𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 40

A/N: I apologize for the way Ayato behaves in this chapter in advance.

Oh, and the first part of the chapter is a flashback.

It started with pangs of hunger inside him.

Ayato rolled out of his coffin, his throat raw from screaming at night. The door had been left ajar, probably by Reiji who had tried to sneak in and force Ayato to attend school. Fortunately for Ayato, he had locked the lid of his coffin too, so that no one would disturb his sleep. The constant worry ate at his mind. He felt a sudden hollowness inside his body ever since Chichinashi had gone missing. No amount of blood, drugs or intoxicants dulled the sheer numbness inside him. He'd tried to inflict pain upon himself a few times in order to at least feel a flicker of something on his cold, dead skin.

He went out to hunt.

Hunting wasn't outlawed amongst the vampires, in fact a few clans encouraged it. There were sheer numbers of guilds dedicated to wiping out the hunters assigned by the Vatican. This much he knew because he had been subjected to Reiji's torturous lectures time and again. He didn't care much about his life at this point, because the risk was low and he'd at least get a kick out of it.

He stood at the crossroads, away from the city, strolling in a languish manner, hoping for someone to finally show up. He detested hunting in cities. They were too crowded, you couldn't kidnap people without garnering unwanted attention, and he hated the sweaty smell of people in general to venture out into cities. Highways, on the other hand, were an easy playground for him. He kicked a dust cloud, getting impatient as he walked forward, before catching sight of a figure moving towards him.

It was a pretty young lady dressed in a white dress, her frock reaching up to her knees, her stockings covering her shins, a white flower on top of her head in her jet black hair, secured in place. Her breasts, Ayato noted, were voluptuous. He wanted to do some mischief now, or maybe suck her blood in the end, but he wanted to do something to make the numbness go away.

Ayato was impatient, hungry and emotional, but he was also charming. It was easy for him to draw girls towards him. He carefully stood by the edge of the road, waiting for the girl to notice him. After that, the thrill of the hunt was just as exciting for him. He waited, waited and waited.

The girl finally turned towards him, relief washing over her face. "Oh my god, I finally found you!"

That statement took Ayato aback. Never in a million years had he ever seen a prey behave like that. "Oi! You are supposed to go running or something when you see me."

The girl gave a laughter full of mirth. "And why? Because you are a vampire?"

Ayato was stunned. He'd never seen such weird, bold prey before. The girl smelled like human, but there was something... uncanny about her scent. She smelled like spice, flowers and something ancient he couldn't put his finger on. He'd seen many human prey before but he'd never smelt anyone like her.

The girl stalked closer, her hands behind her back, as she cocked her head at him, her eyes the definition of defiance. "Cat got your tongue? Are you so full of yourself that you wouldn't introduce yourself to me?"

"Tch!" Ayato gave a frantic wave of his hand, signifying that he was done. "I don't want to give some pathetic bitch my name."

"So sad," she had an annoying cheery voice that was grating for his ears. "Well, I don't have a name so you can call me the Traveller!"

The bitch was crazy as well. Great.

Ayato tried to outrun her by teleporting to the other side of the road. For a moment, since he had been distracted, he didn't notice when the Traveller or whatever her name was disappeared into the mist. He heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, the bitch had left him.