Target strode to them and as he touched his chains, they were sucked back into his arm.
Ezra stood there nonchalantly. He could feel the attention of everyone on him, even if they tried to hide it.
They were expecting him to behave recklessly and attack Y. Unfortunately for them, he was smarter than that.
This wasn't the place nor time to attack anybody. He'll bide his time and when the opportunity comes, he'll seize it with both hands.
"In case you have any funny ideas?" Y giggled as the red chain tattoo he had placed on their necks glowed ominously. "They get to suffer the consequences." He gestured to Olivia and Genesis.
"I like the way you think, comrade." X came up to his partner, placing an arm on his shoulder.
"Thanks, comrade." Y extended a hand and they both shook like they just closed a business deal.
"So, what's the plan?" X asked.
"You know what?" Y hummed. "You guys can move on to the City Lord's domain. I'll meet you there." He waved dismissively at them. "Don't try to disappear. If I don't find you there," he snapped his fingers, "you'll quickly find out that the things on your neck aren't purely decorative."
"That… doesn't sound like a scary threat." X yawned. "Shouldn't you give them a demonstration?"
"Should I?" Y asked, tilting his head. His mask moved followed the three of them before stopping at Ezra.
"Should I use him?"
Ezra stood still, trying not to show any sign of fear. The moment they smell blood in the water, he becomes prey.
"Hmmn." Y tilted his head to the side.
"Just sell him to us!" A woman cried out.
X and Y startled, looking to the side to see that they still had an audience. "Yikes. You guys are still here?" X asked.
"You know I don't like having audiences." Y said before glancing back at Ezra. "Today's your lucky day. Get out of here."
Olivia nodded once and got back into the hover car like nothing happened. Genesis and Ezra followed suit, seating in their previous positions. The cop hover cars idling on either side of the tunnel followed them in an honor guard as Olivia drove out.
Silence filled the car as they cruised back into the bustling part of the city.
"I know what you're thinking." Olivia broke the silence.
Ezra looked up to see her staring at him through the rearview mirror.
"You're thinking, what if I make a run for it? What if I abandon the two of them?"
Ezra said nothing.
"If you run, I won't blame you." Genesis shrugged before she grinned, shark-like. "But I definitely won't advise it."
Ezra didn't need to be told that. From what he'd gathered at the auction, this Count Solomon wanted everyone who knew his secret dead. The moment he ventures out on his own, Malachi would swoop in and capture him.
All other vampires had their own powers and had years to master them. He had nothing. Besides, who said Malachi was the only hunter Solomon had out. He wouldn't last a day out there.
Besides, he doubted that X and Y would let him go just like that. They seemed like the kind of people who'd find a use for him no matter how useless he presented himself to be just so they could laugh among themselves.
"You're a newborn, Ezra." Genesis said. "You don't know how to hide as a vampire. You'll be found before you even get out of the city. So, bury the thought in the quickest grave you can prepare in your mind."
Ezra said nothing. He'd already gone through his options and come to a single conclusion.
"How do I wield the same power as you all?" he asked. "How do I get power of my own?"
"Yes. That's the question you should be asking right now. No matter how ridiculous it seems, you're our only option out of this." Olivia said. "There are two major vampire powers but you won't be able to use the most important one for now."
"But first, you need to learn the conversion."
"The conversion?" Ezra asked.
"Vampires are powered by vitality. We are undead, so we do not create our own vitality except in a very specific circumstance..."
Ezra nodded. When they have sex.
"...which is why we drink the blood of any creature with life since it contains vitality." Olivia glanced at him through the rearview mirror.
"So we can drink other blood apart from human blood?"
"What blood did you think we ate and drank earlier?" Genesis turned around in her seat. "It definitely wasn't human blood. Vampires don't drink human blood anymore. It's against the law."
It had felt natural when he'd been eating, as if that was how the world was supposed to work but now that he thought about it, he felt weird for how easy it had been to drink and eat blood without thinking about where it came from.
He tried to console himself with the suggestion that he'd been caught off guard by the presence of the chicken but the excuse rang hollow. His mind hadn't pinpointed anything wrong with eating blood. This meant becoming a vampire had changed something in him.
"Vampires have to convert the blood into vitality. The process is called conversion." Olivia said.
"And how do I do that?"
"Simple. Conversion has three steps. Compression, ignition and emission." Genesis explained. "First," she raised a finger, "gather all the blood in your body around your heart and compress it."
"Second," another finger joined the first, "ignite the blood with an intense emotion. It could be joy, sadness, rage or another emotion. Whatever works for you."
She raised a third finger. "And finally, when the blood combusts and creates vitality, you disperse it into the air. This creates an Aura. An Aura is the first major vampire power. Sounds simple right?"
"I'll see for myself if it's simple or not." Ezra said. "Thank you, Genesis."
"Just call me Gen. How long will you two idiots keep calling me that without even asking if I have a nickname?"
"Thank you, Gen."
"You're fucking welcome." She grinned.