Chapter Text
“I don’t want it.”
“Ah, how cruel Mikaela!”
He hissed. “I don’t care. I. Don’t. Want. It.”
Ferid’s smug grin never changed. Mikaela fantasized about the day he could rip that infuriating face clean off. “Perhaps I wasn’t adequately articulated? Our lovely Queen Tepes ordered it. You don’t have a choice.” The bastard said, all too gleefully.
“Why me?” He didn’t want to be stuck looking after some irritating human.
“Who knows?” Ferid hummed loftily. “Perhaps because our queen trusts you? Supposedly, it’s a very important human. I’m so jealous!”
He grudgingly conceded the truth of Ferid’s theory. Out of his vampire peers, Mikaela was the least likely to lose his temper or toy with the human for amusement, either of which could wind up with a dead captive. The only other person he could think of with the right temperament was Crowley, but his two companions were jealous women; Chess especially was impulsive and careless. And most importantly, he had the queen’s personal trust as her progeny.
"Don't look so miserable." Ferid leaned in conspiratorially. The bastard had no sense of personal space. "I can personally assure you, the human is very cute. Adorable, really."
"I don't care." He said flatly.
The Noble smirked. "You'll be changing your tune when you see him. Come."
Mikaela realized with a churning stomach that he really didn't have a choice in the matter. He could argue with Her Majesty all he liked but it would only cost him air and his time; once the queen came to a decision there was no changing her mind. He followed Ferid into the dungeons, which was comprised of rows of hallways with metal doors, thick stone walls, and plenty of rats. Disgusting. They stopped at the end of one of the last rows, one that was completely empty except for the captured headache. Its isolation signified its strategic importance; they were being extra careful with this one. When Ferid led him to its door, Mikaela could make out muffled noises. He opened the cell with a sinking feeling and a smirking Noble that made it even worse.
Tied to the stone wall by the wrists and ankles was a small form, and as Mikaela approached it he once again had to concede to Ferid. The human was not aesthetically displeasing. It had black hair that looked soft, large eyes an uncommonly rich shade of green, and very round, young-looking features.
Its brows were furrowed. What an angle.
Human teeth were so blunt.
Ah, its mouth is moving. It's talking.
"-fucking piece of shit! I'll rip you apart you disgusting overgrown leech-!" And just like that, Mikaela was reminded that humans were tragically stupid and annoying. He almost felt silly, letting big green eyes and soft black hair momentarily distract him from that universal fact. The thing was obviously screaming obscenities in the local tongue, Japanese. Mika had brushed up his knowledge as per the queen's orders, but it was a token effort that resulted in only a basic understanding of the language. He didn't try that hard because he didn't need to know the local humans' tongue to kill them, nor did he need the language to control the ones living in the city. But he didn't need fluency to know when he was being cursed.
The volume was irritating. "Shut up." He cut in coldly, not at all impressed with the display. When the human ignored him and kept shouting, he sighed and slapped it across the face. He grudgingly admitted the queen was right as usual. Other than Crowley, any other vampire would have lost their temper with such a loudmouth. As it was, Mikaela didn't know many that could even consciously control their strength; many of his peers would have accidentally snapped its neck with that first slap alone. The gap in strength is such a wide berth that it's easy for most vampires to overestimate how much punishment a human can take.
The human's eyes widened like large, round dinner plates at the abrupt slap to its soft cheek. Mikaela enjoyed approximately three seconds of blessed silence before the thing roared and lunged at him, so engulfed with humiliated rage that it seemed to forget it was currently chained to a wall. The links pulled taut and held its body in place, but unfortunately didn't stop its incessant howling any more than Mikaela's palm.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, afraid the throbbing sensation of a headache will become very familiar in the near future. "The queen chose me for this thing?" It almost felt like a punishment.
Ferid snickered, and the urge to punch him was almost overwhelming. "Ah, and just a word of warning, Mikaela. The Queen has personally ordered no harm to our little angel. Well, nothing permanent."
He could work with that.
"Understood. Now leave. You're an eyesore." He said, more than tired of Ferid's lurking.
The Noble tutted. "So mean! I was only delivering the message. But I can see you'd like some alone time with your new pet. I suppose I can grant you that." Then he had the nerve to wink lasciviously and leave with a dramatic swish of his cape. The bawdy insinuations made Mikaela's stomach turn.
Approaching the snarling human was like trying to approach a feral dog; it snapped and growled and bared its blunt little teeth at him. It could have been mildly cute, if the obnoxious volume weren't so irritating. "I can see you're going to be a nuisance." He said, not caring to switch to Japanese. He didn't care to speak with it. The human was in a uniform Mikaela recognized to be from the Moon Demon Company, an elite force of the Japanese resistance's finest soldiers. Its arms were tied behind its back and its ankles were tied together, the bindings themselves were chained to the wall. When he unshackled it from the wall, the human lost its support and fell to the ground with a squeak. It was an opportunistic little thing; as soon as it landed it wriggled furiously to loosen its bindings, reminding Mikaela of an oversized worm. Fitting.
