A Heart For The Heartless

When Mikhail arrived home, he found Cassy in the living room, staring at empty space. She turned around at the sound of him entering the room, something that he didn’t bother to conceal.

He raised an eyebrow. Since he usually went out at night, at around 7 in the evening, he would return home either at either 3 or 4 in the morning, just before the sunrise.

Yet every time he came back, he would find Cassy still awake.

Didn’t humans usually sleep at this time?

How curious.

He approached her slowly, thoughtfully. “Why are you not asleep?” he asked.

Cassy stared at him for a moment before averting her gaze. “…I can’t sleep,” she admitted.

“Are you a night owl?” Mikhail said, slightly amused. “Based on my findings, you did not work night shifts in your previous job.”

“Ever since I came here, my sleeping schedule adjusted,” Cassy said flatly, not even bothering to ask why he investigated her. She had probably expected it already, anyway. “I’m not… familiar with this house. I’m not very comfortable. I can’t sleep well.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Ah, because you are in a house filled with vampires?”

A wry smile curved Cassy’s lips. “That, too.”

“Then I must assure you that they will never dare lay a hand on you, not unless they wish to incur my wrath,” Mikhail said.

“That’s… reassuring, I guess,” Cassy muttered.

“Also, harming a human is punishable by law,” Mikhail added in a matter-of-fact tone. “Surely you know that.”

Cassy sighed. “I know, but…” She hesitated for a moment. “With the increase of rogues and all…”

“I will not let anyone lay a hand on you,” Mikhail said confidently. “You have nothing to worry about with me here.”

Cassy turned her head towards him, her eyes narrowed slightly. “And how can you be so sure of that? You’re not even here most of the time.”

Mikhail arched an elegant eyebrow. “Are you implying that I should be with you at all times?”

A look of surprise came over Cassy’s face before she quickly looked away, seemingly scowling. “That’s not what I… just that…” she stammered.

“I would take you with me whenever I come to the company, but it is too dangerous,” Mikhail said calmly. “If my enemies ever find out that you are my mate, they will come for you sooner or later. You are the safest here in my home.”

“I get it,” Cassy said as she stood up from the couch. “I’ll be going to my room now. Good night.”

Mikhail watched her go, slightly puzzled.

Was she mad at him or something? There seemed to be something in her tone that his sharp ears caught, something akin to an indignant emotion. Perhaps he had said the wrong thing?

Then again, humans were a mystery with their complex emotions and all.

Mikhail had once been human, but that was already more than a century ago. He had already forgotten what it felt like to have turbulent emotions back then. He had grown too used to being a vampire.

Mikhail watched the back of her slender neck, feeling the hunger and desire rise inside of him. He had already fed from her last night, so he needed to give it a few more days before he came to her again. After all, drinking blood from the same human every day would take a toll on their fragile body.

However, her blood was just so delicious. The mere thought of it tempted him to go over to her and plunge his fangs into her neck again, but he restrained himself from doing so. The last thing he wanted to do was put his mate in danger.

What reckless behavior. Mikhail had truly never felt something like this before.

It would seem that this human was capable of driving him crazy.

‘I must distract myself with something,’ he thought to himself as he went to his room, presumably to calm down. ‘Perhaps it’s time to check the files on The Gauntlet once more.’

The Councils were practically breathing down his neck on this one. They were desperate for a solid lead on the case about the rogue vampires, which was shortened to ‘Case RV-13400’.

RV-13400 had begun about a year ago. When the first rogue vampire came about, everyone simply thought that the vampire had gone insane, which wasn’t that rare of a case.

There were some rogues that became desperate when they were on the verge of starvation and just attacked whatever human they could find. However, even when that was the case, they usually still held a semblance of rationality within them.

However, the recent rogue vampires were drastically different. They had no rationality at all and could not be persuaded by reason or logic.

Instead, they seemed more like rabid animals.

Something unusual was going on here, hence why the Human Council as well as the Supernatural Council were determined to find out what it was and where this source was coming from.

Surely it couldn’t have happened out of the blue. Everything happened too suddenly, not gradually.

There were many suspicions about this case. One was that it was caused by a virus or poison of some sort. However, they had never been able to capture a rogue vampire to confirm this.

It was because, for some reason, once they were apprehended, they would either suddenly kill themselves and turn into ashes or refuse to say anything and continue to act insane.

Some on the Council speculated that it might be due to poison from a rare poisonous flower or herb and that it was spreading slowly to all vampires. Or perhaps even an unknown disease that caused the increase in aggression or loss of self-control.

‘In any case, they’re suspecting that it might be the handiwork of The Gauntlet,’ Mikhail thought to himself absently as he flipped through the files. ‘It’s not too far off. After all, my men that suddenly turned rogue were all those that I sent on missions outside the city at least once.’

However, what puzzled him the most was the duration in which this unknown virus or disease took effect. One of his men, a capable vampire named Santiago, was one of those that he sent to another country four months ago. When Santiago returned to Azallea a month later, he seemed normal enough, and Mikhail hadn’t detected anything suspicious.

It was only a week later that Santiago suddenly went berserk and started attacking the humans during one of his patrol nights. Much to Josef’s reluctance, he had to kill Santiago right there and then.

Josef had liked Santiago. The latter performed his duties well and was never a hindrance during missions. Josef even trained together with Santiago back when the latter was new to the company eight months ago.

It was why Josef was also dedicated to this investigation of Case RV-13400. He could not believe why Santiago suddenly became like that, so he wanted to find out the truth.

Even Mikhail did not know how to explain what exactly happened. What were the odds of a vampire acting so normally and then suddenly going insane without warning?