you." His eyes were glistening in the light, like stars in the night sky. I want to believe in him, but he just doesn't know what she's capable of.
"Why do you care about me? After your test in the hotel room I thought..."
"I meant what I said. My thanks was genuine. I just needed to know if you would bite me without permission."
I gently removed his hands from my face. Not realizing I was still holding them, I spoke. "That's a risky thing to do."
"It was the only thing I could do to be sure I was right about you."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you remember that night you said sorry. In that room when I was a slave?"
I remembered.
"That was the first time someone spoke to me and acknowledged me as a person and not a meal. You saved me that night. Then you set me free, and you've proved to me that you don't want me dead."
I didn't know he thought of me in that way.
A phone rang somewhere in the room. Chim went to a device on the wall. With a tap of his finger the ringing stopped, and a voice came through.
"Jimin? It's RM. I got the info you were looking for."
