“A mosquito has wandered into my palace.”

Beneath the cold tone, there was a hint of intrigue.

Aelius felt the hairs on his neck stand up. A snake was baring its fangs at his defenseless back.

No.NO! He will not die without seeing who he was facing.

The world blurred as Aelius spun on his heel and faced the source of the voice.

Beneath the sun, two figures loomed over him.

The figure at the back was a warrior. He looked young despite wearing a soldier-like uniform. Crimson eyes met Aelius’; he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Aelius didn’t spend time on the soldier as he felt the eyes of the figure in front weigh down on him. The man was wearing dark pants with an open white button-up shirt. Simple and unassuming. The style looked Victorian. Aelius looked up to meet the man’s face.

Yellow reptilian eyes.

Thump!

Aelius felt that one single beat of his heart reverberate throughout his body.

“Darkest shade of black. A sheen of the blue like the iridescence of a raven’s wing. Your hair. I have seen it before.”

Crimson hair fluttered in the wind as the man retrieved a long-lost memory.

‘Yellow eyes so similar to my ambers eyes. Similar yet a world apart. A man that I have never seen in person since arriving in the novel. A presence like Atlas holding up the heavens. He’s…’

The yellow eyes didn’t leave Aelius, they pinned him in place.

‘…Nicolas De Aludra.’

Aelius took an involuntary step back. His whole body trembled.

‘It can’t—’

“Yes.”

The patriarch of the Aludra clan spoke again, indifferent to the turmoil the small figure was facing. Nicolas overlapped the face of the child with the face of a kneeling woman wearing a giant hat. Beneath the hat was hair raven-black.

“The witch.”

A dark cloud passed over the sun, darkening the surroundings.

“You are the son of that pitiful creature.”

Thump!

‘No…Why?!’

Aelius felt the sweat roll down his back.

‘This guy wasn’t supposed to meet Aelius until he was 10!’

The world looked hazy as the center of Aelius’ focus became one person.

Nicolas slowly lifted a hand upwards.

Aelius saw the hand move towards his face at a snail’s pace.

‘Move. Move dammit. MOVE!’

“My lord.”

The soldier took a single step forward, concern in his voice.

Nicolas lifted Aelius’ chin with a single finger.

“What was it again?”

A small sinister smile crept on Nicolas’ face.

“Ah. I remember…”

His slitted pupils contracted.

“…The name the witch bestowed you.”

A glint sparked within the yellow eyes.

“Aelius. The sun’s unextinguishable light.”

The world became darker.

Thump.

Thumpthump.

Thumpthumpthumpthump.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

“That night. When you were a helpless newborn, worth less than livestock.”

The memory flowed like a river breaking through a dam.

In the darkest night. A reaper walked the halls. Drenched in blood and uncaring for mercy. Cries were all around him yet the only voice he heard was the cry of the baby in his arm.

Servants genuflected awaiting their life’s end.

Nicolas looked down at the source of the wailing hammering his ears. His heart turned cold and black with hatred. To end this babe’s life…

Then a name began to stitch itself on the blanket of the babe. A golden thread moved with a master’s hand as the name appeared.

“Interesting.”

Nicolas’ eyes widened with manic amusement.

“Without the moon’s light… On the blackest night… As sorrow and death walk alongside you… That is the name you choose?”

Nicolas’ face morphed into a nightmare.

“Good. I wonder when your light will fade.”

Nicolas uttered those final words as the ashes of the ancient vampire disappeared.

“You’ve gotten bigger.”

Nicolas knelt at level with Aelius. Their eyes an arm’s length apart.

‘Bigger? What does that mean? Since I’m big enough to walk does he mean I’m old enough to die?’

Aelius felt the blood drain from his face. He shook like a leaf.

‘This guy was indifferent to Aelius in the novel. Why the heck is he talking so much?’

He couldn’t feel his legs. Aelius wanted to run and hide but his legs wouldn’t move. He clenched his fists tightly trying to dig his claws into his hands so he could snap his body out of its paralysis.

‘Just go away. Don’t pay attention to me. I’ll be gone before you can—’

Crack!

The sound made everyone look down at Aelius’ hand.

Clank.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Blood and broken glass littered the ground around Aelius.

‘Ah. The blood vial. Crap.’

Aelius had forgotten the blood vials in his hands. And now a part of his loot was splattered on the ground with shards of glass embedded in his hands.

Nicolas looked down at the broken vial. Then he looked back up at the child.

Sweat dripped down Aelius’ face. his back was as straight as an arrow as he held his breath.

Stomp.

Crack!

Nicolas stepped on a shard of glass breaking it apart. His hand reached forward again towards Aelius.

He had to run. He was going to die. No. It's too early. Not yet!

The world began to grow fuzzy. Aelius found it hard to breathe. The paralysis moved from his feet upwards to his stomach.

‘Wait. That’s not right. What…’

Nicolas’ hand moved towards Aelius’ feet.

Aelius followed the hand and saw something wriggled at his ankles. How had he not noticed…

Vines from the flowers were wrapped around his legs. burrowing into his flesh. Eating away…

The moment Nicolas’ fingertip touched the vines they immediately wilted and shrank as if being sucked up. The draining effect moved from the vines into the flowers behind Aelius. A giant circular radius became black as the flowers turned to ash.

Aelius looked on in horror.

‘That finger was on his chin!’

The wounds on his legs began to disappear but he realized that the amount of blood that the vines had taken from him was…

The world swam as the silhouette of Nicolas became two then three.

‘Uh oh.’

Sudden Aelius was in the air. The feeling of losing consciousness disappeared as alarms rang in Aelius’ head.

‘What the…’

Nicolas lifted Aelius by the scruff of his shirt.

‘?’

“You’re scrawny.”

‘?!’

Aelius tilted his head. Did those flowers drug him? Was he dreaming right now? What the hell does ‘scrawny’ even mean?!

“My palace has servants that feed the Vampiricide Flowers. You’re tainting their diet.”

Nicolas spoke with such a straight face that Aelius almost didn’t register what he said.

Vampiricide? Vampire killers? Who the hell keeps killer-vampire flowers?

Wait.

’My palace?’

Aelius hung limp in the air.

‘Crap.’