Hey readers, Here's the new chapter. I had planned on writing another one today, but looks like i won't be able to.

Hope you enjoy it all the same!

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Alex immediately noticed a man that watched the table he and his family were currently seated. While suspicious as the man seemed, he wore the colors of the restaurant judging from the black and gold clothes; which meant, he couldn’t just readily accuse the man of ‘keeping an eye’ on them. His parents, as if without a care at being watched, chatted up the Ginling waitress that had walked up to take their orders. He tried to forget about the man, even as the feeling of being on edge made him forget what he had ordered. The lack of sleep may have also done it’s part on that though, so it could just be baseless blaming.

The man walked away as their drinks were brought to the table, carried by the Ginling woman that didn’t seem quite used to wearing a short skirt. Her build, like most Ginling women, was rather tall at seven or so feet; The contours of her body weren’t ‘perfect’ by any standard, but they weren’t unpleasing to look at. The only thing slightly strange about Ginling women was that they always had well toned muscles from rigorous physical training. Even with Alex’s completely average score at hand-to-hand back in college, he could tell the woman was trained more in the field of battle than of serving. The woman placed the tray on the table while the glasses almost tipped over, saved only by her quick reflexes.

Her face and skin, like all Ginling women, were of the same slightly beautiful looking woman with some battle hardened traits to her; a thick jawline, straight nose, and hardened eyes that made it hard to tell their current emotions. The cracks upon this woman's skin, however, seemed less in extent than even Griev, who Alex had noticed a bottle of very expensive skin cream on his desk. The bottle had to be over a thousand for a thumb sized container, and he was sure he had seen them in ad’s for plenty of models. He shook the thought away as his imagination drifted, and noticed his mother sipping on her drink while she looked his way.

The drink was a deep red in the strangely shaped glass, most likely a very expensive and old wine aged thousands of years.

“So, Alex. Now that we have the time to chat, please. Tell me more about what you do at your job.” Elise inquired, setting the glass down and laid her head upon her hands. She seemed ready to listen to a long story, like a child at bedtime, judging by the light in her eyes. Victor cocked an eyebrow to show his curiosity while drinking from his own wine glass.  Alex sighed as he put his thoughts in order, and hoped what he gathered was long enough to be satisfying.

“Okay, well… First off, i check in at the front desk as most other places do. B.R.E, however, utilizes everything within the law to ensure the safety of everyone. To do this, they have a scanner to ensure no weapons are being brought onto the premise.” Alex spoke quickly, thinking on how useless it was with how easy he can leave the building through the side doors; Not to mention all the races with 'natural' weapons. “Those that work there though, specifically the employees with a carry license, need to hand their gun over for inspection at this point.”

Alex’s head bobbed slightly, his voice droning out the information he had been given when he first arrived at the precinct. Roselyne, his mentor, had jammed the information into his head during his first week, that he could now literally quote it in his sleep; which, in this case, might have indeed been what was happening.

“After arriving at work, most of my days are filled with paperwork with the occasional distress call. Whenever i get a call, i usually...” He trailed off as he finally remembered the ‘Ruby’ case was something he wasn’t suppose to talk about. “...Get in my car, drive to the scene of whatever i’ve been called to, and settle or investigate it. That’s about it.”

Elise seemed surprised at the lack of...suspense in his job.

“Oh, well… I guess you need some down time now and again between the suspenseful parts of any job. Your job seems rather boring though, i’ll admit.” Victor stated as he looked for the waiter to bring the food out; At least,  Alex hoped it was the food he was looking restless for.

“Uh-! Victor!” Elise yelled, smacking his arm with her golden napkin. “Alex, dear, your job sounds… uneventful most of the time, i’m sure.”

“It surely doesn’t sound like a normal job, but if it’s what Alex wants to do; Who are we to say any different?” Victor chimed in, likely bored of waiting and just saying whatever came to mind.

Alex wasn’t in a mood to listen to what a ‘normal’ job could possibly be to one of the richest couples in the entire city; Hell, the mansion they lived in was bigger than a small town, for crying out loud. He was sure it would take forever to find an ounce of ‘normal’ in their vastly different lifestyles. Alex tuned Victor out as his mind went slightly blank, partially from being bored and partly from the severe lack of a good night's rest.

Alex now noticed the glass of wine in front of him, and wondered what it actually tasted like. Surely, if the two of them could drink it with ease, then it must not be that strong. He himself had had several strong shots of beer before with Matt when the two got into a festive mood in high school, but never any wine; Roselyne, his mentor, had stated it turned her into a completely different person, but drank beer like water just fine.

Then again, she was a Ginling who had been through several wars herself. He felt nothing could faze the battle-scarred woman in any way anymore; except spiders, she was deathly afraid of them for some odd reason.

