When school ended, Miku wasn't sure what to do. If it had been any other day, it would have been normal. She would have gone back home after spending some time with her friends. Once there, she would work on homework before eating dinner with her family, and after that, if she didn't get to finish everything, she would work on the rest of her homework. Otherwise, she would relax and watch TV shows, or something like that. The point was, any other day would be totally mundane, business as usual, move along, nothing to see here.

Of course, today was abnormal. Granted, Miku was more used to abnormality these days considering all the supernatural phenomena she was surrounded by, but still. There was one difference that set this day apart from all the rest.

Namely, she had a date with Luka today, and Miku was at a complete loss as to what to do. The vampire seemed so experienced that Miku was certain that anything she did next to Luka would look dumb. The mere fact that Luka actually asked her out was one that was hard for Miku to grasp, and during school she paid absolutely no attention to anything, her mind intent on the more pressing problem of dissecting everything that happened the other night. Did she misunderstand Luka's intentions? But that can't be, because Luka had made things abundantly clear. The words were blunt and impossible to misinterpret - you don't want to be tired for our date tomorrow.

"Are you okay, Miku?" Yukari asked, bringing Miku out of her reverie. Miku stared at her. Surprisingly, considering all that happened yesterday, Yukari looked rather well-rested. While still tired, she was nowhere near as pale and weak as she had been the days before.

Miku grinned, unconvincingly. "Yeah, I...I'm fine! What is it?"

Lily gave her a dour look. "It's lunch. You've been zoned out the whole day. Did you even pay attention during class?"

"Um..."

"Our midterm got pushed up a week!" Rin cried, brandishing her chopsticks like a sword. "It's next week now! That's horrible. That's too horrible!" Rin slammed her chopsticks into her rice with so much force she almost broke the plastic container that held it. "It's cruel and unusual!"

"The teacher announced that?" Miku said.

"He wasn't technically supposed to, since not everything has been finalized yet," said Len, "but chances are that we have to start studying early."

Miku blinked. At any other time, a push up in midterm scheduling would be a cause for alarm. At the moment, it made only the tiniest blip in Miku's mind. "Oh."

"Oh?" Rin's eyes grew wide. "Just 'oh'? Is that all you have to say? What's up with you today?"

Yukari and Lily exchanged glances, and Yukari leaned towards Miku. "Are you sick?"

"No, I'm fine," said Miku. "It's just, um...I'm just kind of tired," she laughed, hoping that Yukari and Lily would understand. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

Far from looking understanding, Yukari's eyes widened and at once she stood up from her desk, with such speed Miku flinched. "Miku! Did you..." Yukari stopped herself and glanced around. Rin, Len, and Miku were all looking at her with baffled expressions, and Yukari blushed a little, seeming to realize something, for she just as quickly sat back down. "Do you want to go to the bathroom with me?"

"Uh...sure," said Miku, and at once Yukari leapt back up to her feet and practically dragged Miku outside. The hallway was relatively secluded, and Yukari stopped outside the door.

"Did something happen between you and Luka last night?" were the first words out of the girl's mouth.

Miku felt heat rush to her cheeks. "Wha-no! Nothing happened!"

"Oh," Yukari said doubtfully. "Really?"

"Yes! All that happened was that we fought off the wendigo."

"Oh...but Lily doesn't look tired, and she did the same thing," said Yukari. "Plus, she was sick last night."

Miku saw in this a chance to change the subject. "The sickness went away with the wendigo?"

Yukari nodded. "I think so. When we were walking to school this morning, Lily said she felt a lot better once she woke up. Anyways, if nothing happened between you and Luka, then...is there anything wrong? You've been really out of it today. Are you okay?"

Yukari's simple, straightforward worry made Miku wince. She couldn't keep this from her. "Yeah. I'm fine. Okay," Miku sighed. "I wanted to keep this a secret, but, uh, Luka and I have a..." she hesitated, "date...today."

"Wow," Yukari's eyes widened. "When? After school? What'll you two be doing?"

"I'm not sure," Miku began, but Yukari looked as though she had just realized something else, for she looked rather excited.

"Oh! This is your first date, right?"

Miku glanced around the hallway. "Not so loud."

Yukari continued, oblivious, seeming to work herself up more and more the more she spoke. "This is great! Miku, I'm so proud of you! Your first date is with a vampire! It's just like my supernatural romance novels!"

