Several months passed.
By then, Zander had become part of the rhythm of Hairene and Lulu's lives.
After school, they met in the park.
On weekends, they wandered the shopping streets or crowded around arcade cabinets.
Hairene still scolded Lulu for ignoring homework.
Lulu still pretended she would somehow become a Hunter through pure determination.
Zander usually got caught in the middle.
For a while…
Things felt normal.
Almost safe.
Then one evening, Zander came home and knew something was wrong before he even opened the door.
The house was too quiet.
Not peaceful.
Wrong.
The lights were off in the hallway, even though his father was usually home by this hour. The living room television sat dark. No music. No footsteps. No familiar voice calling out from another room.
Zander stood just inside the entrance.
Zander: "Dad?"
Nothing.
He closed the door behind him.
His bag slid from his shoulder and landed near the wall.
Zander: "Mom?"
Still nothing.
A cold feeling settled in his stomach.
He walked deeper into the house.
Each step seemed louder than the last.
The kitchen was empty.
So was the living room.
Then he noticed the bedroom door.
Partially open.
Zander slowed.
Zander: "Dad?"
He pushed it wider.
And froze.
His father lay on the floor beside the bed.
Completely still.
For a second, Zander's mind refused to understand what he was looking at.
Then he saw the blood.
His breath disappeared.
Zander: "…Dad?"
He rushed forward.
Zander: "Dad!"
He dropped to his knees beside him.
Zander grabbed his father's shoulder.
Shook him.
Zander: "Wake up!"
Nothing.
Zander: "Dad!"
He shook harder.
His voice broke.
Zander: "Dad, come on!"
No reaction.
No breath.
No irritated groan telling him to stop yelling.
Nothing.
Zander's hands began trembling.
Zander: "Mom!"
His voice echoed through the house.
Zander: "MOM!"
Footsteps approached from the hallway.
Zander looked up.
His mother appeared around the doorway.
Zander immediately pointed toward the floor.
Zander: "Mom!"
He could barely breathe.
Zander: "Dad's—Dad's dead!"
His words tumbled over one another.
Zander: "Something happened! We need to call someone! We need a doctor, or Hunters, or—"
His mother didn't move.
Zander stared at her.
Zander: "Mom?"
Her expression was calm.
Not shocked.
Not frightened.
Not grieving.
Calm.
Zander slowly stopped speaking.
Zander: "…Why are you just standing there?"
His mother looked toward her husband's body.
Then back at him.
Mother: "Because I already know."
Zander frowned.
Zander: "What?"
Mother: "I killed him."
Silence.
Zander stared.
For several seconds, he genuinely believed he'd heard her wrong.
Zander: "…What?"
She stepped into the room.
Mother: "I killed your father."
Zander shook his head immediately.
Zander: "No."
His voice came out weak.
Zander: "No, you didn't."
Mother: "I did."
Zander: "Stop."
Mother: "Zander."
Zander: "Stop saying that."
She remained infuriatingly calm.
Zander looked down at his father again.
Then back at her.
Zander: "Why would you do that?"
Mother: "Because we're done."
Zander's face tightened.
Zander: "Done with what?"
She glanced around the room.
At the bed.
The photographs.
The clothes.
The house they had lived in together.
Mother: "Playing house."
The words hit him strangely.
Zander: "What are you talking about?"
Mother: "This."
She gestured toward everything around them.
Mother: "Pretending."
Zander slowly stood.
Mother: "Your father was useful for a while."
Zander's eyes widened.
Mother: "But I'm tired of pretending we're something we're not."
Zander: "He was your husband."
Mother: "He was human."
Zander: "So what?!"
His voice cracked through the room.
His mother barely reacted.
Mother: "We're vampires, Zander."
Zander stared at her.
Mother: "It's time you started living like one."
Zander: "I already am!"
Mother: "No."
She smiled faintly.
Mother: "You're hiding."
Zander: "I'm living."
Mother: "Like a human."
Zander: "Because I was born here!"
Mother: "That doesn't make you one of them."
Zander's breathing quickened.
Zander: "I don't want to live differently."
Mother: "You don't know what you want."
Zander: "Yes, I do!"
He clenched his fists.
Zander: "I have friends."
His mother's expression shifted slightly.
Zander: "Really good friends."
He swallowed.
Zander: "They know what I am."
That finally earned her interest.
Mother: "They know?"
Zander nodded quickly.
Zander: "And they trust me."
For the first time since entering the room…
His mother smiled.
Zander felt relief for exactly one second.
Mother: "Perfect."
His stomach dropped.
Zander: "What?"
Mother: "Start with them."
Zander stared at her.
Mother: "Devour them."
The room seemed to tilt.
Zander: "…What?"
Mother: "You heard me."
Zander stepped backward.
Zander: "No."
Mother: "You'll need blood."
Zander: "No."
Mother: "You've had your father's blood available to you for years."
Zander's face drained of color.
Zander: "What are you talking about?"
