Chapter 97: My Kind
Naomi had read earlier about the war between humans and vampires. The black book had given her invaluable insights, prompting her to ask Zylan about things she still didn’t understand though not directly.
She was grateful she had read it—at least now she wasn’t as naïve as before. Yet, there was something undeniably strange about the book. It never indicated whether it was fiction or non-fiction. To add to the mystery, it had no author, no title, and its covers were blank. The pages, too, were as black as the cover itself, save for the legible text within. The absence of any identifying information made the book even more strange.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the book felt less like a piece of fiction and more like a hidden, ancient truth—one that had been concealed for a reason.
From the book, Naomi had learned some key details about vampires, particularly how they differed from humans. During the war recounted in its pages, vampires had used their acute hearing to detect human heartbeats, making it nearly impossible for humans to ambush them. She also learned that vampires relied on blood for survival. Some parts of the book were abstract and hard to grasp, and some of its language was archaic, leaving Naomi to wonder whether she was truly understanding it all. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the knowledge might prove useful someday. And that thought filled her with a strange, unsettling sense of dread.
But who would have thought her husband—a man she trusted—was a vampire? Certainly not her. She had spent so much time in his presence, and yet, in hindsight, she realized she had missed the signs. Was she blind to the truth, or had she simply been ignorant of it? No, she reasoned. It wasn’t ignorance; Zylan had deliberately hidden it from her.
One particular detail from the book stayed with her: it referred to female vampires as "vampiresses." Yet Zylan had called a woman a "leek-vampire," a term that puzzled her. She had asked him about it earlier, and his initial reaction had seemed almost suspicious. His curious gaze had made her wonder if she had revealed too much about her knowledge.
Zylan’s answer came, but it didn’t fully ease her confusion. "Ladies are usually called vampires, just like men. The term isn’t gender-specific. However, in her case, she’s a leek-vampire, which makes her different. The word ’leek’ carries a deeper meaning. Because of it, she’s exempted from the traditional court and its rules. Her status as a leek-vampire sets her apart."
Naomi found his explanation intriguing. What could "leek" truly mean? The thought lingered in her mind, but another question bubbled to the surface. Her curiosity was insatiable now, but she couldn’t bring herself to voice the next question she wanted to ask. But eventually, she did. "How do you eat?" she asked, her voice soft but laced with a deep, almost unsettling curiosity.
Zylan looked at her for a long moment, his eyes dark and unreadable, as though weighing how to respond. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he said, "Vampires take blood just as humans eat food." His voice was low, almost cautious, as if he were afraid of revealing too much. "As an elite pureblood vampire, I have the ability to eat normal food. Unlike half-vampires and other hybrids who can eat human food but still thirst for blood, purebloods like me can suppress the thirst by consuming human food. We can go weeks, even months, without drinking. But that doesn’t mean we don’t crave it," he added carefully, watching her closely, studying her reaction. "But it’s manageable."