Aleks’ eyes peered open first, wet hair plastered across his face and obscuring his vision. It was bright. Fluorescent, maybe. The kind of lighting you would find in a hospital. He couldn't adjust just yet, relying on his nose.

There were quite a few people around him, actually. A few of them were sleeping, yet he could barely hear a thing over the hum of the bright lights. Was he kidnapped? Was he dead? Cautiously, he attempted to swipe the drowned hair from his face, to find that his wrists were handcuffed behind him, which made a sharp clang as he moved. His body seized, realizing his mistake. He heard heavy footsteps slowly make their way in front of him, obscuring the light for a moment. Something hard and cold scratched his forehead, pushing hair to the side. He was found staring up at a familiar face. He swallowed harshly, his throat dry all of the sudden. He was in deep shit. How did he get here anyway?

“Wendle” Alek addressed the well-dressed man before him with a hoarse voice he couldn't recognize as his own. He held a stake with a metal tip. The hunters captured him? But how?! The last thing he remembered was sitting in the diner-

Wendle walked back to a spot behind his two friends. His blood ran cold. They sat on the floor, much like him, in a spaced triangle. They seemed to be asleep from the way their chests rose and fell. Chris snored every other breath. Wendle stood behind Jordan, and this time his fear extended to him. He left the guild and was already wrapped back up in it again, this time on the defensive. Behind Chris was a woman in a similar suit with black hair.

“Chri...stine?” He squinted. Chris woke up first. He could wake up from a pin drop, so how were they taken there without waking? Drugged somehow? He groaned. Why was only Alek wet? Chris’s eyes darted around through skewed and scratched glasses. Alek listened to his heart speed. There was someone else behind Alek, but he was too nervous to look behind himself. The room was tiny with blank walls, only a door indicated this was not a horror dream. Jordan wasn't waking as quick as their captors liked, Wendle suddenly and swiftly shooting a swing kick to his side. They could tell it was something he enjoyed doing.

Jordan certainly was awake now, coughing and sputtering on his side.

“He-” He started before realizing their new scenery. “Shit. You should have just listened to me” He said to Chris and Alek with an accusatory tone. “Admit it! Say ‘Jordan was right and I was wrong’” he mocked the two of them, sitting up slowly.

“Carrie?” Chris looked over Aleks’ shoulder. Alek closed his eyes.

“I was right, bitches!” Jordan celebrated, which earned him another kick to the floor. Surely enough, Carrie rounded next to Alek, her high heels clicking on the concrete. The fear Alek felt slowly turned to betrayal, biting back a snarl as she eyed down at him with a sweet smile. That damned smile. The same smile she used to bring up his spirits and relax his tensions. They were friends, right? She was dressed in a similar suit to the others, looking out of character.

“You did this,” Alek hissed with more feeling than he meant to, “Why have these two here. It’s me you want, isn't it?” he nodded to his friends. Carrie swiftly bent at her knees, making a few crackling sounds as a sign of her age.

“Mm. Yes. But they’re now my bargaining chips” She said in that still cheery tone. Only now it gave it a new, darker meaning.

“Rude” Chris mumbled under his breath. Nobody kicked him. Alek tried to think back to possibly when this could have begun, only there was no point in time that he started to see her differently. No change in demeanor, no sharp glances from the corner of her eye. She laid a gentle hand on the top of his damp head, which he now noticed had no hat.

It was around this time when Chris felt the sharp poke of a pencil on his palm. An art pencil he kept in his back pocket accidentally for the whole day. He had an idea. He kept silent as he slipped the pencil from his back pocket to begin frivolously jamming it into the handcuffs, hoping he would find the keyhole and hoping, even more, he could unlock them. What he would do after, he had no idea. He was panicking as it is from trying to make a move. Why couldn’t these be toy handcuffs?

“We’re going to die!” Jordan squirmed, freaking out. Had he not learned? It earned him a grab by the hair and a punch to the face. He had to stay silent and play the role of the hostage.

Alek flinched away from Carries’ touch. She had quickly lost his trust.

“Oh, come on. Hey, hey, look at me,” she said softly, caressing his cheek. Alek vibrated, seething and trying not to break down. “Oh, that's a nasty look. Did you show the same to your victims? Or were you more sympathetic?” Her eyes turned empty but all so full of emotion he couldn’t break down.

