Camarilla | z.zy ✓

CHAPTER 15

Zhenyuan walked into the house that evening after shopping with Jungwon. As expected, Mia's mother was not back. She was probably on night duty again. Mia was sitting in front of the TV watching a movie, before she turned to see who had just walked in.

'What did Jungwon want you for?' she found herself acting curiously.

'Oh...stuff.' He didn't want to mention Jungwon's accusation that he had moved at super speed in the cafeteria. 'Jungwon told me he's not the one who killed his parents...'

'He's been saying that since primary.' Mia interrupted.

'Do you think it could be true?'

Mia shrugged. 'It wasn't true when nobody believed in vampires. But now that it seems they might exist, maybe it is true. But then again, no one confirmed their existence.'

Zhenyuan changed the subject. 'Your mom's coming late tonight?'

'I guess so.' she nodded.

Remembering Mia's mom, Zhenyuan reminded himself that he needed to clean up his wound and cover it again. He didn't want her to find him like that and probably scold him. But then again, she's never done that before, but he knew he had to be obedient and not cause trouble for himself.

'I'm gonna go clean my wound,' he told her and walked into the bathroom. He opened the bathroom cabinet and took out a first aid box which he had seen in there several times. He first started to wash the wound with water slowly, and he observed what Jungwon was saying. He could see the puncture wounds, and everything just seemed much scarier now with Jungwon's explanation that it was a vampire who had done that to him.

Zhenyuan then grabbed anti-septic, ready to apply it to the wound when he heard Mia's mother's familiar voice in the living room.

'Mom you're here.' Mia said to her mother. 'I thought you're having night duty or something.'

'No, I stopped by the store to grab our favorite takeaway. I thought we could have something special tonight.'

Zhenyuan needed to be faster. He didn't want her to know that he had removed his own bandage and was cleaning his own wound. He started applying the antiseptic with a cotton bud quickly, then groaned when he had cut pried the wound with his nail accidentally.

'Nice going Zhenyuan,' he said to himself as blood dripped down into the sink. It was just a little blood coming from a small opening, but it was enough to catch Zhenyuan's attention. It was unusually dark in color, almost black. He wondered why the hospital never said anything about his blood.

He stared at it continuously, almost as if it was staring back at him. He didn't know how he long he had stayed there looking at the blood in the sink, but his heart was beating so fast signifying his fear and confusion.

'Zhenyuan?' Mia's voice suddenly asked behind him.

Zhenyuan stopped looking in the white sink and turned around to Mia who was standing behind him. He quickly opened the tap to wash down the blood in the sink.

'Hey Mia.' he answered flatly.

'Mom's brought food. It will get cold if you don't come right now.'

'Oh thanks. Let me just finish cleaning up.'

'Okay.' She returned to the living room.

Zhenyuan wondered why his blood was so dark colored and so cold. There had to be a reason, but the thought that he could be a vampire seemed very stupid and probably impossible. No. It couldn't be. He was going to google why later after supper.

...

'Has he gotten any better?' Dr. Carnie asked one of her fellow doctors who were working on the men who were showing rogue behavior. They had been working late for several nights, trying to find out the truth about this supposed disease. However, nothing new had been figured out.

'He hasn't gotten any better. It's been several days and nothing has changed Dr. Carnie.' One of them replied. 'Well, when we checked his DNA, it didn't seem human remember?'

'Didn't one of you say the virus affected their DNA?'

'Well when you think about it, viruses attach themselves to DNA but don't change it.' the doctor informed her. 'I think it was a bad idea to assume that it's some kind of virus simply because they don't have DNA. These guys are not human.'

'So if they're not human? What are they?' another doctor asked as he walked over to the man who still didn't seem to have gotten tired of threatening the hospital attendants with his fangs.

'Isn't it obvious? These are vampires. There's no other explanation we can find here.' the previous doctor stated. 'No human being acts like this. And there's not even any virus on their DNA, so the assumption that these are human beings with a virus is completely bogus.'

'So that's what you want us to tell the government? That these guys are creatures which only exist in fantasy novels and movies?' Dr. Carnie sighed. 'There's a serious problem here. We're going to look like idiots.'

'Let's not call them vampires, let's call them a different breed of human beings who are probably carnivores.'

'Good explanation Jeff,' she answered sarcastically. 'Anyway, I've been working late night for two consecutive weeks. I need a break.' Dr. Carnie walked out of the room. She walked to her office and hang her coat inside, then prepared to leave the hospital.

She got into her car and drove off the scene as quickly as she could. She didn't have a family, so all she was looking forward to was a night in her warm bed.

Once she had arrived at her house which was just a few minutes away, she got out of the car and locked it. As she walked to her front door, she heard footsteps nearby. She looked around, thinking it must have been one of the neighbors. But why would they be up at 2 am?

She ignored it and continued to walk. But once she heard the footsteps approaching her, she turned around once more and noticed a male figure in the darkness.

'Who are you?' she asked fearfully while fumbling inside her purse for her keys.

But she dropped it when the young man rushed over to her at super speed. He was so fast it was obviously unnatural. He caged her to the locked door with both his two arms, easing in threateningly close.

Dr. Carnie was frozen, even though the supposed being in front of him looked like a teenager. The fangs he was baring made him appear even more threatening.

'Are you scared Dr. Carnie?' he asked her.

She realized he knew her, but she couldn't find any words to reply. She was so shocked and she was shivering against the door. 'Please don't hurt me.' she finally begged.

'I won't, but I want you to know this: vampires are real, and we're not going to stop terrorizing this place. Many of you will die.' his tone was dark and threatening.

'W – why?' she stammered.

He smirked. 'That's not for you to know.'

Before she could reply, the young man disappeared from the scene at the same speed he had used to walk to her. Her dress blew in the wind he had left behind, a confirmation that he had really been there.

Frantically, Dr. Carnie picked up her purse and the contents of it. With her heart almost beating out of her chest, she unlocked the door and ran into the house. She immediately locked it the moment she had entered, then stood there in thought.

Had she really encountered a vampire? And why didn't this so-called vampire attack her and kill her. Maybe it was someone playing a prank, she assumed, but how would they be able to move at super speed?

Dr. Carnie felt herself sliding down the door she had just shut and sitting on the floor. She felt so afraid and traumatized at some point. She didn't want to get up and face the risk of someone seeing her through the windows. She was so afraid that another vampire would see her and attack her. Or the same vampire. And she wouldn't be as lucky this time.