She ignored the question.
Mother: "Now that he's gone, the hunger will build."
Zander shook his head.
Zander: "I don't drink from him."
Mother: "Not consciously."
Zander stared.
She walked closer.
Mother: "Your body has always gotten what it needed."
Zander: "You're lying."
Mother: "You'll see."
His back hit the wall.
Mother: "At first, it'll just feel uncomfortable."
Her tone remained instructional.
Almost gentle.
Mother: "Then you'll start thinking about blood more often."
Zander covered his ears.
Zander: "Stop."
Mother: "You'll smell it."
Zander: "Stop."
Mother: "You'll hear heartbeats."
Zander: "STOP!"
She continued anyway.
Mother: "And eventually…"
She leaned closer.
Mother: "You'll be so hungry that the first human near you won't look like a friend anymore."
Zander's entire body trembled.
Mother: "They'll look like food."
He saw Hairene.
Lulu.
Both smiling.
Both trusting him.
His chest tightened painfully.
Zander: "No."
Mother: "You won't be able to help it."
Zander: "I won't hurt them."
Mother: "You will."
Zander: "I WON'T!"
Mother: "Everyone does eventually."
That wasn't true.
But Zander didn't know that.
She didn't tell him that his half-vampire body could also survive on vampire blood.
She didn't tell him there were alternatives.
She didn't tell him anything that might give him hope.
She only watched the fear spread across his face.
Mother: "And when it happens…"
Her smile returned.
Mother: "You'll finally understand what you are."
Zander looked down at his father's body.
Everything he'd built over the past several months suddenly felt fragile.
Hairene trusting him.
Lulu defending him.
The park.
The arcade.
The stupid jokes.
The first real friends he'd ever had.
All of it slipping through his fingers.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't think.
He felt like the room was closing around him.
⸻
Another month passed.
Then another.
Zander told no one.
Not Hairene.
Not Lulu.
Not teachers.
Not Hunters.
Nobody.
He continued meeting them after school.
Continued laughing.
Continued pretending.
At first…
That was easy.
Hairene complained about Lulu's grades.
Lulu complained about Hairene complaining.
Zander played mediator.
Normal.
Everything normal.
Except it wasn't.
His father was gone.
His mother barely pretended to mourn him.
And every day, Zander felt something changing inside himself.
At first, it was just thirst.
Then headaches.
Then restlessness.
He began noticing things he had never noticed before.
The pulse in Lulu's neck when she laughed too hard.
The tiny cut on Hairene's finger after she scraped it against a fence.
The smell of blood when another child fell at the park.
Those moments terrified him.
He would look away immediately.
Sometimes he left early.
Lulu: "Already?"
Zander: "Yeah."
Hairene: "Are you sick?"
Zander: "Just tired."
It became his favorite lie.
He started avoiding food.
Sleeping badly.
Spending longer periods alone.
Whenever Hairene asked if something was wrong, he smiled.
Zander: "I'm fine."
She never fully believed him.
That made things worse.
Because every time she looked at him with concern…
He remembered how much she trusted him.
And then he remembered his mother's words.
You'll be so hungry that the first human near you won't look like a friend anymore.
One afternoon, Lulu reached over to steal candy from his hand.
Her finger brushed against his.
Zander flinched so hard that the candy scattered across the ground.
Lulu blinked.
Lulu: "What was that?"
Zander: "Nothing."
Hairene watched him carefully.
Zander crouched and hurriedly gathered the pieces.
His hands shook.
The hunger had started to hurt.
Not constantly.
But enough.
A hollow ache inside his body that never completely disappeared.
He tried drinking more water.
Eating more food.
Sleeping longer.
Nothing helped.
Because none of those things were what his body wanted.
Weeks passed.
The hunger grew.
And every day, Zander became more afraid of himself.
He still met Hairene and Lulu.
Still smiled.
Still laughed.
But now…
Every happy moment carried a countdown he could feel ticking inside his chest.
And somewhere deep down, Zander knew the worst part wasn't that his mother's prediction might come true.
It was that he was starting to believe her.
***
Zander waited until well after sunset.
The alley he chose was narrow, wedged between two aging buildings where the streetlights barely reached. Trash bags were piled beside rusted bins, and rainwater collected in shallow cracks along the pavement.
He wore a dark hoodie pulled low over his face.
Not because he thought it made him invisible.
Because he couldn't stand the thought of being recognized.
Hairene and Lulu were out of the question.
He had decided that before leaving home.
No matter how bad the hunger became…
He wouldn't touch them.
He couldn't.
So he'd come up with something else.
Something he desperately tried convincing himself was different.
Just a stranger.
Someone he didn't know.
Someone he would never see again.
Just enough blood to make the pain stop.
Then he'd leave.
Nobody had to die.
Nobody even had to know.
Zander pressed his back against the cold brick wall.
His stomach twisted painfully.
He hadn't felt normal in weeks.
The hunger had grown from an ache into something that occupied nearly every thought.
