It's one of those situations

“KYAA!” She screamed. “Naked! Sick pack!” she covered her eyes, making space to peek at me through her fingers. “Six pack…” She muttered.

“WHA!” I leapt backwards covering my bare chest. “What the hell!”

“Why are you naked!” She waved her arms, her face red, her eyes darting between my face and my exposed chest.

“Stop oogling me!” I protested, picking up a t shirt to cover my nakedness.

“This isn’t my fault! And I’m not oogling you!” She turned away, embarrassed.

“Ah, Vanderstark.” Emma said as she pushed two suitcases through the door. “This place is a disappointment, much like yourself it seems.”

“Why are you here too!” I pointed.

“Please get dressed. It is unbecoming of you to be exposed to Akasha royalty.” She said.

I fled to my room, clothes in hand, emerging a few moments later wearing a t shirt and shorts. Alisa stood by the door with her arms crossed. She was turned away from me, a small hint of red still visible on her face. Emma had gotten to work cleaning my apartment. Where did she get the vacuum and mop from?

“Ahem.” I coughed. “Why are you here?”

“I told you, didn’t I?” She said, still not looking at me. “I’m moving on campus for safety.”

“Okay, but why here? Most of the girls live on the third floor.” I pointed out.

“You’re specifically charged as her protector by both the International Nation Committee, as well as by the Lord Akasha himself. You don’t have a roommate so it only makes sense the princess moved her.” Emma explained, tossing several of my clothes into the garbage.

“Hey I still wear those!” I yelled. “But…i’m a guy so…”

“Oh? I thought Ender Island wa the hallmark of progression. This shouldn’t be too unusual for you, should it?” Emma waved.

“I mean, a couple of guys and girls live together, it’s just…”I stammered.

“And I trust, Vanderstark, that you wouldn't do anything to the princess to invoke the ire of the Lord Akasha, would you?” The vampire woman growled.

“Of course not! I’m an international relations man. Wouldn’t wanna, you know, cause an incident…” I gasped.

“Emma!” Alisa protested.

“I’m just keeping your best interest in mind, my lady.” Emma replied.

I turned to face Alisa. I normally only saw her in her school uniform, but this time she was wearing a cute frilly blue dress, accompanied with a ribbon in her hair. She normally wore it down, but this time it was tied into a ponytail. It had a very casual princess-like vibe, which I liked.

“I mean, the third floor is just one floor above. It shouldn’t be too much trouble to put her up there…” I muttered.

“I’m not too happy about this too.” Alisa sighed. “But…” he shuffled.

“What, you scared?” I teased.

“No!” She yelled. “I’m not…scared.”

The demon that attacked her probably shook her up. I don’t think Alisa has ever had her life threatened before. Growing up as a sheltered princess, she probably had guards with her at all times. And now that was my job.

Emma finished cleaning an hour later. Most of my stuff was in trash bags. I would probably have to fish those out later. The dorm looked much nicer than it’s been in a long time. Every surface was polished clean.

“It’s still meager, but atleast it doesn’t smell like human as much.” Emma said.

“Hey.” I hissed.

“Here.” Emma walked over, handing me a phone. “If anything happens, use this to call me. I was in his Majesty’s Nightmare Guard. I killed many Vampire Hunters in my time, including a few Vanderstarks. They were much more impressive than you.”

“Okay, I get it!” I said, grabbing the phone from her hand. “If anything happens, i'll contact you.”

“My lady, if this beast tries anything, feel free to kill him. If not, contact me so that I can kill him.” Emma instructed.

“Tries anything?” Alisa blushed.

For some reason, I was worried more about myself.

“Now then, I’ll be taking my leave for the night. Please take care, princess.” Emma bowed.

“Ah, yes. Good night Emma.” Alisa waved her off.

The door shut, and now it was the two of us. And it was awkward.

“Um, I'm going to study. Care to join me?” She asked.

“Nah.” I waved her off. “Ramen cups are in the cupboard if you’re hungry. I don’t keep blood around though, so sorry to disappoint.”

“At Least sit here with me then. You don’t have to study.” She pouted. “Also, Half Vampires don’t need to drink blood.”

Alisa produced several books from her bag on all kinds of subjects, ranging from history, mathematics, to English studies. I sat opposite of her across the dining table, my face buried in my phone, rolling for gacha.

“So, Vanderstark huh?” She muttered, her pencil writing down an algebra formula.

“Yeah.” I scratched my face, looking up from my phone to speak.

“We're enemies, aren’t we?” She asked innocently, almost like a child.

