To our dismay, Mr. No. never ended up getting back to us that evening. We did, however, go out and celebrate by picking up dango on the way home.

“We’re back,” I called into the house. Wandering a short way into the living room, I discovered my mom seated on the couch, watching one of those vampire dramas. At first, watching them was Mom’s attempt to understand Evan a little better, but I think that became the excuse rather than the reason at some point.

“Welcome home, Miyu,” my mom said, pausing the show and beckoning us to sit with her on the couch. 

Kannya leapt right to the spot Mom was patting, grabbing Mom’s arm and placing it on top of her head. “Want headpats,” she requested with her device.

 Mom chuckled softly and began idly patting the little catgirl. “She seems to be in a good mood. Any luck today?”

I nodded, taking a seat opposite Kannya. “We found her dad on MagiNet. He’s a professor at Rivenwood Academy in California.”

Mom beamed. “That’s wonderful! California is a long way from New Haven, Miyu. Are you sure that was him?”

“Want hot popsicle,” Kannya interrupted. Since there wasn’t a button for dango on her device, Kannya found a creative way to convey her need for sugary rice sweets. I placated her with another stick from the bag I’d brought home with us, taking another one out for myself.

“I’m pretty sure,” I replied. “Kannya called him ‘daddy,’ and his voicemail said that he was busy looking for his daughter. Maybe she got lost in the fi-way?”

“The what?”

Before I could try to explain the ficus-based portal dimension network to my mom, the garage door opened, and Evan’s dad marched a pale girl in heels and a tight black dress inside. She kind of looked like Evan, back when he was trying to repress his identity and hide behind ‘Emma.’ 

Wait, no- that is him!

“Evan!?” I half shouted. “Holy shit, what happened to you?”

“Language, Miyu!” Mom scolded. Oops. Please don’t imitate that, Kannya.

“Why dress? Evan not girl.” Kannya typed as she chewed on her wooden stick. Okay, good. She was too distracted by Evan being… not Evan. Which, same.

“I- the girls from the gaming cafe invited me to a party… but they made me dress up as a girl because my other clothes weren’t nice enough…” He explained.

“They did what?” I asked, now full shouting in disbelief.

“Well, I, uh, thought it was for my disguise, you know… go in, learn stuff… but it failed. Big time.”

Oh, Evan. You big stupid idiot. Nothing was worth sacrificing your entire self-worth for!

Evan’s Dad was furious. Like, so mad I could see the veins bulging out of his head, and I’m not even a vampire. “You’re- that’s so- I- You are… grounded. Forever, maybe. You aren’t to leave the house unless at least one responsible person is with you. Do I make myself clear? No more ‘super spy’ stuff. No more hanging out with those girls. You. Are. Grounded. And you’d better be glad I can’t think of a way to punish you any more harshly!”

Evan hung his head in shame. “Yes, Dad… sorry, Dad.”

My mom stood, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Why would you even go somewhere with people who don’t respect you for who you are, Evan?”

“I just… wanted to be helpful,” He admitted. “Miyu and Sachi and Ada all have these cool powers and abilities they can talk about since Halloween, and what’s my power? Dysphoria? Needing blood? I just… felt so lame.”

There were several things wrong with that statement, which made it all the more upsetting for me to hear. Where do I even start with that?

“It’s not like that, and you know it, Evan!” I said. “We talk about all those things because it’s new and cool, but also because I need to learn all the things about being supernatural that I didn’t learn growing up like they did! If you weren’t always scowling at your phone, maybe you could’ve joined us and learned some things, too!”

Evan averted his gaze. I was right, and he knew it. He had labeled himself as miserable and hadn’t made any effort to change it. Evan just kept pushing us away. How do you help someone who doesn’t want to be helped?

“You’re special, too, Ev,” I continued, softening my tone. “Ada saw it- she started dating you after what, only a week? You gotta stop looking for what makes you ‘enough’ and start looking inside, Evan…”

That was enough to break him. Evan’s tears flowed freely for the first time in a while. Even if he didn’t think so, this was good for him. Hopefully, a good cathartic cry would help him start to bounce back.

Evan’s dad placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Evan… just… look, you’re still grounded, I’m not budging on that, you messed up badly… but… why don’t you go get changed. Make yourself comfortable again, at least. And we should all get to bed. It’s late. We’ll deal with whatever’s left of this situation in the morning.”

