Instinct Takes Over
The sensation of fangs piercing flesh felt vividly, sickeningly real. It was a completely foreign feeling I’d never experienced in my life, and at first it filled me with pure revulsion. Yet as time passed, I gradually grew accustomed to it. What began as disgust slowly twisted into something like ecstasy. At the same time, the sight of myself changing like this terrified me.
But as the saying goes, instinct overrides reason—and in my case, instinct had taken the lead. My consciousness grew hazy. This was the exact moment the rationality I’d desperately clung to, the insistence that I was still human, not a vampire, began to crumble.
“Hngh…?!”
Leticia let out a moan that sounded nothing like her. Her eyes widened in clear panic, revealing genuine emotion for the first time. I didn’t care. Without a word, I buried my face deeper into her slender neck and drove my fangs in even further.
As if repaying every humiliation I’d suffered until now, I gripped the back of her neck, violently sank my fangs into her nape, and rubbed my lips against the skin before licking it once with my tongue. It was only light contact, but from the way Leticia reacted, it must have been completely unexpected. Her flustered state only excited me more.
“You…!”
“…You said I could bite.”
“Huh?”
“In other words, it means I can suck it too, right? I’m simply following your instructions faithfully.”
You were the one who wanted me to submit like a pathetic dog. You were the one who permitted me to drink your blood. So you should be able to endure at least this much.
My crimson eyes stared straight at her. Having consumed blood, my pupils had turned fully red, painting everything before me in shades of scarlet.
“Hm? You said it was okay for me to do it.”
I deliberately whispered the words into her ear like a plea. Leticia’s shoulders gave a tiny tremble before she froze. She let out a low, disbelieving laugh, then lowered her gaze and spoke with open provocation.
“Then go ahead and do more.”
“Fine. You brought this on yourself.”
If she had told me to stop, I would have tried to cling to my sanity somehow. But she was the one who provoked me. She was the one who tempted me while wearing nothing but a thin gown. I wasn’t the type to turn down an invitation, and I had no intention of being considerate. So even if she regretted it later, every bit of this was her own doing.
“I won’t hold back.”
I gripped Leticia’s nape tightly and pushed my fangs all the way in. Somehow I ended up half-draped over her in an unsightly position, but I no longer cared.
“Haaang…”
Ever since becoming a vampire I had eaten nothing, left in a constant state of starvation. Honestly, from the very first moment I faced Leticia, the unique scent of her blood had been driving me insane. I had endured it in silence to preserve what remained of my humanity, but I couldn’t stop wondering what it would taste like to bury my face in that pure white skin and drink.
Just imagining it made my throat bob. In that state, the fact that I hadn’t immediately pounced when she tempted me was practically worthy of a medal. Holding back had been torture.
So the instant Leticia gave permission, I buried my face in her neck without hesitation, bared my fangs, and bit down. I began to suck as if I were a baby nursing at its mother’s breast. A small moan reached my ear.
“Kh…!”
Is this what it feels like for a mosquito to drink human blood? Since we’re both bloodsuckers, maybe it’s not so different.
Even while inwardly tearing myself apart with such a pathetic comparison, I faithfully obeyed my instincts. Blood flowed through my fangs into my mouth and slid down my throat. The first taste of blood wasn’t bad at all. Honestly, it was delicious. The more I drank, the more addictive it became.
A sweet yet slightly bitter flavor spread across my tongue, accompanied by a faint metallic scent that filled my mouth. Yet it didn’t trigger any physiological disgust. Maybe it was because I had become a vampire, but I felt no hatred or contempt for the act of drinking blood itself. Mentally it still felt off, but at the same time it registered as a necessary urge—like hunger or sexual desire—that simply had to be satisfied.
I had once loathed the vampires who sucked the blood of their allies on the battlefield. Now that I had become one myself, the feeling was strangely complicated. I didn’t sympathize with the enemy, but thinking about it, they had probably done it simply because they wanted to live.
For vampires, feeding was blood-drinking, and blood-drinking was directly tied to survival. It was something they had to do whether they wanted to or not. Even if it meant death. Because without drinking blood, they would die anyway.
