Niko was sitting in a single-seat lounge chair when I walked up the stairs to the attic. He was reading a book. Next to the lounge was a pile of magazines and more books. Brad said nothing about coming up here, no mention of the mysterious rat. Just a quick how was your day and keep it clean, thanks. My answer was borderline.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I was greeted with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Evelyn. You will be pleased to know that I have spent my day alone. No visitors."

"Great. Where did you get those?"

"Well, this morning after you left, I timed how long it took for your uncle to return so that I knew how much time I had in the afternoon when he left to collect you. Then I formulated a short list of the things that I needed to bring me up to speed. You stated that I would not like this era, and I wanted to know the exact details, especially about the intelligence of law enforcement."

He flicked his fingers at the closed book on his lap, then lifted it to show it to me.

"I know this is a work of fiction, but it seemed to be quite factual in the information, so I believe it was an ideal selection."

The book was crime fiction, and I had no idea if it was well-researched or if it was complete rubbish. Niko lifted a magazine, then smiled.

"It was a curious read. I'll give it that much. I have not had much interest in this type of literature in the past, but it has certainly been enlightening."

"And not based on fact. That's a trash mag, and I would not take any of that on board if I were you."

"Duly noted, though I figured as much. Some of it did seem a tad preposterous. I have a question about magazines. The fellow had a couple that I left behind because I found them rather inappropriate, but, I don't really know how to put this,"

"There were lots of naked women in the magazines?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"For a pale vampire that's been trapped behind a wall for sixty years, you can really change color when you're embarrassed."

"Well, I didn't know how appropriate it was, but curiosity killed the cat, as they say. What is society's view on these magazines?"

I shrugged.

"Depends on who you ask. Me, I don't care. Brad, he doesn't care provided that he doesn't find a picture of me in one of those magazines or me finding his stash. Which for the record, I don't know if he has one, and I don't intend on searching either. As for the rest of the world, there are some that will be highly offended. Some will say that it's objectifying women. Some that don't care either way and some that love them."

"I see. Do these women get paid for the images?"

"I believe so."

Niko frowned as he thought about it.

"You're going to be entering a whole new world of indecency. Sex is everywhere on the internet. There are actual websites dedicated to videos."

Bewilderment filled Niko's face as he looked at me.

"You are not serious, are you?"

"I am. I tell you this because one day, I'm going to teach you how to use the internet, and soon after, you'll be proficient in using it. It's a dark road that you will stumble into, and before you know it, you'll be looking at things that you never thought possible."

I could see the objection on his face. With a smirk and a shake of my head, I silenced Niko.

"Yeah, you think that now but trust me, it just takes one little moment where you become curious, and next thing, you're locking doors to drop your pants."

"I would not," he grumbled.

"We'll see."

Niko's eyes narrowed, and for a second, I thought he would say something in response. Instead, his lips tightened into a smirk.

"We shall agree to disagree. Now, sit and tell me about school."

I sat on the other seat, finding it rather comfortable.

"Where did these come from?"

"I returned to our friend. He was most giving."

"Duh, the man's dead, Niko."

"True."

I frowned as I looked around the room.

"You sure did bring a lot back in the short time that Brad was away."

Niko shrugged, and it made me wonder if Brad had taken a detour or two.

"Half an hour at best. Now, your day."

"Boring. Deflating. Demoralizing. I dislike school with a passion. Everyone looks at the new kid like they are diseased. This is going to be the longest year of my life. I've already got homework. How rude is that? My first day and they lump it on me like I should know what they've taught in the previous lessons."

Unzipping my bag, I pulled out the notebook and crossed my legs on the seat.

"Would it bother you to start your familiar training today as well?"

"Nah, it's cool. You can talk while I'm doing this. It won't take long."

Niko nodded, putting the magazine onto the pile next to his chair.

"We shall begin with the finer details of a vampire. A vampire can go out in the sun, but we pretend that we cannot. We prefer to hunt at night because we know that the world will see less of what happens. We are not restricted to any particular feeding regime and will do what is necessary to avoid attention. Usually, we associate in covens. A coven, as you would expect, has a leader. It also has a sub-leader who is usually the partner of the leader. Some leaders will form a small group of those who he or she deems worthy of being associated with a title of high rank and will discuss matters of importance with them. They hold no power but can be persuasive and influence the leader's decision regarding those important matters. They are often referred to as a council, but that is not the correct word that the vampires from Europe would like to see used. As they have a council that oversees all manner of things, they deem the word to be too confusing, and a generalized use would risk an association that would be incorrect. They have suggested that names such as committee, panel, or delegation should be used."

"Were you in a coven?"

"I was. We will get to my sad tale another day. Today you are learning about vampires so that you can identify them. Hades used to have many vampires, and I can only assume that is still the case. In the coming days, I'm sure that we will be able to figure out a rough population count."

"Is that necessary?"

"Absolutely."

Niko leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs. The frown he offered was heavy and firm.

"Be warned, Evelyn. Not all vampires are like me. In fact, once you've met another vampire, you might consider me to be quite restrained. If a vampire crosses your path when they are hungry, you will be in trouble. It may not be ideal for me but if they start to attack, tell them that you are my familiar, and that will be enough to stop them. It is prohibited for a vampire to attack a familiar, regardless of who they belong to."

"Why wouldn't it be ideal for you?"

"Because once you mention my name, they will realize that I am not where I should be, and then, they will come here searching for me. Once that happens, they will do all that they can to kill me because they will reason that their last attempt at keeping me out of this town was not enough. When I am dead, your association with me will be at an end, and you will no longer be protected. Neither will your uncle. The vampire will kill you as punishment for setting me free, and they will kill your uncle for the fun of it. I say this to ensure that you understand what you face. Mention my name to save your life, then return here with haste. Be ready to run because it will be extremely necessary."

That was a little more than I needed to hear. Say the name to escape the vampire but be prepared for a whole lot more vampires to come here and kill me. Such a lovely time to be alive.

"Now, onto a lighter subject. Tell me what this thing is that this strange looking woman is holding."

"That's a cellphone. I'd show you mine, but it broke, and Brad hasn't replaced it yet. I could show you his but then he'd want to know what I was up to."

"I see. This outfit that she is wearing. Is that normal?"

"Well, kind of. It's not unusual, but she's famous so that outfit is probably by a designer, which makes it incredibly expensive."

"So, she paid a lot of money to wear that?"

The tone he used made me chuckle.

"It's possible. Sometimes designers will give them things for free so that their product is seen on the celebrity."

"And this?"

Niko flicked through the pages, finding a picture of a famous couple who were basically slobbering all over each other.

"Is this acceptable behavior?"

"Well, that can depend on who you ask. It's not something that I'd do in public, but I'm not offended by the image."

"I see," he muttered.

"It's a different world now."

"I believe you."

He looked up at me and grinned.

"Though, I must say that it is rather intriguing to see life outside of Hades."

"How the other half live, right?"

"Yes."

Niko continued to study the magazine while I returned to my homework. He tried not to interrupt me, but on occasion, he'd ask about an image, and I'd answer as best as I could. Being polite while informative about the modern world was not always easy. If it was Brad, I wouldn't worry about what I said but there was a deeper level of decorum that Niko had and I think that a lot of things would be offensive to him. So, I was mindful of how I explained things. It would not be easy, considering I'd lived a rather colorful life.