Shay was absolutely, wholeheartedly in love with Tyvan’s accent.

Or maybe there was something special about hearing him say... strawberry.

Strawwww-berry.

Straw-b’rry.

The word dominated Shay’s mind for the entirety of Thursday at school.

It was like... robbery, but... a delicious fruit.

(Was a strawb’rry a fruit? Fruits were supposed to have seeds. Maybe Heidi would know? She was the one that grew them.)

Anyway, since she’d found... questionable goods at Nuri’s villa, Shay was in vampire-research mode. And since it was Tyvan who told her to look things up, it was essentially a job task.

Researching things was the one thing she knew she was good at, for sure! She could even write a report. Ooh-- she could type it, print the document, and bind it with a clear plastic cover. She knew how to use a computer pretty well since the time she helped Bishop type out his resume.

So, as a start, she gathered material from both her school library and the public library one bus stop away.

There was actually a lot of stuff that had to do with vampires. Most of it was modern fiction, so maybe not as useful as the classic stuff. (She did write down a few memorable titles, though, for... personal research.)

Eventually, Shay determined that the MoSt important, required reading... was Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It was published back in... 1897? Whew. Was Archangel even a city, back then?

Huh. Was anyone in Archangel that old and still alive? Vampires seemed to live for a long time. Were there other centuries-old ancient beings, just... shopping for groceries and waiting in traffic?

Maybe they weren’t scary, at all. Maybe they had the same, mundane problems as... regular mortals.

Shay hurried back to Elysium, barging into the front office to look for--

“What the fuck?” Raia scowled, “You tryin’ to break the door?”

“Raia!” Shay said, “I love your outfit.”

Summer dress. Black, of course. Edgy necklace with animal teeth on it. Very cool. It complemented her tattoos perfectly.

Raia’s expression scrunched up and her cheeks turned a rare shade of pink.

“Y-you think so? ...Thanks. Fina picked out the necklace... and I guess I was worried that I didn’t have anything that matched well with it?”

ReeEeaLLy? Shay figured that everything in Raia’s wardrobe would match fangs. Also, black went with everything.

But before she could share her thoughts, Raia said, “You’re looking for Boss, right? --like usual?”

“Yissssss,” Shay hissed.

Raia made a weird face but then gestured to the wall phone. “He should be in his apartment. Want me to give him a call?”

“No, I’ll just go over,” Shay said with a smile.

She opened the office door (politely), tucked her hardcover research book under her arm, and jogged off.

She got to Tyvan’s apartment and was about to knock.

--but then she remembered his magical incantation. Would it also work for her?

“⌈Doma⌋?” she said in a quiet voice.

The strangest thing happened.

The tiny glass peephole in the door-- the door viewer? --the thing made for an inside-person to look at outside-persons?

It... wiggled?

“H-hello,” Shay smiled. “Can you let me in?”

The door viewer bobbed up and down.

Was that a... yes?

Nothing happened, though.

“...Let me in, please?”

The door viewer wiggled horizontally.

That. was. frustrating.

“I’ll... just knock then. I was gonna do that anyway...”

Shay reached her hand out to knock, but then... the door FELL-- off its hinges, into Tyvan’s apartment.

But... WHY?!

Tyvan was sitting at the round kitchen table, looking toward her with no particular expression.

--but that didn’t mean he didn’t have emotions. He was probably FURIOUS!!

And-- and... bubble-gum pink hair? Cold expression? Ivy was also sitting at the table.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“That’s one way to make an entrance,” she said, her tone as flat as usual.

Why was she in Tyvan’s apartment?!

(Oh. Monty was there too. He was sprawled out on the floor, lying on a towel. Was he alive? --not that he was worth caring about, any, at all.)

Tyvan raised his chin.

“Good afternoon, Sh--”

“I’M SO SORRY!!!!” Shay screamed. “I’ll pay for--”

The door reappeared in front of her-- sliding up? It was like a second door had appeared from below. And it slid up like... a zipper would.

Shay didn’t know what to do, so she just stared until Tyvan answered the door. It worked normally for him-- no surprises.

“Apologies,” he said. “You were saying?”

Shay nibbled at the bottom of her lip, “I... was gonna offer to pay for the door-- err, if I... broke it?”

Tyvan looked aside, eye-to-peephole with his door. He didn’t look upset. (He wasn’t wearing any of his identifiable emotions, so Shay had no clue what he was thinking.)

“She can be rebellious at times,” he said. “But that requires no fixing, per se.”

The door, itself, visibly wiggled-- a happy wiggle?

