Chapter 13:

Chapter 10 - Welcome Party

Shadowed Love


Xavier? How did he know my number and ‘dude’? Is he crazy? Tsk.

To: 0987*******

Ows? Well, hello. How did u get my number tho?

There. Sent. I’m really curious. I don’t remember giving anyone my number. Perhaps, he checked my phone?

Ting!

From: 0987*******

Duh? I’m the one who bought it and, of course, who set it up. Meaning, I’m the one who inserted your sim card. Did u already forget?

Ouch, all the time we have spent together, all our memories. Have you forgotten all of them? Ouch.

Oh, right!!

To: Xavier

Oh yeah, you’re right!!

But you could’ve just messaged me on my social media!

Are you outdated? Or u don’t have one?

From: Xavier

U really did forget.

But, most people talk using social media.

I don’t wanna use it when talking to you because I’ll just end up camouflaging with their messages. I want your attention, on me and only me, even with just this. So here I am, texting you instead of using social media.

What? I know he’s a nice person but what is this fucker even saying? Doesn’t he have a girlfriend? I couldn’t control my emotions and got a little bit pissed and ended up cussing at him.

To: Xavier

What do you mean, shithead?

Well, sorry to say, but I’m also text buddy with Auntie Tina. U’re not the one.

From: Xavier

Gif(relieved)

Well, I don’t mind if it’s her. Just don’t give ur number to other guys. Let them talk to u on social media. I want to be the only one here. Okay?

To: Xavier

Yeah, yeah right. Whatever you say.

In the end, he just sent a gif of a person making a heart. I just resumed what I’m doing.

Hmm, what is the best thing to do to get my revenge?

I kept thinking and thinking but no answer popped up into my head and I fell asleep.

“Good morning, Talia! Come on, breakfast’s ready.” A voice woke me up and I saw Auntie Tina’s smiling face the moment I opened

my eyes. It unconsciously made me happy and I think that it has already made my day!

I happily got up from bed and followed her downstairs to the dining area.

However, unlike Auntie Tina’s lively aura earlier, the dining area was filled with tension and sarcastic hate with just the two of us and Lanxiu.

“Good morning.” I still greeted her and sat in front of her.

“Well then, shall we eat?” auntie Tina said.

“Catte, how’s your first day of school?” she asked.

“Ahhhh, it went well. And I have already made friends. Plus, I didn’t know Kael was such a cute clingy boy. But I had fun, no troubles so far.” I answered and smiled widely.

“That’s great. How about you, Lanxiu? How are you doing outside?” she then turned to Lanxiu.

“Uh, fine.”

We finished our breakfast without me and Lanxiu having eye contact and just Auntie Tina doing all the talk.

“Bye, Auntie! I’ll get going!” I waved at her and walked to school.

But what I thought was a peaceful walk to school, came out to be chaotic.

“TALIAAAAAAAA!!!!” even without looking behind, I already knew who it was. That voice, Kael.

In just 3 seconds, a hug came from behind circling around my knees.

“Ate Talia, uppies!” Kael said, raising his arm and so I carried him. I mean, who wouldn’t melt by his cuteness?

“G’mornin’!!” Sanie greeted me with a cheerful voice and smile.

“Good morning, Talia.” I flinched when I heard Xavier’s voice in front. I didn’t even notice he was there.

“Sanie? I thought you two walk to school alone?” I asked her.

“Ehh, we decided to pick you up and go to school together and our uncle here said he'd come along for unknown reasons.” Sanie answered and shrugged her shoulders while peeking towards Xavier, who had his right hand on his nape with an embarrassed face.

That sure annoyed me.

“Oh, Xavier! You’re here!” Lanxiu had just left the house.

“A-ah, yeah….”

“You’re here to pick me up? How sweet! Come on.” She said and kissed Xavier. I just get my eyes off of them, but I can still hear the ‘smooch’ and ‘smooch’ sounds. Seriously, we’re in a public place! Aren’t they embarrassed? And there are children here. What an inappropriate couple.

