Chapter 16 — The Hunt

(Silas)

Austin, Texas…

“FORGIVE ME, Your Majesty. It looks like His Highness won the hunt again. He beats us to it again.”

I grinned when I heard the disappointment in my driver’s voice. I didn’t wait for him to open the door anymore. When I stepped out of the car, I saw three more cars from the Vampire Knights who just arrived as well. From where I was standing, I heard them all groan.

Ever since Cain decided to join the hunt, the Knights had become nothing but mere spectators. And since today was my day off, I decided to join as well. Just like what Cain and I used to do, we made a bet. The one who would eliminate the most Rogues today would win. For the past few hours, we became busy visiting the Rogues’ hideout. This was supposed to be the last target for the day that’s why this place would determine the winner. According to the report, there were about thirty Rogues inside this old two-story house.

But Cain’s motorcycle was already parked in front of the house when we arrived. He was still the same. Not long after and the entire house exploded. And then Cain came out. He had no weapons and no aide. His shirt was filled with blood, but I was sure that the blood was not his. He didn’t even have bruises.

Cain also grinned upon seeing me. Things had been so much better ever since he woke up. In just two months since Cain joined the hunt, all the Rogues had been eliminated. This also marked the last day of the hunt because the rebels inside the house were the last Rogues.

As a Mage, Cain had a special ability to trace them. The Knights had been trying to chase all the Rogues down for more than a year now, but Cain ended it in just two months. I would never mind losing like this if it was for a good cause.

Besides, from the beginning, I knew that there was no way I could ever defeat my best friend. I was just here for the fun itself and to exercise. The last time I joined the hunt was a hundred years ago. I was with Cain at that time, too. And I missed this. I missed the thrill of hunting and I missed my best friend.

“The Knights rushed here to take the Rogues to the Moon Tower but it looks like all they could take are ashes now,” I told him as I glanced at the house that was still burning until now. It was far from the humans. And even if there were humans around, I’m sure Cain would make a way so they wouldn’t be affected.

Amidst the man’s beastly way of dealing with the rebels, no humans had been hurt or inconvenienced all throughout his expedition. That was Cain’s trademark, something that the Knights were yet to learn.

He shrugged. “I clearly had my men deliver the message that if those sons of bitches surrender, I will be generous enough to send them to the Moon Tower. But if they continue to run away and I happen to be the one to catch them, I will send them to hell myself. This happened because they did not take my words seriously.”

I chuckled when I saw how the Knights swallowed hard, including my driver, because of what they heard from him. I’m aware that every time Cain was around, these men would nearly piss their pants. My best friend may appear merciless when it came to the people who cross him but he had a reason. Contrary to what others thought, Cain always had his reasons.

“I can smell gasoline from you. It looks like you are still trying your damnedest to avoid using magic until now. You did not use your magic to burn the place down,” I said, still amused.

“Natasha asked me to stop using my abilities as a Vampire-Mage hybrid whenever I’m outside the Vampire Community,” I suddenly remembered Cain saying on his first day of hunting. We were at the bar that night, drinking. That bar was exclusive for Vampires only. And we occupied the entire second floor. Whenever they would see Cain, nobody, not even the members of the Council, would try coming up here anymore.

“What?” I asked, shocked. “And why is that? Magic makes everything more convenient, especially for you. I know you. You hate hassles.”

“And I still do. But Natasha said that if humans see me use magic, they would get traumatized. They might fear me or hate me and… she said she did not want me to be hated,” he replied before emptying the wine in his glass.

We had been friends for hundreds of years, but this was the first time that Cain confide in me again. I had to take advantage of this so I could tease him a lot later. “And you said ‘yes’ to her?”

Cain poured wine in his glass once again. “No. Of course not. Why would I give a damn about other humans’ opinion of me? You know me. Instead, I asked her what would happen if I say ‘no’.”

“And?”