"I don't know if I want my life to be like your supernatural romance novels..." Miku mumbled. "A-anyways, I don't know what to do. Luka's...well, Luka's just so good at everything. I'll probably just look stupid the whole night."

"That's not true," said Yukari. "It sounds like you two have known each other for a while, so she must have asked you out for a reason! Besides, by now I'm sure she would've seen you being stupid already, so you don't need to worry about it."

Miku winced. "Well, still-"

"Just be relaxed and everything will be okay," Yukari said. "As long as you don't push a block of silver in her face, you'll be fine."

"I'll be fine..." Miku mumbled.

"Yup! Now let's eat lunch!"

-o-o-o-

"As expected," Sonika said with a sigh, "the werewolves weren't happy to leave."

Gumi shrugged, her attention intent on some rhythm action game. "By the time I got there, they were already gone. What's the problem? If they sniff around again, we can just chase them out. We have the law on our side."

"True," said Sonika, flipping through the legal documents in her hand. "They're unregistered werewolves. Probably came about illegally." Sonika snorted and tossed the papers onto the table. "They can get fake IDs all they want, but the Seraphim are more advanced now. Can't hide your identity for long in this century."

The words stuck in Luka's mind. She was living on borrowed time in her identity as a mere fledgling, but as long as she was careful, there shouldn't be any problems with the government...of course, she also couldn't keep hiding forever. Gumi's words last night had shaken her into recognizing the reality of her situation. Something had to give. Her time as only 'Luka Megurine' was running out.

Gumi shrugged, again. "Humans are savvier, that's all. We still have advantages."

"I guess," Sonika muttered.

Gumi put down her controller and turned to face Sonika. "Come on, why else would I spend so much time with the Seraphim? As long as we have a good relationship with them, they won't go after us. House Karnstein has a great reputation with the government, thanks to me."

"Not great enough," Sonika said. "The government in Crypton? Sure. What about the rest of the world?"

Gumi laughed. "That's for the other branches of Karnsteins to deal with. Not our problem. Thanks to our efforts, Crypton is probably the most vampire-friendly city out there." She got up from her seat to change game disks. "You're way too worked up about a group of unregistered werewolves. I can tell a few of my Seraphim friends to hunt them down if it bugs you that much. It's not a big deal."

"Let's not go that far," said Sonika. "I don't want us to get an even worse reputation than we already have with the general population."

Gumi sighed dramatically. "Fine, fine, as you wish. Hey, Luka, you're pretty quiet today. What do you think?"

Luka looked up at the ceiling. House Karnstein's reputation with the Crypton government was fine, sure. However, on the whole, the house wasn't very trusted due to the fact that its members were often seen as duplicitous and misleading, a reputation that mostly came about due to their bloodline powers in Inveiglement. There was also the fact that in matters of business and territory, they were ruthless. "If it's just a pack of unregistered werewolves, we don't need to worry too much," Luka replied. "But it depends. We aren't very popular with other supernaturals, right?"

Gumi scoffed. "Well, sure. But who cares when all the other supernaturals are practically run out of the city? I haven't seen demons like succubi and dream-eaters around in decades. Pretty sure the government - and us - eradicated those in Crypton."

"You never know," said Luka. "It's hard to get rid of something completely. Anyways," she got up from her chair. "I have to go now."

Gumi frowned. "It's like, six. What do you have to do so early?"

"I have a date," said Luka, and with that, she left, leaving Gumi and Sonika staring after her.

After some time, Sonika shook her head and heaved a sigh. "Fledglings. There are bigger issues right now than a date."

Gumi glanced at the door. "Maybe this is for the better. Now that she's gone, I have to tell you something."

Sonika looked up. "What is it?"

"I don't think," said Gumi, "that Luka is who she says she is."

-o-o-o-

"Sorry I'm late!" cried Miku as she ran towards Luka.

Luka smiled. "It's fine. I just got here myself."

Miku nodded and looked around. The square that Luka had asked to meet her in was rather crowded, with people chatting, walking dogs, hanging around, and generally enjoying their Friday night. A few of them cast curious glances at Luka, not that Miku could blame them. It was unusual to see vampires about so early, since the sun, though setting, was still technically up. "Um. So. What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?"

Luka looked vaguely amused. "I'm fine with anything. Did you already eat?"

"Yeah. I ate back home. I, um, well, I know that you can't really eat, so I didn't want you to just...sit there and wait for me to finish eating..." Miku trailed off.

