Time To Find out

 Millie glanced at the interrogation she’d been shoved into, tapping her fingers on the table as she waited to find out what the hell these people wanted. If this was about not cleaning up after her dog a bit earlier, well, it wasn’t like she was aware that there was a whole freaking city beyond that field that would take issue with it. Was that an excuse? Not really, no.

But she would have loved to know why they busted her and her companions. Final Draft had been confiscated as they were checked in. She knew Amaia looked particularly irked at being forcibly disarmed, and hoped that their detached head wasn’t also viewed as a weapon (or evidence of a crime, because severed heads usually set off alarm bells).

Hopefully, Nibbles was safe and just doing her own thing around the city. She hoped the dog would be waiting for her, really, but wasn’t quite sure if she’d do that. Chances were, she’d gotten curious about the new surroundings and went exploring.

Soon enough, another person entered the room. It was a tall woman, her blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Her black eyes looked right through Millie, as she sat before her. The silence between them was thick.

“I take it you’re one of those Nightshade freaks, correct?” the woman asked after a moment.

Millie let out a groan. Well, then. Profiling wasn’t one of the first things that came to mind for why they were there, but once that question came about, it didn’t surprise her. The second thing that came to mind was uncertainty as to if she counted as a citizen of Nightshade, or how that even worked around there in the first place. She shrugged.

“Okay, so, I’m not, like, officially from there,” she admitted. “I was actually summoned here from the human world to help out against a threat.”

The woman’s eyes widened, a little smile playing at her lips. “Really, now…”

That didn’t help Millie feel any better about this situation. If anything, it made her wonder if there were insane asylums in the area and if she’d end up getting a firsthand view of that, too. She already got her first taste of what appeared to be the police around there and she wasn’t entirely impressed so far.

“Yeah. What of it?”

She stood, bowing slightly. “Kristal Hildiwara. I’m also from the human world.”

Millie wasn’t entirely sure what she’d expected to hear from this woman, but being from the human world was not what one would call high on that list. Instead, she stared at her incredulously. Was this also one of those prior champions they were looking for?

“How did you get here?”

Kristal sighed. “In short, I stepped into a Fae Circle and they tried to sell me to a blood bank. But I had no intention of sticking around. After running for my life, I found this place, and after hearing my story, they hired me on as a guard. Yourself?”

“Summoned to a vampire’s castle to take on these creatures that’d been plaguing them. So, I’m guessing you weren’t one of the others brought on before me?”

Kristal scoffed. “A few of the others here were told the same thing, but they said it was all bunk and that they were sent on a wild goose chase.”

Millie crossed her arms. Or at least, tried to; one wrist was still cuffed to the table.

“Is it possible they didn’t know what they were looking for?”

“They didn’t run into anything out of the ordinary. And one of them created this city as a safe haven from the vampire that sent her out in the first place..”

Millie drummed her fingers on the table again, and she let out a breath. “I can promise you, Kristal. The creatures are real. I’ve faced a few of them already with my friends.”

The word had just slipped its way into her statement, honestly. Millie didn’t quite know them as well as, say, someone she’d had in her life for several years, but she was still worried enough about their safety right now that she couldn’t think of them in any other capacity.

A scoff.

“You’re not serious,” Kristal stated. “It’s clear that you’ve been tricked, and I feel sorry for you for falling for their tricks.”

“As serious as a heart attack,” she replied. “These monsters have a few tells to them: inconsistent number of fingers, suck the life out of stuff within a certain radius, yellowish tint…”

“And you were able to fight them without falling victim, yourself.”

She glanced down. “Well...mostly, they did the fighting. I didn’t have a weapon yet, and it turns out I need to be, like, really worked up to use magic in a fight.”

That seemed a little less-than-believable to Kristal.

“And why do you travel with them?”

“One lost a sibling to this threat, one wants to find out what’s been happening to the previous champions, one’s my dog, and one...eh, I think she was just looking for something to do. But I promise, none of us did anything to deserve being arrested.”

Kristal tapped her chin, before going to uncuff Millie. “Go. Explore the city.”

That seemed a bit odd to the witch, but she nodded and left the room. She had no intention of leaving the city without her companions, of course. But with that constant sunlight bearing down from all angles, and the fact that two of her friends had that aversion to sunlight, it might be the safest option for them to remain here for now.

Besides, something about this city was giving her pause, and she wanted to find out exactly why that was. And she had a dog to locate. She had no idea where Nibbles would have run off to, and headed out of the station.

“Please note that I’m planning to come back and check in on the others,” she told Kristal before taking her leave.

As she walked through the city, she noticed a few things that definitely set this place apart from Nightshade. Whereas a lot of the buildings back there had a charmingly run-down quality to them, like you’d definitely expect them to be haunted, these ones were pristine. Like they’d never seen any use in the first place.

Everyone walking the streets was human. There weren’t really enough of them to feel like it was a metropolitan area (more like a small village, population-wise), but there were enough of them that their attire felt weird. There were a few people at a cafe, all of them wearing pure white clothing.

Something about them felt a bit off to Millie, and so she continued her walk.

“Well, you’re not from around here, are you?” a voice asked.

She turned to see another fully white-clad man glancing at her. Something about his blue eyes looked a little less than human. Like he lacked a soul. But she shook her head.

“No, I’m not. I was just passing through with some friends, but they’re busy right now.”

“Well, if you come with me, I can help you get some fresh clothing.”

She gave him a tight smile. “Thanks, but I like what I have now.”

She walked away, hoping he didn’t notice the full-body shiver that overtook her. But then again, she stood out like a sore thumb, so not being noticed didn’t feel like something she’d be blessed with.

Millie continued walking along, looking for any sign of Nibbles. This area was large, and that sun reflected off of everything. It almost seemed like it was tailored specifically to hurt vampires. Which made her wonder how far intention could get someone from the human world.

She didn’t have a problem with Talia, personally. There was still stuff about this world she was curious about, and it wasn’t like the vampire had lied to her about this, that, and the other thing. But she was also sure she hadn’t been telling her everything. Kristal had said she made a run from the blood supply deal. When asked about what happened with those that refused, Talia did seem a little avoidant of the question.

Millie shook her head, thinking she’d look into asking Talia about this once they reunited again. She thought about the others, as well. Amaia probably wasn’t taking this whole thing well. As for Sara, Millie wouldn’t have been shocked to find that she was being interrogated by an arachnophobe of the highest caliber. Hell, they’d probably chosen someone like that on purpose.

For herself, the fact that the anti-human profiling had favored her felt a bit gross. She’d seen this kind of stuff happen back home, and had hoped that a different world would be a bit different in that respect.

But it had those unfortunate similarities, and she hated that she could see that.

Continuing to walk along, she saw another person. She could have sworn she saw the number of their fingers change between blinks, but wasn’t sure…