After dealing with the higher-level vampires, Ryzen went straight back towards the curious room and wasted no time in pushing the door open. It was no secret that Ryzen struggled to feel any sort of emotion or feelings towards anyone who wasn’t part of the few he cared for. Yet, his face warped into a deep frown upon seeing what was going on inside the room.

Besides just the tools, there were a multitude of large devices used for the same effect. If Ryzen had just seen this, he likely wouldn’t have cared. However, the vampires were standing next to a woman strapped to a table with nothing but a thin piece of cloth covering her body. They seemed to have been doing something to her hands until Ryzen had walked in.

The vampire’s eyes widened at Ryzen’s sudden entrance but he didn’t care. He instantly slammed one of them into a wall and shanked the other in the heart. A shadow dagger quickly finished off the twitching vampire that was now crumpled on the floor.

His head snapped towards the woman who seemed to be in a lot of pain. She had a lithe body complete with snow-white hair and red eyes. Her ears were pointy and her nails were extremely sharp, prompting Ryzen to believe she wasn’t human. Still, to him, she was extremely beautiful.

She was currently staring at him with confusion in her eyes and Ryzen’s frown quickly became the usual neutral stare he was accustomed to.

“Are you a demon? Have you finally come to my aid?” she asked, her voice trembling.

Ryzen thought for a second and shook his head.

The woman looked at Ryzen in fear for but a second until quickly glaring at him. “A vampire? Why would you betray your kind to come in here? Do you wish to have your way with me? Do know that any attempts to do so will spell the end of your pathetic nation!”

Ryzen was about to disagree but quickly changed his mind. It would probably be best not to trust this woman with any information about him. He was more so surprised that he had nearly disclosed such an important detail.

“I am not aligned with any of the vampires here nor am I here to have my way with you. I hadn’t the slightest clue you were behind this door and found you simply by coincidence."

The woman snorted, clearly not buying Ryzen’s lie. “Do you expect me to believe that? Look what your kind has done to me. I am crippled, weak, and pathetic. You are all liars and cowards. I will personally destroy you once my brethren come and retrieve me!”

Ryzen shook his head but didn’t exactly blame the woman for her lack of trust. He too shared such a sentiment and would also find it extremely difficult to trust a vampire after all that had happened to him. Still, he didn’t want to just leave the woman there.

He pulled out his blood knife and the woman’s face went pale. “W-wait! I command you to stop!”

Ryzen proceeded to pull back his hand, causing the woman to panic further.

“P-please! I-I don’t want to die!” she cried out with tears starting to form in her eyes.

Ryzen slashed down and the woman closed her eyes with a yelp. However, all that was cut was the chains tying her to the table.

Without a second thought, Ryzen turned around and walked to the exit of the room. He had helped the woman and his duty was done. There was no need to stick around and make conversation.

“Wait!” the woman called back after Ryzen. “What are you doing?”

Ryzen sighed, expecting something like this to happen. “Leaving.”

“Just like that? You’re just going to leave me here?” she asked.

“Yes,” Ryzen responded, running out of patience. He had to get back to the dining room soon.

“What about me?” the woman said worriedly.

“What about you?”

“I can’t fight back or defend myself. I’ll just be caught and tortured again!” she said with a tinge of fear in her voice.

Ryzen deeply sighed as he turned to look at the woman. She was in truly horrible condition. Unfortunately, Ryzen truly didn’t know what to do.

“I can’t help you there. I am constantly hiding myself and bringing along someone else wouldn’t work. Sorry.” Ryzen said while continuing to walk toward the exit.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Please… Don’t leave me here alone,” the woman whispered, barely enough for Ryzen to hear.

A loud groan escaped Ryzen's lips as he once again turned to look at the woman. If she hid her ears under her long hair and shortened her nails then perhaps she could fly as a human. But what was he thinking? There was no way he could bring this woman with him into the human living quarters. What if he were caught? What if she ratted him out? What if she tried to kill him? Ryzen continued to go over a million different things that could go wrong but for some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to walk away.

“Fine!” Ryzen yelled out awkwardly, startling the woman.

She hesitantly walked toward him and stopped once she was by his side. “Well, you have some sort of plan, right?”

Ryzen nodded, “I uh don’t know if this will work for you but it is the only chance we got. I need you to ensure your hair hides your ears and that your nails are similar to mine.”

Ryzen flashed his regular, human-looking nails and the woman looked disgusted.

“Absolutely, not! If that is all you can think of then maybe I should stay behind after all.” the woman angrily said.

