Valen spent most of the car ride telling Lacey the stories of his ancestors.

Of Empress Claudia the Crimson Briar, a warrior princess in her past life who established the Necropolis Empire where vampires could live without fear of prosecution. Of Sir Wilhelm the Midnight Blade, who had been a mere squire when given his new life as a vampire but rose through the ranks to be one of Necropolis’ greatest knights. And finally, Valen’s personal favourite, Count Cassian the Bloody Kiss-a man haunted by war who dedicated his vampiric life to charming every royal court as a diplomat for his newborn race. Valen had to leave out all the bits about seduction, though.

Lacey listened with rapt attention the whole time, her eyes lighting up whenever something peaked her interest. Valen was all too happy to answer any question she had to distract himself from the impending meeting with his ex. Keiko and Louise occasionally shot curious glances at him, looking for opportunities to ask about his ex which he was careful to never present. Meanwhile Enid had fallen asleep in her seat about half an hour in and was drooling on the windowsill.

They arrived at the Cosy Nook Shelter after many, many retelling of stories Valen remembered from his late mother.

On the outside, the shelter looked like a large church built from pure white brick with a rectory house almost as big as it was attached to the side. It looked old and a bit cold on the outside, but warm modern electric light shone behind its dark tinted windows. Only a metal sign reading ‘The Cosy Nook Shelter’ bolted atop its humble wooden doors signified its new purpose.

Louise parked the car in a nearby parking lot and squinted at the Cosy Nook Shelter with sceptical golden eyes.

“A weird look for a homeless shelter.”

Valen unbuckled his seatbelt.

“It’s a repurposed church.” He looked at Enid, who was still out cold in her seat. “Should we wake her?”

“No!” said Lacey a little too loudly before making herself scarce again. “I…I don’t think you should disturb her.”

Valen and Keiko shared puzzled glances.

“Alright then sweetie,” said Keiko. “We’ll let the big bad redhead keep sleeping.”

“Actually, now that I think about it.” Valen stepped out of the car and offered Lacey his hand. “It might be best if I go with Lacey alone.”

“Why?” asked Lacey before taking his hand and getting out of the car with him.

“My face is a tad too recognizable right now,” said Valen. “It’s probably best if you girls aren't seen with me if at all possible.”

Louise briefly scrolled through her phone.

“Yeah, that’s fair,” she said. “The internet seems surprisingly quiet about that livestream, though.”

“Maybe Andrew was a small streamer?” said Keiko.

“Let’s not look a gift gryphon in the mouth, yes?” said Valen. “I’ll be back right after I hand Lacey off so just sit tight, alright?”

“Right.” Louise popped open the glovebox and started rummaging through it. 

Keiko shot her a quizzical look. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Louise pulled out a pen from the glovebox and uncapped it with a grin directed straight at the sleeping Enid.

Valen closed the car door before Lacey had to see Louise draw a knob on Enid’s face.

“Will Miss Louise be okay?” Lacey asked as they walked to the church turned homeless shelter.

“Probably not, dearie,” Valen answered honestly. “Probably not.”

Lacey tightened her grip on Valen’s hand.

“You shouldn’t trust her,” Lacey whispered under her breath.

“I’m sorry Louise threatened you,” said Valen. “It was uncalled for on her part.”

Lacey shook her head and stopped right in front of the shelter’s doors.

“I’m not talking about her.”

“Who then?” Valen asked, though he already had an idea who she meant even if he didn’t know the reason.

“The lady with the red hair,” she said in a hushed voice, as if afraid Enid would hear her all the way from the parking lot. “She’s…she’s not right. She shouldn’t exist. She looks like a person…but isn’t a person. I can tell. I can’t explain it but please! You have to be careful around her.”

“...You must be tired, Lacey.” Valen had no idea what the girl had against Enid, but he’d known his best friend long enough to trust her over the words of a clearly traumatised child freshly freed from a cult. “Now let’s get you out of the cold, yeah?”

