"People never expect to see me, especially not out here like this," King Remi says with a carefree tone.

I’m just noticing the crown atop of his head, the same red hair as Amelia. Except his is longer and going down his back, matching along nicely with his royal attire.

Crimson red eyes staring back at mine, making me wonder how rare it really is to have red eyes.

"It definitely caught me off guard," I reply with a calm tone.

"No need to lie. You knew I was coming didn’t you?" The King questions with a smirk on his face.

"I don’t know how I could know," I respond with a bit of confusion in my voice.

He’s right since I did sense his heartbeat coming from the door but I chose to act more like a human with getting caught off guard. It is almost like he knows about me or something.

I don’t think anyone would just assume that I know like that. Unless...

"Come inside kid. We can talk more," King Remi says while opening up the door.

I glance back at Lia, she doesn’t seem to be worried about it in the slightest.

As we enter the castle I can see the long corridors that go multiple directions, but we seem to be going down the one straight ahead.

Various statues of King Remi seem to be standing tall along the walls with paintings to match.

I didn’t realize at first but he doesn’t look very old for a king either. Most kings would be quite up there in age by now with how much time has passed.

"It is interesting to see another vampire walking about my capital, especially with an elf companion," King Remi speaks up, breaking the silence as we walk.

"You’re a vampire too?" I question with a bit of shock.

"We’re a dying race, but I can recognize my own kind. You’re one of the remaining survivors from the manor attack it seems," King Remi responds calmly.

Flashes of everything that happened that day go through my mind as if I’m reliving it all over again. Watching my mom get shot, sister dead on the floor, and leaving behind the others.

The death of my family still haunts me, even if there was nothing I could’ve done.

"So I take it your whole family is vampires?" I ask while moving past the topic.

"No, just me. My wife didn’t want to turn and our daughter is well... We brought her in when she was younger. She was out in the cold dying," King Remi answers with a bit of sadness in his voice.

"Does Amelia know what you are and why you don’t look old?" I ask with a curious tone.

"No. But there must be a reason that you came here," King Remi responds while stopping in place.

A king ruling over a capital with people that don’t like hunters... It all is starting to make sense why this place is the way it is. A vampire ruling as the king tells me everything that I need to know.

He’s probably been ruling over this capital for a long time and nobody has ever once given any grief.

There is hope for us to bring back our race after all, especially with a capital already in existence like this. It makes me wonder how many other vampires are out there in the streets.

"I’m just going to be blunt. I want to bring our people back, build my own capital where we can thrive, and to get revenge on the humans for all the hell they put us through," I say with a serious tone.

He turns around to face me.

"Killing humans is just going to make them want to hunt us even more. Then again they haven’t changed in hundreds of years," King Remi replies while putting a hand on his chin.

"I just am lacking the strength to do a lot right now," I say softly.

"You come from the Nightreign family kid. That means you are already quite strong because of your bloodline alone," King Remi replies with a smile.

My family is strong, I already knew that much since Dad would always tell me about where we came from. That we used to be the ones that other families came to for protection because of how strong we are.

Yet, we weren’t strong enough to stop the slaughter of our people.

"Then why couldn’t we stop the killings?" I question with frustration.

"The Nightreign family also was the kindest towards humans. You all stayed away from human blood if you could avoid it, giving them the idea that you weren’t monsters," King Remi answers.

"But somehow we are still seen as such!" I shout with anger now.

I feel a hand on my shoulder as I start to calm down a bit. Lia definitely knows when the time is right for her to interact with everything here.

"If I remember correctly, you are Dante. I need a favor from you," King Remi says, completely changing the topic.

"What could I possibly do for you?" I ask with a curious, yet frustrated tone.

"Amelia, my daughter. I need you to protect her," King Remi responds with a serious expression on his face.

"Didn’t you hear what I said? I couldn’t stop anything at the manor," I say with anger starting to come back into my voice.

"You’ve been drinking blood, haven’t you? I don’t think you’ll have a problem with this," King Remi replies with confidence.

I don’t remember much about this king Remi or ever seeing him in my life. He knows all about my family and everything that happened at the manor.

Why would he want me to protect his daughter of all people? Is it just because I’m a vampire like him or because of my family.

Damnit... I can’t just deny it, but she’s also a human. Why do I keep getting roped into these situations lately? Having to give humans a chance when I want them all to suffer or die...