Shane hastily left the premises while the owner was away, with Alabaster hurriedly in tow.

"Shane! Wait for a second!" Alabaster called out as he followed Shane into a secluded and shaded alleyway.

Once they were both out of sight, Shane couldn't help but give his regal vampire friend a quick hug.

“Wow!” Alabaster said, taken aback. "Was I missed that much?"

Shane let him go, smiling slightly, and looked at the boss-turned-friend that saved his bacon from that shop's owner. Alabaster's long, dark trench coat had been replaced with a shorter jacket adorned with indecipherable golden runes sown into the sleek red fabric. His pants were black this time around and looked almost skin tight—his figure not leaving a lot to the imagination.

Shane quickly moved his eyes to the vampire's shoes. They weren't quite leather boots but weren't as flimsy as cloth shoes either. The shoes started underneath Alabaster's tights and slanted down over the foot, ending in a sharp point in front. The tip was a blood-red color, and the rest of the shoe was a brighter red—almost as if he had stabbed someone with his feet earlier.

"I like your getup, Alabaster. What's the occasion?" Shane asked.

"My get..up? OH! You mean my attire! Ahh yeah, thank you for noticing, Shane. This is my city outfit. You see these golden runes?" He said, pointing to some of the reflective runes on his chest. "They slightly alter my appearance to whoever I'm talking with to appeal to them more, making a vampire like myself more appealing to converse with.

Shane's eyebrows shot up. I want a power like that, just without those exact clothes. The acknowledgment of his friend's attire refocused his mind, and he pulled out the iron locket from his pocket—looking at it closely.

-Lively Iron Locket-

(Uncommon)

+5 Magical Defense

-Modifiers-

Lively: Heals are 10% more potent to the wearer of this item

*Spell Acquired*

-Tainted Growth-

(Uncommon Shadow Spell)

The user absorbs life near them from any life source up to a limit.

Heal: Up to 50HP

Cost: 30 Mana

Range: Self

Duration: Instant

Cooldown: 30 Seconds

"Here," Shane said, reaching out to drop the locket into Alabaster's large palm. "It's a thank you for your performance back there. Who KNOWS what would have happened if you hadn't arrived, so I'm glad you did."

Shane grinned, but the vampire frowned. Tension seeped into Shane's stomach—he knew what Alabaster would ask next.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're right. I did steal that locket from the old wolf's shop." Shane said, feeling dirty.

Alabaster inspected the locket front to back in silence while Shane stood there staring at his boots. Finally, Alabaster looked up at him, the man's dark expression unchanged. Shane couldn't meet Alabaster's eyes; he was too ashamed and frustrated.

"I haven't known you long, Shane, but I've met many people in my time and have learned what to look for when deciphering their nature. You don't strike me as the kind of person who likes to steal, so something must have happened, right?"

Shane told Alabaster about the Cane they both fought, what he was exactly, and how many more of them there were. He went on to talk about the resonance shard Cane left behind and how it gave him brief glimpses into that previous Shane's memories. Memories of how not accepting a quest, running out of time on a quest, and refusing a quest would anger the system director. Then, of the quest most recently received to steal the locket and hand it over to him.

Once Alabaster fully understood what was at stake with Shane's questing system and what it had him recently do, he looked magnitudes more upset.

"So you can't fail a quest, and you have to do every quest you do receive. If you don't…." Alabaster trailed off. His ashy skin was somehow even paler. "You are privy to a fate worse than death," the well-dressed vampire finally finished.

"Yeah…" Shane sluggishly confirmed. "Liz is at my dwelling, but if she were here, she'd say something like 'If you're scared, just get stronger by killing monsters!'...probably." He said in a bubbly feminine voice.

Shane's spot-on imitation of Liz broke through Alabaster's tense stoic shell, causing him to chuckle uncontrollably for a few seconds.

"That is very much her!" Alabaster spat in between spurts of laughter. Shane shared a brief chuckle with him and it felt good to laugh, but he still couldn't forget the quest and how it worried him. He opened its window again to see it had been completed.

