Clad in the Dawn Type II armor, Zhou Yi followed Nysha Makinos onto a helicopter belonging to the Vampire ruling party.
The flight from Long Island towards Brooklyn was shrouded in an immediate, profound silence. Nysha maintained a cold, rigid demeanor, her arms crossed, staring intently at the visor that hid Zhou Yi's face. The atmosphere was excruciatingly awkward, entirely Zhou Yi's fault for his insensitive comment about women and promises.
Under the weight of her frosty glare, even Zhou Yi's notorious thick skin felt strained. He scratched his face through the visor and tried to break the silence.
"Young Miss Nysha, may I inquire about your age?"
A question that is universally sensitive to women only intensified Nysha's silence, her gaze hardening into ice.
"Alright, alright, I know asking about a lady's age is uncivilized," Zhou Yi shrugged, feigning helplessness. "I was just trying to find a conversational opener. I thought perhaps we were the first of our respective races to engage in such high-level, cross-species diplomacy!"
"You are overthinking it. Our interactions with humans have been continuous since before the Middle Ages. Your premise is impossible," Nysha retorted indifferently, maintaining her crossed-arm posture—a clear signal of resistance and rejection.
For Zhou Yi, however, this gesture served only to emphasize the appealing curve of her chest. A veteran playboy is rarely deterred by mere body language.
"The historical customs of Vampires—now that I find fascinating. Young Miss Nysha, if I may ask, do Vampires have ethnic distinctions?" Switching to a quasi-academic topic, Zhou Yi continued his verbal harassment.
Nysha paused at the question. Ethnicity, as humans defined it, didn't quite apply to their race, but divisions certainly existed. She composed herself, grateful for a structured topic to fend off his advances.
"Except for a few rare exceptions, we Vampires are descended from the same single ancestor. We do not have 'ethnic' distinctions in the human sense because we are not a species that expands without restraint. Our divisions are based on clan, not race."
Seeing Zhou Yi adopt an attentively serious posture, Nysha continued, settling into the familiar pattern of reciting established history.
"The only progenitor we worship is Lilith, the Queen of the Red Sea—not the fabricated figure of Cain, the betrayer of Jehovah, as certain religious groups claim. Lilith is the Goddess of the Night, the most ancient Witch. The Red Sea doesn't refer to the current geographical location, but the metaphorical ocean of life filled with blood. Lilith wandered the world and left behind offspring. These offspring are the original ancestors of all Vampires."
Nysha's voice gained a slightly detached, professorial tone. "These initial descendants eventually gathered, forming the earliest ancient clans. Initially, these clans lived in deep seclusion, unknown to mortals. But as centuries passed, due to our abilities and conflicts with other heterodox beings, our existence was discovered by mortals, leading to mass panic—especially during periods like the wars of 1484 and 1710."
She narrowed her eyes slightly. "That era, during the mad expansion of Catholicism, saw the Inquisition impose a fabricated, damning history upon us. They hunted us as heretics, alongside werewolves and witches. The earliest Vampire hunters originated from there. Our ancestors were powerful, but they could not resist the concerted attacks of hundreds of zealots. To ensure survival, the surviving clans split, giving rise to two major ideological factions:
The Camarilla: Believed in strict adherence to ancient doctrines: live among mortals as mortals, acquiring what is needed discreetly, enforcing secrecy, and ensuring long-term, stable clan continuation.
The Sabbat: Believed in conquest through force and blood. They advocated tempting influential mortals with eternal life and using them to spread their bloodline and expand their numbers to secure eternal dominance."
"My father was a member of the later Camarilla faction. Due to the rapid spread of Catholicism and constant warfare in the Roman region, he led our clan's migration to the American territories, where he established a new, stable clan."
Zhou Yi's eyes glazed over during the discussion of clan politics. He was merely using the history as a tool to bridge the gap with the beautiful Vampire, not to study their socio-economic struggles. As Nysha prepared to launch into her father's entrepreneurial journey in the New World, Zhou Yi swiftly changed the subject.
"I remember you mentioned those heretics the Church speaks of. The feud between your kind and Werewolves is a constant theme in human cinema. Why did they become your sworn enemies? Given your origins, one would assume Werewolves have a similar ancient story!"
"Werewolves?" Nysha frowned, a slightly bewildered, almost cute expression momentarily softening her features. "My father once spoke of this when I was young. As I recall, Werewolves didn't exist in the earliest days of the ancient clans. They appeared quite suddenly and spread rapidly, becoming a destructive force."
"At first, we largely ignored them because while they attacked all living things, they posed little threat to our kind. Until a group of anomalies came to us. They also subsisted on blood, feared sunlight and silver, and shared habits similar to ours, yet they were not descendants of Queen Lilith."
Nysha's eyes became distant, recalling the ancient tale. "They persuaded our ancestors to join them in eradicating the Werewolves, arguing that if the beasts were allowed to slaughter living creatures unchecked, all food sources would be eliminated, and we too would perish. The clans accepted these anomalies as members of the Vampire race and mobilized against the Lycanthropes. The powerful Vampire warriors contained the spread of the Werewolves, though we couldn't completely eliminate them. They, too, learned to hide, and due to the blood feud, we became sworn enemies in your mortal sense."
"Wow!" Zhou Yi exclaimed sincerely. "It sounds like Young Miss Nysha is a formidable historian of your clan. So, may I ask a more general question about your customs?"
"Of course, ask what you wish. I will answer what I can," Nysha replied, a noticeable flicker of satisfaction at being cast in the role of teacher by her powerful nemesis.
"Many biographies claim you sleep in coffins. Is that true?" This was pure gossip, but gossip can sometimes dissolve formality.
Nysha rolled her pristine white eyes. "Aside from those individuals steeped in religious fanaticism, who would sleep in a coffin? We are Vampires, not coffin demons. It's like asking if Werewolves exclusively eat raw bones instead of living meat. It's ridiculous."
"Then, have you ever considered approaching your condition from a medical perspective? Treating your habits as symptoms, and finding a therapeutic cure to make your kind more... human-like?" This was a profound question, born from Zhou Yi's own self-experimentation into becoming less mortal.
Nysha watched Zhou Yi carefully to ensure he wasn't mocking her, then turned her gaze away, looking at the distant city lights. "I have considered it. But my father strictly forbids it. He believes this is the very root of the Vampire existence, and to tamper with it is to invite annihilation."
Ah, the eternal struggle between the conservative old guard and the new generation, Zhou Yi mused privately. He maintained his gentle demeanor.
"Perhaps your father has good reason. One last question, if I may change the topic once more?"
"Is there truly a Vampire named Dracula?"
Nysha's composure snapped. Her face tightened with fear and revulsion. "Dracula is the most powerful Vampire to have ever existed, and the sworn enemy of all Vampires. He murdered and drank the blood of every survivor among Queen Lilith's first-generation descendants. He holds the combined power of all the Vampire ancestors. He is the King of Vampires, and the most purely evil entity our race has ever known. Remember this: never, ever speak his name casually among other Vampires; he is the highest taboo."
With the word "taboo," Nysha closed her eyes, clearly signaling the end of the conversation.