Every passing pedestrian brought another heartbeat.
Every scraped knee.
Every cut finger.
Every smell of blood.
He hated himself for noticing.
Tonight…
He was going to fix it.
Just a little.
That was all.
Zander: "Just enough."
He whispered it to himself.
Zander: "Then I'll stop."
Footsteps echoed from the street.
Zander immediately stiffened.
Someone passed the alley entrance.
Kept walking.
His shoulders loosened.
He wasn't even sure what kind of person he was waiting for.
Someone alone.
That much was obvious.
Someone who wouldn't fight back.
That thought made him feel sick.
Then another thought followed.
Someone who deserves it.
That made him feel even worse.
He didn't want to become the kind of person who decided who deserved to be prey.
Another ten minutes passed.
Then—
Loud, uneven footsteps.
A man stumbled around the corner.
Zander slowly lifted his head.
The stranger looked middle-aged, his clothes wrinkled and his movements sluggish.
He made it halfway into the alley before suddenly bending over beside a trash can.
Zander's expression twisted.
The man vomited loudly into it.
Zander stared.
Of all the people in Shioto…
This was who he got?
The man coughed, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and leaned against the bin.
Zander silently watched from the shadows.
A completely inappropriate thought entered his head.
Would his blood even taste good?
Zander frowned at himself.
Zander: "What am I thinking…?"
He should leave.
He knew he should.
The man's blood probably tasted like whatever he'd spent the entire evening drinking.
Zander almost laughed at the absurdity.
Then the wind shifted.
And he smelled him.
His expression went blank.
Everything else disappeared.
The garbage.
The vomit.
The damp alley.
All Zander could smell was blood moving beneath skin.
Warm.
Alive.
His mouth dried instantly.
His fangs extended before he could stop them.
Zander grabbed the sides of his hoodie.
No.
He shut his eyes.
Just a little.
The man finished coughing.
Straightened slightly.
Zander counted several seconds.
One.
Two.
Three.
The stranger began stumbling toward the other end of the alley.
Zander moved.
He crossed the distance before he'd fully decided to.
The man barely had time to turn.
"Huh—?"
Zander grabbed him from behind.
The man shouted.
"What the hell?!"
Zander's arms tightened around him.
The stranger struggled, throwing his weight backward.
Zander was stronger.
Far stronger.
Zander stared at the side of the man's neck.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
Not Zander's.
His.
The pulse beneath the skin looked impossibly obvious.
Zander: "I'm sorry."
The man twisted.
"What?!"
Zander bit down.
His fangs pierced the man's neck.
The stranger screamed.
Zander's eyes widened.
Blood touched his tongue.
For one second…
Everything stopped.
The first swallow hit him like lightning.
Warmth flooded his mouth.
His body reacted immediately.
The headaches vanished.
The pain in his stomach loosened.
The constant dryness in his throat disappeared.
Something euphoric rushed through him so quickly that his knees nearly weakened.
Zander took another swallow.
Then another.
His grip tightened.
The man struggled desperately.
Zander suddenly realized what he was doing.
He ripped himself away.
The stranger collapsed against the wall, clutching his neck.
Zander stumbled backward.
Blood remained on his lips.
He touched it.
Stared at the red coating his fingertips.
Zander: "No…"
His breathing became frantic.
He had done it.
He had actually attacked someone.
But worse than that…
He had liked it.
No.
Not liked.
His entire body wanted more.
The small amount he'd taken hadn't satisfied the hunger.
It had awakened it.
Zander backed away.
Zander: "That's enough."
His voice shook.
Zander: "That's enough."
The stranger stared at him in horror.
"You freak…"
Zander flinched.
The word should have hurt.
It barely registered.
Because all he could hear was that heartbeat.
Still beating.
Still full.
Still calling to him.
Zander clenched his fists.
Zander: "Go."
The man didn't move.
Zander shouted.
Zander: "GO!"
A soft laugh came from behind him.
Zander froze.
His mother's voice.
Mother: "Addicting, isn't it?"
He slowly turned.
She stood at the mouth of the alley.
Watching.
Calm.
Almost proud.
Zander's face twisted.
Zander: "You followed me?"
Mother: "Of course."
She stepped closer.
Mother: "I wanted to see when you'd finally stop pretending."
Zander wiped his mouth violently with his sleeve.
Zander: "I stopped."
Mother glanced toward the bleeding man.
Mother: "Did you?"
Zander: "I only needed a little."
Mother: "And how do you feel?"
He didn't answer.
She smiled.
Mother: "Better?"
Zander: "Shut up."
Mother: "Stronger?"
Zander: "Shut up."
Mother: "Hungry?"
That word pierced straight through him.
Zander looked away.
His mother stopped beside him.
Mother: "Once a vampire has been starved long enough, human blood changes."
Zander: "I don't care."
Mother: "You should."
She looked toward the stranger.
Mother: "Before starvation, you can resist it."
Her eyes returned to Zander.