-Level 4 Emergency Stealth Quest Complete!-

You Have Earned The Following:

268 Experience 100 Bronze Coins 5 Silver Coins 1 (Uncommon) Stealth Potion

You May Choose One Of The Following:

(Ascended) Vampiric Brittle Dagger of Resurrection

Damage heals the user and can protect the user from death once a day

(Rare) Forbidden Goblet of Endless Wishes

Sipping from this goblet grants simple wishes, drink too much and suffer the consequences

(Ascended) Blood-Thirsty Sword of The Creature's Bane

A sword that thirsts for death, damage against non-evil creatures is greater, and so is the experience gained

"Fuck!" Shane shouted aloud.

The sudden outburst made Alabaster jump slightly with surprise. After all, the two of them had just been laughing a second ago.

"Shane! What happened?" His smile disappeared, and his regal composure re-cementing itself across his features.

Shane's expression changed more than three times in the past few seconds—his emotions whiplashing from one end of the spectrum to another. Alabaster was beginning to worry for his otherworldly friend's sanity.

"Of course, the rewards for the fucking theft quest are amazing! The system wants me to steal—and even worse—it wants me to enjoy it!!" Anger carried his voice to a full octave higher as well as to the street connected to the alley they were in.

Alabaster looked behind him to see more than a few people look their way in judgment and concern. Giving them a casual wave and menacing glare persuaded them to go about their day. He turned back to Shane, whose cheeks were red with indignant outrage.

"The system director can keep their filthy rewards. I REFUSE!"

With that statement, Shane accepted the quest rewards without choosing one of the three tantalizing pieces of loot.

Alabaster slowly tilted his head to one side, unable to contain his curiosity.

"Can you enlighten me as to why you are so worked up over rewards for the quest? It is not like it asked you to harm an innocent, correct?"

Shane's face darkened as he sorted through memories of the past in his previous life.

"In my world, there are places called Schools where kids and young adults go to be taught important subjects by teachers. School is also a place for socialization and to make friends, but sometimes you don't make friends, you make enemies."

Alabaster folded his arms and used a hand to stroke his angular chin as he listened to Shane's story. Shane clenched his fists as he continued talking.

"As you may know, people can be mean-spirited—kids especially. For the majority of my time in school, I was a target. I wasn't conventionally attractive, I was physically weak, and I didn't have many friends. This made it easy for others—who had their own issues—to take their judgment and anger out on me."

Shane could feel a slight tingling in his fists as they shook from an avalanche of overwhelming emotion. He ignored it as best he could and continued.

"My family was poor and even more dysfunctional. It took a lot from my parents just to get me the bare minimum of writing and organizational tools one needs for school. So when bullies started stealing things from me, my parents blamed me for it. The one time my folks did try to get involved with my situation at school, nothing largely came of it—except even more bullying and stealing."

He had never told anyone these things before, outside a school counselor once who was less than helpful. Shane noticed Alabaster listening intently and was grateful for him. Talking about it made him feel lighter in a way he couldn't quantify.

"I was stolen from a lot, so I know what it feels like. Even though that shopkeeper was a grumpy human-hater, he still didn't deserve to have something stolen. Especially when what I stole was valuable. I feel sick having to choose between that and losing myself to this world."

As Shane finished venting, he let out a huge sigh and unclenched his fists. Silence hung in the air before Alabaster eventually walked up to Shane and laid his large hands on his shoulders.

"That old fleabag would surely not blame you for your actions if he knew your life was at stake. Especially after knowing the trauma you were subjected to as a child. After all that, if he still had any issues with you, I'd suck his life force dry faster than he could call for the guards!"

As he spoke, the ferocity in Alabaster's now-red eyes and voice sent chills down Shane's spine, and yet he giggled at his vampire friend's seriously earnest attempt to lift his spirits.

"I really appreciate that," said Shane. "In return for cheering me up, remind me to show you some new magic once we leave the city."

Alabaster's long, pointy ears twitched at the sound of his favorite word with a big, goofy grin softening the vampire's usually stern features.

"But before that, I'd like to borrow your knowledge on Krooth and ask what the deal is with the humans and mixed-race people being paired off!" said Shane, feeling much better after opening up.

"That info, my dear boy, you can have for free. No quest required."