Julie stared at the vampire as well as the vampiress, who were lying on the floor. They were still alive and coughing blood out from their mouths, like a fish that had been pulled out of the water and was struggling to catch its breath.

  She was shaken by the sight of what had occurred a few seconds ago before the servant boy had pushed the room's door open. One minute, she had seen the pale blue and white light that surrounded them, similar to the fragments that had earlier appeared with the Corvin, and the next second, the blood-sucking creatures had been thrown away from her. She felt like all her energy from her body had been drained out. Unable to stand any longer, her knees gave away, and she slowly slid down the wall before sitting down.

  "F-fucking shit!" the vampire cursed. "What the hell was that," he spoke between his coughing as blood dripped down from his lips. The vampiress slowly pushed herself from the floor, staring at the human. No, she wasn't a human, thought the woman to herself. She questioned her partner,

  "Do you think what I am thinking?"

  "There's no fucking way…… I thought all of them were dead after being killed by us vampires or the hunters," spat the vampire, and he glared at the girl, who was in front of them. "Fucking bitch, did you come here to kill us?!"

  Saying this, the vampire started to move to where Julie was, ready to snap her neck. But before he could touch her, a wooden stake pushed through his back, and he threw up more blood, and his body started to shrivel like a corpse that looked like many years had passed since he died.

  "What the hell do you think you are doing!?" demanded the vampiress, and she pulled the wooden stake that was sticking on the vampire's back, who was in the process of turning into a complete corpse. She had a look of rage on her face, ready to pierce the wooden stake at the servant. "Are you involved with her? Don't tell me you are working for someone."

  The young boy, Mr. Nottingham, had a serious look in his eyes, and he said, "I am working for someone,? and you made the mistake of trying to have a meal that was never to be on the menu."

  The vampiress' face, consumed with anger, and she quickly dashed towards Mr. Nottingham at full speed, and she tried to stab him. But the boy was quick to jump on the other side of the room, dodging her attacks, and he picked up an iron rod that was next to the fireplace.

  Julie felt pain erupting from her body, and her face scrunched while watching what happened to a vampire after a stake was rung through their heart. There was light steam that passed out of the body once the vampire stopped moving and was dead. The body looked fragile, as if, if someone would try to lift it, the body would crumble into dust.

  She heard the clash of the iron rod hitting the wall, and right in time, the young boy successfully pushed the iron rod into the woman's stomach before running the wooden stake through her chest. Julie guessed that it was easier to kill the vampire and vampiress because of the blood they had lost earlier from their bodies because of her.

  When the young vampire boy turned to look at Julie, she had fallen sideways and had lost consciousness.

  The older vampire, who had been attacked by Julie earlier near the counter, arrived in front of the room's door, and his eyes widened. The two customers were dead, and the human was unconscious.

  "What happened here?" asked the man, his mouth wide open as he didn't understand what went down.

  "I have no damn clue," replied the boy, Mr. Nottingham, and he then said to the man, "Get this place cleaned, Brook. Also clean the bodies up in here. Add them to the fireplace."

  The servant named Brook moved his eyes from the two corpses of the vampires and then turned to look at his master. He asked, "Did you kill both of them, Mr. Nottingham? It is going to cause trouble for killing the vampires in here." It was because Rose Veil was a place that was supposed to be a haven to the vampires, where they were safe.

  "I know. We'll deal with it later," said Mr. Nottingham, making his way towards where Julie was. He put the girl's hand around his shoulder and picked her up. He then took her back to the room where she had been residing since yesterday and placed her on the bed. But realizing he hadn't compelled her, as she had fallen unconscious, he shifted her to the chair and bound her hands and legs with ropes.

  When Julie regained her consciousness after a couple of minutes, her eyes opened, and she saw that she was back in the room. Did she have a bad dream? But when she tried to move, her hands and legs felt the prickle from the rough ropes, and suddenly she was wide awake.

  "Easy there, miss," came the voice from behind her and Julie froze.

  Julie turned to her side, and soon the servant boy walked around the chair where she was sitting, and he came to stand in front of her.

  "Why am I tied?" asked Julie, and she stopped moving, and she stared at the boy, who had a curious yet serious look on his face.

  "Well, to begin with, you saw things that you were not supposed to see. I need to make sure to see that your memory is clean without a single hint of worries which I can see now on your face," said the boy. "But before that, I want to hear what happened in that room. What did you see and how two of my customers were found lying on the floor, coughing blood."

  Julie had hoped to be not caught by any vampires and to stay here for some time before she would leave as if she hadn't noticed anything or seen anything bizarre. Right now, this person in front of her believed that she had just found out about the existence of the vampires. Was she supposed to scream for help? But that would be too dramatic, thought Julie in her mind. Not to mention, who knew if this person would snap her head for yelling for help.

