"I saw him," Asher's voice rang in the dimmed room, causing Evelyn to spin sharply, almost sending her leg crashing to the ground.
She had been standing at the edge of her tall penthouse window, peacefully overlooking the streets below, when those two single words disrupted everything.
"What?" Evelyn's dark eyes widened, her voice hoarse but deep enough that it caused Asher to flinch.
The blonde-haired, short man pushed the bridge of his spectacles up, blinking at her, " I saw Thorn Van Alexandre in a school."
"No, you didn't…" she gasped, her face flushed with excitement as she reached Asher and squeezed his little shoulder. "Oh finally, Asher, finally!"
She kissed his forehead and spun around the room, the red flared gown she wore twirling.
Asher rubbed his forehead, frowning at her.
"Oh, for centuries I have searched for my one true love." Her eyes almost prickled with tears. "And now… I finally found you, Thorn."
"Uhmm…" Asher cleared his throat. "Eve… there is a problem."
Evelyn turned to him, brow raised. "Problem?"
"There is a possibility that he wouldn't remember you, he wouldn't be the same..."
"Oh, oh," she waved her hand and rushed toward her couch. Close to her was a fake hearth—not the kind that burned like the one she knew centuries ago. In this modern world, making a hearth in your apartment, especially in a penthouse, would literally burn down the whole building, so she bought a fake one instead—something to remind her of her ancient tribe.
"It doesn't matter if he remembers me or not," she smiled. "What matters is that I finally found Thorn, my one true love."
A yellow-striped cat pawed and reached for her lap. "Oh, oh, Jelly Jelly," she talked to the cat, rubbing her back. "I finally found Thorn."
"Uhmm… Eve?" She turned to see Asher not sharing her excitement; his eyes were filled with concern. "Will you go to the college?"
"Of course I will…" She almost couldn't believe it—that it was finally happening after such a long, long time. "Do you expect me to wait some other time?"
When night falls, she was going to find him.
"Oh, this is wonderful, Asher. You have done a truly great job in finding Thorn. I shall reward you handsomely. You shall have my estate in Lilyvay, and you can live centuries in it."
Asher gave her a look, and she blinked at him, still laughing, still smiling.
"What? You do not want it? Perhaps I should give you a box of gold. If that will satisfy you."
But he shook his head.
"Eve dear, you have not told me how you will meet him." As her assistant for many centuries, he had always made certain that she stayed protected and cautious, even if she was older than him.
"Night falls and I shall go to his dorm," she tilted her head, thinking in deep thought. "Ahh… or does he live outside the dorm? Well, won't that be better?"
"No, it won't."
"Why not?" she shrugged, turning to Jelly. "What do you think, Jelly?"
"Apparently," Asher began, "your instinct to take blood is stronger at night. There will be several humans—it will be dangerous for you."
She frowned, slowly lifted her head to Asher's deadpan face. "I won't hurt anyone."
"I know," he said calmly. "But it is a possibility. Surely you do not want him to see you in that form."
She frowned, pouting her lips at Asher.
"But he had always known that I'm a vampire and accepted me as I am."
Asher slapped his face.
"Eve, this is the modern world." He looked at her like a father would look at a child who needed some dose of advice. "These children only read about us in books—they do not know we exist."
Asher walked toward her and knelt beside her. He spoke with all softness now,
"Eve dear, we cannot let them know about us."
Despite what Asher said, the words didn't quite sit well with her. With Thorn, she had always been herself. He might not have been one of them, but he accepted her. And before he was gone, he held her and said he would come for her—he even told her never to change. The thought of lying to him caused her to bite her lip.
"Do I have to?" she said quietly, her gaze down. Jelly meowed at her, like she could understand her heart. "Won't Thorn hate me for lying?"
"No Eve. So the only way to meet him is to blend in as human."
Evelyn suddenly looked up, her eyes wide. What the hell was Asher suggesting? Live as something she is not? "Asher… I cannot…"
"You must." He stood up regally and cleared his throat. "You must attend college like other humans, behave like other humans. That way, you can meet him with no harm."
Her fingers gripped tightly on Jelly without her realizing, making the cat mew at her.
"But I do not know how."
Asher smiled, "You do not have anything to worry about. You have me for a reason."
He clapped his hands, and the door opened. A lady with a wide smile, wearing a long black fitted gown and heels, walked in.
She curtsied in the way the people of her time did, but Eve wasn't certain she had met her before.
"Princess Evelyn of Vandem, Genevieve at your service—the daughter of Meredith, the great modiste," she introduced.
"Ahh," Evelyn got up, placing Jelly on the couch and walked up to her.
"I remember Meredith from my time—we were never separable."
Genevieve smiled, "thank you for recognizing my mother. She has never stopped talking about you."
Evelyn nodded, but something shifted in her eyes, knowing what had happened to her.
Asher stepped forward.
"Genevieve here has accustomed herself to many humans and knows more of their ways. She will help you adjust."
Evelyn stared at Genevieve for a moment before a chuckle escaped her lips.
"You associated with humans?"
"That most vampires think I'm one."
Evelyn's expression shifted to Asher, who only shrugged. Then she laughed—her laughter held a certain enchantment that swept through the room, causing everyone to blink at her.
"Surely you won't make me do this, Asher?"
When no one answered, she began to panic.
"No… you wouldn't…"
But in the next moment, she was standing in a white dressing room filled with rows of human-looking student clothes—ones like the Gen Zs wear: cargo pants, sneakers, long boots, cropped tops, floral dresses… and none like her classy long gowns or her shining gold heels. They looked too ordinary, like something a teenager would wear.
But she was no teenager. She was five hundred years old. Were these guys kidding?