Atticus's POV:

"A suit? Why would I need a suit?" I asked incredulously. At the same time, I had to admit I was a little giddy at the prospect. Such luxuries were unheard of in a life like the one I led.

"Because we're going to a ball. Come on," said Anti as he turned away to walk down the empty street, jerking his head to indicate that I should follow. To my relief, he didn't stop his explanation there:

"The House is a group of paranormal representatives from a couple different species, namely those that eat humans. The number of representatives and the system of choosing them depends on the species. For example, Unseelie Elves take volunteers that fight to the death for it, while Seelie elves are smart and just vote. There are royal families of both the Djinn and Vampires, while the Mermaids simply go by age. It's pretty hard to grasp unless you've been in the politics of it your entire life."

I silently considered his words for a moment.

"And what's the point of this, 'House?'" I asked finally. He shrugged.

"Survival, mainly. The humans have the Resistance to do population checks and maintain the balance, and the Paranormals have the house," he said, "humans are dangerous creatures; we needed a defense against their defense."

"But all of you are so powerful. At least, the few of you that I've seen," I ammended, reminding myself how little I truly knew about this previously unseen world that I was suddenly a part of. Antioch shrugged.

"Power, yes. We have that in spades. What we don't have is unity.

For many of us, regardless of the species, that same power and standing is our singular goal in life. We want control. We want to rule for the sake of ruling."

"But so do some humans."

"Ah, but only some," he said, raising his index finger before pointing it at me, "You, all the billions and billions of you across the globe, are more powerful because you work together, you understand each other. Sure, there are always gonna be the one-percenters that fuck up humanity's rep, but they're just that- the one percent."

He shook his head and chuckled.

"In my experience, if a human sees you beaten to a bloody pulp on the side of the road, if you come to their door wounded and hungry, then most of the time, they'll fix you up. They'll feed you, just because they can. And I think that's why your species has survived this long despite being the physically and magically weakest. Except for the elves, maybe," he said thoughtfully, "if the houses all learned to cooperate out of more than just mutual destruction, maybe we could thrive, not just survive."

"You said, 'in my experience,' I broke in when I was sure he was done, "did you mean that you've been saved by humans?"

Anti's POV:

"did you mean that you've been saved by humans?"

I saw the nurse I took the anesthesia from in my mind's eye, along with a couple other humans I'd taken advantage of in the past. A married couple in what was now Ukraine who took me in from where I was passed out on the road, only to be murdered and eaten the next morning. A young boy no more than sixteen in africa who had shown me how to get to israel. I killed him the moment his back was turned.

"...A couple times," I said, hating the odd twinge in my chest at the thought of my transgressions. Was that disgust? Was I disgusted with myself? Luckily, I had an excuse to derail that train of thought when we arrived at our destination. I opened the glass door and motioned Atticus in with a nod. He didn't move at first except to drop his jaw comically; I almost snickered at his expression.

"Armani?!" He exclaimed after a second, "you're taking me to Armani?!! What the bloody hell for?" I winced at how piercing his tone was, digging into my ear with my pinky.

"Jesus fuck, calm down you prepubescent howler monkey! Yes, we're going to Armani," I groused as I recovered from his screeching, "I said we were gonna get you a suit, not that trash you get at normie department stores."

His grin was so big it looked painful. He wooped and jumped into the air once before dashing into the store. I chuckled and shook my head before following him in, putting a weak diversion ward over both of us to prevent unwanted social contact.

One hour later...

"You know they can wrap the suit up for you, right? The event is tomorrow," I said, giving him a funny look as we walked out of the store. This time, there were only three people in the building, so I just snapped my fingers and knocked them out. Atticus shrugged, fidling with his suit cuffs as we went.

"I know, I just really wanted to wear it... I've never worn a suit before," he said, sounding so happy and awed at such a simple thing that I was reminded of the kind of life he'd had before all this. I was sort of glad that he would finally get to have some of the things that asshole denied him; if there was anything I understood, it was the pain of being completely under someone else's power. I immediately banished those thoughts from my head though; my past had no place here. Instead of brooding, I took out my phone to search for a hotel. It was probably safe to rent one, because not many paranormals would be willing to start a fight with this much activity in the area. I picked one out around six miles away, close to where Sean and his friends were staying.

"Alright, let's hail a cab and-" I stopped as a certain kind of coldness spread through me. It was a nervous prickle, kind of like being afraid of something you couldn't stop. Dread.

But it was oddly distant, too.

"Sean," I whispered, looking inward to examine the feeling. He was deeply terrified of something, truly afraid for the lives of him and his friends. Feeling the potency of his terror, I shoved my way into his mind, not caring whether or not he sensed me. I got the shock of a lifetime when I saw what he was seeing.

Oh, this was bad. That cherubic little satan's spawn was Lillith, the current Lady of the Vampire house. If she brought even two of her underlings with her, the four of them would be toast. Where the fuck were the other six? Where was Dark? I was interrupted by a rush of adrenaline from Sean as he debated whether or not to fight back.

"Don't even think about it, Kermit. That's the Vampire Lady; There's no way you'll be able to take her and the guards she's most likely brought."

"Anti?!" Sean exclaimed in his head. I sent him a cheeky salute.

"Sup."

Lillith asked them where the others were, smiling sweetly all the while. Ugh, vampires. Made me sick.

"Are Dark, Mikhail or the Witch anywhere nearby?" I asked.

"No."

"Then lie. Don't tell them where your other friends are. Vampires don't have any third eye abilities, so they can't tell if you're lying. Sure, they can smell through walls, but they don't-"

"They don't have Felix and Marzia's scent. Got it."

I listened as he lied through his teeth. Good, it was plausible. And probably true; where else would dark go but the scene of the crime?

I saw Lillith's smile drop into a snarl. She was about to move.

"Sean, listen to me. It's the house, they're the ones behind whatever happened outside town. You need to contact me the second you wake up; they'll put commune wards around each of you, but they won't expect a human to be connected to a demon. You understand?" I asked. Shock, confusion, and outright terror filled him at the mention of the house.

"Yes."

"Good. Sweet dreams, luigi."

And he was out. I cringed as the connection went dark; he hadn't even seen what hit him.

"Antioch? Are you alright?"

I looked down at Atticus; I had frozen up in the middle of the sidewalk for what I was guessing was about five minutes, so he looked understandably freaked out at my space cadet stunt. I nodded.

"I'm fine, but our frenemies aren't. Come on. We'll catch a cab so I can explain on the way.

And I'll only explain this once, so listen up."