Chapter 68

The cold air made her hair flutter. It was long, not the impulsively cut hair she got after she finished her third year. The old dilapidated church that hadn't yet been reconstructed and would be soon in a few months. The janitor that slept on the bench soundlessly on a repetitive schedule.

If it weren't for Shane who stood in front of her she would've thought everything to do with Emperors and Magic had just been a dream.

He no longer smiled or grinned and instead stared at her with calculating eyes. It was the eyes someone gave something that was worth a lot of money.

It made Alexis squirm.

"What's going on? Last I remember you stabbed me and Alastair was taking me somewhere. How did I end up here?" Her words demanded an answer.

Shane however, looked bored at her words. He clicked his tongue and answered.

"Isn't it pretty simple? I escaped thanks to that stupid red headed prince's contract and attempted to kill you. It didn't work out well, so I ran off and you got healed up and now we're here", he shrugged.

'Stupid red headed prince?' She could think of one person.

"Dexter? He made a contract with you? But then, if what you say is true, why are you here?" She pinched her arm in an attempt to keep calm.

He finally grinned.

"That's more interesting. You should already know that it's rare for someone to grasp every type of mana there is and yet you don't seem to understand how much power you hold, do you?"

Alexis rolled her eyes, "of course I do, but I don't really need it all. I just learned them all to help"- she clenched her teeth, hesitating before she could say Alastair's name.

"Right. Right. Miss Righteous Royal Magician who only does whatever her master says. You're like a loyal dog, blindly following your owner." He sneered condescendingly.

"Piss off" Alexis spat.

"No, think about it Alexis", he neared her while lifted his hands and looking at the greying sky. "You could rule everywhere. Any land you want. Money. Riches. Jewels. You name it. You can have it all. Yet, you just followed that brat around", he laughed.

"I don't want it. If anything I want to go back and ask Alastair why he sent me back without my permission", she muttered.

"Oh." His hands dropped suddenly and he looked slightly awkward, "He didn't send you back".

Alexis' head snapped up at his words, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"What do you mean?!"

"He was going to, but he kept hesitating and postponing it so I took control of the reigns".

"Y-You?! You bought me here? All so you could have a talk with me? You're a psycho!" Alexis screamed. Her temper had burst.

"The moment I spend a second standing stationary in the palace I would be shot and paralysed. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble", he winced as if recalling an old memory.

"Take me back". She demanded.

"Sorry sweetheart not until you agree to my plans", he shrugged at her glaring face.

"Take me back".

Shane was calm for a moment before he felt it. The suffocating darkness that strangled his body. He gave a choked laugh, slapping away and it moved away with ease. Avoiding his touch.

"Sorry darling that doesn't work on a vampire".

A ball dropped in Alexis' stomach.

"V-Vampire?"

"Oh. They don't teach you about us do they? Well I can educate you on that, but before that, let's get out of the rain shower", he smiled, grabbing her stunned figure and dragging her into the shelter of a café just before a shower of rain hit the ground.

Alexis stared at the rain for a few seconds, before turning to the man beside her. She noticed the sharp teeth he displayed when he grinned. His fair complexion as if the sun never met his skin.

"Huh… so vampires exist too… what a bloody mess" she sighed, fed up with all the uncalled for surprises.

"Was that pun intended?"

"No".

"I see. Well we have a lot to discuss. Coffee?" He opened the door to the aromatic place and Alexis walked in absently. Thinking that maybe a cup of coffee might wake her up.

It didn't.

She glanced at the man that sat so casually and carefree she wouldn't have thought he was a vampire. She glanced at the barista with a frown.

'Is she a vampire too?'

"Relax. I'm the only non-human thing here".

Her eyes darted from the barista to him, widening as they landed on his amused face.

"No, I can't read minds, just faces and you wear your thoughts", he chuckled out.

"What is it? Why did you bring me here?" Her hands nervously cradled on top of each other.

"Well… let me start from the beginning. That boy, Dexter, made a contract with me. I was pretty stingy with my requirements so I'm pretty much a free man now. As you can guess it had a hand in your death." He took a sip of his coffee despite it just being brewed. The heat of it seemed to have no affect on him.

"Alright. Why did you bring me here?" Alexis glanced at the cup in worry. She wasn't sure if she could take on a vampire since she didn't know anything about them. And if the Vampire Diaries were any help than she was in trouble.

"I watched you for a while. I noticed that we're a bit similar, aren't we?" He tilted his head, lowering his sights to her neck for a split second before concentrating on her face.

"How?" Alexis threw him a look of scepticism.

"We both understand the racial discrimination that happens in the Kaedmen Empire. You hate it. Almost as much as I do. And you can change it", his words made Alexis think she might be hearing something helpful.

"How?" She repeated, her voice eager and softer.

"By dominating humans".

And just like that her anticipation dissipated.

"Right… I think you forgot that I am a human. Or did you also think I was a fairy?" She held her temples in disappointment.

'There's clearly another way'.

"Of course I know. I can smell your blood and you're definitely a human. But you can help your elf friends and those little dwarves lead better lives".

"I can do that without threatening anyone's life".

"How do you plan that? Do you think you're the only person to want change? Dozens of people want it, do they get it? No. Why? Because they don't assert dominance" he placed the empty cup down so hard a crack marred the middle of it.

"Alastair's half blood elf and the Emperor of the Empire. Things have already started changing." She shrugged not understanding the reason why he was so worked up.

He bit his lip, glaring at the table so hard she was surprised he didn't drill a hole in it.

"You, why do you think you've never heard of vampires before? Because we're rare and going extinct? Because we're insignificant enough to be forgotten?" He lifted his sharp eyes which for a split second turned a deep red. Not Alastair's rose coloured but a dirty muddy red.

Alexis gasped at the intensity of them. They seemed to paralyse her whole body.

"No. Even if people accept other creatures in the Kaedmen Empire they'll never allow Vampires to set foot on the land. We have been killed and hunted. Our death brings people rejoice. Our falling numbers bring hope. They hang our heads on a stake like a prize. Humans, Dwarves, Elves every living creature hates us. Do you know how that feels Alexis? You don't. You wouldn't" his words were a truth Alexis hadn't expected. It was cold and cruel.

"W-Why? Why do they?" She stuttered, her teeth clattered and coldness seemed to surround her.

"Because we survive on the mana of humans."

Alexis had attended the rest of her lectures with the brain of a zombie. Her mind drifting back to the words she heard. How the hurt echoed in Shane's words.

She wanted to help him.

The vampires.

'but… I don't know anything about them…'