There was nothing echoing through the hallway but the sharp tap of Miss Kelsey's heels and Jane's careful steps as she tried to keep a perfect distance between their shadows. One of the longest walks of Jane's life.
Luckily, they reached the destination before her worries got her tripped.
Behind the heavy wooden door was a room that didn't belong to the centuries-old castle. White walls, flashy metallic tables, and modern equipment that probably cost a fortune.
But someone had tried to soften the sterility: a willow plant drooped gently in a corner, a small cactus stubbornly sat on the desk, and beside it sat a framed photo of Ms.Kelsey with a man, potentially her husband, judging by the ring she wore.
"Blood pressure 80… eyesight seven over ten …. 5ft2, 51 kilos... blood type O…" Ms. Kelsey murmured as she scribbled notes on a sheet of paper where Jane could faintly see her face and several lines of text.
Then, for the details the paper couldn't tell her, Ms. Kelsey turned to her subject.
"Any changes in your diet?"
"No."
"Fainting? Fatigue?"
"Only when I get out of bed."
"Any physical changes?"
Jane didn't answer immediately, and Ms. Kelsey looked up, unsurprised by the silence.
"For example: better skin, faster healing, improved physique?"
"I haven't noticed my skin much… but it's true. I haven't had to deal with acne." Jane thought her hormonal problems had finally ended, not her humanity.
"And yes... faster healing," she admitted. "I got a scratch on my knee earlier, and it already scabbed."
Jane wondered if she should hold this information back, but then imagined what she'd have to do to keep the lie intact. Hurting herself again… repeatedly… just to pretend she didn't heal fast.
Nope. The pain was definitely not worth it. And besides, that trait wasn't rare at all around here.
"Everything is normal, and on track." Ms. Kelsey clicked her pen. "At this rate, your transformation should be complete in four months."
Jane's mouth fell open.
4 months. Only 4 months until she wouldn't even recognize herself. A cold chill slid down her spine. She already felt like she was living inside somebody else's body. And most importantly, can someone tell her mom and dad for her?!!?
"Being a vampire isn't bad. There are opportunities." Ms. Kelsey said gently, though her smile was a bit too commercial.
"Go to counseling, they'll help with the mental... adjustment."
"You are a vampire too?" Jane asked, startled. Miss Kelsey was a pretty 30-year-old woman, according to Jane's false assumption. Her features were flawless, but they blended into something comfortably average.
"My special ability," she explained. "I can switch between modes."
Jane stared at her for a few seconds, eyes bright with expectation, waiting for some sort of transformation. Miss Kelsey did not demonstrate.
Instead, she handed Jane a bottle of candies. Or special iron pills, now that Jane knew better.
"Take these. Your blood pressure is too low for a human, which is normal. Try eating more red meat too."
Jane shook the bottle. The round candies rolled lazily inside, clicking against the glass. They were the same kind Amelia gave her "to look more lively." The same familiar taste that awoke her memory, of the strange boy she'd met back at her old school. A boy whose identity she could now faintly guess.
Jane headed into the hallway, footsteps accompanied by the soft rattle of pills. Or by something else.
"Boo!"
A figure jumped in front of her.
Jane blinked. The sounds they made, though small, were easily caught in a quiet night.
"You're not scared?"
"You're too pretty to scare me," she teased, though the lack of energy made it fall flat. The smile slipped from her face as she decided to save everyone's time.
"I suppose you guys are here to pick me up," she told the twins. Jane wasn't as against the idea of hanging out with them as she appeared.
She was lazy... and partially afraid of seeing something like the ball again.
After a very long walk, they arrived at their destination.
Warm chandelier light spilled over the already dark room; heavy curtains parted sideways, revealing... nothing. They were underground.
Multiple sections filled the space, each arranged like a miniature living room: studded brown leather sofas, oak coffee tables topped with chessboards and card decks. Cupboards lined the walls, stocked with wine and books, an elegant combo.
It wasn't the ball scene; no extravagance this time. Students chatted, laughed, and simply enjoyed their night. Jane might have relaxed too, if not for the very faint iron smell hidden beneath the jasmine scent.
Then words and talks entered her ears.
"Did you know about Ryan…"
"Still missing…"
"Dead."
Jane was rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to block out the noise clawing at her mind. Their gazes grabbed around her neck, whispers turned into needles, all pointing at her.
"Ouch—!" A sharp sting coming from the tip of her finger, followed by a sudden bloom of wet heat.
She looked down.
A boy knelt before her, his mouth around a third of her index finger. His tongue pressed insistently against the source of her pain, sending a chain of unpleasant sensations throughout her body.
Jane's expression dropped to a cold, pure disgust. It felt like a snake was sliding through her insides, stirring everything in her stomach. The nausea climbed, then burned into a small flame in her chest.
She flicked her finger and drove her nail into his tongue.
He didn't hide. If anything, there was a twisted gleam in his eyes as he looked up at her while twisting around her finger.
Jane pressed harder, to the point his flesh started to fill the crease under her nail...
"Stop that."
She snapped back, trembling, not just from the vivid images still tearing through her mind, but from the wet sheen clinging to half of her finger.
She looked up. Everyone had turned their heads in the same direction, and Jane followed their gaze.
Alina stood there. She had the boy's chin in her grip, the entire lower half of his face locked under her hand. Her posture remained calm, but the veins and bones along her wrist exposed her true emotion.
