Chapter 8 ~ Moonlight Swim

A few weeks had passed since I had hired Ryina onto the staff. She worked hard with Lily during the daylight hours and helped me out during the few hours of the night. Her ability to greet customers was possibly the biggest surprise to see. Ryina was polite and courteous to every customer that entered and even helped them in finding or explaining anything if they needed it.

As the night winded down, it was nearing the hour of closing up shop. I made sure to check on our inventory in the basement while Lily and Ryina ensured the shop had items for the following day. Once we were finished, I thought about the information Lily had told me about Ryina over the past few weeks. Lily did not believe Ryina was ever going to steal or try to betray us in any way. She did learn that Ryina had nightmares reliving horrors that I found all too common in my line of work. Lily and I decided to reach out to Emily the next time we saw her to see if she had some sort of medicine that could help Ryina sleep at night.

“Hey, Nyizel?”

“Hmm?”

“You want to go to the beach. I could use a break.”

“Sure, we can go in a bit.”

Lily began to close up the rest of the shop while I looked out the window of the shop. The night was perfect for a stroll on the beach. While continued to watch the gentle breeze blowing the trees in the distance, I noticed a figure approaching the shop.

“Oh, it looks like Emily is coming over.”

Lily squinted her eyes in the direction I was looking. Human eyesight was unable to compare to a vampire’s sight.

“I don’t see her,” Lily said.

“I’m not seeing anyone either,” Ryina said as she pressed her face against the glass.

Within a few minutes, Emily had appeared on the doorstep of the shop. Allowing her in, Lily greeted her with a smile.

“So what brings you by, Em?” I asked.

“Just got a new type of wine, figured I would drop it off.”

“How thoughtful, I’ll go put this up,” Lily said as she took the wine bottle.

As Lily headed up the stairs, I turned to Emily.

“Your timing couldn’t be more perfect. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Do you have something that could help Ryina here sleep?”

Emily turned to Ryina. I could tell Ryina was a bit shy around Emily. It was not surprising as many people were unsure how to act around her. Her personality was… unique, to say the least.

“That’s extremely vague. What exactly does she need?”

“Well…”

I turned to Ryina. There was no way around it, if I wanted to help her then I would need to tell Emily about what Lily heard. As I explained everything to Emily, Ryina could only cry as her past was revealed. I did not enjoy airing out secrets of the past, after all, I believed the past should stay in the past. Still, I wanted to help Ryina and I knew Lily wanted to as well. Seeing Emily comfort Ryina was a bit of shock to see, considering she was often sadistic.

“If I’m going to help you, Ri-Ri I’ll need you to let me into your memories,” Emily said.

Ryina’s body trembled with fear. One thing vampires had the ability to do was see the memories of a living person. This was something we could do to anyone of any race other than our own. Sadly, this was not something to be taken lightly. A vampire had to be extremely careful and control the situation with a clear head. If they were to mess up, there was a chance of turning the living creature into a vampire or killing them. Luckily, Emily never made mistakes and was a professional at her job. Now, it was just up to Ryina to agree and be comfortable with allowing another person into her past.

After a few minutes, Lily returned and I explained what was going on. With her usual smile, Lily held Ryina’s hand gently and tried to comfort her the best she could. Emily carefully one arm around Ryina’s waist and used her other to tilt her head slightly to the side.

“Now, just try to relax,” Emily whispered.

As Emily gently dug her fangs into the flesh, Ryina could not help but gasp for a moment before her body started to collapse into Emily’s arms. The time that passed most likely felt like hours to Ryina but in truth, only about six minutes had went by. Emily continued to hold onto Ryina once she was finished to keep her steady.

“There. We’re done. Just take a few minutes to recover,” Emily said as she gently stroked Ryina’s hair.

After a few minutes had passed, Emily looked through her medical pouch that contained all her medicines and herbs. Pulling out a small vial filled with a white liquid she popped open the cork and handed it to Ryina.

“W-What is this?” Ryina asked.

“This calms the mind and ensnares the part of your brain that handles those painful memories. It won’t ease them but it will ensure that you can sleep at night.”

“It I recall, that is the strongest medicine on the market to help with sleep,” I said as I looked to Emily.

“Mhm. She will want to take a small dose before she closes up the shop. You can give her the medicine, Nyizel. I’ll write up a prescription so you can do it legally,” Emily said with a wink.

“Ryina, are you going to be okay alone while Lily and I take some time to walk around the beach?”

“I can watch over her and the shop for a while if you like,” Emily said with a smile.

There was an almost sadistic tone in voice as she wrapped her arms around Ryina’s waist like a girl who was overprotective of her lover. I could not help but smirk at her for trying to claim Ryina as a toy for her pleasure.

“Don’t forget, Em, she is apart of my staff.”

Emily giggled and gently rested her chin against Ryina’s shoulder.

