**Bonus Chapter**

Bogdan's POV Chapter 29

Slivers of moonlight stretch across the cloudless sky, clinging to faceless strangers and casting shadows across the lonely pavement. A stray couple huddles together near the bus stop. The shorter one shudders from the cold and points to the schedule taped to the light post. The lower right edge flaps against the chilly breeze, its paper edges curled and frayed.

They aren't waiting for the bus route, though. At least, I should surely hope not. It shut down over a month ago due to the war. Their passengers fled and the drivers hastily followed behind them. All that's left are the beastly vehicles now sitting idly in the streets collecting dust.

The taller one says something, and I lean forward on the balls of my feet to hear it. Mother Nature has a different idea, though, and the words are gobbled up by the hungry wind. The couple moves closer together. The shorter one shakes their hands out of their pockets, winding their arms around the waist of their companion.

The innocent moment becomes intimate, and I look away.

Many of my kind would continue to indulge out of mere curiosity, but I don't see the point. We're not programmed to have those types of moments or feel the types of emotions that lead up to them. We have evolved to not let emotion stand in the way of our duties.

Even with Finn?

The teasing whispers dances through my mind. My jaw tights to the point of becoming painful. The human's name seems to be searching for permanent residency in my mind. At first I just thought it was from the potency of his blood; I craved him because he has the blood of a Nirv.

After the first time I properly fed from him, however, other thoughts started settling into my mind as well. It started with his sunken cheeks, then his soft eyes, and then his timid voice. It even started noting the subtle nuances of his changing facial features as one emotion flitted to another.

The blood of a Nirv is powerful. There's no denying that. From what I know, however, they only captivate an immortal because of their blood. Nothing more, nothing less.

Yet with Finn I find myself craving more. To taste him. To touch him. To fuck him. And while it is very normal to lust after a mortal during a feeding, to lust for one after is a rare thing indeed. It becomes less of a primal instinct and more of a desire.

My nostrils flare, inhaling the scent of Finn's blood now packaged away in two bags in the bottom of my carrier. Even without sex, the human is willing to bend to my requests. It's painfully obvious he wants more from me. I can smell it from his emotions. He lusts for me almost as much as I lust for him.

Shamefully, the human is making an impact on me. His very being is saturating the threads of my mind, weaving through my thoughts like a toxic drug. When I'm not with him, I think of him. When I am with him, I can't get enough.

The realization is unnerving.

It's a vicious cycle, and a dangerous one at that.

A subtle beep emits from the radar detector in my pocket. I push away from my post and hug my jacket closer to my body. The gesture is nothing more than a social cue I have learned from watching humans for many, many years. Normally I don't bother with them, but since we are in the heart of human land, I decide it's best to play by their rules.

The heel of my boots scrape across the pavement, and my ears perk when I hear a similar gait approaching mine. It takes only a minute before his stride falls in line with mine. The two of us walk side by side, wordlessly.

We round the corner of a nearby building. The streets are empty. All the houses have been abandoned as well. Everything is dark. Still. Terrified. For a moment, my mind drifts back to the couple huddling near the bus stop. Did they manage to make a timely escape? Or were they pulled into the arms of a merciless vampire?

"Fuckin' pathetic sight if I ever saw one," Jacques mutters.

"Mmm."

"You think they'd be grateful but no. They have to stir up their shit and for what?"

He stops in the middle of the sidewalk, holding his hands up and twirling around in a bold, grand gesture of disgust. The stagnant air whirls around him. A single newspaper clipping tumbles along the uneven cement. Just a week ago this air still smelled of humans – of life.

Now this side of town is nothing more than a whimpering memory, drowning in the sorrow of yesterday.

"For this?" he asks, laughing coldly under his breath. "And where are their brave leaders now? Probably pissing in their pants and hopin' the world don't swallow 'em whole."

"Not all humans wanted this revolt," I respond coolly. "But when their fellow man came rapping at their doors requesting for their support, what other choice did they have?"

Jacques lets out a sinister laugh. "They could have told 'em to fuck off."

I hum under my breath again. Jacques eyes the flitting newspaper and gracefully runs towards it before catching the edge with his sharpened fingernails. His glowing red eyes dance across the article. When he's finished, another sinister laugh leaves his lips.

"'Tip Number Five to Escape a Vampire,'" he reads mockingly. "'Spray them with salt water.' Salt water..."

