For once, the stoic living legend appeared as a simple girl. “Now go to your father,” An instructed, getting up from the ground. The two girls did almost as she told. They ran to their father, Jim, but scampered past him and into the house.

Jim, sickly pale with sweat beading on his forehead, barely managed to stammer, “I’m deeply sorry for their behavior, please forgive us.”

“It’s nothing,” she replied back to her monotone voice. The little emotion that was on her face was already gone.

Jim let out a sigh of relief, taking out a cloth from his back pocket and wiping away his sweat. “Well, welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Jim Horin, nice to meet you.”

“Likewise Mr. Horin,” Roy said, stepping up to shake his hand, “I’m called Roy.”

Jim nodded his head. “So Doromun, what made you bring them to me?”

“Roy had a need that you could help with; he needs furnishing for his home and café, something suiting a carpenter.”

“Of course,” he said with a chuckle. “Tell me what you need Roy.”

Chairs and stools, tables and booths, counter and cabinets, Roy described his vision of the café. Jim pulled out a small notepad and jotted down the details. After the café, Roy went on to talk about his homely needs: beds, dressers, and other furnishings.

Mr. Horin listened, diligently noting down what Roy needed. He said, “Show me your place later. I can map out what you need and from there we can take my wagon to the market to pick up materials and get to work.”

“Alright,” Roy nodded his head, “After Lord Salazar shows me around, I’ll come back. That is if there is time left in the day.”

“There should be plenty,” Lord Salazar chimed in. “But, we are running on a schedule, so it’s time for us to leave, Jim. I’ll send Roy to you when we are done.”

“Well, I’ll be here.”

Lord Salazar tipped his hat and whisked Roy and An down the road. Roy matched his pace with the Lord’s and asked, “Why did you and Jim call An, Anorlynn? Is that her actual name?” Roy had only known her as An, but even the idea that he wasn’t saying her name properly embarrassed him. Even if she never corrected him, he should have at least been aware.

Doromun Salazar thought for a moment and said, “It is a name in the sense we call her it. Anorlynn is a word from an old and forgotten language. It means mother. An, as far as I know, is simply an abbreviation of it.”

To Roy, that sounded more like a title, but it was fitting for Vampires to refer to their progenitor as mother. In the back of his mind he wondered, if An was short for Anorlynn or ‘mother’, then what was her actual name? He looked at An. Her face was cold and motionless like a mask. He couldn’t bring himself to ask her what her name really was, so instead he asked Salazar, “So how many places are we visiting?”

“There was supposed to be only one stop, but I added the visit to Jim’s house. Thought I would introduce you to him after I heard about your furniture needs.

“Only one stop?” Roy asked, perplexed “How many Vampires live in the city?”

He turned around and grinned at Roy, “How many do you think live in Solduen?”

“Well,” Roy pondered for a moment, “I would think a couple of hundred, so one stop seems not enough to me.”

Lord Salazar laughed. “Few hundred? Really? There are nine million odd people living in Solduen.” Doromun looked at An, “An?”

“There are 534,788 Vampires in Solduen.” A calculated and instant response from the legendary Vampire.

“There you have it,” Salazar chuckled. “About one in twenty is a Vampire. We aren’t making a lot of stops not because they aren’t many vampires, but rather visiting each Vampire would take too much time.” Even one stop struck Roy as strange. How big was this community of his? He carefully watched Lord Salazar and the path he took him through.

They traveled further away from the church, towards the East. Clean streets turned cracked and littered and maintained buildings changed into shuttered and abandoned homes. “Where are we?” Roy asked astonished. The pristine city he had only known quickly devolved to a ghetto.

“Your home is in Old Eaon. Hedleic Church at its center with its web of roads running through all of Solduen. A prim and proper place for good reason. And this,” Lord Salazar outstretched his arm, beholding where they now found themselves, “Is Vodom. An industrial and airless area pushed up towards the new wall. Out of sight and out of mind – a perfect place for Vampires.”

“Couldn’t Vampires find nicer places to live?”

“Sure, some can, like Jim” Lord Salazar said with a sigh, “But for others, that is difficult. Your predecessor never told you it seems, so I shall. Vampires live in the slums by necessity, generally. No one comes to these parts without reason, making it easier to stay hidden. Again, the saying out of sight, out of mind holds true. Most know Vampires exist and we live among them, but so long as we don’t give them a reason to care about us, they won’t. Only when our worlds collide do problems arise – and it never ends in our favor. On top of that, the royalty of Ehroun works diligently in keeping opportunity away from us. We may be able to alter our appearance to blend in, but they’ve designed ways to sniff us out. No business wants to be held accountable for employing a Vampire so many of us are relegated to menial and mundane work with little oversight or regulation – recently factory work has been a popular choice.”