“Well, Natasha said she will not be able to stop me if I would insist but she will be sad, damn it. As if I care.” He massaged his temples. He looked so frustrated and it was funny. “I don’t have plans of following her. That wasn’t a part of our agreement anymore. To hell with that! Why would I even follow a human’s order? I am not Natasha’s slave! Who cares if she gets sad? Who does she think she is?” Cain’s glass cracked. A few seconds later and it was broken into pieces. “That’s what I thought. But this afternoon when I went hunting and I was about to throw fire using my hands at the abandoned factory where the Rogues had been hiding, her face popped in my mind and then the fire disappeared.”

“So, Natasha being sad does matter to you, after all.”

Even this moment was rare, too. That was probably the longest thing I had heard from him. Nobody could ever make Cain talk this long after he became a Mage.

“Oh, hell. Surprisingly, it matters. It fucking matters to the point that my hands froze at that moment. And I don’t even know why. Maybe I just didn’t like imagining Natasha’s disappointed face.”

That meant that Cain only used his bare hands to fight the Rogues today. That was not surprising anymore. He was not only a Vampire-Mage. Cain used to be a trained soldier, too. In fact, he used to be a General of the Army. I also knew that in just two months, he was able to find a way to remove Natasha’s mark on him. That was how quick and sharp he was.

If only Cain removed the mark, he could have escaped his fate. But to my surprise, he didn’t do it.

From the beginning, there was a ‘mate’ destined for every Vampire and Wolf. Each of us could only have one mate for the rest of our eternal lives. And the Vampires refer to that as ‘Marker’ because of the mark those people bring on our bodies. Vampires and Wolves had different ways of identifying their mates. For werewolves, it was often related with their heat period. For the Vampires, it was always after their bodies were united with that special person. And then, our marks would appear afterwards. It was usually a chained mark which would chain our lives with that person.

Every time our Marker was in pain, it would tug our hearts. Resisting our Markers would also lead us to pain whether emotional or physical. The union between Vampires was so much easier compared to the union between Vampires and humans. Being with humans was actually tricky because they could mark the Vampires without being aware of it but the Vampires could never do it to humans without blood sharing. That’s why even if there was a human destined for a certain Vampire, if that human wouldn’t choose him, only the Vampire would remain attached to her.

The humans could always choose someone else without having any emotional bond as long as it was convenient for them. We had proven that many times. That was how we view most of the humans. And because their lives were short, they would die unless they agreed being marked, too, which would only happen with blood sharing. Only then would humans get to live as long as their Markers.

Vampires could read minds. But we didn’t have the ability to read the minds of our Marker. In the union between Vampires and humans, humans have a lot more to gain. One was protection from other creatures because others would be able to smell the scent of the Vampires who were linked in a particular human. The higher the ranking of the Vampire, the higher the protection that human would gain. Just like Natasha and Cain’s case. For the Vampires, their Marker was not only their fated partner. They were also their equal. That’s why the supernatural beings respected Natasha the same way they respected Cain which made her the most precious human in the world next to my wife. Their subordinates would be more than willing to cater to every single need of those humans.

Although Cain’s case was different since his Marker was now the only person capable of killing him because of his curse. But one look at Natasha and I knew that the woman was incapable of hurting Cain. She was a good woman. And my instinct was never wrong.

I stared at my best friend. The entire Council would rejoice at the sight of Cain like this. He looked bothered for the first time.

“I don’t really understand you, you know,” I said while shaking my head. “The first time we talked after you woke up, you were so adamant about having your mark removed. But three full moons had passed and you are still with your Marker. According to the Mage’s book, you can only remove the mark until the third full moon and that was after being marked. You are on top of the food chain and you have magic, too, Cain. You can leave now whenever you want to. After all, Natasha’s now with Adam. The Riveras are now in good hands. You have accomplished what you needed to do.”

“You are right,” Cain answered. His mind seemed to be drifting away while looking at his wine glass. “I should have walked away while I still could. But I found myself embracing Natasha instead and giving her my oath. I must have been out of my mind that night.”

