Once Bitten *On Hiatus*

𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖞 𝕱𝖔𝖚𝖗

• 𝓜𝓪𝓮 •

I stared down at the thing in Seraph's hand, blinking stupidly. It was a small knife, sheathed in silver. It looked like an extremely small sword, that even had a handle and crossguard. He'd pulled it out of his pocket and held it out to me silently.

What the heck did he expect me to do with it?

I looked up into his reddish-purple eyes and he raised an eyebrow. "Take it."

I gently took it from him and he allowed his hand to fall back to his side. It was heavy, for such a little thing.

"That's pure silver," he said. "Keep it."

I blinked, and slid it into my pocket for safe keeping. If it was pure silver, it could do a lot of damage, whether it was small or not. If I learned anything about killing vampires from Seraph so far, it was that silver could be extremely deadly if used correctly. My question was - why in the world did he have such a thing?

I eyed the three men to the side of the room, guaging their reactions to the gift. Kite looked irritated, but Luca and Noah just stared on calmly. At least those two knew I wouldn't use it on them.

"Why are they watching you so carefully," I asked quietly.

"Because I don't trust him as far as I can throw him," Kite snapped.

Seraph very slowly reached out and touched my head. Kite stiffened, but Seraph merely ran his fingers through my hair.

"If I wanted to kill her," he said, pulling gently, "I would have done so by now, and there would have been absolutely nothing you could have done to stop it."

Kite ground his teeth together so hard I could hear it.

Seraph's eyes moved to meet with mine. "You're blushing again."

Oh, thanks, Captain Obvious. I couldn't tell if he was dense or if he was doing all of this on purpose, testing out what exactly made me blush when it came to him. Because if any of those other three said anything about killing me, I'd take my newly aquired weapon and stab them in the dick. But with Seraph...

What the hell was he doing to me? Was that a part of his powers?

"Are you manipulating my thoughts towards you," I asked. If he could push thoughts and nightmares into people's brains, if he could melt people's minds just by touching them, maybe he was doing that to me.

His eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head. "No. Why? What are you feeling?"

Well, now I was feeling absolutely fucking mortified, thanks.

I shook my head. "Just asking. Anyway. Murder. Let's go."

I heard Noah snort and maybe he forgot I was throwing knives not that long ago and was getting relatively good at it.

Seraph leaned forward, placing his lips by my ear. "I can hear your heart racing. What are you feeling towards me, little bird?"

I pulled the knife out of my pocket, unsheathed it, and placed the tip against his stomach. Better that than admitting that I was attracted to him. My entire body was hot, and I was hoping that me doing that would make him back up and get his mind back on the task at hand.

He blew out a breath and I felt him grin against me. Of course it didn't make him back up. Why would it? And why was his reaction making my stomach flutter?

"I see," he murmured, his voice damn near a growl in my ear that did absolutely nothing to calm me. "Did you know that when you blush, it travels down your neck? How far does your blush go, Mae?"

I stumbled back, then gasped, caught off guard at his grin and the way he watched me. He straightened his spine and slid his hands into his pockets, still grinning down at me. It was like he was looking into my soul, seeing every emotion there. Everything I'd ever felt, or will feel.

He glanced at the trio by the wall. "Can I have ten minutes with her alone? If anyone asks, I'm feeding and she was feeling shy."

I saw Kite's automatic response form on his lips. The way he wanted to tell Seraph no, or to fuck off. That whatever their deal was, leaving me alone with him in his room was not a part of it. But Noah tapped Kite's wrist with a finger, never taking his eyes off of the two of us.

Luca shook his head at Kite when he looked to see what Noah wanted, and Kite grimaced.

"Ten minutes," Kite said, heading towards the door. The other two followed behind silently, and when the door shut, I finally chanced a look back at Seraph.

"First and foremost," his smile had faded, "killing vampires is easy. The knife I gave you won't kill one, but it'll do enough damage if used correctly. But to kill them, you either have to decapitate them with silver, extract their heart and burn it - or you can keep stabbing at it until it's mush with silver - or you can burn them alive."

I was not expecting us to talk about murder, but that worked. I'd rather that, than whatever conversation I was stirring up in my mind about how I felt towards him and how I was going to explain it to him.

"There's setbacks to all of those options though," he said. "If you decapitate them, you also have to sever the brain. So cut off the head and then cut the brain in half. It's bloody, especially if you do it after they feed. If you extract their heart and burn it, you have to be able to fend them off while you're attempting to burn their heart. Vampires remain alive until their heart is gone, if you go that route. If you burn them alive, you better make sure they're tied down and can't get to any source that can extinguish it."

I blinked. That was a lot of information, and while he said it was easy, it really didn't seem easy at all. I didn't think I had the ability to do any of that when it came to Zero. I didn't have anything large enough that was silver that could decapitate him. He'd never let me somehow extract his heart from his body. And he sure as hell wouldn't let me tie him down and burn him alive. All of that would likely just make him angrier. Make him want to hurt me more.

So how in the world was I supposed to kill him, if it was damn near impossible for a human to do it? We didn't get access to anything silver. In the beginning, I hadn't realized why. The only silver thing we were allowed were eating utensils, and a lot of good that would do if I was actually trying to kill someone with them.

I played with the knife in my pocket, trying to figure out how I'd go about doing any of that.

"No worries, little bird," Seraph cooed. "There's no rush. Zero doesn't seem too hell bent on trying to harm you currently."

I sighed. "That still doesn't bring me much comfort."

He shrugged. "It shouldn't, really. Zero's mood switches faster than anything I've ever seen before."

"Why haven't you killed him," I asked. He really didn't seem to like Zero whatsoever. He had stated previously that he didn't like anyone, but there was a deep seated hatred when he spoke about killing Zero.

"His father," he stated simply.

I'd never met his father. Never seen him in passing. But I remember what Zero used to say about him, and it made perfect sense.

"Now," Seraph's lips curled up. "Let's talk about those feelings you think I'm pushing into your mind."

*****
A/N: Alright, Seraph simps (I see you 👀). Next chapter is a snack just for you. 😂