Stained By Sin

ONE

Elara wiped the knife in her hand gently, cleaning it diligently as if it was some precious and fragile object. Anyone who would see her right now would think that knife was something she held dearly… something to be treasured… 

Wrong.

It wasn’t something Elara treasured. Instead, it’s something that she could carelessly throw and still kill someone. Her knives were not fragile, they were deadly.

And speaking of deadly, as soon as Elara sensed movement by her bedroom door, she immediately threw her knife on its general direction without looking. She didn’t have too. She never missed with her throws. 

Her welcoming gesture was answered by a low whistle that immediately made her smile. Looking at the now opened door, she saw her best friend, Aki, grinning widely at her. He was also holding the knife she threw at him, in between his fingers. 

Elara rolled her eyes at her friend because of his display of arrogance. However, his happiness didn’t escape her notice.

Aki very rarely smile like that so it piqued Elara’s curiosity. Also, her friend’s smile wasn’t just that of happiness – his eyes held an evil glint that made Elara shiver in anticipation. Mentally cursing herself, she realized she’d been leading her clan for too long now; pain was now not just a cause of disgust for her, but also of pleasure. 

“You seem happy,” she said, standing up. She felt her silken robes follow the fluidity of her movement, caressing her bare legs like a lover’s touch. 

Aki let his gaze roam at her body -- which, aside from her robes, was covered by nothing else but her underwear -- then let out another appreciative whistle. 

“Aki, I know I looked hot and all, but I asked you something,” Elara said curtly. She and Aki had been through a lot of tough times together, so seeing her almost naked -- and even actually naked, for that matter -- was not anything new for either of them. But still, she was the leader of this clan, and when she demanded answers, she’d get them. Regardless of who she demanded it from.

Her best friend was not an exemption.

Aki just smirked at her, before throwing the knife back. Raising her hand to catch it by the hilt, she paused on her tracks to wait for his response, raising an eyebrow for emphasis. She knew Aki all too well that she was sure he’d spill what’s in his mind soon enough. 

She wasn’t wrong. 

Aki entered her room like he owned it, sat on her couch, and then crossed his legs as he did. 

“I have a gift for you.” Elara’s already raised eyebrow twitched at his announcement. This guy never gave her any gift. Well, not the material kind of gift, anyway, but that’s beside the point. She crossed her arms, turned to face him then tap her foot in a display of impatience. 

“You can at least ask me what it is,” Aki sighed, clearly irritated that Elara wasn’t playing along. 

“Alright,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What is it?” 

“Well,” he paused. He took something from his pocket and threw it at her. “Smell it,” he instructed.

Catching the piece of cloth in her hand, she gave him a disgusted look before looking at the cloth. It seemed clean enough, though from what piece of clothing it came from, she couldn’t tell.

“Are you trying to pull a prank on me?” Elara asked, playfully baring her fangs at her friend. 

She stared at him, taking in his appearance, looking for signs that he was really teasing her. His black hair was messy; wind-blown. His cheeks were slightly red, which was so obvious because of his very pale skin. 

Even for a vampire, Aki had always been exceptionally pale. If he decided to wear a silver wig and a silver-colored contact lenses, he could even fool the Ivorys into thinking he was one of them. He’d even stand out in terms of paleness.

“So?” Elara asked again when Aki didn’t respond. He just frowned at her earlier question. 

Aki sighed in exasperation. He stood up and walked towards Elara. He wasn’t tall, but he wasn’t short either. His height was enough to tower over Elara, though, and it’s something he often took advantage of. He stopped in front of her, making Elara look up just so she could maintain their eye contact. Then, Aki leaned down, stopping only when his face was inches away from hers. 

“Do I look like I’m in a mood to pull pranks right now?” he tried to asked as seriously as he could, but his lips were dangerously close to forming a smile. 

In retaliation, Elara stood on her tiptoes, placed her lips closely on Aki’s ears before she whispered, “You know Aki, if you’re gonna ask something like that, please try and put on a straight face so it would look believable.” 

Taking a step back, Elara flipped her hair towards Aki before finally giving up and doing what he instructed her to do. She raised her hand to smell the cloth she was holding, though she was still a bit wary of it. 

The first thing she realized once the scent hit her was that this cloth was a piece of a shirt. It still held the scent of its owner, which was undeniably human. And also undeniably tasty.

The second thing that hit her was the scent mixed in with the human’s. It was of her kind; a vampire. It was a sweet scent, which clued her in about the vampire’s gender. But it also held a tinge of scent that was unique to purebloods. 

“Ivorys,” she growled once she realized that this human had been touched by the nemesis of her clan. “You took a human from the Ivorys? Are they feeding on this human?” she asked Aki, looking at him sharply. Incredulously. 

The scent of the female vampire on this human was too strong that she wouldn’t be surprised if the human was her personal blood bank. And by her, she meant the princess of that clan. 

Aki grinned, flashing his fangs at her. “I didn’t take their human cause he wasn’t their human. This guy is her human. That crybaby was reeking with the princess’ aura, it was obvious they’re mated.” 

