When he woke up his hands were tied to a chair, his mouth was shut with ropes, and his long hair was loose on his sides. The thugs around him were dressed in black suits, but looked like gangsters; however, they weren't gangsters but paid men who were just doing dirty work. One of the men was holding a gun up to his own head, tapping it repeatedly as if he were thinking really hard while sitting on a dusty old table.
"Why did I sign up for this?," he asked himself, irritated and not expecting a real answer.
"Because of the dop amount of cash," replied one of his subordinates reflexively.
"Boss, maybe we should just let the kid go," suggested a second subordinate.
"If we let him go he'll rat us out, and that rich dirtbag of an uncle of his won't cash in," replied the guy they called 'Boss' while exhaling his cigar.
The boy felt queasy as he puzzled together their conversation. A phone call came in, and the boss answered as he replied with a sigh.
"Yes… You're one sick bastard. Yeah, yeah- we'll get rid of him." Boss hung up the phone while turning his back away from the boy. "And I thought poor families had it bad." Boss gave his gun to one of his subordinates. "Kill him and let's go."
The suborndanet took the gun and just when the boy opened his eyes wide enough to see the bullets in the revalver. His life flashing before him as the trigger was pulled. When the gun was being shot at his chest the lights went out and gunshots lit up in the dark. Something had crashed through the glass roof and was now dashing throughout the scene. The boy felt bullets in his chest, he was still breathing even after falling over with the chair. Screams filled the abandoned warehouse as the men in black suits were all taken out by something and or someone.
The room fell silent, the boy barely holding onto his life inches away from death. He heard a soft female voice right above his bloody corpse.
"You are dying," said the soft female voice.
The boy followed the voice to see a pair of eyes glowing yellow in the dark.
"Do you want to live?," she asked him.
Desperate for a second chance at life, with the last bit of his strength he managed to say, "Yes..."
The girl smiled in the dark, but when the full moon lit through the open roof he could see her fangs as she approached him. She knelt down towards him with a glee in her eyes and bit her lip to give him her blood which went through his throat with a kiss. Was this a dream? The boy's first kiss seemed like his last, until it was followed by a violent pain on his neck. She bit him!
"From now on you will live to serve me," she injected her venom into his body which caused the transformation.
Gasping without being able to scream from the pain of fangs ripping into his neck like freshly sharpened knives against thin silk. The blood he drank healed his body from outer wounds but the venom stopped his heart and changed him into something not human. The pain from the venom burned through him, evaporating the bullets inside him like assid, while forcibly rebuilding his body from the inside out. When the room fell silent the boy looked up into the world with a yellow new glow in his eyes.
"Call me Zero," said the female voice that now belonged to his master. "For now sleep."
The boy closed his eyes and fell asleep on command. The very next day the boy opened his eyes, however, he had no recollection of who he was or where he was. It was as though he had forgotten his life prior to being anything but a servant to his master.
"Wake up," Zero's voice echoed through him, awakening him from the depths of his slumber.
The boy was no longer human. He wondered what he was as he sat up from a rather large bed all alone in a giant room with very few furnishings. He could see in the dark as though it were daylight but it was in fact late evening the next day.
"Where am I?," he wondered to himself as he looked around the room.
"My mansion," Zero replied, but she was nowhere to be seen. Her voice echoed through his thoughts as though it were the voice of his subconscious.
"Who are you?," he asked aloud. A laugh bursted in response to his question.
"Who do you believe I am?," she finally replied, in a rather sarcastic voice.
The boy's very instincts raged through him as he knew the answer but did not know how, and said, "My master?"
"Correct. It seems your transformation is stable. However, because you are my first servant-I will be generous and answer any questions you so desire," Zero giggled.
"Who am I?," he asked.
"My servant," she answered honestly.
"Why don't I remember anything?" He held his head.
"That's what happens after you die."
"I'm dead?!" He flinched from the response.