Alex sipped on the Wine as he was lost in thought, before realizing the extremely strange copper taste to it. He blinked several times trying to identify the taste, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Curious, he brought the glass to his mouth again with his mind focused on it, and poured it to his tongue. As soon as the drink touched his tongue, he almost gagged and spewed the liquid out of his mouth in disgust; The action caused Victor to be half covered in the liquid as it met his face and shoulders.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Victor stopped midsentence with his eyes now closed, the surroundings seemingly going dead silent for a moment. Alex couldn’t help but cough and gag at what he had just consumed, having realized it was human blood the restaurant had fed him. When Alex finally gained control of his reflexes enough to not be on the verge of puking, he noticed the waitress and the strange man were bowing profusely to Elise while Victor had disappeared.

Elise noticed he was fine and shooed the two people away, handing Alex over a glass of water. One look into her eyes was all it took to see the worry, likely in her ‘mother mode’.

“Dear, are you okay? Nothing wrong?”

“Y-Yea, i’m fine. It was just...unexpected.” Alex said through slight coughs, while thinking that it was also extremely disgusting. “I’ll be fine.”

Alex brought the water to his mouth and drank till it was half empty; He also felt a rush of energy, as if his body really needed the water right now.

“Good, good... but we should have you checked at a doctors before you head home, regardless. With you being human, i’m sure there can be a high chance of any number of unknown diseases that could be transferred if you're not careful.” Elsie stated grimly, grabbing her purse from beside her he hadn’t noticed before and digging through it. She rummaged for a moment before stopping dead in her tracks, as if seeing something she couldn't believe.

“That reminds me, dear. Whatever happened to that cute girl you used to date?” She asked, her eyes and attention still on her bag. Alex thought to answer for a moment before realizing he had never told her about Victoria, or any part of his love life yet.

“...When did i ever mention someone like that?”

Elise twitched, grabbed what she was looking for, and then put the bag down on the floor. In her hand was now a mirror, which she used to begin applying makeup for some random unknown reason to him. Alex now had a suspicious feeling his mom knew way more than she let on about himself.

“Oh, uh… Sometime before you went to sleep?”

“...No, i didn’t... Have you been watching me ever since i came back to the city?”

“Wh-Why would i do that!? You know i love you, dear.” Elise spoke in a hurry, applying her makeup faster than before. Alex hadn’t noticed it before, but it seemed like some drops of blood had landed on her face when he spat all over Victor.

“...Fine, let’s say i mentioned her. What is it you want to hear?”

“Oh, you know...” Elise stated while shutting the makeup case, turning back to Alex to speak face to face again. She seemed to have noticed his scowl, as she paused and then sighed instead of continuing her previous thought. “...Okay, fine. I have been keeping tabs on you since your return; But only for your safety!”

Elise opened the makeup mirror again, but Alex noticed her eyes focused behind her. He looked in the direction her gaze should be focused, only to find the reason for the spontaneous question. Across the giant building, in the other private corner, was a familiar face he’d hoped not to see. Victoria, dolled up in a white dress with lots of frills, was dining with some unknown raven haired girl. Her eyes seemed halfway into business mode, but softer than they were when he met her at the crime scene earlier. His eyes focused back onto Elise, who he could swear was visibly sweating now.

“...This is about my cancelled engagement to the Cahrneth Family, isn’t it.” Alex stated firmly, a hint of anger noticeably leaking from his voice. His mother sighed as she patted her napkin to her forehead, stressed over the turn of events.

“...Yes, dear. I just don’t understand how the two of you were so good together and yet separated like you did.” Her eyes focused on his, a stubborn look growing in them. “I mean, she’s practically already married to you after the ritual you both-”

“-That SHE did in secret, not US!” Alex yelled, cutting Elise off. The two went silent as Alex’s chest heaved, the anger reaching it’s boiling point far quicker than it had in a long time.

“Alex. She’s a succubus, and performed the ritual.” Elise stated solemnly. “She is bound to your lifeforce for the rest of her life, whether you like that or not. Only YOU can feed her now.”

Alex began driving daggers into Elise with his stare, his head feeling like it was about to burst. He could have sworn he wasn’t this ill-tempered or bipolar before, but the subject she had suddenly brought to the table was a touchy one for him.

Victor arrived at the table leisurely, and began talking as if he had never left.

“You also can’t deny that as the third daughter of the Cahrneth family, one of the seven largest in the city, that her background fits well for the Rosemary Lineag-”

“Don’t you DARE-!” Alex began, before his phone cut him off as ‘Bad Boys’ began to play. Alex’s body shook violently for several seconds while he closed his eyes, trying his hardest to remove the anger that was exploding within his chest.

He pulled the phone out and stood up silently, putting his jacket on with his eyes closed; He then opened them and gave his parents one last look, before walking off toward the entrance as hundreds of judging eyes watched him leave. The restaurant had grown deathly silent, as his boots echoed with each footfall.