A few hours later.

Laura awakens from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the ceiling of the room, then her eyes darted to the window. The sun was already shining brightly outside. ​​

Suddenly, her stomach grumbled. She's getting hungry. When she glanced at the clock on the wall, it's already past 1:00. Oh my, she wakes up late!

She heard gentle knocking on the door. "Who is it?"

"Miss Laura, please come down to the dining room. Time for lunch!" the servant's said.

"Okay, I'll come down in a minute," Laura replied.

She left the bed and went inside the bathroom to take care of the call of nature.

A few minutes later, she exited the bathroom and went outside.

She walked into the hallway and went downstairs. When she reached the ground floor, she walked towards the dining room area.

When she entered the room, she saw a maid arranging dishes on the table.

"Where are the others?" she asked after noticing that the couple was not in the dining room.

"You mean Miss Rebecca and Sir Graven?" the maid asked.

"Yes."

"They already finished eating lunch together, a while ago. They told me to inform you that lunch is ready," the maid explained.

"Ah, okay. Thank you," Laura said.

"Enjoy your meal, Miss! I'll take my leave. I'll wait outside. Call me if you need anything," the maid said and left the dining room.

Laura smiled while inspecting the delicious dishes on the table. There are fried fish, chicken soup and vegetable stew. She picked up the spoon and began putting food on the plate. She starts eating with gusto.

She enjoyed her meal and took her time chewing the food in her mouth.

She finished eating lunch one hour later.

She left the dining room and thanked the maid that was waiting patiently outside.

She climbed the stairs and went to the balcony. She sat on the couch and watched the sun-kissed surroundings. She stared at the woods for a few seconds and directed her gaze to the west part of the house where the stable was located. She can see few horses and some house boy working on the stable.

One hour later.

Rebecca found Laura on the balcony. "Mind if I join you here?" she asked.

Laura smiled. "Sure. I love to have your company!" she responded.

"Whew, it's blazing hot outside!" Rebecca commented and lowered herself on the couch beside Laura.

"Yeah, good thing the wind is nice here because the place is elevated," Laura said, some of her locks got blown by the wind.

"Did you fall asleep?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah," Laura replied and looked at the woman sitting beside her. There's a question that she wants to ask her. "Can I ask you a question?" she asked her permission first.

Rebecca nodded her head. "Okay, bring it on," she encouraged her.

"You told me that Graven is part demon and part vampire. I haven't seen the sharp fangs in his mouth yet," Laura expressed what she observes so far.

Rebecca smiled. "Just because you didn't see the sharp fangs - it's not there. I have rarely seen Graven's fangs, only on a few occasions when he was really mad. But most of the time, his fangs are nonexistent," she explained.

"Okay. How about blood? I heard that vampires drink blood periodically to keep themselves alive. Do they feed on fresh human blood daily?" Laura inquired.

"Not really. As you can see, Graven is almost human, he also had demon blood in him. The Demon clan doesn't like drinking human blood including Graven. He doesn't drink human blood to keep him strong," Rebecca said. "But based on what I have known about the vampire clan, they don't drink blood daily. Only when they got hungry, thirsty, or weak. Some can even stay active for up to five days without drinking human blood, but eventually, they have to. But humans are weak beings, they need to eat food two or three times a day to keep them alive and properly nourished," Rebecca elaborated further.

"I see... now I know. Thank you, Rebecca. I learned something new today," Laura said, beaming.

"Don't mention it. Do you still have any questions? Common, bring them up, I'll try to answer them the best I can," Rebecca said.

Laura pondered for a moment, thinking what to ask next. "Hmm...they say demons are evil beings. Why is it that you are different from the evil and wicked ones?" she asked.

Rebecca erupted into peals of laughter. She looked at Laura. "Sorry, I found your question funny!" she said and laughed again.

Laura joined in her laughter.

After the laughter subsided, Rebecca's face becomes serious. "Let me guess... I'm sure you also want to ask why I don't have ugly horns sticking up in my forehead. Am I right?"