"In a manner of speaking," she giggled. "Your human self has died; therefore, so has all your memories with your previous life."
"What is my name?," he asked more specifically.
"I have not given you a name, I am debating on the matter as we speak," she replied.
"Didn't I have a name before?" He relaxed a bit while looking around the room.
"You are a newborn; therefore, it is my duty as your master to give you a new name. Everything before your new life is irrelevant."
"What is a 'newborn'?" He stood up and began to walk.
"A newly born immortal."
"What kind of immortal?"
"A vampire's servant."
"... Am I... a vampire?" He stopped walking to look in the mirror and noticed his fangs.
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Vampires are purebloods, creatures of the noblest existence. Born from other nobility such as themselves. You were not born from a vampire suragget."
"How was I born?"
"I gave you my blood and made you part of my coven."
"Coven?" He began to follow the strange pull in his chest, walking forward.
"It is a family formed by vampire nobility. We create a coven by creating newborn servants. We can also give birth to our own; however, the process is too unbearing for most so we much prefer to create servants. Or live alone."
"What makes me a vampire?"
"You are immortal, you must drink blood to survive, you also have the natural instincts as a newly born servant to protect your master."
"What makes me not a vampire?" He realized the house was huge and yet by following the tugs in his chest he knew he was not lost.
"You still need to eat like a human but not as often as one, your vampire attribute can be hidden like a cat that flexes its claws in a humanoid form, and unlike a vampire you are bound to a master by the blood you have been given… That is the servant's only reason to exist."
"What would happen if a servant loses their master?"
"Remember how I said you must drink blood to survive. Whose blood do you believe you need to feed on?"
"Whose'... Your blood?"
"Correct… Any more questions?"
"Why did you save me?"
"I... was curious. Oh, I decided on your name!"
"What is it?" He stopped for a moment, waiting for her response while in the middle of the staircase.
"Fang, Fang Long."
"Why that name?"
"The name of a servant will grant you a gift from your master. Fang means 'wind' and Long is my last name."
"What gift?"
"Power over the wind."
Fang knew exactly where to find his master, the attributes of the servant's instincts led him to her like a living GPS. Zero was in the upstairs library, reading a book, as though talking to him telepathically were second nature- she also had time to catch up on her favorite novel.
Looking at her well enough, Fang realized her full figure was that of a short girl lolita. She crossed her tan thin legs as she lay against a rocking chair with her book in hand.
"I do rather enjoy our mental conversations, and to be completely honest I never made a servant before you- because the thought of sharing my mind with someone else felt vexing."
Zero was reaching out for her bag and could not find it, until Fang felt her desire and found it in the hallway where he had passed by it. He was so fast that it was mentally surreal, and yet felt natural to his newly born vampire-like body.
"Oh… that's a new feeling," Zero never had someone understand her simplest desires, until now. "Well, maybe having a servant won't be so bad after all. Keep making yourself useful and we will get along nicely."
"Miss Zero?"
"Hmm. Since you are my first servant, I don't mind if you just call me Zero."
"Zero, why did you choose me as your first servant?," Fang asked as he took her hand.
"Guess," she replied, standing up suddenly and twirling around him on her tippy toes.
"Were you bored?"
"May~be." She stretched her hands forward.
Fang decided not to press the matter any farther. That was when the sound of a phone rang nearby and Zero answered the call.
"Yes… Understood. Oh I need to bring someone along… 'Who?'... A member of my coven. Of course I'll explain later, yes." Zero looked at Fang's dirty attire. "I also need to run a quick errand before coming in tonight. Yes. See you in a few." Zero hung up the phone and quickly changed from her sleeping gown into a white and black hanfu dress. "Hmm, we need to change your attire. My servant can't dress like someone off the street."
Zero took Fang out through the night air. Everyone passing by saw a little natural tan girl being carried by a very tall young asian man. They reached a store in a less crowded part of the city.