Mother: "After?"
She smiled.
Mother: "It becomes irresistible."
Zander shook his head.
Zander: "No."
Mother: "You already know I'm right."
Zander: "I'm done."
Mother: "Then walk away."
He tried.
His foot moved.
One step.
Then stopped.
The stranger's heartbeat echoed again.
Zander's fingers curled.
Mother: "Go ahead."
Zander: "Stop talking."
Mother: "Leave."
Zander clenched his teeth.
Mother: "Go back to Hairene."
His eyes widened.
Mother: "Go back to Lulu."
Zander: "Don't say their names."
Mother: "Pretend you're still their harmless little friend."
His breathing became heavier.
Mother: "But remember this feeling."
The man began crawling toward the alley exit.
Zander watched him.
Mother: "Because the next time you get hungry…"
The stranger groaned.
Mother: "It might be one of them standing this close."
Zander's face crumpled.
Zander: "I said stop."
Mother: "Then prove me wrong."
He tried turning away.
He really did.
He imagined Hairene's smile.
Lulu laughing.
The arcade.
The park.
Everything he wanted to protect.
Then the stranger whimpered.
The smell of blood intensified.
Zander's pupils narrowed.
His body moved before his mind could catch up.
Zander: "No—"
He lunged.
The man barely managed to scream.
Zander slammed him back against the pavement and buried his fangs into his neck again.
This time…
He didn't pull away.
His mother watched silently.
Zander's hands shook.
Tears streamed down his face.
But he kept drinking.
Every swallow made the hunger easier to obey.
The man's struggling weakened.
Zander could hear himself crying.
He could hear his own thoughts screaming at him to stop.
And yet his body refused.
A horrifying realization settled over him.
His mother had been right about one thing.
Once the hunger had tasted what it wanted…
Wanting became needing.
The stranger's movements slowed.
Then stopped.
Zander remained there for several seconds longer before finally lifting his head.
Blood stained his mouth.
His hoodie.
His hands.
He stared down.
The man beneath him no longer moved.
Zander's breath caught.
Zander: "…No."
He scrambled backward.
Zander: "No."
His mother stood several feet away.
Mother: "There."
Zander stared at her.
She smiled.
Mother: "Now you're starting to understand."
Zander looked down at the body.
His stomach no longer hurt.
The headaches were gone.
His body felt stronger than it had in months.
And that made everything worse.
Because somewhere beneath the horror…
A tiny part of him still wanted more.
***
By the time Hairene and Lulu entered their final year of middle school, Zander had changed.
Not enough for anyone else to notice.
But enough for Hairene to feel it.
He still smiled.
Still joked.
Still met them after school.
Still complained when Lulu dragged them somewhere they hadn't planned on going.
From the outside, he seemed normal.
Maybe even more normal than before.
Calmer.
More confident.
Older.
What Hairene didn't know was that Zander had stopped fighting his hunger months ago.
The first human had broken something inside him.
After that, the line became easier to cross.
Then easier again.
He learned where to hunt.
When to disappear.
How to clean himself up afterward.
How to return home and speak as though nothing had happened.
He stopped starving.
Stopped shaking.
Stopped waking from nightmares with his father's death replaying behind his eyes.
Human blood had become part of his life.
And eventually…
So had killing.
Yet somehow, he kept the two halves of himself separate.
Around Hairene and Lulu, he was still Zander.
Their friend.
The boy from the park.
The boy who had once gotten hurt protecting Hairene because he refused to harm a human.
That version of him still existed.
Somewhere.
But it was becoming harder to tell where he ended…
And the monster his mother wanted began.
⸻
Lulu slapped both hands against her desk.
Lulu: "One more year!"
Hairene didn't look up from her notes.
Hairene: "One more year until what?"
Lulu stared at her.
Lulu: "Are you serious?"
Hairene finally looked over.
Lulu: "Hunter Academy!"
Her eyes practically sparkled.
Lulu: "We can apply after this year!"
Hairene: "If you pass."
Lulu's excitement immediately weakened.
Lulu: "Why do you always add that part?"
Hairene: "Because you keep pretending requirements don't exist."
Lulu leaned over her desk.
Lulu: "I've been training like crazy."
Hairene: "Training doesn't replace studying."
Lulu: "It should."
Hairene: "It doesn't."
Lulu: "Then the system is flawed."
Hairene sighed.
The classroom buzzed around them as students settled in before the morning bell.
Lulu leaned closer.
Lulu: "Seriously, though."
She flexed one arm.
Lulu: "I'm way stronger now."
Hairene looked at the unimpressive display.
Hairene: "Terrifying."
Lulu: "You're jealous."
Hairene: "Of what?"
Lulu: "My muscles."
Hairene: "I can't see them."
Lulu: "They're compact."
Hairene couldn't help laughing.
Then her eyes drifted toward the window.
For just a moment…
Her smile faded.
Zander had met them before school that morning.
He didn't attend the same school, but he'd walked with them part of the way like he often did.
