Lira knew that it was very impolite to stare. But everybody was doing it now. So she decided to take just a tiny peek at the arresting Imperials as she adjusted her glasses. Stephan Imperial (pronounced as Ste-fawn as per Mari) was the youngest among the three brothers. He had a cute boyish look, with messy dark brown hair and although his mouth was in a tight straight line, his gray eyes where smiling, glinting of impending mischief he was probably planning to do. On his right sat Sevastian Imperial, looking bored but still strikingly handsome. He has the same dark brown hair as Stephan only it was cut shorter and cleaner. His gray eyes were devoid of any emotions. Next to him was Nicholas Imperial, the eldest among the three brothers. He too has dark brown hair, slightly longer than Stephan, almost touching his nape. His piercing gray eyes was aimed at the front, and his arms crossed over his chest making him look every bit imposing and yet devastatingly handsome as well.
Mari pointed out that Nicholas is the most handsome among the brothers. Lira begged to disagree. Nicholas looked rather scary for her. Though he was attractive in a frightening sort of way, Lira admitted, but he seemed a bit arrogant. And scary, yes, way scary. His eyes looked as if it was ready to throw daggers. And his commanding presence? Yep, definitely petrifying. He looked as if he would rather be elsewhere to smash something or anything than to sit here for class.
She decided Sevastian was more handsome with his cool and calm demeanor. Or maybe it was Stephan with his boyish good looks?
Lira then noticed Nicholas clenching his jaw as if in annoyance, his brows forming a scowl. Stephan looked as if he was trying not to laugh but his quivering shoulders gave him away. And Sevastian's mouth was slightly tilted to one side. It was as if someone cracked a joke and it annoyed Nicholas. But she could have sworn she saw no one even move an inch to talk. Maybe they could talk with their minds, sharing a joke? She saw a fair haired vampire girl, classically beautiful, rolled her eyes.
Or what if they could read minds? And they heard her thoughts! Oh, but that was unlikely to happen, right? If they ever did, Lira would probably be dead on this very spot right now. She swept a glance around her. All her classmates, Mari and Yumi included, were still gazing at their vampire classmates. Would they stop that already? She hoped the class would start now. She so wanted to be on bed by nine.
***
Oh yes, Nicholas wished he could be elsewhere right now. It annoyed him too much that he was required to be here with these humans for this pathetic and absurd experiment his loser of a brother wanted to do. Mingling with humans? Live harmoniously together? That's ludicrous. When do predators become friendly with their meal? His brother Philip had this crazy idea where humans and vampires can live together without any fear and animosity between the two factions. Like that would ever happen. Vampires were born superior to mankind. They were born to be served by humans.
Now why would he want to sit here and listen to this chit nag and assassinate his character for all the vampires to hear? Of all the minds murmuring in the room, hers was the loudest; most annoying, really.
"That was an entertaining but highly accurate description of you, brother," Steph's thoughts came through.
"Shut it, Steph," Nicholas said through his mind, his jaw clenched. "Yes I would like to smash you like a bug, insolent chit."
"Stop it both of you," Elisabeth's mind said, rolling her eyes. "Nick, restrain yourself."
How could he restrain himself when aside from the nagging girl, which he really tried to ignore, he could smell a very delicious aroma that filled his nostrils, tempting him to break the treaty in front of Philip? Ah, that sweet scent of blood, making his claws curls with delight. He should have been immune to the smell of blood, and yet the moment he entered the room, he could smell it immediately, enticing him to sink his fangs at something, at someone. This scent overpowers the others. The others, too, could smell it. With the way they were sitting so rigidly and others gripping their desks so tightly he was surprised it did not turn into splinters showed how they all exerted enough to restrain themselves from swarming all over the room and feast on these human brats. You throw twenty young vampires inside a roomful of humans, what would you expect? Philip should have guessed this; should have anticipated this. Now, how did the previous senior vampires who attended this hell able to get through all of this? Two years of this was just too much.
Nicholas decided to ignore the scent that still lingers around him as his brother Philip made his way towards the podium. He noticed Philip halted abruptly and sniffed the air. Nicholas smiled with a grim satisfaction. You could smell it, too, brother. Now what would you do?
***
It was an interesting turn of event during their evening class. The prince himself, Philip Imperial, welcomed the entire assembly. Like his three brothers, he too has dark brown hair and intense gray eyes. He addressed the class with a smile, drawing the students to listen to his speech attentively.
"I would like to thank the Vampire Slayer Division for extending their help and accommodating us tonight," he started, as he swept his hand towards the group of boys and few adults dressed all in black standing on the sides. "I would like to further suggest the Division Head to change the name. The name Vampire Slayer really frightens us, you see," he said jestingly.