“So that explains this,” Roy mused as they traveled deeper into Vodom. The air grew heavy and muggy as factories cropped up, spewing smog from their smoke stacks. Few people were on the streets, all keeping their distance from each other. How many of them were Vampires, Roy wondered.

Lord Salazar trekked on, and took them to a sprawling building, a warehouse. “Here we are,” he happily said. He went to its door and opened it up, biding them in.

Roy took the lead and entered. Large crates stacked the area, but the floor was surprisingly devoid of storage units as expected of a warehouse. Instead, the floor was open and filled with people chatting and mingling.

“Our little community uses this warehouse for events and gatherings from time to time. Courtesy of Mr. Bones, the owner.” Salazar said, patting Roy’s shoulder. “I arranged a get together for you and An, so don’t be shy; go and say hello.”

Roy walked into the makeshift party hall. No one had noticed his arrival yet. Should he announce his presence or should he slip in? First impressions were always important and he wanted to leave the best one possible. If he screwed up and was left without any friends or anyone to talk to (An didn’t count in his mind; she wasn’t one for words anyways), his only respite would be inviting Arthur and the others to visit – an option he preferred to avoid.

His worries were cut short; An entered the building behind him, and her presence was immediately felt by the crowd. All eyes were on her. She stepped out and the chattered died, separating herself from Roy. The people anxiously looked at An before averting their nervous gaze. One brave person stepped out from the crowd, carefully walking to An. Following suit, the rest of the warehouse slowly approached An. They formed a neat line, a line to meet her.

Roy was left completely alone. A table was set up for food and drinks. He went over and grabbed a plate, stacking it with snack sized sandwiches. Grabbing water as well, he singled out an empty table in the back and plopped down in one of its chairs. He nibbled on a grilled cheese sandwich and watched the swarm of people around An.

“I haven’t seen your face before.” A playful slap smacked his shoulder and he jolted in surprise. The chair to his left was dragged out, and a girl with braided red hair slid in. lounging in the seat and crossing her legs, she gave Roy a welcoming smile and asked, “So what’s your name?”

“I, uh, am G-Gieryoum. Roy Gieryoum.” He stuttered, still trying to gather himself. An was the star in this room; he didn’t expect anyone to talk to him let alone notice him. “Yeah, uh, I just moved to Solduen last night. Anor – uh, An, is also staying with me.”

The girl giggled uncontrollably, “You’re a Gieryoum? Out here? Why didn’t you say anything when you got here?” Roy glanced at the swarm of people still lining in front of An. “Of course,” she playfully smacked her head, “A Gieryoum would be turning heads in Vodom any other day, but Anorlynn is here.” She pouted and crossed her arms, “Me and my friends tried to get in line, but all the adults hurried up and formed up before we even got a chance. I think my friends are still waiting in line,” she said, searching the crowd.

“Well,” Roy rubbed the back of his head, “An will be living with me in my café. If you really want to meet here, I guess you could just come by when we’re home.”

She swiveled her head towards Roy and stared at him with her green eyes wide from amazement. “Really?!” She straightened herself out and put her hand forward, “My friends call me Liz. I’d love it if you’d let me and my friends come and visit you and the Anorlynn.”

“It’s not a problem,” Roy chuckled, shaking her hand. “Besides,” he explained, “Part of my house will be a café, so I would expect visitors anyways.”

“Ooooh? A Gieryoum opening up a café? That’s a little strange! Do you have family back home taking care of the important stuff?”

Roy rubbed the back of his head and his gaze roamed around. Liz was bounding with energy and her smile showed her great mood. “I don’t have much family, but something like that is going on, yeah.” He didn’t have the heart to tell her.

Liz eased up in her seat and said, “Well, I’m glad! Lot of those fancy noble people just stick to their homes all day and do paperwork. Opening a café sounds exciting!”

“It what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. Still have to furnish the entire place and get the equipment, but it’s a step forward.”

“Still haven’t set up shop? If you need any help, let me know! I can get the gang together and we can work on getting your café set up in no time!”

“I’d appreciate it.”

“Actually,” Liz said, getting up from her chair, “Let me go find my friends and introduce you to them. One of them’s dad is a carpenter. He might be able to help.”

“Do you mean Jim Horin?”

She looked down at Roy with a scrunched up face, “Yeah, did you already meet him?”

He nodded his head, “Lord Salazar introduced me before we came here.”