Nothing unusual had happened.
They'd joked.
Lulu had talked endlessly about Hunter Academy.
Zander had smiled and told her she'd probably terrify the instructors.
Everything had been normal.
Yet…
Hairene hadn't been able to stop looking at him.
Something felt wrong.
Not dangerous.
Not obvious.
Just…
Different.
It reminded her of something.
She tried remembering what.
Then the morning bell rang.
Her thought disappeared beneath the teacher's voice.
⸻
The strange feeling returned during second period.
Hairene found herself staring at the board without absorbing any of the lesson.
Zander's acting different.
But how?
His voice?
No.
The way he dressed?
No.
His jokes?
Mostly the same.
Then what?
Hairene tapped her pencil against the desk.
It wasn't even the first time she'd had this feeling.
That was what bothered her.
She'd felt it before.
Months ago.
Back when Zander had started leaving early.
When his hands shook.
When he looked exhausted all the time.
He'd eventually gotten better.
At least…
She thought he had.
Now there was something else.
Something colder.
The teacher called her name.
Hairene immediately sat straight.
Teacher: "Would you like to share the answer with the class?"
Hairene glanced toward the board.
Then answered correctly.
The teacher nodded.
Hairene looked back down.
Lulu leaned toward her from the neighboring desk.
Lulu: "Show-off."
Hairene: "Pay attention."
Lulu: "I am."
Hairene: "What was the question?"
Lulu went silent.
Hairene raised an eyebrow.
Lulu: "I was paying attention spiritually."
Hairene: "That's not a thing."
⸻
By late morning, Hairene couldn't ignore it anymore.
During a break between classes, she and Lulu stood beside the hallway windows while students moved around them.
Hairene: "Do you think Zander's been acting different?"
Lulu looked over.
Lulu: "Different how?"
Hairene: "I don't know."
Lulu: "Helpful."
Hairene frowned.
Hairene: "I'm serious."
Lulu thought about it.
Lulu: "Maybe a little."
Hairene immediately straightened.
Hairene: "See?"
Lulu: "But not in a bad way."
Hairene: "What do you mean?"
Lulu shrugged.
Lulu: "He's just… calmer now."
Hairene nodded slowly.
That was part of it.
Lulu: "Maybe he's maturing."
Hairene looked offended.
Hairene: "Before us?"
Lulu: "Low bar."
Hairene lightly hit her shoulder.
Lulu laughed.
Then her expression softened.
Lulu: "I think he's okay."
Hairene stared through the window.
Hairene: "Maybe."
Lulu: "You're worrying too much."
Hairene: "Probably."
But the feeling remained.
It sat quietly in the back of her mind.
A faint pressure.
A warning without words.
She couldn't explain it.
Couldn't prove it.
So eventually…
She let it go.
⸻
The bell for lunch rang.
Lulu immediately stood.
Lulu: "Food."
Hairene gathered her books.
Hairene: "You have a one-track mind."
Lulu: "Food is important."
Hairene: "So is studying."
Lulu: "Don't ruin lunch before we even get there."
The two stepped into the hallway.
They made it halfway toward the cafeteria before three older-looking boys blocked their path.
Hairene stopped.
Lulu looked between them.
One of the boys smiled.
Bully: "So it's true."
Lulu: "What?"
Bully: "You're actually gonna apply to the Hunter Academy."
Hairene's expression flattened.
Oh.
One of these.
She leaned slightly toward Lulu.
Hairene: "Cliché bullies."
Lulu covered a laugh.
The second boy frowned.
Bully 2: "What'd she say?"
Hairene: "Nothing important."
The first boy looked toward Lulu.
Bully: "You really think they're gonna let someone like you in?"
Lulu's smile faded.
Hairene's eyes sharpened.
Bully: "Hunters are supposed to be strong."
Bully 3: "And impressive."
The first one grinned.
Bully: "You're ugly and weak."
Hairene's hand curled into a fist.
That was enough.
She stepped forward.
Lulu grabbed her wrist.
Hairene looked over.
Lulu shook her head.
Hairene: "Lulu."
Lulu released her.
Then stepped toward the boys herself.
Lulu: "You think I'm weak?"
The first bully laughed.
Bully: "Obviously."
Lulu smiled.
Lulu: "Then you should be able to take me down pretty easily."
Hairene's eyes widened slightly.
Bully 2: "What?"
Lulu: "Three of you."
She pointed between them.
Lulu: "One of me."
Her smile brightened.
Lulu: "Seems fair."
Students nearby began slowing down.
A small crowd formed almost immediately.
The first boy looked around.
Then back at Lulu.
Bully: "Don't start something you can't finish."
Lulu's expression changed.
Not angry.
Confident.
Lulu: "I'm just finishing what you started."
Hairene stared at her.
For one moment…
She saw the girl from years ago.
The girl sitting on a swing saying she'd become a Hunter so nobody could look down on her again.
The first bully cracked his knuckles.