Every living creature possessed a survival instinct. Of course they wanted to live. Where in the world would you find a mad being that actually wished to die?
It felt like only yesterday that I had watched vampires desperately drain corpses until they became bloodless mummies, thinking with disgust that they were no better than mosquitoes. Yet now that I had become a vampire myself, I had nothing to say. After all, wasn’t I the one burying my face in the neck of the woman I loved and drinking her blood?
Come to think of it, the first apostle of the Demon King I killed had been, by some twist of fate, a vampire apostle. He was so weak that I couldn’t even remember his name. Ah, I did remember that he was arrogantly proud. He had called himself the Demon King’s right hand and looked down on humans, so I personally turned his head into minced meat.
Sure enough, the title of apostle hadn’t been an exaggeration. He regenerated his head in an instant, his face turning blue, and fled without looking back. His combat ability was garbage, but his regenerative power was more than enough to qualify him as an apostle. Of course, that didn’t mean I let him escape. Who in their right mind would release an enemy? He was trash who used even his fellow vampires as living shields, so there had been more than enough reason to kill him. He wasn’t worth remembering.
“Hngh!”
Each time I drew blood through the fangs embedded in her neck, Leticia’s cheeks flushed as though she felt excitement. She breathed roughly and gently stroked the back of my neck with her hand.
“Rough is fine, but could you be a little gentler? Are you planning to drink every last drop of blood in my body?”
“…If that’s what you want.”
“I’ll pass. I have no desire to become a mummy. So I’d appreciate it if you showed some restraint.”
Her cheerful yet deadly warning made me reluctantly pull my lips from her nape, expressing my disappointment by moving my mouth. The creepy sensation of fangs slowly sliding out of her skin made Leticia’s body tremble violently, as if she’d been shocked by electricity. Blood dripped from the fully withdrawn fangs.
I neatly caught the falling drops with my tongue and swallowed. Though the urge to drink more burned inside me, I stopped. Any further and Leticia looked like she would genuinely get angry.
I licked the blood from my lips. Even though I was quite full, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Leticia’s pure white skin. Only after licking my lips with clear regret did I finally regain my senses. I looked at her in shock, my pupils shaking as I realized what I had just done.
I took a step back and collapsed onto the bed. Leticia rolled her stiff shoulders with an audible crack.
I asked her stupidly, “What I just did… all of that…?”
“You’ve finally come back to your senses. You were eating so enthusiastically I thought you’d never stop.”
Enthusiastically? There was no need to wonder what she meant. I remembered every single thing I had done. Even if I hadn’t, the taste of blood lingering in my mouth would have given it away.
Leticia casually touched her neck with an unconcerned expression. Following her fingers, I saw two neat bite marks side by side on her nape. There was no need to ask who had made them.
Leticia swept her hair to one side, tied it simply with the string in her hand, and spoke.
“Having you drink my blood wasn’t bad. Still, next time it would be better if you were gentler. There are women who enjoy being sucked roughly, but there are also those who don’t.”
She claimed she wasn’t particularly fond of being forced, yet she remained perfectly calm even after having her blood drunk by a vampire. Her composure was so absolute it actually flustered me.
Thanks to that, I managed to regain my own calm. I swept my bangs back with a dazed expression.
“I’m the one who drank your blood, so it feels weird for me to say this, but… aren’t you being a little too calm?”
“About what?”
“…Never mind. You summoned me, but I’m still a vampire.”
Even if the current Demon King desired a truce, humans and demons had once been mortal enemies who waged war for years, staking the survival of their entire races. Especially for Leticia, who shared a bitter, long-standing grudge with vampires, I—a half-vampire—couldn’t possibly look favorable.
It had been strange from the beginning. Wanting a contract with neither the legendary demon she originally desired nor a pureblood vampire, but a half-breed like me. It was an act of madness. There was no reason for her to keep alive a mixed-blood demon weaker than herself.
That was why I had to ask this question before we formed the contract.
“Why do you want a contract with me?”
Leticia made a small sound, resting her chin on her hand as if thinking it over. Then she answered with simple honesty.
“Did I not tell you? It’s simply because you suit my taste. There’s no grand reason behind it.”
Leticia smiled, the corners of her lips curving up lightly.