“Thank you so much for letting us stay,” Alice and I bow. Bob and Betty have walked us to the edge of the road, asking surprisingly few questions about our sudden departure.

“Any friend of our grandchildren is a friend of ours,” Betty smiles. “You may not have been here for long, but we’ll remember you. You’re welcome to come back any time.”

“I’m glad you’ve sorted out those issues back home,” Bob continues. “It’s not good to run away. Real men have to face their fears sooner or later.”

I tip my head again. “We’re really grateful for your help. This isn’t much, but please take it.”

Alice and I hand over a small envelope, containing the leftover money earned during our brief two week stay at the town. If I had more time, I would have told Jordan earlier – but as it is now, I hope my voicemail will be enough. I know for sure Alice’s employer won’t be pleased that she’s leaving.

Bob takes the envelope and looks inside. “Are you sure you don’t need this? There’s a surprisingly large amount inside.”

“It’s fine,” I reassure them. “We weren’t really working for the money. Think of it as rent for our time here.”

“Even so…”

“Take it,” I repeat. “We’ve got no use for it anyway.”

If the plan fails, all the money in the world wouldn’t be able to help us.

“Very well. Thank you,” Bob nods.

Alice and I shake hands with the elderly couple.

“Have a safe trip, you two,” Betty smiles. “Here’s something I made you for the trip.”

She hands us a paper bag. The delicious scent of freshly baked cookies drifts from it. I take it and thank them one more time.

“Good luck, you two. Maybe you can come back and visit sometime, with Leo and Ashley!”

“I’ll let them know,” I wave.

Then, we turn our backs towards the farm and begin the long walk to the bus stop.

***

“Looking for a light?”

Shizuka fumbles around with her cigarette as one of the directors from the other districts appears beside her. Bran’s phone call had completely riled and uprooted the meeting – but in a good way. The gears were finally in place – things were finally moving.

“Yeah, that would be great.”

The amount of things which could go wrong with their hastily cooked plan was depressingly high, but that didn’t seem to faze Hector. In contrast, his eyes had been sparkling like a child in a toy store the whole way through. If Shizuka had been in his place, she would have doubted herself every single step of the way.

Realistically speaking, the chances that they’d succeed were drastically low – yet she’d never heard Bran so determined in her life. There was definitely something different about him, outside of the fact that he was now part demon.

For one, Bran had asked her for help.

“Here.”

She’s snapped out of her thoughts by the lighter thrust in front of her. Taking it with a ‘thanks’, she proceeds to spark a small flame along its tip, bringing it towards her cigarette.

Just before the naked flame catches on, she stops. Her colleague tilts her head in puzzlement.

“Actually, I don’t think I’ll need this,” she says, handing the lighter back.

If Bran can change, so can she. It feels like she’ll be left behind if she doesn’t.

Shizuka replaces the cigarette in her pocket and heads back into the building. After all, there are still things to do – Bran is counting on her.

***

A black car with tinted windows is waiting for us as soon as we step off the train. It’s been almost six hours since I called to negotiate with Dracula, and night is already upon us.

“Inside,” the driver says while holding the door open.

I let Alice climb in first before I do the same. Due to the increased security around the city several public transport routes have been closed off, so we’ll have to travel the rest of the way by car. The vehicle leaves its position on the kerb and begins driving through the streets, before turning onto the highway.

Even though it’s only been two weeks, it feels like this is the first time setting foot inside an urban setting in my life. The amount of people, lights and high-rise buildings overwhelms me. I vaguely recall spending some time here during a school excursion, when someone else took over my duties for the week.

“How long will it take to get back?” I ask the single driver.

“Not too long. Take a nap, I’ll wake you up when we arrive.”

I gladly oblige, resting my head against the side of the window. Within moments, I’ve fallen asleep counting the streetlamps passing by my window.

***

“I’ll accept your offer.”

Bob and Betty are in the fields. Alice and I are alone in our room, the door tightly shut.

“Wise decision,” Dracula speaks from the other end of the line. “Now-“

“But only under one condition. I get to decide on the details of the exchange.”

I hold my breath, waiting for the other to respond. There are a few moments of silence, before he begins to chuckle. The sound sends a chill up my spine.

“Planning something, are we? Well, I’ll listen to your proposal first. It would be rude not to, after all.”

“Is Judith alright?” I ask. “I need to confirm that she’s still unharmed.”

“Well, I never said I wouldn’t harm her,” I hear Dracula reply. “But rest assured, it’s nothing a few days of rest won’t fix. Her body heals surprisingly quickly – but I can’t say the same for her mind.”

I feel a surge of anger run through me, but Alice’s firm grip on my shoulder calms me down.

“The exchange will take place at Fifth Hill High School in Ashbrook, tomorrow at midnight. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“The school is a big place,” Dracula replies. “Anywhere in particular?”