“f**k. Me.” Elara said, taking a step back. The sudden news shocked her too much that her knees almost gave in. 

“Would you like me too?” Aki chuckled, in which she responded to with a glare. 

“You have got to be kidding me. Those losers now aren’t just protecting humans, they’re also pairing up with them? That’s nuts, not to mention hilarious!” Elara said before bursting out in laughter. When she sobered, she grinned at Aki and motioned for him to lead the way. “Show me this human.”

* * *

The human laid on Aki’s bed, sleeping like a baby. 

Elara stared at the human’s sleeping face. He was handsome; a combination of boyish features and manly looks. He was sleeping peacefully, like he wasn’t in a home of creatures that could devour him in less than a second. While she stared, the human began to move. At first, she thought he was awake, but he didn’t open his eyes. He just began to toss and turn on the bed, occasionally grumbling something incoherent. 

A smile threatened to escape Elara’s lips. She had to clamp her lips tightly shut to prevent it from showing. But when the human stopped what he was doing and continued to sleep like nothing happened, Elara lost it. She burst out laughing, her entire body shaking. 

“This man is so weird,” she blurted, glancing at Aki as she laughed. 

“Weirder still that the Ivory Princess decided to mate with him. I think all he has is a pretty face. You should have seen him running while crying. Pathetic.” Aki shook his head as if the idea amused him, but at the same time, disgusted him.

“You’re too harsh,” Elara said, sobering. “Why was he crying though? Do you know?” 

“Nope. Not a clue. Not that I care. All that matters now is that we have something we’ve always been looking for.” 

“A tool to bring the Ivorys down,” Elara said, looking back at the human again. 

As if on cue, the human began to stir, actually waking up this time. Elara and Aki watched as the human blinked his eyes a couple of times, yawned and stretched. Then, he opened his eyes fully and that’s when he realized that the two were in the room with him. 

He let out a loud scream while he scrambled away from them, grabbing the sheets on the bed to cover himself with it. 

Trying hard not to laugh, Elara cleared her throat – which made the human scream again – before she spoke. “What’s your name, human?” 

He didn’t seem to be listening, as he was too busy mumbling to himself. He was saying things like, “Please save me from these monsters... Someone… anyone…. Please don’t let these monsters eat me,” which left Elara torn between wanting to laugh and feeling insulted. 

She haven’t even tried to scare him yet, and he was already calling her a monster! Was she that ugly? She even used the most civilized tone she could muster so she wouldn’t scare him. And to top it off, she even changed her clothes into a more casual one. She was really trying to make him feel safe. 

Well, seems like that plan failed. Time to just enjoy teasing him, then.

She gave Aki a sideway glance. Aki nodded before leaving the room, knowing exactly what she intended to do.“

Don’t worry, human,” Elara said, making her voice sound low and husky. “I won’t eat you. Yet.” She let her sentence end with a promise that would be up to anybody’s imagination. 

“What? No… please, no!” the human screamed as he sobbed. 

Grinning, and thoroughly enjoying his frantic reactions, Elara slowly walked towards him. The human, in return, scrambled as far away from her as possible. 

“I wonder…” she said, baring her fangs a little, “what it is that made that little Ivory princess mate with such a pathetic human.” 

The human in question just kept crying like a baby, shivering and sobbing. He was hiding his face with his arms, as if doing it could save him from whatever horrors he was imagining would befall him. 

“Hmm…” Elara whispered as her knees finally touched the side of the bed. She put one knee on top of the bed, before slowly going down on all fours, gracefully crawling towards her prey like a cat. Licking her bared fangs sensuously, she grinned. When the human was trapped between her and the wall, she stopped crawling. “Was it just because of you looks?” she said before dipping her head down to his exposed ear, “Or was it because of your blood?” she continued, letting her breath tickle his ear. 

All it did was make him cry harder. 

Elara sighed. This guy was weak. She really had no idea what it was that the Ivory brat saw that she decided to mate with him.

Mating for vampires was a very serious thing, especially to purebloods. Unlike human marriages, mating means to forever be bound to your mate. They would need to drink their mate’s blood periodically, else their hunger would never be satisfied by just human blood. They would experience extreme thirst and hunger, regardless of how many humans they drain. They wouldn’t die from it, but it would cause an eternity of torture, and that was a fate most vampires considered something as worse than death.

Purebloods, on the other hand, were entirely different from the usual vampires. Though purebloods were the original sires of the very first vampires, and they managed to pass most of their traits to the humans they turned, the most important ability was never once passed on to any humans they had turned. The ability to conceive and bear a child. 

And that was also something mated purebloods could do. Purebloods could go at it as much as they wanted, but they had a natural birth control planted into their DNAs. But once they got mated, the female pureblood would start being able to conceive. 

Which was why Elara was very shocked when she found out that the Ivory princess mated with a human. Not only was that unheard of, it was also a very huge risk she took. If she wouldn’t turn the human and he dies, the effect of the mating would remain, and she would need to endure an eternity of suffering. 