  The only hope was that this person knew Roman.

  Julie pleaded, "I don't know. Please, get me out of these ropes."

  "Soon, miss. Soon," and the man stepped closer to her.

  He placed both his hands on the armrest, near to where Julie's hands had been tied. Staring right into her eyes, he said, "Whatever you saw in here, I want you to forget it. You being attacked, me killing those two and they trying to drink from you. No red eyes, no fangs and you saw no blood spill—"

  "Achoo!" Julie sneezed right on his face.

  When Julie looked at the boy, the vampire had a frozen expression on his face, as he hadn't expected her to sneeze when he was in the middle of compelling her. He took a deep breath before he started to repeat what he was saying before, "I want you to forget everything that happened in that room, and also about you stabbing one of my employees."

  Julie internally frowned while having a poker face so that it looked believable that the compulsion was working on her. Wait, employee? She realized what was going on in here. This boy was the real owner of the motel.

  "Now let's run a quick test," said the boy before questioning her. "How has your stay been in Rose Veil so far?"

  Bloody. Dark. Almost turned to someone's dinner were the thoughts that passed in Julie's mind.

  "Good," replied Julie, staring right into his bright red eyes.

  "Good," said the original owner of the motel.

  As if he had got the confirmation that the human wouldn't step out of the motel and call murder, he slowly started to unbind the ropes that he had earlier tied around Julie's body. "Now don't panic. You won't remember that you were tied with the ropes. Make sure to give good reviews to our motel so that we can get more customers. You can advertise it to your friends."

  Julie decided to stick with one-word answers, "Yes," she replied to him. It was the safest way from not being caught with her lies.

  Mr. Nottingham wound the ropes around his hand so that he could carry it out. But when he turned around, ready to leave, right at the same time, Roman appeared right in front of the room. When Roman's eyes zeroed on Julie, he noticed the spot of blood on her face, and his eyes quickly snapped to look at the younger boy, who raised his hands as if to surrender.

  Mr. Nottingham whispered quickly, "There was a little mishap a couple of minutes ago, but we are all good now and I have erased her memory too. It is good to se—"

  But Roman's fist greeted the boy, and Julie flinched at the sound. She made hand actions as if not to hit him more.

  The young boy rubbed one side of his jaw, "That's a new way of greeting. I knew I was going to get that." Looking at the human, he turned back to Roman and said, "Brook didn't know she was your guest, and ended up agreeing to one of the customer's requests. But I took care of it and everything is under control. Let me go and tell the maid to prepare something warm for you to drink."

  The young vampire quickly stepped out of the room and left.

  With just the two of them, Roman stood at the door and Julie on the opposite side of the room.

  Julie stared at Roman as if she hadn't seen him for weeks when in truth, it hadn't been that long. His black hair was disheveled, and there was a frown on his face. He closed the room's door and made his way to where she was.

  She felt her heart skip a couple of beats with every step he took towards her, and a smile threatened to break on her lips. It was as if he was a dream, who came alive with every step towards her.

  Julie walked towards him, "I thought we weren't going to see each other for the next six da—"

  Roman pulled Julie into his arms, hugging her tightly. A smile appeared on Julie's lips, and she put her arms around his waist to hug him back. He said, "One day is too long, six would be hell."

  Though Julie had worn the clothes that belonged to him the previous night, having him like this was better than that. She took a deep breath, and everything faded around her with just him here.

  "Did they hurt you?" He pulled away from her, taking a look at her neck and face.

  Julie shook her head, "I am good, Rome." The smile didn't drop from her face. But worry was quick to hover in her mind when she wondered how Roman was out of the cell. Did he break out of the dungeon? Her brown eyes met his red eyes, "What about Donovan and the others?"

  Roman brought his hand to Julie's face, caressing her cheek, and for a moment, she closed her eyes to savour the feeling before opening her eyes. "Donovan got me out. He decided to cut my time in the dungeon."

  "Just like that?" questioned Julie with a small frown.

  "Not just like that," Roman tucked Julie's hair behind her ear, letting his finger linger a little longer on the back of her skin. "Let us not worry about it right now." When his hand picked up one of her hands, he frowned, "Your hands are cold."

  Julie looked down at her hands, "It has been like this for a few minutes, but it is getting better. Do you know that boy personally?" she asked, her eyes moved to look in the direction of the door.

  "Emerson?" questioned Roman, "Yeah, I do. I sometimes come here."

  "I thought so," replied Julie.

