"As for you," Vivian panicked when he looked at her, unaware that she had been gawking at him, "you are to be taken to the Council and questioned about your use of an unknown substance." She was at a loss about how to get her way out of the mess she created.
"Would you be more willing to cooperate if I keep these two under surveillance?" Darian added, noticing her hesitation. The two Jade vampires immediately protested, saying it wasn't fair to them. The rabbit hopped to the floor and inspected the two Jade Vampires.
"With all due respect, sir, we're citizens under the working class. We need to work daily to provide for ourselves. We don't have the time to be restricted without probable cause," spades objected, squirming underneath the roots his legs were tied to. Vivian glared at him.
Darian narrowed his eyes.
"Chief!! Did you find out what happened-" in a flash, a woman slid her way to the alley. She wore a white high-neck shirt with ruffles and a black bow around her chest. Her black short skirt curved outwards with a petticoat flattened in the air momentarily in an instant, and curved back as quickly when she ran towards Darian. Her caramel eyes diverted towards Vivian.
Vivian felt cold sweat forming when the Amber vampire kept her eyes at her. She stepped towards her and Vivian instinctively caught her breath. The vampire lifted her chin and examined her face. Vivian clenched her body to prepare for any attack and she winced, remembering the disgusting sensation of the fingers of one of Hunter's capturers against her skin. "Oh sweet Dragons!" The Vampire suddenly exclaimed. Vivian stepped back. This woman seemed a bit crazy.
"Girl, you're so pretty! Tell me, who do you work for?" huh? Who I work for? Vivian blinked a few times before her words made sense to her. The strange vampire noticed the bandage around Vivian's arms. Unwittingly, she began to unwrap them like a Christmas present, but Vivian snatched her arm back.
"Please stop."
The woman tilted her head to the side and peered at some of the already exposed areas of Vivian's skin. "Huh. Why do you have burnt marks? How did you get-"
"Rana." Only then did Vivian noticed another Amber vampire walked from behind Rana, his hand placed on her platinum head, fingers ran against her ocean blue streaks, "restrain yourself." Similar to Darian, he also wore a long frock coat, but, instead of dark purple, his tainted with murky red in color.
Darian cleared his throat, and a whiff of his gentle floral scent found it's way once more towards Vivian's nose. It might have been because she was surrounded by noble vampires, or because their part of town turned eerily quieter than earlier, but his charged red orbs sent shivers down her spine and she couldn't look away. "She's a human." Rana generated a sound to express her doubt and Abel, who now had his hand around Rana's shoulder, widened his eyes in surprise.
"Is it that unusual?" Vivian shook off her goosebumps and tore her gaze off Darian towards Rana. No matter where she went, people around her always found it strange that she was a human. Just because of her physical features?
"Honey, it is! Look at them," she turned her attention towards the Jade vampires. What about them? "Look at their faces very carefully. You can tell they are former humans turned into vampires if you pay attention to the tiny bumps and countless asymmetry on their faces," the Jade vampire duo cursed their bad luck. Not only had they been apprehended by Darian, this crazy Rana woman suddenly showed up and called them ugly! How they wished someone would come and save them from misery!
The Jade vampires phrased the Goddess of Galaxy for answering their prayers. "What's happening here?"
Vivian's face stiffened at the sound of the voice.
'It can't be. It would be too much of a coincidence,' her heartbeat skyrocketed and she became acutely aware of her surroundings. Every single breathing, she paid attention to. Her hand tightened around her weapon as she pin-pointed the footsteps coming closer to them.
The creature halted at the entranceway of the alley and the environment around them muted before time moved in a slow-motion and Vivian turned to look at the vampire.
His scarlet eyes pierced at her with coldness, yet it appeared as if he would explode at a single tug of a string. Vivian looked around at the other vampires encircling her. In a heartbeat, Vivian clenched her teeth and launched the two metallic balls in her palm towards the ground where Dimitri stood.
"Wha-" the vampires, except the two bound, lept away from the item, and Rana simultaneously waved her hand to freeze the metal before it even detonated. She shouldn' t have asked anyone for help! Now that she's in this mess, how would she escape with only potions left?
