1 Hunter

Bloody red orbs leered at Vivian in the darkness. She clutched her throat reflexively, completely defenseless against his cold, menacing eyes. It grew enormously, devouring everything that was left of her humanity as he walked steadily towards her.

Running away used to be an option before her feet felt like a hot glue to the floor. Her whole body was paralyzed and she could only stare into his eyes, mouth agape. Where was her mother?

Vivian saw his blood-soaked hands, dangled in front of her, clasping her mother's severed head. Blood dripped down her mother's petrified face, frozen in time, making its way on the floor. It dripped and gushed, and filling the floor with rusty liquid. The icy cold sensation swarmed up to Vivian's knees, climbing up higher, sticking to her skin.

She did not know how much she would have cried if she was able to control her tiny body. Looking up, the vampire smirked, baring his fangs, as the head he held morphed into a slightly bigger shape, and its hair shrunk into a familiar curly undercut hairstyle. Vivian gasped.

Mouth slightly open, Vivian stared at the ceiling of her room, and a massive piece of paper was taped on it with a description. The images from her nightmare fully etched in her mind.

[Twenty-four-year-old herb specialist and inventor].

This became her mantra every morning to remind herself she was no longer a child. No one knew her mother's death haunted her almost every day. She barely talked about her past at all. Someday, she would cross the borders to the vampire territory, and avenge the death of her mother. Someday, she would have invented a weapon to fight on equal terms with the vampires. Someday, things would be different.

Vivian wiped off the sweat on her forehead and glanced at the purple and pink yarn bracelet around her wrist. It was carefully braided to look like a rope swirled around diagonally, with the alternating pattern of purple and pink. Hunter gifted it to her on her 10th birthday. Something to keep her sane. Vivian held her bracelet tightly and whispered, "Thank you, Dragons."

A loud and repeated bang on the wooden door erased all the drowsiness she had from sleeping. "Vivian! Wake up. Please," bang! Bang! Vivian did not even have the time to answer because Helen kept on knocking on her door. She hurriedly put her slippers on and practically jumped towards the door. "What happened, auntie?"

Helen's aged face filled with panic and tears, "Hunter's gravely injured. I don't know what to do," What? Vivian's eyes widened as she swiftly walked out of her room to the living room. There, she saw Hunter laying flat on the cemented ground with deep bruises around his wrist and shallow cuts around his arm.

'Please, Dragons.' Vivian truly believed the Dragons could hear her prayers. But this time, her request might be too much to ask for. An image of Hunter's lifeless head flashed into Vivian's mind. No! She couldn't let that happen.

There was a huge pool of blood that stained the whiteness of Hunter's shirt around his stomach. Vivian stood still and assessed his condition as she calmed herself. His wound healed extremely slow, as if his flesh had been stabbed by a special sword. An idea popped into her head that made her blood burst in rage. Vivian shot a look at Helen. "Auntie, can you please get me spring water and a towel? I also need a cloth to tie around his wounds and stop the bleeding."

"Okay."

After Hunter's mom gave her everything, Vivian asked, "can you also please grab the jar in my room that has the label yarrow in it," Hunter's pale skin turned even whiter. Vivian looked under his shirt to tend to his biggest wound, but the cut was deeper than she thought. Even after Vivian applied the yarrow powder on it, Hunter's condition continued to worsen. He had lost too much blood.

Helen's voice shook behind Vivian as she repeatedly mumbled prayers to the Dragons. Vivian trembled in anger. Hunter was not weak. This was the first time he came back home in a critical state. His wounds typically healed faster than a minute.

There could be nothing else to injure him other than a holy sword. It was the only way she knows how his healing speed could be slowed down. In this tribe, three chosen individuals bear a holy sword to aid humanity from being fully taken over by the vampires. One of those individuals struck Hunter with the sword. How fucking stupid. She had one particular suspect in mind. Someone envious of Hunter for being strong. Someone scared of him being a vampire.

Sweat formed like beads around Hunter's skin. Vampire bodies were greedy. They needed the most amount of nutrients to supply for their superior physical abilities. The only way to save him was to give him those nutrients, so he could heal faster.

"Hunter. Can you hear me?" Vivian slapped Hunter's cheek lightly. No response. His face contorted and he grunted in pain. He responded with a slight nod, but his eyes remained shut. Behind her, Vivian spotted Helen who still repeated prayers for her son to be okay.

Vivian quickly let go of his face, taking heaps of deep breaths as she walked towards the kitchen. She grabbed a small knife and pricked her forefinger, enough so that little drops of blood would pour out. It wasn't even a huge cut, but she couldn't stop shaking, thinking about what's to happen next. How ironic for her to use her blood to save someone from the species that she loathed.

Vivian walked back towards Hunter, still laying down on the floor, and she placed her finger against his lips. She could hear her heartbeat grow louder and louder. 'I wonder if it hurts?' Hunter always joked about sucking her blood but they both knew he wouldn't, and she wouldn't let her. Not as long as she kept seeing her nightmares. Soon enough, he reacted. Hunter licked her blood clean as he stared her dead in the eyes. 'I'm sorry.' Vivian pressed her lips together as an attempt to calm her nerves.

"I know that's not nearly enough for you." She gulped as she crawled on top of Hunter, careful not to press against his wounds; and she parted her shoulder-length hair to one side. From her peripheral view, Helen gasp behind them, and she held her trembling hands out as if she wanted to say something, but held back on it.

"Drink," Vivian commanded. Anyone could be fooled by her conviction. The muscles on her body lost its strength, and she collapsed to his side, away from his wounded stomach. She took another deep breath before clutching on to Hunter's arm tightly with her free hand. "Please."

There was a moment of silence before Hunter's face closed in on her neck.

Vivian shut her eyes and clasped her hands around his head. She pulled against his hair in response to the burst of pain and pleasure that she felt as his fangs sank deeper into her.