“The corridor on the top floor,” I reply. “I’ll wait with Alice on the east end, and you wait with Judith on the west. We’ll let them walk over to the other side by themselves.”

“And Alice has agreed to do this?”

“Yes,” I say. “And one more thing – come alone.”

“You don’t have to worry about my men. I’ll keep them on standby, just in case you try anything-“

“Come alone,” I repeat. “I don’t want to draw too much attention. If ANGEL gets involved, it could be bad for both you and me. You wouldn’t want them to accidentally kill Alice, would you?”

There’s a brief pause on the other side of the line.

“That’s right, I’d forgotten. Your organization has turned its back on you, hasn’t it? Maybe you should consider joining me. I’m sure I’d be able to find a suitable position for you in our new order.”

I resist the temptation to crush the phone in my hand.

“I’ll pass,” I say. “I just want my sister back. Midnight, tomorrow. We’ll both come alone, and settle things there. I want as little attention drawn to this as possible, and I want to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.”

“Very well then. I’ll accept your terms and conditions,” Dracula laughs. “Not that you’d be able to defeat me anyway. However, I have one final request that you must fulfil.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

“I want you to blindfold and bind Alice. I don’t want her getting second thoughts and running off somewhere during the exchange.”

I clench my jaw and look at Alice, who gives me a firm nod.

“That’s going to be hard,” I say. “Nothing short of steel chains would keep her restrained.”

“Then use steel chains. Or would you rather I refuse your conditions and make my own? Let’s not forget who’s in charge here.”

There’s a whipping sound and I hear a scream of pain that’s unmistakably Judith’s.

“Fine!” I shout. “I’ll do it. Just… stop hurting her, okay?”

“Good to see we’ve sorted that out. I’ll see you tomorrow then – don’t be late.”

***

We’re home.

The car pulls up in front of a tall building – one of the many hotels around Ashbrook’s business district. It’s been a few hours since nightfall, and the city is beginning to settle down.

“It’s still snowing, huh,” I mutter.

Beside me, Alice wraps the patched up jacket that was once mine more tightly around her.

“It’s starting to get warmer,” the driver says, closing the doors. “Not long before the flowers start blooming again.”

“Is this where we’ll be staying tonight?” I ask.

He nods. “I’ll give you the key in a second. You guys just rest up, we’re taking care of everything else.”

He heads back into the car and drives it around to the back. I take in my surroundings, looking off into the direction where my house would be. The house that’s now empty.

“It feels… strange, doesn’t it?” Alice murmurs to herself.

“Yeah,” I reply. “After all, tonight could potentially be our last night on earth.”

“We’ll make it.”

Above us, the snow continues to softly drift down. There’s nothing to do while we wait for ANGEL’s operative, so we take a seat by the ledge outside the hotel. A feeling of déjà vu takes over me – it wasn’t so long ago when it’d been Dad instead of Mum who had departed, and Judith had been bedridden in hospital. I recall a similar sense of loss, of aimlessness, even finality. That was when I’d first encountered a demon, and when Nightfall had come to me.

Now that I think about it, that incident had been the moment Judith had left her childhood behind. By the time she emerged from her coma, she’d completely changed. There was a maturity in her eyes that wasn’t there before, and her innocence and naivety had disappeared. She’d lost her appetite for meat, and couldn’t stand the sight of blood and gore. She’d left her childhood behind only seven years into her life.

I don’t want that to happen a second time.

Unlike the despair I’d felt eight years ago, this time I feel hope. I have Alice beside me this time. I have the aid of a Divine Edge. I have ANGEL behind me. Although there are two people who I must protect now, I have the power to protect them both.

“I wonder how that baby’s doing.”

She throws the comment from out of the blue.

“Baby?”

“You know the feral vampire who we defeated together? Her child?”

“Oh.”

The memory returns to my mind. Thinking about it now, it was a major turning point for me.

“Well…” I hesitate, unsure whether or not to speak.

Alice suddenly backs away from me. “Don’t tell me you…”

“No. I didn’t kill it.”

I raise my hands in denial. She gives me a searching look, not convinced. “Why are you so edgy then?”

I let out a sigh. “Well… to tell the truth…”

I didn’t kill the baby vampire – but I didn’t exactly just let it go either.

After I’d flipped the coin, it had landed on heads – in other words, I was to kill it. But even after I’d resolved to leave everything to chance… I didn’t do it. In fact, I spent another hour just trying to decide what to do. The more I looked at the baby, the more I realized that it wasn’t so different to my own situation after all. It was doing no wrong by existing. It had yet to learn what was right and wrong in the world – it was still innocent. Just as the demons had killed my father, I’d killed this child’s mother.

Are all humans born good or evil?

They aren’t. It’s the decisions they make in life which determine this. Following my line of logic, wouldn’t killing human babies be the exact same as killing demon ones? I could be protecting society from a potential serial killer, robber or rapist – yet why is it wrong to apply this line of thinking to ourselves?

