A Suspicious Couple

Inside the human ward, the nurse worked to treat Aiden's injuries. The scrape wound on his knee was cleaned and bandaged. The pink scarf was removed and the strangulation bruises had turned purplish-blue.

The nurse turned pale upon looking at the discoloration around Aiden's neck.

How horrible.

Which beastly creature had the heart to do this to such a little boy?

A muscle on the nurse's cheek twitched violently. Said beast might just be inside the room.

One look at the man who accompanied the little boy was enough to tell her that he was not a normal human being. He was a vampire.

What was a vampire doing with a little boy, so early in the morning?

What was the relationship between these two people?

The nurse's hand trembled slightly as she massaged the jelly-like ointment around Aiden's neck and bandaged it properly.

The vampire leaned against the wall while staring at what the nurse was doing. He could guess what the nurse was thinking but did not dare to say out loud. Unfortunately in this world, while three races were said to co-exist in harmony, it was clear that human beings were at the bottom of the food pyramid.

The Law of Three Races forbade subjugation of one race by the others. Human beings were not to be treated as the inferior race, it said. Human beings were equal to vampires and werewolves, it said.

The law was nothing but a bunch of self-perpetuating lies.

In a world where power disparities existed between one race and two other races, it was clear that the human race was the inferior one and would be treated as such.

That was why more and more human beings went with the flow and accepted the fact rather than resisting it.

Submissive race they might be, but they won in number.

Vampires did not procreate.

Werewolves lived in packs that often fought each other and thus diminished their number.

While the vampires were constantly on the look for good, trustable human beings that they could turn into one of their own, the werewolves were busy maintaining peace between packs, often through arranged political marriages.

It was practically impossible to get close to the werewolves, so the human beings turned to the vampires.

More and more human beings tried to hand over their unwanted youngs to the creatures of the night in exchange for power and benefit.

Despicable, but it happened all the time.

It would be ethically acceptable if only all of these young human children were granted a better life after they left their original families. Unfortunately in most cases, their lives ended prematurely in a gruesome way.

The nurse swallowed hard.

She gazed upon Aiden's beautiful, innocent face and her chest tightened. Such a small child and yet such a poor fate. To be handed over to a vampire at such a young age... Judging from the strangulation marks, this child too was bound to have his life taken from him sooner or later.

"Are you done?"

The nurse jolted from surprise.

"Y-yes."

She tucked Aiden in properly before leaving the room in a hurry. The vampire's deep blue eyes seemed to pierce the back of her head. How scary.

The vampire sighed. He approached Aiden's bed and sat on a chair next to it. The boy was in a human hospital, so he would be well taken care of. But what about his family? Did something happen to his family? Why else would such a little boy be stranded at his school so late in the evening?

If the boy were awake, he could have asked him a few questions. The vampire raked across the golden curls with his fingers and stared at the boy's feverish face. Never mind, he thought. He had no problem taking care of one deserted human boy. Since the human boy was resting, then the vampire should take care of his own business first.

As per his habit, the vampire groped at his chest for a pack of cigarettes. When he realized that he had none, he softly cursed. He did not even have his phone with him.

Oh right.

Did he not drop his phone during the fight with that lowly vampire who slept with his wife? A cold smile laced the pale lips. He sustained a horrible gash across his torso, but the vampire had also given his opponent some serious beating. He doubted that the lowly vampire was still alive. The mere thought was enough to entertain him.

The vampire strolled out of the room into the hospital corridor to buy some cigarettes. When he saw the look on the human doctors and nurses in the hospital, he changed his mind and went back into the little boy's room.

He checked his pockets one by one for something usable. In the end, what he found was a platinum ring with his initials engraved on it. There was a crack on the black opal gemstone when his wife smashed it against the house pillar. The vampire rolled with his eyes. Such a broken ring that was infested with bad memories should be thrown into a raging flame. Unfortunately, he had nothing else of value. This ring could at least serve as a protection charm for the little boy.

The vampire put the overly large ring on the little boy's right thumb. When he passed by the receptionist, he told the trembling woman to "charge all the fees under Ryan Caldwell's name."