People around me were one in colour. It was as if I was in the center of a black parade, including me, who was wearing a handsome tuxedo. I might look good right now if this black scarf was not covering half of my face.

For protection, that was what my vampire master said.

Speaking of him; he was too far from my spot, no free space at any of his side, because group of girls bombarded him—giggling. I was not surprized he was popular to his fellows.

He noticed I was staring but he ignored me shortly and entertained those girls. What’s wrong with him? Did he just bring me here to show me how he flirted with them? Well, I was not interested.

I observed the rest of the crowd, who were talking and holding a wine glass full of red liquid. Everyone looked so perfect and could be compared to the celebrities or models. The drinks were not wine for sure. The people were sophisticated but creepy at the same time. I did not belong here.

I was boiling so I needed to change my view to something else, did not predict I had almost no gap with the man who was now in front of me.

I admitted the hall was too big, but it was questionable ending up into this position with this anonymous person. Our foreheads were pressed together.

“H-Hi.” He greeted.

He was taller than me—and must be taller than my boss. His lips spread wide and his pearly white teeth were dazzling. His nose bumped to my scarf-covered one. I looked at him in the eyes and they were smoky, his orbs were same with the rest. A cow seemed to his black hair but overall, he was attractive.

"I found him." My eyes shifted to the voice that I had heard before. He was wearing a black suit today but I could not mistake it was the same doctor who treated me three years ago. He did not seem to notice me as he was about to go on my master’s direction. It must be the scarf’s fault.

My attention to that person was soon interrupted by the breath of the man in front of me.

“Everyday, this place was never emptied with gathering. But, why I haven’t seen you before. And oh, your scent is unique. By the way, my name is…” He whispered his name to my ear like it was a secret you would reveal to the whole world. I felt Goosebumps and more when he pulled my scarf a little to sniff at my neck.

Everyone in the crowd seemed disturbed all of a sudden.

“Human.” Horror crawled to my bones when the entire mass mentioned my kind at the same time. Their senses were undeniably strong and it was not great at all. I hurriedly raised the cloth up to my face, then they simply disregarded the abrupt air and resume with the gathering.

My pulse rushed while the man, who caused it all, only laughed at the short commotion. That was not funny.

“Sorry about that.” He apologized which could purely heard by the two of us. “I wonder why such being like you is here. But…” He put his index finger in the middle of my lips. “Let’s talk alone in somewhere safer, you cute lamb.” He just call me what?

He intertwined his hand with mine and we walked away.

In the garden of that Vampire Mansion, we stopped there, gazing at the red blooming flowers and stars shining upon them.

“The roses are pretty, right?” Breaking the silence, Mr. Kim spoke out of the blue. “Better not to touch them because they're thorned, if you don’t want to smear your sweet blood in the air.”

I glared at him because he made my day more upsetting if it was not due to his action earlier. He snorted at my expression as he approached me. But, I stepped farther away from him.

Pouting, he slanted his lips and his brow rose. “What’s with the face? I didn’t do it on purpose, I swear.”

“Seriously, you almost exposed my identity to your folks.” I could not control my tone that it got higher. “What are we doing here? So you could solely devour me?”

“No.” He scoffed. “For the reason that you could loosely answer my parked question to you, why are you wondering inside our territory?”

“It’s because I was working for one of you and he brought me here with him.” I calmly answered. He was playful but I guessed he would not cause me any harm.

His eyes became tiny in curiosity. “For what reason?” I shrugged at his follow-up question and he scoffed.

“Where is this person?”

“He was just around but he isolated me.” I was raining with interrogations from him, but I lightly response.

“What? Is he serving you for feast?”

He had a point there since Master appeared that he was sick and tired of me currently, a painful truth that I did not bother to reply. I gasped as I felt his hand cupped my face and lifted it.

“What a poor angel.” One of his long fingers reached the tip of my scarf, pulling it down again. “You don’t deserve to be treated like this. You’re an innocent piece of existence.”

“You’re wrong.” I smirked and shoved his hand off of me. “I was stained a long time ago.”

“By him?” I shook my head.

“You don’t need to know. It’s a long story.” My eyes rolled.

I could see the shock on his face but it turned to appeal him more. His way of looking at me made me feel uneasy and zoom a plan to finish this conversation with him immediately. It was still  unconfirmed that my master really wish to get rid of me.

