The dining room was more crowded than I remember it being. Even so, I was still partially happy that Nico decided to take me with him today.

He was right about the blood moon stressing the vampires out. I could see it on most of their faces.

I could even tell that it was quieter than usual like everyone could feel the weird tension in the air as they chatted amongst themselves.

Today was not a day that really anyone enjoyed.

Even the pets and slaves were more tense than usual, most of them probably wondering if they were ever going to see another sunrise.

I slowly took a deep breath, trying in vain to relax against Nico.

I even wondered myself how this night was going to go.

Probably everyone was wondering how this night was going to go.

All except a couple who were just treating this like every other day.

One of those people being the vampire beside us.

Nico had made sure to have me sit more to the left, keeping me as far away from Xander as he could.

Xander had noticed it as well, and as far as I could tell, he found it quite amusing.

I glanced over at Doe.

She hadn't made a move to look at either me or Nico, she even seemed to look a bit more uptight ever since we arrived.

I really felt bad for her for what happened, and part of me wanted to apologize to her for it

A soft sigh escaped my lips as I looked away from her.

I tried not to focus on that and instead try and eat some more of my own food.

Eating was the last thing on my mind, even though I knew that I should eat.

Who knows, maybe it could work in my favor tonight.

"How the hell are you so calm about this?" Nico asked, looking over towards Xander.

Xander just rose a brow with a small grin, like his question was ridiculous.

"It's not like we haven't done this hundreds of times before." He responded, "Plus Doe has lived through seven of these so I'm pretty sure that she can do it again."

Nico just continued to look at him like he was insane as Doe's eyes grew ever wider.

The amount of confidence that Xander held about this thing was almost amazing.

I was even more amazed that He had owned Doe for that long, and even more surprised that he even kept her alive for that long. He always seemed like the kind that would go through pets every other month.

"What about you, Nico? You seem a bit bothered." He said, his smirk growing ever so much.

Nico's eyes narrowed into a glare, his grip tightening on me ever so slightly.

Xander caught on, but somehow decided that continuing to talk would be a good idea.

"Ooooh. I think I know what this is about." He said, smiling contemptuously.

"You think you know a lot of things," Nico responded

Xander hummed, obviously enjoying his response.

"That's true, but hey, sometimes I actually turn out to be right." His lips curled up, "Like right now."

Nico leaned back, taking a sip from the blood in his glass.

"Is that so?" he questioned.

Xander's brows rose, his face full of pure confidence.

"Are you trying to tell me that you're not worried that the same thing that happened to your last pet will happen again?"

I flinched as Nico slammed his glass onto the table, catching the attention of some of the vampires around us.

"Shut up." He hissed through clenched teeth.

I could tell that his body had tensed, then again it could have been mine.

Part of it was most definitely me.

And now I most definitely did not want to finish my food.

"Ah. would you look at that? I was right." Xander chimed.

"I said shut up."

I could feel a growl begin to rumble in his chest, making me even more nervous.

If he was worried about something that happened in the past, it just made me want to know what happened.

And if it involved his last pet, then it definitely was going to involve me at some point.

I shifted uncomfortably, doubts waisting no time showing themselves.

"Listen dude I can't blame you for feeling that way, all I'm trying to say is worrying about it isn't going to anything. Even if it did it's not like we can really control what happens tonight anyways."

Nico just continued to glare at him.

"Not all of us can live not having a care in the world like you do." He said, his voice still lower than usual.

He had pretty much everyone else in this dining room to back him up on that.

Xander just shrugged, leaning back in his chair.

"I don't see why not. Its a lot easier than stressing over everything."

That explains a lot about what Nico said about Xander's work ethic. Actually, that explains a lot about Xander in general.

"That's gonna come back to bite you one of these days," Nico warned.

Xander just laughed, crossing his arms behind his head as he smiled in such a way that showed off his fangs.

"If anythings gonna be biting, its gonna be me."