The next evening, Kaia walked into the building, swiping in and assuming her assigned position. She didn't bother to look at the vampire this time, she didn't want to encourage him. Nonetheless, the slot opened with its unsubtle scrape of metal on metal.

"Spare some gum for a poor, old soul?"

She looked down to see Chris's hand coming through the slot, his olive toned fingers wiggling. She was tempted to kick him, but stopped herself. She wanted to be assertive, of course, but didn't want to end up like that other guard. She took a deep breath.

"Get back in your cell, inmate."

"I am in my cell."

She rolled her eyes. "All of you, hands and feet included."

"What about my dick?"

Kaia almost laughed at the immature joke, but kept her composure. "I don't even want to begin to describe what will happen to you if you stick your penis through that slot."

"You don't have to, I can picture it now." He slipped his hand back in, but kept the slot open. "C'mon can't you give me anything? I will literally read the back of a shampoo bottle at this point, I am so fucking board."

"You should have thought about that before trespassing onto our compound."

"I didn't trespass onto your precious compound," Chris spat. "I was abducted from the Outlands. I was scavenging for clothes for my family when they came in and took me."

"Like I believe that! Nobody goes to the Outlands, that's a death sentence!"

"Hey, since when have trained soldiers ever cared? I'm sure they're willing to die for humanity, even if that means abducting an innocent vampire trying to help his family."

"And where does your 'family' get their blood from?" Kaia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I won't lie, we like it human. But we don't do fresh. Most vamps stopped doing fresh when blood transfusion became a thing. Now we mostly rob blood banks. Maybe snack on the occasional rat, if desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Taking blood is still killing people. What if there's an emergency and the victim needs a transfusion but there's no blood left because vampires broke in to the hospital and took it all?"

"Boo hoo. We need it as much as you do."

"It's to bad you have to eat blood, then. Your survival depends on killing other living things, which is why you need to be wiped out like any other murderer."

"Jesus Christ on the fucking cross, do they have you brainwashed or something? I'm impressed, actually. Education is always black and white, you were either a saint or a sinner. Nobody knew how to see in color. Not even grey. Not even if they pretended to be so forward thinking as to understand the moral complexities of other intelligent beings. But I'm getting all philosophical and preachy now. What color is your underwear?"

"Wh- shut it and go back to doing whatever you do, inmate!"

"That's the thing, all I have to do is tease you. My underwear is white, for the record."

Kaia groaned loudly, but gained her guard demeanour back, daring to reach down and shut the slot. She waited for it to slid back open, but thankfully Chris left her alone. He sulked back to his bed, pulling the pillow over his face just a she did the night before. Kaia sighed in relief, taking out her headphones and putting them in. She smile as a surf rock song came on. She'd always wanted to see the ocean. Of course, going outside the compound was a death sentence, so she never would. It was just one part of reality she had to accept. For now, she could see it's glory in pictures and videos.

Just as the song was about to end, an ear splitting alarm sounded. Kaia's heart immediately stated to pound as she recognized the noise: an inmate had escaped. She pulled out her gun and card, running through the different sectors until she made it to where the prisoner was. She gasped as she realized it was a fully shifted werewolf, one of its muscular, dark furred arms completely missing from its body. She could see it fighting off the guards, yelping as bullets ripped into its flesh, but not backing down. In the corner, there was a guard that had his throat completely torn out.

Kaia looked away quickly, blinking a few times, trying to remember what she was trained to do. However, before she could even begin to remember what the protocol was, she was tackled to the floor. She had the wind knocked out of her and screamed as she felt thick claws dig into her side. Before she knew it, she had taken her gun out and pulled the trigger. The blast rang through her ears, and she grunted as she felt the full weight of the beast slump onto her. She scramble out from underneath, other guards running towards her to help. As she was pulled up, she saw that in her panicked state she had managed to shoot the wolf in the heart. It slowly turned back into what revealed a large woman, a gaping wound still in her chest and scarred skin where her right arm was should have been.

It was only until she was laying in the infirmary that Kaia started to get her wits about her again. The first thing she noticed was that the two guards who brought her there were praising her.

"That was seriously wicked Hall," a girl she recognized as someone she went to school with said. "That was literally point frigging blank! I couldn't have done better if there was a target painted on the thing!"

"Hell yeah," the male guard agreed. He was much older than both girls, silver speckled through his copper hair and lines under his eyes. "Guys my age can't even make shots that clean let alone while under attack. Good work, newbie."

"Thanks..." Kaia said managing a smile.

