"No. I don't think it's a good plan. Do you have any idea how scary Kai's parents are?" Jeremy said. "Kai, tell her." Kai just sat quietly on the bed with his eyes closed, thinking. "I can't believe you're actually considering it. Our families won't like this.
Kai opened his eyes and spoke in that cool deep voice of his that I've missed so much. "I agree with Krista."
"Really? Does that mean we'll have to go and ask for an audience with the Council?" Jeremy sounded worried. "Damn. My mother and sister will kill me."
"You really are still a baby." I told him. "It's us who should be worrying. There's a big possibility they'd ask us to tell them everything from the beginning."
"Yes." Kai said. "We'd have to tell them everything, including Kilian."
The door suddenly burst open and Kilian walked in. "Alright. Fine by me. When do we go?"
The drive to Kai's parents' castle seemed to last forever. I was sweating so much and felt very nauseous. My fears were getting the best of me. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Then I felt Kilian's warm hands touch mine. I looked at him. He didn't look scared at all. Rather, he seemed more determined and confident than ever. He gave me a reassuring smile. I made a tiny laugh and the others glanced at me in surprise. "It's nothing", was all I said. It was foolish of me to be so negative when the entire capital was at stake. I thought I've grown stronger, braver, but I was still a little girl who needed the sense of security the people around me provided. I had to suck it up, and do my best.
The gates opened and we drove to the beautiful castle. It still looked the same as before. I stepped foot in the property only once, a long time ago. I remembered everything that night – how broken I felt and how I had to say goodbye. The castle held one of my most painful memories. I never thought I'd be coming back. The bitterness inside me was getting riled up with the sudden recollection. We got out of the car and waited for the other car to arrive. They parked beside ours and everybody got out. We all came. Me, Kai, Kilian, Christian, Jeremy, Marcus, Ethan, and Maria. Father Sinclair wanted to come with us but we didn't want to put him at risk too.
"Are we all prepared to meet our doom?" Jeremy asked rhetorically. We just gave out nervous laughter. Of course, everyone's scared. We had reason to be.
We were welcomed by one of the butlers and we followed him through the maze-like castle. It was definitely bigger than ours, no surprise there. We stopped in front of a huge oak door.
"Please go in. Everyone's been waiting for you." The butler said.
Kai pushed the door open. The room was very spacious. It turned out to be a library. The shelves went up to the ceiling, and were filled with so many books. It was probably bigger and had more books than our old school library. And there, at the far end, were thirteen highly intimidating vampires. Council members, I thought. They were staring at us. Their cold stares were like ice daggers. I almost fainted were I stood if it wasn't for my son's hand supporting me. The door closed behind us, and silence filled the air. The heavy atmosphere was suffocating. Right then, I finally understood why Jeremy was so scared. The five of them had to deal with such presence almost every day.
Kai started walking towards them and we all followed closely behind him. The vampires didn't move an inch, as still as statues.
"Hello Mother, Father." Kai said. "We've come to ask for a favor. No, let me correct myself. We've come to propose an alliance."
The man sitting behind the desk, the most intimidating of all those vampires, slowly stood up and went to sit on one of the couches. "An alliance? What's this about?" Kai's father asked.
"Well---" Ethan started.
"Five vampires, a half-vampire, a human, and one I can't quite understand what." A beautiful, blonde vampire said. "What an interesting group."
"Sis, I thought you went on vacation." Jeremy said.
"I was on my way there, but I was told to come back for an emergency meeting. I never imagined my brother had anything to do with the emergency." The vampire said, her beautiful voice held a threat. "What did you do this time?"
"We're not here to pick a fight. We came to report something very important." Christian said rather calmly.
"Alright. Go on, son. We're listening." A male vampire with a gentle face said. He looked like the older version of Christian. His father, I concluded.
"You remember Krista?" Kai asked his father straightforwardly.
"Of course. The Church leader's daughter who was convicted of treason and disappeared seventeen years ago." He answered. "I thought you said a few days ago that you have no information of her whereabouts. You dare lie to me?"
The atmosphere became heavier. The others took a tiny step back. That man, Kai's father, was a dangerous vampire to mess with.
"I did, and I apologize for that. But that's not what's important here. The entire capital is in danger. We have to do something or else the capital will become a bloody battlefield."
"What do you mean by that?" A small old lady vampire asked, her voice high.
"Krista will tell you everything." Kai gave me an encouraging nod.
"Well? Come closer and sit." A sophisticated-looking female vampire said.
I walked closer to them very slowly, cautiously. Kilian followed closely. I sat on the couch in front of the Council members. I felt like a suspect being interrogated.
"Go on. Tell us everything." The female vampire said.
I took a deep breath before starting. "Seventeen years ago, before I went into hiding, I found a child in one of our properties. I recognized her as one of the children from the orphanage. I took care of her, without my father's knowledge, and asked what happened to her. It turned out something weird was going on at the orphanage. Since she was still a child, her explanation was too little to figure out what's happening. And so, I took it to myself to find the truth."
"Well, aren't you brave? My brother could use some of that bravery and determination." Jeremy's sister said.
"I wouldn't really call it bravery. I was more like in denial that something bad was happening in a place I held dear. I investigated the orphanage with the help of my friends. We almost didn't find anything until we found a document which pointed us to a former Church official. The doctor only came to visit the capital when we found the document and fortunately, we were able to ask him for information before he left. And…"
"And?" Kai's father asked. He didn't hide his curiosity. He wanted to hear everything.
"We found out that the Church had been experimenting on numerous people, injecting them with vampire venom mixed with vampire blood and some other chemicals, giving those people vampiric abilities."
"What?!" A big brawny vampire exclaimed. His voice echoed in the library.
"Calm down. Let's hear more." Kai's mother said. "Continue." She said to me.
"I wanted to put an end to it. We found the location of the lab, which turned out to be a secret underground facility below the orphanage. We wanted to put a stop to the research since a lot of people were being sacrificed including the children. So, we blew the place up and the rest you know."
Kai's father was quiet for a moment. "I always had my suspicions that the Church is doing something to go against us but I never imagined it was to this extent." Then, he stared deeply into my eyes. "Tell me about this alliance then."