"We're here." Luciel announced, opening the doors to his friend's house for the two vampires with the key that Alex gave him while staying at his place.
Once the two vampires entered the house, their jaws almost dropped to the ground when they saw the inside of Alex's residence. It felt like they were in a miniature castle.
The hallway they entered had shiny white tiles and snow-white walls with golden decorations, mostly in the shape of tree branches.
Everything seemed to be glittering. It also had white armor on display, similar to the one Alex usually wears.
"Do all humans live like this?" Kai asked with sparkles in his eyes once he entered the large living room, which made up more than half of the house.
The ambiance was similar to that of the hallway they passed through. It had a white parquet and walls with golden details.
In the middle of the room, there were white leather seatings, surrounding an extravagant golden glass table on top of the fluffy white carpet.
On one side of the wall, one could see a large fireplace while on the other side, there was a bar, displaying all kinds of alcoholic beverages.
"Well then, what do you prefer?" Luciel asked the two, walking towards the bar and gesturing towards the two to take a seat.
"Brandy."
"Gin."
Luciel looked at Melisa and Kai before going to pour them some drinks. Brandy for Melisa, gin for Kai, and whiskey for himself.
Serving them their drinks, he sat down next to Kai. Smelling the whiskey before taking a small sip, giving it a try.
Unlike ordinary human food, it didn't smell disgusting, but he didn't feel drawn to it like he felt towards the blood. It felt normal, just as he remembers.
The taste didn't seem very different either, in fact, it tasted better than ever.
"Delicious, right? Alcohol is the only thing that we have in common with humans. We experience it the same as they do. We say that it's a gift from our creator." Kai drank everything in one go, making Luciel sigh since he barely sat down for a minute before having to get up again.
"So, tell me about yourself. What did you mean by saying that you were humans?" Luciel brought bottles of alcoholic drinks and placed them on the bar before sitting down.
"Well… It happened twenty years ago. We were seven so we don't remember the details." Melisa started, trying to recall everything that happened.
Luciel made a mental note before she started telling the story, they were the same age as himself.
He listened carefully as she talked about their past. It wasn't an unusual one since many people who lived in the outer circles of the colony usually shared the same fate.
Those two were raised in a family of poor economic power, not only that, they had many siblings and their family had to make a hard choice.
Humans were nothing better than beasts and when they couldn't take care of their kin, they would usually abandon or kill them.
Their mom and dad didn't want to gain a bad reputation that they would gain from kicking them out in the streets and they couldn't kill their own children either, so they went with one of the few options they had.
One night, they decided to take Kai and Melisa for a walk, telling them that it was an adventure and that they were going to explore a forest, but once they got deep enough, their parents told them that they heard some noise. They told them to wait as they went to check it out.
Melisa and Kai waited and waited, they didn't even know how long it had passed and they started to starve. They began to call their parents, but there was no answer.
Their parents had abandoned them, left them alone to be torn apart by wild beasts. That way, they can say that their children got lost and they won't have to directly kill them themselves.
Seeing that their parents wouldn't arrive to pick them up, Kai and Melisa went to try and find a way back on their own, but before they could, they got surrounded by a pack of giant wolves.
They tried to scream for help, hoping that anyone would be able to hear them.
Their voices were cracking as they could feel their flesh and bones being torn apart. The pain… Was so great that their vision started to turn black.
The trauma they received that night was so great that they couldn't get it out of their heads.
Once they woke up, they found themselves in a huge underground shelter, with Nosferatu sitting right next to them.
Luciel had his hand clenched as he listened to the tragic tale of the ginger twins, his eyes giving a slightly red glow while his blood was boiling inside him.
He knew that humans were ready to do all kinds of horrible things due to various motivations, but there were some things that he couldn't approve of.
Kai's and Melisa's story could had a better ending if their parents had just sent them to the orphanage.
Although, it was questionable if the orphanage would be able to accept the twins. If they could accept everyone, beggars wouldn't be running around now.
Luciel took a deep breath and relaxed his fist. As he was calming down, so did the shine in his eyes disappear.
"I'm sorry to hear that…" Luciel took his glass of whiskey and drank everything in one go before pouring himself another.
"But you still didn't tell me, how are you two vampires? Usually, chances of success are extremely low, a human would usually turn into a bloodhound."
Kai and Melisa looked at each other, giving a nod before Kai finally went to answer, "The same way as you. Nosferatu, the vampire king, turned us."
The twins proceeded to explain how vampire kings were the only ones who had the power to turn humans into pure vampires. Only they had blood potent enough to turn people.
Ordinary vampires could turn humans into a cheap imitation of themselves. Knowing this, they would usually use this during a fight against humans whose blood they weren't planning to drink.
There was one more piece of information that Luciel found intriguing in all of this. Even if the vampire king had the power to create pure vampires, there are still small chances that a human might turn into a bloodhound or turn out to be imperfect.
"So… When Melisa didn't recognize me as a vampire, or thought that Alex was one, is that because of?"
Melisa looked away when Luciel asked his question. She didn't feel comfortable talking about this since it was basically her weakness that could easily be exploited. Any vampire that knew this could easily harm her if not for her talent.
"Her senses didn't fully develop, they are of the same strength as when she was a human," Kai explained casually and earned a punch in the face from his sister, throwing him down from the chain.
Luciel looked at Kai on the ground before shrugging with his shoulder and taking a sip. This wasn't a part of his problem.
"My disability is a death sentence for a vampire. I would be long dead if not for my ability." Melisa explained since the cat was out of the bag.
She was punching a palm of her hand, ready to give Kai a good beating for revealing her weakness just like that.
One could see that something was wrong, but Kai didn't have to go and announce that to the vampire that used to hunt their kind for a living a week ago.
"And your talent is?" Luciel went to push for information, he knew that there was no way that Melisa would answer him, but he still went to give it a chance.
"Oh! Her talent is amazing, she can manipulate sou-" Before Kai could finish his answer, Melisa was already on top of him, giving him a good punch, but Kai wouldn't go down without a fight.
Luciel glanced at the two but didn't really mind them since he was not here to babysit.
While the twins were fighting, with chairs flying around behind Luciel's back, he just continued to enjoy the only thing he could still taste just the same as he was a human.
****
"What… Happened here…" Alex dropped the grocery bags on the floor once he saw the current state of his living room, with the two vampires sleeping on the floor while Luciel was wasted on the counter.