Bully: "Fine."
He stepped forward.
Bully: "Don't regret this."
He threw the first punch.
Lulu moved.
Cleanly.
No panic.
No wasted motion.
She slipped outside the punch and drove the edge of her hand sharply into his throat.
The boy staggered backward, choking.
The crowd gasped.
Bully 2: "You little—"
He rushed her.
Lulu pivoted.
Caught his arm.
Used his momentum against him.
He hit the floor hard enough to make several students shout.
The third came from behind.
Hairene almost moved.
She didn't need to.
Lulu ducked beneath the grab, drove an elbow into his stomach, then swept his legs from under him.
He collapsed beside the second bully.
Silence.
Three boys.
All down.
Lulu stood between them, breathing a little heavier.
Then she straightened her uniform.
Lulu: "Weak, huh?"
The hallway exploded.
Students cheered.
Someone clapped loudly.
Another student shouted her name.
Lulu's eyes widened.
Then she laughed.
A bright, almost disbelieving laugh.
Hairene remained near the wall.
She couldn't stop smiling.
Pride filled her chest.
Not because Lulu had beaten them.
Because she'd stood up for herself.
The girl who once believed everyone else had already decided what she was worth…
Had finally begun deciding it herself.
Lulu turned.
Her eyes found Hairene in the crowd.
She smiled.
Bright.
Happy.
Proud.
Hairene smiled back.
For that moment…
Lulu looked unstoppable.
⸻
Later that night…
The smile was gone.
Hairene wouldn't see it yet.
Wouldn't know anything was wrong.
Wouldn't know that somewhere beneath the darkness of the city…
The girl who had smiled at her only hours earlier lay completely still.
Her eyes empty.
Her body lifeless.
And somewhere nearby…
Zander stood in silence.
***
The message arrived shortly after sunset.
Zander: Come meet us. I have something important to tell Lulu.
Hairene stared at the screen.
Us?
She immediately assumed he meant himself and Lulu.
A second message followed with an address.
It wasn't the park.
Wasn't the arcade.
Wasn't any of their usual meeting places.
It was somewhere near the edge of the district, where abandoned storage buildings stood between narrow streets that most people avoided after dark.
Hairene frowned.
Hairene: "What are those two doing…?"
Then she remembered Lulu's smile from earlier.
The way she'd stood in the hallway after defeating all three boys.
Proud.
Happy.
For once, completely unaffected by what anyone thought of her.
Hairene smiled to herself.
Maybe Zander really did have something important to say.
She grabbed her jacket and left.
⸻
The farther Hairene walked, the quieter the district became.
Homes disappeared.
Streetlights became farther apart.
The lively sounds of the city faded until only her footsteps remained.
Hairene checked the address again.
Hairene: "Seriously, Zander…"
She turned the final corner.
Then stopped.
Zander stood beneath a flickering streetlight.
His back was facing her.
Hairene: "Zander?"
He didn't move.
Hairene took another step.
Hairene: "What's going on?"
Then she noticed something lying near his feet.
Her eyes lowered.
A shoe.
Hairene recognized it immediately.
Her breathing stopped.
Hairene: "…Lulu?"
Zander slowly turned.
Hairene's eyes traveled past him.
And found her.
Lulu lay motionless against the pavement.
The same girl who had been laughing only hours earlier.
The same girl who had looked through the crowd and smiled directly at Hairene.
Now…
Nothing.
No movement.
No smile.
No life behind her eyes.
Hairene didn't scream.
She couldn't.
Her entire face seemed to seize beneath a mixture of horror, heartbreak, and disgust.
Her lips trembled.
Her eyes widened until they hurt.
The world around her suddenly felt impossibly distant.
Hairene: "…What's the meaning of this?"
Zander stared at her.
There was blood on him.
His expression was disturbingly calm.
Almost empty.
Zander: "I told her I wanted to confess my feelings to her."
Hairene's eyes moved toward Lulu.
Then back to him.
Zander gave the faintest smile.
Zander: "And I did."
Hairene's stomach turned.
Zander: "My feelings to eat her."
Something inside Hairene broke.
And then—
Everything came back.
Not gradually.
All at once.
Her childhood.
Lulu.
Zander.
The park.
The arcade.
His father.
No…
She hadn't known about that.
But this alley—
This moment—
She knew this.
Hairene's breathing slowed.
The grief didn't disappear.
Instead…
It became familiar.
The body before her wasn't something she was seeing for the first time.
She'd seen it years ago.
The clothes.
The streetlight.
Zander's face.
Those exact words.
Hairene slowly looked at her own hands.
Small.
Twelve-year-old hands.
Her eyes narrowed.
Hairene: "…That's right."
Zander tilted his head.
Zander: "What?"
Hairene ignored him.
She wasn't twelve.
She hadn't been twelve for a very long time.
Images flashed through her mind.
Hanabi Island.
The ravine.
Nicholas.
Iris.
Chifuyu.
Silver hair.
