"I..." Yamada was still looking down at his feet, scuffing his toe against the carpet underneath. "I didn't understand anything he was saying, but Hideki translated for me. He is not telling us we will need guards? Will we get to pick a home, or will we be separated?" He said the last part in a rush.

"We will not be separated," Gu Cheng spoke up from his spot standing sentry, watching both ways down the hall. "Unless someone is tired of living with others nearby, we do not have to live apart yet. If that is the only option we are given, everyone separated, then I would say that we turn it down immediately."

"I agree. There is no good reason for us to be separated, and that would be an obvious sign that something sinister is going on." Zaria watched each of their faces in turn. Gu Cheng was watching the ends of the hall. His hand was hovering over his thigh holster, but the snap was not undone to release the weapon. The three survivors of the zombie world were looking at each other. "What do you all want to do?"

After one last silent exchange, Rika straightened her shoulders and took a calming breath. "We would like to accept their hospitality, as long as we are not separated. At least if we accept, we will have somewhere to sleep and food to eat. If they want to do us harm, they will do it either way."

Zaria smiled sadly. So much of that statement went right along with how she approached the first two worlds on her own. After a relatively easy time in City C, ignoring the broken wrist and the parts where she was hit on her broken wrist, it had gone smoothly, and she thought the next world would be as easy. This group was approaching from the opposite direction, leaving a world where everything was horrible and they were assuming things couldn't be as bad. What if they were wrong just as she had been?

She turned to Gu Cheng, waiting for him to look at her. After a moment, he did, nodding subtly at her.

"Alright, then we will accept his offer as long as we aren't separated."

After sharing their decision, Zaria was fully expecting to see some kind of smugness in the Speaker's expression, but the silver haired man just clapped his hands excitedly again.

"Wonderful! Of course you can stay together! The largest apartments we have are three bedrooms, though. Or you can have two apartments next to each other so each can have their own room?"

A quick glance around. "No, one apartment will be fine. Thank you for your kindness."

"I will show you there myself, and we will get you some visitor passes on our way out." The assistant hurried to gather a briefcase and coat from a small cubby near the door and brought it back to the desk. The group waited silently as the speaker packed his things and led them out of the door.

The process to get the passes was simple. A picture was taken and printed out on a card marked 'Envoy - American Sanguine Congress' with the letter A in the corner. Except Gu Cheng's card, which had an L.

"Your magic is noticeable and will be sensed by any Sanguine more than a hundred years old, and by all Lykos. Most Sanguine will not be able to sense as keenly as I have, at least none that are younger than I. The leaders of the Lykos will know as well because they are more powerful than others of their kind and more in tune to the magic that makes them what they are. If we try and pass you off as Anis, too many would guess it was deception because you reek of magic."

Gu Cheng accepted his card, subtly glancing at Zaria's card. She knew his concern and showed off the A in the corner. What she had was not magic, but if the speaker could not sense it, then there was no need to announce it.

The group followed the speaker and his assistant out of the building and under a sky turning oranges and pinks as the sun set. The air had a distinctive chill to it, the temperature reminding them all of late autumn. Zaria asked what month it was, but since she had no idea what Cincetus equated to on her own calendar, she just went with 'probably autumn' as the season. Spring normally had a hint of warmth to it, so it made sense to go in the other direction.

A short walk away from the Congress building, they arrived at their destination. Right on the edge of the sidewalk, an enormous brownstone building stretched the entire block facing a park that reminded Zaria of pictures she had seen of Central Park in New York City. She wondered if they were in America, if there was a New York City with a park as large as a village in this place as well.

Spaced evenly on the building face, stone stairs led down from doors with stained glass windows on them, six grey stairs blending seamlessly with the sidewalk at the bottom. Trimmed bushes that looked like hydrangeas lined the stairs and part of the areas between doors, occasionally leaving gaps for window wells in front of the lowest level of apartments. The group was led to the third door from the corner, a little under halfway down the block. Inside lay a warm and cozy foyer, two doors with more stained glass to the left and right, and a staircase with a bright pumpkin colored stair runner leading to the other floors.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Zaria looked at the windows in the doors closely as they moved up the stairs. It was the same image on both doors. Glass renditions of each of the three species. She was surprised to see that none looked more powerful than the others. The speaker had hinted at darkness in this world, but he also behaved so innocently, full of joy and wonder. From the bottom of her heart, she wished that it was not an act.

The small group was shown into the residence to the left of the landing. The speaker and his assistant stayed outside, smiling in at them through the door. "I will have someone bring you a meal for the evening, if you don't mind. I must take care of a few more things before the evening is over, or I would show you to some of the food establishments tonight. If you don't mind, I can have Mr Steward introduce you to someone in the morning who will help you find your way around while you get used to things!"

