The Underground (2)

Olivia continued to gaze at him but her confusion was unaddressed. Instead, Alexander was the first to break away without saying a word.

After a while, Lucian had finally emerged from the crook of the waiters neck, the waiter lying on the vampire's chest limply.

"What about you, Alexander? Thirsty?" Lucian asked as he offered the waiter over.

"No need."

Lucian's gaze flitted between Olivia and Alexander, "I guess you already have your supply ready."

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed at his words. She truly hated being referred to as some sort of product.

Seeing that Lucian continued to stare at her so blatantly, she rolled her eyes and finally picked up the drink that had been sitting on her lap for quite some time.

Once she took a sip however, her face instantly soured from the bitterness and pushed down the urge to cough several times. Just what had Alexander passed her?

At the corner of his eye, Alexander could see Olivia's actions and couldn't help but smile to himself. His long arms reached over and took the glass out of her hands, swapping her cup with his own.

"This one tastes better."

Olivia looked down at the half empty drink, now being firmly held in her hands, before looking at her own cup that was held in his.

She turned around and glared at him, "Why did you give me that in the first place?"

Alexander gave a small chuckle at the angry little girl beside him and slightly squinted his eyes before playfully replying, "A whim."

Olivia stared at him for a few more seconds before scoffing and downing the rest of the drink in one gulp.

Lucian, on the other hand, had a rather big shock. His eyes shone with mischievousness as he watched Alexander interact with his Giver. 'Was Alexander always this… playful?'

Suddenly, a loud high pitched whistle broke out, causing the room to fall into silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's now time for our annual trading game."

Once the announcer had finished his words, the whole room had become broiled in excitement.

"Are you joining in, Alexander? If not, then excuse me. I better go and prepare," Lucian pushed off the dazed waiter and scurried away. His eyes were wild while his lips etched into a wicked smile.

"What are they trading?" Olivia asked as she continued to watch everyone hustle towards the tables that had just been set up.

"Givers."

Olivia's eyebrows rose slightly before asking hesitantly, "You can trade…Givers?"

"It's a rather popular sport," Alexander coolly replied as he faced the front.

A few moments later, Alexander stood up, "Let's go and watch."

Olivia's current expression was quite the sight. She didn't really know what to think, rather, she was thinking of exactly why Alexander had brought her here.

When they got closer to the middle, Alexander secured himself two seats and Olivia sat down next to him.

He could see that something was slightly off about the girl, "Why? Do you think I brought you here to trade you off?"

Olivia did not look at him, neither did she reply back. She kept her face expressionless as she looked at the players taking their seats. In fact, she didn't really know how to reply to his question. If he truly did take part in this trade-off, what exactly could she do? Attempt to run away?

Alexander not having heard a sound from her, looked to his side and found that the young girl seemed rather stifled and unusually silent. Seeing her like this, he felt surprised.

"You really think I'm going to trade you?" He asked once again, his voice taking a dip lower.

"It's up to you."

"And you'd allow that to happen?" Alexander probed curiously.

"Well, it's not like I could change anything," Olivia replied with a sigh.

She then abruptly turned to look at him, a soft and gentle smile on her face, "But I'd definitely come back and take revenge on you. I've done it once and I think it's rather easy to do it again."

Alexander had almost missed most of the words she had said, his eyes focused purely on her red lips. Even under the dim lights, they seemed fresh and luscious.

When he came to, he gave a deep and low laugh, "Did I not tell you? I don't like giving away my possessions."

Olivia paused for a brief moment before scoffing, "Since when was I yours?"

Alexander did not expand on his sudden declaration, while Olivia pushed to sort out her now puzzled mind.

"Would the Master's like to begin?"

The participating vampires soon walked out front, placing each of their Givers on their respective tables.

The humans on the table were dolled up and put in fine clothing. Probably the only fine clothing they had seen in the last few years. While some of them looked fearful, others looked nervous and a few brave ones tried their best to look the part.

"I'll trade my Giver, fresh from the south, for the one on table 3," One vampire shouted out from the crowd.