A vampire pointing toward her.
Then darkness.
Hairene's expression changed.
Every trace of the bubbly young girl disappeared.
The hardened Hunter returned behind twelve-year-old eyes.
Hairene: "That vampire."
Zander frowned.
Zander: "What are you talking about?"
Hairene finally looked at him.
Her face became completely emotionless.
That frightened him more than anger would have.
In the real past…
Hairene remembered what happened next.
She had looked at Lulu.
Looked at Zander.
And run.
She had run until her lungs hurt.
Crying so hard she could barely see.
She had been a child staring at something far beyond what she knew how to process.
For years afterward, she'd hated herself for running.
Hated Zander more.
Now…
She had been returned to that exact moment.
Only this time…
Hairene wasn't the helpless twelve-year-old who had originally stood here.
Her body might have been.
But her mind wasn't.
Her experience wasn't.
And neither was her rage.
Hairene's eyes moved toward the wall.
An old metal pipe rested beside a pile of construction debris.
She walked toward it.
Zander watched her.
Zander: "Hairene?"
She picked it up.
Tested its weight once.
Zander's expression changed.
Zander: "What are you doing?"
Hairene turned.
No answer.
She rushed him.
Zander barely raised his arms before the pipe crashed against them.
CLANG!
The force knocked him sideways.
Zander: "What the—?!"
Hairene followed immediately.
Her footwork had changed completely.
Every movement possessed years of discipline that her younger body had never learned.
Zander swung wildly.
Hairene slipped outside the punch.
The pipe struck his ribs.
He stumbled.
Before he recovered, Hairene drove the end into his stomach.
Zander coughed and dropped to one knee.
His eyes widened.
Zander: "How are you—"
Hairene brought the pipe down.
He rolled aside.
The metal cracked against pavement.
Hairene adjusted instantly and swept his legs.
Zander hit the ground.
He scrambled backward.
Zander: "Hairene, stop!"
She continued walking.
There was no fury visible on her face.
That was the terrifying part.
No screaming.
No tears.
No shaking.
Only cold purpose.
Zander: "What's wrong with you?!"
Hairene finally spoke.
Hairene: "You."
He froze.
Hairene: "For years."
She stepped closer.
Hairene: "I've thought about what I'd do if I ever saw you again."
Zander stared at her in confusion.
Hairene: "I wondered what I'd say."
Another step.
Hairene: "Whether I'd ask why."
She tightened her grip around the pipe.
Hairene: "Whether there was some explanation that would make any of it hurt less."
Zander's back struck the wall.
Hairene stopped in front of him.
Hairene: "Turns out…"
She raised the pipe.
Hairene: "I don't care anymore."
He lunged.
Hairene pivoted.
The pipe struck the side of his knee.
He collapsed.
Hairene brought it down again.
And again.
She didn't fight like a child.
She fought like an experienced swordswoman whose weapon happened to be a piece of metal.
Zander's vampire strength meant nothing against technique he couldn't understand.
Every attempt to grab her was redirected.
Every charge was punished.
Every opening was exploited.
Hairene's memories had returned.
So had her swordsmanship.
The pipe became a blade in her hands.
A thrust.
Zander cried out.
Hairene pulled it free.
Another.
Then another.
Years of anger poured through movements executed with frightening calm.
He tried crawling away.
Hairene followed.
There was no hesitation left in her.
The boy who once smiled when she finally said she trusted him was nowhere in her eyes.
All she could see was Lulu lying behind them.
She continued until Zander no longer resembled the friend she remembered.
Until he stopped fighting.
Until the alley finally became silent.
Hairene stood over him.
Her breathing was steady.
The metal pipe slipped from her fingers.
It struck the pavement.
Clang.
Hairene stared down.
Nothing.
She had imagined this moment for years.
There had been nights when she'd wanted revenge so badly that she thought accomplishing it would finally loosen the knot buried inside her chest.
Instead…
Nothing changed.
Lulu remained dead.
Zander remained part of her past.
The anger remained exactly where it had always been.
Hairene looked toward Lulu's body.
Her expression cracked for only a moment.
Hairene: "…Damn it."
A slow clap sounded behind her.
Hairene's eyes narrowed.
Lily: "Wow."
Hairene turned.
The silver-haired vampire stood several meters away.
Her lips were pushed into a childish pout.
Lily: "That's two."
Hairene said nothing.
Lily: "Two people my curse didn't work on."
She sighed dramatically.
Lily: "How disappointing."
Hairene's eyes hardened.
Lily's disappointment quickly turned into amusement.
Lily: "Although…"
She looked past Hairene toward Zander.
Lily: "I wasn't expecting that."
Hairene reached down.
Her hand closed around the metal pipe.
Lily smiled.
Lily: "Don't tell me you're angry at me too."
Hairene moved.
One step.
A sharp pivot.
The metal pipe swept directly through Lily's neck.
Nothing happened.
Hairene's eyes widened slightly.