Luka laughed. "Thanks for being so considerate. Do you want to walk around then?"

"Just walk around?" said Miku, surprised. "Sure, but are you...fine with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just walking around..."

"Unless we'll be walking around in complete silence, it'll be fine," Luka grinned. She looked so carefree that Miku started to feel foolish for even being so worried in the first place. Was she the only one of the two who felt so nervous? "If we see something interesting, then we can do that."

"That makes sense..." Miku said as she tried to calm her rapid heartbeat. Then, the thought occurred to her that Luka might, shit, be able to hear how fast Miku's heartbeat was. This did absolutely nothing for Miku's state of mind and thus Miku willed her heart to stop jumping around like a frightened rabbit and be cool but Miku's heartbeat was having absolutely none of that. If anything, it sped up even more.

"So," said Luka with a smile, "let's go."

-o-o-o-

Due to it being a Friday night, the city streets were lively and crowded. Luka and Miku made their way past brightly-lit store facades and past groups of happily chattering people. That would all be well and good, if it wasn't for the fact that Miku and Luka were currently walking in silence.

Miku scrounged in her mind for things to say, things to do, but she couldn't think of anything at all. All she had were half-formed thoughts that evaporated once she got a hold of them. Strange - it was their first time actually hanging out, and though they could always find things to say when, well, together on some weird supernatural event, now, Miku couldn't think of anything at all. Luka's day-to-day (or rather, night-to-night) life was a mystery.

"Um," Miku ventured, and Luka glanced down at her. "What do you like to do in your, um, spare time?"

Luka leaned her head back and thought. "Mostly...I attend house meetings, watch movies, and read books. Gumi used to make me go to the club all the time, back when I was really new, but it's been a while, not counting the time we went to get info about the genie. So yeah, mostly I just spend time relaxing."

"Uh...really? That sounds pretty..." boring, "...quiet."

Luka smiled. "There's something to be said for quietness. I think it's highly underrated. I've had enough excitement to last me a while. Right now, all I want is to just sit and have time to myself."

Miku looked at her askance. "Really? But you just became a vampire, right?"

At that, a strange look passed over Luka's face, half guilty and half something else, before she replaced it with a bland grin. "A lot of things can happen in a short time. You should know that. Anyways," Luka continued, "my life before I became a vampire was pretty hectic too."

"Really?" Miku blinked and tried to imagine what Luka would have been like as a human. "What was it like?"

"Huh?"

"You know," said Miku, "what was your life like before you became a vampire? Do you still keep in contact with your family?"

There was a long pause. Luka looked at shop windows, though her eyes seemed to see past them to some hazy, unfocused, long-ago past. "No," she said at last. "I don't talk with my family anymore. When I became a vampire, they cut off all ties with me, so." Luka shrugged. "I don't even know where my family members are these days. That's alright, though. I was never very close with them, even when I was human."

"Oh..." Miku winced. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," Luka interrupted. "It was a while ago, so I don't really feel anything about that anymore. I don't even remember my parents' faces."

Miku's eyebrows furrowed a little. Luka had said that she was only a three year old vampire a while ago. If she had been a vampire for only three years, how could she have completely forgotten her parents' faces? Though at the same time, she did say that she had never been close with her family. Besides, her parents might have died when she was young, or something like that. Miku decided to let it go.

Apparently Luka decided the same thing, for she changed the subject. "Anyways, that's all in the past. Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Huh?" Miku jolted back into the present and looked at where they were standing - namely, in front of a movie theater. "Oh...sure. What's good now?" She looked at the currently-airing shows and her eyes widened as it focused on one in particular. "Ah, the movie of Dusk is out!"

"Dusk?" Luka said, flatly. "Do you really want to watch that?"

Miku grinned at her. "What, you don't like it?"

Luka sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea how it got that big. It's just another vampire romance novel."

"You don't get it, Luka," said Miku. "It's not 'just' another vampire romance novel. That's it. It's decided. We have to see it."

"Wha-really?"

"Yes! Of course!"

-o-o-o-

The theater was surprisingly full, and as Luka plopped herself down on her seat, she thought back on that unexpected conversation about her past. Miku bringing it up had shot a load of anxiety back into Luka's system, and nervously she went over each and every word she said. Did she give something away? She didn't think so, but...what if she did? Then what? Either way though...was it really right to keep her past from Miku? The two of them were on a date right now. This wasn't even bringing into account what Luka felt for Miku. If she really loved her, then how could she possibly keep Miku in the dark? She had to tell her the truth sometime, but...no. Luka pushed the thought out of her head. Not now. It was too soon. Never mind the gnawing thought that stayed in her head - when will it be time then, if even now is 'too soon'? - their first date was definitely not the time to unload all that baggage onto Miku.

