Aoki The Vampire Elf (Part 5)

Aoki began to open his eyes slowly. Vision blurry at first as he smelled something warm. It was the scent of something he desperately desired to obtain. The scent of freshly warm blood was wafting in the air.

His fangs were bared as he began to lean up from the bed. An unfamiliar room around him as he gazed at Ashley. Nobody else was in the room with them. From all around the place was somewhere new to Aoki. It was the pope's personal bedroom. Inside of Aoki was a incredible pain that felt like it wanted to rip him apart from the inside out. His body was boiling and sweating. Unable to stop quivering from the pain he felt inside himself.

"Drink." Ashley grit his teeth as he passed the bowl of red liquid forward. From a glance he could see the violent look in Aoki's pink jewel eyes. The vampire would be willing to fight for the food and Ashley knew for a vampire that feeling was not a simple one. However that did not mean Aoki was someone he took pity on.

While watching Aoki snatch the bowl away and begin to chug the entire bowl down a cold gleam flashed in Ashley's eyes. He wanted to kill the vampire in front of him. That was something Ashley wanted to do from the moment he heard his master desired to mark Aoki just like himself. Was it jealousy that he would not remain the only servant to his master? Or was it his desire to ensure his master's safety? Ashley wasn't sure himself. He simply followed his master's word.

"Kek.." Aoki coughed as his body choked from drinking too quickly.

"Don't waste master's effort on you." Ashley scolded.

"What are you.." Aoki pondered for a moment as he realized something. Glancing down at the bowl he was drinking as a thought came to mind. "Should I thank him for going so far for something like myself?"

"I was telling you not to waste his effort. I never said anything about thanking him considering I wonder if you're capable of such thoughts." Ashley glared at the vampire sitting there.

Aoki's silver green hair hanging down over his eyes as he stared down into the bowl. Slowly raising it to his lips in order to drink carefully at it. It looked like his rationality was beginning to return as the food settled inside of him. The excruciating pain was also making it hard for him to focus on anything else but sating his hunger and ending the pain inside of him.

"Do you find me a heartless creature?" Aoki smiled at Ashley who was not hiding his cold gaze since his master was not around to see it.

"I have no opinion about you." Ashley stated before continuing. "I simply do not like you."

"Something tells me you have a hard time liking anyone." Aoki observed as his words felt like they stabbed Ashley's conscious. Sipping at the bowl after he spoke elegantly as if he was a born noble.

"You think master is wasting his time with you?" Ashley asked him after a while.

"Do you really think someone like me is worth wasting his time on like this? He wants to use me for Drethia, correct? I can already guess his purpose. Given my position that is the only thing about me he'd be interested in considering the history I've made for myself." Aoki did not hold back while talking about himself.

Ashley could recognize the face of a man running from something. While Aoki's face began to clear up from feeding from the bowl in his hands it was slowly becoming more clear as he spoke. Aoki was running from something himself. Nobody throws away everything they have in order to simply lock themselves away alone and hidden from the world. He would not pry but he could feel it was something truly hard on Aoki.

"Would you have rather died? The only alternative would have been for us to kill you. At least your life is extended for now." Ashley knew Aoki was marked for now however that did not mean his master had decided to keep him indefinitely. Aoki should be glad just to receive that bit of extra time.

"I wonder.." Aoki honestly hadn't thought about it. Should he be glad to be alive? He had never given into his own death in the past no matter what he went through. Though he was not sure if glad is what he should feel right now. After being marked as a servant to Vorbuk in order for them to spare his life the only thing he felt was conflicted.

"I don't care what you feel about the situation. You will be serving master starting from now.. If you ever.." Ashley's voice started to trail off as his gaze became extremely dark. "If you ever put master at risk.."

"Ashley! Everything alright in there?" A familiar voice called out from outside the door. It was his master checking on why he was taking so long.

A warm expression broke out across Ashley's face as he turned to leave the room. "Coming! Everything's fine, master~!"

"Hah?" Aoki found the sudden change disturbing. "Isn't your split personality a bit drastic?"

"At least my loyalty is firm." Ashley muttered his response without looking back.

"People are all the same. None of them are worth serving." Aoki felt disturbed thinking about giving his loyalty to someone else. Those that he has met throughout his life had always been ones that took advantage of his talents. They either experimented on him because of his rare ability or exploited him because of how useful his ability was for them.

"I will return to bring you out later. For now you are not to leave this room," Ashley opened the door and spoke the last words as the door closed. "If you leave without permission the dragon will beat you til you can't move again.~"

"Loyalty?" Aoki asked himself with a scoff as the door closed behind Ashley on his way out.

Did that vampire loose his mind after being marked?

How could I be expected to give my loyalty to someone else so easily after all this time?

Aoki had always felt alone in his life. Now that he had fed and his ability to think for himself before he acted started to return he felt the weight of his actions washing over him. He had done so many things in is life that he found it hard to picture himself being loyal to anyone anymore. Questioning himself on whether or not his existence truly held any worth. It was a boundless ocean of questions that he had asked himself many times before. It was impossible for someone to go through the things Aoki had without becoming damaged in some way.

Aoki felt as if his very existence was an unclean one and that drove the pain he felt from his servant's mark to remain even after his consciousness had completely returned. Being unable to accept the thought of Vorbuk as his master the mark would continuously send painful shocks throughout his body. At times he would flinch in a reflex but they were an amount of pain that was bearable for Aoki. He was able to ignore that much as if it wasn't happening to him.

This was something Aoki chose to remain silent about if others asked him in the future about his mark. As long as Aoki remained loyal outwardly and inwardly held no intent to kill his master the servants mark would not kill him. To keep his life he was willing to put up with working for Vorbuk to deal with Drethia in the future.

If it is this much pain, I can deal with it for now. Aoki thought to himself as he lay there on the bed. In the future, we'll see what happens..