"Why?" the girl whined.

The two of them were running through the fiery red woods. Fallen leaves crunched under their feet and the prickly wind made Olivia shiver. Without looking at her, Leon uttered, "I have no idea. Probably because I helped the crown prince escape from the kingdom- when his father died- six years ago?"

Olivia stared at him with widened eyes. She was afraid of Leon, but curious as well.

"Why did you do that?" the girl uttered in a disappointed voice.

"I had no choice." Leon's reply felt somewhat cold and void to her. "And instead of him, his brother became the king. I don't know what King Evan wants with me!"

Olivia panted, "He wants your head, of course!"

Leon snapped, "Shut up!"

The two of them were far away from the house. They were still in the woods. Olivia stopped, panting in exhaustion. "Hey, Sir, I'm hungry."

She sat down, at last, not wanting to go any further. Leon sighed and said, "Wait here, then. I'll find something for you to eat."

A pair of ink-black wings stretched out behind him. Olivia stared at him in awe as he swiftly flew up and out of her sight.

The girl waited, humming to kill her boredom. She kept thinking about his wings; they looked so magnificent. Even the black colour of his wings was radiant, making him look angelic. Time passed slowly and Olivia was hungrier than before.

The faint sound of feet crunching leaves broke her attention from humming. Olivia looked up, hoping to see Leon with breakfast in his hands. Instead of him, there was a group of uniformed men. They seemed to be soldiers; they came to her and stopped.

One of the soldiers came forward and asked her, "Miss, what are you doing here? Are you lost?"

Olivia flinched back being afraid of them. Keeping Leon's warning in mind, she refused to answer.

The same soldier asked her a different question this time. "Have you seen a tall man in black somewhere around?"

Hearing his voice, Olivia began to panic. Before he could ask again, someone came from behind and raised a sword at them.

Seeing the flash of light on the sword, Olivia instantly closed her eyes tight. Swords clashed, slashed, and stabbed, leaving a spatter of liquid on her face. The girl opened her eyes to see some of the soldiers dead on the ground, while others kept fighting with him. Leon was there.

Turning back to her, Leon yelled, "Get somewhere safe!"

Olivia crawled behind the tree she was resting against. Unable to control her rapid heartbeat, she began to gasp. She pressed her ears with her palms, being afraid of the sounds. What is happening? I cannot believe this, she thought, feeling miserable.

Heavy objects dropped, crushing the leaves underneath. The atmosphere became tranquil again. Quiet enough for Olivia to hear her own heartbeat.

Leon walked to her with the bloodstained sword in his hand. Olivia looked up at him, noticing the spatter of blood on his face. She rubbed her face and realized; it was the same for her. Turning around, she discovered all the soldiers lying in a pool of blood.

"You said you were hungry," the man said, looking at her with a grim face.

Olivia nodded her head as she began to shiver.

"Get up, now. We need to hide somewhere. More soldiers might come any time," he said with caution.

The girl stood up as he said, but she did not look him in the eyes. Her body shivered as her mind recalled Leon's cruelty to the soldiers. Leon had killed every one of them.

He put his sword back to its sheath and gave his hands to her. His wings stretched out behind him and he said, "Let's go somewhere safe."

With hesitation, Olivia placed her shaking hands on his ones. He held tight and pulled themselves up with great speed.

Having the fear of falling, Olivia closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. Her hood fell off and her hair flew with the wind. Within seconds, they were above the clouds.

When Leon slowed down a little, Olivia felt the confidence to open her eyes. She looked up at first and saw the clear sky. The sky seemed like it was either dawn or dusk. Below them was a thick layer of clouds that obtained a soft orange colour from the sunlight.

At that time, Leon had a tight but painless grip on her waist. She suddenly remembered him mentioning that she was the only daylight vampire. Olivia asked in confusion, "If you're not a daylight vampire, then... how are you flying in the open sky?"

Leon avoided eye contact. "Of course, it's uncomfortable," he weak voice.

Olivia decided to stay silent. She noticed parts of his skin turning red due to exposure to the sunlight.

"Hold on tight. We are about to land," Leon said all of a sudden.

Olivia held onto him tightly as he swiftly flew down. Her hair disturbed her eyes, but she had no chance to move.

