Camarilla | z.zy ✓

CHAPTER 35

Zhenyuan walked down the stairs in the morning, not used to the luxurious house. Yaxuan had woken him up so that they could go and have breakfast together.

Zhenyuan stopped in his tracks when he saw Yaxuan's parents standing at the bottom of the stairs with wide smiles on their faces. He turned to Zhenyuan with a weird look on his face, but Yaxuan simply turned him around to face his parents.

'Prince Zhenyuan, we're so honored to have you in our house,' the parents bowed for him.

'Huh? They know me?' Zhenyuan turned to Yaxuan with a surprised look.

'Of course. My parents are vampires. I was born a vampire remember?' Yaxuan smiled at him and continued to walk down the stairs.

'Well, you didn't treat me like royalty when I first came with Chengxin here.' Zhenyuan said to Yaxuan's parents who had now stood up straight.

'Well you were with a human, we couldn't expose you.' Yaxuan's mother responded and started leading him to the dining room.

'Good point.' Zhenyuan observed as they walked into the dining room. It was beautifully set, but what was on the table wasn't something a normal human would enjoy.

Zhenyuan had gotten used to being met with pancakes or cereal on the breakfast table even though he was a vampire, so he was a bit puzzled when he saw expensive ceramic bowls on the table filled with blood.

'Um,' he couldn't pretend he wasn't going to enjoy it, but somehow being with humans had made him view things differently. 'Where'd you get it?'

'A human we killed this morning.' Yaxuan's mother replied with a smile. 'I know you would have probably loved to feed from the human yourself but...'

'No, no, it's fine.' Zhenyuan answered and picked a random seat.

Yaxuan walked over and sat next to him. His parents sat opposite to the two, and started eating almost immediately. They were treating the blood like a soup, using spoons to scoop it and drink it down. Zhenyuan, however, noticed how hungrily they were taking each spoon.

He looked down into his bowl, a bit hesitant to eat along with them. He didn't even understand how he had drank up all that blood when he was rogue, now he almost couldn't do it.

'Is there a problem Prince?' Yaxuan's father asked him, momentarily stopping his eating.

'No, no,' Zhenyuan shook his head immediately. 'I'm sure it's very good. I just wanted to say grace first.'

Not wanting to disappoint them, Zhenyuan scooped the blood with the spoon and put it into his mouth. He enjoyed the taste, but he didn't enjoy the thought that came with it. It was the thought that this was once a living breathing man who would probably be on the news the next day.

Zhenyuan attempted to take another spoonful, but he found himself unable to do it. He wondered what Mia would think if she saw him doing this.

'Prince Zhenyuan, maybe this human just isn't to your taste. Would you perhaps like a different blood group?' Yaxuan's mother immediately got up, ready to go into the world again and find someone whom Zhenyuan desired.

'No it's not that,' he cleared his throat.

'Prince Zhenyuan,' Yaxuan was the next to speak. 'I know what's going on. Don't you think being with humans has really made you weak? You don't have to imitate them. Don't imitate their behavior.'

'I'm not.' Zhenyuan answered then turned to him. 'But have you thought of the fact that this could be anybody? One day it could be Mia whose blood we'd be drinking.'

'So what!? Mia is just a human!' Yaxuan slammed his fist on the table. 'What's going on with you? You don't have to feel sorry for humans because they certainly wouldn't feel sorry for you. We've already seen how they treat other vampires.'

'Yeah I know, but...they're trying to defend themselves.' Zhenyuan found himself saying.

Everyone at the table gasped at Zhenyuan's statement.

'Prince Zhenyuan, your father was not like this. All your father would want was for you to find the vampire slayer's descendant and do the needful, then lead the revolution against humans!' Yaxuan's mother commented emotionally, as if sacrilege had just been committed.

'Well I'm not my father and I'm not sure if I agree with everything he says,' Zhenyuan got up from the seat. 'And I do know who the vampire slayer's descendant is, but I'm not going to bite her.'

He started to walk towards the door, hoping he would go outside and catch some air. But before he could reach it, Yaxuan met him in the living room and turned him around. Hearing Zhenyuan's statement, Yaxuan was quite sure the vampire slayer's descendant was obviously Mia.

'Humans are terrible! They kill everything mercilessly and Mia isn't an exception. Do you think if you went to her and told her that you're a vampire she'd defend you and stay by your side!?' Yaxuan asked him angrily. 'You're our last hope and now you're acting like a jerk. Now let me tell you one thing...if you choose to not bite Mia and turn her into a vampire, I'm gonna tell Jungwon Mia's identity and he will bite her instead of you. I would rather have converted vampires lead the revolution than no one at all.'

'Don't you dare!' Zhenyuan grabbed Yaxuan's shirt.

'I can't believe I even fought Jungwon for you that day in your room! I should have left you to be torn into pieces! You were so defenseless.' Yaxuan spat.

'I swear I'll...'

'Let go of me!' Yaxuan pushed Zhenyuan hard with his anomalous strength, making him slam into the wall of the living room. The white wall sunk inwards, before Zhenyuan fell to the floor in pain. He knew he was okay, but there was so much pain running through his body at the moment. He looked at Yaxuan with a hazy vision.

'Yaxuan! How could you do that!?' Yaxuan's mother ran to him. 'This is the prince.'

'Why is he being weak for a vampire though?' Yaxuan's father whispered to Yaxuan as he walked over to the scene.

'He hasn't mastered everything yet, right now I think he's at pal with a converted vampire...if not weaker.' Yaxuan answered as he fixed his shirt which Zhenyuan had grabbed.

Yaxuan's mother ran over to Zhenyuan and helped him up.

'Look, if you're gonna be on human's side, so be it!' Yaxuan raised his arms. 'I'm faithful to you so I won't tell Jungwon who the vampire slayer's descendant is, but you should have considered the fact that we're suffering and you don't care about us, all you care about is Mia. You think humans are good people and we're the bad ones!? Fine...then I guess you won't mind the fact that I witnessed my sister's head being cut off by a vampire slayer in 1854.' he claimed.

'Huh?' Zhenyuan turned to Yaxuan's mother, who nodded.

'He's right, they came into the forest and wanted to kill us all. We were lucky to have escaped, but it was too late for his sister.' Yaxuan's mother almost cried.

'And you want to be kind to creatures that have done that to me!?' Yaxuan repeated. 'I'm so sorry for pushing you Prince Zhenyuan, but I think you're going a bit too far with your sympathy. I don't know if it's sympathy or just...becoming more humanlike. Don't let Mia's innocence fool you, she's still one of them.' Yaxuan turned around then ran up the stairs.

'Prince, falling in love with a human is the worst thing you could think of doing.' Yaxuan's mother told him, shaking her head. 'Listen to me, I have seen vampires lured in by human women only to be killed, realizing too late that it was a trap.'

Yaxuan's father also nodded. 'Take it from us who have seen a lot, and still remember it.' Yaxuan's father referred to Zhenyuan's amnesia.

It seemed amnesia was what made him backtrack from his mission to the vampires.