It's already night time and Rebecca finished eating dinner a few hours ago.
She's still wide awake.
Her favorite place in the new room is the window.
It helps alleviate her somber mood. Seeing the wide world outside helps her reinforce her belief that somehow she can escape this place.
From where she stood, she can see the towering trees surrounding the mansion. There are also mountains a few miles away.
Her suspicion was correct that the mansion was situated far away from the town, far away from humans. But she also knew that there are vampires who prefer to live with humans and hide their true identities.
She and Graven encountered a group of vampires who manage to discover and create an elixir that they ingest once a week making them immune to the sun's brightness and they can walk leisurely in the daylight without getting a sun burn.
The elixir's effectiveness in countering the dangers of daylight spreads to all the existing vampires and they can now walk on daylight as long they continue ingesting that elixir once a week.
Not only that, the elixir can darken a little bit of the vampires' white skin, making them not so noticeable among the crowd, their only weakness is the sharp fangs on their teeth, as long it doesn't come out from their mouth then the vampires look like ordinary humans, just like the vampire couple who imprisoned her in this mansion, they looked like a bunch of humans on the outside but vampires inside.
Vampires generally had a pale white complexion because they can't be seen by the sunlight, in recent years the vampires had a breakthrough in experimenting with different kinds of elixirs to remedy their lifelong problem with the deadly sun.
Even Graven and his men, consisting of vampires and demons alike were also taking that herbal elixir regularly.
The harmful effects of sunlight that killed many vampires through the centuries are no longer a problem in the current times.
As for her...sunlight is never an issue to her and her clan... a demon of her kind can walk and roam over the land whether it's day or night.
Her train of thoughts was interrupted by the sight of the big black birds flying above the trees nearby. She recognized those blackbirds, they are the ones who take her away from South Pond Town! The birds flew away going in the direction of the mountains.
Her thoughts shifted to the ugly mysterious guy...
She wondered where that ugly guy resides? Where he comes from? What's his origin? Was he residing inside the mansion or outside the mansion? Is he an enemy of the couple? Why can he freely get in and get out of the room? Should she inform the vampire couple about the suspicious guy's presence in the mansion so that they will be alerted that such an enemy exists in their midst?
She hesitated a bit.
What if that guy was his only hope? What if she can convince him to help her escape? She won't give up on him yet! She will keep his presence a secret for now. Maybe she can still turn things around no matter how hopeless her situation is right now.
Finally, this room has a wall clock now! She looked at the clock, it's already 10:00 in the evening.
She closed the window and went back to bed, getting ready to sleep.
She wrapped the blanket around her body and closed her eyes.
A few minutes later, her eyelids were dropping... suddenly she sensed a presence in the room! She opened her eyes and saw the ugly fake king standing in the middle of the room, staring at her.
She sits upright and sighed. "You can't just come here inside my room and scare me like that!" she yelled at him.
"Ohh... sorry about that. I see you have a new room! Do you like your current room or the previous one?" he asked.
"I'm not in the mood to have a chitchat with you," she said, wanting him to leave the room.
"Well... do you want me to leave you alone? As in you no longer want my visits anymore? Is that what you want?" he asked. "I'll take my leave now," he said.
"Wait... what's your name?" she finally took the courage to ask his name.
The mysterious guy chuckled. "Finally, I thought you're not interested in knowing my name. It seems you are now contemplating of conniving with me?" he asked, looking pleased.
Rebecca sighed. "Your name-? You talk too much!"
The mysterious guy chuckled. "Aw, feisty girl! Since you are so eager to know my name, I will tell you my name... just call me Corbin from now on," he replied.
"Corbin... nice name," she commented casually.
"Wow, you like my name, eh? But you don't like my face! Why is that?" he asked.
"Because your face is so ugly and scary to look at!" she said.
Corbin's eyes widened. "Are you insulting me?"
"No, I'm just telling the truth!" she responded.
Corbin's mouth erupted into merry laughter. Then her face turned serious. "What if I show you my real face? I'm sure you will change your mind!"