Huh. It reminded her of Yeonha, for whatever reason.

After Tyvan let her inside, he went back to the kitchen. He stepped over the barely conscious yet significantly sweaty Monty like he was just part of the apartment.

“Have a seat,” he said. “I’ll put on a fresh pot of tea.”

“I-- okay...”

Shay tiptoed around Monty-- she didn't want to deal with that guy when he was awake.

She sat down at Tyvan's table, but... it felt different. She was in the same seat she sat in the night before, but it wasn’t... comfortable.

The difference was Ivy. There was something special-- or weird about her presence. It was... oppressive? Suffocating, almost? She wasn't even in her own apartment, but it felt like she was in her natural element-- like maybe she was the owner of everything around her.

And... wow. Ivy looked even more gorgeous than the last time Shay saw her. Her pink hair was in medium braids that went symmetrically around her head. She wore a stylish wrap that showed off her collar and a little bit of her midriff. And she had the cutest golden loop earrings that... looked handmade?

Shay wanted to say something. She had lots of things she could say! But... that woman was really hard to talk to.

Raia was hard to approach, too! But... she was just fiercely defensive of people close to her. And after so many weeks of being part of ❴The Kingdom❵, Shay was pretty sure she was in Raia’s ‘defend’ category.

But Ivy...

Ivy had... an intimidating aura-- like she was an untouchable queen. Maybe it was a magical thing?

Or... maybe she was just like Raia? Maybe Shay just had to get to know her better!

Maybe!

Shay gathered up her willpower. She added a sprinkle of determination. And she said:

“Hi, Ivy. You... look great in that today.”

“I look great in anything.”

Ah. Aha~

Ivy didn’t even look up from her stack of papers. They looked like... tests? She had a red pen in hand, so she was... grading them?

Was she... a teacher?

Shay always had a good rapport with her teachers... and for a moment, she thought about her old favorite English teacher, Miss Ansari.

So... at least on Miss Ansari’s behalf, Shay felt she had to at least try to befriend Ivy.

She lifted up her library book, showing off its cover.

“I’ve been doing research on vampires. I even bought some anti-vampire stuff.”

Ivy looked up, glaring through her circular glasses. “Did you just find out that vampires exist? Good for you.”

She said it like it was as obvious as cheeseburgers being an acceptable form of measurement. #measurement: See 52 Cheeseburgers, Chapter 15.

Shay bit her bottom lip. It... was true that she’d just learned that! But-- was that really unreasonable? Normal people didn’t know vampires existed! And she’s only been not-normal for--

No! She was totally normal!

Vampires were a big deal!

Suddenly the phone rang. It was... so sudden that Shay half-jumped out of her seat. Ivy rolled her eyes and went back to her paper-grading.

Ugh. Embarrassing.

But while Tyvan went to answer the phone, the intercom dinged.

That was perfect! Shay didn’t want to talk to Ivy anymore, anyway.

“I got it!” she said, almost tumbling over her chair to get to it.

She hit the button on the intercom, letting Raia’s business-professional voice flow through the speaker.

“Mister Valorum, a new traveler has arrived-- but I was just leaving the office for a scheduled appointment.”

Shay glanced over at Tyvan’s wall clock. It was about time she left to pick up PC from whatever weird job he was working.

That was even better! That gave her an excuse to just leave!

“I’ll take care of it! Right now! I’m going-- me!”

Tyvan, phone in hand, looked over at his electric kettle with an almost imperceptible frown.

“Hm. Very well. Return afterward and we’ll spend some time together.”

YES!!

“It’s a promise!!” she yelped. She headed to the door, (almost tripping again over the dead body,) and headed toward the front office.

Lots of people lived at Elysium Heights, but over half of the complex operated as a hostel. There were two big, common dormitories: one for guys, one for girls. And there were smaller rooms for rent, for either short or long-term stay.

But Elysium didn’t host normal people. The complex was covered in magic formations all around that made normal people unable to find it. But on the flip side, people with special senses were naturally drawn to the area.

Maybe something or someone in the area gave off special magic pheromones.

Shay didn’t know for sure. That’s what made sense in her head after hearing three different people explain it to her. (Or maybe she shouldn’t have taken Yeonha’s explanations seriously.)

She popped into the office just as Raia was leaving and grabbed the ‘new traveler’ clipboard.

“Should I stay for a bit?” Raia asked, “PC can wait.”

“I’ve done new traveler check-ins with you before,” Shay smiled. “Go! Go. I can handle it.”