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An alley way,

Vampire World.

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It all happened so quick, if I had blinked for even a second, I would have miss it.

One moment, my attacker's face was getting closer and closer towards my neck, and it didn't take much of a genius to figure out what he was about to do. Then the other, it seemed like my prayers were answered. As soon as he came into my sight, I got this strange feeling that nobody could hurt me then.

I didn't understand that at all. How could I feel safe with the man who was the reason I was in this mess? How could my body relax as if his presence soothed me in more than one way?

Time stood still, I forgot about the situation I was in. The moment our eyes made contact, the world froze, the anxiety I experienced seconds ago, left my body. A fire so hard to explain was burning in his eyes, pool of golden orbs shooting daggers at the stranger's hands which were all over me.

Then, before I could take another breath, the King moved at a speed hard to comprehend, and snapped the drunk man's head with a crack that echoed in my mind for some time that followed.

There he stood before me, hands still clenched in fists. The man who confused me no end.

He always took any opportunities to torture me, to make my life worse than it already was. The person who liked watching me suffer, for crimes still unknown to me.

But now here he was, saving me from danger. If he hadn't came on time...

Just thinking about what could have taken place made my eyes fill with tears.

I blinked them away. Why do I always do this? I need to stop being so naive and vulnerable. But then I realized I didn't have much power or control here, anyways.

We stood there, me drowning in my own thoughts and him, now glaring at me, "I thought I told you not to leave that car?"

Even though his voice was rough, there was a slight softness to it.

"I- I was just- there was-"

I hated to admit it, but his stare made me stutter and my mind went blank. Or maybe the shock of what was about to happen still remained in my body.

Then he snapped, "you were what?! I made it pretty damn clear earlier for you to stay in that car. Are you now that stupid to even follow simple instructions?! Do you ever listen to me? Or does everything I say goes in through one of your ears and out the other, never reaching your mind? Answer me, damn it!"

Even though I found it hard to talk because of the sobs I was constantly swallowing, I found my voice and started to explain, "T-there was a kid who came crying to me, he said his mom was dying, I couldn't just leave him all by himself, I wanted to help him, but then he dragged me here and I found out--"

The King ran a hand through his dark hair like he has been doing for the past minutes, and shook his head in disbelief, "Are you telling me you got out of that car to help a vampire boy?! How dumb can you be? Why can't you see that we don't live in fairytale fantasies with pixie dusts where everyone is all lovey dovey?! Can you stop living with your eyes closed for a moment? Look around, Alexis, not everyone believes in goodness anymore! This world is filled with monsters hiding under a friendly mask, creatures who would rip your throat out without thinking twice about it, then they would swim happily in your blood, swallowing every little inch of it afterwards! They will use your body for things you can never even imagine! Stop being so--"

At this point, tears were freely escaping my eyes as sobs left my mouth uncontrollably, without my permission. His words were cutting me deep into the pit of my stomach. I put my hands over my ears so I could block out the harsh words.

"Stop, please." was all I could mutter through my cries.

"Yeah, go ahead and cry! Because that's all you do! That's all you can do. Quit being such a crybaby for once! Man up and accept the truth! What I'm saying is the reality. There's no point in turning your back towards the truth and pretending it doesn't exist! It will come and bite you later on. Stop being so oblivious. Stop being so weak. Do you have any idea what that innocent little face of yours does to people?! Nobody even catches a glimpse of that innocence here, that's what attracts them to you. It's like when a kid wants to buy the new released toy before anyone else."

"I get it! You can stop with your speeches now. I understand that this a cold-hearted world filled with monsters like you. But what I don't get is that if I'm so stupid and naive and whatever other insults you have in store for me, why don't you just kill me already?! Why don't you just end my years of suffering by simply taking this meaningless life away from me? Why?"

I just had to ask him that.

Eyebrows frowning, he was in deep thought for some time. Then, he just let out an exhausted sigh and simply said, "I don't know."

He faced the other way and shoved his hands in his jeans pocket, his white, button down shirt was blowing against the wind because for once, it wasn't tucked in to give him that professional look. I waited for further explainations but got none.

"You don't know? You kept me locked away for ten years. Oh my God, you killed my parents! If I'm a threat to you as you've mentioned before, why not just kill me? I don't want to live with death knocking on my door everyday. Just kill me, once and for all. You will have your precious kingdom, all secured and safe. You'll get to rule over all the existing Vampires and their land. I'll be gone and so will the black cloud of destruction that's looming over your world."

I expected him to list reasons why me being alive would benefit him. I expected him to say that he wanted my death to be slow and painful. But what I didn't expect was what he said next.

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