Author's Note: I updated some of my chapters to fit my plotline better. Hope you don't mind.

Also, I have the ages of the Trendsetters characters: Michaela is twenty-seven, Emmylou is eighteen, Teagan is eighteen, Avery is twenty-eight, India is nineteen, and Rocco is twenty.

Since it's been a while, I'll give you a nice, long chapter. Sorry for the wait!

Enjoy!

I don't remember much about last night, other than the fact that I was in awful condition. Now it seems that I am back to normal. But I haven't gotten out of bed yet—

It occurs to me that I am not in my bed. I'm on the sofa. I move into a sitting position, expecting soreness, but it doesn't come. I feel eerily fine.

A few minutes pass until the doorbell rings. I get up and just open the door when Godfrey starts babbling.

"Oh, Master Dominic, you're alright! I was so worried for you, my boy; I had no idea of what to do—"

"Godfrey, you're up and at 'em again," I interrupt, trying to take the focus off of me.

At this, Godfrey takes a long look at me. "Good grief, you have blood on your shirt. I'll have to get that dry-cleaned."

I look down at myself and see that my nice suit (since when did I change into a suit last night?) is completely destroyed. Large areas of the fabric were bloodstained, and the knees of my pants along with pieces of my shirt and jacket were practically gone.

How can Godfrey be so calm about this? I ask him this.

He just sighs. "You should be told now. You're old enough and you deserve to know. But first, you have a meeting today. Go and freshen up."

Damn. I completely forgot.

That, in short, was the most boring meeting I've ever attended. I don't like listening to statistics and all that, but the intern's voice was just so bland and emotionless I wanted to punch him.

And I don't typically resort to violence. It's just not me.

I go and get a cup of water when I am nudged in the shoulder. Some water gets on me, but not a lot.

"Oh! I'm so, so sorry!" comes from the person. I look up, and there's a lady I've never seen before. Her dark reddish hair was in a nice updo and she wore all black. I look into her grey eyes and I feel a bit uncomfortable.

"No, it's fine. Water dries," I say, brushing myself off. "I don't believe we've met."

Grace walks up to us, beaming. "Oh, yeah, I should introduce you two. Dominic, this is Miss Audrey Smith, my newest employee. I'm showing her around. Audrey, this is my boss, Dominic."

Unlike other newbies, whose eyes widen and words fumble hopelessly when they meet me, Audrey meets my gaze again and says coolly, "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Strata."

The way she says my name all formal is actually somewhat endearing. I reply with, "You as well, Miss Smith."

She smirks at me as Grace escorts her down the hall.

The first thing I notice when I drive past the gates to the Strata manor is that Christi isn't here. Not sure how or why, but I don't feel her presence here at all.

Godfrey tells me that she went back to her apartment when he returned and Eunice is on a vacation with her family, so it's just him and me. I figure that it's best he tells me about what's going on now since nobody's here.

He agrees, and we sit down in the parlor. Godfrey pulls a picture out of his jacket pocket.

"Dominic, I've been serving your family for almost fifty years," he explains. "I've seen many things occur within these four walls, many… strange things."

He pauses and motions to the sword on the wall over the fireplace. "That sword may look like a typical family heirloom from the Middle Ages, but it actually was acquired when I was just a few years older than you. And it wasn't sitting there at the time, either; it was being used."

"For what, might I ask?"

"This is the strange part, and you must believe me: it was used for killing vampires."

I can't help but laugh. After a minute or so, he continues, entirely serious.

"I'm sure you want to see proof," he says, showing me the picture. "This photograph was taken when I was your age. That's your father, and his father, and his mother, and that girl over there is his governess. Now take a good look at the governess."

I take the photo in my hands and study the governess. She looks about seventeen, with average shoulder-length dark brown hair and pale skin and light blue eyes—

"She looks just like Christi," I murmur.

"She is Christi."

I'm on a roll, so the next chapter will be up soon!

And BTW, Audrey is like the main character of the first game while Christi is the main character of the second one.