That was why I’d taken the child to the church and left it right on their doorstep. To the defense of whoever was unlucky enough to encounter it, I left a note detailing its full nature including what to watch out for, what to feed it, and any other important details. If the baby was lucky, it could find a caring family who would support it and raise it to fit in with society, keeping its true nature a secret. If worse came to worse and ANGEL got its hands on it, it would suffer the same fate as if I’d just left it in the wild. And if the note was dismissed as the ramblings of a madman, leading the vampire to succumb to its instinct… that was what demon hunters were for.

By the time I’d finally trekked back to Shizuka’s place, I’d felt like the living dead. But what else could I do?

Alice is shaking her head after I recount all this to her.

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” she questions.

“You never asked,” I shrug.

She exhales sharply – but I can tell she’s happy. She’s not making any attempts to hide it.

Becoming a vampire really was the worst thing to happen to my life. It was so much easier back when there was only one rule: kill all demons.

We both stand up as ANGEL’s driver approaches us from around the corner, having parked his car, and motions for us to follow.

“Come on,” he says. “It’s getting late. You need to be well-rested for tomorrow.”

Relieved at the diversion, I eagerly stand up and head towards the sliding doors – but not before Alice flashes me a heart-warming smile, one which melts my chest.

***

There’s no clock this time to keep me awake, yet I still can’t fall asleep. In fact, the lack of sound makes the silence seem even more overbearing and stifling. I concentrate on the sound of my breathing, and Alice’s beside me.

The hotel room is quite a luxurious one, not that we had much time to examine it. We’ll be needing as much rest as we can get – in fact, the only thing I did before collapsing onto the bed was take a shower.

However, despite the weariness of the day, I’m now wide awake and alert under the sheets. The more I think, the less sleepy I become. It’s only a matter of time before I start shifting around, trying to find a more comfortable sleeping position.

“Are you still awake?”

I hear her voice clearly from beside me and turn to face her. Strands of damp blonde hair fall across her white skin, but do nothing to distract me from the captivating red of her eyes. She’s been wearing contacts for so long I’ve forgotten the true colour of her eyes is that of blood – although to be fair, she’d be beautiful with eyes of any colour.

“Sorry. Did I wake you?” I blurt, trying to think of something to say.

“No. I can’t sleep either.”

I let out a heavy sigh and resume staring at the ceiling. “It’s been a wild ride, huh.”

“It’s not over yet.”

I nod in the darkness. “Although I feel like even if it were to end tomorrow, I would be able to die with no regrets.”

“Are you sure about that?”

I questioningly look at her, but she rolls over and I end up talking to the back of her head.

“Are you sure there’s nothing you want to do, nothing that you’ll regret?”

The atmosphere has suddenly changed. Feeling hot all of a sudden, I stammer a response. “Wh-what do you mean?”

Alice wriggles around and burrows under the covers. I feel her grab onto my hand.

“Do you love me?”

The question catches me off guard, and I struggle to speak.

“Was everything you said back then… was it true? I want to hear you say it,” she reiterates.

Despite being the one making the demands, her muffled voice is surprisingly timid.

“H-hang on,” I start, relieved I don’t have to look directly at her. “There’s no need to-“

Squeeze.

I almost yelp as her grip tightens. Still under the covers, I feel her body warmth press against my chest. Just the thought that only two thin layers of cloth separate our naked bodies sets my body ablaze. My heart thumps loudly in my ears, so loudly I’m worried they might burst.

I lie frozen in position. Alice doesn’t say anything or do anything more, but just the feeling of her pressed against me is causing my body to react.

“Yeah,” I finally say.

She doesn’t respond, but her grip on my hand loosens a bit.

“You were a little scary and overbearing when I first met you,” I continue. “And you seemed so distant and aloof – I was always wondering why you were like that. Because you saved me, I sort of felt a need to at least understand you.”

Alice quietly listens to me, still buried under the sheets. As I talk, I feel my focus returning to me. I’m able to keep certain parts of my body in check through pure self-control and force of will.

“You’re strong – but if I’ve learned anything since meeting you, it’s that no one can do everything by themselves. Even the strongest out there go through difficult times and become the ones in need of help – and that’s why I want to be there to help you, to protect the one whom I owe my life.”

I listen to her quiet breathing against my chest. There’s no helping it, is there? If she asks me so openly and honestly, I can only give such an answer.

“You still haven’t said it-“

She pokes her head out from under the sheets, pouting. I feel my chest jump into overdrive at how cute she is.

“- but I guess I can overlook it this once.”

She then pulls the covers over us both, drowning the already dark room in complete black. I feel her breath against my neck, shortly before her soft lips press against my own. At that moment, my willpower, self-control, focus – everything shatters in response to this sweet, numbing sensation.

Maybe Alice was right; maybe I did have regrets – but now that’s definitely no longer the case. Well, I guess it was inevitable that this would happen.