Meriwa, a genetically engineered monster hunter with a penchant for cheap whiskey and cracking terrible jokes, lands a job working for a vampire-led corporation where she discovers true love with an eccentric billionaire vampire CEO, a once in a lif...
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As the evening lengthened, the party showed no sign of dying down. In fact, the crowd seemed rather rowdy, fueled by alcohol and shitty music and their own unnatural stamina, though despite the festive air when I ventured a peek at the throne in the altar area, the leader named Carbry Alesky appeared supremely bored. Whenever I'd cut my eyes to him, I'd see the vampire stretched out, surveying the room with all the confidence of a king, but his blue gaze betrayed his apathy.
In fact, he seemed so disinterested that he'd barely moved from the ridiculous seat all night, leaving only long enough to greet some more prominent guests or address the members of his security entourage. As she charmed the crowd for the king vampire and smiled diplomatically, the woman who'd introduced him seemed to do the most work. The only time I noticed any authentic emotion out of the man was when he tried to tell the male vampire who'd ogled me at the outset of the event to do something. The presumably younger supernatural had made a show of rolling his eyes then stomping his way toward the bar, and Alesky had then cast his eyes exasperatedly to the ceiling of the space before looking back down to observe his dominion with an apathetic glare.
Why the hell did he host this party if he hated it so much?
As if sensing my mental questioning and my physical gaze, he turned to me, and when our eyes met, I felt a tingling sensation in the back of my head and an unnatural pull to be close to the monster. I was grappling with my own disgust at my reaction just as the vampire's eyes widened in slight surprise. He then continued to stare, and the intensity of that gaze probed into my soul. I snorted in repugnance before breaking eye contact with him and returning my attention to the crowd.
I'd spent the better part of the night checking for any sign of violence or malice in the eyes of the undead guests, but I'd felt nothing but their desire to party.
About another hour passed, and they had lulled me into a sense of tense security. The vampires were calm and seemed to harbor no desire to attack the humans. But I was still on edge. My training screamed at me we humans were surrounded by danger, and it took all my force of will not to pull out one of my hidden knives and attack the blue-eyed king vampire if only because I suspected he was the head of this snake, and as a child, I was taught that if you were out matched, take out the most powerful monster first. It wouldn't save your life, but it would achieve the aim of decimating the legions of the undead quicker.
That sense of tense security shattered, however, when I noticed the king reacting to something. The vampire cocked his head as if listening to sounds my ears could not detect, and his indifferent gaze morphed into something far more concerning: rage and worry.
Something was very wrong.
Curious, I slowly took in the room. Nothing surprising appeared to be happening around me. Revelers were still partying as normal. They were perhaps more drunk than at the outset of the event, but otherwise nothing appeared to be amiss. The only change I noticed about the crowd was that two members of Asian Order's delegation seemed to be missing. Confirming my assumption that something was awry, the Lead Councilman rose and hurriedly made went behind the curtain concealing the back door from the guests. He moved so quickly that not even his own security noticed their king was leaving. Worried for the safety of the human guests, I followed him discreetly, gingerly placing my tray on a table before sneaking out after him.
