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A vampire hunter. That’s what View is. Her job is to go undercover, hide, to kill vampires roaming the city. And nothing will ever be more satisfying than watch a vampire dissipate into ashes, vanishing into the night sky forever.
“I have a new target for you.”
View looks up from polishing her sword, eyeing her boss. “Okay…? What’s so special about this one?”
Her boss shrugs. “She’s a feisty one. No one’s been able to catch her, but…” She puts a hand on View’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll be able to.”
A file is held out before her face. She takes over the file, glancing at it before turning to her boss. “Wow, what a way to stress me out.”
“I’m counting on you!” With a casual wave of her hand, her boss saunters out of the office, humming to herself.
View watches as the door slowly closes, before looking at the file in her hands. Feisty, huh. She opens it, only to find a singular piece of paper inside. Normally, there’d be more information, but…
Confused, View slides the document out, only to realise that it’s not only just one piece of paper, it’s also only one page. In disbelief, she hastily flips the paper around, but it’s blank.
What on Earth? How am I supposed to catch this vamp?
Turning the paper back around, she glances through the short list of information given to her. Name, general appearance, last sightings…
Her eyes drift down to the bottom of the page, where a photograph of the vampire is attached, and what the fuck. She’d just laid her eyes on the most charming, adorable looking girl ever.
Holy shit. She stares at the photograph, entranced. The vampire has big almond eyes, a mischievous shimmer in them, and the corners of her eyes are crinkled from her impish grin. Her teeth are pearly white and perfectly straight, save for the two fangs peeking out from each corner of her pink lips. Her face is small, cheeks rosy; overall a very pleasant person to look at.
Well, not exactly person, but still.
How is it possible that this adorable looking vampire is so wanted? No matter how much View frowns at the photo, turns the paper upside down and sideways, squints at it, she simply can’t imagine this little creature going around and killing people. She glances at the bullet point labelled “Number of kills”.
Apparently one should never judge someone by their appearance, because the moment she sees the number, her eyes are blown wide.
A hundred and forty-six?!
View has never, in her twelve years of doing this, seen such an insanely high number before. What is this vampire up to? Does she get off killing people or what? Or is this some sort of sick hobby?
View eyes the photograph, suddenly a little nervous. This is gonna be one long rat chase.
✧
Blossom Bar.
That’s what the document says. This vampire—Mim Rattanawadee—frequents this bar. But again, where else can View go? She literally knows nothing about this vampire except her name and her face. And also how many people she’s killed.
View holds the document up high, eyes scanning it once more, then shifting to give the neon pink signboard above the entrance a once over, before letting out a sigh. Folding the document up into the smallest rectangle she could possibly manage, she chucks it into one of her pockets, mentally prepares herself, and pushes the door open.
Her eyes sweep the entire place. The bar isn’t quite as packed as she imagined; it was mostly quiet and empty save for a few customers littered here and there. Granted, it was already late at night, and at least it makes locating this tiny vampire much easier.
She walks further into the bar, trying not to draw attention to herself. Her eyes are jumping everywhere, from person to person, trying to find one with a head of wavy caramel hair. She soon finds herself reaching the end of the bar counter, in the deepest corner of the place, and yet she still hasn’t spotted anyone that even remotely resembles that vampire.
That’s okay. If there’s one thing this job has taught her, it’s patience. As long as she waits long enough, the vampire will eventually show up before her without her even trying.
Taking a seat in a quiet corner of the bar counter, she orders herself a drink, prepared to be in this bar till way past midnight. In no time, the bartender slides the dry martini right before her, and she immediately picks it up, bringing it to her lips for a sip.
Right when the alcohol hit her tongue, she sees a figure slip into the seat right next to her in the corner of her eye. Feigning nonchalance, she slowly lowers the glass, setting it down on the counter, not sparing the stranger a glance. She’s here to do her job, not chat up someone.
Seems like this stranger can’t take a hint. “Alone?” comes a sweet voice from beside her.
View finally adverts her gaze from the glass to the stranger, and when she finally locks eyes with the stranger, she almost falls off her chair, breath knocked out of her lungs.
Vampires always show up before her with time, but View didn’t expect it to be this soon this time.
Hazel eyes are staring right back at her, piercing through her soul; long lashes flutter at her coquettishly, and those pink lips, shiny from gloss, quirk up into a smile.