Several chuckles from the students and few scowls from the Elite Guards were his answer. "Several centuries ago, there was a popular proverb that goes like this: "He who does not know where he came from will never reach his destination". There are many interpretations of this proverb. I, like most from the past, believe that a nation cannot forget its roots and history, for there are many things we can learn from the past to shape the future.
"Let me tell you our ancestors' history. Several millennia ago, in a small country in a continent what was known as Europe before, a terrible disease had spread all over the entire country. At first the people thought the disease was the Consumption. People were suffering from fever, coughing out blood, losing weight, and later on extreme pain engulfed their entire body as they begun feeling some changes within them and with their bodies. The people wished for death instead of facing suffering. No one died; they were reborn and became the undead. They were the first vampires that roamed the earth. They later discovered that they needed to draw a life force out of a living being to sustain their mental and physical health; a life force meant blood. Since there was no living being left in the country, they began to disperse to nearby countries in Europe as well as lands as far as Asia and the Americas.
"However, they became reckless, openly feeding on their prey, and the humans began to realize the presence of the undead. So our ancestors formed clans to protect each other. Some clans stood out among the rest as they were the strongest and the oldest—revered clans later became the royalties among the others. When humans started to hunt our kind, our ancestors later on hid themselves in the shadows and as years past, the people had forgotten about vampires. Vampires only existed in books those days."
There was utter silence as the students waited for him to continue speaking.
"I will not discuss now how the vampires came into Filipinas. We will save that later for that subject has not been yet approved by the Department of Education," he said this with a look of disappointment. "Although our good friend secretary insisted the board for this matter to be discussed to our pupils, the government still asserted that people are not yet ready to know their history. We want to adhere to Human Laws, so we will leave that for now.
"Long before the Great World War, vampires have been living with the humans secretly. We let the people think we were just fictitious entities. It was during the middle of the twenty-first century when there was a pandemic outbreak of disease that affected the entire world that resulted to death for the humans; only vampires were immune to this disease. In our own selfish way, we wanted to let the world know of our existence and live among the people openly that we were also alarmed of the many deaths among humans. As the blood from the royal vampires remained the most potent of antidote for the disease, negotiations were made among human leaders: Acknowledgment and acceptance of our existence in exchange for the antidote. The Imperial family provided the antidote here and parts of Asia. The Blood Compact Treaty was then formed..."
Lira was surprised at what she heard. Based on the astounded look on the student's faces, it was also their first time to hear stories of vampire history. She was lucky because in other normal schools they wouldn't include this subject in their curriculum. She did truly hope they would later discuss the history of their nation. Mr. Imperial was right when he mentioned the government not allowing the discussion of history. There were even no books about the history of the country or even what transpired during the Great Word War. Such a shame, Lira thought, we could learn a lot from our history.
As for the Blood Compact Treaty, she knew part of the treaty prevents vampires from attacking and feeding on humans. Since they were not allowed to feed on humans, the people of certain ages were required to donate blood for the vampires.
The class ended thirty minutes past seven in the evening. All the students came out of the room with the exception of the vampires. There were excited chatters among the human students, for they were all surprised and satisfied with how the class went. The vampires, however, viewed it differently.
Nicholas remained seated, and the rest of the vampires remained on their places. He eyed his older brother and said contemptuously, "you shouldn't have done that brother, revealing our history and telling vampire stories." Even if they were the royal ruling family of other clans both here and the remaining parts of Asia, there were other noble vampires within the clan who would like to overrule them and Nicholas knew this all too well.
"We will discuss this later, Nicholas," Philip said, dismissing Nicholas as he strode outside the room.
Nicholas stood and the rest followed him outside. Although the vampires were fascinating to look at, the students still gave them a wide berth.
***
Philip swiftly strode towards his study in their vampire abode at the very far side of the Academy, not even minding to turn the lights on when he reached the room. His heightened senses as a vampire allowed him to see clearly in the dark. This was just one of the abilities that made vampires superior than the human race; at least that was what most vampires from the noble houses thought. Philip knew that these abilities were both a gift and a curse; they have strength, speed and other abilities that were no match to humans and yet they need to feed on human blood for survival. They fancied themselves as predators of the night. More like blood-sucking parasites if you ask Philip.
He sat behind his desk inside his office and meticulously stacked several papers then placed it on one side. He leaned back on his chair and narrowed his gaze forward. "There's really no need for you to hide yourself in the dark and spy on me, Nicholas."
Out of the shadows, Nicholas revealed himself with a smirk on his face. Philip wanted to wipe that smirk off Nicholas' face. One day, Nicholas, you just wait.