That was exactly what she had came for. To fight, to protect, to keep the place under control. A satisfaction started to fill her, making her smile spread across her cheeks and become a grin. The nurse stood up, having finished putting gauze over the wound.

"There you go," the nurse said. "You might wanna take it easy for a few days."

"Are you kidding?" Kaia said, her confidence overriding the excruciating pain from where the werewolf had nearly gutted her. "I haven't even finished my shift yet!"

The two guards laughed, while the nurse gave her a withering look.

"Kid, at least take the rest of the night off." The older guard said. "You've more than earned your pay for tonight."

"Alright," Kaia sighed.

She tried to stand up, but the injury limited her movement significantly. She ended up having to be escorted out of the building in a wheelchair, which was a bit embarrassing, but the approving looks and the pats on the back she got from her fellow employees as the nurse wheeled her through the lobby was more than enough to make up for it. When she finally got to the parking lot, her mother hoped out of the car, running over giving her daughter a bone crushing hug.

"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow!" Kaia protested.

Her mother gasped, pulling back. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," Kaia said, a slight chuckle in her tone. "I'm happy I'm okay too. I shot the thing in its heart, mom!"

"Yes, I heard," her mother said in a weary tone. "Come on, let's get you home."

"Can I still go to work tomorrow?"

Her mother gave her a look that read are you out of your mind?!, but before she could protest, the front doors of the building opened again. Donna Cox walked towards the family, a pleased smile cutting through her serious facade.

"I'm glad I caught you," Donna said. "I just wanted to commemorate the amazing work you did tonight. Not many people, especially someone as young as you, are brave enough to go face-to-face with a creature as horrific as a werewolf. Let alone a fully shifted one. My god, but you have shown true skill and bravery tonight. If it wasn't only for second day, I'd promote you in a heartbeat."

Kaia was beaming. She felt like a little girl who had just opened up the exact toy she wanted for Christmas.

"Thank you ma'am, that means a lot coming from someone as important as you."

The woman smiled, giving Kaia's shoulder a firm squeeze. "I will be seeing you tomorrow night, I'm sure."

"You can count on it," Kaia said, her cheeks starting to hurt from the strain of her non-stop grinning.

"Excellent," Donna said.

"Wait-" Her mother began to protest.

"Have a good night Ms. Hall," Donna Cox said.

The woman turned on her heel and went straight back to the building, walking back through the double doors.

"Kaia..." her mother began.

"Mom I can't say no to my boss! Besides, I really like this job! You know I've wanted to be a guard ever since I knew what they were."

Kaia's mom shook her head. "I still don't know why they insist on keeping these 'things' close to us. What if one did manage to get out? Lord knows how many people it would kill before it got subdued! That's what your father was always worried about, You know?"

"Yes mom," Kaia said. "But he died because of an aneurysm, remember? Not a monster."

She sighed. "I suppose... I just... I don't want to lose you too."

"As, mom! Come here- be gentle this time!"

A small smile formed on her mom's face as she leaned down, gingerly wrapping her arms around her daughter's shoulders.

"Your not gonna lose me," Kaia said softly. "I promise."

"... I hope so," she replied, kissing Kaia's temple.

The next night, Kaia walked back into the prison, a newfound confidence inside of Her. She signed in and walked to her destination, going over to Chris's cell and knocking on the glass. The vampire, who was laying on the floor in the middle of his cell, rolled over and looked at her with his weary bloodshot dark eyes.

"What is it, moptop? Come up with a new point about what a monster I am?"

"Actually I wanted to show you something about just how dangerous the creatures in here are."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Oh, gag me with a spoon."

Kaia rolled up her black top, showing the bandage around her waist. Chris stared for a moment before looking back up at her.

"What? You got nipped by a goblin?"

"A werewolf dragged it's two inch claws through my flesh, actually. But not only did I survive the attack, I managed to shoot it right through the heart."

"Congratulations, you know how to use a weapon. I would have preferred if it was the werewolf who had gutted you, but uh, good for you I suppose."

"Oh come on, you didn't hear about my bravery?"

" I heard through the grapevine that something escaped."

"Yes, that was the werewolf. It ripped it's own arm off so that it would get taken to the infirmary and once it woke up from sedation, it shifted, overpowered the nurses and attempted to escape."

