Chapter 6: Vampire

Lily still could not believe that Luther kept on accusing her of being a witch. In the modern world, witch is used as a curse word, so she did not feel good when Luther kept calling her one.

"I don't know why you kept saying that, but it's rude. Calling a pretty girl a witch is rude. You must be single." When Lily saw that Luther did not react to that, she seemed to understand something. "Go figure. Nobody will like you if you keep on calling them names."

Luther was not sure why Lily kept on denying that she is a witch. Witches usually felt pretty proud amongst their Hidden Society. While thinking about how Lily did not seem to make up any of her reactions, something came to Luther's mind.

"Why did you move into Shadow Court?" Luther was slightly curious, but he did not show it in his face. Instead, he crossed his leg and looked at Lily.

Feeling tired, Lily went to her bed and sat down. "I saw the advertisement on the internet and felt that the condition is good. The rent is cheaper than the rest of the houses advertised, so I decided to rent the house there. Why?"

Luther touched his chin. Upon seeing that, Lily thought of how it would be such a waste that she will not be able to see the face of the crown prince when she returned to the modern world.

"The fact that you can see the advertisement for Shadow Court and the electric pulse that burned me, I am sure that you should be a witch. Don't you know anything about yourself?" Luther stopped touching his chin.

"I put the novel in your box to test you, and here we are. You are a witch, no doubt about that." Luther peeked at Lily to see her reaction, but all he got was a confused look.

"Do you know anything about the Shadow Court?" Luther asked again. This time, Lily just shook her head without saying anything.

Luther did not know what happened to Lily or how she did not know who she was, but for him to return to the modern world, he needed to help Lily to understand herself.

The Shadow Court is a building where the member of the Hidden Society stayed when they are away from their respective houses. This is to ensure their safety when they were alone. Only those with power could find the Sadow Court. So, since Lily managed to find the house, she should be one with power.

Witches in the modern era were small in number as their number dwindled due to witch-hunting that happened centuries ago. That is why witches are a proud creature.

Still finding all those explanations weird, Lily came next to Luther and squatted down. "So, let me get this right. So, I am a witch. Is that right?"

Luther nodded.

"So, you are a witch too. Am I right?"

Luther shook his head.

"Then, what are you?" Lily looked up and looked carefully towards the crown prince's face. "If you are a witch, then you have power too. We can go back home."

Luther shook his head again. "I am not a witch. That would be you."

The Hidden Society refers to the legendary creatures, being, and entities from the folklore. So far, the few who stayed in the Shadow Court were mainly the mythical creatures from Chinese Mythology, but there were others from the other legend worldwide.

Luther, for example.

There were some truths about how the folklore creatures were featured in books and television. Such as they have supernatural powers according to their nature. Then, there was some wrong perception about them too. For example, they did not enjoy killing a human for no reason.

The member of the Hidden Society lived and operated in secret to maintain balance with the human. The Highest Council of the Hidden Society was known as The Elders. The Elders were in charge of keeping the Hidden Society members in check, and they will carry punishment when needed.

The folklore creatures were divided into houses. Witches came from the House of Coven. They were also known as the Coven. Other creatures came from their respective houses. Maybe The Elders were too lazy to name the houses; they just pick whatever collective noun there is for the existing creatures.

The one thing that was absolute about the Hidden Society; that they must be a full legendary creature. Except for witches. They are the only exception. There was a clear line between the full-blooded human and the folklore creatures, but the witches enjoyed the best of both worlds.

Why?

Because they are still human, but they enjoyed the power that came with being a witch. No wonder the Coven is so full of themselves.

But the creator was fair. The advantages of the witches were their Achilles' heel. Since they were human, it means that they are not immortal. Some of them lived a long life due to their power, but they could not evade death.

Of course, the full-blooded human or witches can be turned into a folklore creature like a vampire that but usually required permission from The Elders. Often, The Elders will object to turning because they wanted to maintain the status quo of the creatures.

Because too many numbers of particular creatures might lead to a rebellion against the Highest Council.

