015: PATHETIC HUMANS

015: PATHETIC HUMANS
Cassian has never believed in love, never felt the need to love and be loved; that’s why he keeps blowing Thalor off in his so-called claims of love.

Cassian has always been filled with anger and the urge to make every living vampire pay and to find his brother. He has lived every day, waiting to be sent into the vampire city, training and preparing; he has never had the time to fall in love with anyone. He doesn’t love it and doesn’t care about it.

Cassian walks down the long hallway that leads to Alastor’s personal office, carrying a tray with a teapot and a cup, just like Elowen advised, just as the little vampire told him he would be able to win Alastor’s heart.

Get closer to him. Make him feel comfortable. Make him tea.

Cassian had no idea vampires drank tea other than blood. Apparently, they drank whatever made them feel human, and Cassian will make tea if that will get the vampire lord to soften around him.

When he arrives at the office door, he doesn’t bother knocking, knowing the vampire inside already knows he’s the one.

He pushes the door and enters, careful not to spill the tea despite the tension tightening his chest.

Cassian’s stoic gaze immediately lands on the man behind his seat, a cigar trapped between his lips. He raises a questioning brow at the sight of Cassian, while the blue-eyed human only gulps the lump in his throat because he can still remember the last time he was in this office.

The memory has a strong hold on his throat and brain. He can’t forget. His steps almost waver as he advances on the man behind his desk.

Alastor exhales slowly, smoke curling from his lips as his gaze drags over Cassian, from the careful way he balances the tray on the table to the cold set of his shoulders as he straightens his posture.

Alastor’s questioning brow rises higher as his gaze drifts from the tray to Cassian’s blank face. “What is this?” he finally asks calmly.

Cassian blinks, realizing this is a stupid idea, but he responds anyway. “Tea,” he says simply.

“Tea.” Alastor repeats with amusement thick in his voice, and a little laugh erupts from his throat. He leans his body forward, staring at Cassian with twinkling eyes while his lips curl into a smirk. “You think tea will make me like you more?”

Cassian stops his breath from hitching, clenching his hands beside him. “You overheard my conversation with Elowen.”

Alastor tsk and shakes his head. “The wall listens for me, petal.”

Vampires have sharp hearing, and Alastor is a pureblood vampire, which means he has sharper senses. Cassian’s eyes widen. Does that mean he knows every conversation Cassian has had with Oscar? Does that mean he knows Cassian’s plans to get revenge on every living vampire? “What else did you hear?” he finds himself asking before he stops the words from coming out of his mouth, his eyes hard and penetrating.

Alastor’s eyes glint, and he leans back in his seat, taking a drag of his cigar while watching Cassian. “Go ahead, serve the tea; it’s getting cold, little human.”

Cassian stops himself from flinching as he blinks rapidly. His gaze pierces through Alastor’s face a little longer, his hands clenching so hard that his knuckles turn white. With a clenched jaw, he slowly grabs the jug, his hands slightly trembling, and Alastor notices, but instead of cupping the tea into the cup, Cassian pours the hot liquid on his finger. 

With a pained hiss, he lets go, and the jugs fall to the ground, shattering into pieces while Cassian grasps his burning fingers, but Alastor doesn’t move; he only smirks and takes a drag of his cigar.

Cassian looks at the shattered pieces on the floor with wide eyes. Immediately, he gets down and starts picking every shred.

Alastor scoffs. “You humans are pathetic.”

Instantly, Cassian’s hand freezes over a broken piece, the sharp edge pressing into his skin, but he doesn’t move. He doesn’t even breathe for a second, the words hitting harder than they should.

“Pathetic.” Cassian repeats quietly, then lets out a bitter scoff as he snaps his head to glare at Alastor. “If your kind hadn’t been so cruel to make humans your prey and meal, we wouldn’t be so pathetic. You could have taken the cities, you could have taken everything, you knew we were powerless over you, you didn’t have to touch our lives, but you destroyed us, took everything from us, and made us extinct!”

Alastor doesn’t interrupt him, and that feels more dangerous than anything. He lets him speak.

Cassian’s chest heaves as the words spill out, years of rage clawing their way free as his fingers curl tighter around the shard, the edge biting into his skin now, a thin feel of pain coursing through him as his voice shakes despite his effort to keep it steady.

“You didn’t just win,” Cassian continues, eyes burning as he glares up at the vampire lord. “You hunted us, turned us into livestock, and made surviving so hard, and then you look at us and call us pathetic?”

In a flash, Alastor leaves his seat, appearing in front of Cassian with supernatural speed, his hand reaching out to grab Cassian’s face roughly and pulling him in with a dangerous glint in his eyes that makes Cassian gulp, but his blues do not yield for a moment, and they do not look away from Alastor’s dark ones.

Alastor’s grip is brutal, his fingers digging into Cassian’s jaw, thumb pressing hard enough against his cheek to hurt. “You seem to forget how your life is only running by a thin thread, petal?”

“I’ve survived this long in your world; death doesn't scare me. I consider it an escape from your cruelty,” Cassian counters, pushing back the fear in his voice to the back of his head.

Alastor stares at him silently, studying his face as if it’s the most difficult puzzle in the world, then slowly, his lips curl into an amused smirk while his eyes glimmer with mischief. Slowly, he leans his face closer to Cassian’s, his breath warmly brushing the human’s face. 

“You want to know why you humans lost everything…?” he starts in the most taunting voice while his hand does not release from Cassian’s face. “We hunted you, fed on you, and destroyed your world not because we needed to but because we could.”

The words land like a blade to Cassian’s chest while his eyes suddenly shine with unshed tears of anger and rage.

“You want to know why your kind is extinct?” Alastor continues to whisper close to Cassian’s face. “It’s because you humans are weak, and destroying you is like stepping on little stones, and you, I could take that little life in you faster than you could blink, petal. I don’t think I need to remind you again why I still keep you alive.”

Cassian doesn’t need a reminder; he knows he’s a pet. He knows he’s just prey. He doesn't need to be reminded.

After staring at him as if he could see through his soul, Alastor finally lets go with a gentle push and rises to his feet, standing tall and mighty, staring down at Cassian as if he’s nothing more than the dirt under his feet.

“Go take care of yourself, petal. Look less pathetic, will you?”

With that, Alastor turns, and with another word, he walks out of the office, leaving Casasian there, in the mess of broken glass and bruised fingers.

And at that moment, the only thing Cassian feels is hatred and anger.