We enter the dining hall. It is indeed a large place, to fit all the deviants from different districts. They growl, roar, squeal, laugh and yell, truly a bunch of savages unable to sit quietly at least at a dinner table. 

Yelen and Annabelle take seats at a long table where vampire prison-keepers are seated. Yelen quickly locates Rufus - that tall young man with black hair, eyes crimson as blood, and black feathery wings on his back - the boss of all bird-vampires in this prison.

I too take my tray of food and sit beside Annabelle, for I cannot see any other free seat around here where they'd welcome me. 

"Hey, Rufy!" Annabelle cries over the table to our boss, who's already begun to fondle Yelen.

"What, Annie?" he replies with that charming smile he so often carries.

"When is today's hunt?"

"Um, at five o'clock, I think?" Rufus cries over at a different table where the bat-vampire gang is sitting: "Hey, Ronald, when's the hunt again?"

"Five!" Ronald, the muscled guy with bat wings, long fangs, and a cup of blood in his hand, roars back. I can see Annabelle's eyes are set on him. Yeah, she would never look at anyone inferior, I gather - for her, only the best counts.

"Yup, five!" Rufus turns back to Annabelle. "We'll let you out when the time comes, anyway. Don't stress over it."

"I need to prepare myself," Annabelle answers. "And then, today's a party at the merpeople's. I want to bring them some trophy."

"Who said you're allowed in?" Rufus laughs. "You think merpeople would want some vampire like you around?"

"Hey, Anna, today at nine, you remember?" 

Rachel, a blonde mermaid with azure eyes and a slender physique, shouts at Annabelle from behind. She's surrounded by another mermaid and two mermen, all with long hair and eyes as blue as the depths of the sea. The tints of sea colours are common among merpeople. That is how you tell them from other deviants when they're out of the water, because, if not exposed to water, their fish-tails turn into legs, and you might even think they're some average humans.

Annabelle smirks back at Rufus, who's turned so surprised that his cup of blood has frozen in mid-air in his hand. Yeah, Annabelle sure is popular with all sorts of deviants here.

"I remember, Rachel. I'll definitely drop in!"

"And make sure to bring your new friend," a black-haired merman beside Rachel adds. His deep blue eyes are fixed on me. I begin to feel awkward, so I turn around and sip my drink. But I can still feel the intensity of his look, and it burns me from behind.

"Oh? Alright, you've got it, Derek!"

Annabelle laughs as they pass by, and then hastily turns to me:

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Did what?" I ask casually, trying to look like nothing's happened. Yet I still vividly remember the intense gaze of that merman.

"Don't play games with me!" Annabelle retorts. I guess she's figured I'm not as absent-minded as I try to look. "You saw how Derek was looking at you! Do you even know who he is?"

"I've no idea."

"He is the headman of the merpeople district! He's the same level as Ronald!"

"Oh? Then I guess I'm lucky?" I shrug. 

Actually, Rufus is of a higher level than Ronald in our district, but I gather Annabelle's more concerned about the bat-vampires and Ronald's well-built athletic body, so, to her mind, he's the best. I won't be destroying her fantasies there. Let her dream on. Rufus has already long been taken by Yelen, anyway.

"Hmph, luck is a mild notion there! You've hit the jackpot, Theo - Derek's single ever since I've known him, and now he's set his eyes on you!"

"I don't think I'd want to have an affair with any monster that resides here."

"Monster?! Come down to earth, you're one of us now! You have to cope with life here. You're never getting out. And you know what the optimal strategy is for us to get the best of it? - Hook up with an overseer, a headman, or, in the worst case, a guard. Otherwise, you won't survive. Or why do you think Yelen's trying so hard, or me?"

"Yeah, alright... I'll think about it."

I hope she'll get off my tail now that I've answered in the affirmative. One shouldn't argue with Annabelle, it's always hopeless.

"Well, you heard Derek, right? You're coming to tonight's party!"

"Okay, okay..."

Finally, Annabelle's satisfied. She continues hanging out with the other vampires at our table now. I eat in silence. I am still discontented with my current situation. Just some days ago, I studied at university to later graduate and pursue my dream of becoming an artist, and now, it's all brought to naught. I am locked up here for the rest of my life, and there's no hope of ever getting out. What's worse, I've got no materials to continue drawing, as I often did outside. Instead, I am chained up to walls because my bloodlust kicks in stars know when.

Speaking of it... I already feel my breathing intensify. The smell of the blood coming from the bottles on our table draws me in. I can roughly hear Yelen and Annabelle call out to me, but I do not know what they want... I only know that I want blood. I plunge forward at the bottles. The vampires stare at me puzzled. They must think I've gone mad. Rufus, however, is already experienced enough, so he knows what to do:

"Hold her up until she's bitten someone else!"

The vampires dash at me. Annabelle grabs my hands, but I struggle to get free. I hear intense growls come out of my mouth as I push towards the bottles of blood. Unable to get them, I begin to scratch my holders with the claws that have grown out of my fingers. 

"Let me go!" I hear myself yell as if it were someone else, "Let me go!"

"Hold her down!" Annabelle cries as she and the other vampires try to subdue me. 

The guards arrive and put chains on me. 

"I've told her to behave!" Vincent complains as they drag me away.

"Chill, it's alright," Rufus replies. "She'll come to her senses."

I struggle while I'm being dragged away by the guards. The lust begins to subside, but my mind's still dizzy. I see some chubby little guy watch me with apparent pity as they take me out of the dining hall. 

"Is she a new one too?" I hear him whisper to a tall black man beside him.

"Yes, Shon. They say she's arrived three days ago."

Shon's deep yellow eyes are set on me as the door closes between us.