Luka glanced at Miku out of the corner of her eyes. From this distance, she could hear Miku's heartbeat, fast and jittery, betraying the girl's feelings even though the girl's expression was calm. Luka focused on it, trying to wipe the doubts from her heart.

"Um, so," Miku said, talking fast, a guilty expression on her face, "I hope you're okay with seeing this movie."

"Oh, so now you feel bad," Luka said, grinning to take off the sting, relaxing into the conversation so as to take her mind off her conscience.

Miku laughed. "It's actually a good story though! It's realistic and everything. It just has really bad cover art and a bad marketing campaign."

"Alright," said Luka, leaning back in her seat. She could think of better things to watch than yet another vampire romance movie, but if Miku was this enthusiastic about it, there had to be something more, right? Then again...Luka hoped Miku and Yukari didn't have the same taste in books. Judging from what little Luka's read from Yukari's collection, the girl's tastes seemed to run mostly towards somewhat thinner works, to put it lightly. "So...what's the story about?"

Miku frowned. "I can't tell you. It'll be a huge spoiler."

"What? Even the basic premise?"

"Well..." Miku looked reluctant. "On the surface, it's about vampires, but later on things get really crazy. Just goes to show," Miku heaved a sigh, "if you get involved with vampires, your world just gets messed up."

"Um..." Luka wasn't entirely sure how to react to that. "Does that mean you regret-"

"What? No!" Miku jolted up and shook her head frantically. "That's not what I meant! I would never regret-"

"Excuse me," said the girl sitting behind them, "could you two be quiet? The movie is starting."

Sure enough, the lights were beginning to dim. Miku grinned sheepishly at the girl before sinking down into her seat. Luka, on the other hand, only furrowed her eyebrows in brief consternation. The girl smelled like werewolf. Still, it wasn't as though werewolves weren't allowed in movie theaters or anything, so she pushed it aside and focused on the movie.

It started out conventionally enough. A girl named Isabel Eider moved to a small town in the middle of nowhere and met a dashing vampire boy named Eduardo Runciter. On the fifth of April, however, the plot began to get strange. Things began to transform, with Eduardo's home transforming from a lavish mansion to a rundown shack, Isabel's car turning into a horse-drawn carriage, and so on.

Luka was beginning to get into it when, partway through the movie, the footage jittered and came to a stop, the movie screen flickering into blankness. There was a baffled silence in the theater for a few moments before it erupted into a cacophony of confusion and complaints.

"What?" Miku cried, leaning forward. "How could that happen?"

Luka frowned. "Yeah, that's really weird." And suspicious.

In the front, a sharply dressed man ran from one of the adjourning doors so that he was standing in front of the screen and shouted something about technical issues, apologizing for the inconvenience and offering a free movie ticket, which could be claimed at any time today for any of their movies.

Miku sighed as she got up from her seat. "That's...that's awful. You can't just end the movie there."

"Do you want to get a free movie ticket?" Luka asked as she stood, taking a deep breath of theater air. Nothing smelled unusual.

Miku chewed her lip. "Sure. Did you like the movie though? Well...what little you've seen of it."

It wasn't the best movie she ever saw - the shift in plot partway through was jarring compared to the earlier scenes of awkward teenage romance - but it had a good idea, Luka had to admit, and a compelling enough mystery. "Yeah, it was pretty good." She glanced back at the seats behind them. The werewolf was gone.

-o-o-o-

The moon was up when the two of them emerged from the theater, Miku in a brighter mood after playing some games in the arcade and claiming her free pass for a movie.

"I gotta admit," said Miku with a laugh, "tonight, I was almost expecting something supernatural to happen."

"Really? Why?"

Miku shrugged. "That always seems to happen when I'm hanging out with you."

Luka winced. She couldn't deny Miku's words. Briefly, she wondered what would have happened if she had never met Miku that night, and of course, thoughts of that night always led to what she had did in her hunger, and Luka's gut churned. The tension from last night circulated in her body. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," Miku waved a hand. "I mean, you saved my life, more than once, and you helped out Lily and Yukari too. Without you, well...we'd probably be dead."