“U-uh, Lanxiu. We’re outside, will you please stop?” Xavier pushed her away.

“Kael, Sanie, let’s go.” I said and carried the two children, averaging 5-7 years old, away from the two flirts.

“Bye, Talia! See you later!” the two waved their goodbyes and entered their building.

I was just about to sigh in relief when an arm was wrapped around my shoulder.

“Talia! You’re finally here!” Cassie said with her strong voice.

“Hi!”

“G’morning, friend!”

“Wooowwww, it’s been so longgg. How have you been?”

“Can I copy your assignment?”

I received such morning greetings from my friends when they popped out of Cassie’s back.

“Good morning, guys!” I greeted them.

We climbed upstairs and entered our classroom. It is rather chaotic, but I’ll get used to it after some time. I also didn’t see Xavier and Lanxiu again, so I am kind of relieved that I didn’t see their flirty asses the second time. I don’t want to ruin my morning.

Not a long time had passed, our class with Sir Arian started. As expected, we didn’t have it easy as he asked each one of us a question about a sub-topic that we weren’t familiar with yet.

After his class is Miss Nager’s math class. And thank god, she teaches very well.

I enjoyed listening to her lectures and, after a long time, the bell rang indicating our break time.

“What do you wanna eat, Cate?” Jillian asked me and clung her arm to my left arm.

“I’m currently craving potato salad.” I answered, as it is really what I wanted to eat. My favorite potato salad.

“Huh? Potato salad?”

“Huh?” we’re both confused. They don’t know what it is?

“Cate, we only have meat here for lunch. Human and animal meats.” She told me with seriousness, but her eyes were curious.

“Uhhhh, is that so? Well, I don’t quite like it.” I said, looking down.

Oh my god, are they going to find out now!? That I’m a human??

"How so?”

“Uhmmm, I once tried when I was still 3 years old and I remember my mom saying I vomited a lot after that and even got sick. So ever since then, I don’t eat meat.” Oh my lord, I hope this excuse is believable.

“Eh? That’s weird. All vampires here love meat. But unfortunately for you, we don’t have what you’re talking about. But here’s a sandwich, is this okay?” Regina handed me a toasted cheese sandwich.

“Thank you.” I said and they just smiled and said that they'd go buy their food.

“Well then, now that we’re settled in our seats, Catte, do you mind explaining what potato salad is?” Cassie asked me with her intimidating aura and serious face.

“Well, I just found out about it when I got lost in an unknown place and an old lady offered it to me. I was hesitant at first, but once I tasted it, it became my favorite.”

“Oh Cate, what a wonderful discovery. However, I didn’t ask how you knew. I am asking what it is.” Cassie said.

“U-uh, I don’t really know what it is but it’s mashy and it has some kind of sour yet sweet taste and I think it also has a white, something that tastes good for me. I think I’ll recognize it once I taste it.” I tried my very best to describe the potato salad as if I didn’t really know it and without mentioning the ingredients because they might not be available in this world.

“Woahhh, is it good?” Jillian asked with an amused tone.

“Well yes. I actually thought that it was a good substitute for meat but I didn’t find it elsewhere.” I continued with my lie.

“Well then, let’s do the operation; find potato salad!” Jillian shouted and posed with her left hand on her waist and her right hand on her imaginary glasses with a proud smirk on her face.

“Yes!” the other two answered.

Oh god. What have I done? What if they find out it is just from the human world? I’m dead.

The lunch break ended and we continued with our class. The trio’s rumbling about the potato salad hunt didn’t even stop.

“Hey Zain! Do you know a food called potato salad?” Cassie asked a random girl.

“Opi! Do you know where to find potato salad?” Nagie asked a random boy.

“Viy! Do you want potato salad?” Jillian asked a group of students. What the hell!?

They just continued asking every person in school about the potato salad in every part of the school.

