"Don't make stupid things, do not leave my side, and lastly, do not talk to people. Am I understood, prey?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, master," I sarcastically replied, which I regretted immediately when I saw his eyes darkened. I bit my lower lip sullenly and nodded obediently.
He shot me a warning look. "Do you understand?"
"Y-Yes..." I pouted.
"Good." He took my arm and hooked on his. We stopped in front of a gate and a bouncer asked some questions before letting us in.
A loud music blasted upon my eardrums as soon as we entered the establishment. Disco lights got me lightheaded. The sounds of crowd cheering and the smell of various perfumes, alcohols and cigarettes made me nearly vomit.
I felt out of place all of a sudden. Well, I was wearing a formal dress and so was he. I felt like WE'RE out of place. Hehe.
Fortunately, we didn't mingle ourselves in the crowd. We entered a private room where sounds from outside could be heard. It was air-conditioned and the smell of the room was pleasing. It was also silent here.
"You're late."
I jumped when I suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice. Looking before I stood, I saw at least 7 people sitting around the table.
"He always does. What's new?" a woman spoke with an indifferent face and tone.
"Really? You're always late, at least 4 hours late. What's up with you?" an annoyed voice asked while shooting a dagger of glare towards Traiver.
Traiver kept silent.
I suddenly felt chills all around my body when I realized that they were all vampires like him. They have a very intimidating aura and it makes me feel inferior to them.
I gasped when all of their gazes shifted upon me, except for one person.
I awkwardly smiled and waved my hands in the air, trying to act as if I did not fear them. But hell, I was terrified!
"Who is she?" someone asked.
"No one significant," Traiver curtly replied before he started walking towards them. Since I was clinging into him, I also went along.
A woman sniffed in the air. "I could smell she's not one of us."
"Yeah," another one said.
I bit the insides of my cheeks as I tried not to tremble from their deadly presence. They were all vampires and they all had the tendency to kill me at any moment.
All their murmurs came to its end when an authoritative voice of Traiver spoke with a rather irritated voice, "Enough for that. Discuss what you need to discuss now. I don't have a luxury time in this world."
Just like that, he silenced them. The authority on his voice made them visibly flinch.
A husky voice started their conversation. Looking at him, I saw an old yet still attractive man in his early forties speaking. He was the only one who didn't murmur something about me. He has a serious expression on his face. "The number of rogues were increasing every single day and cases of humans being either dead or shifted into one of us were also expanding. I'm afraid if this continues, this will be the end of humankind."
"Tell me why rogues are increasing," Traiver spoke with a clenched jaw.
"Well, apparently, they were recruited with this particular person, or perhaps, a particular group. They wanted to cause havoc to gain more power upon taking the lives of poor souls."
"What would they gain from it? We obviously cannot profit anything if we kill tons of lives!" the woman with blue hair asked and slammed her fist on the table.
The man shrugged his shoulders. "That's all I know."
The blue-haired woman gritted her teeth.
"What if they're doing this on purpose?" a barely legal boy asked. I think we were just the same age. "It could be the royalties doing... isn't it?"
"Watch your words, twerp. You could be executed if you spouts nonsense things without credential information and evidence," a short-haired girl spat.
"First off, stop calling me twerp. Secondly, I'm not spouting nonsense but rather speculating things. Unlike you, I have a brain I could use to solve problems, dear sister," he said with much distaste. "Anyway, we all know that the royalties have been trying to conquer each and every race. This could be one of their tactics, don't you think?"
"I agree with you, Roman."
"Same here."
"But why would they do that? They all know we are against its idea. We may be outnumbered, but we could easily kill them all if we wish to."
"Probably expanding their allies would make them feel reassured and saved," a guy puffing on his tobacco said, and chuckled as if he found it funny.
"Well, I do agree with you, too, Wei Fei."
"But..." someone spoke, gaining the attention of others. "But what if it wasn't the royalties? Who could it be?"
They all fell silent for few seconds.
Until Traiver scoffed. "That is all you want to discuss with me—without even preparing concrete information regarding this issue? You are wasting my time." He stood up and took my hand. "Wei Fei, ask your men to do the investigation. I am quite busy these days. Contact me when you have taken a senseful information about the rogues. Arina, execute all the rogues and squeeze them with valuable info. Roman and Ramina, spy the royals."
We Fei saluted. "Yes, sire."
"Sure. I would love to torture someone!" the blue-haired girl, whose name is Arina, exclaimed with glee and excitement. "Ah, what should I do first? Should I cut their fingers? Or nah? Ah! I should start with their nether regions and chop it and then shove it to their mouths—"
"You disgust me, Arina," said the woman who has an indifferent face earlier.
"Shut up, Trexie. It's quite enjoyable!"
"Enough," Traiver silenced them. He glanced at the siblings.
They both nodded their heads with pouts plastered on their faces.
"Very well. It's fixed then," Traiver said and pulled me impossibly closer to him. "I do not want to be called with sketchy information again. I hate wasting my time. Contact me if you already have something to show to me. We can't actually discuss things with an improper subject, can we? There's a lot of bigger problems we must be facing. Minor issues can easily be fixed."
They nodded in agreement, except for the old guy.
"It's not an improper subject. We are discussing something bigger—bigger than you actually thought it is. The increasing death of humankind is disturbing. We can't wait until everything becomes too late before we take action on this."
Both men glared at each other. Suddenly, J felt the air becoming hot and suffocating. My heart began to beat hard and fast in fear.
"Why do you care so much about humans, Mr. Evans? Hasn't humankind killed your beloved family?"
"Do not bring that topic here," the man said through gritted teeth.
"Playing hero, aren't we? If you think it could lessen all your sins and guilt upon helping these ungrateful human beings from their downfall, then you better think twice. Your sins cannot be repented, Mr. Evans."
The older man looked away with a clenched jaw.
Traiver smirked and looked at everyone in the room before he continued, "Anyway. That's what I'm talking about. How are we able to know if it's a minor issue or not if we have no concrete, specific information about it? Investigate first before calling for my presence again. I'd take my leave now," with that being said, Traiver and I walked out of the room.