He rapped his knuckles on the heavy wooden doors a couple of times before slowly pushing it open.

Toasty warmth engulfed Valen and Lacey the moment they stepped inside.

Around them was a small but comfortable area with sofas on the corners and a half circle desk labelled ‘Receptionist’ pressed against the wall, flanked on either side by doors that led to a living room and mess hall.

A bespectacled orc woman sat behind the receptionist desk scribbling away at some paperwork. She had pale greenish skin with a lithe build that most traditional orcs would consider downright scrawny. Though she looked young, the two tusks protruding from her lower gums denoted her as a fully grown orc by the customs of her race.

She looked up from her paperwork when she heard the door open and the amber eyes behind her round glasses lit up with recognition the moment she laid eyes on Valen.

“Valen?” The orc woman set her pencil down and stood from her seat. “By the gods, is that you?”

“Hello, Sasha,” said Valen. “It’s been a while.”

“You can say that again!” she said with just a bit too much enthusiasm, causing Lacey to scurry behind Valen to hide. “Are you thinking about volunteering again?”

“Not exactly.” Valen slowly stepped to one side to reveal Lacey to her. “I was just wondering if you have a vacancy here. This girl here needs a place to stay.”

“Oh.” Sasha’s face fell into a look of sad sympathy upon seeing the scared child tightly gripping Valen’s hand. “Of course. We always have room for someone in need.”

“Thank you,” said Valen. “Please take good care of her. She’s been through a lot.”

“Where’d you find her?”

“In the Nocturnal District.”

Sasha furrowed her brow at him. “You brought her here all the way from the Nocturnal District?”

“I thought it’d be safer for her. I know a lot of homeless shelters aren’t exactly the best managed. This is the only one I’m sure will always be up to code.”

“Uh-huh.” Sasha walked out of the receptionist desk and slowly approached Lacey, who still gripped Valen’s hand for dear life. “Hello, love. What’s your name?”

“Lacey,” she said, her voice sounding little more than a whimper.

“Pleased to meet you, Lacey!” said Sasha. “Would you like something to eat?”

Lacey hesitated to answer and glanced at Valen, who gave her a silent nod.

“That would be nice,” she said, though she seemed unsure of her own words.

“Let’s go get you fed then!” Sasha offered Lacey her hand.

Lacey stared at Sasha’s open hand for a moment. She looked up at Valen, and he felt her grip tighten one last time before relaxing.

“Please don’t forget what I said,” she said before letting go of his hand and taking Sasha’s.

“I won’t,” said Valen, though he didn’t promise to believe in it. “Take care, Lacey.”

Sasha held Lacey’s hand and turned to look at Valen.

“Would you like me to keep you in touch with her progress?”

“That’d be nice,” said Valen. “I should probably go now, though.”

“Shy to meet your ex?” Sasha teased. “Well, you’re lucky she’s busy right now-”

An all too familiar voice cut her off.

“Valen?”

Valen gulped and looked behind Sasha to see a woman standing in front of the door to the mess hall.

She was a succubus, dressed in a purple button-up dress that accentuated her curvaceous figure and allowed her pointy black tail to poke out from under it. Bangs of silky brown hair draped over her olive face and her glimmering violet eyes looked at Valen with an odd mixture of surprise, joy, and just a tiny bit of panic.

Valen forced himself to smile in her direction, his lips closed to not show his fangs. There was a time when he felt comfortable enough with her to show his teeth, but that time was long past.

“Hello, Adeline,” he said. “Sorry for coming by unannounced.”

“It’s…fine,” said his ex. “It’s, um, good to see you again.”

Sasha nervously looked between the two and cleared her throat.

“I’ll, uh, leave you two to catch up then,” she said, gently guiding Lacey closer to her.

Adeline looked at Sasha and frowned when she saw Lacey beside her but made no comment about her.

“I’ll leave this to you then, Sasha,” she said. “Thank you.”