I nodded, and Evan took off for his room. I took Kannya upstairs and got her situated for bed. By which I mean I attempted to for about 15 minutes before giving in and just letting her watch videos on my phone. With any luck, she’d be knocked out by the time I wanted to go to bed.

Before that, I decided to check in on Evan, grabbing a pack of makeup wipes and a face scrub. Those girls really did a number on him, and overnight makeup would not be good for his skin. Was my clean-up attempt also girly? Yes… But like, it’s better than waking up feeling like you slept in mud. Fight me.

 I gently knocked on his door, and was relieved when he opened the door a smidge. He looked more like himself again, having swapped the dysphoria dress for a pair of sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. Some color had come back to his face, too, underneath all that pasty pale makeup.

“Hey,” I half-whispered.

“Hey,” he returned.

“I- um… I brought some makeup wipes and face wash, if you wanted a hand removing your makeup.”

“And a towel!” Yuki mewed, dropping a hand towel at his feet.

“...And a towel,” I repeated.

Evan looked at us for a moment before nodding and opening the door all the way for us. As Yuki and I stepped in, he slumped back onto his bed with a sigh.

I took a seat next to him, pulling out a wipe to remove the makeup. Jeez, this stuff was really caked on there… is looking deathly pale attractive to vampires? Ugh, those damn girls! If I meet them, I am going to have words. But this was Evan we’re talking about. How long has he been hanging out with those guys who’ve been equally awful to him?

“You’re not going to hang out with those girls anymore, right?” I asked.

“No… I guess I got what I was looking for anyway… I think.”

I continued my methodical removal of Evan’s dust mask. “You think? What’d you find out? Close your eyes so I can get your eyelids.”

“I met the two in charge of the coven. A woman named Scarlet and a man named Evander.”

Scarlet, huh? For a secret vampire coven leader, her name wasn’t exactly subtle. The other one, though…  “Evander? That’s pretty close to your name. Just a coincidence, right?”

He shrugged. “Probably. Apparently, I was one of the first handful Scarlet turned when she arrived in New Haven. Also, apparently, all the people she turns are girls. Or turn into girls, I guess. All the ones Evander turns are guys. We’re supposed to be ‘made’ for each other.”

I scrunched my face. “Ew. That sounds gross and old-fashioned in the worst way.”

Evan nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I guess. There was a guy there, Sebastian, he… well, he said he was Evander’s actual son. And his first turned vampire. I spent most of my time at the party with him… drinking, and… dancing. Kissing. I just couldn’t help myself.”

I made another ugly face. “Double ew. You cheated on Ada with this guy?”

“I know,” He groaned. “I’m gonna tell her tomorrow in person, but it really was like I couldn’t… I dunno… resist this guy very well. I swear I’m not bi, I just…”

“Felt compelled?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

I thought back to the myth and magic conversation on this exact topic I’d had with my magical coworkers today. What did Ada say about vampires, again?

“For your sake, I hope you were. I mean, vampiric magnetism and charisma are big things in the myths, right? If you were supposed to pair off with this guy, maybe that’s what was going on?”

“Oh. Fuck.” Evan shut down a little, assuming a fetal position with his now half-clean face.

“Hey- I’m still working here-”

“If I hadn’t left when I did, I might have ended up being ‘his’, or whatever… That’s terrifying, Miyu.”

I frowned as I thought about that. I just couldn’t imagine Evan being some docile housewife, especially if he was miserable and forced to be a woman. Eugh, just thinking about that made me uncomfortable. “Ugh… sorry. You should come with me to the cafe tomorrow. Get out of the house and be with people who actually care about you?”

 He gave me one of his noncommittal shrugs. “Sure… not like I’m going anywhere else with my grounding in effect.”

“Oh, come on,” I pushed. “It’ll be good for you. Plus, you’ll get to play with Kannya- she’s great at making you laugh.”

“I’m not really great with kids, but okay.”

“You’ll be fine. Just play a couple rounds of Connect 4 with her. She could play that all day.”

“Mmm.” He mmm’d, giving me a weak smile and looking up at me. “How was your day?” Considering the shitty day he just had, I was surprised he bothered to ask at all. But then again, that’s the Evan I know. 

