My Most Precious Human

Chapter 17

I gasped and turned my head away from Sariel, unintentionally exposing my neck. He smirked, and

leaned even closer, nearly touching my skin. I could feel his cool breath. It gave me a tickling sensation

that quickly flooded my entire body.

"Your smell… It makes me want to devour you whole," he whispered seductively.

His words triggered my heart. It began pounding, uncontrollably. He chuckled.

"Don't get too excited or I won't be able to stop myself from sinking my teeth into your neck," he said,

smirking, then moved away from me.

I blushed. I couldn't help it. Everything about him was captivating me, to the point where I ignored all

my fear.

"When your heart is rushing, it increases your scent. It makes me want to mark you…" Sariel

snickered.

"To m-mark me?" I asked hesitantly.

"You know, to leave my teeth marks and make you mine," he explained casually while gazing straight

into my eyes.

Chills ran through my entire body, but the shivering I felt wasn't caused by anxiety. It was closer to

excitement. I couldn't comprehend my own reactions. My desire for him as a man could have been

even stronger than his desire for my blood… I wanted to slap my face just to silence those primitive

instincts he had awakened in me. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. There was no way I would

let myself submit to him that easily.

"Weren't you going to sink your teeth into me anyway?" I questioned, glaring at him.

He laughed, then returned to his side of the table and sat down, glancing at me.

"I don't force my donners to become them. They all do it willingly," he stated, painting an enticing smirk

on his face.

"I bet they do…" I muttered to myself.

Somehow, I felt irritated hearing about "all his donners". That made me want to know how many

donners were there exactly…

"I thought you wanted me to give you my blood. Wasn't that the reason you brought me here? Wasn't

that what you meant by saying that need to satisfy you?" I asked, daring him.

He chuckled while pouring himself a cup of tea.

"I was just teasing you. I brought you here merely because I was bored and curious about you.

Besides, you are the only living witness to what happened at the casino. It was better to make sure you

wouldn't talk," he tossed nonchalantly, then took a sip from his cup.

"Then… you don't want… my blood?" I couldn't understand why I felt disappointed.

He grabbed a fork and started eating his salad. I stared at him confused and waited for his answer.

"It's not that I don't want your blood. It's like I said, those who give me blood, they all do it willingly, and

they all signed contracts with me first," Sariel stated, then took another bite of the salad.

"I'm confused…" I muttered, staring at him, "You are eating…?"

"I like the taste of food. Vampires can digest it… up to a certain level," he explained.

"Then… what about blood?" I inquired.

"Usually, I drink it once every two or three days, but there are special times when the thirst gets

stronger, like at the full moon," he said, faintly smiling.

"And… your donners… and the contracts they signed…" I mumbled awkwardly, hectically trying to

come up with a reasonable question.

He burst out laughing, making me completely flustered.

Then he gazed deep into my eyes and said, "Fine, I will satisfy your curiosity. There are five women

living in this castle. They are all daughters of businessmen who kind of sold them in order to gain my

favor."

"D-did you... mark them all?" I surprised myself that I was able to voice out those words.

He stayed silent for a while, then slightly licked his lip while looking at me. My heart started to beat

faster again. I turned my eyes away from him to restrain my poor face from becoming the reddest of

reds. I heard him chuckle.

"Their blood is collected and put into blood bags. I never drink directly from them because that would

be… troublesome," he sighed.

My mood suddenly improved, even though I was still unable to understand my weird, unexplainable

enviousness.

"Why would it be troublesome?" I continued my questioning.

He gazed at me seductively once more.

"Biting someone raises sexual tension in the one who is biting as well as in the one being bitten."

At that moment, I wanted to shoot my own imagination for displaying all sorts of disturbing images

inside my head… naked and lustful images. I couldn’t look Sariel in the eye even more. I clenched my

teeth, grabbed a knife and a fork, and then decided to focus on the poor soft-boiled egg that had

already turned cold.

"You don't have to be so nervous. I do not intend to do anything to you. You are a guest here. I just

need you to do one thing for me, and then you may leave whenever you want," he said, then finished

eating his salad.

I hid my slightly hurting ego under a smile. Then I realized how pathetic it might have sounded that I felt

disappointed because he didn't want to suck my blood!