Rocks flew everywhere simultaneous to the ear-deafening and heart-racing explosion that erupted below Vivian.
"Slow it down, asshole! Are you trying to kill her?!" Rana yelled at Dimitri, forcefully tugging at the frills around his neck until he was choking. Dimitri slapped her hand and sighed. Darian swiftly carried her away from the impact right before the ground exploded. Arms still wrapped around the struggling Vivian, Darian turned around to face the other three.
"She tried to attack us. Don't blame me for acting in self-defense," his hand dusted off ruffles on his neck and arranged it back in its right angle. Darian thrashed Dmitri's body against the walls of the alley with a single glare. The impact broke the brick walls and some of the stray rocks pierced Dmitri's skin into his spine. He groaned before dropping on his knees and took deep breaths. He yanked the rubble from his back, and his wounds healed almost at the same time the brick walls rebuilt itself.
"I don't care what state you grew up in nor the regulations you've grown accustomed to. I won't force you to change your worldviews, but as long as you're in my state, you will not be allowed to kill humans as you please." Darian's jaw clenched as he gave a hard stare to Dimitri, causing him to look down. Rana held on to Abel's hand, both of them tongue-tied, and their shoulders tightened.
Was there something that set him off? Was he having a bad day? Ten whole years of working under Darian and hey had never witnessed such an outburst from him. They'd seen him stern, but outside of the State Chamber, most vampires who worked under him would even tease him for his laid-back attitude that didn't seem fitting for a Chief Leader of a State. Those jokes only stayed as jokes, though, because he never failed to deliver when he's needed.
Darian grabbed Vivian's body even tighter to keep her from thrashing around like a wild animal. The black rabbit hopped towards their direction, looking at Darian as if it wanted to say something. Before the ground exploded, Darian carried Vivian away, and now she was pulling on his hair and screaming.
"You bastards! Where did you bring Hunter?! I'll get you back! Just you watch!" Vivian kicked Darian's head repeatedly. She seemed to have gained an insight when she wrapped both of her legs around Darian's neck and exerted a great amount of force. But before she was able to do anything, a wave of exhaustion came over her. Her eyelids fluttered slowly until it became too heavy for her to lift.
Darian sighed when the woman finally relaxed. He controlled a part of her mind to increase the amount of hormones in her body that would put her to sleep. Her physical strength amazed him, though. Her kicks caused pulsating ringing in his ear, and now that it stopped, he recovered quickly.
"Did you not hear her threats? You still intend to let her live?" Dimitri scowled looking at Rana, as the golden string earring on his right ear dangled. Dimitri knew he wouldn't be able to convince Darian himself, so he turned to Rana in hopes to turn the opinions 3vs1. Hopefully when that happens, Darian with his strong views of power structure, would comply with him.
Rana did not know the length of the story between Dimitri and the woman, nor if there was something going on between him and Darian, so she did not dare accuse anything. Her silence was misunderstood by Dmitri as an agreement. Dimitri glanced towards Abel and he said, plainly, that he did not want anything to do with the deciding whether a creature lived or died.
"You know what I think?" the Ruby vampire fixated on Dimitri, a half-smile formed on his lips as he seized the Amber vampire. He walked forwards until he was face-to-face with Dimitri. "I think you're frightened about something this woman knows and might tell us," Vivian shifted and Darian stabilized her on his arms. Dimitri went silent.
"I'm taking her to my house. It shouldn't, but my house has the best security in the state right now," he added. No one was able to contradict him. Indeed, the State Chamber's security was breached by unknown perpetrators a week ago, and they were still in the process of replacing its barrier with a better one.
Before dashing away, Darian looked over at his shoulder towards Abel and Rana before looking over at the two Jade Vampires. "Rana, will you please take care of those two until I get answers from her?" she nodded and said that she would keep them under control.
As he walked away from the alley, the black rabbit hopped upwards and covered Darian's face. He grunted against its fur, "what's your problem?" The rabbit shuffled toward's Vivian's bag and Darian picked it up. After that, the creature jumped and landed towards Darian's left shoulder. He sighed, "I guess you're also coming with us. Not my fault if you fall down along the way."