Luther's thought was disturbed by Lily's questioning. Since Luther did not answer her the first time she asked a question, he was sure that Lily would not give up until she gets what she wanted to know.

"Then, what are you?" Lily asked again. In her heart, Lily already assigned Luther to the demon group.

This time around, Luther was sure that Lily did not know anything about herself and the Hidden Society.

"I left a book with my blood on it in your box. Did you touch the book?"

A few days prior, Luther heard that they were going to have a new neighbor. The landlord, also known as the Peacekeeper, did not mention what creature it would be, so Luther sent the book with his blood over to check what kind of creature it would be.

There were a lot of things that can be done with paper and blood. A vampire will return the favor when they see the blood. For the werewolf, they will fly into a rage. Other creatures will react differently. As for witches, they will invoke incantation to protect themselves.

He did not mean anything bad when he sent the book. Since many rogue creatures did not adhere to the rules set up by the Highest Council, Luther was only protecting himself by trying to find out what kind of creature his new neighbor would be. After all, they are going to live beside each other. It would be best if they did not interfere with each other's life.

But it backfired.

Luther looked into Lily's eyes to find the answer, but he could not see anything. No memories, no past, nothing.

Damn witches and their shielding power.

"I thought it was a thief who tried to steal my box. Hah! It's you then. What about the book?" By now, Lily did not care about decency. She directly sat on the floor, not caring whether her clothes got dirty or not.

"Did you do something to that book?" Luther looked down on the girl in front of him, who seemed too comfortable around him. Witches rarely do that, at least not with a creature like him.

"I didn't do anything. I put it aside. But a delivery guy came to deliver a parcel with a thick layer of duct tape. I tried to open the book with a knife but cut myself. I was bleeding quite heavily for a small cut and fainted. By the time I opened my eyes, I was already here…Hey! What are you doing?"

Lily yelped because Luther suddenly grabbed her forearm forcefully.

"You did blood magic? Are you stupid?" Not caring about the electric pulse burning him, Luther did not let go of Lily's forearm.

Lily struggled to get away from Luther. "Let go." But Luther did not let her go. This time, Lily spoke with a severe tone. "I. SAID. LET. GO!"

Luther let go of the arm quickly. An ugly burn mark could be seen on both his hands—damn witches.

"I don't know anything about magic. I already told you that. Now, why don't we talk about this nicely? No need for violence. After all, both of us are civilized human beings from the future. We can do better than this." Lily looked at the burn mark on Luther's hands.

The burn was quite severe. Did she do that? Lily could not believe herself. She rubbed her eyes to make sure that she saw right. Recently, she started doubting her sight. The burn mark could be a speck of dirt; her eyes must be playing a trick on her.

"Okay, like the other decent human being, we should take turns asking and answering the question. I'll go first. Alright, since you keep on saying that I am a witch, then what are you?" Lily scooted away from Luther, putting a distance of five steps amongst themselves in case Luther will grab her roughly again.

Luther raised both his hands to show them to Lily. When Lily saw his hands, her eyes widened.

She could not believe herself. The severe wound was gone, leaving only pale and nice-looking hands.

"Do you want to guess what am I?" Luther smirked.

Previously, Lily thought that the smile of the crown prince, Long Qi was handsome when he smirked like that. But now, it scared the hell out of Lily. In her heart, she already assigned Luther to a demon, but that was because she thought they lived in a world of cultivators, god, and goddess as well as demon and magic.

Lily laughed awkwardly and slowly scooted away from Luther, putting even more distance between them.

"I move fast, and I can heal myself instantly. What do you think I am?" Luther stood up and approached Lily slowly.

Lily kept on scooting away from Luther until she reached the wall. By now, she could not move anymore. She laughed awkwardly towards Luther. "Hurm, a healer?"

Luther squatted down in front of Lily and said tauntingly. "Calling me a healer is such an insult, little witch, for I am a creature of the night."

Lily froze. She could smell danger.

"I am a Vampire. Nice to meet you, little witch." Luther flashed a sly smile towards Lily, but her face remained stone.

The last thing that Lily saw before the darkness consumed her ultimately was his fangs and golden eyes.