"I did not know a vampire can have red blood."
The next thing Melissa knew, the silver-haired man had pulled a short blade out of nowhere and pointed its edge at her pale neck. It was not hard to guess why. She knew it was because he was extremely alarmed that somebody learned his secret.
But despite expecting something like this to be his reaction, Melissa still felt her eyes widen a bit before a complicated glint took over them.
"Miss, I'm sorry." His voice sounded very pleasant to her ears, low and slightly husky, and definitely younger than the one she was used to.
The sharp blade pressed on her skin, causing a thin line of purplish blood to appear and trickle down. She inwardly laughed, 'It's now sinking in... We're really... back to square one.'
Melissa briefly recalled the current state of the world and the differences between their races and their identities.
The earliest records found stated that her continent had always been ruled by the Night Tribe. However, a thousand years ago, humans rebelled and successfully managed to liberate their race from the control of the vampires. They claimed half of the continents and founded a huge empire called Homines. Then they took advantage of their greater population and creative minds to create powerful magical weapons and produce people called Vampire Hunters.
Unfortunately, despite gaining independence, humanity could not enjoy true peace. The prideful vampires did not really stop waging wars against humans. They did not stop even though the latter successfully found ways to deter the former. A truce was signed a hundred years ago after the latest battle hurt both sides seriously, but humanity knew that the noble vampires of the Estania Empire never viewed the agreement earnestly. They were secretly trading human slaves among themselves or raising humans within their territory as livestock and playthings.
The people of Homines Empire had no choice but to feign ignorance or grit their teeth in silence as humanity had always been the weaker party between the two races, especially after the latest war killed a lot of their Vampire Hunters. The vampires were also careful in their operations and never targeted humans valued by those in high positions.
Brandel Laxon was from a Marquis family of the Homines Empire. As the fourth son of the family head, he had no right to inherit the title, but he had exceptional talents in wielding swords and had some affinity for magic weapons. The blood of a Vampire Hunter also ran in his blood so the Hominem Empire made him one of the palace knights.
So one may ask, how did somebody like him ended up in the territory of a vampire?
Actually, there was no other reason than the secret war going on under the surface. Humans knew forbearance, but deep inside, they naturally wanted to retaliate, or better yet, wipe out their long-time enemies. Espionage between the two empires had always been the norm but the human side took it to another level. Brandel was obviously one of the spies sent.
The two people standing before each other in that moonlit forest belonged to the opposite camps. Both of them were nobles. But Melissa was a vampire while he was a human. His race held deep-seated grudges against her race. On top of this, he did not know her yet. He had no idea that she came from the future, and that she hated the majority of the vampire nobles of her race. He did not that he was the reason that she snuck out of her house.
It was no surprise that the man showed no hesitation when he attacked her. The sharp blade slowly pressed deeper, it was as cold as his gaze that was totally unlike his previous way of looking at her.
'... How unfortunate...' She murmured to herself, lost in her thoughts. The pain easily made her come back to her senses of course.
Then with no ounce of fear on her face, the girl flashed a bright smile and enunciated, "So, Mr. Silver Hair, did you invent a fun way to make our blood appear red? Is that a new trick?"
The man who was about to cut off the vampirette's neck was confused for a moment. '...huh?'
Brandel Laxon never imagined that he would be in this situation tonight. He only went out of the tavern to 'recharge' the artifact lent to him by the royal prince of Homines. As this had been his routine for the past few months, he thought things would go as usual. And he was sure that nobody was around when he entered the forest.
However, moments later, he got shocked by the girl's sudden presence behind him. Did his usually sharp senses fail him this time? Did he become complacent recently or did he just run into a troublesome vampire? But this vampirette seemed to be not right in the head...
Seeing him confused and at a loss for words, Melissa took that time to distance herself from the sharp weapon. The shallow cut on her neck automatically closed.
"Hey. Can you share the trick with me? I've been long curious about the human territory so I want to take a look without worrying about my identity being found out. If the ones in Homines Empire see that I have red blood, they won't suspect me."
