Shay didn’t like the idea of fighting. But... worse than that, she hated feeling helpless.

Things were happening-- really scary things. Alexei came to Elysium looking for sanctuary. He said that vampires were roaming the streets... and when she and Raia went to investigate, they were just in time to save her dad from a very bad situation.

(How did those two make it inside that house, anyway? According to the stories, vampires had to be invited in before they could do spooky stuff!)

Whatever Alexei was running from was so dangerous that it wasn’t a vampire-only problem. A lot of regular people were going to get hurt if his situation continued to get worse.

...But even if Shay knew was going on, what could she even do about it?

Could... Tyvan fix the problem, somehow? --or ❴The Kingdom❵?

“Hey, you okay?”

Raia had come back while Shay was lost in thought. (It was Raia’s bright pink hoodie that guided her back to reality.)

“Kinda. Not really,” Shay sighed. “But since Dad’s safe now, I’m okay for now.”

She gestured to her dad, sitting beside her. He was squinting at the scribbles in his notebook, lit by the dim yellow of the street lights.

But as busy as he was, he adopted an extra-gruff tone of voice to say, “It’s ten years too early for you to worry about your old man, brat.”

Shay rolled her eyes. He was lucky Raia was present. Otherwise, she would have made sure he knew how much she worried about him all the time.

“That’ll do, for now,” Raia said. “Officer Chu, I plan to stick around for a bit-- keep those knuckleheads in line. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

Dad’s face set into a deep grimace. There was probably a lot going through his mind. The way she and Raia barged into an active police investigation wasn’t something that belonged in an official report. But if they hadn’t shown up...

No... Shay didn’t want to think about that.

Dad glared down at his notebook... but then looked up and gave Raia a light nod.

“Your assistance would be appreciated, Latorre.”

Whuh? Just like that?

Actually, Dad had taken the vampire situation surprisingly well for a regular human. Was he... in shock? Or... did he maybe not realize he was attacked by two mythical, basically immortal creatures of night, either of which were capable of twisting his head off as easy as opening a jar of chili sauce.

Huh...

And Raia was being awfully professional. Had she met Dad before? ...or was Tyvan’s super-secretary only super-professional with anyone who wasn’t her?

“And you,” Dad said, “You came with Latorre right? It’s getting late. I’ll have one of my guys take you home.”

Shay let out a long sigh. Yeah, going home sounded great.

Buuuut... as sweet as Dad was, 99% of the time, that was probably another sly attempt to get her closer to Officer Pomplun. No thanks.

She stood up and dusted the bottom of her uniform skirt off.

“Okay, Dad. I’ll go talk to Officer Lockhart right now.”

“Huh?” Dad frowned, surprised enough to drop his rough-voice act. “You know Lockhart?”

“I do,” Shay snickered. “And you better call me and leave a message when you finish your shift! Promise! Or else I won’t be able to sleep.”

“...Hmph. Alright. Get going, then.”

----------------------------------------

Shay expected to be scolded on the ride back to Elysium. She and Raia basically trespassed onto private property-- and an active police investigation. And it was a super dangerous situation.

But... the car conversation was actually... kinda nice?

Officer Lockhart-- err...

Cora was a kind and energetic person. They’d actually spoken before, once in person, and once on the phone.

Shay had already liked her from just those two meetings. It was really cool to know someone almost as short as she was who also worked in a traditionally guy-only profession. Also, she had gorgeous emerald eyes that probably looked even more impressive during the day.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Cora filled the silence with meaningless, inoffensive questions. ‘Where do you go to school?’ ‘Are you in any clubs?’ ‘What college are you trying to go to?’

It was probably her way of being considerate. She didn’t see exactly what went on with the vampires. Still, she could safely assume that there was a lot of trauma or potential trauma that didn’t need to be brought up immediately.

That... she could talk about with Tyvan. (Also, he probably needed to know about the vampire situation, as soon as possible.)

He was always such a good listener, no matter the topic, (especially when food was involved.) There was something in the way he looked at her as she shared things. And even if it was dumb or basically meaningless, he always took her seriously-- asking questions and sincerely trying to offer his help, if he thought he could.

