—"Welcome back, my child

As soon as the plane landed, Jered was greeted by a text message from Rainey. He was tempted to reply with something witty, but honestly, he wasn't in the mood. A lot had happened. Wolkins. Archiland. Vozremeth. Pregnancy. Oh, and apparently, he had a Shadow's blood running through his veins. If it was hereditary, did that mean that Jasmine was a half Shadow too? What a mess. He didn't want to think about it. He was back home. It was time to shut off his brain and relax.

Then he saw the notifications of a dozen other messages and missed calls.

His mother.

Jasmine.

Kenny.

Arcane Underground Combat.

And, of course, Rainey.

There was no way he was going to reply to all of those, so he copied and pasted the same message to all of them—well, not Arcane Underground Combat. 'I'm back...'

Jasmine was the first one to text back. She did it with such speed that it looked like she had been waiting on his chat all day long.

—"Omg, where have you been??"

—"I thought something bad happened! The forest you said you'd go to was razed to the ground by a wildfire..."

—"You idiot! Are you okay?"

And then she sent him a barrage of crying emojis. How dramatic of her.

With a sigh, he quickly typed back, —"Yes, yes... I'm fine. Look, we'll talk as soon as I'm back..."

She sent him a pleading face emoji.

—"There's a lot to talk about. I promise I'll be fast," he then added, —"Are you hungry? Do you need me to get you some food on the way back?"

—"I'm not hungry at all. I've already eaten."

That was concerning.

He resisted the urge to press on and ask her about it. Instead, he hastened his stride. Evelyn was forced to sprint into a slow jog to keep up with him, "J-Jered?"

"Nothing. Something came up at home, and I'm rather worried."

"Oh... I hope it's nothing serious..."

Jered flashed a smile at her, "Not at all. But if left alone, it could indeed become serious."

After they went through customs, they left the airport.

Evelyn wanted to say something. It was obvious from the way her mouth would hang open for a few seconds, and then click shut. He sympathized with her. After what they did yesterday, some of her restraint due to his young age had loosened, and he wouldn't have been surprised if he started being more active when it came to intimacy. But what did that make of them? Lovers? He didn't know. And she probably didn't know either. It was an ambiguous relationship, and only time could tell.

"I'll call you when I have my shit sorted out, alrighty?"

That was the best he could do at the moment.

She nodded, "Yes, that sounds good..." there was a hint of sadness in her face, her smile a tad forced.

Only a fool wouldn't notice that she didn't want to part from him yet. But they had to take different directions, and Jered was in a hurry.

"Awesome!"

"Oh, don't forget that Ashy Petal's higher-ups will be wanting to see you soon."

It didn't matter. He was a member now, and an important one too. He was sure they'd give him as much leeway as he wanted.

"Got it!" he was about to bolt into a sprint when he suddenly stopped, turned back, and winked at Evelyn, "Don't worry. Now that we're back, alive, I'm going to do anything I can to put you up there among the stars."

With a parting wave of his hand, Jered dashed towards the nearest bus stop.

"..."

Evelyn had a silly smile plastered on her face.

With a soft whirr and click, the door unlocked.

Inside was dark, unnecessarily so, but he chalked it up to the fact that no one was home.

Well, he was wrong.

As soon as he set foot inside, a strong tug on his shirt yanked him past the threshold and into the darkness. It almost felt like the Lord's throne room all over again. However, there was no threatening pressure on him, or glowing mist. A faint whiff of perfume, mixed in with a copperish tang, sieged his senses. What followed next was a set of silky, frail arms looping around his neck and pulling him in.

"Jered..."

A voice, riddled with relief and a tinge of pain, rang out.

The door closed.

Jered looked down, the slight motion making his chin meet Jasmine's crown.

"Jasmine..." he intoned, softly, his arms going around her, "... I'm sorry."

She sniffed, not because she was crying. She was just breathing in his scent, tasting it in her head, and confirming that it was indeed her brother.

"I missed you."

Simple words that carried a world of meaning.

"I missed you too, fool."

"I'm not a fool. You are."

Jered chuckled, "Your eyes are red... you've been crying, haven't you?"

She averted her gaze, "You were not supposed to see that," she mumbled in a pouty tone.

"I can see everything."

"Bullshit..."

He sighed, "Jasmine, tell me the truth. What's going on? You said that you’ve already eaten. Okay. Eaten what?"

There was no one there, yet she still lowered her voice to a whisper, "You know what I ate."

"How..."

"A nice old lady fed me."

Rainey. It must have been her. She was there when the Shadow possessed his sister.

"You know not to take candy from strangers."

"Yes, but I was huuuuungry!"

It was his fault. Lately, he had been making a lot of mistakes, but he had little time to take care of so many things.

He ran a hand through her hair, and she replied by running her thumb across his chin, his cheekbone, and then stopping over his lips.