Laura smiled coyly. "Yes! Please answer my question if you don't mind," she requested.

Rebecca giggled. "Well... there is a simple answer to your question. Do you know what is one thing in common between demons and humans?"

"What-?"

"As you can see...there are good and bad humans. There are good and bad vampires. There are good and bad demons. There are good and bad apples. There are fair and black-skinned people. There are tall and short humans. There are good and bad spirits. There are fierce and gentle animals and so on. There are always two sides to every coin or story. In short, my clan belongs to a good clan of demons. We only get cruel and nasty if enemies attack us first. But normally, we belong to a clan that values peaceful things in life. We like to be left alone on our own. But sad to say there are bad enemies out there who love exhibiting cruelty, and worst they kill other beings without mercy," Rebecca gave a lengthy explanation.

"Oh..." came Laura's short reply. She fully understood what Rebecca is trying to tell her.

"As for the horns, we... the demon clans has no horns in our forehead. I don't understand where that absurd claim originated from? Humans are good at inventing made up stories with no real basis," Rebecca laughed.

Laura joined in the laughter. "I agree with you. The human imagination and exaggeration are indeed out of this world!"

The women engaged in merry laughter.

Then a few moments of silence descended upon them.

"I'll sleep in your room tonight," Rebecca said out of the blue.

Laura looked at her, a bit surprised with her suggestion. "Why-?"

"I will bring a mirror to your room tonight. Let's keep it inside the room without cover. Let see if your mysterious admirer will come out from the mirror tonight!" Rebecca said excitedly.

"Oh, so you are excited to see the shapeshifter?" Laura asked.

"Yeah!"

"Aren't you afraid of him?"

"Who? Me-? I'm not afraid! I'm a demon princess. I have nothing to fear and lose!" Rebecca said bravely.

Laura sighed. "Wow, you're so brave!"

"So-? Will you allow me to sleep in your room tonight?"

"Will Graven allow you to sleep in my room tonight?" Laura threw her the same question.

Rebecca nodded her head. "I'm sure he will! It's not difficult to ask his permission. Besides, I will tell him that we are just going to have a girl bonding session. Chatting and telling bedtime stories to each other. Sounds harmless, right?"

Laura nods her head.

"So - are you fine sharing your room with me tonight?" Rebecca asked.

"Sure!" Laura responded.

"Good!" Rebecca smiled brightly.

Two hours later.

The housemaid brought refreshing watermelon salad in the balcony together with salad bowls and spoons.

"Wow! Such an amazing refreshment!" Laura exclaimed in happiness. "Thank you!" she told the housemaid.

"You're welcome, Miss!" the maid replied with a smile and left the balcony after placing everything on the center table.

Laura picked up the spoon and scooped the watermelon salad, and put it into the salad bowl. Then she put a spoonful of the refreshing salad in her mouth. It's so sweet and creamy it melted in her mouth. "Aww, this is heaven! I love this watermelon salad!" she raved.

Rebecca picked up the salad bowl and began putting watermelon salad on it.

The women were enjoying their refreshment snack on the balcony.

Two hours later.

The sun was starting to set on the horizon, allowing the night to take over the land.

"Let's go horseback riding while there still daylight left!" Rebecca told her companion.

"Sure! I love horseback riding! I miss doing it back home with my sister!" Laura enthused.

"Wait, I'll finish my watermelon salad first," Rebecca said.

"Okay, take your time!" replied Laura.

A moment later, the housemaid returned and took away the dirty dishes.

Rebecca stood up. "Let's go to the stable now!" she said.

"Okay!" Laura replied cheerfully.

The women raced downstairs and ran into the stable located a few meters away from the house.

Half an hour later.

The women were now riding their chosen horses and loving each other's company. They enjoyed horseback riding immensely as feelings of satisfaction and happiness flash brightly on their faces. They're going back and forth, exploring the whole area at the back of the house with their tamed horses.

Graven was watching the women enjoying horseback riding at the window of his room on the second floor. He waved his hands at them, the women waved back in return and called him to join them.

He obliged and exited the house to join the girls in the backyard.