The children, fueled with insane energy, jumped and ran around the small playground, playing with rubber swords and hammers. And Sheila, the kindergarten teacher and 'trainer' carefully observed the eight-year-olds as she noted down some important points regarding them, profiling them.
Immersed in her job neck deep, she didn't even notice the presence of the 'Emperor' standing behind her, evoking a chuckle from the eight-foot-tall man with a silver-haired, long beard and a black wig.
"Emperor! Sorry, for the negligence... I deeply apolo—"
"Don't sweat it, Miss Sheila... It's totally fine. You were just doing your job. And nothing gives me happiness other than seeing my child working diligently..."
"Oh, please, sir... It's an honour to be adopted by you and to serve the princess—"
"How about the children?" Emperor, Edward Jones, asked, immediately stopping Sheila from speaking anything about his daughter, Diana. Sheila, understanding what her majesty meant, nodded, dropping the 'princess' topic altogether.
"Well, the children are almost ready for the experiment... Some are natural. They have that inborn sadistic quality and sheer hunger for blood naturally."
"Blood-cravers, huh... This time, how many?"
"Hmm... If you observe them deeply, the kids, Ashon, Jennifer, and the princess—"
"Just call her Diana."
"As you say, my lord... And Diana. These three show immense potential in acing the program and they exhibit qualities of the blood-cravers as well." Sheila said, with heavy breathing, nervous and excited to report to the king by herself. But she felt puzzled at seeing a dry expression on her majesty's face, disappointed and not thrilled.
She observed his eyes wandering around, searching for someone but failing. Reading through it, Sheila obediently requested.
"May I know what you're looking for, my lord—"
"The kid... The human cub. Where is he?"
Immediately after hearing her majesty mention him, Sheila gritted her teeth in silence. Edward could smell the raging anger in Sheila, but he very well knew that it was totally natural and bound to happen.
"Yohan Karvakarn, son of a human father and a human mother, but holds ancestry of an unnamed clan of the Underworld. Not enough muscle mass. Slow. Coward nature... and defective eyesight. He is losing his eyesight at a very steady rate. They are becoming increasingly sensitive to light, and it almost kills his brain nerves if he makes any attempt to focus or concentrate due to sunlight. So, we have made him a pair of special glasses to assist him, but I don't think he can recover from this. Probably he'll end up wearing a pair of sunglasses always. Both day and night."
Though Sheila was placing complaint after complaint, she saw a joyful pride in Edward's eyes looking at the small Yohan, infuriating her.
"Lord, I seriously don't know why are so affectionate towards that human scum, rather than your own daughter... I believed that my lord might have seen something in that kid, that we, me, failed to see. But, my lord... He's simply a waste of time."
As Sheila continued to rant, Edward's eyes widened and lit up, as he eventually found the kid he was looking for. Near a garbage dump and almost at the end corner of the ground, small Yohan, aged six, wearing round big spectacles was playing with a puppy, distanced from everyone else playing on the ground. His uniform was torn and multiple bruise marks were visible on his face, including a black eye. But the kid kept smiling with full positivity, enjoying the companionship with the puppy.
"Why the other kids are not playing with him? Call them! Ask them to include him—"
"Lord, that kid is a weakling... I really respect you, but I can't encourage my kids, the kids who are going to shape up our clan tomorrow, to soften up for a mere human cub..."
Edward could understand the words well. After all, the kids were coming from a lineage of cold-blooded warriors, whose blood naturally contains the genes for craving violence and bloodshed.
The fake swords and not intervening in the bullying practices were all part of the process of bringing the dormant madness within the kids to light. It was not some goody shoes, welfare for kids kind of orphanage. It was a breeding ground for the 'Vampire' Clan's next generational warriors.
There are a lot of such camps functioning within the Underworld, aiming to produce the best slew of assassins ranging from almost all age categories. But as someone who saw and went through the worst of the worst, Edward wished for something better.