“She’s in good hands, I promise.”

After getting things squared away for Ryina, Lily and I exited the shop and made our way down the road in the direction of where the beach was. The moonlight was beautiful and the gentle breeze made the night come alive. Lily wrapped her arms around my arm and cuddled up close to me. While the night air was perfect for me, it was clear that Lily was feeling a bit cold.

“Want my cloak? It should be warm enough.”

“No, I’m fine. That’s what you’re for,” Lily giggled.

Wrapping my arm around her, I held her close so that she would not feel cold. Of course, I knew she was not being completely truthful. Vampires had extremely cold internal body temperatures. This meant that we were fairly cold to the touch, a bit like snow or ice.

“At least do a better job of lying,” I joked.

In the guild we were taught how to adjust our body heat through shadow magic. It was an extremely difficult technique to hold and maintain for long periods of time. At most, I could keep my temperature around the same as the average human for roughly a full day.

“Okay, I’m cold but I still feel warm next to you,” Lily said as she held me closer.

“I’ll make my body temperature a bit higher to make things warmer for you.”

Using my magic, I slowly heated up my internal body temperature to be just a bit higher than Lily’s so she would feel warm as we walked.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” Lily asked as she relaxed into my shoulder.

“I can’t go out when the sun is out.”

“You don’t say,” Lily giggled.

The two of us continued our stroll under the moonlight until we had finally reached the beach. Sounds filled my ears from the waves washing onto the shoreline to the swaying of the tree leaves in the gentle breeze. Lily quickly removed her sandals and headed over to the water. Removing my black leather boots and stockings, I made my way over to Lily. The sand was a bit cool but a welcome feeling on the soles of my feet. As I approached the water, it washed up to my ankles before the water receded back in. It was cold, about the same as my original body temperature.

Lily rubbed her barefoot against the wet sand like a little kid. It was a nice moment to watch her relax and be happy without the worries of adventurer life. I knew there was a part of her that missed it but at the same time she would not want to go back if it meant leaving me. We both wanted to take it easy and enjoy life. In this moment, it was safe to say the two of us were happy.

“Nyizel, dance with me,” Lily said as she grabbed my hands without warning.

“I don’t know how to dance.”

“Gasp! So, there is something the great Nyizel can’t do? Truly, I’m shocked,” Lily teased.

“I told you, I don’t know everything.”

“Then spin me around,” Lily said with a cheerful expression on her face.

“What are you, a six-year-old?”

It was cute to see Lily pout as she crossed her arms. She often did act like a child who giggled and saw the bright-side of life. Of course when she was an adventurer, her time was spent drinking a bit more in taverns from the stories she told me. Yet, after meeting me, all that heavy drinking stopped.

“Come on, Nyizel, pwease?”

Gripping Lily’s wrist firmly, I started to spin her around with haste. In a few seconds I had lifted her off the ground as I twirled her around a few times. Her giggle rang out and I could feel my dead heart beating from watching her enjoy herself. She was truly like that of a child having fun playing. After a few moments I put her down only for her to grab onto me.

“I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”

I sat her down gently onto the sand and held her close to me. Lily pressed her head against my shoulder and closed her eyes.

“You know, I’m glad you spared my life that day,” Lily said as she moved closer to me.

“The job shouldn’t have happened in the first place. It was false information from a corrupt noble. Had you not been as skilled as you were, my sister and I would have ended it that night. We would still be—”

“It’s fine, Nyizel. Let’s not worry about the past and instead focus on the future.”

I could feel her push me down into the sand and laid down on top of me, her head resting against my chest.

“If you fall asleep I’m not going to carry you back to the shop,” I said in a joking manner.

“You wouldn’t leave a poor defenceless girl like me here alone, right?”

“Now we both know that’s a lie,” I said with a chuckle.

I placed my hand against Lily’s head and stroked her hair gently. Her head sunk into my chest, her body relaxing from the touch of my fingers lightly playing with her hair.

“Don’t start purring like my sister, otherwise that would be weird,” I teased.

“Meow~”

Pulling her hair gently, I watched as she looked up to me with her usual pouting face.

“Pull my hair again like that and I’ll milk your cow.”

I had never laughed so hard in my life but there was no holding back what Lily had said. It was truly a sight my sister would have loved to be around to see. A cold-hearted assassin turned apothecary dying of laugher.

“Lily, sweetie, you got the code wrong. You’re thinking of banana. That’s one of the many words.”

“Isn’t that a bit simple?”

“Well, depends on how you string it in context.”

“So, what if I said I need a banana in me?” Lily asked with a smug expression.

Apparently she still failed to understand the language of the shadows.

“Then I’d buy you a banana from a food stall.”

“Okay, what’s the sexy why to say it?”