Rebecca's eyes widened. "So - you are wearing a mask all this time?"
"Yeah..."
"May I see your true face?" she asked curiously.
"Alright, I will show you my real face but on one condition...!" he said, smiling in amusement.
She doesn't like the mischievous look in his eyes. She raised a brow. "What condition?"
"You will give me a kiss on my lips first before I took off my mask," he said, grinning.
Rebecca was silent for a moment, giving him a dirty look. She doesn't trust him at all. What this guy is up to? Flirting with her?
Well... she can't blame him at all, since she was wearing Laura's face ... no guy... human or non-human can resist Laura's beauty and charm. He must be captivated by the beauty that she was wearing on her face right now.
"What-? Why are you hesitating...? It's just a kiss!" he said, teasing her. The expression on her face amuses him greatly. She appears entertaining to him, it takes away his boredom after his mother told him not to go outside much, instead, stay in the mansion to help his father in making sure the Awakening Ceremony is a big success.
Rebecca erupted into a smile. "No way! I won't kiss that face of yours!"
"Common, just close your eyes and the kiss is over before you knew it! Do it before I take my leave!" he said, urging her.
Rebecca was still hesitating to honor his request.
"I will count from 1 to 10... if you still won't kiss my lips after I counted up to 10 then I'm out of your room," he said. "I'll start counting now...1...2...3...4...5...6..7..8..9..."
Rebecca gathered her strength and went to Corbin's side, she planted a kiss on his lips for a few seconds and then went back to the bed. It's easier to do once she already made up her mind.
Corbin smiled broadly. "Nice.... you are brave! Now I will take my mask as your reward for kissing my lips!" he said and ripped the mask away from his face.
Rebecca stared at Corbin, wide-eye...
Holy shiit! She was in for a shock in her life because the face behind that hideous mask is a handsome vampire that could rival Graven's handsomeness!
Wow! she was blown away! She didn't expect that Corbin is a handsome vampire! She was expecting to see an old-looking vampire or an ugly-looking one. She wasn't expecting him to be so good-looking, he's an eye-candy!
She's speechless while staring at his face.
Corbin releases a slow seductive smile while walking towards her. "What-? Speechless? Haven't you seen a handsome vampire before in your entire life?" he asked, smirking. He got a feeling that she was blown away by his looks.
Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to sleep now, save your charm and seduction, I'm not interested!" she said and lay down on the bed, ignoring him completely.
Corbin chuckled. "Playing hard to get, eh?"
Rebecca closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.
"Alright, since you are no longer in the mood to chat with me, I'll take my leave now," he said.
"Go!" she responded without looking at him.
Rebecca was expecting that he will disappear from her room in seconds. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, he was still standing in the middle of the room, looking at her. "Why are you still standing there? Don't you want to sleep?" she asked.
Corbin shrugged. "I feel like I want to sleep here!" he declared, teasing her.
"Whaaaat-? No way! Leave my room now!" she commanded.
Corbin threw his arms in the air and shrugged. She's ended immune to his charm. "Alright, I'll take my leave now. But before I leave, may I know your real name?" he asked.
"My name is Rebecca... I already told you my name, leave now!" she ordered.
"Nice name! Dream of me tonight, Rebecca!" he said and disappeared from the room.
About time! Rebecca finally breathed in relief that he's gone from her room.
Dang! She had forgotten to ask him where he lives?
Next time, if he returns to visit her again, she will ask where he lives.
She shut her eyes to sleep.
That night she dreamed of Corbin, they were aboard a ship and going to an island. They were having fun watching the seagulls and dolphins swimming in the ocean under the sunny sky when all of a sudden, a giant octopus appeared on the path of the ship and it's too late to stir the ship away resulting in the deadly collision - killing everyone on the boat, except him and Corbin.
She wakes up after the dream and wonders why she dreamed of Corbin?
Shaking her head in amazement, she shut her eyes going back to sleep again.