Her face was all too familiar; View had spent so much time staring at her photograph, mapping out every single feature on her face to the point where if she closed her eyes, the vampire’s doll-like face was seared into the back of her eyelids, and yet, now that she’s finally seen the vampire in-person, she's absolutely floored.
Holy shit.
It’s almost scary how much View is attracted to this tiny creature right next to her.
The vampire tilts her head to the side ever so slightly in a flirty gesture, lifting her eyebrows just a little to say, I’m waiting for a response. View snaps out of her trance, masking her (hopefully not obvious) surprise, as she answers curtly, “Yes.”
She turns back to the glass in between her fingers, lifting it again to take another sip. She’s putting on a calm front, but on the inside, she’s anything but. Her heart is thumping aggressively in her chest, yet she can’t tell if it’s from the adrenaline from finally locating her target or from—
Okay, that’s enough. There’s no way in hell View is being swayed by a vampire, much less her target. All she has to do is to shove the sword into her chest, and her job is done. She’s already halfway there, with the vampire sitting right next to her right now, barely half a metre away.
Focus, View.
“I’m Mim.” the vampire leans in just a tad closer. The faint scent of roses and something fruity wafts past View’s nose, yet it’s strong enough to make her a little dizzy. “You?”
“I’d rather not say,” View answers offhandedly, stubbornly looking down at the half-empty glass in her hand in an attempt to avoid the vampire’s intense gaze as much as possible. But instead of just leaving in frustration at View’s obvious lack of sincerity, the vampire seems to be enjoying this.
View startles when she feels a hand reach into her personal space, approaching her neck. Fuck, is she going to bite me?
Her hand twitches, wanting to just yank her sword out and stab this vampire, but to her surprise, the vampire’s hand stops right before she touches her, fingers hovering before her collarbone.
“What a pretty pendant you have,” the vampire muses, a small smile toying on her lips. “A clover.”
She drops the pendant, leaving View confused as she looks down at herself, catching sight of the silver four-leaf clover dangling from a chain on her neck, a singular diamond embedded into the middle of its leaves. The dim lighting of the bar catches onto the diamond, making it glitter for a split second.
“Can I call you that? My clover.”
Who’s yours?
“Whatever floats your boat.”
“Then, Clover, mind accompanying me for the night?”
View glances at her once more. Mim now has her chin in the heel of her palm, blinking up at View expectantly.
“One more dry martini, please.”
✧
The closer View gets to her target, the easier it will be to kill them off. But maybe she needs to rethink what it means to be “close to the target”, because right now…
A cold hand makes its way to View’s chin, taking hold of it gently. The cold seeps into View’s skin, sending a shudder down her spine. Her back is against the wall, and as much as this position sends a thrill down her body, she hates how vulnerable she feels right now.
Grabbing hold of the vampire’s waist, she turns them around quicker than lightning, shoving Mim into the wall. Instead of wincing from the thud, however, the vampire just smiles, hand not leaving View’s chin.
A thumb presses down on her bottom lip, smudging her lip gloss; as if on instinct View’s lips part ever so slightly. Irritated by her body’s own reaction, her hand flies up, fingers curling around the vampire’s cold wrist in a firm grip.
The vampire’s gaze drops down to glance at View’s bony fingers on her wrist, before flickering up to meet her eyes. There’s a glint in those eyes—View can’t tell if it’s dangerous or simply amorous—and the vampire grins, vice-like grip on View’s jaw unrelenting.
View is about to just release the vampire and pull away, but then the vampire yanks her face close in one smooth motion. She stumbles forward, bracing her free hand on the wall flush against the vampire’s back, nose barely bumping into the vampire’s.
“What are you—” she starts, irritated and trying to jerk away from the vampire’s face, but a chill runs down her spine when she spots a flash of dark crimson in the vampire’s irises, hardly noticeable if not for View’s experience with these creatures.
In that split second she’s thrown off, the vampire leans forward and closes the distance between them, capturing View’s lips with her own and effectively cutting her off from continuing her sentence.
View immediately panics, eyes blown wide as her fingers dig into the wall, nails scratching against the rough surface. She wants to reach for her sword, wants to just thrust it at the vampire and kill her off, but oh…
Their lips slot together so perfectly, and the way the vampire’s thumb is caressing her jaw, lips moving so fervently against hers, she can’t help but lean into it, eyes slowly falling shut. The vampire smells good, like honey and citrus, as sweet as her soft lips; head reeling, View’s grip on Mim’s wrist slowly loosens, hand going slack and eventually dropping down, instead finding purchase on her waist.
