“Miss, who is this demon? Shall I turn him into a vampire so you don’t have to sully your flawless fangs?” The man who I presumed to be the leader continued, redirecting the conversation to me.

“No need. We have a contract since this young man is so stubborn, but don’t worry about that… he won’t betray me,” The vampire smiled, sending a shiver down everybody’s spine as we all witnessed that demonic smile of hers.

She’s strong… way too strong… and smart… dammit. This is going to be harder than I thought.𝒐𝑣𝓁xt.𝗰𝑜𝗆

“Well, then we should fulfill part of my end of the deal at least. Help me find the person I’m looking for, and I shall return the favor tenfold… in terms of the contract at least,”

“*sigh*… Alright, follow me,”

As soon as we walked inside, the smell of a drifting bleached shirt rinsed my nose all the way through, making me cover it almost immediately.

“Eugh… Why does it smell like cleaner? Holy **,” I cringed to myself as I attempted to clear the smell from my airway, but it was just so so strong that it forced its way through my entire body, nearly shutting it down.

This wasn’t just any old type of cleaner, but something specially made for vampires… as the amount of blood they feast on most likely leaves a stench… but still, why does it have to smell so strong.

Suddenly, I noticed my nose was bleeding, and as I wiped it away before the vampire could even notice, we were greeted by a few passing servants.

“Welcome back, Miss. There is a hot meal in the dining room if you wish to eat,” A random maid said, her smile so wide you’d think she had bad intentions.

“I’ll give it a try, but only after I’ve finished something. Give me a few minutes, and then I’ll be right there,” The duchess smiled back with shimmering red eyes, and as the few servants all scattered, I couldn’t help but feel disgusted by her genuine smile.

“Vampires are so disgusting….” I muttered under my breath.

“Hm? What was that? Vampires are disgusting?”

The woman turned around, her eyes slightly shimmering a dim dark red while slowly walking up to me.

It wasn’t like I meant to completely hide my out-of-pocket comment, but it seems I might’ve gone a bit too far with my words.

“What makes you say that vampires are disgusting?”

“You looked like you were gonna suck the life out that vampire… am I correct?” I asked, and as the duchess squinted her eyes at me, a strange pressure enveloped my body, completely restricting my movements.

“You were supposed to be my meal, but you have much more use than a snack. But always know your place, boy,”

“Mhm… my bad,” I raised my hands into the air, surrendering to her overbearing attitude against such a situation.

We continued to walk down the long hall, dimly illuminated by glowing white crystals, casting beautiful shadows across the pillars to my right and illuminating everything else.

This almost seemed to be intentional, and if I had to guess from the shadow corp that I just witnessed, then they most likely used this long stretch of shadow to travel quickly.

Findir did say moving through it was about five times faster, so I wouldn’t doubt such a mechanism to be inside this well-thought-out palace.

The walls were lined with jewels, only enhancing its grand aura as we walked through it.

“Hah… hah… hah… hah… hah… hah… goddammit,” The duchess muttered through heaving breaths.

“What’s up? Tired already?” I asked, but upon seeing her eyes glow even more than before, I couldn’t help but take a step back and stay wary of this woman who seemed like she was going to snap any second.

I don’t want her sucking my blood… but there’s nobody around, and if she passes out, that could be bad for me… wait, is that even how it works for vampires?

A few questions whirled in my mind, but it seemed I wouldn’t be able to get an answer any time soon as a young man appeared right beside the duchess, helping support her up while two other men brought a beautiful young woman over.

She was completely naked, but chained up by the wrists and ankles, crying and squealing for help, running that silky voice of her’s hoarse.

The duchess couldn’t contain herself anymore as she lunged forward, grabbing the young woman by the neck and slamming her down onto the ground, knocking her clean out.

She did, unfortunately, manage to wake up again, and noticed me, her eyes pleading for help as two massive pale-white fangs sliced into her neck.

Her voice wailed one last time, but it wasn’t a cry for help, but a last blood-curdling scream as all the blood was sucked out of her body in an instant, rejuvenating the duchess who somehow turned even more beautiful than before.

“Mother, are you alright?” The young man asked, helping the woman up from her bent down and feral stance.

“Yeah… that one was good? Where’d you find her?” The duchess licked her lips, ignoring the other two men who sprinkled a horrifying powder that had the straight scent of death, decay, and disease in one condensed form.

My nose began to bleed again as my enhanced senses picked it up, causing me to gag and nearly puke up what little I had in my stomach.

Soon, the powder which had been sprinkled on the drained husk of a young woman burned her body until there was only ash, allowing the two men to sweep her up like a pile of dust.

And then, the final cherry on top was a single spray of a strange golden liquid that had the stench of bleach but multiplied by a thousand.

My eyes almost began to water as I took a few steps back.

“What’s up with him?” The young man asked as he backed away from his sweating mother.

“I don’t know… let’s get going! We don’t have much time now!”