“Good. Productive,” I replied. “I think we found Kannya’s parents, actually. There’s a college in California for myths- Rivenwood Academy? I left her dad a message. Professor Strife NoLastName?”

“...His last name is NoLastName?”

“We said the same thing. But his answering message was about a missing daughter, so… if nothing else, at least we can talk to someone from the college when they get back to us.”

“Nice. Hopefully that pans out and we can get her home soon,” Evan said with a small smile.

“She also had this… thing she gave to me today,” I explained, pulling out the magic necklace. “Some kind of fang… totally covered in runes, too. Not even Sachi could read it all. She did say you and Ada shouldn’t touch it, though.”

“What is it, some kind of relic?” Evan asked, reaching for it despite my warning. I jerked it away, but suddenly he froze, eyes going wide. “Wait… a relic! They’re looking for a relic! That’s why they’re here!”

Oh. 

Oh shit.

“Well… shit. Do they know Kannya has it?”

“I don’t know, but if they suspect she does…”

Very not good. I pulled out my phone and opened Discord. “I’m gonna tell Ada and Sachi to come in tomorrow. It’s their day off, but if that’s true…”

“Better safe than sorry,” Evan finished.

“Yeah.”

“Well… Not much we can do about it right now. Let’s just get some sleep. It’s been a really long, really shitty day.”

I nodded in agreement, handing him the bottle of face wash. “Wash your face with this tonight. It’ll get any residual oil and makeup off, and keep you from breaking out.”

“Thanks, Miyu. You’re a good person.”

“So are you, Evan. I just wish you’d let yourself realize that.”

I turned and left, trying to figure out how the heck I was going to sleep with the fact that a whole coven of vampires might be coming after us. 

The answer to that question was not well. Especially not well when you’re sharing a room with a catgirl who stims on her device by pressing “issue skill” all night. So here I was, cradling a cup of hot catgirl cuppa between customers. Worse, Mark had called off work today, leaving me to run the store alone. At least Evan ended up coming along. He was currently losing badly to Kannya in Connect 4, which made me feel a bit better.

“Rough night?” Sachi asked me as she scribbled on a spell tag. After updating my two coworkers on the situation, they agreed to come in and check the wards in the cafe. Sachi had taken it upon herself to beef it up with a few spell tags while Ada patrolled the skies above the building.

“Yeah… I’m just worried that someone’s going to come after us. And Professor No. hasn’t called back yet, either.”

Sachi waved the spell tag at me. “I wouldn’t worry too much about attackers. The cafe is our turf- and with wards this strong, trying to breach the building with ill intent would be next to impossible. Plus, if anyone does get through all our defenses, I’ll be here to protect you.”

“If you say so…”

“Have I ever lied to you?” Sachi asked, pausing for a second as she considered her own question. “...About serious things?”

“No, I guess not, but-”

“But nothing! We’ll be fine. Look, I’ll even walk home with you today. That way you’ll be safe and sound.”

“You always walk home with me,” I countered.

“I don’t always! Just… most days! So what if I want to hang out with you more?”

I sighed in defeat. “Alright, I’ll trust you.”

“Good girl. Was that so hard?”

“Ahem!” A group of customers interrupted. Three goth girls around my age- a blonde Caucasian girl, a brown-haired Asian-American, and an African-American girl with red dreadlocks were standing at the front of the counter, waiting impatiently. They were all dressed in black dresses and combat boots, with piercing red eyes. I could’ve sworn I was watching the door. When did they come in?

“I’m so sorry about that,” I said, turning on my best awake customer service voice. “Welcome to Cafe Pride, what can I get for you?”

“Three large cups of your blood, please. Hot.”

“Alright, I’ve got-” I stopped as I fully processed what they’d just requested, stumbling back just in time to avoid the blonde girl’s hand attempting to claw my throat out. What the hell!?

Before I could respond to the threat in front of me, the front window of the shop suddenly shattered into dozens of pieces, and another man came barreling through it, straight towards Evan and-!

“KANNYA!” I screamed. I tried to jump over the counter, but the three girls, who I now assumed must be vampires, blocked my way. I was helpless to watch as the man grabbed Kannya and ran off, Evan hot on his trail.

Sachi jumped up and came to my defense, as promised. “How’d you get through the wards!?” She asked, assuming a fighting stance. Her nails extended into claws, the ones on her right hand glowing with radiance, while the ones on her left looked more demonic and were cloaked in shadow.

