Chapter １０

After Barbara left, stumbling behind Derrick, he looked at me and flashed an apologetic smile. "Are you alright?"

Alright? Hmm, let me think. At first, I was confused about Liam's feelings for me, and then all of a sudden, a super crazy ex bumped into me and threatened me, which snapped my mind. And then, I said hurtful words at her, not even considering her vampiric status, a princess of a European vampire's association. When she wanted to push me, Derrick, Liam's father, stopped us and threatened her in return.

And now, when I thought about it, my knees went soft.

I dared to threaten a vampire! When did I become so bold? Sometimes I can't stop my own mouth from blabbering nonsense when I am in a rage. And now that I regained my calm, I couldn't help but tremble in fear.

Will she come back and hit me? My lower lips quivered at that.

Seeing my expression, Derrick shook his head and ordered a glass of cold drink. "Ignore Barbara. She can't defy my words." He glanced back at Barbara, standing far away, and squinted his eyes. "She won't be able to touch you." And then he turned toward me with a smile. "The focus of this ball is you, Emily."

I looked up at his smiling face, and for a moment, I could see a gentle smile hiding beneath the cold appearance. His out worldly cruel behavior seemed to be a fantasy at this moment, creating a serene atmosphere. This was Liam's father, who he hated the most because of how he controlled others.

But to me, Derrick seemed more like a helpless father who had been tired after handling his rebellious son.

Misunderstandings caused the two of them to drift away from each other. I could only wish for them to dispel the hate and build a long-lasting relationship.

"Why does Liam hate you?"

Derrick seemed surprised at my sudden question. But he soon recovered his cold face and smiled bitterly. "I never gave him an explanation about why his mother disappeared. Any child would doubt his father. I would always force him to practice his fighting skills, not caring about his feelings. Tell me Emily."He looked at me questioningly. “Why shouldn't he hate me?”

I pursed my lips but didn't say anything else. I didn't know how Liam felt, but I could imagine a frightened little kid, crying every night in the corner.

Seeing my expression, Derrick sighed helplessly. "Of course, how would you know that? Your parents never forced you to carry on their legacy." Then he thought of something and paused before parting his lips again. "But then again, your parents weren't even alive to force anything into you."

Before I could open my mouth to say that I still had my Gramps, Derrick said a few words that shocked me to the core.

"Your mother was mighty. If she were alive, she'd have made you practice day and night." Then he shook his head and chuckled. "But you wouldn't be living as a human being. No one would have dared to select you for an eclipse party in front of your mother. And perhaps, Liam wouldn't have ended up choosing you, after all." Then he paused and laughed. "Certainly, Liam chose you by mistake, but it's the best choice he ever made."

The glass on my hand dropped and shattered on the ground, staring at the person before me with wide eyes. Did I just imagine those words? Perhaps I was living amongst supernatural characters too much. Was I dreaming?

'But you wouldn't be living as a human being.' These words kept swirling in my mind, making my head spin.

But Derrick didn't stop there. He first sent a worried glance at me. "Are you okay?" I nodded, still in a trance. I still felt like it was a crazy dream. He called the maid to clean the floor. After asking for another drink for me, he sat back and stared at his glass filled with blood in a daze as if he was thinking about memory. "You could've become so powerful, you know?"

That voice woke me up from my daydream, and I realized I wasn't asleep.

So that meant whatever Derrick said was true?

Was I supposed to be powerful? I was a human, wasn't I? I let out a trembling breath.

I was too shocked to do anything other than sitting on the round chair, staring at the broken glass in a daze with my mouth falling open. My eyes were so wide that it almost felt like it would fall out of the socket.

My mother was powerful...

If she were alive, I wouldn't have lived as a human being...

I could've been powerful...

What did Derrick mean to say?!? I wasn't a human being?

The shock of knowing this was too much. If I were standing, I would have stumbled and fallen on my knees.

"You didn't know this?" Derrick frowned upon seeing my shocked face.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't. I was too afraid to speak even a single word.

"Oh, Elena, I'm sorry for ruining it all for you." Elena was my mother's name. How did he know that?

I shifted my widened eyes toward him, meaning to ask him something but didn't dare to. I was afraid. If I wasn't human, then what was I? I was too frightened to think about it.

Derrick glanced at me, awkwardly and sighed. "Better find your grandfather. There's a big family history."

My mind went blank. He knew my Gramps too? How could this happen? He wasn't human too? I stood up and stumbled on my way, and fell on my knees. The glass of drink spilled on my dress as cold and sticky cloth stuck to my skin, but I couldn't care less about it.

Taking hold of the chair, I pulled myself up and glanced restlessly at Derrick. "Old King, can you help me?" I didn't even focus on how I was referring to him. If I had thought a bit about it, I would've hit myself on my head multiple times. Who calls out a respected person as an "old king?" Isn't calling old kind of disrespectful? But I didn't focus on that, and thankfully, Derrick decided to ignore the word 'old.'

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you take me to my Gramps?"

I saw Derrick pressing his lips in a thin line before he pulled me up. "Fine, I'll help you this time." And he glanced at me sideways and smiled. "And call me father-in-law next time."