“Not particularly. Atleast not now I guess, with the deal between our families. Also, it isn’t Vanderstark. I’m a Kovac, and always will be.”I explained.

“So, that’s why you don’t want to go to college. You’re going to become a Vampire Hunter?” She asked, looking up from her formula.

“Not really. I’m honestly not really interested in that profession."  I explained.

“Heh.” Alisa tilted her head, putting her pencil to her lips. “You seem pretty good at it though.”

“Just cause i’m good at it doesn’t mean I want to do it.” I replied.

And I was good at it. If I hadn’t left, i’d likely had been selected as the Vanderstark head. The others weren’t even close to me. But monster slaying was a cold and lonely world. The one I called mother, Julia Vanderstark, was the strongest in the world. And yet, I never saw her at all. Always in some foreign country, hunting down some great threat. She wanted me to be her partner, and yet, I didn’t know her. It wasn’t something that appealed to me at all.

“So what do you want to do?” Alisa asked.

“Protecting you is enough for me.” i smiled. She smiled back. We didn’t say anything for a few moments, just looked at each other. “Um… i’ll make you some tea.” I broke the silence, getting up.

“That’s still not a clear goal,” She said as I turned my back on her,  “how about this. If you can’t decide on what you want to be, why don’t you come help me? Instead of hunting demi-humans, help me make the world a better place for them.” She pointed at me with her pencil. “Get studying and follow me to college.”

I wanted to say no. That was my immediate reaction, but something genuine in the way she smiled at me dissuaded me from refusing. No, I would say that nearly every part of my being wanted to follow her. Was this the vampiric hypnosis i’ve been hearing about? Was that something she was doing to me unconsciously? No, it couldn’t be that. I knew I could’ve refused. And yet, I was frozen. Stuck between my hesitation and willingness to follow. Stuck between the choices of Vanderstark, and the offer that she was presenting me. Which was it that I really wanted?

“I’ll think about it.” I managed to let out.

“Well.” She winked, pushing a history book towards me. “At least give yourself a head start, if you do decide to chose me.”

“Not really giving me a choice there huh?” I laughed.

Well, I ended up studying anyway. We spent the rest of the night quizzing each other on historical facts or working through formulas. It was close to midnight when I decided it was time for bed. Luckily, the dorm had two bedrooms. Emma had cleared out all the stuff I stored in the spare, and dumped it atop my bed. With a disgruntled sigh, I pushed the old clothes aside and crawled into bed. I’d clean it up tomorrow.

I had a dream about my mother. She was a mighty presence of a woman. Fit, and incredibly powerful. She was always on the move. Our few bonding sessions consisted of sparring and studying the weaknesses of monsters. That was the nature of our relationship.

“We have a mission for you.” My mother had shown up one day after being missing for six months.

My father had already divorced her, and I went with him, taking his last name, Kovac. Leaving her behind also meant leaving the clan I had been in since childhood. The heroes of the war, and humanity’s greatest hope, Vanderstark. From my earliest memories, I was groomed as the next house head. I was a prodigy meant to replace my mother in case she was killed or maimed in the line of duty.

“That’s it? That’s what you have to say to me after all this time?” I spat at her in disdain. I was about seventeen at the time, the summer before my final year in high school.

“It’s a matter of international importance.” She pouted, draping herself over the chair in my bedroom. It was the second floor, and she had broken in through the window.

“Not interested.” I turned over in my bed.

“Please Ray-Ray, you’re the only one mommy can depend on…” She muttered in a baby voice, poking me.

“I don’t want to see you.” I continued to push back.

“Please? If you don’t agree, we’re going to have to send Aya.” She explained. “It’s a very dangerous mission.”

“Dammit.” I sat up.

In the end, I agreed. To avoid going on a long tangent, Aya was a precious childhood friend of mine. The way my mom put it, this was an extremely dangerous mission that would probably get her killed. But, if it was me, I could succeed. That one choice, pressured from the dead beat mother of mine, led to me moving to Ender Island and coming into contact with Alisa. The mission was to protect her. And in the worse case…

I felt the eyes on me as I bolted awake. A snake-like Roa demon had wrapped its tail around my body, completely restricting my movement. It’s ghastly face loomed over mine, thick bands of saliva pouring out of its mouth onto my head. Alisa screamed in the other room. I tried to curse, but my lungs were getting crushed.

“Haha.” A voice laughed, accompanied by the sound of soft clapping.

The demon lifted me, forcing my head to the side. A vampiric man in a fine suit stood there, Alisa unconscious in his arms.