I was hoping Kris was not thinking that way and he was looking for me instead.

Before I could bid farewell to this guy, Mr. Kim did not allow for me to do so.

“Why would you let your master bring you here anyway? Do you want to be one of us? If you want, I could do that for you, so you’ll be well protected.”

“I—don’t need that.” I refused. I turned around and I was about to walked away, yet he stopped me with his words.

“To tell you frankly, your scent struck me. Do you know why?” My mind was blank. “The blood running through your veins is high class. It’s not because of the blood type, but your line was difficult to collect.”

“What?” It seemed to be a joke to me, thinking that my real family was a royalty. Then, where’s our kingdom? Why am I within a rag living? Kris…

“Our Slayers’ blood was the rarest we could drink. It’s self-explanatory that they’re skilled to fight against us; that’s why. But there’s this legendary pure blood man, he killed a pair and consumed them, and why a party is going on here right now. He recently returned home.”

My heart thumped so loud and slow. I was nervous with the clues his giving—they matched with the person I know. I didn’t want to hear my prediction was correct. I did not want to know.

“You know what.” I startled as my focus go back with Mr. Kim. “Your scent doesn’t have a difference with him.” It was like a hit of an arrow. “By any chance, does Wu Yi Fan ring a bell to you?” I was relief but that was instantly because… “Oh, he changed his name to Kris Wu. He was a guy with many names.” And, that was it.

The member of the beast continued speaking while he was unaware my world was twisting around from his revelation.

“Only few people can distinguish the Slayer’s blood. Including him, the committee also has that ability.”

“So you’re one of them because you notice me?” Although standing idly, I felt exhausted. If he kept on talking, I was not certain that I could bear to listen without fainting. “Why do you need to tell all this things? You and I barely know each other?”

He smirked, his face doubled to my vision. “You obviously lack of the traits of a real hunter, dear. You’re easy to kill because of that and it was regrettable, a cute and gentle creature like you, will simply get murdered. I’m not telling you this stuff to let you know what your price in the market is. I’m not here to devour you. I’m here for aid. If you’re left out now, no one’s going to take care of you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Reaching my limit, I loosed my balance. If he did not save me from my near fall, I could have kissed the stone flooring.

“Sorry.” I chuckled at my failure. “This occasion doesn’t fit me.”

I had no choice but to rest my head on his shoulder. This was an advantage to shut him up as well.

“I can carry you to my bed and recharge you a little.” He offered.

“No.” I lifted myself off of him, straightening up, as I shook my head. “It’s maybe due to my thirst or hunger that I’m feeling this way.”

“You sure?” He asked. “I’ll get you something to drink—not blood—a juice for mortals of course.”

“Thank you.”

“But, what about you? I cannot leave you behind.” I looked at him and beamed. He was not a bad vampire from what he was showing me.

“I-I’ll be fine. I’ll sit on a bench while waiting for you.” I guaranteed him.

“Okay.” He then went off while I began searching for some place to sit.

I walked for a minute or two while using the tree to support my posture. On my path, I recalled the chat I had with Mr. Kim, who told me that I belonged to the bloodline of slayers; they got exterminated by the person I provided my loyalty and service. He fooled me, faking what he wanted me to believe in. My legs wobbled, I closed my eyes once and tears fall from them. If I keep thinking about the truth, I did not know how long I would last before I broke down.

It was fortunate or misfortunate to find a bench beside a post light; however, there were couple who was already there sitting. Well, they were in their own world of romance. Before they would notice someone was witnessing their lip-locked, I decided to head forward to find another spot to sit in, did not anticipate the attack I would get as soon as I turned my back.

This time, my body fell on the hard floor. I clenched my teeth in ache.  I tried to lied on my back and see the one who pinned me down the ground. Different from the terrorizing vampire, it was a girl who looked close with my age in a pastel colour of clothing. She was gritting her sharp teeth at me, which full of blood. She was one of the pair I presumed as a couple. I looked up at the bench and saw the lifeless male draining blood from his neck.

With this ill-mannered vampire, I was roughly losing my life. She was on her plan of assaulting if an unknown presence did not push her off from me. She was screeching with her cry as she was slammed on the trunk of the tree. The shadow of my saviour approached the girl.

“What a troublesome new born.” He was clicking his tongue.

Getting all her hair in one hand, she banged her head on the tree. She violently protested but later in peace as her heart was taken out of her—her organ and her own self turned into ashes shortly.