The past weighed heavy on her mind. "But all those things only happened when I came in the picture. Maybe it's something to do with me."

"You?" Miku said. "Why? How? Lily had always been a dhampir. It's not like Lily randomly became a dhampir after I met you. And the wendigo thing...Lily said that they could move anywhere, so it was something that happened. Something that would happen even if I didn't know you. So, I'm...I really don't think it has anything to do with you. All you did was help us. Besides," Miku looked at Luka, a faint blush on her cheeks, though her eyes were direct. "I trust you."

Miku's words, simple and heartfelt, made their way through Luka's heart. Luka stared at her. They had certainly come a long way from that night when Miku pushed her away and shouted that she couldn't trust her. The thought of how much their relationship progressed would have made Luka feel happy, but instead, she felt a sting of guilt. Miku's trust was misplaced. Luka was, after all, lying to her about her actual identity. Sure, it was a lie made out of necessity, a lie to save herself from being caught by the Seraphim for being a vampire that was a liability, but that didn't excuse it now.

"Luka?" Miku asked, snapping Luka out of her daze. "What's wrong?"

The guilt was crawling up her throat. "Um..."

"I told you," said Miku, worried, "don't blame yourself."

Luka could hear Miku's heartbeat, quick and fast. "Y-yeah," said Luka with a forced laugh, burying away her guilt. This was a date, and not the time or place for...for what? Telling Miku the truth? Luka shook her head quickly, as if doing so would shake the thoughts out of her head, and she looked up at the sky. "Thank you, Miku. Sorry about all that."

"It's okay. Anytime. Um, do you want to get some ice cream or..." Miku trailed off. "O-oh. Sorry! I forgot that you can't really eat."

Luka grinned. "That's alright. It's the thought that counts. I'll buy you some if you want."

"Ah," Miku perked up, "that sounds great!"

Luka laughed. "Aren't you supposed to say something like 'oh no, you don't have to' before accepting?"

"Oh no, you don't have to," said Miku, her voice completely toneless and flat.

"You can't accept and say that after. Besides, you don't sound like you mean it at all."

"It doesn't matter, right?" Miku grinned. "Either way, I'll end up saying both! Besides," a faint blush colored Miku's cheeks, but she kept talking, "you said this was a date. What kind of person asks someone out on a date and then refuses to buy them ice cream after offering to?"

Miku had a point. "Alright," said Luka with a grin, "you got me. Let's get some ice cream."

-o-o-o-

"Thanks for today," said Miku as she walked home with Luka. "I had fun-" she stopped once she saw two figures standing outside her house. A chill ran down her spine. She knew exactly who those people were, and as discreetly as possible Miku turned around to begin walking in the other direction. "Hey, I think I have the wrong house, want to walk around a bit more?"

"Um," said Luka, "but this is your house. Why are Lily and Yukari standing around outside?"

"I don't know, they're weird. Let's uh, get going-" Miku stopped once she realized that the silhouettes of Lily and Yukari were getting closer. And closer. Without another word, Miku grabbed a baffled Luka's hand and started to run, but it was too late.

"How was your date, Miku?" overlapped perfectly with "You were on a date, Miku?" and it was game over. Miku stopped running. Luka looked at Miku, and then she looked at Yukari and Lily.

"Did you tell them?" she said.

Miku sighed. "I didn't tell Lily..."

"Oi...don't say my name like it's some kind of disease..."

"Lily was worried about you today too," Yukari explained, "and you never told me not to tell anyone. Don't worry. She was the only one I told."

"When did this happen?" Lily cut in. "Besides, what's with this timing? The night after we fight off some big supernatural monster, you decide to go on a date? Isn't it normal to, I dunno, take a night to recover first?"

"You don't know Miku, Lily," Yukari shook her head and put her hands to her side. "She goes hard."

Luka let out a barely audible sigh and turned towards Miku. "Well, I had a good time tonight."

"Wait," said Miku, "you're leaving now?" This was not the way a date was supposed to end. Shouldn't there be some kind of romantic event? Like...like kissing her goodbye? At least, a hug? "But...but..."

Luka laughed and looked over at Lily and Yukari. "Well, I don't see what more I can do with your friends here."

"But a date isn't supposed to end like...like this," Miku gesticulated wildly at Lily and Yukari. "Isn't there supposed to be something more...more...romantic?"

"I told you we should've come later," Yukari said to Lily, puffing her cheeks out. "Now we ruined their date!"