She pulls the vampire in till her hips are flush against View’s, eliciting a small, breathy noise from her, a soft gasp.
View is about to lose it; her brain is sent into overdrive, yelling at her to stop kissing this vampire and just kill her off, but fuck, she just can’t bring herself to pull back. Chasing the vampire’s lips, she tells herself, just this once, because what’s the worst that could happen, right?
Well, she really should’ve remembered that one of the first few things she learnt at the academy is, never trust a vampire. And shame on her for throwing that rule into the back of her mind all to kiss a terribly attractive vampire, because the next time her eyes fly open, it’s because something sharp grazes her bottom lip, pressing closer in an attempt to break skin.
View instantly jerks away from the vampire, the hand that was on Mim’s waist forcefully shoving her back into the wall. The sight that greets her almost causes her brain to short-circuit; the vampire is gazing at her with half-lidded eyes, out of breath and delirious. Her irises are completely blood-red now, and her fangs are peeking out from the corners of her kiss-swollen lips, so white that it almost hurts View’s eyes to look at. The visual makes View’s heart jump in her throat; she’s never seen a vampire’s fangs so close up before.
Coming back to her senses, she hastily yanks her sword out of its scabbard, ready to swing it at the vampire, but the vampire is quicker. With a firm strike to View’s wrist she promptly gets rid of the hand on her waist, causing View to take a step back to stabilise herself. She’s about to lunge at the vampire again—
A blur of black erupts from behind the vampire, and her feet lift off the ground as she shoots straight up into the air, leaving View staring dumbly at the now-empty wall before her.
What the fuck?
She freezes for a moment, trying to process what had just happened, before her head snaps up when a voice calls out from above, “Up here, idiot!”
Her lips part in shock.
Wings?!
View panics for a moment, stunned at the sight before her. Peculiar would be too mild of a word to describe this current situation; View is positively freaked out.
“What the fuck are you? Some mutant species?” She yells up at the vampire hovering right above her, unreachable. Her wings, covered in glossy, black feathers, are spread wide, casting a dark shadow over View.
“I’m an angel, love,” the vampire calls out, voice saccharine sweet, grinning widely. The moonlight catches on her fangs, making them glint in the dark. “You look absolutely adorable from up here.”
View just stares, wide-eyed. She’s both fascinated and terrified at the same time; she has never been quite this unsure about a vampire’s next move before, fingers gripping the handle of her sword so hard her knuckles turn white.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” The vampire swoops down close to her, making her flinch, almost releasing her grip on her sword. “Why’d you think I approached you in the bar?”
She quickly comes back to her senses. That cheeky grin annoys View to no end; she wants so badly to just slap that smile off her pretty face, but why waste time and energy on that when she can just…
She swings her sword in the vampire’s general direction, fast, but the vampire is nimble. With a light giggle, she swiftly ducks View’s blade, disappearing from sight.
“I know who you are,” a voice sing-songs from behind View. Blindly, she whips around, blade slicing through the air, but this time, the vampire shoots upwards, hovering just high enough for View to be unable to reach her at all, even with her long blade. “View Benyapa.”
She flashes one last grin at View, then with a haughty flap of her wings, she whizzes off into the night, blending into the dark sky perfectly.
View can only watch in defeat as the vampire shrinks amongst the stars till she’s completely out of sight, unsure if she should be seething or captivated.
What am I feeling?
✧
Ever since her brief yet intense encounter with the tiny vampire, she hasn’t been able to keep that doll-like face out of her mind. As much as she loathes those mirthful doe eyes, she can’t help but get lost in them. More often than not she finds her hands reaching for that folded piece of paper in her pocket, promptly unfolding it like she’s done so many times already, eyes automatically flitting to the very bottom of it, to mindlessly stare at the photograph of Mim. It’s happened way too many times than she’d like to admit.
And now that View has encountered that winged devil for the first time, she can't help but feel like every corner she turns, the vampire is always there, waiting for her. It's as if she's hallucinating the vampire’s face.
Is it because she’s been staring at the photograph of her too much?
Even when she’s out and about, doing her own thing in her own time, she still can’t seem to escape the haunting presence of Mim. Walking through a park? Mim would be hiding in a tree, perched on a branch. Ordering coffee? Mim would be balled up in a corner of the cafe, knees pulled to her chest and sitting like a kid. In a bookstore? Mim’s eyes would appear in that small slit of space between the books and the shelf, all gleeful and twinkling.
