Bloodstained Lily

Chapter 10-Dealing With the Past

I wasn't surprised by his choice in restaurants. I would have settled for any small time diner but when I told him where I wanted to go, the place was closed and immediately he brought me here. So obvious for a king. The curtains shone with a bright red and blocked out any little sunlight there could have been, the tables and chairs were made of simple dark wood and the food was way too expensive for my liking.

As I sat across from him I wondered why we were here. In a world infested with zombies, vampires, werewolves and god knows what else, I wondered why we were wasting our time in a silly restaurant. Of course I was the only human there, no normal human would dare to come and eat in such a public place at least not now anyway.

"Why are we here?" I asked and he just shrugged as he hid his head behind the menu, trying to pick out what he wanted.

I sighed and leaned back in my seat. I had already picked out what I wanted half an hour ago and of course, Zayn couldn't make up his mind. It irritated me so much and all I wanted was to eat my food and get out. I hated been surrounded by so many vampires.

I didn't hate the vampires themselves, they just all gave off a nice aura that turns to darkness as soon as they are all gathered in one place. I figured I was safe, what with being with the most powerful creature on the planet and no one would dare to show me so much as a glance, still it all felt very unnatural.

"Harry said you've been searching for him for quite a long time, why weren't you detected? By humans I mean. You guys only publicly announced yourself when I was very small and even back then things weren't as dire as they are now."

He continued looking at his menu. It wasn't in my place to question a King, still I didn't see him as the all mighty terrible zombie/vampire hybrid King. I just saw him as a saviour, a person to keep me safe and even a friend. I was similar to Harry in that sense, he didn't watch what he said to Zayn and that was understandable.

From what I gathered, Harry was Zayn's only creation, perhaps I was wrong but the bond they shared was clearly there. Even when they argued, I could tell how deep their bond really was.

"Well?"

He sighed and put his menu down before tilting his head and giving me that 'are-you-serious?' look. I always hated that look. It wasn't the first time I received it from him and I was 100% certain it wouldn't be the last.

"You just never give up do you?"

I shook my head. One thing he was absolutely sure about me was that once an idea got into my head, it took a whole lot to get it back out. I couldn't be frayed from what I wanted to know and he knew that all too well.

"Fine. My castle and its surrounding have a spell cast onto it. No mere human can see it unless I take them there myself. Also with the whole vampires being out and about for years and what not, I allowed them to venture freely into the human world from 1874 as long as they didn't make a scene or make themselves known. If they failed to do so, they were dragged to the castle where I killed them myself."

My eyes widened. Somehow his words didn't frighten but shock me. I couldn't see how he could kill anyone. His zombie side had scared me earlier on that day but I never thought him truly capable of killing someone at least not without good reason which I suppose his was, but still, it surprised me.

"You love the vampires though! They are like your family. How can you look them in the eye and simply kill them?"

He leaned forward a little and his voice turned to a whisper.

"You know how much Harry values human lives, who do you think he got that from?"

He smiled and winked but that just confused me even more. Harry had previously told me that Zayn was a danger to humans, that he would viciously murder them on sight and I admit I didn't believe it when I first saw how much of a gentleman Zayn was but still, what Harry had told me was completely different to what Zayn had just told me and what Zayn had done previously.

"But you eat humans! You're half zombie! Besides you watched as a guy was being attacked by a vampire just a while ago!"

His smile faded and a pained expression quickly blew over his face. I regretted what I said but at the same time I was glad I said it. I was so confused. I thought he had to eat human brains like every other zombie out there! Besides, previously Harry had said he did so and needed to in order to survive. I saw his eyes turn red, I shivered as he told me how hungry he was and moved towards me earlier.

"That vampire was clearly rampaging and I would have killed him there and then but I didn't want you to see that and I'm sure you didn't want to see that either. Don't worry though, at the moment he is probably on his way to the castle where an associate of mine will probably kill him or lock him up at the very least. Now as for the food subject, I can have either, blood or brains and I prefer blood. I may rule over both species but I refuse to drop down to their level. Look, Lily...I don't know what Harry has told me about you but I'm not as much of a beast as you think I am. I do go out of control sometimes and that's because of my zombie side but when I am consciously living my life, I refuse to take my anger or hunger out on normal civilians. Vampires and Zombies can live forever but humans only have one lifetime so why would I want to take that away from them? Human lives are so precious."

I sighed and buried my head into my arms, defeated. My head was spinning. I didn't know who was telling the truth. All I knew was that Zayn had never physically harmed a hair on my head but Harry would never lie to me, at least he hadn't until I talked to Zayn.

"Ok then what did you mean by spell? Are you telling me there are more than just vampires, zombies and werewolves out there?" I mumbled, my face still hidden from his view.

I heard a slight laugh leave his lips and as I looked up at him, that gentle smile returned once again. Without any hesitation, he began to tell me of things I didn't know previously.

"There's so much more out there. I won't get into all of them but the thing that put the spell on my castle was a-"

"A witch?" I interrupted, sure that it was the correct answer but I once again leaned into the back of my chair as I heard him laugh and watched as he shook his head.

"The witches are bearers of dark magic, I would never associate myself with them. The thing that spelled my castle was a Dracaena."

I opened my eyes and I felt my jaw fall slightly from its original place. Was I meant to know what exactly that was? I thought the world consisted of your everyday mythical creatures like vampires, zombies, werewolves, witches maybe even a Minotaur or two but this was just crazy.

"A Dracaena? What the hell is a Dracaena?"

He laughed and buried his head into his hands before running them through his hair.

"Harry has really told you nothing, hasn't he? A Dracaena is a creature with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a snake or a dragon. There's only one left in the world, the one who cast a spell on my castle is the only one left and she is a very good friend of mine, though they are very delicate creatures, even more delicate than you. You see, they can only be touched by another one of their own species, hence why they've died out so easily. If you touch one, just one small touch and they just burst into flames. They were very nice people, I had the pleasure of meeting a few in the past but they contained so much magical force within them that their physical state was so weak. Couldn't be helped I guess."

He sighed and started playing with his fork. He seemed to regard those creatures highly. I couldn't imagine what they looked like but for some reason I saw them being beautiful creatures and full of life. Shame there was only one left in the entire world though I was also glad she was under Zayn's care.

I remained silent for the rest of the time and I hurriedly ate my meal as it was brought to me. I was still desperate to get back to the hut. Being in danger from two vampires was better than being in danger from a whole restaurant full, not to mention the zombies that freely roamed the streets outside.

As we began leaving the restaurant I looked up at Zayn and felt myself trying to hold back the question that began swirling around in my head, 'why did you let zombies and vampires come out into the open?' I didn't want to offend him and I was almost certain that question would have offended him and if not him, then every other vampire in the room.

When we finally made our way back to the hut, Zayn fled off to make sure no one had followed us and then made his way back to the palace.

Yet another day to be remembered...