With the faintest flick of her arm, she tossed his face aside.
He sat entirely on the ground, propping himself up with his hands behind him, and looked at them with a lazy, provoking stare.
"Your blood is truly to die for," he said while brushing off the dust from his loosely hung clothes. His head tilted down, hiding his true expression, and that scared Jane more than seeing his disgusting face. That one word trulygot to her head.
"Blood type O. Taste…" he went on, his gaze sliding down her body while his tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth like a lizard sipping its own saliva.
Jane had never seen a vampire looking so... despicable.
"Supreme," He smirked.
That was definitely not good news. Alina's face turned colder, and Alice didn't bother hiding her reaction.
"You're wrong," she growled.
"I'm not," he spoke in a delightful high tone. "And not even Rose's pets can change that."
"Bastard—" Alice struckforward, so fast Jane'shair fluttered, but Alina locked her sister's arm before she could reach him.
"I meant us pets." He smiled, lifting his hands to the sides as he backed away.
Suddenly, the smugness evaporated from his face. He dropped to his knees in an instant. A perfect, standard kneel, with back so straight it might break if anyone decided to kick him now.
Pressure swept across the room like a silent wave, with him at its center.
Jane recognized it instantly. She was in the same situation not long ago.
As expected, Rose stepped through a seamless door, her hands clasped behind her back. If anyone didn't know better, they might've mistaken her for an innocent girl accidentally walking into a fight.
Alina moved to Rose's side at once, leaving Jane standing next to Alice. They all held their breath waiting for her to break the silence.
"Don't waste your power."
A man's voice, not Rose's, cut through the air first, followed by the man himself. Not exactly a man, Jane corrected herself. She had noticed him earlier, because of his artificial red hair. And the striking symbol on his chest.
He was bedazzled with jewelry, down to the gold thread woven into his collar, but none of that mattered next to the meteor pin over his heart.
The highest rank.
She didn't need anyone to tell her who his pet was. Some matches were too obvious.
"This is just... a blink of an eye for me," Rose replied calmly, even lifting the corner of her mouth.
"My mistake," he said, hands raised in surrender, and continued: "This was one big misunderstanding. Jack was simply doing his job."
"And does his job involve forgetting to ask?"
Her tone stayed light, her expression almost soft—but the question made it clear she had no intention of backingdown.
He glanced at his subordinate, whose real mistake was thinking he could predict Rose's mind. The scene at the horse stable had emboldened him, and he had no regrets. It was his only chance to ever taste that girl's blood.
The red-haired man sighed.
"I'll punish him personally," he said. "Thank you for your… blink. But you really should release him." He tapped the meteor pin on his chest, a polite smile masking a clear warning in his eyes.
Then he turned to Jane.
"Valensko Dravinci," he introduced himself while taking her hand with gentleness, lifting it slowly toward his lips. Jane stiffened, unsure whether to pull away or hold still, but he stopped right before their skin touched each other.
"May I take you under my wings as an apology?" Valensko asked. His eyes stopped at hers for just a moment, then flicked to Rose, clearly waiting for her permission.
"You thought too well," Rose replied instantly. "She is under my name."
By the time her last word settled in the air, her gaze had already finished a circle around the room and landed on the young butler.
The butler looked first to Valensko. Then a golden name tag, with her name engraved on it, appeared in his hand. He opened a thick leather-bound notebook. It resembled an old photo album, the kind with nylon pockets.
Each page was neatly divided into two columns and several rows, filled with labels that glinted faintly under the chandelier. The butler flipped through them quickly and stopped at an empty spread.
A page dedicated entirely to one name. Rose Katarina. And no subordinates beneath her.
He slipped Jane's name tag into the vacant slot with a soft slide and shut the notebook before any curious eyes could catch a glimpse.
"Let's go," Alice said as she started moving, and Jane followed.
Things were resolved, yet a faint chill lingered on her neck the moment her eyes accidentally met Rose's. She rubbed it away, pretended she was just adjusting her chin, then dropped the act when she remembered she wasn't sitting at a classroom desk.
Thankfully, no one saw.
Valensko turned away, his red hair swaying behind his back like a mini tail, with a bigger one following behind.
The shadows swallowed their figures as they disappeared down the corridor and slipped into a crossing hallway.
"I still don't understand why Rose hadn't switched her pin," the subordinate muttered bitterly. "Hanging out with those lowly twins. That stuck-up, fake,... bunch of vampires."
He glanced at his master. Valensko's stride was never disrupted. That gave him the courage.
"I mean, was Ruby's death... Urgh—"
The sentence never finished. Jack folded, one arm covering his stomach, the other hanging on the wall to keep his whole body upright.
"I was... talking about... the twins," he mumbled through the pain.
Valensko didn't even blink. He gave him another hook, in the face this time. Jack's head snapped to the side, his body following a second later.
"Don't play with me, Jack. Just because you are the only tester doesn't make you irreplaceable."
"Forgive me, master."
Valensko straightened and walked away, his anger dissolving as abruptly as it had arrived. Not a trace of it lingered in his posture, as if the last minute had never happened.
The only evidence of it remained behind.
Jack stayed kneeling at the threshold, head bowed down parallel to the floor. The thick carpet couldn't reflect his expression, perhaps thankfully.