Aftertaste | J.JK

We Are The Contest

Contest?

When the truck roars to life, I tug the hood of my jacket over my head as I trace the vehicle with my eyes. Questions flash through my mind as I follow the truck, careful to commit its route to memory.

Contest.

What contest?

The truck drives its way out of the neighborhood, towards the more rural part of the city. Filled with trees and forests— unlike the extermination centers I'd expected.

My curiosity only grows, along with the warning in my fingertips.

I keep myself covered and shadowed as I trail the truck, careful to not leave anything that could be tracked by the hunters.

Shock numbs my thoughts as it drives behind a hidden cavern, wide and so expertly concealed that even my vampiric eyes wouldn't have caught the entrance.

I feel exposed for the first time as I enter the cave, watching the truck's floodlights disappear down the corner.

As soon as I weave through the twisted tunnels, I hear the faraway sound of screaming. No— not screaming. Not screaming at all.

The sound of cheering.

The truck stops right in a lot, filled with more trucks identical to the one I'd trailed. When the three hunters pull out the caught vampire, I realize that the vampire isn't struggling at all.

Drugs.

Of course.

My silver eyes glow softly in the dark as I watch them disappear through a hallway, towards the sound of the cheering. There're several openings— several entrances carved into the stone.

What is this place?

When I've made sure that I'd put enough distance between myself and them, I rush through the dim hallway. My heart pounds as I get closer— closer to the eerie noise of cheering.

Then light suddenly spills through the darkness.

Confusion.

Terror.

My breath catches in my throat as I see hundreds of people— gathered in the stands below where I'm standing, screaming and waving crazily.

And in the middle is a cleared space, spattered with dark red that I can only discern as blood.

Blood.

Why were there so many people gathered here?

Then all of a sudden, a loud, annoying voice pulls my attention to the right of the massive chamber, where there's something like a podium.

"Are we ready for the match of the night?" The man yells into a device, his voice excited through the gigantic space of the cavern. Not long after, his announcement is followed by the thunderous roars of more cheering.

Match?

Then like a puzzle piece, everything clicks into place. The contest that the hunters had been talking about. The vampires that they'd abducted, and the hundreds gathered here chanting and yelling.

We are the contest.

Horror grips my throat as the man laughs into his speakerphone, voice full of malice and anticipation.

"Tonight, ladies and gentlemen," He shouts, waving at the bloodstained arena with murderous glee.

"I introduce to you the reigning champion— welcome Strix, Reaper of Blood!"

The chanting grows louder as a part of the arena slides open, revealing a vampire clad in darkness. Almost instantly I can smell the insanity, the calamity with his pure white eyes.

Injections.

There was no doubt about it— they'd injected some kind of drug— some kind of substance to let loose the instincts and reflexes of vampire. To make them more murderous, more capable of brutality.

For entertainment.

I suddenly feel sick, my senses burning as the announcer introduces the other competitor. This was an extermination center after all. This was the place where the vampires had been sent to, if they were caught.

Where V hyung had nearly been sent to be Suppressed.

V hyung could have been the one standing there, Oceania eyes burning ice blue with murder and bloodlust.

I watch with my blood running cold as the two collide, a mass of claws and fangs as they each battle for victory. The crowd goes wild with every strike, every drop of blood that hits the ground.

Anger rises in my throat, and my eyes run over the people cheering for this madness. It doesn't surprise me to find gold and semiprecious stones dangling off every inch of their body.

Dressed in silk and velvet, tailored by the finest. All rich, powerful people. Influential— and therefore unable to be trusted, to be forgiven.

With the roars of the crazed vampires down in the arena and the blood spraying the walls, I don't stay to watch what happens. I've already seen enough— felt enough.

"Hey!"

My body jerks as I realize I'm caught in the middle of a flashlight beam— and two hunters on the end. A curse escapes my lips as I realize I'd been too distracted by the arena.

Kill them.

Silverblue burns through my irises as my fangs flash from my lips, deadly and glinting murder in the light. I catch one of them holding a gun— another holding a weapon that I'd been hoping not to see.

Electric.

A growl echoes from my chest as I lunge, aiming for the electrifier first. I could survive a gunshot wound— but this one, I wasn't certain.

With one hand, I crush the weapon. With the other, I break the man's neck with a clean snap.

Something burns through my shoulder, bringing heat and pain that only fuels on my bloodlust. Not even bothering to look at where the bullet had torn through, I twist— smashing my fist into the second hunter's chest.

I hear bone break— feel his still-beating heart shatter into nothing underneath my strike.

Die.