The Past

Taking the chocolate milkshake from the server, Melina quickly thanked him before taking a sip of the drink. She placed it on the small, round table she and her aunt were sitting at, a little disappointed by the taste.

Guess nothing can beat Mrs. Lye's drinks. Melina thought to herself.

She watched as the server placed two plates with a slice of chocolate and carrot cake and an espresso on the table next to her aunt. After two hours of shopping with Melina mostly being dragged around by her aunt, and eating some lunch, the two had stopped at a small café so Aunt Mena could have an espresso and something sweet to eat.

Melina learnt that despite her aunt's sassy nature, she had quite the sweet tooth.

"Something wrong?" Mena asked, taking a sip of her espresso. "Is the shake not to your taste?"

"Oh no." Melina waved her hands in disagreement. "The shake is lovely. I'm just comparing it to one from The Witch's Brew."

"Ah…Mrs. Lye's place." Mena nodded in understanding. "Nothing can beat her drinks."

"You know it?"

"Yes, Robert and her son are quite close. So, he took me on a few dates there. Quite a cozy place and the food and drink there is incomparable."

"Can I ask how long you and Robert have been together?" Melina's curiosity peeking.

The two had mostly stayed on mandune topics but Melina now felt comfortable enough to talk about more intimate topics. And knowing her aunt was purposely keeping away from certain topics, she thought it was best to ask first.

"You can ask me anything dear." Mena smiled. "And we've been together huh four hundred years now."

"What?!" Melina gasped in shock.

"Why are you so surprised? Did your father not tell you how long demons can live for?" Mena raised an eyebrow.

"No, it's not that. I know demons can live for a very long time and Jason even told me that father was a few centuries ago, but I guess I didn't think it would be that long." Melina murmured, taking another sip of her drink.

"Well, in terms of age, I think your father is about seven hundred years old. Your uncle and I are twins so we're six hundred and something. After a few centuries, you lose track of time."

"You must have seen a lot in that time." Melina said.

"We have and we've lost countless friends and family members." Mena mumbled. "It's why beings as old as us can come across as cold."

"I see…"

"Anyway, you'll understand after your first century." Mena smirked trying to lighten up the mood.

Melina tried to think about living for more than one hundred years but couldn't. It didn't seem possible but then again she was sitting across someone who was a few centuries old.

"Wait, how do you deal with death? You know with how high profile you are." Melina asked, the thought suddenly coming to her.

"We fake our death and fade into the background." Mena replied, placing a piece of chocolate cake into her mouth. "For example, the businesses your father's running with your brother used to be run by me. We faked my death about thirty years ago and your father took over from his 'mother'. Now I deal with the dirty work we can't have non-family members deal with. What your father used to do."

"So, it's a rotation of things then." Melina concluded.

"Basically." Mena nodded.

"Did you enjoy the business work?"

"It had its perks but I didn't have much to myself. I'm still busy with family business now, it's just…different. Gives me more time because it's not that often or as demanding."

"Um…what exactly do you do now?" Melina questioned, too curious to hold the question in.

"Let's say I run the PR for our family. You know, keeping family secrets quiet and silencing any rumors."

Melina didn't need a further explanation to understand what her aunt really did. It also made her understand why her aunt was called The Red Devil and why Kai had made those comments at breakfast earlier this morning.

Her aunt was basically the assassin of the family, killing anyone who tried to go against the Rana family. It was a little scary knowing what her aunt did, but she wasn't dumb enough to not know that someone had to do that.

Especially considering the fact that her family was doing a lot of illegal things.

Still, hearing and being given examples made it hard for Melina. It was different from just knowing it in general and made Melina realize how she couldn't continue pretending not to know about anything.

"I see…" Melina finally said.

Mena smiled at Melina, sensing what her niece was thinking. She knew it was hard for Melina to understand the family ways growing up in the human world, but felt it was important the girl stopped deluding herself.

Before she got hurt…

"Want to know how your parents met?" Mena asked, deciding it was best to change the subject.

"Um..sure." Melina answered, knowing this was probably the only time she could learn more about her mother.

After moving back in with her family, she realized her mother was a topic no one in the house really talked about. It seemed a little like a forbidden topic to speak about, like there was an unspoken rule about talking about the woman.

Melina was still curious about her mother but didn't want to ask, fearing she would break that unspoken rule.

"Well, they met right after your father got the company from me. Your mother was working as a journalist at the time, reporting on the change of leaders."

"She was a journalist?!"

"Yeah." Mena sighed, the memories of her sister-in-law filling her mind. "One of the best. It's how the two got entangled. Lisa felt something wasn't right with my death and started looking into the family. She got quite close to the truth and I was meant to silence her. But guess who stopped me, acting like her knight in shining armor?"

"No way, father did that?!" Melina gasped.

Though she only knew her father for a few weeks, he wasn't one to do irrational things. He was quite calculating in fact.

"He did." Mena smirked. "Somehow through this whole thing, he fell in love with Lisa and was ready to step down as head of the family and elope with her."

Melina tried to picture her father doing that but couldn't. "I can't believe it."

"At the time, neither could I and your uncle. But in the end things worked out." Mena said, before her face darkened at the last part. "At least for a while."

"What happened?"

"While your mother died and everything went to hell with your father."

"Oh…" Melina looked at her aunt expecting more about the topic.

"It's best if you ask your father for the rest of the story." Mena murmured. "I know bits and pieces of the story but it'll be better if you hear it from your father. And before you say that he's not going to talk, he will eventually. He just needs some time to process everything. Lisa was his first love after all."

"Really, even after living so long?"

"Yeah it was quite funny. I thought he could never love like humans would and then boom, he fell in love with a human out of all beings."

"Is it bad to love a human?"

"No really. It's just it's harder for them to sometimes understand you and well, things can get complicated. Humans aren't really meant to know that other beings besides them exist."

"Why not? Wouldn't it be easier to live out in the open?"

"It would be but we've learnt the hard way. You know with those famous witch hunts and hunting of werewolves and vampires." Mena's face darkened again as she spoke, as through she was reliving memories.

"Did you see them? The witch hunts I mean."

"I did. Watched them kill close friends and even your grandmother." Mena turned her head, standing up. "The movie is starting soon so I think we should get going."

With those last words, Mena walked off to pay for the drinks and cake, leaving Melina to watch the shopping bags.

Melina sighed, upset that she had somehow hurt her aunt. She was excited to learn more and hadn't realized their conversion was going to hit a nerve. She wanted to apologize to her aunt but was worried it would make things worst.

Instead, she decided to wait for her aunt to come back and pretend the last part of their conversion never happened. Her aunt did come soon and they made their way back to the car, leaving the bags with Gabriel.

Afterwards, the two headed to the movie house where the premiere was being shown. There, Melina's aunt introduced her to various people while they waited in a hall room filled with various famous guests and actors.