The next night, Evangeline woke up, blinking and then scowling at the scent of weed. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking around momentarily before slowly getting up. "Mister?" she called, realizing that she'd never learned the name of the person she was staying with. Still, as she shuffled closer to the front of the cave, the smell of weed was getting stronger, which made her scowl some more as she finally saw the nine-tailed fox, sitting on a rock and roasting something on a stick, and a blonde-haired man with golden spectacles on his face. He wore blue robes and was laughing at something he said before his forest green eyes turned to her.

Evangeline was taken aback at how beautiful he was, and the fact that she had an odd urge to kiss him...but then, as she looked at him again and his forest green eyes, she had a feeling that something was powerful behind that figure...along with a pair of golden dragon wings that seem to rest behind him. She didn't know what to say when she went to the fire and sat down in the middle of them, trying not to gag over the overpowering scent of weed in the air. "Good morning, mister," she said, making the man chuckle.

"Mister...now that is something I haven't heard anyone call Kija in a long time," the man said, making her blink at him. "Oh, my apologies, I don't think I've introduced myself. My name is Erik I, but most people call me Erik for short." Erik took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "What name do I have the pleasure of calling you?"

Evangeline blinked at him for a long time before she finally said something. "...Evangeline," she answered, a small smile tugging her lips. "Evangeline Kingsleigh."

"Ahhh, Miss Evangeline Kingsleigh," Erik repeated. "That is such a beautiful name. If we'd met long ago, I would've made you my wife and never let you go."

"Don't you have a wife?' Kija asked with a growl. "In fact, don't you have multiple wives for you to go home to?"

A laugh startled her out of her confusion, making her jump a bit. "Why, yes I do. But I don't want to think about her until it's time for me to go. And where's your wife?" Erik asked, making the fox growl at him. Evangeline was so confused for a moment that she just started to laugh.

It was the only thing she could think of, the only thing that could make the day perfect; she hadn't laughed like that in a long time. Both men looked at her as she laughed, blood tears rolling down her face and holding her stomach as she did so. "I'm sorry," she apologized, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It's just...y'all are..." she couldn't finish the statement as she kept laughing, bending over and clutching her stomach.

Both Kija and Erik looked at her as she laughed, realizing that she had a wonderful laugh, and she curled up for a moment, laughing before she stopped and sat up, taking a deep breath. "Don't you ever apologize!" Erik exclaimed. "You wanted to laugh because something was funny, and it was. Therefore, you have the freedom to laugh."

Evie looked at the blonde man, shocked at him for a moment, and nodded, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She opened her mouth to say thank you, but a pair of clothes were placed on her lap, and she looked down to see a beautiful purple dress. She slowly traced the golden design with a shaky hand, and she looked up at Kija, confused at first before she smiled at him. "Thank you," she said, standing up slowly and looking at it fully.

"You can keep it," Kija told her, turning around and walking away. Evangeline stood there, confused for a moment before she shuffled after him, nearly tripping over the hem of the dress—she didn't want to ruin it.

"Thank you, Mister—"

"Kija."

She stopped after hearing his name. "What?"

The fox stopped as he turned around and looked at her. "Kija. Myeong Kija. That's my name." he repeated. "And drop the mister part. I'm not that old."

She just nodded as Kija led her to a huge circular stream, where he grabbed a pair of tongs and put in a couple of hot rocks in the water. Evie watched as he did so, her eyes landing on his nine tails. She reached out slowly and tried to touch one, only for it to flicker away from her, which made her giggle. She reached out and touched it again, giggling some more as the tails swayed away from her. She barely heard what Kija said until she looked up at him. "Sorry, what?"

"I said the water's ready for you," he told her with a soft smile after realizing that she was playing with his tail. "You can see them, can't you?"

That confused her. "See what?"

"My tails." He answered, reaching out with one of them to gently prod her into the hot stream of water. "Almost no one can see them until I reveal them, but you can." He told her. "We're leaving soon. We're going to see an old friend of mine, to see what we can do about training you."

At that word, Evie stopped, eyes widening a bit. "Training?" she repeated, confused. The last time she was trained at something, Trevor beat her for it.

"Don't worry. I can't help you, but I know someone who can." Kija assured her. "I promise it's not gonna be like how you were trained originally." He stepped close to her, giving her a soft smile. "No one is going to touch you like he did ever again."

Kija left, leaving her stunned for a moment. Then she blinked and took off her clothes to take a bath in the water, nearly groaning at the hot water when it touched her skin.

As soon as she took her bath and slipped on the wonderful dress, Evangeline shuffled back towards the front of the cave, when she realized that Erik was gone, and Kija was there, tending to the fire and roasting what looked like some fish. A small smile tugged her lips as she thought about the last time she had fish, and how her brother Logan nearly made a fool out of himself because of a girl he fancied wanted some fresh fish from the river near their grandfather's river. "Is that red snapper?" she asked as she carefully sat down on the rock next to Kija, making him turn to her.

Kija realized that she didn't smell the blood on the fish he was cooking for her, and she assumed that it was just a simple red snapper. Trevor must've done a number on her to forget that she could smell the blood, he thought as he shook his head. "Bass," he answered instead, passing her the bloody one. "This one's ready to go, if you want it."

Evie thanked him and took a bite of the warm fish, nearly moaning at the flavors that swirled in her mouth. It was much better than the blood she was forced to have whenever Trevor had those parties; it made her sick to her stomach to remember how many wrists she fed on, to find out which blood she liked the most, only to throw it all up at the end of the night. "This is delicious," she said finally, licking her lips and finishing the fish. "So who's this friend we're going to see?"

"She's one of the most powerful sorceresses of all time. She runs a magical tavern, and I know that it stops in town tonight." Kija explained. "She can help us find someone who can help you train to be a vampire the correct way. Not the way you were forced to learn."

"Forced?" Evie repeated, confused.

"Yeah-forced. Trevor forced you to drink blood from the wrist, trying to find which aristocratic blood you liked, but I don't think you like aristocratic blood....do you?" Kija asked curiously, as he bit into his fish.

Evie shook her head.

"What do you remember of the night he let you hunt by yourself?"

The question made the young vampire pause for a moment, chewing on some bloody fish. "We were out on the street, just walking towards this party, and I heard someone getting hurt. I stopped and turned, ignoring Vallene as I walked towards it...I think I did. Or I ran to it. I don't remember. All I know is that I was really hungry, and whoever was in pain was going to fill me up. So I kept following the sound to the alley, where a man was...hurting a woman. All I remember was my fangs in his neck, the woman running, and his blood tasting...delicious. I wanted more—I guess I wanted to kill him. But before I could, Trevor tore me from him, and when we got home, he'd...he punished me."

"So you like the blood of people that hurt other people. He was just too stupid to realize it and thought you were just like him." Kija guessed, getting more and more upset for Evangeline with each word that came out of her mouth. He can now see why Logan hated Trevor and his wives and wanted to kill him immediately. "I'm not going to force you to drink the wrist of the aristocrats anymore, okay?" he promised. "Once we find you someone to train you as a vampire, you can feel on whoever you want and I'm not gonna stop you."