No one gossiped about the appearance of her being a vampire, in fact, they themselves were vampire's servants. Therefore, there was no need for Zero to hide her true nature as she drank the cup of blood they offered her in the boutique. Fang changed into different outfits, while the females around him were gawking at his figure from top to bottom.
"Wow, his hair is so black and long," giggled one girl to the other.
"He seems like an asain from the korean descendant. They are quite beautiful males," added her friend standing next to her.
"He's very tall. When I measured him he came out six foot. He has such masculine broad shoulders and even a slender waist."
"Master Zero has a good eye for men. I wish he were my servant. I wonder if she's already played with him."
"Shh, you know Master Zero has never taken a lover."
"What? I thought that was just a rumor. How old is she-?"
"Shh! That's a taboo topic, besides no one truly knows that answer."
Zero stood up in a huffy manner from their conversation of her age and she went up to the manager.
"We're done here. I'll buy them all," she said with a cold smile.
"Was everything to your liking?," asked the manager.
"Almost," she said as her eyes leered at the two female gossipers.
"I will make sure all is perfect the next time you come to visit," replied the manager as she bowed. "As compensation I will throw in any of these fine exclusive items."
Fang was impressed at the power she held without having to use her aggression as a vampire. Feeling his impression of her, she decided to invite him to pick an item for himself.
"Fang, I will allow you to choose one of these items for yourself," Zero said happily while her eyes smiled.
Fang's eye immediately caught wind of the black hair clip with engraving white lotus flowers. Just as he desired it Zero quickly picked it up.
"He will take this," Zero said happily.
"Shall I place it on him?," asked the manager.
"No, I will do that myself," Zero replied while using her hand to shew the manager away.
Zero had Fang turn around as she pulled his long hair back into a hair tie with his new hair clip and finished styling his hair the way she wanted. After gently pulling the tips of his hair she kissed them softly while glaring at the girls who were eyeing him before. They shuddered with fear from her deadly leer as she killed their hopes.
"It suits you perfectly, Fang." She patted his back gently.
Fang's motionless face softened with a smile while feeling Zero's obvious possessiveness.
"Thank you, Zero."
"Send everything to my mansion. He will be wearing this new outfit now, including the hair clip," ordered Zero as she paid for everything.
"Business is going well, I assume," said the manager while handing her card back to her.
"Yes, I'm off to the office right now."
Fang had not heard about Zero's work nor how she manages to live in such a large mansion all by herself, but he felt like he would learn the answer soon. Once they left the store they went to a giant office building in the center of the city. Zero led Fang to the roof of the building where a smaller building was built around a garden and a wishing well standing in front.
"Keep in mind everyone inside this building is human," Zero warned Fang before passing the wishing well.
"You work with humans?," he asked in a surprised voice.
"Yes... We vampires work for humans to be allowed to coexist with them. Even the blood we drink is provided by them. Keep in mind… humans normally do not like newly born servants of vampires because it means there was death. Luckily we don't have to worry about that here," she assured him.
"Why?"
"Because here I am a detective," she bragged with a smirk in his favor.
"Detective..."
"Now so are you, well, a detective in training. You are my rooky and I am your senior. Where I go you must follow. So-" she took him by the arm and pulled him into the building "-Let's go start our new life together," she cheered optimistically.
Walking into a human infested den of detectives was as strange for Fang compared to walking hand in arm with his new master, Zero. The people in the front were equally shocked, mainly because Zero normally comes into work alone. Immediately the women began to buzz at the image of detective Zero leaning against a man as cute as the men on tv. The men were growling under their smiles as they greeted her coming in with a male so intimately. Finally one woman came up to Zero with a serious look in her eyes as she stood in front of Zero's shorter figure with a much taller, more mature build.
"Miss Long, you have some explaining to do," said the blond tall beauty, pulling out a file filled with half dead men on the floor of an abandoned warehouse. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"What seems to be the problem, Miss Belmont," Zero asked.