I wasn't too focused on what he was saying. I just randomly nodded and swept my eyesight across the room. I couldn't see where Liam had gone, but I couldn't focus on him anymore. The mind was revolving around the tiny bit of unnatural information I had just found out about myself.

How would you react if you were told that you weren't a human? I suddenly felt sympathy with little Liam in the past. How did he handle such information all alone?

It took us a while before we reached my Gramps place. Throughout the way, I kept fiddling with my dress—eyes bouncing here and there restlessly as if trying to search for something.

Just as the car stopped, I darted out and practically ran toward the front door. I knew where the extra key was placed, so I didn't bother knocking and directly opened the door.

"Gramps!"

Hearing my voice, his old wrinkled figure walked downstairs and let out a gasp in surprise. "Emily!" He said as he ran toward me at a slow pace.

Seeing his old figure and comparing his figure to the old king, who still seemed to be in his fifties, I dispelled my thoughts about whether my Gramps was inhuman. This type of old and wrinkled body of his couldn't possibly be anywhere near to those supernatural beings unless Gramps was even older than Derrick. The thought itself sent a chill down my spine.

I shook my head and affirmed that Gramps never had any blood-drinking habit. He couldn't be a non-human entity.

But then, why did the old king say I wasn't a human?

My brows furrowed at that. Before I could say anything, Gramps stood up and glanced behind me. That action confused me. "Gramps, what're you looking at?"

"Isn't Liam with you?"

"No." I wanted to tell him that this time, I came with his father, but I feared that Gramps would directly have a heart attack.

He let out a sigh of relief and smiled at me. "You should come more often, you know? I'm all alone these days."

I laughed awkwardly and didn't answer. The only reason I came this time was because of the anxiety I had been feeling. Guilt filled my heart at this. With the freedom I had, I could have come here before, but I didn't. Not until I found an emergency.

Now the emergency...

"Gramps!" I held his weak shoulders and forced him to focus on my anxious face. "I have to ask you something important."

My grandfather tilted his head and looked at me, confusedly. My anxious face bewildered him even more. After a few seconds of silence, it appeared that he had a realization and his eyes suddenly widened.

"So, you found out..."

"It was the old king who told me."

Gramps cursed Derrick. "Damn that old man! Can't he keep his mouth shut?"

I was confused at his reaction and my hand loosened from his shoulders. It was then his words registered in my mind, and shock came bursting into my heart. Didn't that mean whatever the old kings said was true? I wasn't a human?!?

My eyes widened at that as fear gripped my heart. Knowing my identity wasn't a human as I thought, my arms trembled. "No..." A word slipped out of my mouth as I fell on the ground in dismay.

I really wasn't a human.

Tears filled my eyes as my eyesight went blur. I looked up at Gramps as a tear fell from my eyes. "Who am I?"

He pursed his lips and stared at me with a guilty gaze. Fiddling with the hem of his shirt, he sighed. "You might want to take a seat. It's a long story, going to take a while."

And that was when he started his tale...

Long ago, there used to be a clan, les Rêveurs, filled with witches and wizards, hiding amongst humans. As time passed, the humans changed and forgot all about them, considering them mere mythologies, which hurt these creatures the most. They wanted to be recognized but knew that the modern world wasn't meant to bring the magic to light. If the humans found out, they would collect the bones and blood of witches and wizards for research. Scientists were arrogant even a few centuries ago; what to speak of the time when vampires were created?

Only kings and emperors knew about the presence of witches and wizards and kept it a secret from normal humans. But one day, a plague spread across the continent in America, killing people in thousands. And that was why the king of America at that time got furious and blamed it all on magic.

What else could he do? He couldn't find the reason for this plague and blamed it all on the only thing he didn't understand.

But the les Rêveurs clan was angry as well. None of the residents were responsible for this crime, but they did have a candidate in mind—an outcast magician. This person was kicked out of the clan because of some issues, but the clan leader feared that the outcast magician did it all to get revenge against the clan and humans as well.

But the leader kept his mouth shut. Humans didn't have to know this, do they? He swallowed the secret and stared at Derrick, who had been a human at that time, in anger. Hiding hatred in his heart, he accepted the blame and promised to create a medicine, secretly concocting revenge.

But what his people created was poison. And the rest was history.

I was confused after hearing this. After patiently hearing it all, I couldn't help but say, "Gramps, the old king told me a short version of this story but..." I tilted my head and tapped my chin with the index finger. "What does it have to do with us?"

Gramps coughed awkwardly and averted his eyes. My eyes narrowed at his expression.

"We belong to the same les Rêveurs clan." He said in a small voice.

My eyes widened at that. We belong to the clan filled with witches and wizards? That means... "I'm a witch?"

Gramps shook his head. "I wish it was that simple."

"What else is there to understand?" There was more than a witch? I was too frightened to learn about my history.

He hesitated and spoke with reluctance. "Our family belongs to the same royal group of les Rêveurs."

"Same group as the royal clan..." For some reason, I couldn't believe these words. For the past hour, I had been more shocked in life than previously. I even feel like I cannot be more shocked than I already had been. But I have this gut feeling that the series of shock hasn't ended here.

