“Yes. I know who you are. Dena told me all about you. She gave me a call a few nights ago that if I’d ever see her… wandering child, I should talk to you,” the club owner continued.

I swallowed but I raised my chin. I wasn’t afraid of him. After all, he wasn’t as old as I am. That gave me the edge. Older vampires were more powerful than younger ones.

“Your mother wants to see you home, Saber.” He sounded like a father gently scolding and persuading his child.

I snorted then I looked at him angrily. “She’s not my mother! My mother is long dead! And if you don’t know yet, I am not under Dena’s safe and pretty huge wings anymore. I have already severed my connection with her since a few nights ago. Perhaps that was when she called you up.” Then, I smiled prettily at him even though I knew it was dangerous to tell him about this stuff.

He momentarily blinked at that. Surely Dena didn’t tell him everything? I gave him a lopsided smile. I calmly crossed the room toward the door.

“If you’re going to even try to stop me from leaving, I swear I’ll get rid of all your babies here,” I warned him nicely.

He laughed at that. “I sure want to see you do that, Saber. That way, I’ll know if Dena truly lost a very valuable asset of her clan.” He vigorously hurled at me the glass of wine he was holding.

I ducked just in time. With a kick, the door was blasted open. I quickly went out of the room back to the bar but he was right behind me. He got a hold of me by the neck and that was when I ordered Creep to take action as well.

I saw him whirl around and he turned into his original sigbin form. Every human in the room gasped or screamed in horror. As he was agile, he whipped a couple of vampires. They turned into a mist and were gone in a split second. Then, another and another.

The people were all in panic now, screaming and not knowing where to hide.

My captor was a little shocked. So, I right elbowed him in his side and his grip slackened. I elbowed him again but in the face and he totally let go of me this time. The three bodyguards I saw with him earlier gathered around me while Creep was busy with the other vampires. I caught sight of Ji-Yun who stood by in a corner and suddenly ushered some human girls out of the club.

“Don’t let them go out, Ji-Yun!” I shouted at her. It was to contain these humans and so the news won’t be spread out about what’s happening here.

I hoped the kid won’t be hurt in this mess I am in. Why did she have to track us down?

With her chinky eyes opened wide, she nodded. Then, she dragged the women again back inside the club. With what force she had, I had no idea. She stood guard by the door to let no one pass her. She pushed anyone who wanted to get out back and away from the door. She was now the little bouncer of this club. Amusing!

“Okay, let’s do this!” I said and kicked the smaller-framed guy first. I sent him flying somewhere behind me where he had to recuperate for the time being because of broken bones.

The woman called her familiar, a hawk. It flew around me and tried to peck me but Creep’s tail took care of it. I smiled at the woman whose eyes bulged in anger when her familiar died right in front of her. She angrily attacked me but I was ready for her. I punched her in the stomach with my ring and slashed her belly upward. With a back fist I gave her, she lay on the floor like a disposed meat. She’d heal, I knew but it’d take some time. So I faced Mr. Bigger Frame while his boss looked on as he wiped the blood away from his mouth.

“I said talk, right?” I reminded them.

Mr. Bigger Frame gave me a sly smile. Then, I saw him double, triple, quadruple.

‘Not again!’ I thought. Here was an illusionist. When I belonged to Dena’s clan, I never met such guys before until I separated myself. Was this some kind of a conspiracy or what?

I called on Creep to deal with the illusionist guy so I could face the boss again. But one of Mr. Bigger Frame’s quadruplets pulled me by the hair. Damn! Not my hair! I never even went to any beauty parlor to take care of it! And yet somehow, I took advantage of my long hair. I flipped backward and hit the back of his neck with my knee. Well, I broke his neck literally and pulled his head off.

I jumped down to the floor before the body went down and turned into ashes. Then I saw Creep whipped his tail like a mad man… I mean, like a mad sigbin. Mr. Bigger Frame’s illusions disappeared and the original turned into a mist and was gone.

I raised a hand to signal the smaller-framed guy not to move an inch. “Stay where you are if you don’t want to die.”