I smiled and grabbed Lily by the wrist. With a minimal use of my strength, I pinned her down into the sand as I manoeuvred on top of her. Pinning her arms above her head, she showed no signs of resisting and allowed herself to be submissive to my dominant desires. She appeared happy, almost ready to give herself to me and only me. Moving my mouth closer to her neck, I could feel her allowing herself to be bitten, as if inviting me to have my way with her. With a gentle kiss, I could feel her body shiver slightly before I whispered softly into her ear.

“I’ll tell you when the time is right.”

“You’re just going to leave me like this, aren’t you?” Lily asked in a teasing tone as she smiled.

“In time, you will find I can do a lot in the shadows.”

Lily’s giggle was something cute and wholesome that warmed the heart. There was something about her child-like laugh that made her attractive to the ear. I could not help but tease her lower stomach that was slightly exposed in the position she was in. Tickling her lightly with my fingertips forced her to giggle a bit louder and squirm under me.

“N-Nyizel! S-Stop it! That tickles!”

The sadist in me wanted to keep going.

“The great S-rank adventurer the Crimson Demon brought to submission by a little tickling,” I teased as I released wrist from my grip.

“Well, you wouldn’t say that if you were in my position. In fact—”

I was caught off guard for a moment as Lily managed to grab me and pin me down into the sand. She smiled with a rather smug expression on her face. My arms were pinned above my head and without warning she began to use her free hand to tickle my exposed bellybutton. Interestingly enough, all members of Shadow Rose were trained to withstand brutal interrogation methods, surprisingly this included withstanding tickle torture. Although it was rarely, if ever employed, it was a method of interrogation we had to endure for months during our training. For my sister it was a nightmare considering her body was ticklish in a variety of commonly weak areas such as the armpits, stomach, thighs and feet. I was only ticklish around the armpits and feet.

I stared at Lily with a blank expression. Her tickling was not doing anything to me and even if she continued, I would not reveal my secret. She continued to tickle up to my ribs, trying to figure out where I was ticklish.

“Sorry to disappoint but I’m not ticklish, Lily.”

She pouted as she continued to try out various areas on my body.

“This isn’t fair. Why am I the only one with an extremely sensitive body.”

“Would a joke about you being the protagonist of book make you feel better about being so sensitive?”

“I will bite you, Nyizel.”

“That would likely kill you.”

Lily smiled and rested her head against my chest.

“Maybe you’re ticklish down there,” Lily said with a devilish smirk.

“Down where? My feet?”

“No, down there,” she said with a wink.

“Tell you what, I’ll expose all my secrets if you can wait for a while, okay?”

Lily smiled and kissed my forehead gently.

“I look foreword to knowing you when we have a chat in the shadows.”

“You realise you just said you would kill me at night.”

“Well, that was Lily code,” she said with a giggle.

“Mhm. Sure. I think we need to start heading back to the shop.”

“True. We can’t stay out here forever. Ryina would miss us.”

“Plus, Emily would be too excited.”

“You don’t think she did anything to Ryina?” Lily asked.

Emily was eccentric but there was no way she would harm someone I considered apart of my staff. Just in the same way I would never harm Aine, it was an unspoken creed we vampires had. In a sense, when we considered someone apart of our ‘family’ we were honour bound to protect them. I knew that Emily would tease Ryina a bit but she would not lock her in a dungeon, not after everything she had been through. Well… maybe. Either way, I was positive she would not destroy my adorable elf maid.

“I’m sure she’s fine… probably.”

“Probably? Sounds like we need to go.”

Lily got off of me and laid in the sand as I stood to my feet. Making my way over to where we left our shoes, I realised that she was still laying in the sand.

“Nyizel, carry me, please.”

“I told you I’d leave you.”

“Pwetty pwease.”

Part of me wanted to leave her as a joke but if I did that, I knew I would never hear the end of it. After putting on my shoes and socks, I grabbed her sandals and made my way back over to her.

“I knew you could never leave me.”

“I definitely thought about it.”

As I allowed Lily to climb on my back, she wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her chin against my shoulder.

“Wow, you’re heavy,” I said in a joking tone.

“Don’t be mean, Nyizel. Besides, I know where you sleep,” Lily teased in a playful tone.

Lily wrapped her legs around me while I used my arms to hold her in place. The walk was silent for a while until I could hear the sound of Lily giggling.

“You know, maybe I should have painted my toenails red so you could suck on them,” she said as she wiggled her toes in a teasing manner.

“That’s not really my thing. Besides, I never had such desires, even in the old world.”

“Oh right, I nearly forgot that you and your sister are actually from a different world.”

Truthfully, I had wanted to forget that I came from another world. Mostly because I had become so used to this new world. It was the place my sister and I called home now.

“Remind me, what was it like in your world.”

“I guess I can tell you the story of how my sister and I came to be in this world of might and magic.”