Mireille sucked the girl's blood like there was no tomorrow. She was in her own world and did not even recognize everything around her other than drying this neck she impaled.

In a heartbeat, she snapped back her senses from that hell of a drug. She withdrew her fangs from the tender neck, drenching in blood.

The girl turned even paler than her. So pale, almost blending with the whiteness of the dress. The heart had stopped beating.

W-wah-aah! Wh–who did this? I did this? I did this?! I'm a good giiiiiirl! I'm not a killeeeeer! Forgive meee! A-aah! Wake up, please! Oh god no! 

Her eyes widened. She trembled so much that she forgot how to stand up. This was her first time killing someone, and she could not stomach this grave deed she committed.

However, her dreadful concern eased a bit. The girl coughed and inhaled every ounce of air as if finally freed from drowning. 

Something's not right. 

How can a human defy death?! HOW?! TELL ME HOW?! Did my bite turn her into one?! That's impossible! 

What a frightening human! So scary!

The girl with wavy short black hair narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, bearing the impaling pain. She gripped her bitten neck and gave a soul-binding stare to the one who was responsible for this. 

"I–I'm so sorry!" Mireille hopped to the window and coiled herself with a soiled curtain. She got flustered a bit after realizing she was sitting at the top of the girl. "I didn't mean to! Sorry!"

The girl stood up, and her hand covering her impaled neck glowed with pale white light. "Even with healing magic, it still hurts." She muttered and hissed. "This vampire…"

"I'm so sorry while you're sleeping! Please, forgive me! I–uhh." Mireille made eye contact with the girl's hazel eyes without glancing back at the leaking blood. However, that juicy red drug was so tempting. "I'm–uhm... I'm just hungry. Hehehe." She licked the blood left on her lips.

"Thanks for the–ah, I'll get out of here! Bye-bye!" She opened the window, moonlight came in, and dashed away. She could not hold this awkward situation she was in.

"Hey! Wait!" The girl called. "I have something to ask!"

Mireille halted her way out and stuck her feet on the window frame. "Uh... yes?" She glanced back.

"Why are you acting like that?" The girl in white tilted her head. "You're a vampire, right? But why do you sound like that? You even ask me for my forgiveness." 

"Despite your sudden attack on me, you made me curious about you. I've met demons, like succubi, but you're unlike them. So opposite." She put her hand on her forehead. "It's so strange for a demon like you to behave like a human. Who are you? You are not a real vampire, but I'm fortunate to meet a peculiar one."

"I'm not the real one?" Mireille went down from the window frame and placed her hand on her chest. "Then, what am I?"

"Your body's a vampire, yes," the girl said. "But your soul, it's not. I'm sure of it."

"You're prying me. I don't like it." Mireille peeked sideways. "So, uh, are you mad at me?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Definitely!" The girl put her hands on her hips and furrowed her eyebrows. "You killed me! You made me use my revival magic that takes too much of my energy!" She pointed her fingers, stabbing the air. "If you're that polite, you should have woken me up and asked for my permission! Do you have any manners?" 

"I'm sorry." Mireille mellowed her voice and bowed her head, facing the wooden floor. "I was thirsty. I thought the water would save me, but it turned out I craved blood, then I found you, then I just went on as I lost my mind."

"So, it was your bloodlust?"

"Something like that." Mireille glanced, and those hazel eyes gazed deep at her soul. "I–" She looked down. "I know we're total strangers. I should have left here, but please forgive me. I couldn't get over this. I just committed a murder, but thank goodness, you can revive. Even so, still." 

The girl sighed, relaxing her approach. "Fine, I forgive you." She accepted the apology, which sparkled the vampire's scarlet eyes, together with an open smile. 

"Then–!" Mireille had wanted to say, but she got cut off.

"I know. I know. I know." The girl gestured her hands like a stop sign. "You're so easy to read. Haha!" She put her index finger under her chin and chuckled. "You wanted to have a friend, yes?"

Mireille did not utter a single word but "Hmm! Mmm! Humu!" She only nodded and was all excited about little things. Her face read as someone eager to have a very first friend in this world.

"It's not like I have no friends." The girl picked up the sepia book, opened it, and skimmed through the pages. "But none of them are interested in developing magic. Well, it's understandable. They warned me about the church judging me, and it did happen." She glanced at those scarlet eyes peeking at the contents of her book.

