"What is it? Am I in the afterlife… "
Before Adele could even begin with a cliche routine of upon finding himself waking up after thinking himself to be dead. Someone painfully interrupted his groggy awakening process from a dreamless sleep, by holding him with his shoulder and shaking him side to side.
Strong force rattled Adele through his bones, his whole being shaken up so much that he felt someone had put him in a human-sized mixer. Adele's eyes rolled up and he nearly doubled down on his knees as sickening bile rose up to his throat.
But how could he vomit, when the hand holding him hadn't weakened even a slightest. In fact, it further tightened to string him up like a powerless sack of bones. Adele felt sick to his stomach, as he still wasn't fully in control of senses and this situation was truly horrible to be in, resulting in him unable to make head or tails of the situation. It continued for precious more seconds until he felt his consciousness beginning to rouse due to the sudden rush of adrenaline clearing his mind.
Adele forced back bile to his stomach, as it was not possible to do anything before he could free himself from this grip of death. And as some of the brain fog had cleared by this time, coherent voices finally began to ring in his ear. Technically, though it was only one voice…a very deeply annoyed voice.
"Wake up. This last warning on my part or I am really dumping you here."
"Master, we should… " One more voice tried to say something when it died immediately, likely words being swallowed by someone forcefully in apprehension.
Adele, just as the world in his eyes stopped shaking, looked up and was taken aback by the situation around him. He didn't even need to think before arriving at an unfortunate conclusion that they were in the middle of a dangerous standoff.
And for 'they' on his side were…
Cray frowned hard, but his slightly easing brows gave the impression that he was still relieved upon seeing him awakening. Adele immediately found Cray's hold on his shoulders losing as he turned around to face their adversaries who were surrounding them with command of an executionary squad.
"See… He is unharmed. I wasn't kidnapping him. You…guys can relax now. Or your always striving goodness is still prompting you to murder a young Vampire while surrounding him with superior numbers."
There was a gleam of slight challenge in the eyes of the Cray as he said those words. As expected, some of the younger ones in the other group raised their eyebrows in shock as they silently glanced at each other, not believing the audaciousness of a Vampire to say those words, but the older ones were completely unfazed with not even a flicker of change in their expressions.
Ultimately, all of them turned towards Adele, waiting for his answer like they didn't even need to 'consult' to ignore words of the bloodsucking monster. Cray once again felt a twitch in his muscles upon being so deliberately ignored and at the same time felt Gold and White, his thralls getting tense as in preparation of breaking their young master out of encircling if a fight really broke out.
Adele, who was more relieved of losing the steel like grip of Cray on his shoulders, finally had a moment to observe the group surrounding them with a tense air. Though at first look, nothing looked defining among them or their identity other than oversized black coats which were quite common. But after some thinking it finally struck Adele, as he quickly focused his vision on their hands, which graciously, were not hidden at all.
On every individual's forefinger was a striking gold ring with a symbol of comically large rose etched on them. Recognizing the familiar symbol, Adele instantly ended up speaking.
"Nightwatchers?..." Just as he said those words, he felt the eyes of every person on the other side turning towards him. He at the same time remembered the introduction his Uncle had given when he had told him about them in some casual dinner talk.
'The people with a stick of 'human' pride so high up in their asses, that they behave just like strict monks of the Eastern continent but worse.'
And Adele's own encounter with the one in his childhood was too short for him to make an opinion on them so he safely decided to fall back on his uncle's trusted judgement…
"So you know about us. Don't be afraid of this Vampire, just tell us. Are you with him with your will? Or he is forcing you in any way…."
Breaking his inner musings short, the late middle aged man in the lead asked him with utmost confidence in his voice. He even tried to bring a kind look in his eyes as he thought this individual with burned rags on his body was a helpless victim poached by the devious Vampire. It was this young man's fortune to run into them or his fate couldn't have been worse - either being turned into a disgusting thrall to serve Vampire Kind for eternity or else turned into a live victim for their murderer-esque instincts.
Adele tried to remember back, and came out blank for what had happened or how he was here with Cray instead of being burned down in Max's house. Last thing he remembered was fire all around and Uncle Max's last words and....his uncle.
Adele pressed down on his jaw with a force, making sure to subdue the feeling of weak pain arising in his heart. It wasn't time… It isn't time for that, he repeated again and again in his mind till he looked up as naturally as he could muster,
"Thank you for… "
Suddenly the supposedly leader of NightWatcher's group raised his hand and stopped Adele, who choked like he had found his windpipe being pinched by someone making a voice die in his throat. Adele didn't expect to feel so scared by his authority, that he would swallow down his own words like that.
"I wasn't finished, kid. Don't be hasty. They could promise you anything - revenge, survival, or anything but remember ultimately they are not beings of this world. They are our natural enemies and trusting these monsters is the worst thing a human could do.
They are not human at all, the emotions or logic that is a norm in your mind is in fact nothing like insane absurdity to them. Think again very hard and this time answer in one word. Are you being forced? "
Adele forced himself to not give a glance to Cray while the man was saying these things. While whatever he was saying was true, Adele couldn't force himself to act so untrustworthy to Cray, who had saved himself from that fire. Though he was unsure why he had saved him, still he didn't have the heart to turn his back on his savior even if they were literal monsters in almost dead human body.
"No.
..
..
..
Thank you for your help but I know Cray personally and he also saved me from a deadly fire accident. He… "
Before he could say anything more to justify his stand, he felt a hand brushing him away like dust in the wind, and Adele was thrown several steps away just from that minor slap alone. Adele felt terrified of the strength hidden in that deceptive human frame as he saw Cray walking forward to face the middle aged man without any fear on his face.
And from his point of view it appeared that he looked offended that a human was trying to say good things about him?
"Neither. It is neither.
Neither he knows me well nor I saved him from that fire. Infact, he would have survived it on his own. I was just fulfilling a deal made by my father to his ward. There is nothing more than a business with a human, we of Romanov don't need to fake any kindness or sympathy for anything."
Each and every word struck Adele like a slap on his face, he even felt some embarrassment and anger for such dismissal. Ultimately like the experienced Night watcher said, it was on him to expect goodwill from a literal Vampire. But upon hearing the last words, an alarm rang in his ears.
Adele, forgetting about everything, walked towards Cray and grabbed his shoulder in a panic.
"Ward? To your father? Who, my aunt?"
Cray for the first time didn't mind being held by a human by his shoulder as he turned back slightly and faced him with corner of his eyes,
"It was the business deal made by your Uncle…David, probably his last. He made a deal with my father by pledging his heart to him.
So that's why my father, impressed by his stature, decided to honor the deal. It was to bring you to safety and I think, now that you have woken up and coincidentally, here are famous human saviors - the Nightwatchers…. My family's deal is done. The Romanov family always keeps their words. "
Suddenly silence stretched in the scene as everyone was struck by his words. More than not, it was Adele who looked confused and shocked by his revelation like it was something he had trouble believing in. But maybe Cray felt that he wasn't clear enough for Adele's confusion, as he clicked his tongue and explained a little more clearly,
"Oh pardon my mistake if any. English is my second language, I still find it funny to communicate through it because of the abundance of metaphors everywhere. I should explain a bit more.
By offering his heart I 'literally' mean it." Cray gave a toothy smile as he repeated his words, "He exchanged his literal heart - gouged fresh from his body by himself to make this deal."