Reflected Notion

It wasn't a good moment for Vincent to start feeling Charlotte up, and she tried to keep his hands off of her since they started to play with the fabric of her dress and threatened to slide underneath. She didn't want to put on a show for anyone, and it had been a while since they were last intimate with one another.

It was also a shame since she hadn't even gotten to have the chance to do it when they are both in their right minds considering they were preoccupied with a different kind of action that entailed the word vigilantes.

Not that she was planning to or anything, but she imagined it would be much gentler rather than the carnal need.

She didn't want to push Vincent away too hard, because then he would take it as a challenge and actually take her on the floor, so she tried to keep him distracted by running her nails up and down his back while he was taking her blood, and she saw how his skin somehow stitched back together as if nothing was ever there in the first place.

It was a process that still stunned Charlotte every time she saw it, and she flicked her eyes back up to see that Lucia was slowly inching her way closer to the door, careful to not draw attention to her despite knowing that Stone probably had the best view of everyone in the room in the corner. Charlotte nodded to let Stone know to proceed.

"Let me condense it for you," he started. "We got ambushed trying to hack into the vigilante's system, and my group scattered. I was able to escape with Vincent, but he took most of the hits since we were the last ones out. We needed to get far away from them quickly to lose them off our tail, and the safest bet was out in the outer ring."

"Don't most vampires live out in the outer ring?" Charlotte asked.

"That would be the most wrong assumption," Stone replied evenly. "Most vampires reside in the Centennial Center living off of wealth that we had accumulated over centuries of hard work. The vampire population is small, and we like to seek entertainment rather than hide in the darkness where the vigilantes like to linger."

"I see," she murmured.

"We got here from the rooftops, and Vincent desperately needed blood to recover. I was going to go hunt, but he said that he didn't want to. I gave him my blood only to get attacked by him. He practically chewed off my arm until I knocked him unconscious."

"Isn't vampire blood poisonous to those who intake it?"

"To humans who aren't on the last brink of life, yes. To vampires, it can be a substitute, but it doesn't have any nutrients or properties needed to make a vampire in a comfortable state," he answered.

"All the blood on the walls here is yours then?"

"It is. We didn't take anyone up here as our blood bag. It also doesn't help that you contracted with him, so he can only feed off of you."

"A contractor for a vampire is a personal body bag?"

"It could also be seen as a sign of loyalty from a human to a vampire which often leads to taboo relationships between the two races."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Did you call anyone for help? What was your plan to escape?"

Stone shifted a glare over to her as if she were incompetent, but she only asked an innocent question. He crossed his ankles before answering blandly, "Vincent didn't want to leave until you got here, and I also just contacted a few of the men who will arrive tomorrow morning since the vigilantes are likely still out trying to get the few stragglers who weren't able to catch up."

"The vigilantes are going their rounds since I saw them last right on the outskirts of the outer ring to the middle ring," she said.

"Then we still have some time before the vigilantes make it this deep inside the outer ring."

"But you said that this was the vigilante's territory."

"It is as I said, but vigilantes live in their secluded communities rather than in the hubs that are found in the outer ring where most reside."

"Aren't you going to save those vampires?"

"The strong live, and the weak die, Charlotte. Within this city, most people are only meant to die."

"That's not true."

She was quick to refute Stone's opinion. In all honesty, she did agree with his words, because the city reflected that notion, but maybe after spending so much time with Vincent, it made her think that the world shouldn't be that way.

"To those who are weak, we need to give them a helping hand until they can stand on their own. Why would you sacrifice them before they have fully matured and given a chance to grow?"