"You're a curious vampire, eh. Alright, as we become friends now, let's introduce ourselves." The girl put her palm on her chest. "I'm Moira Celestia. Nice to meet you! This will be an odd friendship between a human and a vampire."

"Ah." Mireille's attention was absent from staring at the grimoire-looking sepia book. "I'm Mireille Selune. Thanks for having me!" Now that she had a companion, she asked for proper clothing to change the leafy apparel she wore. "Uhm... Moira."

"What is it?"

"Do you have an extra dress? If you don't have one, then it's still fine."

"Right. The pain you inflict in my neck plus my anger overlapped that risible presentation of you," Moira spoke. "To think that the supposed to be a prideful vampire used banana leaves as clothing! What is that, Mireille?! Oh my gosh! Wahahaha!" 

"I have nothing to wear, okay?!" Mireille raised her voice.

"Seconds after we became friends, and you're already that silly! Bahaha!" Moira calmed down and picked up a small leather bag she used as a pillow. "Haha. Okay, I have one. I just bought this before I ran here."

"Thank you."

———

In the same empty room of a cabin, Mireille sat on the aged wooden floor with her legs to the side and hands on her knees. She now wore proper clothing, a one-piece knee-length black dress, given by Moira. 

Both of them sat in the same sitting position, facing each other, with a lone candlelight between them that was about to run out. 

"So, earlier, when I drank your blood, I think you shouted something like how did I get here?" Mireille asked.

"Yes." Moira nodded and tidied her daisy white dress to feel more comfortable. "How did you find me? Tell me."

"So, I was looking for blood to satiate my thirst," Mireille told her little story. "Then I found this cabin. I went to the door, but it did not have a lock, so I pushed it. I thought no one lived here." She observed her friend listening to her, but Moira squinted her eyes and gaped her mouth.

Why did she look confused? She continued. "But then, the candlelight gave me hope. So there, I found you and drank your blood." 

Mireille had finished telling her story and expected a response from her listener. However, silence filled the air.

Moira shut her eyes. She faced down and massaged her head–more like she pushed her forehead inward.

"Moira, are you okay?" Mireille walked on her knees and approached her friend. "I think it's past midnight, so please sleep to relieve the headache. You can also rest on my lap if you want." She put her palms on Moira's shoulder. She felt sorry that she bit Moira and woke her up from her deep sleep.

"No, no. It's not." Moira shook her head. The palms on her shoulder were cold, almost like a corpse. Yet, the care she received was warm enough to comfort her. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm just in disbelief."

"Huh? So you're all well? Thank goodness!"

"Yes. Yes. Yes. So don't be troubled." Moira cleared the rather sentimental misunderstanding of her vampire friend. "So." She coughed on purpose. "I cast my illusionary magic in this cabin. You should not be able to see it as it became part of the forest."

"What–!"

"Let me finish, okay?" Moira interrupted Mireille's bewilderment. "But it's only an illusion. If you happen to walk into the cabin, you will get a dislocated nose after you bump into it."

"So, in case someone can see through my illusionary magic or walks into it, I enhanced the structure of the cabin that can withstand the force of a large grown tree falling overhead at full speed."

Mireille had the urge to praise her friend with "wow", but she held it and continued to listen. 

"I escaped here to sleep for a day. So, of course! I locked the door and windows with two enhanced wooden planks for extra security! But you!" Moira raised her voice and stabbed the air with her index finger, which caused Mireille to flinch back.

"You said you just saw it and broke the locks without any effort?! As if you were just an ordinary human, found the normal cabin, and opened it like it was your home?! What are you, really?!"

Mireille darted at the rusted tin roof ceiling, but she wanted to know why she glanced up there for a second. She faced back to Moira who was fuming with heat, but at the same time, nosy about what she was.

"Uhm... I'm just a normal vampire?" She mellowed her voice, trying to level herself as a lowkey. 

"No, you're not! You're definitely not!" Moira denied the claim. A moment later, she cooled down and sighed a long breath. "Hah. With your existence here, everything has become a different world."

"What do you mean by that?" Mireille tilted her head and blinked quicker than she used to. Her existence? She gazed so deep that she caught her image in Moira's hazel eyes. 

"I never thought that such fictitious energy sprouted into reality," Moira said. "Only three months since magic came, and–" However, this time, she coughed for real. Her throat dried and her lips cracked. "Right. I ran all the way here without hydrating myself." 