There was always a tiny, unreasonable fear that he’d tell her she was dumb or that she was worrying over nothing. But... Tyvan never came close to saying anything like that.

He wouldn’t be happy to hear about her and Raia tag-teaming a couple of vampires. But... even if he got a little mad, it wouldn’t be at her. It’d be on her behalf. Maybe.

Shay got back to Elysium. Back home. Safe and sound.

It had been a long day.

She needed a mental reset. And... the easiest way to recharge and recover was to eat a good meal and unapologetically stare at her crush. So without even stopping by her room, she headed over to Tyvan’s apartment, hoping she wasn’t too late for dinner.

Oh. Just before she knocked, she stopped herself. There was a better way.

She cleared her throat and put on a polite smile. “⌈Doma⌋, I was invited for dinner. Can you please open the door?”

After half a breath of uncomfortable silence, the door opened... just a little bit. But that was still a win! Being polite was the secret to getting good service.

And boom, Shay got smacked hard in the face by the smell of garlic. Ah. Hah. Lots... and lots of garlic. Unending garlic. It was an ‘aglio de olio multiplied by ten’ amount of garlic. It wasn’t bad, of course. But if there was such a thing as too much garlic, Tyvan’s apartment was aaaaalmost to that point.

Shay stepped inside, politely closed the door behind her... then... realized that she should really pay attention to what was going on inside a room before she sealed herself inside.

...Oh well.

Just like before she left, Tyvan was in the kitchen in his awesome snake apron. That was... so iconic of him. It was like that was his natural habitat.

Monty was gone. Where he was, Shay couldn’t care less. There was a mop bucket sitting next to the closest kitchen counter, so Monty’s sweat was probably all cleaned up.

Then, at the table... sat Alexei, with... no sign of that pink-haired woman.

Shay had a weird realization: as weird and off-putting as Mister Balanescu was, he was still easier to deal with than Ivy.

Alexei wasn’t doing well-- which was probably a garlic-related problem. He looked sick, his face as pale as the vampires in the stories. Even his banana blonde hair looked... thinner?

Was he shedding? Did vampires shed?

......Anyway.

He’d gone without his overcoat and wore a beige shirt with long, poofy sleeves. One of those sleeves, he used to cover his nose and mouth, though that didn’t do much for his eyes, bloodshot and watering.

In the kitchen, Tyvan was crouched down, staring through the window of the oven.

So... Shay took a box of antihistamines out of her bag. They were expired, but it was better than nothing.

She looked over one more time to make sure Tyvan wasn’t looking-- then, she sneakily passed the medicine over to Alexei. He thanked her with his eyes and a sad little tremble of his lips.

Suddenly, Tyvan stood up, looking over the kitchen counter with moderate suspicion.

“Shay, welcome back...” He slowly tilted his head very slightly to the side. “Is something amiss?”

Shay smiled a normal, not-guilty-at-all smile. “No. Maybe? I think Mister Balanescu is dying.”

“Alexei cannot die without the fulfilment of certain, esoteric criteria. Come. Help me set the table.”

Uh. Sure.

Shay set the table while Tyvan put the finishing touches on the menu, introducing each dish as he plated them.

The starter was a Romanian-style beef soup. Romanian! That was... different.

Ginger-garlic short ribs, braised in the pressure cooker.

Onion and garlic scones. (He called them scones, but they looked like biscuits.)

Then, there was something he called ‘Garlic Green Beans’ that had more vegetables beside the two. It looked like a basic Chinese stir-fry, but considering the cook, it was probably amazing.

Roasted potatoes-- oh, those were still in the oven. But they were probably also covered in garlic.

Tyvan also had a homemade roll of butter set out on the table, made the previous night with the creole garlic they had left over. He said he’d save it for a special occasion, so... having Alexei over for dinner must been that.

Shay wanted to assume that Tyvan didn’t host dinner for just anyone. (She would have loved it if he only cooked meals for her, but he liked cooking and eating food way too much for that to be true.)

So, considering Alexei... it was safe to assume that he was somewhat special by how he dressed and how he failed to understand the value of money.

But how special was he in the vampire world? Or was he supposed to be recognizable by people outside of that?