“You hate being emotionally swayed by people. And yet, you let that once in a lifetime chance to slip away. Now, you would be linked with your Marker for eternity.”

Cain was like a brother to me and I wanted him to be happy, too. I wanted him to experience the joy of having a partner and a family. And Natasha could give him that. When I held her hand the first time I saw her, I immediately knew that she would be able to bear children if she were to accept her fate as a Marker and participate in the blood-sharing ritual.

It would have been nice if Cain was beginning to like his Marker but that would be impossible as of the moment. He didn’t have the capacity to feel anything special towards anyone unless his curse would be lifted.

Besides, it was love itself that changed Cain; it was what made the Beast who he was now. That’s why I know that if he could, he would avoid love at all costs.

He was quiet for several minutes before he opened another bottle of wine. “Silas, you are curious, right? You have many questions. But so do I. I have been contradicting myself a lot these days. I know exactly how this story goes. I am too familiar with this. And I know that stories like this do not usually end well.”

I sighed. “Yet, you are staying for the first time.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I want to know what it would feel like if I stay this time.”

I was forced to stop reminiscing when I heard Cain cursed. “Why? What happened?”

“Natasha is in pain right now. I can sense it. I need to get going now, Your Majesty,” Cain said and quickly removed his blood-stained jacket. He threw it towards his servant who caught it immediately. In a snap of a finger, Cain’s clothes had changed. He was now in a suit as if he just went to a party and not on a killing spree.

Cain was about to leave when he seemed to forgot something as he turned to me. He smirked. “And oh, before I forget. You lost the bet, Your Majesty.”

I laughed. “I have not forgotten. So, what’s your condition?”

“There’s this particular land in the Philippines that Natasha had been eyeing for her family’s dream house for quite a while now. It was somewhere in Tagaytay. Adam would have wanted to buy it for her, but it was already taken. And I found out that you were the one who acquired that land. I want it.”

“Don’t tell me that was the reason why you were so eager to win today’s hunt? Because you wanted to give your Marker that land?” He just shrugged. “No problem. A bet is a bet. Consider it yours.”

Cain chuckled. The Cain that I knew would neither crack a smile nor laugh this way. Cain had changed drastically after the curse and no one could ever pacify him that’s why in the past, everyone felt like walking on eggshells whenever he was around. And I could not help but be emotional after seeing him like this.

Damn, I missed my best friend’s smile.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Cain disappeared before I could reply. He was in a hurry to be by Natasha’s side that he had forgotten that he actually used magic again to dress up and teleport. I shook my head, amused this time. It had been four months since he woke up which meant that it had also been four months since he started showing miracles.

Cain’s two months of trying so hard not to use magic was now in vain. But then again, it was not just about any woman; it was about Natasha, the only human capable of making a Beast actually feel something other than hunger. Regardless of the kind of ending Cain talked about, these changes were still worth celebrating.

When he left, the Knights sighed out of relief.

“Miss Natasha is truly a very powerful woman. It still amazes me until now how she seems to get a hold of someone like His Highness. She did not even need to call him over,” Luis, my assistant said. “Who would have thought that a woman could make His Highness come to her running like that?”

“Have you forgotten? Natasha had a Black Swan’s blood. Her genes had always been rare. But for me, what makes her truly amazing is the fact that she seemed to be able to help Cain.” To alleviate his curse. I changed the topic before he could even ask. “Besides, what the heck are you talking about? All women are special. All of them are powerful on their own.” It was a woman who turned Cain into a Beast. And you still doubt a woman’s power?

“Never underestimate any of them. Women could turn an angel into a monster and a poor man into a king. Take my wife for an example. I may be the Night King in front of countless of Vampires but in front of her, I am merely her husband.” Luis laughed. “And she carried four of my children. Natasha, on the other hand, seems to be carrying something very precious for Cain, too.” His heart, for example. I smiled when Luis looked extremely puzzled. I patted his shoulder before I stepped inside the car. “Don’t look at me with those puppy eyes, Luis. I will never tattle my best friend on you.”