Jasmine's eyes felt intimate. Even through the darkness, he could see her lips parting, her blood rushing to her cheeks, and her pupils dilating.

"Sooo... how has mom been?"

He had to say something, because the situation was not safe at all.

"She's been worried, of course. The first day was a mess. She wanted to call the police..." Jasmine said, not taking her eyes off him, "... but then, that old lady... she appeared, told us she was your employer, and that you'd be gone for a while, for some... I don't know... workplace learning."

There was no way their mother would have given up in light of that. It would have been understandable if he was gone for a day, but it had been almost a week.

"Did that old lady say or do anything else?"

She tightened her face into a thoughtful frown, "Not that I can recall... but she began to drop by and give me flesh to eat ever since you... disappeared."

"I see..."

Jasmine pulled back, still keeping him at arm's length though, "You've changed a bit."

"I did?"

"Yes... I can... feel something different... not in a bad way. Actually, in a very good way," her eyes narrowed as her lips went up, "It's as if you've aged, but not physically. Hmm. I can't quite explain it, but I like it."

He laughed at that.

"Well, I'm glad you find me more attractive."

Her smile turned into a coy one as she fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

"And... I'm relieved you're fine," he continued, "I was really scared you'd go on a rampage, haha..."

He blinked, for something flashed past her eyes. She inched closer to him.

"Hmm..." Jasmine hummed, sniffing his clothes, "... it's faint, but it's there."

"What it's there?"

"The scent of another woman."

"..."

Normally, he wouldn't have been bothered by that. But something was wrong with Jasmine.

She grabbed his hand, gently cradling it within hers, "I shouldn't be surprised... but I am," her gaze drooped, and so did the timbre of her voice, "I shouldn't be angry either... but I am," her lips parted, unveiling two, sharp, glinting canines. She pasted her face into his wrist, sniffing, flicking her tongue across his skin, "Look at what you did to me, brother..."

And then she bit down. Blood squirted out of the wound, pooling inside her mouth before trickling down to the floor. A spike of pain shot up through Jered's forearm, but he didn't move. He didn't pull his hand back. It should have been an instinctual action, but he cared about Jasmine, in his own way. And some twisted voice in his head told him that he deserved it. That she needed this.

She sucked hard, her tongue lapping around the overflowing blood, making sure not even a drop was wasted.

A moan rumbled in her throat, her eyes half-lidded.

"Jasmine..." he called out softly, "... have your fill, I guess," he chuckled.

It was not like he was short on blood. And as an Elder Magician, it was even less of a problem. She could drink as much as she wanted. At least, she was not powerful enough to drain him faster than his blood regenerated. Once she was done, she plopped her fangs out of his wrist with a delighted hiss. Her lips were coated with his blood, some of it ran down the sides of her mouth in thin, crimson lines.

She opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out.

Jered could see a knotty mess of saliva. The slimy threads clung everywhere inside her mouth, along with blobs of unswallowed blood.

The way she stared at him was so wrong. Like an open invitation for more.

It reminded him of Evelyn—of what she did, of the face she made when she sucked him dry. And for a moment, that same face overlapped with Jasmine's.

But she was his sister. She was not supposed to do that.

She ran her tongue over her lips, licking off the crimson smudges.

"Just as I had expected, dearest brother of mine..." her voice, husky, sensual, and oh so tempting, rolled straight into his ear, "... you're the tastiest."

Jered didn't know what to say. He always prided himself in the fact that he could find the right word for any situation.

But this was beyond him. He didn't have the necessary skills to deal with this.

"You've changed too, Jasmine..." he said, staring deep into her eyes.

She didn't shy away from his gaze, "I did?"

He tapped his head, "Yes... your mind has changed. Not sure if it's a good thing, but it appears that you've become quite the handful."

"Rude."

She crossed her arms, eyes narrowing.

"Oh don't look at me like that. You just bit me. You can't say it isn't the truth," he said with a laugh, "You're one wayward couch potato."

"Ahem!" Jasmine cleared her throat, "So, where have you been exactly?"

"It's a long story... but considering the way you are right now, you deserve to know it."

"Should we go to my room then?"

That didn't sound right.

"No, let's go to mine..."

At that, she suddenly blushed, looking extremely ashamed, "NO!"

"..."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"Hmm?"

She whined, "Your sheets are dirty..."

"They are?" that didn't make sense, "There's no way. I'm sure they were clean before I went to the Other Side."

"Y-Yeah but you haven't come back in almost a week, they're dirty now."

Another lie.

"If you know mom, then you also know that she's a clean freak. She would have changed my bedsheets even if I was not there."

"..."

Jasmine didn't have an answer for that.

"Anyway, you can't. Let's go to my room!"

She grabbed his hand and dragged him upstairs.

"..."