The Accidental Vampire

If they really didn't have any ulterior notices inside the Kingdom, Lilith could've sent a message openly instead of sneaking inside, so there was a flaw in every story he could come up with.

"His silence is an answer in itself. So you still don't get it? He sent Lilith because he wanted her to free Atlan! For a Vampire, it's impossible to free Atlan after all the precautions we took! That's the thing. You don't even need to ask them. That's why he came with a small army of his own," Zhang squinted his eyes, gazing at the masked archer in the distance.

There was no other explanation that made sense for him, and he was also mostly accurate, just not entirely.

"It seems I apologized to you for no reason at all..." Razil let out a sigh. "You truly were here to save Atlan."

"Atlan would be the last person I would ever care about. The longer you keep him, the more peaceful this world will be. I didn't come here for him," Atlas responded. "I woke up just recently and was wondering what kind of world this place had become when I was asleep."

"The place I went to my eternal slumber wasn't too far from here, so it's not that I've come in the vicinity of your Empire just now. I've always been here, sleeping."

"Near my Kingdom?"

Atlas smiled. Even though he lied, he lied with such confidence that it was impossible to see his lies.

"What better place to sleep in peace. No one was going to search for me in this place. No one was going to disturb me. This was the perfect place."

"That would explain why you were in this area when you were first seen, but that still doesn't explain why you sent Lilith secretly inside the Empire? Also, how did you know that Royal Blood in that case? If you claim you just woke up, how did you get so close to him?"

As Atlas started lying, he didn't stop to even think about his lies. His mind had always been very imaginative, and it became even more at the moment since he started making stories.

"He is the reason I'm up. It was him who disturbed my sleep, finding my sleeping place. As for why I'm close to him, do you even need to ask? I was close even to Vor. Why won't I be close to his descendant?"

Whenever Lilith told him a story, he pretended not to take that story seriously, but he gave those stories too much Importance to understand Castiel. One of those stories is about Castiel meeting with Vor.

From what Lilith had theorized, Lancaster was a descendant of Vor, who was banished from the Kingdom of Wolves when Castiel still roamed the world.

The knowledge of those two things made him come up with a more realistic story. The story could've even fooled Lancaster if he hadn't known that Atlas was lying.

"Alright. You knew Vor and didn't hurt his descendant. I can also believe you got close to him, making him trust you. But that also doesn't explain Lilith. Why did Lilith sneak inside?"

"She went there to see the condition of the Kingdom and how it had changed throughout the years. I didn't want anyone to know about my return, so I couldn't openly ask for an entrance. And I also couldn't get inside without permission."

"If Lilith asked for a meeting with you, that was no different than exposing my return, so I sent Lilith secretly inside so she could see the Empire and tell me how it has changed throughout the years. That's what she was doing when she was caught."

"It's already known that she wasn't caught in the Palace. She was caught roaming the streets."

Even Atlas was surprised at how he had managed to come up with a story that made sense in such a short amount of time, despite being under immense pressure. Fortunately, his story left no flaws in it.

It answered why he wasn't alone. It also answered why he was close to the Kingdom of Werewolves and why Lilith had to sneak inside.

Fortunately, he was a Vampire. If he were a human, he would've been sweating somewhat.

Just as Atlas had expected, Razil couldn't find a flaw in his story. This story did make sense for the most part.

He believed in innocence until proven guilty. There was a chance that Castiel was lying, but there was also a chance that he wasn't lying.

He couldn't make a decision based on a chance, especially since the chances of it being the heir were higher. There were a lot of stories about Castiel, even amongst his Kingdom itself and one of those was that Castiel never lied.

Even if a lie could make his path easier, he didn't lie. On the other hand, even if the truth offended someone, he spoke it.

It was said that Castiel was very aloof and rarely put a filter on his mouth. Some of those stories were written by their own people, which made Razil believe them even more. There was always a chance that people changed, but he couldn't be sure of that.

He finally came to a decision after long deliberation.

"I am going to let you get inside the Kingdom so Lilith could be treated. But I'll be accompanying you all the time. As long as you're inside the Kingdom, you'll always be under my observation, so you can't do anything stupid. Do you accept it?"

Atlas didn't refuse the offer, but he also didn't instantly agree either. He took his sweet time in deciding.

****

Inside the Castle, Lilith took the key from the two guards who laid on the blood-covered floor. Even she was bleeding. There were claw marks around her body, making her bleed. This hadn't been an easy battle. Fortunately, it was over now.

Amongst the two guards on the floor, only one was dead. The other was kept alive, yet he was neutralized. He couldn't fight back as some vines wrapped around his body, sucking his blood.

"You know you can answer me and survive. You won't have to go through this painful death. If I were in your place, I would've taken this offer." Lilith stood with the support of the wall, both arms folded as she gazed at the struggling Werewolf.

"That's because you don't have any dignity! Unlike you, I'm willing to die for my Kingdom! I'll never tell you anything! And if you think you can save Atlan, you couldn't be more wrong. Even if you kill me, you can never get to Atlan!"

"We will see about that! Wait, you won't be there to see it. Too bad."