"What are you exactly?" Kyle’s loaded question was followed by utter silence.

  Lucas had his eyes wide opened in shock as he looked at the young prince behind him. He never had expected Kyle to actually come out and ask. He had underestimated the bravery of this young man. Well, how could he forget? Kyle had been so fearless that he even dared to defy Ezekiel not once but a few times now. And now, here he was actually questioning his brother on this sensitive question! And right in front of everyone else, no less!

  The vampire could not help but feel worried for Kyle. Tensed, he sneaked a peek at Zeke and saw that the man remained immobile. He silently hoped that Ezekiel would just walk off and leave now and would be in favour of ignoring the question.

  "Please, say something……" Kyle prompted again, not caring about the tenseness that was so thick in the air, causing Lucas’ anxiety to rise to its peak. He whipped around and pleaded the young prince with his begging eyes to just drop the matter. But Kyle had to be the epitome of stubborn right now. Lucas could feel his heart sinking when he saw the burning determination in Kyle’s eyes telling him that the young prince would press for an answer no matter what.

  Lucas looked at Alexander. Knowing that Alexander was most probably the only one who could stand in between these two royal vampires in the event if things were blown out of proportion.

  However, to the ginger-head’s dismay, Alexander was already leisurely leaning against a tree, as if waiting for an interesting play to start, wearing the ’devil may care, but I do not’ look on his handsome face. Damn it all to hell, Alexander! Lucas pressed his fingers to his temple.

  Left without a choice, Lucas was about to move towards Kyle when Ezekiel finally moved.

  He turned his head slightly and spoke. "What am I?" his voice came out as calm and unruffled as usual, but the air suddenly turned incredibly suffocating. "I am a vampire. Nothing else." He added and it did not escape everyone’s notice the unusual and rare emotion in his voice for a moment as he said those lines. Vicious hatred and utter disgust. Nothing but pure dark emotions.

  Then he was gone, leaving Kyle standing there unsatisfied. It was as good as not having his question answered at all and only ended up with him clenching his fists tight.

  Seeing his dejected expression, Lucas patted his back comfortingly. He had somewhat anticipated the outcome. They were talking about his prince and master Ezekiel here, so what more could the young prince expect out of him?

  "Why is he lying and pretending everything is alright?" Kyle murmured as his jaws clenched. "All of us have already seen it. Yet here he is, insisting that he’s a vampire and nothing else…… can’t he even try to make me understand? Or is it because I am not worthy to know anything at all?"

  "Please don’t say that, Prince Kyle. Even I know nothing. I think even the king knows nothing about this too. I think it’s just Alexander who has any inkling on what is going on, right?" Lucas looked at Alex.

  With a deep sigh, Alex pushed himself away from the tree trunk and walked over to them.

  He stared at Kyle and then his hand landed heavily on the boy’s head – not unkindly though. "Listen, little vampire." He started with a serious look on his face. "I know you are curious to know more about your elder brother’s secrets, but I’d like the both of you to keep quiet about this for now. Don’t worry, one day, I know you’ll eventually learn the truth…… though I’m certain you’ll learn all of it not from Zeke himself. I’m sure you already know, but I’m just going to say it again. That guy is impossible to crack so don’t bother trying." Alex explained as he shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Also, you don’t need to worry about his dangerous abilities, he won’t cause any trouble again any time soon."

  "A-any time soon? You’re saying he’ll cause trouble one day…… later on?" Kyle’s eyes widened and Alex tilted his head slightly.

  "Well, with that kind of power, it’s almost impossible that he would be able to avoid huge problems from literally falling into his lap." Alexander said a little apologetically as he scratched at his nose. "However, it had been so long…… hundreds of years to be exact and nothing had happened so far. Like I said, Zeke’s the toughest nut to crack in this universe that even his own tremendous power could never control him…… he controls everything so well. Still, we don’t know if one day something or someone might manage to do the impossible and crack this invincible rock that is Zeke. But I don’t think it will happen any time soon. I guess if that happens, it’s still in the far future…… so for now, we can all just relax."

  Alex calmly flashed a small but confident smile which made Kyle and Lucas knew that though Alexander was always that reckless god of trouble before, they knew that his words were still absolute when he was serious. They also knew Alexander was an even more ancient creature than Ezekiel, so it was only a given that this man knew best about Ezekiel and more than anyone else did.

  "Alright…… now forget about this matter for now. And I should warn you, Kyle…… not to ask that question again. Let’s just say Zeke hated it more than anything else in this world so try not to ask anything about what he is. Got it? Now I shall take my leave."

  "You’re not coming to the castle first?" Lucas immediately asked just as Alex was about to run off.

  "Inform Zeke I’ve gone home. I can’t let my beloved wife wait for me any longer than this. I worry she might be missing me so damn much right now." He smirked naughtily and then he too, was gone.

  Lucas sighed. "It’s obvious it was you who are missing her to death right now, though……" he mumbled dryly before he turned to Kyle and the duo finally headed back into the castle.

  ___

  A/N: I will update again tomorrow.