He cackles and tosses the paper back into the street. The two of us watch it fall back into Nature's whispering wind, passing along the broken cement without pause. With his back turned to me, Jacques runs a hand through his long, billowing blond hair and lowers his voice.

"Is it true?" he whispers. "That you're under the protection of a Nirv's blood?"

I clear my throat, refusing to allow this meeting to drag on longer than it already has.

"I didn't call you here for idle chit-chat," I respond to Axel's former follower. "I came for answers."

Jacques swirls around to face me. His soft features are striking, their appearance not aging in the slightest from the last time I saw him hundreds of years ago.

"Axel's group has invaded human land," he answers after a long pause. "They have managed to overtake the north and the east. They have not yet traveled west or south."

I nod. "And the other immortals?"

Jacques smiles stiffly. "Some have joined Axel's group. A number of others have followed a step or two behind, picking off or capturing the human stragglers. The remaining, small group have stayed in the Village, hoping to wait out the war."

Axel's group is traveling fast. I had hoped that without their leader, the pack of hungry and vicious immortals would slow. They've already overthrown two pieces of human land, however. And from the looks of it, their momentum is far from slowing.

Jacques' information proves useful, nevertheless. If what he's saying is true, the safest place for Finn and the others is the heart of the human towns already abandoned, starting in the north.

"And the humans?" I ask evenly.

Jacques shrugs. "You fought beside Axel. Nothing has changed now that he's gone."

Some of my first memories as a vampire were spent capturing and draining countless humans of their blood on account of Axel's orders. His bloodlust was unending. His war tactics were simple and his message was clear - vampires were above humans and should be treated as such.

"Though unlike his old group of soldiers, this group does find it a bit wasteful to consume their food so soon after capturing it," Jacques adds, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully.

"So they're holding them hostage?" I question.

He nods. "The ones they like the most are kept as prisoners, to feed them whenever they please."

I slide my tongue along my teeth. There aren't many immortals who choose to act as radically as Axel and his followers. Then again, after being starved for months on end, many of those immortals have changed their thinking.

Jacques reaches out, patting me on the arm as if in condolence.

"I know you're against this war, Bogdan old friend."

"Do you?"

"You've always had a soft spot for humans," he laughs. "But times are changing."

"I hadn't noticed," I reply dryly.

Jacques laughs again, his devilish cackle stirring up nightmares within this scarred town.

"Tell me," I whisper once his laughter has died down. "If a farmer's cow refuses to return to her stable, how should it be punished?"

"The fuck we talkin' about cows for?"

"The farmer could slaughter the cow, of course," I say, staring into the distance. "To make a point to the other cows. Or he could get selfish, and after tasting the meat from one cow, slaughter all the others in an act of haste."

Jacques frowns, and I take a step towards him, glowering fiercely.

"If you continue to slaughter our food as a means of punishment, nothing will be left for us but cow shit and an empty stable."

His lips part in understanding. My voice takes on an edge of ice-cold warning, and the confidence in Jacques' eyes quickly fade. He has overstayed his welcome, and he knows this meeting is now over.

"I should be going," he whispers.

I nod, tucking my hands behind my back. His eyes fall to the courier latched around my shoulder, and his eyes swirl with hunger.

"My payment for the information?" he whispers, and the double timbre trembles in his voice.

I hold back a smile, sliding the pack off my shoulder and retrieving two, fresh bags of Finn's blood. He greedily swipes them from me. His fangs elongate.

"It's still warm," he whispers.

"It is," I answer with a stiff smile.

"It smells....Hell, I've never smelled anything like it before."

My grin widens. "That's just because you're hungry. Now go. There's plenty to share should you be compelled to do so."

He's already tearing off the edge of the first bag. The edge of the blood touches his lips. He closes his eyes in ecstasy, tipping the bag back in rapacious eagerness. I spin on my heels to begin my trek home. The sound of him drinking follows me all the way back to the desolate street lamp and lonely bus route.

The couple is gone.

Jacques' drinking comes to an abrupt halt. There's a still beat of silence. A gurgling sound ripples through the waves of silence. Finn's blood is now working its way through his system, killing him within minutes. I whistle low under my breath, my thoughts once again returning to the human now sleeping in the guest room of my home.

My human.

"Well done, human," I mutter, strolling towards the forest. "Hats off to the chef."

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A/N: Thank you for reading, folks!  And happy weekend!  Is Bogdan's character the way you imagined?  What did you think having the chapter from his POV?