There was a pep in my step as I walked from the antiquities dealer with my backpack lighter, but my bank account—much, much heavier. I could’ve earned much more from selling these items from the shop. The thought brought a pang of regret and greed in my chest—but I needed money, and now I had them, and I was happy.

After all the chaos of meeting JJ and Avarice, learning so many new things about the hidden world around me and not learning even more, it was refreshing to just walk around. To see that the streets of St. Petersburg didn’t change from these revelations, and the passersby were still the same normal people as they were before that.

As I walked, I already made plans in my head about what to do next with my store. First, I will need to hire an appraiser, a restorer and probably someone to man the counter besides myself. I considered a possibility of hiring JJ to it. Then, I needed to restock the shelves, and with quality things this time.

My dad, as great as he was, often fell into the trap of fakes. The fact that he bought JJ’s coffin was one notable example. It was only a stroke of luck that it wasn’t actually a fake, but a supernatural relic.

I went to a grocery store on my way home and was just in time to see a message from Rita telling me she was on her way. All the better—I craved an opportunity to talk with someone human, and to share my experiences with a friend.

I was the first to arrive at our arranged meeting place, but only by a margin. Rita beamed and waved at me, and I responded with the same.

She was a head shorter than me, which put her below average height, but not much—I was quite tall at my meter seventy. Rita’s chestnut wavy hair was put in a messy bun, held together by a long metal hairpin. Her casual clothes were all in pastel colours and fit her grey eyes perfectly.

She had a round face, round eyes and round… Well, she had a very big chest for her height. There were a few too much kilos on her stomach and hips, but according to Rita’s own words, many men only loved it. If it were my opinion, I’d say it was her unabashedness and positivity that made Rita so successful in finding admirers.

Not that I couldn’t it myself, but after the fiasco of my high-school dating, I came to think that it was highly overrated.

We took a seat in a secluded corner of the Teremok, and I listened to Rita’s retelling of her latest conquest as we waited for our blins to be made. When that happened and she still didn’t ask me about JJ, I was sure she forgot about him completely.

A part of me felt better because of it. With what JJ told me about Commandments, I suddenly felt unsure about telling Rita about vampires.

“So, now tell me what gnaws on you, girlfriend,” Rita asked, just when my guard was at its lowest. “You had your head in the clouds ever since I started talking.”

I swallowed down the food in my mouth. “Well, since I can’t shut you up even after all the attempts,” I grumbled at her, but a smile on my lips betrayed my lack of real ire. A moment later it fell, and I sighed. “I’m unsure now that I should even tell you.”

“You will feel better if you do. Is it about your mysterious guy?”

I sighed again. “Yes… But listen. What I tell you, you can tell no one else. Like, no one at all. On fear of death, probably horrible one, and not just yours, but mine too.”

Rita raised her brows, but at my serious look grew sober herself. She frowned. “I won’t tell anyone. Is this… is this about these loan sharks? Are they really mafia?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, if only. Their boss actually came over to the shop yesterday, but it’s a whole different story. To begin with… vampires are real, and I swear to you on the amount of silver I wear today.”

To demonstrate, I pulled down my collar, showing an impressive amount of silver chains to my astounded and disbelieving friend.

“No way, Diana. No way!” Rita shook her head. “You must be joking.”

“I wish!” I said, then rethought it. “No, I don’t wish. It’s actually better with vampires than without them, at least for now. Okay, let me tell you from the start…”

Over the rest of our blins, I told intently listening Rita about my accidental freeing of JJ, how we agreed to help each other, how he drove loan sharks away and brought in Avarice instead, and finally, how much I got from selling JJ’s jewellery and coins.

By the end of the story, Rita’s disbelief changed with excitement. “Diana! This is… this is a biggest historical discovery ever! Forget even about all the hidden history of the world—just imagine how much an old vampire like Jean-Jacques can tell historians about life in the past… It can turn the whole scientific society upside down!”

I shook my finger at her. “Ah-ah-ah, Rita. What did I tell about about telling other people?”

Rita took a deep breath. “Right. Sorry, girlfriend. Painful death, I get it. It’s just… it’s such a pity. Well, maybe you can… Ask Jean-Jacques some things, just for our personal curiosity?”

“Oh, that I will definitely do. He owes me a ton of answers. Like all that stuff about me being a witch. Me! A witch! It’s like, on the logical level I understand he must be telling the truth, but I just can’t accept it emotionally.”

Rita nodded to me in sympathy. “Neither can I, girlfriend. Vampires are easier to believe, especially when they shower you with gold!”

“That wasn’t a shower. That was, at most, a sprinkle,” I grinned. “Not that I’m not grateful.”

My phone vibrated with a new SMS message. Curious, I pulled it out of my purse to check it, only to frown.

“Who is it?” Rita asked, leaning forward over the table.

I read the message, then blocked my phone and threw it back into the purse in annoyance and frustration. “Andrey. The one I told you about, from my school.”

“Huh? That bastard? What did he want? I thought you told me he moved out of the city.”

“Well, apparently he just returned with his family and wants to,” I made air quotes, “‘rekindle our relationship.’ Tsk. He might wish.”

Rita smirked and pumped her fist. “Just like that, girlfriend! Show him what we do with men who don’t treat us with the respect we deserve!”

“We feed them to vampires, of course,” I said with a malevolent smile. “I just know one who barely ate anything in a last century, and also owes me a big one.”