https://youtu.be/AF9C46z9jBI

     The next day, Dylan came to my room and took me to the hallway where Lucas greeted me with a smile. A few other people were with him with Zephyr standing next to the entrance door.

"Irina, how are you feeling?" Lucas asked.

"I'm fine, thanks for letting me stay here," I said and returned the smile.

"Of course. I hope you get back safely."

"Umm..." I hesitated before asking him what I wanted.

"About that, I was hoping if I could stay here for a while," I said and observed his reaction. But he stood still and relaxed, not a slight change in his expression.

"You can." He finally said.

"What?! You're letting her stay here?" Zephyr spoke for the first time then, angrily while I stood there, startled by his quick appearance. Lucas did not move his eyes from me and continued, calm as he was.

"Irina, you may stay here if you can work under Zephyr as a guard," Lucas demanded.

'What?!' I screamed in my mind. 

'What choice do I have though' I asked myself after a second.

 But before I could answer, Zephyr shouted at Lucas, "There's no way I would take her!"

"You don't have the right to refuse, Zephyr. If you do, there will be consequences." Lucas said and looked at me for a response.

"What about that? Are you willing?" Lucas asked.

"Yes," I mumbled slowly, holding back the discomfort.

"Very well then." He raised his eyebrows for any disapproval as he glanced towards Zephyr who just frowned. 

Then he nodded to himself before he and the other vampires along with Dylan, left one by one, leaving only me and Zephyr, although I wished that Dylan stood back as he could have calmed Zephyr down.

I sighed before turning to Zephyr and spoke, "Zephyr, I'll try my level best as a guard and I'll keep out of your way as much as possible. " I said with a wry smile.

"Whatever. Just don't burden me with more trouble," He said in an annoyed tone and walked up the stairs fast while I tried hard to keep up with him. It seemed like Zephyr didn't approve of me at all, and after five or six steps, I gave up.

"Zephyr, can you please walk more slowly?" I asked.

He turned around and gave me a sour look saying, "Don't act like a kid. If you can't keep up, I'll leave you behind."

"But Lucas told you to look after me."

"That is why I'm taking you to your room. If you don't want to come, go home." He muttered and quickened his pace even more.

"Fine, walk as you like. I'll follow you no matter what." I said and moved my legs forward fast, trying not to fall behind. 

As we reached the top of the stairs, we came in front of a man standing with his back against the wall and when he saw me, he looked at me with his dark black eyes.

"Zephyr, who is she?" The man asked.

"New guard,"  Zephyr exclaimed with a glare and continued walking towards my room while I followed after him.

We soon reached the doorstep and to my disgust, he came in. He swiftly turned to look at me and explained, "Listen, you've got work from tomorrow night."

"Oh, only during the night?" I asked, smiling widely.

"What's with the smile? You better not be thinking about doing something during the daytime," He said and I stared into his eyes, surprised.

"There are some vampires who hang out during the daytime. If you're okay with being attacked, do as you please," he said.

"That's...not..good," I said with a gulp.

"I don't care whatever happens to you, just stay out of my way," He said and walked toward me.

"I told you that this place is not for an Elf, didn't I?"Then he grabbed my hands and pinned them against the wall. 

"Don't say I didn't warn you.", He continued and lowered his face towards me as his eyes turned red and I could see his fangs.

"What are you doing?" I asked and tried to stand still but my body quivered as he brought himself near my neck.

"I'm going to drink blood from your soft skin, and guess what? No one's going to stop me," He said with an evil smirk.

"I won't let you," I said and tried to pull away from him while Zaphira growled at him which made him lean back for a while.

"Like owner, like pet huh? She's quite a vicious wolf." Zephyr exclaimed as he glanced at Zaphira, and then simply dropped his hold on me which made me widen my eyes.

"You won't last long if it takes only this much to scare you," He said to me.

"That was a test?!" I yelled at him but he stood calm and looked into my eyes.

"You understand now? I don't know much about Elves but here, you're weaker than anybody else. The people here will only think of you as food. If you want to survive, don't let them find out that you're an Elf." He said, still calm. 

'This is my chance to ask him'. I told myself.

"Zephyr?" I said in a small voice.

"Yes?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"I wanted to ask you this earlier. When we met in the forest, I ran but you didn't chase after me. You've tried to send me away and frighten me but you haven't tried to hurt me or anything. Why..." I stopped and gazed into his eyes.

"I'm just not in the mood. I might not be so nice tomorrow. And well, engrave it in your mind that there's no place in the mansion where you can simply relax." He told me and walked out of the room while I sat on my bed and thought back to everything that had happened recently.

Zaphira placed her head on my lap and whined. I understood what she was thinking and sighed as I ruffled the fur on her neck. 

"It's okay, Zaph. I'm fine. It's just that so many things have changed ever since we left home."

"We held a grudge towards the vampires thinking they were enemies but it turns out, there are good vampires too. It took me until now to realize it. I don't know why, but I feel happy thinking about staying here and never going back." I gave her a small smile as she whined again and stretched out her paws.'

"And somehow, I think it'll be alright if we rest for now. Good night, Zaph." I laid myself on the bed and hugged her close to me as we both fell asleep.