"Oh, come on, Sheila... A maniac with nothing but hunger for blood is not gonna cut it. Good thing that the number of natural *blood-cravers* is reducing with each generation, especially now, since we have only three. Hope it becomes null—"
"Lord, what is it, that you are aiming for?"
Edward playfully chuckled and again placed his eyes on the unassuming Yohan, playing with the puppy. Looking at him with all pride and contentment, Edward said,
"Enroll him in the assassination program... And no matter how bad his grades are, make sure that he gets promoted... Mark my words. He's the one who's going to save our clan from its downfall... You'll thank me, then."
--
PRESENT--
Sana was knocked out cold and dropped on the floor, while Yohan was panting, with a small cut on his lips. Though won the fight, he was still surprised by the skill set of Sana and her grip on the textbook assassination methods.
"She is... utterly disappointing. Who the fuck taught her?" he muttered, let down by the short fight, which lasted no more than thirty seconds.
*RING* *RING* noise was heard from the unconscious Sana. It was her mobile. Yohan sighed, as he slowly speculated, who will it be? And seeing the number displayed, he confirmed his suspicion.
"Has it been long, Yon? Is she alive, at least?" Diana, with a smirking smile, taunted, Yohan. Seated in her car, which was parked in a nearby bar, she received a glass of wine brought by the bar owner himself to the car. She smiled at the owner with an overflow of pride on her face and nodded at him, letting him know her appreciation.
On the other side, Yohan was on the verge of sadness and anger, struggling to form sentences. Internally, he doesn't want his tone to be harsh on her.
"Why?"
"Why, what?"
"Why her?"
"Haa... Sana. The little girl. I actually got tired of warning her. She was so deluded by her bloodline, believing herself to be superior to a human... Of course, she didn't know how skilled this particular human was—"
"She could have died!"
"And her blood would have been on your hands..." she softly said, ticking the rage clock of Yohan. An air of silence struck between the two, with Diana silently giggling to herself, while Yohan held himself back from venting.
"What the hell do you want?"
"Back to the underworld. Immediately. No reasons, no conditions... But as your queen, I'll honour your wishes, though. I promise that there won't be a situation that demands you get your hands bloodied... PROMISE."
Yohan frowned. He expected more cruelty from Diana, but surprisingly, her demands were tame and fair.
"Then why do you need me? If not for my hands—"
"We want your name, Yon... Your title. Having a king of assassins on our side is enough. I'll get you a softer position within the system. Just give us permission to exploit your legacy... Fair deal?"
"If I refuse?"
"Haaa... If you refuse? Then... there will be death. Hundreds of death... again. By your hands. I'll send as many as possible and they'll die as per my wishes under your blade... One way or another, you'll do the dirty work. If you agree, you will be associated with us but won't get your shoes on blood, but if you won't—"
"FINE!" Yohan asserted loudly, sounding irritated, which Diana found endearing. She snapped her fingers towards her secretary, Anya Rose, a green-haired, half-goblin and half-vampire, who immediately started typing the agreement on her laptop.
"So, Yohan... Are we cool?"
Yohan rolled his eyes, sighing. He picked up Sana and put her on his shoulder.
"Please, end your problems soon... I wish to keep the promise, in case you forgot."
*BEEP* Yohan hung up the phone, while Diana's face dulled, hearing the mention of 'promise'. Her eyes moistened, and she snorted her nose, and flinched her face to the window, hiding it from her secretary.
'He still remembers it, huh? Stubborn bastard, why can't he forget that one thing?...'
Throwing the emptied wine glass away, Diana signalled the driver to start the vehicle. Though many things were running through her mind, she found herself mildly thrilled for making the crucial move of her 'plan' a huge success, though saddened by something only she knows.
"I hope you take care of yourself, Yohan... Once this ends, we have an entire lifetime of opportunities to kill each other..."
And like that the scheming Diana and the peace-loving Yohan's individual lives merge once again, bringing their personal stakes to co-depend on each other.
What does the future have in store for them? What does Diana really want?