“Wards?” The lead girl asked with a smirk. “What are you talking about? I thought everyone was welcome here. That’s what your sign said, anyway.”

Sachi groaned. “God dammit. That explains how the fey infestation got in here last month… and now you three. We really need to change that sign- after we take care of you, that is.”

The blonde laughed. “We? As in, you and your girlfriend, who clearly doesn’t know how to fight?”

“Uh-” I tried my best to copy Sachi’s pose and look intimidating, sans magic claws. “I- We- We’re not dating, actually.”

The three girls traded looks with each other, so shocked by this revelation that they momentarily dropped their guard. “You aren’t?” the lead one asked.

A swift, blood-cloaked kick came from behind the vamp trio, scattering them in all directions. Ada flapped her wings, coming to a stop in front of me and the counter. Damn, what a cool entrance!

“...You aren’t?” Ada asked me.

I take it back. Slightly less cool.

One of the vampire grunts- the brown-haired girl- had dodged in Sachi’s direction, and the catgirl brought down her radiant claws on the girl before pinning her to the ground with her foot in one swift motion. While I stood there in awe, watching, she turned to me, just as confused as the others. 

“We aren’t?” She asked.

…Seriously? What was this, a comedy show?

 “I- We… aren’t?” I said, now suddenly less sure that was the case. “I- now’s not the time for this! Ada, on your right!”

Ada shifted towards the right, exposing her back to the vampire about to lunge at her. Shit, I’d gotten my right and left mixed up! Thankfully, Ada recovered quickly, using a graceful spinning back kick to slam the second attacker to the ground. “That was my left!” she yelled back, annoyed.

“S-Sorry!”

“Keep making stupid quips, Miyu!” Sachi yelled. “Your crazy luck keeps giving us openings!”

“I really don’t think-”

“Nyahahaha! Fall to the might of my stupid lucky catgirl, trash!” Yuki yowled from the safety of my backpack. 

I - okay, I guess my mythical vigilante fighting power is... pratfalls? Is this really going to work?

“Uh- okay- slash this cup!” I ran to the other side of the bar and threw the remainder of my boba up into the air. A rush of wind flew past my back as I moved, and I turned around to see that the vampire leader had just missed stabbing me with what resembled a spear made out of blood. You’ve gotta be kidding! Is Yuki’s luck really that crazy?

“Fear my ultimate luck blessing! You’ll nyever lay a finger on Miyu! Nyahahaha!”

“Big talk for the one hiding in my backpack!” I cried, dodging the crazy blonde’s second attempt at skewering me with considerably less grace than either of my friends had.

Fortunately, Sachi leapt up and followed through on my request, slashing the cup I’d thrown with her shadow claws, landing back on the girl she’d pinned down in a crouched position. The resulting explosion sprayed over my attacker’s spear, which, somehow, mixed into the blood and melted the weapon. Note to self: Tea laced with demonic magic functions as a blood thinner, apparently.

“Are you serious?” The head girl exclaimed, raising her now-empty hands into the air. “Okay, okay, you girls win. I surrender.”

“Thank goodness,” I said, dropping my guard. As I did, the girl lunged at me, grabbing my neck and pinning me to the back wall. That’ll teach me to believe the random vampires trying to kill me.

“Sike,” The girl said cruelly, slowly closing her hand around my neck. I pried at her fingers, but she was just so damn strong!

“Miyu!” Sachi cried. “Let her go!”

The leader wagged a finger at Sachi, cackling. “I don’t think so. Here’s what’s gonna happen. You let Grace and Desiree go, and we go back and report you to Scarlet. Otherwise, the catgirl dies. Isn’t that a nice deal? Lucky you!”

Ada bit her lip. “Fine,” She said, releasing her grip on her opponent. The redhead stumbled forward, holding her left arm with her other hand. Sachi grimaced as well, removing her foot from the Asian girl she’d pinned at the start of the fight.

“Aww, you’re all so obedient!” The leader cooed. “Grace, Desiree, kill them. And no resisting, otherwise your lucky mascot’s windpipe gets crushed.”

The girl that Sachi just let go grinned.  “With pleasure,” she said, swinging wildly at Sachi, who was… just taking it? I tried to call out to her, but I was too busy choking from the lack of air.

