The underground space was nothing like what I had expected. Instead of a dark, damp hideout, it was a sprawling hall illuminated by soft golden lights. The walls were lined with bookshelves, ancient artifacts resting in glass cases, and a massive fireplace crackling at the far end. It felt… timeless.
For a bunch of vampires who looked no older than I am, they sure got an old soul taste, and it made me wonder how long they had been in this place, seeing how they move and talk it seems like all of them had their own stories. I was still standing as they got settle inside their own space.
Marco notices and he guided me to sit. "What is this place?"
"A sanctuary," he replied. "One of the few places in this city where we can exist without being hunted."
"Hunted by who?"
"The High Council," Juan answered, settling into one of the leather chairs. "The ones who govern our kind. The ones who don't take kindly to anomalies like you."
"I'm not an anomaly. I'm just—"
"Human?" Hendery cut in, raising a brow. "You sure about that?"
Cerius chuckled, perching on the armrest of a nearby couch. "Are we? Think about it. Have you ever been sick? Ever broken a bone? Ever felt the kind of exhaustion normal humans feel? I doubt that even a human like you would likely notice there's something different than your peers."
It was still as annoying as it is that they were right.
"We haven't even exchanged names," Marco softly sat beside me.
I had to even rethink my live decision when I saw how Marco had lend his hands happily to shake my hands. Maybe this was really a fever dream, the others were watching quiet closely and I could only groan as I held his awfully cold hand and shake his hands.
"Allora. My name is Allora, but people call me Lora." Marco shakes on it smiles, acknowledge that maybe, a tiny maybe I could trust them with what's about to happen to all of us.
"So Lora, what makes you special than the others," Hendery observes, "Must be something more than just a 'normal human'?"
I had sit down and looked them, waiting for answers. Sadly, that is even beyond what I had known, whatever happened before, it was long gone history. I don't even think I could recall.
"I hate to break it to you, Right now, I'm not even in a good position to tell you anything that might even make sense for all you. As for right now, you guys only existed in the back of my mind years ago, A myth."
"But you don't deny you've seen our kind?" Mark watched you carefully. "Your ancestors must have kept from all of this for a reason, didn't they? They should knew what you were."
You shook your head. "I don't know what information I could give that benefits you all. But yes, seeing your kind, it was years ago and I only remember vividly to what happened that time. By the time I realize what was happening and what they are, I was already in a form of a human, as boring as I can get that's the only story I could give."
Jullian leaned forward. "Then maybe they trying to protect you from the truth."
I spun my head towards him, "My ancestors? I don't even know them, what makes you think they're hiding something bigger than this? Than your kind."
"Because, everyone of here has our own serve and purpose princess, and right now, your the main priority of it, you can hate it all you want and deny all you can but your one of us." None of this made sense. Being a part of this world? I wasn't one of them, I didn't have the characteristic of what they are, who are they to tell me what I am.
"If I'm not human," I said, voice barely above a whisper, "then what am I?"
Marco hesitated for only a second, well none of them seem in the right place to tell me what is happening, but of course Marco had to stepped up, "You're one of us."
"No," I whispered. "I refuse to believe it. Even your smart enough to know I'm not you."
"Not fully," Juan corrected. "You're a hybrid. Half-human, half-vampire. The first of your kind in over a century."
"That's not possible."
"And yet," he said darkly, "here you are."
Impossible, as my mind was racing with question for any logical explanation, there isn't. I was ready to passed out, with trembling hands trying to grasp the situation.
"Why didn't my ancestors or the people I knew, tell me?"
Marco exhaled. "Because the moment they found out what you were, they would've killed you. We're here for a reason Lora and that is to protect you."
"From Who?"
No one spoke. Then, Jenkins—the quietest of them all—finally murmured, He looked at me. A subtle forgiving and somber gaze, it felt like he could relate to me the closest.
"The ones who killed your mother."
I didn't have time to react but it felt like the world had blur and the weight I was trying so hard to hold on came crashing down all at once. The people who had died that night, wasn't just a dream or a nightmare, they had hidden me for a reason to yet understand, and it seems like the people I saw before was coming once more.