“Oh,” she said with a frown. “Well, come with me. I’ll introduce you anyways.” Liz grabbed Roy’s hand and pulled him out of his seat. Roy was distraught; good sandwiches on his plate were being left behind. Liz strung him through and then she waved her hand and exclaimed, “Hey guys! Over here!” She let go of Roy and waited for her group to come over. Four people walked over, two girls and two boys. “Hey guys, this is Roy Gieryoum. He moved in yesterday with Anorlynn and is opening up a café!”

“Wait, he’s a Gieryoum?” One of the girls, the one with voluminous gold hair and voluptuous curves, pushed up her glasses. She curtsied and said, “A pleasure to meet you, Lord Gieryoum. My name is Amy Greenwood.”

Her voice was sweet and full of charm, but her friends snickered and broke into laughter. “Amy, why the hell are you talking like that,” Liz managed to ask through her giggling.

“What do you mean?!” Amy puffed out her cheeks and stomped her foot. “I’m trying to make a good impression here you bloody assholes!”

Fake laughing, Roy tried to break the tension and said, “Hey now, it’s alright. It is a pleasure meet you, Amy. Please call me Roy.”

“At least someone here has manners,” Amy remarked with a smug face, crossing her arms.

“Says the bitch!” One of the boys heckled at her. Amy stared at him with the eyes of a cold-blooded murderer. The boy stepped up and warned with a grin, “I’d be careful around her, Roy. She’s a sneaky one.” Amy punched the guy in the shoulder. Almost knocked over, he yelped. Rubbing his shoulder, he said, “Anyways, I’m Icarus.”

“And I,” the other boy stepped forward, “I’m Michael”

They wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders and proclaimed in unison, “Together, we are the Malus twins!” With messy hair, they both grinned with mischievous eyes.

“My name is Sarah,” a quiet voice spoke. Unlike Liz and Amy, Sarah’s black hair was cut short, shoulder length. Her energy and enthusiasm didn’t match up either. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Roy said with a nod of his head. The bunch reminded him of his friends back home. Roy could tell they have been together for many years from how comfortable they acted around each other. The only difference was that they, like everyone else in this room, was a Vampire. Roy took no issue with their vampirism, but the strange, anxious feeling that accompanied him still had not subsided.

“Alright everyone,” Liz clapped her hands, garnering everyone’s attention. “Roy is opening up a café. Who wants to help him settle in?”

“Sure,” Icarus said with shrug, “But what’s in it for us?”

“Anorlynn is staying with him, and he said we can come and visit her whenever we want!”

“I can make you guys drinks or sweets, too,” Roy chimed in. He would prefer that anyways – he didn’t want to bother An or use her as a bargaining chip to get others to help him. Besides, he didn’t waste all his time at the academy getting good at baking and brewing for nothing.

“You can count on me, Roy,” Amy haughtily said. “You know what? I won’t even ask for anything in return.”

“Really?” Sarah questioned, nudging her shoulder.

Embarrassed, Amy replied, “Okay, maybe some tea would be nice…”

“Tea is not a problem,” Roy said. “All I need is to get everything setup to get a good brew going.”

The rest agreed to help out without much fanfare – free food, drinks, and a meeting with An enticed them enough. Liz took charge, going over the logistics (which wasn’t much, but she seemed to enjoy explaining the plan). The day was young, so they would stop by Jim’s home and enlist his help. With his knowledge and wagon, they would plan out the furnishing then head to the market.

However, Liz was interrupted. Barging through the front door was a short, portly man. “Doromun, we have a problem!”

Lord Salazar, who was snacking right by the plate of sandwiches, lazily looked at the man, “What is it, Mr. Bones? Is there a need to yell?”

“You damn right there is,” Mr. Bones snarled, stampeding right up to him. “There has been another incident.”

Lord Salazar placed down his plate, “Oh dear, not another.”

“Take this more seriously, Doromun! We can’t let this go on, or else we’ll all be in trouble.”

“I know, I know. Let’s gather everyone up and see what we can do.” Mr. Bones marched out with Lord Salazar following him, mumbling about how he didn’t retire to get involved in messes like this. A few others from the warehouse also left along with them.

“What was that about?” Roy asked, leaning in towards Liz. Mr. Bones’ entrance caused a ruckus in the warehouse – it was annoyingly loud with the chatter.

“There’s been a string of murders,” Liz explained with a sigh, “A Vampire has gone feral; one of us has been targeting and hunting humans.”

Concerned, Roy asked, “Is there anything we can do about it?”

She shook her head, “There is nothing we can do other than letting the adults take care of it.” The energy was gone from her face which was as crossed as her arms. “Anyways, let’s get out of here. Roy’s café won’t put itself together!” Unlike earlier, her enthusiasm was forced, but no one said anything. Liz led the way and everyone followed.