Chris snorted loudly. "Wow, I honestly can't tell if you're brainwashed or if you're just a fucking idiot. Let me teach you a little something that your 'school' definitely didn't teach ya, it's called critical thinking. Look at this objectively and actually process what happened. It believe a werewolf ripping their own arm off because they're crazy motherfuckers; they're basically the meatheads of the magical world. But them getting brought to an infirmary afterwards when the injury can heal on its own? Seriously, rub those two brain cells of your together for a moment and see if that makes sense."

Kaia glared at him. "I know you find it hard to believe we provide medical care-"

"Yes, I do. Because we're literally designed to heal fast. Both our kinds were created by witches to be hunters, to be apex predators. Trying to escape and overpower humans? Sure. But everything up to that sounds like a hunk of shit to me. He'll, even the arm ripping thing. Who's to say you didn't rip their arm off yourselves?"

"How dare you accuse us of something like that, after everything you've done!"

"After everything I've done? I'm sorry, but while the war was going on, I was literally hiding in my house in my pajamas eating cookie dough and watching cartoons with my boyfriend! You think that I ever wanted this, that I didn't just want to live my life in peace like that?"

"You wanted the president dead."

"Literally everyone wanted the president dead, even humans! He was the fucking worst! It's not my fault the person who decided to finally rip off that fat orange head of his was a fucking vampire! And thanks to her, I have spent the last 57 years struggling to survive when I was doing just fine coexisting with you when we were just part of your books, movies, and myths! Look at where that's gotten me now. Look where that bitch got me. And look at where you all are. Before the monsters even came into the picture, you were the ones that were the fucking monsters. Murder, rape, genocide, terrorism, war. I was human once you can't fucking fool me. I know pretty much every horrible thing that they - we - have done in the past several centuries. Just because you came out on top again doesn't mean that you're a saint. Don't fucking kid yourself."

Upon finishing his rant, Chris went back to his bed, pulling the pillow over his head once again. Kaia paused, staring at him. Did they really not have an infirmary? Then who were all those doctors she saw? She knew they weren't for the staff, she'd met the medical people who'd taken care of her yesterday.

Anastasia Moore was a monster in her mind, even if she had assassinated one of the lowest approved presidents in America's history. She still killed a world leader and managed to start a horrific war. But maybe... Chris was right. Maybe he actually did have nothing to do with it. According to him, he wasn't even in the fight, he was just riding it out with his significant other at the time.

Kaia sighed leaning back against the wall. She didn't want to feel sympathy for the vampire. At the end of the day, he was still one of them. But it would be unfair of her to blame him for actions that weren't even his own. Was it even true that he hadn't killed any humans? She went through the math in her head. Blood transfusions. That had to be the 1900s. 57 years. The war started in 2018 and he'd clearly been turned as an adult, so he was at least her age when everything went down. So, realistically, maybe he hadn't ever killed a human being, even if he did still drink human blood. She tried to go through everything in her mind, convince herself that he was just manipulating her. In the end, her emotions won out over everything she'd been taught about his kind.

"... I'm sorry," Kaia said.

She peeked into the room just in time to see Chris pull the pillow off his face and lift his head up.

"Cool. Tomorrow I'll teach you 'please' and 'thank you'."

"Look, I don't trust you-"

"The feeling is mutual, sister."

"... But, I'll stop shitting on you because of what you are. You can't hurt anyone now, anyway. Your going to be trapped in here forever."

"Wow, thank you. You should become a motivational speaker."

"What's your problem!? I'm trying to be nice to you."

"Too little too late, shortcake. Though, I suppose out of fairness I'll give you a clean slate because what happened in human history isn't all your fault. Though you should at least own up to it. I own up to the fact that vampires are murderess bloodsuckers, and you own up to the fact that humans aren't flawless beings of purity just because they're mortal. Deal?"

Kaia sighed. "Deal."

"Good. Have fun with your puncture wounds."

He pulled the pillow back over his head.

"... Why do you do that?"

She heard the vampire sigh heavily. "You know, I was already in a mood today, thinking about how I'm never going to get out of here and how the people I consider to be my family probably think I'm dead. But no, go ahead, keep bothering me."

"I'm just wondering why you do that... pillow thing."

"Bright as a light bulb, you are. I'm suffocating myself, okay? Passing out and waking up is literally the only entertainment I get anymore. There, you happy now?"

"Okay..." Kaia said softly.

She turned back around, leaning against the wall. She put on her music, but couldn't focus on it. Her mind was buzzing. The prison. The infirmary. The one armed werewolf. The war. Everything was just a jumbled mess bow that that things had been put into perspective. By the end, there was only one thing left floating around her mind: Why?