"Don't play dumd with me Zero Long, you are the cause of this mess. Fifty men are in the hospital because of you. Do you know how much trouble you are putting the director and I through?!," answered the blond woman with a loud fiery.
"Oh please. You should be thanking me for cleaning the floor," she replied with angry brows and a look of content. "Although, thanks to them I have my servant. Miss Angie Belmont, meet my servant Fang Long, he is now part of my coven thanks to yesterday's incident."
"Oh, I thought he was just a rental," Miss Belmont said reflexively.
"I don't rent boyfriends like you," Zero replied giggling.
"You brat, how dare you," Miss Belmont replied with a deep redness in his ivory face.
"What's all this fuss about?," said an older man's voice coming from up ahead.
In came an older man around his mid forties, shaggy black hair grown above his shoulders, a fuzzy short goatee & mustache around his mouth, all dressed up in a suit without a jacket. It was obvious this man held the most authority in the office because everyone bowed as they noticed him in the room and said in unison.
"Good evening Director."
He began to laugh aloud as he replied, "As you were."
Everyone went about their business. Only Miss Belmont, Zero, and Fang were left to talk to the director. The director looked at Zero with a blaze.
"(Zero) Zhi Rou!," the director began to speak mandarin to Zero.
"(Yes, Father) Shì, Fùqīn," Zero replied with a sweet grin and bubbly eyes.
"(Come with me) Gēn wǒ lái," he ordered.
"(Yes) Shì," Zero followed her father to the office. "Fang, wait out here."
Fang agreed and waited in front of the office as he was ordered to. While waiting outside he could hear everyone's whispers of Zero, but did not want to hear them as much as he wanted to hear Zero's conversation with that man.
"You must be Zero's servant," said a female voice nearby.
Fang looked towards the sound of the female voice and saw a japanese woman in her late thirties, dressed in a black pants suit.
"My name Nanami Sakuragi, and you are?," asked Nanami.
"Fang Long," he replied. "How did you know I am Zero's servant?"
"Well first off everyone here is human besides Zero, and only vampires have yellow golden eyes," Nanami explained.
"My eyes are yellow?"
"Yes, undoubtedly." Nanami was holding a pile of folders. "If you're not busy could you help me?"
"Zero ordered me to stay here." Fang became figity from refusing to help someone.
"Mentally tell her I will borrow you, she won't mind."
"Zero, a woman named Nanami Sakuragi asked-" Before he could finish his sentence Zero mentally replied.
"Go ahead, I will call you when I need you."
"She said you can help me, correct? Well then." Nanami handed more than half the files to Fang. "Come."
Fang followed Nanami as Zero allowed it, but was anxious to leave her side.
"Since when have you been Zero's servant?," Nanami asked.
"Since yesterday, but I have been aware starting this evening," he replied honestly.
"*Smirk* You're kidding. Judging from the way you are worrying about her I assumed she hid you for at least a few days." Nanami nugged him on the side. "Lighten up, you were just born a few hours ago. So it's no wonder you feel anxious to leave her side."
"How do you know?"
"I have studied about vampires, and thanks to our little Zero, I have been able to go to many vampire infested areas."
"You study vampires?"
"I have a natural curiosity for the unknown. I wouldn't be a detective if I didn't."
"Can you explain to me why sometimes I hear Zero's thoughts and other times I hear nothing at all?"
"The 'connection' is what allows you both to speak to each other telepathically. However, the master has the right to speak to whichever servant they please. That is why the connection can be blocked, as a result the servant can call their master but the master can choose to ignore the call."
Placing the files on Nanami's desk, Fang looked around her office to see a picture of Nanami with the director and Zero.
"We took that photo the day after the director adopted Zero from the orphanage," Nanami explained.
Fang's eyes lit up when he realized the director was Zero's adopted father.
"You would eventually find out… The orphanage found her corpse in the red snow covered in scars. They don't know how she got there but they took her in. The records in the vampire society could not find her identity. That is not the rarest thing they discovered, they discovered she is a pureblood vampire with amnesia."
