3
F R O M

Those pathetic vermins think that we don't exist, the vampire thought. Typical of humans. Truthfully, they just blend in with their time. Their kind may look like them. The only difference is that they are irresistible, different, and foreign.

The red-head called his attention. "Falkien."

One eye opened to stare at the vampire coldly. Falkien waited for him to speak.

Hunter grinned, showing his pearly-white teeth. His yellow eyes glowed darkly.

"Time for a snack," he said.

He motioned his two fingers in the air. Two of the guards dragged a woman. Her hair was black and her skin was like cocoa. Her eyes were purple and she wore a long, rugged, robe.

The dragon snorted, which made a little bit of dark energy, like smoke, blow out of his nostrils. Uninterested by the meal offered to him, the dragon closed his eyes and looked the other way.

The dragon heard a muffled scream when the guards threw the vermin towards his direction. She crawled away from him as soon as she realized that her head was in close proximity to being bitten off. But, that's impossible, the dragon thought. The only thing that divided them was the gold underneath him.

Falkien took a peek again and saw that the girl was leaning her back against the wall just beside the door.

The auburn-haired vampire slapped the back of the girl's head before following Hunter outside.

The dragon's eyelids fully opened to glance at his surroundings, but more especially, to her. Now that the girl was inside, he realized that there was no more room for him to adjust himself. Irritated at the thought, he grunted again.

The dragon turned his attention to her. She was sitting there, eyes filled with awe.

It took awhile for her trembling lips to speak. "Why aren't you eating me?" she questioned.

Because I'm not yet hungry, he answered in his thoughts. He tried to open his mouth to respond, but his voice was incomprehensible. Since the girl could never figure out what he was saying, he grunted again, and looked away from her.

After all, talking to her was pointless. She probably just wanted someone to talk to before she was killed.

She spoke again. A slim connection was made. "That's right. You are not yet hungry." she answered.

His emerald eyes narrowed into slits. He quickly glanced in her direction. Can you read my mind?

She laughed and sneered at him, all the while raising his suspicions more. "I guessed right, didn't I?" she asked again.

The dragon rolled his eyes. He stood up and shook his body-first to the head, then extended it to his tail. Don't let it get to your head, human, he replied in his thoughts.

Her laughter echoed inside the cave as if the girl understood him. For a brief second, the dragon was convinced that she was not afraid. And mad. Only a crazy person would laugh at his death. However, when the guard slammed his fist on the door as a warning to shut her up, and when Falkien heard her heart beating rapidly against her chest, it was the latter.

The dragon saw something in her and he was filled with recognition. Respect. She's trying to be brave. I can give her credit for that, he thought again.

Her joy stopped when the beast stood up. She lowered her head as his shadow first covered the walls, then the ceiling. When the dragon's head hits the top, a pointy stalactite drops on the ground beside her. She skittered to the side to avoid it, but then, another stalactite shook behind him when he set his body down. She jumped away, all the while muttering words that implied that he was reckless.

Falkien snorted in reply.

The dragon, bored out of his mind, yawned, and closed his eyes for sleep.

Amidst basking in the silence, they overheard the guards talking about Hunter's plans to send another one of his brothers to the outside. One of them even indicated that a shapeshifter named Raksha Keller, managed to kill their brother, Azhdeha, with the help of a wild power and a few others.

Furious, the dragon grumbled. The girl could feel the dark energy emanating from him in anger. The guards continued their talk and she saw the evil lurking beneath his eyes. Falkien never wanted it very badly to just kill everybody inside this cave of a castle, then hunt down those propagandists, Circle Daybreak, as well.

Prolonging her death sentence and getting displeased with the vampires' conversation, the girl started singing. She remembered the time when her mother used to sing to her when she was afraid of thunder. The guards stopped talking and Falkien calmed just a little. The dragon closed his eyes as he let the soft voice echo across the room.