Haaaaa, I won’t be able to avenge. I’ll be dead in the coming days.

“Talia! I missed you!” Kael welcomed me with a hug the moment I got out of our building.

“Kael, do you know a food called potato salad?” Cassie asked the child that was clinging onto me.

Oh nooo…..

“Potato salad?” he asked back and tilted his head.

“Potato salad?” Sanie repeated and also tilted her head.

“Potato salad?” Xavier repeated for the third time and also tilted his head with his brows furrowed.

“Ah! Potato salad! Yes!” they said in synch.

“Well, you see. Potato salad is a food only for the royals.” Kael first explained.

“And being a food only for the royals, it is completely rare and will cost you a fortune to find it.” Sanie added.

And I heard a ‘ughhh’ and ‘ehhhh’ from my friends.

“However, being offered a potato salad by a royal is a completely different story. It must mean that they really trust you.” Xavier ended the explanation.

“Cate, a royal trusts you!?” my three friends shockingly asked.

“What? That’s impossible. As I said, I was just lost that time and the old lady must have nothing to give me as food and ended up feeding me a potato salad.” I said and awkwardly laughed. I am glad I’m quite good at making excuses on the spot.

“But that’s weird. No matter how helpless, a royal must and does not offer a potato salad to a stranger. Oh, that must be because, even without investigating, Cate is already special to everyone!” Kael proudly said with his index finger pointing up.

Oh Kael…..

“Oh yeah! It’s my first day on my part-time job—I must go, goodbye everyone!” I slipped out of the discussion before they came up with different conclusions about me being special.

“Good evening, everyone.” I greeted everyone in the locker room at the fast food chain. Or must I say, fancy restaurant?

“Good evening Talia!” my co-workers also greeted me with a smile.

“Good work, Eri! Good night!” I bid her goodbye. Her shift’s done, so I’m going to take over as a waitress.

The fast food chain is quite popular with the vampires in this area and, as a fast food chain, the customers here rather wears fancy clothes than casual.

“Good evening. Here’s your food. Enjoy!” I served my first table with a bright smile. AHHHHHHHHH—it’s fun! Exciting!

“Heh, Miss, wanna hangout with me and have fun?” the customer on my left said with his malicious smile and said those words like there was a hidden meaning behind them. Ugh, what is this? It’s my first table. What a boomer.

“As a trustful fast food chain company, we respect our customers and employees. However, in times of interacting with our employees with such malicious intent, with all due respect, please leave this place.” A co-worker said and me and the customer both flinched. We didn’t even notice he was there.

Oh, it’s Devrie. Remember the man from the first time I came here? He’s the one who guided me to the director’s office.

Devrie was smiling but his eyes looked like it’s saying, ‘leave alive or stay here forever?’. The customer didn’t even hesitate to walk fast and leave the place.

“Catte, be careful with those people. As an employee, you will soon find a way to deal with them. But as a trainee, I have dealt with them for you since you’re new.” He said and smiled, then disappeared again. Oh, so he’s by my side, huh?

“Ughhh, good work everyone!” Raqui sighed in relief while changing into her casual clothes in the locker room.

“Yeahh, so much happened today. Too many troubles from customers. I heard Catte almost got hit on by a dude? Damn fuckers, not taking their heat-controlling pills to seduce ladies.” Qareu said with tiredness and annoyance in her voice.

Once we get out of the girl’s locker room, all the workers are gathered in one place and look like they’re waiting for us.

“Come on, Talia. Let’s celebrate your welcome party!”

“Huh? But I can’t drink. I still have classes tomorrow.” What’s this all of a sudden?

“Then juice it is! Come on, we’ll not party all night. We’ll just celebrate.” Devrie held my arm and we started walking to go to the pub. I mean, it’s like a pub, but it’s not called like that here.

“Ughhhhhh, finallyyyyy.” Devrie sighed and drank a whole glass of beer.