In stark contrast, Ada’s opponent looked horrified. “Abby, what the hell? That’s not what you promised!”

“I’m a liar, Desiree! It’s their fault for being so gullible. Now kill that Lilith spawn, or I’ll send the whole coven after you next.”

“How can you say that!?” Desiree shot back. “They’re the same age as us! Can’t we just- get along?”

“Tch. You’ve gone soft! Someone like you isn’t worthy of Scarlet’s gift! After I kill this catgirl, I’m dealing with you next.”

“Or, you can take a nice long nap and think about what you’ve done!” Ada shouted, jumping out of the shadows under Abby to deliver a swift uppercut to her chin. The impact was enough to send the vampire reeling backwards as she released her grip on me. I slumped to the floor, back against the wall, trying to regain my breath. As I did, Desiree moved into position to deliver a well-deserved straight punch to Abby’s face, knocking her out cold.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Desiree said, wiping her hands together as if she’d just taken out a bag of garbage. Oh, she’s good. I mean, she did just try to kill us, but she did also just save my life and quip at the same time, which earns points in my book. 

“Desiree, you traitor!” The last girl, Grace, yelled. From my position, I couldn’t see what was going on the other side of the counter. I tried to stand, but the previous lack of air in my lungs left me unable to do anything but stay on the ground. Dammit! I needed to get up and help Sachi!

“My turn, bitch!” Sachi screamed. A moment later, Grace came flying over the counter, landing in a heap on top of Abby, equally unconscious.

Fighting bad guys since she was ten. Right. I guess I didn’t need to help her.

My friend-or-maybe-girlfriend came rushing to the back moments later. Her arms were scraped up pretty badly, presumably from all the free hits Grace got on her. “Miyu, are you okay!?” She asked, rushing over to me.

“I’m fine,” I said weakly. “But your arms…”

Sachi winced, smiling. “I’ll live. Did you see where they took Kannya?”

“The little girl?” Desiree asked. “Sebastian probably took her back to the Electric Spaghetti- It’s the coven’s closest stronghold to this cafe. I don’t know why- all I know is that they were looking for her.”

“Why should we trust you?” Ada pressed. “You just tried to kill us.”

“And I also punched the only girl who gave me a place to belong,” Desiree admitted. “Look, I’m sorry. When Scarlet first turned me, I was afraid I’d never be able to belong anywhere ever again. Abby and Grace were the first girls who made me feel normal… but their obsession with Scarlet went too far. I’m done. I want to be free of all this vampire stuff. You don’t have to trust me, but I hope you can forgive me.”

Ada sighed. “Yeah, okay. You’ve messed up, but that’s part of being human. You can stay here until things die down.” Desiree just nodded, taking a seat at one of the remaining tables, head in her hands.

“We’ve gotta go after them,” I wheezed. “No way Evan’s not running straight into their hideout like an idiot.”

“Sebastian lured me to Electric Sphagetti. He still has Kannya. Going in after him.” Ada read from her phone. “Does he know how to fight?”

I shook my head no.

Ada facepalmed. “Okay, so we have to rescue Kannya and Evan, and we’re down to… just me on the rescue team.”

“I’m coming too!” Sachi protested. 

I nodded in agreement.

Ada frowned. “With those wounds? Not a chance.”

“Drink this,” said a new voice I didn’t recognize. Sachi reached up to catch a glass bottle of red liquid. It looked straight out of a fantasy video game, with a fancy cork and a messy handwritten label.

Sachi squinted to read the label. “A… healing potion?”

“Who’re you?” Ada asked, straightening up to get a better look beyond the counter. Now with more air, I stood to get a better look at the newcomer. A pink-haired catgirl with blue highlights streaking through her hair was digging through a canvas bag, pulling out potion after potion. She was wearing a doctor’s lab coat over a blazer with the Rivenwood Academy crest emblazoned on it.

“Cera,” the girl replied. “I’m an alchemy student at Rivenwood Academy- and Kannya’s babysitter. Thanks for looking after her these past few days, by the way. Strife has been worried out of his mind.”

Mark walked through the shattered front door, waving at us like it was just another normal day. “Hey, ladies, sorry I’m late. I brought some help from California.” He stepped aside, motioning to a familiar, tired-looking incubus man who slightly raised his hand in greeting.

“Hello… I’m Professor Strife. I’m here to rescue my daughter.”