Everyone bowed or nodded their heads as they thanked the silver haired man and waited until the door was closed and the door leading to the street closed downstairs. Zaria stuck her eye to a small clear section of glass in the door, but she could not see anyone standing on the landing. The others were uncomfortably clumped around the front entrance rug in a large living room.

"Should we..."

Hideki and Yamada looked at each other uncertainly. Zaria waited for the quiet Yamada to finish his thoughts, but the words came from Rika instead.

"I think it might be safe for us to remove our shoes, yes."

Zaria's lips formed an O of understanding. By the end of her time in City C she was used to taking off shoes in the house. The transition to the Duke's manor where everyone wore shoes had taken a while to get used to again. Then her shoes were taken away there. In the last world, she knew that some of the group had even slept with their shoes on, for safety's sake. It was easier to run away if shoes stayed on. She looked to Gu Cheng, who gave a small nod and began to take his boots off.

When the shoes were all lined up by the door, the five individuals looked at one another shyly, toes curling against the soft rug. Gu Cheng slid his hand into Zaria's and gave her an almost imperceptible nod.

"Why don't you all go and check out the apartment? Figure out how you want to do the rooms, take a shower-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the two teenagers ran toward the opening to the right of the living room. Rika smiled at the remaining adults. "It has been six months since they have showered. They don't mean to be rude." She shifted back and forth, her eyes unable to keep from sliding after the boys.

"You can go and see how many bathrooms there are," Zaria offered with a grin. Rika did not argue, and she was gone so fast that Zaria wondered if she left burn marks on the wood floor beyond the entry carpet.

Zaria looked around the living room, anything to keep from staring at the handsome man who was slowly moving closer. Muted grey couches surrounded a square coffee table made of either glass or acrylic. She couldn't say for sure, but it looked to be glass, even the legs. A strong arm caught her as she tried to move past to examine the overstuffed pillows.

"Joseph Zaria, for just a moment, you can relax."

Warm arms wrapped around her, and a chin rested on top of her head.

"But what if -"

"Relax."

"How do we -"

"We can take a minute and enjoy not being in immediate danger."

Zaria smiled even though she wanted to argue with him. His arms felt good holding her. Every night since they decided to try together, they slept with arms around one another. Doing it while awake felt...different. The feeling was less desperate, his body both strong and weak against her. As though he were letting himself sink into her in relief while still trying to be strong so she would feel more at ease. It was an intoxicating blend, trust, and strength.

"Should we see if there is a washer and dryer here?" She asked him after a few minutes. He hummed into her hair, his arms not loosening a bit. "Wouldn't it be nice to have clean clothes?"

With a sigh that bordered on a groan, Gu Cheng released her and helped to remove the messenger bag still slung across her body. "Alright, let's go look."

To Zaria's delight, they found a set of shutter style doors in the long hallway connecting the bedrooms, which housed a washer and dryer, and seemed to have enough washing supplies to last them a good long time. Zaria went to find Rika to get her dirty clothes while Gu Cheng checked on the boys. Each of the others was in one of the the three bathrooms and showed no interest in getting out from under the warm spray, but they agreed to having their clothes cleaned since they had new robes to wear while they waited. Zaria frowned down into the machine, wishing she could put her current clothes in as well, but there were only three bedrooms and they would need to wait until the other clothes were clean and dry before taking over one of the showers.

"So..." Zaria leaned against the washing machine as it began its clean cycle containing everything but what she and Gu Cheng were still wearing. "Am I strange to not want to sit on any of the furniture wearing dirty clothes?"

Gu Cheng laughed, a warm sound that sent a tingle down her back. "I don't think it is strange. But we have at least an hour before we can clean up. What should we do?" A small smile tilted the ends of his lips upward, and her eyes could not look away. He moved in close, resting his hands on the washing machine behind her and lowering his head until his lips were hovering just above hers.

"May I?" He asked quietly, his breath tickling her lips. Zaria licked her own and nodded.

Despite laying next to each other every night recently, there had been few moments of physical intimacy. The threat of violence and death all around, and so much uncertainty about what was to come made it hard to lower their guards. Combined with Zaria's skittishness over touch and her slowly healing mental state and there had been only a couple of kisses shared, and those ended almost as quickly as they started. The memory of fake Gu Cheng still flitted through her mind at the most intimate of times, and she would jerk away. Pressed lightly against the washing machine, Zaria felt lips lightly landing on hers again and again as a voice whispered her name. She knew he was doing it because he was aware of where her mind was going, and she loved him for it.