Most of the vampires present there surrounded me and Creep. I stood with my back against him. Oh, well, perhaps the front because his head was in between his hind legs now and his sharp tail was creepily wagging here and there threateningly. The other vampires took hold a person or two, threatening to kill them at any moment if I made a move. The werewolves, on the other hand, stood by huddled in a group. They watched in a corner like there was some kind of an interesting show going on at the moment. Well, perhaps it was for them. They usually looked on and enjoyed when vampires turned against each other. Damn wolves!

Meanwhile, the human black bouncer looked at Ji-Yun, who was still standing all alone by the entrance/exit door. He slowly went to her but she kicked him in the balls. He fell on the floor, kneeling and groaning.

I looked at the boss. “Is this really what you want?”

“I thought you said you were going to execute all my babies.” He still got the nerve to chuckle at this moment. “So, to stop you from doing it, my babies are going to kill these weak humans. After all, they are meant to be our food for tonight.”

The women cried when they heard it. And I ignored the strong smell of fresh blood even though it seemed exhilarating. My urge to feed slightly distracted me. But I didn’t linger on it.

“Well, in that case I can’t help it. You do your thing and I will do mine. Now, Creep!”

I still wished to save these people here and I’d do everything in my power to do that. But right now, to save myself and Creep—okay, and Ji-Yun—that should be prioritized to be able to save them.

Before I could even move, the windows were smashed and the door was blasted open. Ji-Yun flew and was thrown to the floor in a heap while the bouncer was flattened on the floor by someone who blasted the door, obviously. He was a teenage white boy with about a six-inch spiky hair, wearing funky clothes. There was a tattoo on the left side of his neck that I couldn’t make out yet and a ring was pierced in his left cheek. One of his hands was covered with blood. At first look, I could tell he was a blood user.

He looked around and he met my eye. His smile was like a twitch. Then, a couple more of teenagers came in from the broken windows. One was a white girl with long, red-colored hair, wearing a very short mini-skirt, a tank top under her leather jacket, and high-heeled boots. And the other was a Japanese-looking boy with shoulder one-length hair of silver color, wearing a pair of baggy pants and loose shirt, with a thick silver necklace. A small star tattoo was on his right cheek.

Really. They all looked like a bunch of juvenile delinquents, the three of them. Everything seemed to get quite after they came in. Everyone’s attention was on them.

“So, we heard there’s a party going on here,” the red-haired girl said with boredom, looking at her different colored fingernails. Then, her eyes changed when she looked up. It was luminous of color violet. Almost all the guys, except Creep and her two companions, seemed to gravitate toward her.

‘What is she?’ I asked myself, flabbergasted. I’d never met someone like her. And I couldn’t even guess what she was. But I noticed that only guys under around thirty gravitated toward her.

“Stop it, Sephora.” The Japanese-looking teenage boy said quietly without looking at her.

“Why would I stop, Ataru?” She smiled looking at him. Her eyes didn’t change.

The Japanese boy shook his head and let the subject drop. Instead, he took out his playing cards. I looked on with wonderment. How did these delinquents get here? Were they helping me and Creep? Or was it just a coincidence? Why would they help me and Creep if ever?

Ataru shuffled his cards with calculative movement and alert eyes.

“Ah, so you’re the very well-known Threesome Users,” I heard the boss of the club talk, chuckling afterward. He walked toward me.

“That’s as far as you can get, old man,” the blood user said threateningly. Then I saw the blood from his hand form into a gun. I thought it was childish of him.

The boss laughed. “What now? You’re going to shoot me with your blood? Sure! Do so. I think I’d enjoy that. Your blood… hmm…”

Then, I saw the blood user gave his smile like a twitch, like the first time when he looked at me. His eyes met mine like he wanted to relay something to me. Meanwhile, Ji-Yun, when I saw her in the corner of my eye, was getting up slowly. She blew some air to her face and took a deep breath.

“I’m with my two buddies right here, old man. And you, you’re with a few vampires since our pretty thing here is controlling the others.” He gestured in Sephora’s direction. “So that leaves you, the barman over there, a few old-looking bystanders,” he got a few hisses when he said that, “the recuperating woman on the floor, the… uh, broken ribbed guy and your bouncer who’s literally under my feet?” He looked down at the big fat bouncer who couldn’t move beneath him.

Then, he turned to the group of werewolves who were like mad dogs looking at Sephora. He chuckled with a shake of his head.

“The wolves? I say, I can’t blame them if they’re looking like that at our pretty thing.”