  Roman's hand then moved to touch Julie's face, where two drops of blood had splattered. The blood had dried and needed water to remove it. "Why do you have spots of blood on you?" he asked her, his eyes subtly narrowed with a grim expression on his face.

  "That……" Julie's voice trailed before she explained to him what happened.

  After listening to her, Roman said, "Your abilities of being a witch must be manifesting."

  "I guess, this morning the mirror turned into a portal and thankfully the Corvin was here—Oh crap," Julie's expression turned one to dread. "Corvin."

  "What is it?"

  "I…… I thought you would be in the dungeon and told the Corvin to hand the letter to you. I hope it senses that you aren't there in Veteris and will come back," she murmured in the end.

  Roman brought his hand forward, placing his hand on the side of Julie's head, and he petted her, "It is good to know that you weren't alone here and had company. Did you eat?"

  He asked her, his eyes looking behind her, noticing the food had been left untouched on the table.

  "I always have room for food," Julie let him know, and Roman was glad to hear that she was doing fine not just physically but also mentally.

  "Let me take you out for dinner then," stated Roman, and Julie immediately agreed to it.

  "Give me two minutes," said Julie, and she went to the sink to wash her face. When she was done, Roman took a closer look at her face. "Better?" she asked him.

  "Mm," hummed Roman, lifting Julie's face with his finger under her chin. His thumb caressed her jaw, and he was about to lean in when the young vampire named Emerson appeared, pushing the door with a tray in his hand.

  Emerson Nottingham had carried the tray without the maid's help so that he could rectify the little incident that had taken place with Julie. Julie was quick to clear her throat, and she looked in the other direction, while Roman looked annoyed. He sent a death glare to the person at the door.

  "Ah ha ha ha, I uh, brought some refreshments. I didn't know you were busy. Should have locked," said Emerson.

  "We're going out. You don't need to trouble yourself with it," remarked Roman, and he slipped his hand into Julie's hand.

  Emerson's eyes fell on their hands, "Out?"

  Roman walked to where the vampire boy stood, and he used his free hand to pick up one of the glasses, drinking the blood until the last few drops and placing it back on the tray. He responded, "Yeah, you can refill the blood in the flask or in the cans later."

  Emerson's eyes subtly widened because he had only compelled the girl, and Roman had openly spoken about blood. But then noticed no change in Julie's expression, and he internally frowned. "Are you planning to compel her again?"

  "Julie cannot be compelled," stated Roman, and the young vampire's eyes widened in shock.

  "That's not possible!" He narrowed his eyes, and he looked at the human in suspicion.

  Neither Julie nor the young vampire had expected Roman to expose them like this. Julie offered an awkward smile to the boy named Emerson.

  Roman didn't pay attention to both of them and questioned, "Why did you give her a shabby room?"

  "I-well, I wasn't expecting a guest of yours to be visiting here, and all the rooms had been occupied. It was the last one we had," Emerson explained to Roman and proposed, "Now as one of the rooms is free with the two customers gone, I can have your things shifted to that room."

  Roman turned to look at Julie, and she said, "It is fine."

  She didn't want to remember seeing the corpse of the two dead vampires by staying in the room.

  Emerson couldn't believe that the girl couldn't be compelled. This was almost impossible, he thought in his mind. Noting Julie's response, the younger vampire offered, "I will tell the servants to change the sheets and to add extra logs of wood in the fireplace."

  "Sure," replied Roman. Turning, he tugged Julie along with him, away from the corridor and then from the motel.

  The weather outside was windy and cold, but with Roman next to her, Julie didn't mind even standing near molten lava now. After walking some distance, they stepped into one of the diners.

  They walked to the last booth at the back, and Julie noticed the diner wasn't as empty as the first one they had visited a few days ago. Julie was the first one to slide in to take a seat. But instead of Roman taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, he took a seat right next to her.

  When the waitress took their orders, Julie asked him, "This is an unusual town. How do you know about this place?"

  "The motel and some other buildings that were constructed more than a decade ago, my father was responsible for it. The Nottingham's are distant relatives of the Moltenore family," mentioned Roman in a nonchalant tone.

  "Does that mean you and that boy are relatives?"

  "Far cousins," replied Roman and Julie quietly wowed at this.

  Julie took a look ahead of them, where the waitress was taking the order from the table in front of them. With no one near to listen to their conversation, she asked,

  "Did he turn into a vampire in Veteris too?"

  "No, it was in this town. After the massacre took place in Veteris," replied Roman, and Julie's curiosity peaked. He explained, "He was some time after that, and his body stopped growing in two years after he was turned. He's been living far longer as a vampire than I have as he never stayed in the casket like some of us. The Queenstorm has more vampires than the humans, and he caters to the night creatures, some of the customers demand."