"Lilith, get a hold of yourself! You have never had those kinds of strange urges towards anyone, and

there is no reason to develop such urges now!" I rebuked myself in my head.

I kept eating breakfast, avoiding his gaze as much as I could. At first, the fact that he didn't want to

keep me by his side overshadowed every other word he said, but then I started to process what I had

heard…

"You said… you need me to do something for you… What is it about?" I asked with a bit of uncertainty

in my voice.

"It's nothing major. All I need you to do is to testify in front of the Great Council and tell them how they

imprisoned all of you and were trying to sell you," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

I gulped and put down my knife and fork.

"The Great Council… What is that?"

"It's a sort of supreme court for vampires," he replied casually.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that everyone who organized the auction died inside the novelbin

casino…" I stated, with my heart pounding.

"The Diamond Crown Casino complex is owned by the Adragna family. It's one of the five grant noble

families in the vampire world. Auctions like the one you unfortunately saw are what they were doing to

gain an enormous profit. The one in the casino had been organized for years, but only recently have

we found solid proof and a certain date. Of course, we knew that none of the members of the family

would risk coming to the auction personally, but they were all, in fact, the real culprits. In short, I need

you to testify against them," he explained.

"I see…" I muttered while clenching my fists.

I wasn't sure how I would react to seeing those people responsible for the deaths of all those girls and

Carla. On the other hand, hearing Sariel's words, it was clear that the Adragna family was influential

and powerful. Testifying against them could become dangerous, but if they could be punished thanks to

my testimony, I would tell about everything that had happened as many times as it would be required of

me.

There was one more issue that I couldn't get off my mind. I kept wondering what the creatures were

that actually killed those girls. I wasn't an expert, but it didn't look like it could have been done by

vampires, but what if I was wrong? Could someone like Sariel have been capable of doing something

as horrible as those murders?

"Um… My friends…" I started hesitantly, "I saw their bodies being torn apart. They looked like they had

been bitten… but it resembled an attack by some wild beasts… Was it really done by vampires?"

Sariel sighed, then gazed at me with a serious expression.

"The vampires responsible for something like that must have been degenerates. Their bloodlust drives

them absolutely mad. I bet that someone must have let them into the room with your friends to destroy

all the living proofs, but they were too late and didn't even cover their tracks."

I smiled painfully. If I wasn't the last one to be sold at the auction, it would have been my body ripped to

shreds in that room. Perhaps the one who had leukemia was actually lucky enough to die a quick death

instead of a gruesome and painful one. I started to hope that the punishment for those bastards who

were behind this would make them suffer as much as the ones who had died because of them.

I lowered my head and got lost in my excruciating thoughts. For a while, I stayed silent and motionless

for a while.

"Would you like some coffee?" Sariel suddenly asked, breaking me out of my reverie.

He didn't wait for my answer. He snapped his fingers, and the servants immediately appeared, bringing

a cup of coffee for me and him. I bet he did it just so I would get my mind off of depressing thoughts,

and he succeeded. As soon as I looked into his eyes, all the dark thoughts vanished.

"I love coffee. I regret that I couldn't taste the one you made at the café," he sighed, took a sip, then

smirked, glancing at me.

He made me flustered once more. That flirting game he played started to get on my nerves slightly.

"Perhaps you should have just drunk my coffee back then…" I smirked.

"I wanted to, but unfortunately I had to run… literally," he chuckled.

"Was somebody chasing you?" I became curious.

"Let's just say that I decided to skip my duties as the Duke with freshly inherited title and went

sightseeing instead of joining the boring council. The ones chasing me were actually Leo and his men,"

he explained, grinning.

I chuckled. I instantly imagined poor Mr. Gotha running after his master and looking for him all over

Sunnybridge Town.

"It's good to hear you laugh. You should do it more often." He winked at me.

The level of my flusteredness had drastically risen. At the same time, I truly wanted to punch myself for

acting this way. No guy had ever made me act like I was emotionally unstable… even back when I was

a teenager with my hormones all over the place.

Suddenly, he stared deep into my eyes, making me completely unable to take my eyes off of him, "Now

then, I would really like to hear… Why were you chased by werewolves?"

I gasped and smiled awkwardly, “Well… where should I begin…?”