The worst part?
Each time she turns around to look again, does a double take, the vampire is nowhere to be seen. She sees everything around her, people, places, objects, but just not that damn devil.
It’s bothersome, to say the least. Her presence, whether physically or in View’s mind, is teasing; it’s getting on View’s nerves real bad.
Fuck, she wishes she could just wipe out all her memories of this vampire. Or maybe, the culprit was that fateful night.
✧
View sighs for the nth time in one morning.
“Oh, can you stop sighing?” comes her boss’ voice from somewhere in the office. View just grumbles to herself, sinking further into the bench she’s on, back sliding down against the wall.
“She has wings! It scared the shit outta me! How am I supposed to catch her?”
Honestly, View still doesn’t know why she was so flabbergasted; if vampires exist, then what’s so shocking about a winged one?
“Look, if it was easy, I wouldn’t have assigned this case to you.”
She’s right. View has always been an exemplary hunter, and everyone had high expectations of her. Not that she really thinks she wouldn’t be able to catch this particular one; it’s just that her hopes of actually capturing this vampire are becoming increasingly bleak.
“Fine,” View answers resignedly. Casting one last glance at the photograph, her hand drops into her lap, head falling backwards and knocking lightly into the wall.
How on earth am I supposed to kill a winged vampire? Grow wings of my own? Wear a jetpack?
She closes her eyes, watching small coloured spots dance around in front of her vision. They slowly fade away as the seconds pass, instead replaced with the image of View shoving her sword into Mim’s chest, right where her heart is, and then she—
View’s eyes fly open, and the image vanishes. She’s once again facing her all-too-familiar office, but now, she’s even more unsettled.
She knows what would hypothetically come next; the vampire’s eyes would flash a blood red one last time, before she burst into a cloud of grey ash, dispersing into the air as the wind carried it away. But for some reason, View just can’t envision Mim, well, dying. There’s something about Mim that renders her unable to imagine actually killing this vampire.
Does she just… not want to kill Mim? Is that what it is?
On impulse she glances down at the piece of paper in her lap again, then curses herself internally.
She’s so fucked.
✧
View frowns at the document in her hands, which had been creased and crumpled to no end from being in her pocket all the damn time.
What kind of place is this…?
After a whole half hour of searching for the next location frequented by Mim, she finds herself face to face with an ominous-looking, dark alleyway. It’s mostly empty, save for some vents and pipes belonging to the buildings flanking this small, rather cramped space.
No wonder she couldn’t locate this place to save her life; who in their right mind would even spare this narrow alleyway a glance when passing by?
Warily eyeing her surroundings, she steps out of the light cast by the streetlamps above and into the shadows, freezing when the sound of small rocks skidding underneath her shoe echoes throughout the area. Somewhere in the deep end of the alley a crow caws loudly, the sharp noise piercing throughout the air, and when View looks down at her feet, a small rat scampers past, tail fluttering behind it.
Yeah, of course a vampire would frequent a place like this. Every single cell in her body is telling her to just turn back and go home, but she grits her teeth and takes another step forward. How many chances does she have in this lifetime to hunt for a vampire—a winged one, at that—in a dark alleyway at midnight? Not many, she presumes.
Her hand ghosts the sword sitting in her belt, hidden underneath her clothes. All she has to do when Mim finally shows up is to yank, shove forward, and release. Or maybe throw the sword into the sky, just in case the vampire is on her wings instead of her feet.
Stupid bird-mutant vampire.
She’s about to curse this vampire out in her head, but then she hears a whoosh in the air above. Immediately jumping back to her senses, her gaze shoots up, but she’s met with a dark, empty sky, void of stars or clouds. The moon greets her, a dull grey and barely shining. A singular bird flies past, but it hardly disturbed the air.
That whoosh sounded like it was from something way bigger than just a crow, anyway. But if it wasn’t a bird, then what was it?
View blinks at the sky, seemingly waiting for something to appear, but it’s still.
Don’t be silly; it was probably just the wind.
Shaking off her apprehension, her gaze drops back down to the alleyway before her. It’s so dark she can’t see much in front of her, barely making out shapes of the objects loitering around this place.
She’s not usually this jittery and uneasy on missions, but there was just something about this particular case that makes goosebumps erupt all over her skin at the mere thought of that vampire.