Ryzen rolled his eyes and started walking away, “Suit yourself.”

“Wait! Fine! I’ll do it but can I at least know why?” the woman desperately asked.

“We’ll be hiding in one of the human living quarters, that’s why. It’s unlikely the vampires will check there and we can blend in relatively easily.” Ryzen was with a sigh. The woman was giving him an incredulous look.

“Are you crazy! Humans! They are food! They are cattle to all the races! I would never stoop as low as to hide with them!” the woman yelled.

“Fine with me,” Ryzen said with a raise of his shoulders and turned to walk away.

“Ugh! I really can’t do this one you know! I am of the proud demon race! Hiding with humans is beneath me!” the woman complained yet followed Ryzen anyway.

After five minutes of walking, Ryzen glanced over his shoulder to see the woman following along with a grumble.

“What happened with that demon pride?” he said with a sneer.

The woman’s face went red and she was about to shout but thought better of it. Instead, she continued to follow Ryzen until he stopped before the dining hall.

“Alright, if you plan to do this then you need to ensure you look completely like a human. That means shorter fingernails, hiding your ears, and hiding whatever else may cause you to stand out.” Ryzen wasn’t sure but considering she called herself a demon he wouldn’t be surprised if she had scales or something.

“You!” the woman said as she gritted her teeth. “Does that mean my tail, horns, and fangs too?”

“Tail, horns, and fangs? I mean yeah but I didn’t even notice you had them.” Ryzen stated with a frown.

This time a somber look came about her. “Well, I don’t. At least not right now. They were removed… but I’m confident they’ll grow back!”

Ryzen looked at her with a hint of sadness which lasted only a fraction of a second. “I’m sure they will. Now let us get on with this.”

The woman nodded and proceeded to grind down her nails. They then together walked inside the dining room and stood next to each other at the end of the line. Thankfully, the vampire that took them back didn’t seem to notice the new addition; however, it was clear that some of the students did. Ryzen inwardly groaned as he prayed that nobody would say anything stupid.

Thankfully, once they returned to the room and settled down. Nobody did, nobody except Analith that is.

She walked up towards them with a frown and right as she spoke, Ryzen felt that something was immediately wrong. He nearly jumped in his shadow right then and there but immediately decided against it. He didn’t believe his life was in danger at least not yet.

“Who are you and how did you get here?” Analith said with a glare. Many were confused as to why Analith was so hostile. Sure they were curious as to why another human was here but they didn’t think it was impossible that another had joined them. So why was Analith so perturbed?

Well, Ryzen had just figured out the answer to this. Analith hadn’t been summoned with the rest of them. With his new shadow guard skill, he could now see plainly that his memories of her were fake. She was a vampire.

“I found her hiding during the feeding hour. I reckon she’s from another group and got lost due to something happening to the vampire that was… being nourished by her. Isn’t that right?” Ryzen looked at the woman, hoping for her to agree.

“Y-Yes, I was lost! There was nowhere else to go!” she nodded along.

Analith didn’t look like she bought it; however, nearly everyone else did. They all knew how easy it was to get lost in those tunnels without a vampire to guide them back.

“Bullshit!” Analith cried out, nearly breaking her carefully crafted persona.

Upon receiving a multitude of incredulous stares she stammered, “I mean there is just no way that is true! What if she is a vampire, guys?”

Unfortunately for her, nobody seemed to believe her. “What would she gain from hiding with us? We live like shit and we are treated like it too," a random student said out loud.

Analith ground her teeth but soon backed off. Ryzen sighed as he knew that one way or another, he would have to take care of her. He could not allow her to go and say something, even if that were to bring suspicion to the group.

“Well, what do we do now?” the woman asked in irritation.

“We wait,” Ryzen responded. “It seems I have some business to take care of tonight.

A loud groan escaped the woman’s lips, “Can we at least enjoy some conversation? I don’t even know your name.”

Ryzen hesitated and ultimately, decided to give her the same fake name he had shown the vampire the day he arrived here. “Alex.”

The woman nodded, “My name is Enancia. Enancia Desperhope.”

Ryzen slowly nodded and once again focused on his thoughts, ignoring Enancia’s further attempts at conversation. He didn’t care much for it.

After a few moments of getting nowhere, Enancia loudly groaned and fell backward into her mat next to Ryzen’s corner. He was currently keeping a close eye on Analith as he was sure she would try something. Either way, Ryzen would be sure that she paid dearly for tricking him. There would be no getting away for her.