Arthur and Vincent lowered their heads, submissive. The slight movement made their long, silvery hair fall downward, framing their pale, sunken faces.
Jules pinched his lips at the sight, his gaze appearing even sterner. He might be cold-hearted at times, but it didn't mean he was unfeeling. Children, no matter their species, had always been a taboo subject for hunters, at least to those who had yet to lose their humanity. Even though he knew these two were unlikely to be real children, only adults who had either shapeshifted or stopped their growth, their young and frail appearances still made him uncomfortable.
On the bright side, they didn't seem foolish enough to try to harm them, so Jules would most likely not need to behead them. Killing child-looking monsters always left a bad taste in his mouth, especially when they were so human-like.
"First question," Jules said, pushing aside the discomfort in his guts, "do you know how to get out of this hellhole?"
"No, we don't," one twin shook his head.
"We'd have left a long time ago if we knew," the other said.
So, the supernatural beings were trapped here, too. Some might have come willingly, while it might not be the case for others. Great. More questions added to the list, now. This, Jules felt, was going to be a long, but overdue conversation.
"Have you perhaps been locked in here for the past century?" Bastien asked, his gentle smile making him appear a lot friendlier than the stern angel beside him.
The twins nodded.
"…Could it be that you haven't eaten because there was no human around all this time until recently?"
The twins shook their heads. So, there had been a steady source of food, but they both chose not to feed on the humans sent their way. How peculiar.
"According to the pamphlet," Jules frowned, pushing aside the matter of the twins not eating as he remembered what Annabelle had been blabbering about on their way to the haunted house, "the manor was centuries-old when they decided to renovate it into an attraction. Now, I wonder, could it have always served as a hidden realm for supernatural beings? The spatio-temporal array could have prevented humans from crossing paths with them, and following the same logic, prevented supernatural beings from meddling with humans during these past decades. The haunted house would then remain a mere haunted house; an attraction like any other."
For what reason? Jules didn't know. It was only a possibility he was bringing forth, and he continued, "But this is a feat that required a being well-versed in arrays and spatial and temporal manipulation, and if they're that good, it wouldn't be difficult for them to open entrances around the country to abduct humans all year round. However, this time, it seems to be on a grander scale, and they seem to have thrown discretion out the window. There's no way a bunch of inexplicable disappearances in an amusement park would go unnoticed…"
Cains would know if such a thing were possible. But Cains wasn't there yet, and Jules didn't want to bet his sister's life on his colleague's timely arrival. The place was too dangerous to idle around in and wait for a knight in shining armor.
"Unless," Bastien smiled sorrowfully, "people have been continuously disappearing. Some might not have been abducted, but others might not have been as lucky; they could have been fed to the beings inside, then replaced. It's one method shapeshifters love to use."
"I hate shapeshifters," Jules snorted.
"Don't worry, you're not alone," Bastien chuckled.
Felix, the sole human in the room, timidly raised a hand when a silence settled between the two men. He seemed to want to take the chance to speak now, as he was too afraid to interrupt them earlier.
"Yes?" Jules turned his attention toward him.
"Hum, I don't know if that's useful for you, but although I did enter a haunted house, it wasn't a haunted house in an amusement park. It was one of those shitty ones set up in parking lots of big shopping malls for Halloween…"
Jules narrowed his eyes, and the young man jumped in fright. Why did he glare at him? He was telling the truth! And now, he almost peed on himself. Perhaps he shouldn't have spoken.
"You should try to look more friendly," Bastien chuckled, his teasing lowering the tension, "you're scaring the poor lad."
"Will you stop rubbing salt into the wound?" Jules rolled his eyes. "You know I'm not doing it on purpose, and if a certain someone could explain to me how to get rid of these wings and change my eyes back to their original colors, I'm sure I'd look less scary and more human. I can't do anything about my stern face, though, so he'll have to get used to it."
"And you know I'd love to help you, but I can't. Remember? Shapeshifting into a human form comes naturally to high demons, what can I do?"
A glare was Jules' answer; a shrug was Bastien's response.
"Wait," one of the twins said, eyeing his brother with uncertainty.
"You," the other fumbled for words, shifting his gaze from his twin to Bastien, "you're not human?"