It snapped its teeth warningly when he reached down, as if its blunt human incisors could threaten him. He resisted the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes and hoisted it over his shoulder in one sweep. If he thought the human was boiling mad before, now it was absolutely frothing with rage. It squirmed in his arms rather uselessly and presumably shouted threats and curses the entire way to Mikaela's quarters, but it was all a useless waste of energy. As a vampire, Mikaela was far stronger than any human could ever hope to be. All it accomplished was making a hilarious scene for his peers, who pointed and laughed at the comical display, exhausting the human himself, and irritating Mikaela further.
He slammed his door shut with his foot so hard the hinges rattled. They were in his resplendent bedroom with no more company than a vocally furious human and a quietly simmering vampire. Beyond his capacity for patience, Mikaela carelessly dropped the human on the floor, the thing violently meeting the wood with a satisfying thump and a pained groan. Because that wasn't enough for him, he grabbed it by the collar and dragged it to the far corner of the room. There was a slot carved into the stone with clasps attached to extending chains that emerged from the maws of the slot, along with other clasps attached to the lower wall. Some of the more privileged Nobles like to keep human pets, and as the queen's progeny Mikaela was technically a vampire prince, of sorts. If he wanted, it was well within his rights to keep his own pets. Except Mikaela was repulsed by humans and wouldn't touch one in his life.
He manhandled the squirming thing with the difficulty of picking up a wet kitten and chained it to the wall by its neck. With it properly secured in place, he reached around and ripped its bindings apart with inhuman strength that clearly surprised it. But not a breath later and Mikaela had to deal with its wildly swinging fists. He caught them by the delicate little wrists and slammed them harshly against the stone wall, chaining one to a clasp near the bottom. With one of its arms bound it was forced to sit down against the wall, and even if Mikaela released the appendage the chain around its neck only granted the human enough room to walk two feet from its corner. Not a step further. The chain didn't extend far enough.
And the whole time, the human shouted and snarled at him until its face was an alarming shade of puce. Well, all the more reason to leave its ankles tied together. No need to grant the human any favors if it was going to be an irritant.
But if nothing else, he took his orders seriously. His queen has ordered him to care for the human for an unknown period of time and to not harm him during that length. So now that it was properly restrained against the wall, the first thing on his list was procuring it food.
The provisions provided to the humans in the vampire capital were little more than drinkable nutrient mush and a high-calorie block. Nobles, however, had the connections to procure the fresh ingredients before they were sent to the processing facilities, so those with human pets could pamper them with fresh meals.
Mikaela didn't like the ugly thing in his room nearly so much. Mush and dry rations it is.
When he came back to his room the human had finally settled down and dialed back from kicking and screaming to glaring daggers like his eyes alone could gut a vampire.
"Here. Eat." He tossed the packaged food rations at its feet.
The little annoyance had the nerve to sneer at him and kicked its food away. The urge to roll his eyes was starting to become irritatingly familiar. Mikaela smothered it. The human could be stubborn, but it would get hungry eventually, and he would not entertain its obstinacy with his temper. "Be stubborn if you want. You're going to have to eat sooner or later."
"I don't even know what you're saying, vampire." It said hatefully.
"That's because I don't care to talk to you." He responded in its native language, visibly catching it by surprise. He stood before it, letting his full height tower over the chained figure and cast a shadow that swallowed the human whole. It watched his every move, like one should with a predator. "I just need to make sure you stay alive. Nothing more and nothing less."
"Well, nice to know you won't shove your hand in my gut. Because we all know how much you fucking monsters love that." It hissed, seemingly with all the loathing its little body could muster. The humans eyes had that clouded quality one got when memories were on repeat in the mind. "You got a name? Besides bastard?"
He brushed it off. "Call me what you like. I have little care for a human's words."
The human's temper was like a trigger that made it forget all logic; with a snarl, it tried to launch itself at him despite how throughly chained it was. "Fuck you!" When it bristled like that, its black hair fluffed up and made it look like an irritated bird that had its feathers rubbed the wrong way.
"Charming." He said flatly. Mikaela was regretting letting it stay in his room, but going back and forth from his quarters, all the way to the sub-levels would've been annoying, especially if it was just to feed an loudmouthed human. Besides, it wasn't like Mikaela spent much time in his quarters for anything other than sleep. Sleep that was technically unnecessary, as vampires don't need it. Blood is what sustains their energy and gives them vigor. However, should one choose, sleep is an excellent way to pass idle time and conserves energy and appetite. The more you sleep, the less you need to feed.
He spun on his heel, his white cloak swishing in the air.
"Oi- Where are you going?" It hissed. He answered with the slam of the door.