  Last night, Julie had come to believe that the boy was one of the servants in the motel, but who would have guessed that he was the actual owner of the place.

  "How are things in Veteris?" inquired Julie, wanting to know if something had happened during her absence.

  "Quite interesting. Griffin is spending some quality time in the dungeon by himself," and hearing Roman's words, Julie's eyes widened. "The management has decided to arrange a body check up for the students. To catch the person who is involved in the water contamination. The Elders are busy with it, so it is all good."

  At least that was what they thought.

  Same time in Veteris University, where the dungeon was located, Griffin paced back and forth in the small cell, while his temper only rose with every passing minute. He wanted to crush Roman because he knew it was Roman who was responsible for throwing him in here.

  While the vampire walked back and forth, the Corvin appeared behind him without letting him know of its presence. The creature disliked vampires as they were the main reason for causing chaos in this world while erasing the evidence of the destruction they caused. It didn't understand why the girl was fascinated by this vampire, a kind who killed others.

  It pulled out the letter that Julie had written for the vampire and dropped it on the ground.

  Hearing the sound of something drop behind him, Griffin turned around, and his eyes narrowed when he saw a folded paper on the ground. He looked at the space outside the cell and then at the window to see if someone had thrown this at him.

  The Corvin was about to disappear from there, but when it saw the vampire's face, something didn't seem right. The last time it was here to drop the letter, the boy was someone else. Who was this person?

  Griffin stared hard at the paper and was ready to pick it up. But just when his hand reached for the paper, out of nowhere, twigs appeared in front of him, and the next second, both the twigs as well as the paper disappeared from in front of him.

  He blinked a couple of times before snapping his head left and right to see what just happened!

  Back in the town of Queenstorm diner, where Julie was sitting with Roman on her right, they continued to speak, where it was Julie who spoke a lot, while Roman listened to her voice and watched her.

  Julie said, "I was thinking about visiting my house. Not my uncle's, but the one where I used to live with my parents. The Corvin said that there is a possibility that my mother hid my abilities in a safe place, so that I could live a normal life."

  "When do you want to go?" questioned Roman. "The monthly weekend holiday isn't too far."

  Julie nodded her head, and she sighed.

  Roman had let her know that Donovan wanted to meet her, and she would have asked why. But then the answer was obvious. The Elder vampire wanted to see if she was suitable to stand next to Roman. Somewhere Julie felt as if she was going to meet her future mother-in-law, or maybe in this case worse than that.

  By what Roman said, Donovan had said he wouldn't harm or kill her. But it made her wonder what had changed the Elder vampire's mind. There was a catch, wasn't it?

  "Do you think it is a hunter, who tried to contaminate the water?" asked Julie in a low voice.

  Roman's gaze was steady, and he said, "It can't be. If it were a hunter, we would have been found out by now and there would have been bloodshed in Veteris. I thought it was Griffin, but it seems like I was only half right."

  "I hope there won't be any bloodshed like in the past," came Julie's small voice, knowing one could only hope, but no one could change the inevitable, especially with the Elder vampires awakening.

  "Don't worry about that," said Roman. He placed his hand on her head and gently caressed it. "Dante and the others have always tried to keep the place peaceful," though he couldn't guarantee it.

  When Julie's eyes raised from the surface of the table, she turned to look at him, and she saw how black Roman's eyes were. It reminded her of what the Corvin said about not being able to detect his emotions and that it was hollow. But she could sense them, his feelings reaching her.

  Sitting alone with Roman at the back booth, where the booth next to them was empty, Julie's eyes shifted from his eyes to look at his lips before looking back at him.

  "Did the coughing get better?" whispered Julie, and Roman hadn't moved his hand from the back of her head. He played with her hair with his fingers.

  "It did," responded Roman, looking at her innocent soul through her eyes, which he could tell was slowly tainting because of him and the world she had stepped into. "It got better after drinking from you."

  Julie noticed Roman's eyes fall on her lips when she parted it, and they leaned closer to each other. His lips parted, and just when they were going to kiss, someone called her,

  "Julianne?" It was a male's voice, which was filled with surprise.

  A sliver of annoyance appeared in Roman's eyes for interrupting his kiss with her for the second time. Julie turned her head, and her eyes widened. When she saw the person, and the girl, who stood next to him, the colour of her face paled slightly.

  The girl offered a smile to Julie and said, "I thought I would never see you again, Jules."

  "Natalie," Julie uttered her ex-best friend's name, who stood with the boy, whom Julie once had a little crush on in the past.

  Was the world turning small, or was she travelling too much to meet people she didn't want to meet? Julie questioned herself.