“No problem. And, uh,” Sasha looked at Valen with sympathy in her eyes, “good luck, mate.”

Sasha escorted Lacey into the door that led to the mess hall, where she’ll hopefully be able to get comfortable with her new surroundings over a nice hot meal.

An awkward silence fell between Valen and Adeline, neither wanting to be the first to break it despite how unbearable it was. After exchanging a few shy glances at each other, it was Adeline who finally said something.

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

Valen almost excused himself to go back to the car but stopped himself. She already offered tea, and it would just be rude to refuse. Plus, he had to admit that he could really use a cuppa after the day he’s had.

“That would be lovely,” he said. “Should we go into the mess hall?”

“Let’s use my office instead,” said Adeline. “I already have a hot kettle in there.”

“Lead the way then.”

Adeline led him through a living room area past men and women sitting on couches with paper cups of tea or coffee in their hands. Although they wore clean clothes provided by the shelter, their tired faces and hunched shoulders suggested that they’d seen far better days.

There were children among them too, whose parents all held them close when Valen passed.

He took no offence. They must’ve been through a lot for them to end up here. It was only natural for them to be wary of strangers. Whether or not him being a vampire had anything to do with the fear in their eyes was none of his business.

Valen followed Adeline up a set of stairs and into a large room with a silver ‘Director’ plaque bolted above it.

“Congratulations on your promotion, by the way,” said Valen in hopes of breaking the unspoken tension between them.

“Thanks.” Adeline unlocked the door with a key that had a little plush puppy dangling from it.

Valen had won that keychain plush for her while on a lucky streak playing crane games, during their first date at an arcade near their university. It was kind of nice to see that she kept it in the two years they broke up.

Adeline pushed open the door to her office and held it open for him as he entered. 

The room was spacious but sparsely furnished, containing all the essentials needed to function as an office plus a few extra features that took up little space. Two bookshelves containing important documents and self-help books were nestled in the corner, each decorated by a cat and dog plush that Valen was pretty sure he also won for her during their first date.

A long L-shaped desk with a computer and swivel chair sat near the end of the room with a couple of comfy looking sofa seats in front of it for guests. There was a steaming electric kettle on the desk, and beside it a large purple mug that had the thin string of a tea bag hanging off its rim.

“I’ll get you a mug,” said Adeline before going to a small glass cabinet and picking out a red mug for him. “Do you still take your tea with milk and four sugars?”

“Yes,” said Valen. “May I sit down?”

“Sure.” Adeline opened a minifridge next to the cabinet and took out a small carton of milk. “Just sit on one of those sofa seats.”

Valen did so and patiently waited for her to make him tea. When she was finished she set the tea mug on the desk and slid it in front of him.

“Thank you,” he said, slipping his fingers through the handle.

Adeline poured hot water into her mug and tugged at the tea bag a couple times without flavouring it whatsoever. She was always weird like that.

“It’s been a while.” Adeline sat on the sofa seat next to him. “May I ask what brought you here?”

“I found a homeless girl in the Nocturnal District.” Valen pretended to take a sip of his still scalding hot tea. “This was the only place I trust to give her the help she needs.”

“I’m flattered you think that way.” Adeline stared down at her mug. “I’ve tried my best to run this place after I became director. You seem to have been busy lately too.”

“Haha.” Valen let out a nervous chuckle. “You’ve heard about me?”

“It’s a bit hard not to since I manage the Cosy Nook’s social media now.” Adeline blew at her bitter, unflavoured tea, her soft lips puckering as if expecting a kiss. “Your new girlfriend is quite famous. Damsel Dark, was it?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” said Valen. “We’re barely even acquaintances.”

“Really?” Adeline seemed to perk up at the revelation before immediately composing herself again. “I mean, I see.”

Adeline brought her tea mug to her lips, though Valen could tell she was only pretending to sip it. 

“I did meet her though,” said Valen. “When I visited her brother in the hospital.”