There was more to come.

Pressing my lips in a thin line, I turned toward Gramps, gesturing to him to continue.

"When the first generation of vampires came, they created havoc. Killed many humans. Decades later, the humans had another king after Derrick became a vampire. He was exhausted after the bloodshed and snapped. He knew that it was all les Rêveurs's fault. So he banished all the Wizards out in anger."

"So we're supposed to be banished?" I interrupted him. At first, I found out that I wasn't a human. And then, I was told that we were supposed to be banished from entering a human society ever again? My head went dizzy at the thought.

"Don't imagine anything weird, okay? Listen to the whole story." Gramps tried to soothe my already turbulent heart.

I nodded and sat back on my chair correctly, focusing on every word that Gramps was saying.

"Now, the magician's realized that they had nowhere to go and wanted to make amends. But the humans refused to listen. So they could only make another plan..." He paused again before looking at me with hesitation before continuing. "Back then, they had seen how humans were afraid of Vampires. So much so that they made a pact with the king of Vampires, Derrick, saying they'd give a human girl every eclipse just for peace. The wizards wanted the same too! But humans didn't seem to be afraid of them."

"Gramps, I don't understand. Why weren't humans afraid of magicians? Aren't they supposed to be powerful?" I was confused as to why wizards weren't as powerful as I thought they would.

Grandpa glanced at me briefly and said, "Humans used to block the magic of magicians by using therapies such as hanging garlic in front of the house or using salt on the doors. So wizards weren't as powerful at that time against humans and envied vampires."

What the hell? From my childhood, I had seen in movies that the vampires were afraid of garlic smell. But here I was hearing that wizards were afraid of them?

Seeing my face, Gramps explained, "The smell of garlic is somewhat unholy. It has dark energy circulating around it that harms the magician's energy veins."

Energy veins? I thought back to the marking thing. At that time, Daleri had said that Liam would share his aura with me through energy veins. This was the second time I heard this word.

I looked at Gramps curiously, wanting to know more about it.

Seeing my face, he smiled. "There's another body, inside the gross body of skin and bones. It is made out of cosmic energy. Instead of organs, it has chakras. Instead of blood, it has energy, and instead of the brain, it has mind and Intelligence, and lastly, instead of a face and skin, it has a covering that gives you a sense of identity to your gross body."

"Um..." I really didn't understand. How did he know all these things? But Grandpa didn't seem to see my confusion. Instead, he continued.

"Long story short, the dark energy around garlic causes the energy inside a Wizard's body to be disturbed. If he stays closer to garlic for a long time, the wizard dies."

"But Gramps, I've heard that garlic harms the vampires, isn't it?"

"It's true, but the process is much slower." He thought for a moment. "It's more like the vampires have an equal balance of dark and light energies flowing throughout their bodies that neutralizes the power of garlic. But give them too much of it, and the vampire would end up sucking too much dark energy."

Why do I feel like we got off the main topic? I scratched my head and said, "Gramps, what does any of these things have to do with the fact that I'm not a human anymore?"

He turned at me and glanced guiltily as if he was deliberately delaying telling me the truth. When I realized this, I pouted. "Grandpa! Can you just tell me already? I don't think I'll die after hearing the truth."

"Alright, I'll say it in just one line." Gramps took a deep breath. "One of the royal witches married a vampire and gave birth to a mixed breed to carry out the bloodline and live peacefully in America, and thus, the clan slowly turned from magicians to vampire magicians." He paused and said, "That means the vampire magicians were no longer banned. Not until the second war."

My eyes widened at that. Vampire magicians!?!

Why didn't Gramps tell me already?

Wait, did that mean I'm a vampire magician?

I suddenly felt my chest heavy. Rubbing my chest slowly, I glanced at Grandpa's silent and calm face and confirmed that he wasn't lying.

I really was a vampire magician. How could it be? I never had an urge to drink blood! Even thinking about it made me want to vomit!

Before I could fall into my shock mode, Gramps saved me from the downfall. "Let me finish before you imagine the worst, okay?"

I nodded and took a deep breath to calm myself. It shouldn't be any worse than this. It shouldn't!

"Vampire magicians are different. The vampiric bloodline changed the bodies of the magicians. Like they'd be hungry for both food and blood. So they deliberately didn't drink blood, going for normal food."

"So is that why I don't drink blood?"

"No." I was confused at his non-hesitant disagreement, but I let him continue. "As time passed, only a few people from the clan were able to awaken the bloodline. That meant more and more people turned out to be humans. And you..." Gramps sighed and looked out of the window as if remembering something bitter. "You were born with powers. But your mother sealed your powers when you were two years old before she..." He stopped as if the words choked in his throat because of excessive emotions, making it impossible to say anything else.

"Before she died." I finished it for him. My face was grim.

“That war almost made the vampire magicians extinct. Even if they are still present, they wouldn’t dare to come out.”

“Why?” I tilted my head. The vampire magicians should be a great asset to Derrick and Liam. Then why do they have to hide?

“Because they are banned in America.”

I was stunned at that. “That means, I’m also banned…” Derrick knew this, then why did he not kick me out?