ALLURE OF THE NIGHT (C)

Chapters 111-120

Seeing the unwavering smile on Vincent's lips, Eve wondered if this saviour would turn into her murderer one day. Last night, her foot had bled, and after pulling the glass piece from her leg, he had sucked every drop of her blood from it.

Eve said, "I thought you just finished your breakfast."

"Just because one finishes breakfast doesn't mean that you cannot make a little space for your favourite dessert, does it?" He took a step toward her, and Eve took a deep breath without attempting to step backwards. Because she knew there was no point running. If Vincent wanted to catch her, he could catch her even after she left the town; and this was his house.

When Eve took a deep breath, she smelt a musky scent that came from Vincent and at the same time, there was something very breezy as if he had taken a walk near the sea. The next moment, she stared into his coppery brown eyes that stared into her blue ones.

"I have tasted blood from many. Uncountable if you ask me, yet there is something very intoxicating about the taste of your blood," there was a slight gleam with the way Vincent looked at her as if she was a delicious meal that he wanted to devour.

Eve looked around to ensure no one could listen to them in the corridor. She lowered her voice and asked him, "I have heard blood of my kind does that to vampires. Which is why people don't see mermaids or merman's walking on the land."

"Seems like what happened in the ballroom has upset you, Ms. Barlow," stated Vincent, his eyes keenly continuing to look at her.

Eve watched the vampire take a deep breath, and he closed his eyes as if recollecting the blood he had tasted and drank from her. This made her softly gulp.

"I saw the mermaid's body yesterday," her voice trembled when she remembered the mermaid's half body being taken to the mansion's kitchen. "You cannot expect me to be happy after seeing my kind being brutally killed. Would you be happy if you saw your kind being treated like that?"

"Do you want the truth?" Vincent drawled, getting a little closer and a smirk appeared on his face when he heard her heart hitch. "Everyone can go to hell."

"It isn't about the same kind, but one at least has a heart and conscience," blurted Eve.

He said, "I didn't know you thought so highly of me, Ms. Barlow. Or did something change?"

Eve's lips set themselves in a thin line. After Vincent had saved her last night from being killed and torn into many halves by the vampires or werewolves, she believed there was some goodness in him, something she might have overlooked in the past few days. But here they were, back to where they had started.

She said, "Every life is to be valued, Master Vincent. Every life matters because they come here like any of us and they have family and dreams. I don't know about you, but I am not someone who stands still and watches such horror as if it's nothing."

Vincent hummed as if he thought something deep and said, "And what if those dreams are one of evils? Let us say that the people who killed the mermaid were put under trials and were set to step up on the gallows of the town. Would you tell that their life matters too?"

"I believe people are capable of change if they try. I know it is something that needs to come from within. If a person is allowed to redeem, then why not?"

"And if they don't? What then? Are you alright with them finding more of your kind and butchering them for their own pleasure, Ms. Barlow?" Vincent raised his eyebrows and continued, "Your words are noble, but they are impractical. Unless you are willing to bend rules but you don't seem to be one who would do it."

Eve's jaws clenched, knowing Vincent's words were true, but at the same time, she didn't like how this world took the matters of others' lives as if they weren't worth it or worth saving. She retorted to his words,