"You too, Stephan," Philip commanded.
Stephan, who was crouched at a darkened corner chuckled and stood. "I was hoping you will never notice us."
"I am hundreds of years older than you, Stephan. Naturally my senses are more profound than yours. I can even hear the sound of your breath from miles afar."
Stephan made himself comfortable on one of Philip's couch. "No need to brag on us brother. We all know you're practically an antique compared to our age."
Philip ignored Stephan's comment and jerked his chin towards Nicholas, who was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed. "What brings the two of you here? Where's Sevastian?"
"Are you our keeper now, brother?" Nicholas spat.
"I'm your guardian who happens to be your elder brother too," he said patiently. "Keep that in mind."
"Ah, but you forgot one tiny thing, brother. I will be your king someday," Nicholas answered arrogantly.
Philip let out a sigh of resignation. This discussion was really getting old for him. "I should have removed you all from father's clutches before he was able to feed your heads with all that ludicrousness."
"And what about you? You and this foolishness you're doing? Do not think I have no idea what you're trying to do here," Nicholas retorted.
Philip eyed his brother. He was glad he had mustered enough patience to handle Nicholas' irate stance. "And what do you think I'm trying to do here?"
He heard Nicholas snorted. "It's obvious what you're doing. You're trying to give the humans back their land."
Philip raised a brow. "Elaborate."
"You try to make them think that we can live openly with them without fearing us. Back during the time of the Plague, we gave our blood for them to mix on their medicines to be used as an antidote. In exchange, the entire vampires across the world were given the leave to announce their existence."
When Nicholas stopped, Philip said, "Go on."
"Since the people now knew of our existence, they also became aware of the rogue vampires who do not acknowledge the Treaty, feeding on humans here and there. So again, we bartered our strength to protect them in exchange for unlimited blood supply—which sucks by the way, 'cause we get it from a bag and not from the direct source. The truth is, the humans fear us, rogues or not. But you see brother, if you drove that fear away, do you think the people will still give us that blood? Fear is how we control the humans; it is how we live as kings in their land. If you take that fear away, the people will start believing they can overpower us."
"Had it never occurred to you that fear might also fuel the people to take a stand and revolt against the vampires? What do you think made the people centuries ago hunt our kind? It was fear for their lives that drove them to find their spirit and kill us. It was also fear that drove humans to kill their own race who they thought were witches, left them to burn at stake," Philip explained.
Nicholas straightened up and angrily pulled the curtains open and pointed outside. "So fear created those vampire slayers. Is that what you're trying to say, brother?"
"It is a natural instinct for some humans to protect their own kind. It is also natural for them to protect themselves whether it was driven by fear, love, or greed. The vampire slayers have already been in existence since the colonial era in this country."
Nicholas gave his brother a puzzled look. "Colonial what?"
Philip smiled smugly at his brother. "See, you have yet much to learn. If you think that the vampires have entire control over the human populace, then that's where you're wrong. Man who has been given power either tends to abuse it or use it for the good of all. Why do you think they never abolished their caste system? Why do you think that even if we chose the human students thru lottery, majority of the students came from the upper castes? It's because they have the power to manipulate and control their own people. They loved that power so much that they wanted to stay in power and protect it from being taken away from them. That is what greed compelled them to do." And the vampires are in the shadows, gaining benefits from all of it, Philip wanted to add but decided not to.
"And you're just the vampire to teach the humans about equality," Nicholas said sarcastically. "What do vampires care about human squabbles anyway?"
Philip decided to let the topic drop. He still had ample of time to teach Nicholas of the truth. Humanity might have deserted them, but they were once humans, too. In due time Nicholas and the rest of the vampires will understand what he was trying to do. As for the human students, in time he will be able to teach them about their country's forgotten history. It is quite ironic, actually. A vampire teaching humans about their history? It's laughable, come to think of it.
And the people from the upper caste thought by bribing the committee to put their children in the academy benefitted them, they were wrong. Influential people that hold power over the others came from the upper castes. He may not abolish the caste now, but he can change the way the children think about their society. And soon, these children will take their parents' places. It will be a difficult feat to change the people's norms that they grew up with, but he could guide the children to make the right choices. If only Cassandra was here to see the things he was doing that she had only dreamt of.
"Don't you want to live with the humans, talk with them, and dine with them?" Philip suddenly asked.
"I'd like to dine on them," Nicholas muttered, loud enough that made Stephan chuckle.
"You haven't informed me yet of Sevastian's whereabouts," Philip insisted.
Stephan shrugged his shoulder. "He's probably ransacking your books in your secret library—oops. You did not hear that from me."