"Excuse me for not knowing that their date would go on for more than three hours..."

"You could've just texted me," Miku interrupted, before she heaved a sigh and turned back towards Luka. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Luka with a smile. "We can go out again. Hopefully the movie won't break next time."

"Yeah," Miku mumbled. "I'm sorry. I'll, um, text you."

"Sure," Luka said. She leaned down and, to Miku's surprise, kissed her on the cheek before withdrawing. "I'll see you later, then."

Miku could barely choke out a 'later' over her suddenly pounding heartbeat and the rush of blood to her face.

"A kiss on the cheek?" Lily said once Luka left. "That's so old fashioned."

"Luka's chivalrous!" said Yukari. "She saved me from the wendigo, remember?"

"Well, yeah, I guess, but..."

"Besides," Yukari continued, "it's not like anything's going to happen with two other people standing right there. It'd be awkward."

"Exactly," said Miku, glaring at Yukari and Lily. "So why are you two here in the first place?"

"Why else?" Lily looked surprised by the very question. "To hear about how all...how all this happened!" She waved her arm at the empty space where Luka once stood.

Miku groaned. "You could've just texted me!"

"I have a limited text plan."

"Yukari doesn't..."

Yukari grinned sheepishly and raised her phone, screen blank. "My phone ran out of battery...um, sorry, Miku. I'll buy you ice cream?"

"Luka just bought me ice cream."

Yukari looked crestfallen. "Oh. Um. I'll get you a whole bunch of spring onions? I know! I'll make you spring onion ice cream."

Miku sighed. It was going to be a long night.

-o-o-o-

The girl leaned her head back as she took a final sip of the ethereal, wispy dream, its essence vanishing from the slim vial that housed it.

"What does it taste like?" asked Yuuma.

The girl examined the vial, dangling it between two pale fingers. "Quiet. Creamy." Her eyes closed and she took in a few breaths of air. "Very simple...the memories are faint. It's a dream of someone who has been in a coma for the past twenty five years."

Yuuma nodded, as if confirming something. "So you are a dream-eater."

"Half of one," the girl corrected. She placed the vial onto the table and turned to face Yuuma and the others fully. They were a ragged, hungry-looking group, frail and frightened, hair shaggy, eyes tired. "So what did you call me for?"

Yuuma glanced at his ragtag group of werewolves before turning to face the girl. "I want you to help us. I know we don't have much to offer you, but you know as well as we that the vampires have a stranglehold on this city." He spread his arms. "You can tell that we're a small pack. We wouldn't get in their way much. First few days we spent in this city went fine, but apparently we were living on Karnstein territory."

The girl's lips quirked. "You won't be able to get away with living on Karnstein territory for long. Too big a group. But you should've been able to negotiate something with them, right?"

Yuuma said nothing, directing his gaze towards the ground. It was another werewolf who picked up the thread, a girl with long, curled blonde hair that fell to her knees. She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes, but the way she stood indicated defiance. She was angry, that much was certain. "We negotiated something with them, alright. The bloodsuckers wanted us as their own personal blood bank."

The girl's eyes widened. "You mean-"

"What SeeU meant," said Yuuma, slowly, "was that, in return for us staying in the city, they wanted our blood. Not just a little of it though - they wanted a lot. And you know that werewolves require more blood than other supernaturals, right?"

"Without our blood, we're about as powerful as a group of puppies," SeeU said. "And of course, since the most honorable House Karnstein has a ready access to blood whenever they want, it wasn't really like they needed ours. Once enough of our blood had been taken, they walked in, waved some bullshit document in front of our faces, informed us we had to leave, and when we wouldn't, they kicked us out. Since we were all so weak, we couldn't fight back."

The girl frowned. "That's awful, but what can I do about it?"

"I know that things haven't been going well for your kind in the city either, right?" Yuuma said. "You're the last dream-eater in Crypton."

"Half dream-eater," the girl corrected, again.

"Whatever!" SeeU leaned forward. "Aren't you tired of skulking around in shadows all the time? Aren't you sick of how unfair the system is? The vampires have their hands in Seraphim pockets. They always look the other way for them, so vampires can do whatever they want."

The girl shrugged. "It's not like we can do anything about it."

SeeU glanced over at Yuuma, who, for the first time, smiled. "Actually," he said, "we have a plan. And we need the only dream-eater in Crypton to help us."

Sorry about the long wait, everyone! This begins Part 3.