SLEEPSONG (BoyxBoy)✔️

Chapter 7

"I'm not like that," I instantly proffered, avoiding the glare he sent my way. "I'm seventy five years old, sure, but I've never been like that. I'm always careful, and--"

"You're a fluke," Sebastian coldly informed me, eyeing his blade. "You wanted to know why you're still alive, right? The reason is because you're the weakest vampire I've ever hunted down."

"I am?" I asked, not sure if I should be offended. 

"You are," he sneered. "I could feel it in your arms, and bones, and even body. You're weaker than a kitten pawing at a ball of yarn, which is abnormal. Regular vampires can throw cars across an entire city, and most importantly, they can't break free of my touch."

"Your touch?" I asked, confused; then I remembered the weird way my body had frozen. "Wait, are you talking about that weird power that made my whole body just stop for no reason?"

He clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing for a moment, before he gave a curt nod and said, "it's a gift that my kind alone can wield, a bane against leeches like you. It's completely unbreakable. Once caught, no vampire can ever escape from it. Their lives are over if we manage to touch them."

"Then how did I break free?" I asked, fearful and confused all at once. "If what you did is unbreakable, how did I break it?"

He turned his eyes on me, a vicious glare of amber.

"That is one of the reasons you're still alive," he said, licking his teeth like a predatory animal as he eyed me. "You're the first in recorded history to achieve it, and I need to know how you pulled it off. Once I have my answer, your life will likely come to an end, and I'll be on my way."

My stomach dropped out of my body.

"So," I said in a small voice, "either way, even if I... behave... you're going to kill me."

"Yep," he said, calmly, as if I had done nothing more than ask about the weather. I suddenly felt extremely tired, as if my body now weighed too much for me to hold up, and sagged into the couch. I let my head come to rest on the soft green suede, aching in so many ways, and went back to being silent, the only sound filling the air being the scraping of his knife.

It wasn't until a random thought crossed my mind.

"Maybe its because I've never bit anyone," I mumbled, half-lidded, mostly to myself; beside me, the scraping stopped. "That's how it always happens in books and movies. Even in Star Wars, the bad guys are always more powerful than the good guys. Maybe that's why I'm weak."  

"You're the furthest thing from good!" Sebastian spat, and I flinched, curling in on myself. "Don't delude yourself. You're just as filthy and wicked as any other bloodsucker I've met. You use the power of your voice to prey on people just like all the others do, albeit with their own unique powers."

"Unique powers?" I asked, puzzled; I looked at him. "What do you mean? Don't all vampires sing to put people in trances or make them fall asleep? You know, like sea sirens and stuff?"

"No," he growled, whetting his blade a bit more aggressively. "All vampires gain their abilities from the one who turned them. The powers themselves are what separate individual flocks."

"How many vampires are out there?" I asked, shocked. 

"You'll never know," he grunted, giving me a sly look. "You'll be dead before you can walk out that door, so don't even think about trying to run."

"Wasn't planning on it," I told him. "So, how many different vampire abilities are out there?"

"There are only four factions on record," he said grimly. "The ones who use psychokinesis, the flying vampires, the ones who can turn into mist, and the changlings, who can shift themselves into animals. They mostly choose creatures that have good senses, like bats and foxes."