“What the hell, boss? Aren’t you going to get wasted too?” Devrie turned to Sir Varean who was sitting at the end of the table while casually sipping an iced tea.

We’re on a rectangular table and I’m sitting beside Devrie, who’s sitting beside Sir Vareanon on his upper right.

“Nah, I’ll pass for now. And did you already forget that the other purpose of this welcome party is to gain information and plan? You must really be enjoying yourself, huh?” he said and raised both his eyebrows while looking at Devrie who looked like he had just realized something.

“Ahehe, sorry boss.” He said and scratched his nape, then placed his left arm on my shoulder and pulled me closer. “Now then, Talia my friend! How are you currently doing in this world, huh? Any troubles so far?” he asked with full of energy. Is he drunk?

“What? ‘in this world so far’? What do you mean?” I asked. Isn’t it weird that he’s asking me that?

“Oh Talia my girl, some of us are humans here. We’re actually a group of humans and vampires who share the same objective; to kill that group.” I saw his eyes look serious and dark for a moment before they became normal again.

“It’s our little secret, okay?” he whispered, but I’m sure that the whole group heard it.

“Hey Catte, being a part of this group, I assume you also experienced what we did?” a co-worker asked me.

“Did those vampires also kill your family?” I asked back.

“Apparently, yes. Most of us here just came back home and saw their family lying on the ground, pale, and organs coming out of their body. That’s a really cruel thing to see.”

“But you had it worse. You saw them being killed in front of your eyes. That’s mere torture.” Another co-worker said.

“Well, I guess so….” I answered, looking down. I guess they also had that nightmare? What a cruel thing to do to these kinds of people who didn’t even do anything bad to them. What shitheads—I’ll definitely kill them all.

“Well, whether we saw it live or not, it had the same impact on us. That’s why this group was created. Don’t forget our objective, okay?” Qarue cutted in.

“Yep, it’s to kill them!” the three said in unison and some of the customers slightly looked at us with weird expressions.

“Heyy, you’re too loud!” Devrie said with his index finger on his lips signing to lower down their voices.

We just laughed and I caught Sir Varean looking at me when I unconsciously laid my eyes on him. We both flinched but he just sipped his iced tea and smiled so kindly at me, so I awkwardly smiled back and broke eye contact with him.

Seriously, I didn’t know he could smile like that—you can’t blame me. He had this intimidating aura last night.

“Hey Taliaaaa, why don’t you try this drink? It’s light and definitely won’t make you drunk.” Devrie offered me a glass of a green drink with a weird fruit at the top. But I still drank it.

“Not bad, Devrie.” I commented and sipped again.

“Told you. That was also my first drink when I first joined this group. After that, I always offer it to the new members as a welcome drink!” he said and smiled widely. He looks drunk though.

We all chatted and drank before a sound came out of Qarue’s pocket.

“All right guys, Cinderella needs to go home.” She said and stood up. The whole group also stood and gave me a hug and bid me their goodbyes.

“Bye, Cinderella!” Devrie said and waved at me, so I waved back. I then followed Sir Varean, who said he was going to drop me off in the apartment. He started driving once we got inside of his car.

“Did you have fun?” he asked and tried to peek at me without turning his eyes off the road.

"Yes. It’s fun being with them. They’re also kind.”

“Right? That’s why I gathered them all to guide them in fulfilling their objective. When I first met them and found out about their backstory, I realized I must protect them and those kind smiles.” He said. I can feel the sincerity of his voice.

“And now that I know you’re one of my friend’s daughter, I’ll protect you with all my heart and life.” He added and looked at me for 1 second with that kind smile again on his face before turning his eyes again on the road.

So he’s not really bad, huh?

After that, our trip back to the apartment became quiet and had less tension inside the car.

continue next chapter~

A/N: Hi, I changed Regina's name to Nagie, so if you saw 'Regina' from the last few chapters, she is now Nagie, okay? Thank you! I don't really want to edit the chapters since it will change the days published and I don't want that, thank you for your understanding!