"Oh my," Bastien winked, a little playful, "the hunger must have dulled your senses quite a bit if you cannot tell. I'm not exactly hiding it."
Indeed, he wasn't. His spiritual energy was on full display now that he didn't need to hide it, just as Jules wasn't concealing his angelic lineage, although it was not exactly by choice in his case. His wings were a big, red flag. Maybe he should let his own wings out, too, so he'd match the hunter. The idea was tempting—
"Then why are you tagging along with an angel?!" the vampires cried out in a single voice, interrupting Bastien's train of thought. The absurdity of the situation momentarily made them forget about the scary angel in question, and they blurted out the first thing that came to their minds.
"And why not?" Bastien hummed as he leaned his head on Jules' shoulder, mirth dancing in the depths of his blue eyes. "I love to have my food source nearby."
"Call me a food source again," Jules sighed, mercilessly pushing him off his shoulder before continuing, "and see if I feed you tonight."
"So cruel!"
"As if."
In reality, the hunter was playing along with the incubus. The boys were obviously not at ease with him, and coaxing answers out of them was a waste of time. Even if he wanted to give the girls a bit of rest, he didn't want to spend a whole day here, questioning the vampires and hoping to hit on the right questions, and threats and violence could only achieve so much. It would be more productive if they voluntarily shared information with them, and for that, they had to create a comfortable atmosphere first, one in which they trusted them enough to speak. Because what was the point of helping them out if they were going to get killed afterward? Angels weren't exactly known for their mercy, not among vampires, at least.
Therefore, hinting at the fact that his relationship with Bastien, a demon, was good enough to allow him to feed on him should help restore a bit of faith. Angels tended to get along even less with demons, after all.
But precisely for this reason, the vampires couldn't believe them. An angel? Feeding a demon? No way in hell! That had to be a lie!
"I still haven't gotten my dessert, by the way," Bastien chuckled, aware of the twins' thoughts.
Suspicion was written all over their faces, and if he noticed, he was sure that Jules also did. That meant that the incubus, of course, had to take advantage of the situation. They'd been wandering around the haunted house for days, and this was the first time they encountered beings who weren't at their throats the moment they met them and were sentient enough to hold a conversation. It was a lead Bastien knew they were both unwilling to lose, and he could more or less guess what kind of thoughts were crossing the hunter's mind right now. He'd bet something reckless, like making a gamble.
And indeed, that was what Jules was thinking of doing. He had no time to lose on this.
"You're going to get fat," he grunted before grabbing the demon's collar and dragging him down to his level, plastering his lips against his. It wasn't a kind kiss, and the hunter's annoyance was palpable. Because the movement was too abrupt, their lips got busted in the process, their teeth cutting through the tender flesh. The faint scent of blood soon wafted into the room.
"Violence is not the answer," Bastien chuckled, licking Jules' lips in passing. At the same time, he eyed the twins, whose eyes had widened to a frightening degree, their pupils shrinking into slits. Saliva was already gathering at their mouths, and they struggled to keep control of their bodies, fists and mouths clenched. "I or you?"
"How about you experience being the feeder for once?" Jules replied with a cold smile, pushing the incubus toward the twins before grabbing Felix's wrist and forcefully yanking him outside the secret room. He then waved at the demon and closed the bookshelf door, disregarding Bastien's exasperated look. The incubus had been well-fed, and a demon's blood was full of nutrients for vampires, while his was nothing short of a highly addictive drug.
The choice was obvious; drugging kids wasn't on his agenda today.
"W-what happened?!" Felix asked, troubled and at a loss.
"Don't worry, nothing much. Just giving them a bit of privacy."
'And also, trying not to scare you to death,' Jules added to himself, aware that the way vampires feed could get a little too graphic; he had seen the corpses left behind. He'd rather Felix didn't get a heart attack.
Felix wanted to say something more, but Jules made a 'shh' sign, gesturing toward the sleeping girls. Then, he redirected his attention toward the bookshelf and spread his awareness to the secret room, ensuring there would be no issues. He doubted there would be any, considering that, at the end of the day, Bastien was a primordial demon, and weakened vampires were not a threat to him after being well-fed.
But whether the twins would be grateful for his blood was another story altogether. Whatever. The point should come across; as long as they didn't get in their way, they could be allies.