Chapter 3: Aziel Basileus

He doesn't move. 

"This will only hurt for a second." He murmurs against your skin before you feel his fangs dig deep into your neck.

-

Somewhere in an old untouched chamber, located at the east wing of the castle, Dyan rests a hand on a surface of a door and pushes it open.

An instant wave of noxious smell from a body left to rot attacks his nostrils.

As he steadies himself with a few calm breaths, subtly pinching the bridge of his nose as he gestures the men behind in to get in. 

The stench is unbearable.

He gives them orders to dispose of the dead corpse and to cremate it right away.

They nod their heads in unison before getting to work. Dyan stares from the corner of the room, calculating the number of supplies needed to get the work completely done.

A couple of potions should do the trick to fix this place up. 

Not a scent of blood should be lingering in this room by the time he comes back.

Once the orders been given, he turns to leave.

The smell like that is capable of driving him crazy.

And not in a good way.

Luckily, his men back there are immune to the smell of gore and wounds since they're not completely a blood sucking creature.

When blood drives through the veins of a living person, Dyan can handle it. But when they're dead? It's a whole different story. 

Dead bodies, approximately after a week, have been known to release some kind of toxic scent that can drive even the strongest creatures like him, insane. 

Especially when their blood's exposed to sight.

"Your Highness." Yeong stops in front of Dyan with the same nonchalant look in his features. "Prince Aziel's brought a guest to his room earlier this morning."

Dyan raises his brow in question. "And?"

Without blinking, the trusted guard slowly takes a step back and swifts his body so that his shoulder faces his highness. "He's awaiting for your presence. His Highness thinks there's something wrong with the girl."

"A girl uh?" He sighs. "A girl or another blood bank? I swear if I have to deal with another dead body I'm killing him."

"You can't kill him."

"And why not?"

"Because then I'll have to kill you."

Dyan scoffs in disbelief before leading the way. "You really can't take a joke, can you? Try loosening up a bit. What good can your face do if you're always looking grumpy."

Yeong steps forward to open a door, allowing Dyan to walk through it.

When they reach the trail of the garden that leads to the chambers of the Prince, he mumbles under his breath. "Loosening up? My apologies. But I do not understand."

"It's a phrase used in the human world. "The young prince smugly says. "Tell you what. Next time I visit their realm, I'll take you with me."

The moment they arrive inside his parliament, Dyan relaxes his shoulders and stares at the girl unconscious in his bed. 

"You couldn't even keep her alive for a full hour." He says with a sigh, silently tsking under his breath. 

"She's not dead." Aziel defends himself before gesturing Yeong to leave. The latter offers a bow and exits the room in silence. 

"She just passed out."

Don't they all. Dyan thinks to himself.

He walks closer by the bed to examine the girl's face that's hidden behind her locks of hair.

After catching a little glimpse of what she looks like, he turns around and collides his eyes to meet with Aziel.

By the way he's stiffly rubbing the back of his neck either means he knows something he doesn't or he wants something from him but is just too shy to ask.

He assumes it's the second one.

"I'll call someone to prepare the chamber. "Says Dyan disdainfully. "She can't stay in the other one since someone forgot to inform us about another dead human."

"Shakra's dead?"

Dyan assumes the name belonged to the deceased corpse and he scowls bitterly. 

Aziel Basileus may be the next person in line for the throne, but his obliviousness can be quite disappointing.

He sighs. "Shak- yeah. Anyway, I'm leaving. I'll have someone fetch her later."

"Thanks, hyung." 

-

Your head feels like you've been run over by a truck. Groaning, you fist your hair to create some kind of release.

What happened? 

"Good." A low voice whispers before they're clearing their throat. "You're awake." 

Peering an eye open, you spot a blurry figure standing a few steps away. You ignore the heavy pounding in your head as you pull your drained self up. 

While you were unconscious, you had a strange dream. 

You were in a room full of mirrors surrounding you. One mirror portrayed you when you were born. Another, when you turned five. And so on.

It was you but in different

periods of time.

As you try looking through them all, a woman in a cloak suddenly appears in front of you saying. 

"teraz nie czas."

You remember a bright light blinding you after that. 

"teraz nie czas." It whispered for the last time.

And then you woke up.

Your fingers trail up the base of your neck, feeling the leather texture of the collar.

What on earth?

Everything around you is still vague.

"What are you?" Even his voice's hard to register. 

Instead of responding, you crane your head back, slowly bringing it forward in a stretching manner as you rest your back against the board of the bed. 

The collar comes loose and you toss it lazily to the ground. It lands with a faint thud. 

The guy sitting at the far end of the room's starting to get impatient you can tell. 

It's not until you feel his presence coming closer to the edge of the bed that you finally open your eyes. 

You stay still, noticing the way his jaw clenches. 

"What are you?" He asks again, almost growling. "How did you do that?"

So he noticed uh? 

The room fills with nothing but silence since you refuse to give him a response.

Maybe he'll ignore you if you keep quiet for the rest of your time here.

That is if you're able to escape without ending up pooled with your own blood. 

There's a knock on the door that causes both your heads to turn towards its direction.

Two men with swords hanging beside their waists steps in, bowing their heads in unison. "Your Highness. We're here to pick up the girl."

Before anyone can say anything, another person pushes their way in between the two guards to face His Highness.

A girl, seemingly your age. 

Her skin's as pale as the snow and her hair is dark as the night sky without stars.

It's hard catching a full glimpse of her face since someone's blocking the way however, it's almost as if you know them. 

"Yvon, w-what are you doing here?" Just a while ago he sounded like the most intimidated person ever. But right now, it almost sounds like he's about to piss his pants. 

The girl still standing beside the door scratches her neck while gradually looking around like she herself doesn't know why she's here.

"Dyan said you brought someone. He said I'll-" Suddenly her eyes land on you and they grow wide in surprise.

Yours do as well. Because it's at this exact moment that you finally caught the glimpse of her face. 

Hayeon?

What one earth is Hayeon doing here? How did she get here? Did she get kidnapped and auctioned too?

You open your mouth, wanting to blurt the questions popping in your eyes like explosives only to stop yourself. 

No.

Judging by the way the boy's reacting to her presence, you can only conclude that this isn't Hayeon's first time here.

But what did he just call her?

Yvon?

But her name's Hayeon. Or is it not?

"I'll take it from here." She grabs the arms of each guard and forcefully pushes them out the room like they're a bunch of ken dolls before locking the door behind her. 

Now that it's just the three of you inside, she ignores the questioning glance of the boy and rushes to your side.

"Calla, are you okay? " Frantically, she pushes your hair back to examine your neck.

When no sign of puncture is seen, she holds your face in between her cold hands and sternly looks at you straight in the eyes before saying. 

"Be honest with me okay? What did Aziel do to you?"