The owner of table 3 pondered for a while as he looked at his own Giver. His brows knotted in deep concentration. Unlike the others, his Giver hadn't gotten that many offers, so now he was contemplating whether to take the offer.

"Did you bring them with you?" The owner questioned.

"Of course. You, stand up clearly so he can see you." The vampire dragged a dark brown boy in front of the crowd.

Once he emerged, the boy looked emotionless and numb. Nothing could be seen on his face, neither fear nor nervousness. One could say he had been especially tamed by his master.

The owner examined the goods in front of him. The boy was rather good looking and had a beautiful set of hazel eyes that the owner just could not get enough of. Not only that, his skin looked smooth without any blemishes. Needless to say, the owner was immediately sold.

Once he made up his mind, he dragged his Giver off of the third table and exchanged them for the stoic boy.

Olivia watched the whole debacle from her seat. Such practises didn't exactly sit well with her. She felt as if she was watching chickens being sold off. Then again, the vampires were no different to those awful nobles. In some circumstances, the nobles actually treated their slaves even worse than the vampires.

Like that, the trading continued in the same manner. Some of the Givers that were placed on to the tables were heavily sought after, especially the ones that looked docile and dainty. It seemed that a number of factors played when the vampires chose their preferred Givers. While some looked for the submissive ones, others looked for the most beautiful.

Afterwards, Olivia found herself to be drifting off and not paying attention to the farce being played in front of her. As her eyes roamed around, she had noticed that not everyone had come to trade or watch others trading. A few of them were with their own Givers, enjoying themselves a small snack.

In a particular corner, Olivia noticed two people. But as she watched, her eyes continued to widen further. What caused her reaction was due to two vampires. At first, Olivia had thought that the one being fed on was surely human, but to her surprise, it was another vampire.

"Can vampire's feed on one another?" Olivia asked Alexander, highly bewildered.

Alexander looked around before his gaze locked on to the two people she was peeping at.

"Not all vampires do this. Only a small percentage feed on each other. They see it as a sort of delicacy," Alexander replied, his eyes slightly narrowed.

Olivia's hand subconsciously touched her own neck as she watched the vampire that was being fed on, flush red. Alexander caught on to her action and gave a deep smile.

He inched closer to Olivia while her attention was divided, his lips close to her ear, "Do you want to know how it feels again?"

Olivia felt hot air near her ear lobe but did not dare to turn around. The clear sound of his low voice right next to her ear and his sudden closeness, brought about an erratic beat of her heart and sent a tingle down her spine. She took a small breath amidst her daze, trying to calm down her thoughts, before mustering the energy to turn around.

"No thank you. That experience was rather painful after all," Olivia did not dare to look anywhere else other than at his crimson eyes.

At the moment they were extremely close. So close that Olivia could see the intricacies of his facial features. His dark and shapely eyebrows as well as the high bridge of his nose. One thing that particularly caught her eye was her own reflection in those glowing red pupils. The sole thing that she could see was… herself.

Speaking of experiences, Alexander only had limited memory on what had exactly occurred that day. Listening to her recount now, it seemed that he hadn't been the gentlest on her. Truthfully, he could only recall a few bits and pieces. One thing that he could say however, was that the fragrance of her body, the softness of her skin and her warmth, had long been etched into his mind. Some nights, all his brain could regurgitate, were the same few images of the blood trickling down her neck, leaving an extremely tempting trail.

Alexander reached out his hand and tucked away the loose strands of hair behind her ear. His fingers dipped down into her collar, caressing the side of her neck, "Next time, I'll make it feel better. Hmm?"

Olivia sucked in a sharp breath once his fingers made their way under her collar. Feeling the cool feeling on her skin, she could not help but avert her eyes except after hearing his words, she leaned back to unhand herself from him, "I'll have to decline your offer. If I may remind you, you still owe a favour to me."

"Oh, a favour?" Alexander looked down at his slightly warm fingers, his index and thumb rubbing together to try and remember the softness of her skin.

Alexander neither denied nor accepted her notion of 'favour', instead he asked, "What do you ask for?"

Olivia rubbed her lips together slightly, her mind was running a few thousand thoughts per second but nonetheless, she looked up at him before answering, "I'll tell you at a later date."