“What is this about?” Alek whispered. Carrie backed away, dropping her hand and looking at all in the room in an announcement.

“A little birdie told me that there was an old vampire coming to town. I just got so excited I couldn’t contain myself from seeing you for myself” she twirled on a heel. So she truly was a part of an elaborate hunter scheme. It made sense. The meeting of Wendle and Jordan in the basketball court, Christine living in the same building as himself and Carrie offering him a job. The little coincidences that no longer seemed to be coincidences. “Okay, okay. I’ll get to the point. Tell me the names of the people you’ve turned and I’ll give you an easy death! I’ll even let these two go with their lives if you’re especially sweet to me”

Chris gaped, his shoulders slumping. The color drained from Jordan's face and he seemed a moment from either hurling or bolting. She stood in front of Alek, now. Her head tilted at an uncomfortable angle. Aleks’ heart raced in his chest, the water now evaporating quickly from body heat.

“What gives you the right?”

“Right to what, sweetie?”

“Kill me? Keep my friends hostage?” his voice rose. Carrie chuckled deeply.

“Do you think you have human rights or something?” her eyes snapped down at his. For the first time, he felt that someone else had dominion over his body. “Now start talking” She produced a dark mahogany stake tipped in sharp steel, pointing it at his chest. Aleks’ heart rattled inside him. He never turned a single person. He didn't want them to suffer the same curse as he did. So he always killed his victims. And that was a long time ago. He heard his friends shifting nervously, forcing their respective hunters to lock them in place with a firm grip of their shoulders. “Hands off them for now” Carrie nodded at the two.

“Sir!” they said in unison, stepping back at attention. So Carrie was a superior? Alek swallowed.

“I never turned a single person”
“You expect me to believe that? Where there is a leech, there is a trail of blood in its wake,” she snarled, “Besides, Luther said he could see the destruction potential in you. That was the reason he turned you. Did you know that?” she began pacing in the triangle, playing with the tip of the stake.

“Who’s Luther?” Alek said quietly, although he knew from context. He hadn't known his name all this time. It seemed to fit him. Carrie turned sharply, getting in his face.

“The sick fuck with the tall hair! Popping out hellspawn left and right!” Her hot coffee breath blowing his hair back. He flinched slightly at this new display of anger. Yup. Sounds like him. After she stood again, regaining some of her composure, she seemed to be reminiscing. “But it’s better now. I got him to talk, too. Hm. I wonder if your screams will be just as satisfying” her head fell to the side, eyeing him up and down. It sent chills up his spine. Jordan cried softly behind her, biting his lip hard. Chris was having little luck with his pencil. “He’s in hell, now” she smiled. Not only did she capture his all-terrifying maker, but she tortured him into telling her what she wanted to know. She killed him. Just how powerful was this cafe owner?

“So you’re the big villain, huh?” Chris peeked up at her. She turned to him, fixing his glasses’ position.

“I’m saving your ass. Be grateful. My job is saving people in place of those I couldn't” her face flashed with pain. “Alek. Answer me correctly, now” she spun around, crossing her arms defensively. He wasn't lying, but she wasn't having any of it.

“I told you. I never turned anybody. Haven't I said that before? When we were friends?” He said, immediately regretting it. He said too much. His friends winced as she walked over to him slowly. Carrie grabbed him up by the hair, forcing him to his knees, leaving Alek gasping. She smiled casually.

“Oh, baby. We were never friends. I was using you. You were very trusting. If it was you that killed my daughter I might've let you plead for your life before slaughtering you” She spoke as though it were a high honor.

It clicked.

“Did The M- Luther...kill your daughter? I didn't know you had a daughter” He spoke carefully, his scalp hurting from her hold. He didn't like seeing her this way. And he certainly didn't want her anguish directed onto him. He had no idea about her past or true personal life outside of the cafe. “I’m sorry,” he added.

“You should be. You're part of that legacy of pain. Why didn’t you just kill yourself?” She dropped his head. He looked down. Jordan and Chris looked at her, wide-eyed.

“I tried plenty,” He said flatly. “Do you think I wanted this? I didn’t. I was forced” he squinted. The two friends looked away, feeling like they were intruding.

“If what you said was true, you must have killed people. Did you think that was more humane? Taking innocent human lives for your own gain?!”