“You saved his life,” said Adeline. “He might not have been the greatest person, but you should still be proud.”

“I’m just glad that all that prepping I did for med school didn’t go to waste,” joked Valen. “I could’ve done without the getting tased and arrested part though.”

“It’s shameful how the cops treated you.” Guilt spread across Adeline’s face. “Same goes for Silverlake…and me.”

“Adeline…” Valen thought about putting a hand on her shoulder but decided against it. “It’s okay.”

“No. It isn't,” said Adeline. “You were right. I started dating you because I wanted to piss off my dad. I…I didn’t realise how much I really liked you until you dumped me.”

Valen felt a pang of guilt strike his heart, but no regret. He’d dated Adeline for three years during his undergraduate years. They even talked about marriage at one point. But in all the time he spent with her, he always got the underlying feeling that she was mainly dating him to get back at her father, a professor at Silverlake.

Always flaunting their relationship on social media against his wishes and dragging him to events that she knew her father would be watching. He loved her and he was sure she loved him as well, even though her hatred for her father seemed to outweigh it. Eventually it became too much for him to bear and he made the hard decision to break up with her.

“There’s nothing that can be done now,” said Valen, taking his first real sip from the tea mug.

“Is that what you really think?” Adeline looked at him with a faint glimmer of fading hope in her violet eyes.

“Yes,” said Valen. “It’s too bad that things didn’t work out. But, for what it’s worth, I’m glad for the time when we were together.”

“I am too.” A sad smile spread across Adeline’s beautiful face. “I only wished that I realised that sooner.”

“It can’t be helped now.” Valen took another sip of tea to calm his nerves. 

He wanted to ask her about her father, but couldn’t think of a way to do so without making things even more awkward than it already was.

He’d only met her father a handful of times before they started dating. Two of those times came from taking his university class on Race and Society, where he made it abundantly clear that he did not approve of vampires living outside of the Nocturnal District. ‘For their own good’, he said. Even looked Valen in the eye as he said it.

Needless to say, he got his pale arse out of that course at the first chance he got. The fact that a professor like Adeline’s father was allowed to teach without contention for as long as he did was alarming to say the least. On the bright side, it did give him a sobering but much-needed wake-up call for what his new life was going to be like.

Thankfully, Adeline saved him the need to ask about her father himself.

“You know, my dad started talking to me again after we broke up.” 

“Is that a good thing?”

Adeline scoffed. 

“Do you really have to ask that?” She swallowed a large gulp of bitter tea. “He kept lording over me while I was crying my eyes out. ‘I told you this would happen’, he said. Fucking prick.”

“I don’t disagree,” said Valen, “but you shouldn’t talk about your family like that.”

“You of all people should hate him as much as I do. Especially after what he did to you.”

Valen took another sip of tea. “We don’t know for sure if he had anything to do with that.”

Although Valen was fairly certain that his rejection from medical school despite his perfect grades was due to general prejudice against vampires, Adeline’s father being on the university council most likely didn’t help matters much. Whether or not he was directly responsible for it he may never know, and at this point it’s too late for him to do anything about it.

“There’s something else you should know too.” Adeline gulped down the rest of her tea and set it on the desk. “I overheard him talking to other professors while I was visiting Silverlake to promote a charity. I…I think he might be trying to get you expelled.”

Valen felt his soul leave his body for a moment. He had spent his whole life trying to live up to the model of a perfect citizen just so people would tolerate his existence. Even after he was denied the dream he worked so hard for, he kept his head low and settled for his second choice for fear of being labelled a troublemaker by the people in charge.

And now they were going to take even his consolation prize away from him? For what? Getting arrested just for trying to help someone they didn’t care about either? Or just because Adeline’s father was salty that he fucked his daughter?

His first thought was denial. Not even Adeline’s father could be that petty, he thought. Then he remembered just how big of a prick the man was and realised that he could 100% be that petty. 