Not only that, Elara wasn’t even sure if their mating would produce something. The purebloods were already scarce enough as it is. Mating with a human might do more harm than good to them. 

Not that it was Elara’s concern, though. 

Pushing those thoughts at the back of her mind, Elara returned her full attention the human in front of her. He was still crying, but he had calmed a bit. Did he think he wasn’t in any danger now? Or did he just grew tired of crying? 

Either way, Elara was relieved that his whimpering noises died down a little. She really hates it when someone shows signs of weakness, and humans were not exempted to it. 

Gently, Elara placed her hand on top of the arm that the human was covering his face with. Elara didn’t do gentle, but she wanted to make an exemption to this human since she knew scaring him would just irritate the s**t out of her. 

Plus, if she could seduce this human and turn him into an ally, it would make getting revenge easier.

If it didn’t work… well, her usual style would surely do that work. He’d be held captive down at the torture chamber while she used him as leverage to the Ivorys.

How he would be treated would all depends on how he would respond to her. He was pretty enough that she wouldn’t mind keeping him as her pet. Aki would probably mind, though.

Well, whatever. 

"What's your name?" she asked, eyeing him curiously. 

When the human didn’t respond to her question, she felt the annoyance starting to make its way up her system. 

As calmly, and as gentle as she could, she tried again. 

“You know, if you would cooperate with me, I swear no harm would befall you.” When the human still did not respond, she added, “If you are uncooperative, however… let’s just say I have already mastered the art of torture.” 

That seemed to effectively make the human cooperative. 

He slowly lowered his arm a bit, and peeked a little at her. “Jaiden,” he whispered, his voice breaking. 

Elara allowed herself a small smile, pleased that the human decided to go the painless route. However, the other part of her was disappointed that she wouldn’t be seeing any blood today. 

Banishing that dark side of her, she gently pushed Jaiden’s arm even lower, allowing his face to come into full view. He really did look gorgeous, even if his eyes were already puffy and red from all the crying. 

“Tell me, Jaiden. Why are so afraid of us? You are mated to a vampire, but you cry like this is your first time seeing our species?” 

Jaiden’s eyes widen in horror, as if he’d remembered something terrible, then began to tremble again in fear. 

“Oh my God… I didn’t even know she was a vampire! What have I done…” he kept on saying, tears starting to fall again from his eyes. 

Elara wanted to smack some sense into the guy, but she held back. She needed him on her side. She needed to deliver to the Ivorys all the pain possible. 

Instead of giving Jaiden a well deserved smack on the head, Elara plastered the most understanding expression she could manage on her face, then hushed him, slowly stroking his arm to give him comfort. 

“I’m so sorry to hear that. Were you tricked into this mating?” 

Jaiden shook his head. Then nodded. Then shook it again. 

“I don’t know… I’m so confused. She didn’t tell me anything about mating, but she didn’t force me into doing anything, as well… I just… Oh my God, I drank her blood…” he said, horrified. 

Elara briefly wondered how their blood tastes like to humans. 

In order for a vampire -- pureblood or otherwise -- to mate, they only needed to complete a very simple ritual.

Drink each others’ blood. 

That’s why mating with a human was very rare, if it even happened before the Ivory princess did it. Making a human drink a certain amount of vampire’s blood would cause them to turn into vampires as well. But drinking a minuscule amount would do nothing, not even bond the partners. 

This human must really be important to the Ivory princess, for her to be able to pull off mating with him.

No matter how much she hated the Ivory clan, she couldn’t help but admire such a feat. 

Jaiden seemed to have forgotten that Elara was also a vampire as he panicked on what it meant to be a vampire’s mate. Seizing this perfect opportunity to grow close to the human, she tried her best to calm him down. 

“Jaiden, I’ll explain to you everything you need to know as a vampire’s mate. Don’t worry, since you are human, it shouldn’t have that much of an impact to you. But you seem to pretty shaken right now, so… do you want me to leave?” Elara asked. 

Jaiden stopped mumbling and stared at her. 

“Well?” 

“Yes, please. Thank you,” Jaiden whispered while he watched her warily. 

Giving him the most reassuring smile she could manage, she got up of the bed and left the room. 

As soon as she was out of Aki’s room, Elara’s facade immediately fell off. Gone was the gentle smile, replaced by an evil grin. 

“You sounded so lovely back there,” Aki teased, grinning as he leaned his back against the wall. It was obvious he was listening in to Elara and Jaiden’s conversation. And by the looks of it, he was very, very amused. 

“I gotta do what I gotta do. While we were inside, I realized that turning him into an ally will be more beneficial to us than just keeping him as prisoner.” 

“Good point.” Aki threw a dagger at her, which she caught effortlessly. His expression suddenly turning from playful to serious. “Just don’t go getting overly fond of him. Don’t forget… he’s mated to the Ivory bitch.” 

Elara scoffed and rolled her eyes at Aki. “Who do you think I am? I can make him go crazy over me, but not the other way around.”