Camarilla | z.zy ✓

CHAPTER 30

Mia was running as fast as she could in the night. Tears of fear were coming out of her eyes as she was trying to run home. She was completely afraid, overwhelmed by what she had just seen. Now she even had one more fear – that another vampire other than Yaxuan could attack her. Or it could be the same Yaxuan who would come right back for her and kill her.

Every more second she spent outside in the night brought more fear to her. She wondered if she could now call Zhenyuan, realizing she was too afraid to run home on her own. He had always promised to protect her anyway. But maybe stopping would be riskier.

Even so, she decided to stop by one brick building and call him. She leaned on it nervously, her heart beating very fast and her breath hitching. She took her cellphone out of her pocket and called Zhenyuan's cellphone. It took long for him to answer, but when he finally did, she was relieved.

'Hallo?' Zhenyuan answered the cellphone in a drowsy voice. He was wondering why Mia didn't just come to his room to talk to him if she had something to say.

'Zhenyuan...please come pick me up...I'm scared.' She said in a shaky voice.

'Pick you up?' Zhenyuan seemed to snap awake at that moment. 'Where are you?'

'I'm somewhere in the street...at the Breakfast Restaurant...'

'What are you doing there?' Zhenyuan asked her in a concerned tone. Mia could hear shuffling on the other end, he was probably getting out of bed.

'Just come, I'm gonna explain later...please hurry up.' She begged.

'Fine, fine.'

Mia hang up the cellphone fearfully. Every single movement of the branches in the trees made her even more scared. She thought it was better for her to stay near the building and not in the open street where she would be more exposed. Taking a deep breath, she tried to hold in all the fear that she was feeling.

She waited for quite some time, before she suddenly realized Zhenyuan next to her. His arrival made her hair blow in the sudden wind that had arrived with him, almost like a car had zoomed past her. She was afraid, but she couldn't ignore the fact that Zhenyuan had just seemed to appear next to her.

'Are you okay?' he asked her, placing his hand on the wall.

'Zhenyuan...how did you just get here next to me?' She widened her eyes. 'I didn't even see you coming.' She was frozen in surprise.

'You...must have been too scared to notice.' he said the only thing he could think of.

Mia had so many more questions to ask, but she nodded anyway. All she wanted was to get out of there and quickly get home, sheltered away from everything.

She found herself collapsing in Zhenyuan's arms before the two of them could even start their journey back home. She was still so afraid and was trembling in his arms. The fear had not worn off, but now it was releasing itself slowly.

'Zhenyuan you won't believe it,' she uttered. 'Yaxuan he's...he's a vampire.'

Zhenyuan put on his most surprised look, trying to act like he didn't see that coming. 'What? No way, Yaxuan is just too innocent to be a vampire. And he's scared of vampires.'

'I know, but it was him! I swear it was him!' She cried. 'His voice and everything. He even looked at me and I really confirmed it was him! Then he just left.' She looked around, still shaking with fear. 'What if he's still here?'

'No I bet he's gone, he wouldn't want his schoolmates to see him. Let's go.' Zhenyuan told her. Whatever was going on, he needed to meet Yaxuan and know the rest of the story which was cut short. He now knew more than he did a few days ago, but it still wasn't enough.

Mia was walking quite slow, and he still didn't know if it was safe enough for them to be out there at that time. Zhenyuan knew he was a vampire, but if a fellow vampire like Jungwon could attack him, then he didn't know who else would attack them in the middle of the night. They needed to hurry up and go home.

'Hop on,' Zhenyuan told her, stopping midway. He meant for her to hop on his back so that they could be faster.

Mia looked at Zhenyuan shyly before she hopped onto his back. He steadied her with his arms, then tried to walk as quickly as he could at a humanly pace. In another situation, he would have been zooming very quickly, but he reminded himself that she was a human who still didn't know his identity.

Mia felt much safer now, even though there was still some fear left in her. She was still also overwhelmed with thoughts about Yaxuan's identity. She wondered who else could be a vampire in that school.

'So that means Yaxuan is the one who attacked Dr. Carnie? She said it was a young man who did it.' Mia said as lowly as possible, making sure she wouldn't attract the attention of any predator lurking nearby, if there were any.

'I guess so,' Zhenyuan answered, not sure which was the right answer. It might as well have been Jungwon, but no one could guess at this point. 'Where were you going anyway? You still didn't tell me why you're out at this time.'

'I wanted to go and see my mom, they're limiting visits at the hospital,' She sighed against his back. 'I just want to see her even though we won't even talk.'

Zhenyuan felt the guilt again. He was somewhat the reason Mia was out in the night like this, he was the one who had caused her mother to get into a coma after all. If Yaxuan had hurt Mia, Zhenyuan wouldn't know how to forgive himself.

'It's okay, I'm sure you'll find another day to go.' Zhenyuan assured her.

She nodded. They walked for quite a while, Mia checking behind her several times just to make sure they weren't being stalked by any vampires in the night. She could have sworn she heard footsteps or a twig breaking several times, but there was nothing behind her. If she were alone, she didn't know what she could have done.

Finally, they had arrived at the house. Zhenyuan checked if the lights were on in the living room, thankful that they weren't. If they were, it would mean Aunt Kiki or her husband might have woken up and noticed they weren't there. He was scared that would happen since he had left in such a hurry that he didn't even care to be quiet about it.

He let Mia off his back gently, letting her land behind him.

'Go in first,' he told her, just to make sure nothing would happen to her while he was inside.

Mia obeyed and walked into the house, then Zhenyuan went in after her and shut the door slowly.

'No more sneaking out okay?' he warned her in a low voice.

'Yes Zhenyuan. And...thanks for caring for me. I know I found it pretty annoying at first but I really appreciate it right now, and I actually think I need your care.' Mia told him with a small smile.

He felt bad for her, she was seeking safety from the same species she needed protection from.

'You're always gonna be around right?' she added once she saw tha she wasn't replying, he was simply staring down at her.

'Mia...' he started.

'I'm sorry for talking so much, but it's not all about you protecting me. It's about you being someone I care about so much so I don't want you to ever disappear. Since my mom got in a coma it kind of made me realize I don't want to lose anyone, especially not you. I really...care about you.' She repeated, playing with her fingers. She wasn't the best articulator, but she felt that Zhenyuan needed to hear these words.

Zhenyuan gave a smile, not knowing what to say. He didn't want to lie to her, but neither did he want to seem like he didn't care about her.

He put his hands on her shoulders. 'I care about you too Mia...I love you.' Zhenyuan gave her a peck on her forehead, then watched her turn red quickly. 'Goodnight.'

'Good...goodnight.' She stammered, before making her way up the stairs.

Zhenyuan sighed as he walked to his room. Knowing who he was, he was going to disappear from her life soon.