"How is that possible? I thought only vampire servants forget their past life."
"She did it to herself... She suppressed her own memories. The doctors believe it was caused by a traumatic incident." Nanami felt a tight ache in her chest while she looked at Zero's photo.
"Has she tried to seek her past?," Fang asked out of curiosity.
"No, she felt she shouldn't … she is a pureblood vampire without a past. After she joined the defence force the vampire cort noticed her and gave her the blessing as their ambassador among the humans. Now she works as a bridge between humans and vampires."
"That explains the mansion," Fang mumbled under his breath.
"Hahaha! Yes, I was surprised they would give such an important role to her. That's why the director made this organization bigger, to protect not only humans but also vampires."
Fang began to admire Zero while desiring to be at her side even more than before. Just when he was missing her.
"Fang," Zero telepathically called him back.
Fang left Nanami to go to Zero's side. He followed his instincts to find her and it led him to her office. When Fang entered the room he went up to her and hugged her gently from behind while she was standing in front of a desk.
"We've only been apart for a few minutes," she giggled from the feeling of his bangs brushing the top of her head.
Fang buried his face above her dark brown hair and as he did her scent began to consume him with desires; so much so, that he began to feel a strange pull all throughout his body. His body began to feel weak and then he felt the hunger arise through his throat, up to his tongue, through his fangs and lips. Gasping for air as he used Zero to keep a hold of his footing, she felt his hunger and desire through their connection. Zero pulled her long hair to the side and tilted her head the same way. Exposing her natural tan skin.
"Trust your instincts." She held his check against her head, pulling him towards her neck and he followed her lead.
Fang had lost his sense of reason for just a moment; his first experience with his hunger for blood came so suddenly, and when he came back to his senses he realized he was drinking something very sweet and warm. He could feel his left arm around a smaller waist and his right hand gripping at a shoulder. When he finally let go of the sweet warmth in his mouth he realized a hand was soothing his check. It was Zero, he had bitten into her neck and had been drinking her blood.
"I knew you would eventually feel the hunger pull you towards me, but I didn't know when exactly." Zero leaned against his taller build, pulling Fang's arms around her waist. "So this is how it feels like to be fed upon. It's as though my role as the predator has been switched to prey."
"Are… are you alright?," Fang said this with a faint panic in his voice.
"You can't live without me. How can I not be alright?" Zero's neck quickly healed and had no signs of being bitten. "Did you know only the servant can drink the blood of their master? Every other blood will feel a thousand times bitter. Vampire purebloods can drink all types of blood except for one another's."
"Can you drink my blood?," asked Fang.
"I already did once before." Zero turned around to look at his face while still being held in his arms. She pulled down his forehead towards hers and brushed his neck gently with her finger tips. "Keep in mind your blood type is O+, that is a high quality meal for vampires. Your blood type is very expensive in the market. Vampires will be able to know your blood type if somehow your blood is exposed, so do not bleed in front of another vampire besides myself."
"You have blood on your neck from where I bit you," Fang pointed out her shoulder with his eyes.
"Are you going to waist it?," she asked him while lifting an eyebrow at him.
Fang licked the blood off of Zero's shoulder and as he did she kissed his neck. "Remember, you are mine… you live to serve me."
"MHm," Fang replied, his face flushed with embarrassment.
"HEY, Zero you have a client," yelled Miss Belmont from the other side of the door.
"Zero?" Zero refused to let Fang go while still holding his face while keeping her thumb near the corner of his lips.
"Fang, promise me no matter what happens you will stand by me."
"I promise," Fang replied while holding her even tighter.
Very soon rumors spread of Zero taking in a servant. A rumor that grew stronger based on their intimacy, which soon would reach the ears of the vampire court in Dark City. When it did, the elders all worried and their eyes flared with anger. All but one.
Talia Ophelia Papillon, queen of the vampires, smiled-and with a sarcastic voice said, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
[TO BE CONTINUED]