The sky seemed to get higher and higher until they passed through the thick layer of clouds. Olivia could not enjoy touching the clouds as Leon flew down in a flash.

In a short time, she could see a hole in the layer of clouds above her head as they smoothly landed in a clearing. The hole let a ray of sunlight fall onto the clearing, but not for long. More clouds covered the gap as a light breeze blew.

When Leon dropped her to the ground, Olivia could only think about flying for the first time. For a moment, she had forgotten about her hunger. Her attention to the sky was broken when Leon spoke.

"Wash up. I've brought food."

Olivia looked around. Leon went to a small waterfall to wash his face and hands and clean his bloodstained sword. A stream carried the water deeper into the woods. A thick wall of wine-red leaves surrounded a part of the clearing. The rest was surrounded by reddish, pine-like trees of tall heights.

Olivia walked up to the waterfall to wash her hands and face. She fixed her hair as well, which had been messed by the crazy winds.

After that, they sat on the cold, grassy land. To Olivia's surprise, even the grass was not green. It was of the colour of eggplants. Olivia longed to see at least a speck of greenery in this peculiar place.

Leon took two loaves of bread and some berries out of his satchel. He gave one loaf to Olivia keeping one for himself and left the berries on the ground.

Both of them ate. Olivia noticed small parts of his skin to be darker. Once they had finished, she felt fear again.

With confusion, Olivia asked, "Then... what do you have to do with me?"

"I will not cause you harm as I said earlier. You can go home- your real home- when everything is resolved."

Olivia just stared, waiting for him to say more. Leon was slightly annoyed with her. He rolled his eyes and said with a straight face, "I don't care if you mistrust me."

The girl gave a sigh of frustration. She looked at the dark sky that was overcast with clouds. She thought, Is it always cloudy here? Maybe... it's because vampires can't stand the sunlight.

Olivia missed her family and her life before just a day. The sky became darker as time passed.

The tranquillity of her surroundings made her feel like Leon was not there. But he sat right in front of her, absorbed in thought.

"Hey," she called him, trying to kill her boredom.

Leon turned his head to her and said, "If you're tired, you can sleep. There is nothing to do here anyway."

Olivia cursed him in her mind.

With a moan, she lay on the ground and turned away from him. She kept her eyes closed, but could not fall asleep. She turned to her left, and then to her right again. Night fell and the crickets chirped, making it harder for her to sleep.

The girl pushed herself up, complaining. "How can I sleep without a pillow?"

Leon took his satchel and gave it to her. "Will this work?"

Olivia took it from him and said, "I'll see..."

She placed it on the ground and rested her head on it. It was stiff, but she was satisfied that she could keep her head higher. When she was about to close her eyes, Leon spoke. "It's not because of the pillow that you can't sleep. You're not tired enough."

He is right though... she thought.

Before sleeping, Olivia asked him, "Aren't you going to sleep?"

Leon replied with a straight face, "No. I have to make sure everything is alright."

Olivia rolled her eyes and turned away from him. He is strange. Perhaps this is all a dream. When am I going to wake up?

***

The dream broke- or so she thought.

Olivia woke up to complete darkness. For a moment, her body was numb and unable to move. She thought that the dream had ended, and she was lying on her bed like on a normal night. With a sigh of relief, she thought, So it was all a dream.

A few seconds later, she felt a headache. The grass underneath itched, and the satchel under her head caused pain. She could see the outline of the surroundings clearly now and understood that it was the reality.

Olivia jumped up with a gasp. Her fists clenched, tearing the grass. She looked around and found Leon, sleeping on his side with his arm under his head.

This is real...

Breathing noisily, Olivia let tears fall. The more time passed, the more she missed home.

Then she started recalling everything that happened since the previous night. She remembered when Leon said,

"No. I have to make sure everything is alright."

Olivia scoffed. Is this what he meant when he said that? I could... run away...

Thinking of running away, Olivia stood up and looked around. It was the time of sunrise, she assumed. Going through the wall of leaves would be noisy. She decided she would walk away from the clearing through the pines.

Just as she took one step forward, a curious voice said from behind, "What are you up to, Ophelia?"

The girl jerked at the sudden sound and looked behind. Leon was staring at her with a scornful smile, resting his head on his hand.