“Draining people after biting them is the best way to ensure they won't come back” He explained. She raised her lip in disgust. He wondered how she could act so nice around him for a whole year. She was holding onto some serious anger and baggage. She pondered for a moment. 

“You were the oldest Luther informed me about. I expected something more, but...” She thought out loud, biting her thumb. The buzz of the lights mocking the three boys. “How many people have you torn from this world? I know you know the exact number” She crouched again, resting her head on her hand and twirling the wood with the other. How could Alek forget? She would not be happy with any answer he gave, but perhaps it could lessen his punishment? He wasn’t strong enough to break the handcuffs.

“One hundred and three,” he said. He watched as his friends winced. Any number above zero would obviously be threatening to them. Chris seemed particularly taken aback. Carrie burst into gut-busting laughter, making them jump. She stood again.

“Is this a corpse sitting before me?!” She pointed the stake at him once more. “Your lies cannot pass me. I know your kinds’ eating habits.” she lifted the stake under his chin, tilting his head up at her. “Don’t make me hurt them, dear” she nodded to his friends. Alek grit his teeth. Those two were all he had now.

“One thousand six hundred and eighty” he spoke behind his teeth. He had never said the number aloud. It made him want to crumble and cease to exist.

Jordan vomited bile in front of himself. Carries’ face turned to stone.

“One thousand six hundred and eighty! Do you realize that’s a whole ass population?” She said, clearly holding back a harsher tone. Chris was shaking his head, murmuring something to himself nobody in the room could understand. Alek felt that those two would never go near him again. If he lived, that is.

“It could be worse…?” Alek said, then immediately braced himself for the backhand across the face. The sound rang loud in the room, and he was suddenly looking at a different wall. Dark tears leaked from his eyes.

“I had to live. I had no other choice. I…only did it to people who had no connections. Homeless, harlots…” he trailed off, his cheek stinging, “I can hardly sleep at night from the nightmares. The guilt haunts me whenever I see someone who looks like any one of those people” Alek blinked the tears down his cheeks. Chris and Jordan peeked up curiously.

“Boo-hoo. So you have PTSD. And? Am I supposed to pity you?” Carrie rolled her eyes. Alek never really thought about it in a clinical sense. It seemed to calm his friends, though.

“Isn’t that better than showing no remorse? Was I not human?” Alek asked boldly.

“Not anymore. But, I’m actually feeling kind of empathetic today. I won’t torture you,” she pouted and sighed like she was looking forward to it. Their eyes lit up. Chris had just got his cuffs open, being careful not to drop them to the floor. It seemed like they were going to go free.

All until Carrie pulled out a handgun from her belted holster. She aimed at Aleks’ head, their hearts stopping at once. Alek had never had a brain injury or even been shot. He quickly tried calculating if he could survive or not. But if this experienced hunter was going to use a gun on him, he knew it was devastating. Carries’ face seemed almost sad as she clicked off the safety, cocking it.

Alek wanted to run. Wanted to scream. Wanted to plead for his life.

Instead, he lowered his eyes.

“This is mercy” She croaked. Was she crying?

She took one more calming breath before pulling the trigger, the loud bang deafening them all in the tiny room. Alek felt no pain. Was his death that painless? His eyes shot up when he felt a spray of hot - no - boiling liquid on his face, followed by a body falling on his lap.

“Jordan?!” Alek screeched, looking down at him. He had jumped up last second and vaulted himself in front of Alek, taking the bullet to his chest.

Chris took this as a chance to run, ripping off his opened handcuffs to hop to the door. The door was locked. He swore loudly, banging on it. All three of the hunters bolted to stop Chris.

Aleks’ hands shook as he pressed them to Jordan's wound, which pumped blood in time to his rapid heartbeat. Jordan cocked his head to the far right purposefully.

“Please,” he struggled to take a breath. “I don’t want to die,” he said. Blood slowly came from his mouth now, coughing made it worse. Alek had to act quickly to understand and carry out his plea. He bent and made a quick countdown in his head until he bit down on his neck. It wasn't hard to break the skin. He hadn’t done this in so long that he forgot what it felt like. Strange warm electricity crept over his whole body. Jordan trembled but didn't make a sound. He passed out slowly.

Chris had just been beaten unconscious to the floor when Carrie whipped her head around, Catching Alek in the act. Alek knew what was going to happen, tensing. But all was futile as the second gunshot rang out, hitting Alek square between the eyes.