Seeing her friend swallow her saliva, Mireille wore Moira's leather slippers. "Wait here. I'll get you something to drink." 

"Thank you, but how can you bring water in a cup?" Moira asked. "There's nothing else here unless you found a river." 

"I'll get you some coconut water." Mireille jumped through the window, but she hung back. "Hold on, if you have magic, can't you produce water and drink it instead?"

"I can't do that." Moira crossed her arms. "Even if I can create water, it's useless. I heard a beggar died after eating a bread he made himself with magic."

"Well, that sucks. Then, I'll go get you some real quick." Mireille then ventured her way to get her dear friend fresh coconut water. 

While she was searching for a cluster of coconut trees, she was stunned at how fast she could run. 

She became the wind. Her body felt so light, almost like a feather. Her reaction time from evading mishaps such as bumping her face into trees took her a little effort.

If she could compare her speed to anything she knew, she would top Hurricane Patricia's 345 km/h wind speed – 96 meters per second, almost 100 m/s. So fast, but if she met with other vampires, she did not know if she would be slower.

Was this the effect after drinking blood? This was her first time harnessing her strength. How much more if she drank another liter of it? 

Seconds after she found what she was looking for, Mireille brought two green coconut fruits and raced back to the cabin. "I'm back!" She jumped over the window. "Do you have a butcher knife?" 

"Woah, that quick?!" Moira was stunned for a second. "Well, I don't know. Do you have one?" She spoke in a way her voice had sarcasm in it. 

Mireille smacked her forehead. "Oh my god! Yeah, right, I have one! I'm sO sMaRT aNd hAvE a sHaRp mEmOry!"

She used her sharp nails to stab the coconut husk and ripped a piece of it. It took her a few seconds to remove all the white fiber and put them aside. 

"Amazing!" Moira gaped at the ivory milk coconut shell. "You peel it like it's an orange. I don't even see your face struggling from removing those coconut husks. Those things are hard, you know? Even the buffiest men have a hard time opening it. Just how much strength do you have?"

"Oh, come on, I'm not here to showcase myself. Stop praising me." Mireille humbled. "I'm just helping my friend to have something to drink." She sliced the tip of the coconut shell using her sharp nails that formed like a dagger, making a hole. "Here, have a drink. Enjoy! I'll do the other one."

Moira drank the water of a young coconut fruit. She made sure not to waste a single drop of it. Once she finished drinking the other one, she breathed out in relief.

"We just met and you went this far for me. I'm glad I befriended you." Moira bowed her head a bit. "Although it's still not enough, I'm satisfied. Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome! Shall I get you more?"

"No, no need. I quenched my thirst now," Moira said. "Oh, by the way, let's not waste the coconut flesh. I heard that you can make a scoop out of these coconut husks."

"Sure! It is! Let me break these first." Mireille broke the two coconut shells in half as if cracking an egg open.

They both ate coconut meat. For Mireille, she tasted the sweetness of the fruit, but she never felt full.

"Speaking of thirst, is this how you feel when you lust for blood, Mireille?"

"Yes, maybe worse than that," Mireille smirked. "Want me to turn you into my kin?" 

"What's the sudden approach? No!" Moira rejected the request and decided to switch the subject. "Now we're done. Let's go back to the topic where we left off–" 

Mireille broke in. "Moira, you need to sleep now. We can continue to talk about that tomorrow." She sounded deeper, yet calm and considerate. "Eyebags started to form and you will look ugly if you get less sleep. Also, it's not good for you as your brain will eat itself out. You'll lose focus on things." 

She grabbed Moira's shoulder to let her sleep on her lap. Those hazel eyes gawked at nothing in particular but air. "There's no proper bedsheet to nap on, so you can use my thighs as your pillow." She cradled her companion's arms, giving a sense of safety and ease.

Moira looked up and a pair of scarlet eyes waiting for her to doze off. From her perspective, Mireille's face was flipped upside-down with strands of silver hair hanging to the sides. "Why are you treating me like this?"

"Because I care for my friend. Go, sleep now. I can see your eyelids getting heavy to lift."

"You're right. Oh, if you get bored, you can read my book, write something there, or maybe draw. It's yours." Moira picked something in her leather bag. "Here's my quill and a small bottle of ink."

"Okay." Mireille smiled, placing her cold palm on her friend's forehead. "Goodnight!" She blew off the candlelight.