On the female vampire's face was still the same bright smile, her twinkling eyes were like those of kids' that just found something amazing. It seemed that she would not stop until her curiosity was satisfied.
Brandel's expression turned awkward as he listened to her words. He thought for a moment before he lowered his blade. He asked, "Miss, may I first ask you some questions?"
"Sure."
"Who are you and how old are you?"
"I just turned eighteen. My name is Melissa."
"Okay, Miss Melissa." The silver-haired narrowed his eyes dangerously.
He asked, "Are you with anybody else when you saw me experimenting with my blood?"
"No."
"How about when you entered this forest."
After blinking, Melissa answered, "No. So what's the matter? Does it have anything to do with you sharing the red blood trick with me?"
Brandel internally debated whether to kill the other or knock her out and lock her up somewhere extremely secluded. He was aware that his identity needed to stay covert at all costs and that all factors that would rat him out must be eliminated. But looking at the innocent face that only held curiosity and without malice, hesitation wormed into his heart.
'What are the odds that this naive-looking vampire only noticed the red blood and not the scent? Was that even possible?'
The man no longer raised his blade. The pure-looking gaze of the vampire that showed no interest in sampling his blood made him hesitant to claim her life. But it did not mean that he was okay with what she saw, regardless of what she thought of it.
Brandel secretly tapped the central part of his right glove. Then he slowly said, "Actually, Miss, I'm afraid I can't tell you what you want to know since it is a classified secret. Can you just forget about it and act like you saw nothing? From the very beginning, you saw nothing. You did not even see me and you will forget my face once we leave this place. "
'He's hypnotizing me?' Melissa nearly widened her eyes and exclaimed. It was truly a bizarre situation, seeing a human trying a spell against the descendants of its creator, a member of a Night Tribe.
But it did not take her long to understand his action. Since he did not think she should be killed, then the only option was to make her forget.
'If this will make you feel at ease...'
She inwardly laughed then cooperated with the hypnosis. At least on the surface, she acted like it was taking effect on her. "I get it. I will pretend like I never saw you tonight."
He corrected, "No, Miss Melissa. You don't need to pretend. It's a fact that you never saw me tonight."
"Yes, yes." The vampirette cutely bobbed her head without breaking eye contact with him. Then she said, "But it's also a fact that you rejected my request, so can you just hear out another request of mine."
He furrowed his brows and briefly wondered whether the spell was working. The creator of the artifact currently equipped in his right hand did not warn him that the target would retain a clear head during and after hypnosis. Or did he just run into a weird case?
"What is it?" Brandel looked uneasy.
"A proper introduction!" She immediately replied. It seemed he did not expect her answer so he instinctively raised one of his brows.
But Melissa had long wanted to touch him properly, to feel his warmth and feel his beating pulse.
The Moon Goddess was a witness to how crazily she wanted to hug the man before him.
So since doing so would definitely scare him away, she thought, a handshake would be reasonable for two people who just met, right?
She nervously extended her right hand. "I'm Melissa. Melissa Edevane. How about you?"
The man was silent. When he gazed down at her open palm, he hesitated before he accepted the handshake and opened his mouth, "... Brandon."
"Nice to meet you, Brandon!" She cheerily said, her voice so clear and sweet. 'I'm very glad to meet you again, my knight.'
Right now, the woman who did not bat an eye once as she beat Leonora's group into a pulp was nowhere to be seen. The gloomy girl that met her mother with an emotionless face was gone too. She was happy. For she felt like she regained the one she lost as she held his hand. No words could describe the emotions enveloping her heart. So she let her body and expression do the talking for her.
The human spy fell into a daze as he looked at her beautiful smile and happy eyes. Before he knew it, he was smiling wryly too.
"I guess, nice to meet you too, Miss Melissa."
'... It should be okay, right? Since she won't remember anyway. This will be our first and last meeting.'
A weird exchange of introductions happened at the wrong place and the wrong time. The other party seemed to be a quirky person too, so he did not know what to think about the whole thing.
However, one thing was for sure. Brandel did not feel repulsed by the brown-haired girl. He only thought that she was an extremely beautiful... but strange vampire.