The First Vampire Claimed Me

Glyss's POV

"And now, we offer our heartfelt congratulations to Huntmaster Hestia Auston on his promotion to Sanctum Deacon!"

Another deep winter. Snow drifted against the window lattice outside.

The blood hunters' hall was packed tonight — first, to welcome Christmas and the new year coming; second, for the whole Blood Hunt to deliver its year-end report.

The hall broke into warm applause. Watching Hestia receive his honors on stage, I found my eyes brimming with tears.

As Hestia's lover, I was genuinely happy for him.

He came from a noble line that had long backed the Blood Hunt, and his own abilities were monstrous — over forty vampires captured in a single year. A seat at the Sanctum's councils was only a matter of time.

Hestia was dressed formally, standing on the highest dais, receiving everyone's congratulations.

"Beyond that, our new deacon has one more wonderful piece of news to announce!"

I looked up at the stage with delight, wondering what Hestia had forgotten to tell me before he went up.

"He will be married next midsummer!"

My heart lurched. Blood surged to my head, and my pounding heart nearly leapt out of my chest.

Why would Hestia choose a moment like this to announce it? It caught me completely off guard...

"She is..." The host paused, scanning the crowd below, and finally settled on the west side of the hall: "Jodie Ricott! A silver-badged elite, second in the vampire-hunting rankings!"

My blood went cold in an instant. Without thinking, I turned stiffly toward the crowd.

My dearest friend rose from among them, beaming, and stood on the stage, waving cheerfully to everyone, offering a shy smile and a few words.

Hestia had betrayed me as a lover, and Jodie had betrayed me as a friend.

The whole world was swallowed by a vast roaring, and I felt my world shake to its foundations.

Tears fell silently, and I never noticed, because a greater heartbreak had seized every one of my senses!

After Jodie happily took Hestia's arm and walked off the stage, the host called my name and had me come up.

The lights of honor were so harsh, and I was on display like a white rat in a cage.

The host produced a list, densely covered in writing — my "crimes" in the logistics department over the past year.

Mixing up medicines, sending supplies to the wrong people, relaying the wrong orders... what I had done, and what I hadn't, all laid at my feet.

The bronze badge on my chest was stripped away. It marked another fall in rank, and told everyone that from now on I was the lowest servant in the entire Blood Hunt.

I would never again have the right to take up a silver sword, never again have the chance to relay word from the front lines — I did not even have the right to exist.

I had thought I would have a happy Christmas Eve, that I would hear my lover announce our union, sweet and official, that I would receive a baptism of my friend's heartfelt blessings — and all of it shattered in this moment, completely!

Everything here had become a scaffold built to my measure!

The tower of my happiness collapsed within me, leaving only a barren, ruined landscape of pain.

I don't know how I got through that night, with nothing in my ears but jeers and mockery.

Late that night, when the revelers left the hall, I waited for Hestia in snow up to my knees.

The streetlamps cast a warm orange glow that made his brows and eyes achingly beautiful.

"Hestia... tonight... what was that about?"

How I hoped he would give me a reason: that he'd made a mistake, or that someone else had.

But Hestia's face was cold, and he said only: "Glyss, we're not suited. It's better if we part."

"I don't believe it..." I murmured, trembling under the weight of my pain. "I don't believe it! You loved me so much! How can you do this now..."

Countless times, when things were at their worst, it was him standing in front of me; when vampires surrounded me, it was him who saved me, consequences be damned.

I had loved him for years, and he had loved me for years. How could he stop loving me just like that?

I reached for his hand, but he drew away.

Then Jodie laughed. "How could a noble lineage like Hestia's be sullied by someone from the bottom like you? Save your energy."

There was no trace of her usual warmth for me on her face — or rather, she had finally dropped the mask.

"When did you get together with her..."

I didn't want to look so wretched, but I couldn't hold it back. Tears ran down my cheeks, and the wind cut across my face like a sharp blade.

"An arranged marriage between families, of course," Jodie said with a happy smile. "And we've loved each other for a long time. You're not jealous, are you?"

I swallowed the razor-cut pain in my throat and lowered my head. "I wouldn't dare..."

Both of them came from noble houses — two of the seven great families that keep the entire Blood Hunt running. I was at the very bottom. How would I dare defy them...

"Knowing you is one of the great stains on my life..."

My tears fell like beads from a broken string, and I asked Hestia in a hoarse voice: "Do you think of me as a stain?"

Jodie ground her teeth. Turning, she saw Hestia still staring at me without blinking, and a flicker of jealous hatred crossed her eyes.

Quickly she smiled again, falsely. "Of course he does. He doesn't even want to speak a word to you now."

Seeing that things were going badly, Jodie took his arm. "Let's go."

They took two steps into the snow when several blood hunters came up to them with news.

Soon Hestia left with them. Jodie clearly wanted to follow, but the men Hestia had brought turned her away.

Helpless, she stood awkwardly in the snow.

But facing me, she still wore that false face: "You still look unwilling to accept it? Come to my place for a cup of hot cocoa? Don't refuse me — after all, you know your station doesn't deserve these things."

Back when we were friends, she had taken me to her home countless times, and I had never noticed how fiercely she loved Hestia.

Once she stopped pretending in front of me, every corner of her home held something of Hestia's, proclaiming how deeply she loved him.

"You have no idea how jealous I was of you. You had nothing at all, yet Hestia was so infatuated with you — I once thought you'd drugged him."

"He even broke the Blood Hunt's rules to let your bitten brother stay. So enviable."

Jodie smiled. "But no matter how well things went for you, what isn't yours was never yours. Everything you had is mine now."

"Guess... in a few days, will the higher-ups throw you and your brother out of the Blood Hunt? To live or die on your own?"

I had no reason to exist in the Blood Hunt anymore. Staying by force would only add to my pain.

But my brother, bitten by a vampire, needed the special medicine here to stay alive. I couldn't leave, and I didn't dare.

Even if I lived worse than an ant here.

Jodie's men pushed the door open; one put his lips to her ear and whispered something, and then her silvery laugh rang out.

"That vampire holds an extremely high place in their Elders' Council and can't be allowed to die — then use her as food. Her blood will be the last bit of use she has!"

Every eye turned to me, and my whole body went rigid.

...

Late that night, I was secretly escorted to an old castle on the outskirts of the capital. Its dungeon rumbled open, and Jodie shoved me inside!

"What are you doing! Let me out!"

"Doing what? Using your blood to keep that vampire alive, of course!"

"Where are the written orders from the Hunt Quarter?!"

Without orders from above, I would not simply die like this!

Jodie gave a dark laugh. "I have none. This is Hestia's will."

"Is it him who wants me dead! Or is it you?!"

"Let me be honest with you — I'm dying to see you dead!" Jealous fire burned in Jodie's eyes. "Your birth, your looks, your abilities, you're worse than me in every way — so why should you have more than I do!?"

"Stop wasting your effort. Everyone here is mine. The only one who doesn't obey my orders is that vampire — but he can't understand a word you say. Just wait for him to drain you dry!"

With that, Jodie left with her people, and the dungeon went dark again.

My breathing echoed through the silent cell. Through my blurring tears, I seemed to see a pair of deep crimson pupils flicker in the darkness.

My heart lurched.

They said this vampire had taken several teams of blood hunters half a year to capture; his cold cruelty and bloodthirsty savagery were beyond any ordinary vampire's!

Before my eyes could adjust to the dungeon's darkness, he vanished and reappeared right in front of me!