A wave of heat rose to his head as anger engulfed him. How dare he, a man who knew and cared nothing about him beyond his race render judgement on him. 

Perhaps a private visit with him could get him to change his mind? Maybe get him to understand his side of the story so that he could know him as more than just that one bloke who dated his rebellious daughter.

No, that’d be impossible. He wouldn’t agree to it, and even if he did he’d only use it to probe him for more flaws he could use to solidify his opinions on him. If he tried to intentionally goad him into violence, Valen’s wasn’t sure if he’d be strong enough to not take the bait. Gods know what’ll happen then.

The anger subsided, replaced by a cold numbness that gripped Valen’s heart. 

“I see.” Valen downed the rest of his tea, barely tasting it as the hot liquid scalded his throat on the way down. “Thank you for telling me, Adeline.”

“Is that all you have to say?” Adeline sounded surprised.

“What else is there to say?” Valen replied. “Will anything I say here change his mind?”

“...No,” Adeline answered honestly, averting her eyes from him.

“I’ll just have to hope that the other professors know better than to listen to his rubbish this time.”

Valen thought back to everything that’s happened in the past week. Getting his throat slit by an eldritch abomination. Fighting cultists dedicated to a god that hates him. Joining a secret society led by an insane immortal necromancer.

It was an odd feeling. He knew he should be frightened out of his wits by all the insane shit he’s been put through, but the only thing he could feel was calm. In a strange way, his experiences over the past weeks were a source of comfort to him now.

Before he got embroiled in fighting the Unborn God, getting expelled from his university over his break would’ve felt like the end of the world. 

Now it was almost comical how trivial it seemed in the face of everything he’s lived through.

Adeline set her mug down and turned her full attention to Valen.

“I’ll do what I can to change his mind,’ said Adeline. “I promise. I’ll disown myself from the bloody bastard if that’s what it takes.”

“That won’t be necessary,” said Valen. “Please just take care of yourself. I’ll be fine no matter what so you don’t need to damage your relationship with your father any further for my sake.”

“But it’s the least I could do.” Adeline insisted. “To make up for all the shit I put you through.”

“You don’t have to make up for anything,” Valen assured her. “We might not be a couple anymore but I’ll always consider you my friend. There’s nothing more I want than for you to keep doing the good work you’ve been doing here.”

“...Okay, it’s really starting to piss me off how bloody perfect you are.” Adeline sighed and slumped over in her seat. “I really dropped the ball when it came to us, didn’t I?”

“We can only live and learn,” said Valen. “You’ll find someone else.”

Adeline let out a rueful chuckle.

“Whoever it is, they’ve got big shoes to fill.” She looked at her watch and grimaced. “The sun’s going to rise soon.”

“I should probably get going then.” Valen stood up from his seat and set the tea mug on Adeline’s desk. “Thank you for the tea.”

“The pleasure’s mine.” After a bit of hesitation, Adeline reached her hand out to him. “Is it okay if I walk you out?”

“I’d be grateful for it.” Valen took her hand in his and smiled.

Adeline returned his smile and gently squeezed his red gloved hand. The moment she did, a knock came from her office door.

“Valen, are you in there?” called a woman’s voice on the other side. The door opened before Valen could reply and Keiko stepped inside, immediately freezing in place upon seeing him holding Adeline’s hand. “Oh. Um. Am I interrupting something?”

Adeline retracted her hand, her olive face turning a dark red.

“It’s nothing!” she said quickly before clearing her throat. “Well, it’s been nice to catch up, Valen. I’ll, um, see you later.”

“Right.” Valen’s face turned a rosy pink. “I’ll be seeing you then, Addie.”

“Later, Valen,” said Adeline as he left the office with Keiko.

Valen closed the office door behind him and sighed. 

Keiko sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

“Sorry for blue balling you, but Enid said something important came up.”

“What’s the matter?”

“She got a phone call from someone who wants to talk to you,” she said. “Someone called Colton?”