Kris faced me after slaughtering his fellow at my front. His seriousness was the most dreadful version I had seen on him, face was dark and murderous. I was petrified while sitting on the floor. I could not move from what I had watched.

It must be a different way, but this could be similar of how he mercilessly killed my parents, who were part of the mortal enemies for their kind. They found my bloodline delicious because it was the extract of their effort of exterminating a skilled human. I was truthfully a fool to trust him.

“What are you doing here? This is not a right place and the right time to stroll, Chanyeol. Didn’t I say to wait for me at the center?”  He was angry but he was not worth a response from me.

Struggling, I stood from the floor and glared at him. I kept my silence while he seemed to get annoyed of my behaviour.

“W-what’s wrong with you?” He asked with a growl.

I knew I looked odd in his eyes but I only cared less. I moved opposite from him and I expected he would stop me by the wrist.

But ahead of that, I bravely said. “Don’t you dare touch me, you evil monster.”

I simply made him smirk. I should have not met him. I should have not existed. What a life I have now? It was a nightmare inside a nightmare. There was no way out.

The only thing I was able to do was cry.

“Hey.” I could not forbid his cold hand to touch my face. He wiped my tears with his thumb like comforting me. He was suddenly soft but I discovered that was unreal.

Realizing that, I pushed his hands away, still they firmly stuck touching me.

“Don’t t—” He hushed me that I could not go on of rejecting him.

“What’s happening with you? Please tell me baby.”

“Don’t call me baby.” I shouted; my voice breaking. “You killed my parents.”

“But, you knew that already.”

“Not the true way or reason of killing them.” The arguments were shut. “I should have seen the flaws of your story of their death. It was fabricated.  And, why did you keep me? To be your trophy against all the slayers?”

“Who told you that?”

“It was not for you to know.”

He was frustrated in the situation as well. Exhaling deeply, he held both my arms so our face was as close as he gets. His cold breath brushes on my warm one. His deceitful face was too near.

“You did not hear my side, Chanyeol.” He seemed begging me to believe him. But, I was still in doubt. “Do you think from the two years we’ve been together I was that laidback and unreliable? I gave everything to you, education and luxury.” He sighed once more. “Alright, if you really want to know the truth, your parents were the best hunter of their generation. Slaying the entire population of my clan, I was the only one left because of my hibernation. When I discovered what they’ve done, I sought revenge to them. I tracked them down, found your house and the night of my attack, the couple were unaware they’ll lose their lives in their slumber.”

I did not want to listen any longer to the terrible story of our clans’ war, my eyes pouring tears again. Kris did not get tired wiping it while his statement progressed.

“I want your parents to feel what the feeling of losing everything was. But…”

“What?” I demanded.

“There was something with you that I couldn’t put you to the sword.” He was bewildered of his own self.

“What?”

“I don’t know.” He gave up. “The rest of history that I told you initially was true.”

I scoffed, sniffed as my nose was getting runny. I was still not satisfied and hate him even he told me the things he thought enough. I guessed we should stop being together because nothing would work out with us anymore.

“I’m sorry if that’s what you want to hear from me.” In the midst of our quite background, he opened the talk again. “We gathered here every day—”

“Because you’re a celebrity in this vampire world, is that correct?” I was dismayed when he shook his head.

“Who is this person keep telling you that? I seldom showed at home because the slayer trailed me in this country too. On the day we arrived, we always assembled together to plot a war against our hunters.”

“I understand if you snubbed me the whole time for this meeting. The giggling and your fun seemed part of it, did I hit the jackpot?”

“Of course not.”

He was going to tell me more but the points of the events were unbelievable.

There was a sudden explosion at our side and in panic, we separated. The man I was with and the doctor took Kris with them and they ran away, leaving me alone. In a few seconds, when the people who attacked us sensed that I was the only one left, they surrounded me. They were black armoured mobs, pointing their large guns at me. It had been half a minute as they put their gun down.

“A human.” A female was revealed from the mask. She was pale but not like the vampires, stern but the first person in their group to come forward to me. “Boy, what’s your name?”

I asked myself if I would put a last name or not. I ended up saying. “Chanyeol.”

“You seemed a foreigner of this country.” A huge bulky man said. “If we could please invite you to our headquarters, we would be so grateful.”

I had no option but to go. They escorted me to their van and took off.

***