One more step forward, and that same whooshing sound echoes from above again, but this time, it’s closer, so much closer, and View startles, almost jumping out of her skin. Her head snaps up, eyes wide; in her peripheral vision a blur of black flashes by, too quick for her to catch.
“Looking for me?”
Heart pounding in her ears, she whips her head around to locate the source of that familiar, saccharine sweet voice calling out to her, and of course, she comes face to face with Mim, feathered wings on full display behind her, lips twisted in the most annoying, irritating grin View has ever seen. Her fangs are out again, almost as if she was teasing View.
Slowly descending from the sky, the vampire lands right before View, feet hitting the ground so silently, View suddenly realises why no one has caught her yet. Well, aside from the fact that she has wings.
“Miss me?” The vampire cocks her head to the side in faux innocence, batting her lashes at View.
It almost works.
Focus, View.
“You wish.” View steps closer, gazing down at the tiny vampire with insouciance in her eyes.
“Aw,” Mim pouts at her. “Are you mad? Because you can’t kill me?”
Oh, now View is aggravated. She’s been frustrated, she knows, because she just can’t figure out what on earth she’s going to do with this vampire, but having the vampire say it out loud genuinely makes her blood boil. Her heart is racing in her chest, pounding so hard she can hear it in her ears; because of what she doesn’t know.
A gust of night breeze passes by, picking up Mim’s dark hair along with it. The way her hair billows gently in the wind, all tousled, coupled with that sweet expression gracing her pretty face… It almost makes View falter.
Gritting her teeth, her fingers slip around the hilt of her sword as she spits out, “Do you ever shut the fuck up?”
Mim pulls back, feigning hurt. “Don’t be mad now, my clover.”
She takes the collar of View’s uniform in between her thumb and index finger, tugging at it lightly to smooth it out. “I’ll give you another kiss, if you like.”
“Oh, will you just stop—” View impulsively draws her sword from its sheath, swinging it at Mim. “—pissing me off?!”
Of course, the vampire is faster; with a flap of her wings and a giggle she’s once again floating, View’s sword cutting air.
“But baby,” Mim smiles down at her. “where’s the fun in that?”
View glowers bitterly at the vampire above, a spiteful frown marring her face. She holds the vampire’s amused gaze for an excruciating second before she thinks, ah, whatever.
With a flick of her wrist, the sword is sent flying towards the vampire, blade first. Moonlight catches on the smooth edge of it, and time seems to slow down as the blade cuts through the air.
The tip grazes the vampire’s clothes just as she darts away from it, slicing a small, clean slit in the fabric. View scrambles forward to catch her sword right before it hits the ground, whipping back around to face Mim.
“You almost got me there,” the vampire says, seemingly impressed. She runs a finger across the tear, that stupid grin never leaving her face.
God, View is so close.
The vampire dips down, approaching View, coming up so close that View can feel her breath fanning out against her cheek.
“I know you don’t really want to kill me,” she whispers, a finger coming up to tilt View’s chin up. “So if you manage to catch me, you win. And if you don’t…”
Her gaze drops down to View’s lips. “I get a bite.”
View purses her lips, setting them in a hard line as she jerks her head away from the vampire. There’s no way she’s getting seduced by a vampire, much less in a situation like this.
Trying again, she draws her arm back, ready to thrust her sword at the vampire once more, but the vampire vanishes, as she always does, her boisterous laugh echoing around the alleyway.
She swoops down low enough for View to feel her shoe graze her hair, and she blindly reaches up to grab at her ankle, but, and you already know, the vampire ducks away.
View is getting dizzy from all the chasing and turning, vision starting to become hazy, but her fingers tighten around her sword. She has to catch this stupid vampire.
She throws her sword in the vampire’s direction once more, like a dart. The sword flies towards the vampire, faster than it did the first time, and View holds her breath, almost believing that the sword would actually pierce right through the vampire.
Right before the tip of the blade comes into contact with Mim, she glides up and straight towards View, letting the sword fall from the sky. View wants to keep an eye for the vampire, but her sword is going to hit the ground blade-first.
She can’t be holding a broken sword.
Cursing under her breath, she dives forward to catch her beloved sword, but then a weight barrels into her back, causing her to stumble forward. Arms wrap around her neck and legs wrap around her waist, and with a sinking sense of dread, she realises that Mim has in fact caught her.
“Gotcha,” comes the vampire’s voice right beside View’s ear. “You lost.”