“So, what do you want, boy?” The boss of the club asked, fangs bared.

“I only want one thing, Raymond Lemerrier. Them. To be safe.” He said nodding in Creep’s and my direction.

I was quite surprised at that. Why would I and Creep be saved by this bunch of juvenile-looking delinquent users?

“Wait. I didn’t ask for your help here, kiddo.” I protested. I didn’t want to owe anyone a favor. “I don’t even know you!”

He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t do the talking all night, lady. I’m just here to do my job!” He told me rudely.

“Fine!” I gritted my teeth and hit Raymond’s face with a back fist and back kick as he was close enough. He was knocked down, lying on the floor.

Creep, on the other hand, executed the bouncer who just moved belatedly. And then, his tail was threateningly dancing before Raymond’s face just before he could even get up. He raised his hands in surrender.

“Don’t even try to think about it,” I said to the woman I slashed earlier who already recuperated from her huge wound. She didn’t move from where she was lying while I got closer to the blood user, whereas Creep executed everyone who was under Sephora’s spell or something. Except for the wolves.

“I think we must go,” Ji-Yun stepped closer to me and tugged at my jacket sleeve.

The blood user looked at her disapprovingly. I turned to Ji-Yun.

“Why the hell are you here anyway, Ji-Yun? I told you to stay away from me!”

“I just happened to sniff your scent here. That’s why I came here. I didn’t know… this will happen,” she replied almost guiltily.

I sighed. She was truly an extraordinary human. I turned to the blood user. His floating “bloody gun” was still pointed to Raymond.

“And you, I don’t have time for this but I think we’ll just move now,” I said and looked around the mess in the club. “The police will be here any moment.”

He snorted. “The police? Your kind, my kind, and this girl’s kind will more likely cover it up. So why worry?”

I looked at him with confusion and then at Ji-Yun who also looked at him the same way I did.

“My kind? What do you mean by that?” she asked him, voice raised. She must have felt insulted.

Looking at them, I thought they’d end up bantering all night. But the blood user got confused now as he looked at me and Ji-Yun, back and forth.

“You don’t know?” he asked both of us. “I never thought you’re such an old but naïve person… vampire!” he rudely told me when I didn’t say a word. “Fine, let’s go!” he ordered the other two, his companions.

Ataru threw a few cards in the air, pinning Raymond in his place as well as the lady on the floor. “Be grateful I didn’t take your lives,” he told them before he turned his back.

Creep’s tail withdrew and we moved out fast. I knew that Raymond would survive and hypnotize all those humans in there to not remember anything that happened tonight or he just might have to kill all of them or feed on them. I worried about that. But I had no choice. And Sephora, she left a mark on the wolves. They were like her little puppies from now on.

“Where to, Zurko?” Ataru asked the blood user as we settled in a black, shiny limousine. I never thought I would ride one tonight. How ironic!

I sat in the backseat with Creep and Ji-Yun while the three sat across from us.

“To the airport. We’ll go after him,” he said to the driver that I could only detect as a human. Perhaps, he was another user. The limousine moved faster then.

“To the airport? Why would we go there?” Ji-Yun protested.

“Are you afraid to fly?” Sephora asked her in a playful manner now.

Ji-Yun gave her a sharp look. “I’m not! I just don’t have my passport with me. And I don’t have… money.” Then, she looked at me.

Sephora laughed at that. “Do you think we all have passports with us all the time?” she pointed out.

“Where are we going, anyway? If we go to the airport, we must part ways then,” I said to Zurko. He seemed to be the leader of this threesome. Threesome Users as Raymond had said it back there in the club. They seemed well known. I never heard of them, though.

“We’re going to Europe. My instruction is to go there and you have to come with us whether you like it or not,” Zurko said with a threatening edge in his voice.

I wasn’t going to be frightened or threatened by this teenage boy. But there was something telling me that I should go along with this plan. Anyways, I intended to go to Europe to look for the Dark Empress. That was my goal. This might not be a bad idea after all.

And I hated it when Haunter would crawl inside my head when I think of the word goal. I always remembered his handsome face and the way he made me feel. I tried to stop thinking about him in such an erotic way as I was beginning to imagine him naked in front of me and that he was kissing me… Urgh! I had to stop this feeling before I’d seek for him instead of the Dark Empress.