The weapon passed through her as though she'd struck smoke.
Lily remained exactly where she stood.
Lily: "I'm not really here."
Hairene slowly lowered the pipe.
Lily: "This is your dream."
She tapped the side of her own head.
Lily: "I'm just visiting."
Hairene: "Get me out."
Lily blinked.
Hairene: "Now."
Lily: "You two really aren't fun once you figure everything out."
Hairene stepped toward her.
Lily: "Though yours turned into a revenge fantasy remarkably quickly."
Hairene: "I said—"
A sound behind her stopped everything.
Footsteps.
Hairene turned.
Slow.
Measured.
Someone emerged from the darkness beyond Zander's body.
A woman.
Hairene's body reacted before her mind understood why.
A chill traveled from the base of her spine to the back of her neck.
Her grip tightened.
The woman walked beneath the streetlight.
Hairene stared.
She'd never seen her before.
Or…
She didn't think she had.
Yet something about the woman's presence made every instinct inside her scream.
Vampire.
Not like Zander.
Not like the weak vampires Hairene had fought throughout her life.
Something else.
The woman looked down at Zander.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then her eyes lifted toward Hairene.
The pressure changed instantly.
Hairene froze.
For the first time she could remember…
A vampire intimidated her simply by looking at her.
No curse had been activated.
No black veins appeared.
No weapon was drawn.
The woman merely stood there.
And Hairene understood that if this became a fight…
Her twelve-year-old body wouldn't matter.
Neither would her swordsmanship.
Something about this vampire was fundamentally different.
Lily appeared beside Hairene, following her gaze.
Lily: "Oh."
Her playful tone softened.
Lily: "That's interesting."
Hairene didn't look at her.
The woman stepped forward.
Hairene instinctively adjusted her stance.
The pipe rose.
Lily glanced between them.
Lily: "Looks like you're about to die."
No response.
Hairene's attention remained entirely fixed on the woman.
Lily: "Just so you know…"
She leaned closer.
Lily: "If you die in here, you die in real life."
Hairene didn't blink.
The vampire mother continued approaching.
Lily: "So…"
She smiled.
Lily: "Shall I save you?"
Nothing.
Hairene hadn't heard a word.
Her mind was completely focused on the creature standing before her.
Something buried in Hairene's memories shifted.
This woman…
Had been here.
Back then.
Hairene's eyes widened.
In the real memory, she hadn't known.
She'd been too broken by Lulu's death.
Too frightened.
Too young.
But now that the dream was recreating the past with everything that had truly existed around her…
She understood.
Zander's mother had been at the scene.
Watching.
Concealed somewhere nearby.
She had seen everything.
Even back then.
Hairene's stomach twisted.
Mother: "You killed my son."
Hairene's fingers tightened around the pipe.
No fear appeared on her face despite the cold running through her body.
Hairene: "Good."
Lily's eyebrows lifted.
The mother's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But the atmosphere became suffocating.
Hairene stepped forward anyway.
Lily sighed.
Lily: "Yep."
She scratched the back of her head.
Lily: "You're definitely going to get yourself killed."
Hairene didn't care.
Mother: "Do you understand what you've done?"
Hairene: "Do you?"
The woman stopped.
Hairene glanced toward Lulu.
Then back at her.
Hairene: "Because if you had anything to do with that…"
She raised the pipe.
Hairene: "I'll kill you too."
The vampire smiled.
Hairene felt that same chill again.
Not imagined.
Not exaggerated.
Real danger.
Lily stared at Hairene for several seconds.
Then rolled her eyes.
Lily: "Fine."
Hairene suddenly felt the ground disappear.
She looked down.
A twisted black gate opened directly beneath her feet.
Hairene: "What—"
She dropped.
The alley shot upward.
Hairene reached toward the edge, but darkness swallowed her before she could catch anything.
Above…
Lily waved.
Lily: "Can't have you dying here."
The gate began closing.
Lily looked toward Zander's mother.
Then down toward Hairene.
Her smile became unusually knowing.
Lily: "Especially considering you two might meet for real soon."
Hairene's eyes widened.
Hairene: "What did you—"
The gate slammed shut.
Darkness.
⸻
Air rushed into Hairene's lungs.
Her eyes snapped open.
Stone.
The ravine.
Pain from the fall.
Her real body.
Her real hands.
Her sword nearby.
Iris was crouched over her.
Iris: "Hairene!"
Nicholas turned immediately.
Nicholas: "She's awake!"
Hairene shot upright.
Her breathing came fast.
Her eyes searched the ravine.
No mother.
No Zander.
No Lulu.
Only reality.
Then—
Beside her…
Chifuyu's body stirred.
Hairene slowly clenched one fist.
Years had passed.
She'd buried those memories.
Buried the anger.
Buried that alley.
But now…
Lily had dragged every piece of it back into the light.
Hairene lowered her head.
Her face became cold.
And somewhere beneath that silence…
One thought remained louder than everything else.
You two might meet for real soon.