Azalea| Chapter Two

Chapter Two

There was a famous folklore about a Princess named Azalea; she was a human-vampire hybrid. Like most humans, she wanted to find love, but she wasn't allowed to due to her nature. Even though her existence was innocent, the humans still wanted her dead. One day, the villagers attacked; Azalea ran and bumped into the Prince.

Moreover, the Prince halted their attacks and asked Azalea to marry him. Even though she wanted to find love, that wasn't it, so it upset her. The war between humans and vampires continues to breed and has existed for eons. The Prince had died and reincarnated multiple lifetimes to relive the same fate over and over again, until one lifetime, Azalea, still in her physical 21-year-old form, finally accepted him. As a result of this tale, children vampires came to believe that not all humans are bad since they had such an excellent loving relationship. 

I suppressed a feeling of dread during the Blood Sacrifice ceremony at dusk. The snow fell steadily, gliding down on the roof. The number of family members attending the ceremony surprised me. I quickly stopped in the small entryway between the kitchen and living room and timidly lowered my head. I slipped past them and chased after my brother, Alial, outside. As I stepped out, the early winter breeze hit my skin. I stopped short when I saw that it was not an animal sacrifice today but a human. She was little, like us. The thought of having her blood drawn terrified me. I ripped the buckets from my brother's grasp as soon as he placed them all around her.

"What are you doing!?" Alial snarls.

Looking at him disappointedly, I glanced over at the sad girl; with a defeated sigh, my lips went dry. I went inside the house to remove myself from seeing the Blood Sacrifice. 

I glanced around the busy kitchen and crowded living room. The ceremony hadn't even begun, but the house smelled of animal blood overlapping each other. Suddenly, I felt out of place and planned an escape for her, but instead sat down on one of the chairs and remembered that I was a coward. 

With so many animals, why do we still need the girl? 

Within moments of my eyes wandering over the silver duct tape holding the tarp together, my thoughts drifted away from the overlapping whispers of my relatives.

"Aluca!" 

I was suddenly pulled back into the warm chair by my brother's booming voice. From the sliding glass door, Alial waved at me. 

"Go wash the Blood Sacrifice, "He told me. 

I sighed, saying, "No, I don't want to." 

He wouldn't accept no for an answer as he handed me shampoo and soap to hose her down.

"Stop being useless; go now."

With the supplies in hand, I irritatedly carried them toward the startled, emotionless girl. My finger held onto the head of the water hose as I aimed at her.

"Am I...going to die?" she asks in a weak voice.

Turning back, I checked to see if anyone was outside or watching, but nothing seemed amiss, so I untied her and let out a deep breath, letting my fingers drop the water hose.

"Get going," I whispered,

A soft smile curls over her emotionless face as she glances at me with sad green eyes.

"There's nowhere to go..." she says,

"There has to be somewhere else but here," I say,

Taking off a necklace with a diamond capsule and an azalea flower, she handed it to me.

"Hey!" Hien's voice echoed after realizing I was allowing the human girl to elope. 

As soon as he got close, he hurried towards me and charged me with full force, landing a punch to my jaw. I rolled over, reached for his collar, and returned the punch right back at him. We fought physically�"giving the human girl time to escape. 

"What are you two doing!?" My Mom comes between us as she separates us.

She looked down, and when she saw that I had let the human girl go, she muttered under her breath about how embarrassing this was. I ignored her curses and started running in the direction of where the girl was running. The persuasion of Alial and Hien caused me to run like crazy.

"Get back here!" Hien yelled,

"Aluca!" Alial screamed.

She hadn't gone far away; her footprints were still visible on the soft snow, and I could still smell her. But with Alial and Hien chasing after me, they will discover her and bring her back. Therefore, I had no other choice but to return to the house. When I turned around, Hien still had his fist balled up, indicating our fight was not over. He immediately swung at me, but Alial gripped his wrist and pulled it back.

"Enough," Alial says, "I've had it,"

"But he didn't -you saw what he-" Hien tries to explain,

"He's going to remain a yellow card holder,” Alial says,

“That’s abnormal. Is he really related to us?" Hien asked.

Alial shrugs and walks off as the two of them continue their conversation.

When we got back, the house that smelled of blood earlier was now surrounded by gossip and angry eyes. Mom had no other choice but to keep me locked in my room, seeing as the other family members weren't too happy about what I did. 

By the time everyone had left, Mom had allowed me to come out and help finish cleaning up; the house that was filled with what felt like hundreds of people earlier was now finally quiet. 

 

Upon opening my eyes, I found myself in a coffin; I pushed the top half open, sat up, hopped out, and explored the room. I heard the creak of the door opening as she pulled my arms back, and I slipped away from where she was. I saw her pull her green fabric belt from her waist as she, wrap it around my left leg, and then drag me to the ground. She narrowed her eyelids and charged at me at full force, performing a flying sidekick. I wiped my mouth and spun my leg to unwind the knots that had coiled around my leg. I grabbed her left leg and drew her toward me. Her legs quickly wrapped around my waist, and my back hit the ground hard as she sat on top of me. Her right fist is raised as she attempts to punch me.

"Lilith!" I sputtered,

In an instant, she stood up and backed away from me.

After taking a few seconds to ensure I'm not going to fight back, her mean eyes inspect me.

"You can't even fight?" Lilith asks, emotionless.

After she covered me with a black cloak, shielded me with an umbrella, and forced me to follow behind her, I realized we were in the Palace's morgue. 

Leaving the Palace, we boarded a carriage, and the ride was silent. Though she wasn't pleasing to the eye, she certainly wasn't ravishing; I suppose she was equivalent to a man. Her eyes slid toward me as she sensed my long gaze.

"Stop staring," 

"I…I'm not," I stammered as I did before.

The carriage stopped at a small cabin as Lilith stepped out and waited for me to follow her. I pondered thoughts through and through as the sun went down. Lilith allows me inside the Cabin but exits and leaves me alone, eager for answers. 

Is she abandoning me here because she failed to kill me?

After two hours, I can assume she won't be back. I'll take a walk.

When I heard a loud shriek, I turned around and fled. A silhouette chased me; frightened, I stumbled shamefully. I flinched when I saw another man wearing the same armor as her. With his sword raised, he cut it in half. Silhouettes are pure incubuses spawned by the Vampire King. They have a vaguely humanoid body structure. They have glowing different-colored eyes, and they have teeth as well. They have four clawed fingers on each of their hands and large, slim-like sticks as feet. Every area of their bodies can multiply, meaning you could be surrounded by hundreds of them, especially if they're the larger ones with red eyes. A blue-eyed Silhouette can multiply up to 12. As I cowered in fear, the noise stopped, surveying my surrounding. The silhouettes spun away quickly. 

Sure enough, the tip of the Hero's blade directs its aim at me. 

Lilith didn't kill me, but this guy will.