Zackery led Loganel towards the stairs on the far building. The two then marched up the stairs, and as he did so, Loganel was able to take in an aerial view of the neighborhood of Vampires. This neighborhood, protected and concealed by the buildings that surrounded it, seemed extremely normal. Even if a commoner were to see this, they would not believe the residents here are Vampires.
Loganel's attention was then caught by the numerous rooms that was accessible through closed doors. He wondered what they were so out of curiosity, he looked in the direction of a particular door where some Vampires were sitting outside of.
"What're these doors?" Loganel asked as he followed Zackery up the stairs.
"They're houses," Zackery responded. "Like individual areas for each family that lives here. Here we are," the Vampire boy then said as they stopped before a slightly larger and more elaborately decorated door. "This is my house. My father, the clan leader, will be inside."
So... his father is the leader of this Vampire committee, Loganel thought.
Zackery opened the door for Loganel, and from the doorway, he saw that the interior was a spacious living room area that was dark and dimly illuminated with lamps. However, all the necessary furniture required for comfortable living were all present. The styles of the furniture and furnishing though, made it seem quite eerie for human standards, but Loganel remained unfazed by it.
"Zackery!" a young boy whose appearance suggested that he was probably ten years old approached the young man before Loganel. However, now having knowledge on Vampires, Loganel concluded that this boy is probably way older than him.
"Hey Zaran," Zackery smiled and greeted the boy. He then placed a hand on the boy's shoulders and turned to face Loganel. "This is my younger brother, Zaran. Zaran, this is the future Demon King, Loganel Ainzloft."
"Him...?" Zaran appeared quite suspicious of Loganel, eyeing him with a doubtful look in his eyes.
"Don't be rude now," Zackery hushed the boy. "This is the person who'll be the Princess's husband."
"Even I'll make a better husband than him," the young boy commented.
"I'm so sorry," Zackery sighed and apologized.
"No need to be," Loganel laughed awkwardly. "He's probably right."
"Zackery?" A man's voice reached Loganel's ears and when he looked in the direction the voice came from, he discovered that the voice belonged to a Vampire that appeared to look thirty years of age.
He must be very old if he looks like he's thirty, Loganel thought.
"Yes Father," Zackery responded as the man emerged from what appeared to be his bedroom and into the living room. "I've brought him here."
"Thank you," the man said to his son. Then, he turned to Loganel and smiled. It was a smile that was filled with power and energy. However, within it also contained a heavily concealed sadness that seemed to be sealed away. "Let us speak while sitting."
The Vampire then gestured for Loganel to take a seat with him on the couch, which Loganel did. The two then sat down on the couch while Zackery ushered Zaran out of the house, leaving Loganel alone with Zackery's father.
"Now," the Vampire started speaking, "let me introduce myself. I am Alved Bloodcrest, the current holder of the title of Dracula."
"Nice to meet you," Loganel bowed his head. "I'm Loganel Ainzloft."
"No need to bow your head to me," Alved chuckled. "You'll be King one day."
"But I'm still just an ordinary boy at the moment," Loganel said.
"If you wish," Alved nodded. "Now, has Princess Mistivera inform you of what our topic of conversation will be on?"
"No," Loganel shook his head. "I can ask her if you need me to." He held up the hand that he wore the Ring of Demons on.
"No need," the Dracula shook his head. "The wise Princess Mistivera will contact us if she deemed it necessary. She probably refrained that information from you intentionally, so it would be best to not disturb her." The man then poured some tea for Loganel from the tea kettle on the table. "So, what do you think?" He said as he handed the cup of tea to Loganel.
"What do you mean?" Loganel accepted the cup from the Dracula.
"What do you think of our community here of course," Alved laughed.
"It's... quite nice," Loganel commented. "Feels like everybody here is tightly knit, like a big family, and... surprisingly human."
"Surprisingly human, you say?" the Dracula crossed his arms and nodded. "We're not that different from humanity from the core. We want to protect our own from harm, we want to be able to feed our young, and we want to see our children grow into adults as well. That's the goal for all creatures, so in a way, humans, Demons, animals, they're all the same."
"In a way, yes," Loganel agreed.
"I'm sure Princess Mistivera has told you about her plans," Alved then asked.
"To establish peace between humanity and Demons," Loganel muttered.
"Right," Alved nodded and sighed. "It sounds nice in concept, but in execution... that's the difficult part." The man then looked at Loganel with a great sadness in his eyes as his voice seemed to lose its power. "Loganel, can you forgive people that killed your wife or anyone else that is dear to you?"
"I..."
"They killed my wife," Alved sighed. "Along with our unborn child. Burned her alive with their so called 'Flames of Purification.' And you know what she was doing that resulted in her being treated like that? She saved a human child from a monster attack. She used her Vampire powers to do so and instead of being grateful, humans sent paladins and priests after her, taking her life as well as that of our child in her stomach."
"..." Loganel remained silent as he listened.
"How am I supposed to forgive that?" Alved sighed and leaned forward while sitting. "They took the life of my love, the mother of my children... Zaran was only one hundred old back then, which in human years somewhere around three. Now, who's at fault here? Why do humans have to hunt us down? Is it because we're Demons? Vampires? A creature that hunts down creatures living their lives... Who's the real monster?"
So this is why... They're so similar to humans, share the same emotions, but humans have been hunting them for no reason except fear. Sure Demons have slayed humans as well, but who's to say that it wasn't out of self-defence? What if the Demons were fearful of humans and attacked just like how humans did? So... who's right and who's wrong?
"I've promised Iliad," Alved continued. "Way back before she was killed that I would cease to attack humans... I don't want to break my promise. That's the only thing keeping me from tearing this city down."
Loganel nodded."I understand."
"Do you now?" the Vampire shook his head. "I hope that gave you a decent perspective on the Demon end of the spectrum. Now the day's getting late. You still need to return to your companions. What to do then, is up to you." The Dracula said as he opened the door for Loganel. "Whether or not you want to hunt us down or not, that's your decision."
Loganel exited the house without saying anything, bringing himself onto the hallway once again. He was on the top floor, the fourth floor, and from here, he could see through the crevices between the leaves that the sky overhead had turned a color of dusk orange. The time to meet at the inn was nearing.
"All done for the talks?" Zackery approached Loganel as he descended the stairs onto the ground floor, leaving his younger brother and the other children that he was entertaining.
Loganel nodded, feeling something extremely heavy weighing down his mind.
"I guess you'll need to return to your place of residence for the night. Let me lead the way to the door."
Zackery then started walking slowly before Loganel, allowing the boy to follow after him. For Loganel, each step he took felt extremely heavy. What Alved had said to him really plagued his mind, eating away at his conscience.
We've been seeing creatures like that as enemies, he thought, as savage, blood-thirsty creatures...
"Since this is your first time visiting Vampires," Zackery began speaking in order to lighten the mood for him. "You must find it weird how we age. Our bodies mature quicker when we're young. Once our appearance are... in human terms, late teens, it slows down."
"That's nice to know," Loganel responded in order to notify Zackery that he was indeed, listening.
"Here we are," Zackery then said with a smile as the two stopped before the same door that had led Loganel into Vamir. "On the other side of this door is the human world."
Loganel nodded.
"You know where Vamir is now," Zackery then added. "If you tell anyone, that'll probably lead to a giant raid led by the Church against Vamir, leading to the death of many Vampires and humans alike..."
"That's bad," Loganel nodded.
"Hopefully it won't come to that," Zackery smiled as he saw Loganel off.
Author's Note:
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