Camarilla | z.zy ✓

CHAPTER 23

Zhenyuan's cellphone rang loudly in his pocket. He was surprised he didn't forget it at home or anywhere else. He drowsily took it out of his pocket and checked who the caller was. It was Mia. Checking the time, Zhenyuan was surprised that he had had such a sound sleep on a couch and while he wasn't emotionally stable. It was 7 am. He must have been really tired.

He swiped to answer his cellphone then put it to his ear. 'Hello?'

'Zhenyuan! Where are you!?' Mia sounded like she was crying on the cellphone.

He sat up, immediately feeling concerned. 'What's...what's wrong? I panicked and went home, I'm sorry I didn't stay to...'

'At least you're safe.' Mia sighed in relief on the other end, although her voice was still shaky. 'I thought you've disappeared. I was so worried.'

Zhenyuan didn't want to worry Mia by disappearing, but how was a vampire going to keep on staying in the house? He knew he would have to leave soon. 'No I'm around...'

'Listen! Mom fell down the stairs and she's in a coma.' Mia started to cry again. 'I can't even believe this.'

'What?' his guilt increased tenfold. He would have rather heard that she was okay and reported him, not this. 'When's she going to wake up?'

'I don't know...but the doctor predicts it could be some weeks...this is really sad. I can't believe that stupid vampire caused all this.'

'Yeah I can't believe it too...'

'And that vampire drank up so much blood and it was for patients! Do you know how many people could die because a vampire drank up blood? I can't...believe this.'

'Sad,' he didn't know what else to say despite how unnatural he sounded. He couldn't say much since he was the perpetrator, and all he was getting was a load of guilt.

'Anyway, I'm gonna find you when I get home.' She sighed. 'We have a lot to do today Zhenyuan. You're practically all I have right now.'

'Okay.' he answered briefly again. She kept on talking about how much she didn't want him to go, when that was clearly the thing he was planning to do next. But maybe it would have been too much for her to have her mom in a coma then have her new friend suddenly leave. He would leave soon, but perhaps that day wouldn't be the best option.

'Thanks. Bye.' Mia hang up.

Zhenyuan looked at the phone then sighed.

'Zhenyuan!' Jungwon shouted from the kitchen. 'Come over here!'

Zhenyuan didn't realize that Jungwon was already awake. He got up from the couch and folded the blanket, then walked into the kitchen where Jungwon was cooking up breakfast happily.

'Good morning.' Zhenyuan said as he walked over.

'You slept like a baby yesterday. I don't know how you do it 'cause that couch is so hard.' Jungwon stated. 'Anyway, I'm making breakfast. You should have it when it's hot.'

Zhenyuan nodded and looked at the TV erected on the wall. It was at the morning news channel, but the volume wasn't high enough for Zhenyuan to hear anything. All he could see was a news anchor talking and some clips from the Roselake hospital. The banner read "Vampires continue to pose as a risk to citizens of Roselake", he surely knew what they were talking about.

Jungwon moved away from the hotplate and turned up the TV to hear the story more clearly. He wasn't a news person, but when it came to vampires, he was all ears. He leaned on the counter and stared at the TV.

'Also, there has been numerous that the vampires captured are behaving differently.' The anchor announced on the television. 'While some of them have features which have been presented in folklores, other vampires are quite different. For example, some of the vampires are extremely sensitive to sunlight while others have no sensitivity to it at all.'

Zhenyuan thought about himself, he was one of those vampires who could walk comfortably in sunlight. While folklores always made it seem like vampires would turn to ash in the sun. He wondered if vampires could really turn into bats.

'They don't get it,' Jungwon walked back to the hotplate. 'Not all vampires are the same, some are born-vampires and some are converted vampires.'

'So they show different characteristics?' Zhenyuan asked as he watched Jungwon continue his cooking.

'Well yeah, those who are born vampires are obviously stronger than the converted ones. They can walk in sunlight and have more heightened senses than the converted vampire. A converted vampire is a human being who was bitten to become a vampire so obviously they don't have all the characteristics.'

Zhenyuan nodded as he listened to Jungwon's knowledge. So one thing was for sure: Zhenyuan was born a vampire. He was never converted into one. For some reason, that made him feel more helpless. He was like that type of being that was born to be evil and was completely irredeemable.

'So Mayor Ding, you claim that your son was attacked by a teenage vampire? Can you please explain this to us?' a journalist from the audience asked the Mayor as he stood on the podium. It was a video which was playing within the news segment. It seemed to have attracted a lot of attention.

'Yes,' the mayor agreed. 'My son Ding Chengxin told me truthfully that he was attacked by a young vampire. He said he does in fact know this person, rather this vampire, but will not mention his name.'

Teenage vampire. Zhenyuan wondered if it was him who had done it in his rogue state. He was someone whom Chengxin knew after all. But if that was the case, couldn't he have remembered a little piece of what he had done. In both scenarios he had went rogue, he remembered the bits at the end.

'Change the channel!' Jungwon's grandpa declared as he walked into the kitchen. He immediately grabbed the remote from the counter and changed it to another station. 'These are all lies! Lies!'

'Sure grandpa...yet you'd rather believe in gumihos.' Jungwon rolled his eyes.

'They are real!'

Zhenyuan ignored the debate between Jungwon and his grandpa. He looked outside the window and saw an unfamiliar car pull up at Mia's home, and he was completely curious to know who it was. Perhaps it was authorities who had found out it was him who had transformed into a vampire in the hospital. But instead, it was Mia who got out of the car with an unfamiliar woman.

'I think I gotta go,' Zhenyuan got up from the chair. 'Thank you very much for the accommodation, I really appreciate it.' he thanked both Jungwon and his grandfather.

'But...you haven't had breakfast yet.' Jungwon complained.

'I'm sorry, it's really important.' Zhenyuan said politely and dashed off.

...

He walked towards the car once he had left the house, seeing that Mia was still standing beside it with the woman as they talked. Zhenyuan slowly walked over to them, and Mia slightly smiled even though she didn't look completely happy.

'Oh Aunt Kiki, this is him.' She pointed her outstretched arm to Zhenyuan's direction.

'Nice to meet you,' Aunt Kiki shook Zhenyuan's hand, and just like Mia, she didn't seem very happy. But of course it was expected, the day was quite bleak with the happenings of yesterday. 'Alright, go on and pack what you need.'

'Let's go,' Mia said to Zhenyuan. He was confused, but he followed behind her anyway.

The two of them walked into the house, and that was when Mia finally decided to explain.

'Anyway, that's my aunt. We're gonna stay with her until my mom is out of a coma.' she told him. 'And yes, she wasn't very crazy about you coming along but I convinced her you're a good guy.'

Zhenyuan didn't feel anything near a bad guy. He knew he was evil, and his entire existence was evil. But he nodded either way, pretending he was thankful to be moving in with the family. He didn't deserve any of it.