The words of Niko's warning lingered in my head as I weaved my way through the corridor at school. When he said that to me last night, I never thought I would realize it was the truth so soon after.

My locker was in the new section. I had the first one in a long row of a wing that had just been built. I was also the only person to have a locker in this section. Because it was at the end of the corridor, I was still close to the main thoroughfare where the other lockers were. I was a part of their world, but not really because no one ever turned the lights on. This section was not in use yet, so they didn't think it was necessary.

So, I had to use my locker in the dark. I guess the staff just assumed that, like every other kid in this place, I would have a phone with a flashlight. Ordinarily, I would. My last phone broke, and Brad was yet to obtain a new one for me. The life of an unemployed minor sucked.

But, back to the tale at hand. Me, stuffing my books from my morning lessons into the locker, in the dark. Mean girls in the corridor, far too close to my locker, giggling and whispering. You get the picture, right? You can see what's going to happen. I hear more than I should. They don't know I'm here. I'm as quiet as a mouse because I know that I'm about to hear something that's worth the effort of hiding.

"Daddy said the master is not happy."

Intriguing. My ears perked up.

"Jeez, Audrey, why does your father associate with those weirdos?"

"Because he said it's worth it."

"They are not going to give him immortality. They won't give it to anyone. You're either born into it, or you are their food."

"I think he's trying to get a closer association that will protect us. Dad got all the real estate contracts, and the competition was eliminated because of this guy wanting to know what was going on in all the houses in this place."

I wonder who her father was.

"That's never going to happen."

"Why is the master not happy, Audrey?"

"I dunno. Dad went to a job on the east side of the town. He said something about a crack in the basement wall."

My eyes widened, and my breath hitched. As I desperately tried to listen, my heart began to thunder so hard it was pounding heavily in my head.

"When dad told him there was a crack in the wall and the address, he said the guy went off his tree at the underlings around him. Dad said he nearly wet his pants."

The girls giggled. Lockers slammed, and I heard the laughter fade. Quietly I pulled all of the books out of the locker. I knew that I would not be able to concentrate, and the afternoon would be a complete write-off. Stuffing everything back into my bag, I edged closer to the corner of the wall, hoping that the girls weren't just a few steps down the corridor. They weren't.

So, I hightailed it down to the office.

The woman behind the counter looked up over the counter when I walked through the doorway.

"Evelyn, is everything okay?"

"No, I don't feel well. Can you please call my uncle and ask him to come and get me?"

"Of course, dear. Go through that door there to the sick bay. Lay on the bed, and I'll give him a call."

Brad wasn't going to believe a single moment of this unless I did the unthinkable. I'd embarrass him, and then he'd stop asking questions, and he'd leave me alone.

I laid on the bed, wondering how many germs were on it. How long did a germ live for? I could hear the soft murmur coming through the wall, the conversation that would be short and filled with disbelief.

Within ten minutes, the door was opened, and Brad was frowning at me.

"Are you lying?" he hissed softly as he leaned down to pick up my bag.

"Women's problems. You know how much pain it causes."

"Believe it or not, Evelyn," he whispered. "I know when you're on. You eat all the damned sweet food that you can lay your hands on, robbing me of my doughnuts."

I followed him out of the sick room, through the office, where he gave the woman a begrudging smile and goodbye, then out of the school. We were in the car before he said anything.

"You have also eaten sugar packets in a desperate attempt to get the sugar hit. I know what you are like and what you need, and the good uncle that I am, I buy extra sweet things for you to eat. I also hide my doughnuts."

Brad backed out of the parking spot and began to drive through the car park. Momentarily he glanced at me, and the slight anger softened.

"Come on, Evie, we had a deal. Just one year, and you're done. Why can't you do that? What's going on?"

"I just need time to adjust. We've been here a week. You know, the last place I had a whole month to roam around, get to know the locals. I knew what the score was before I walked into that place."

"Alright, you want time to adjust. We can deal with that. I want your grades to be reasonable, and if you do that for me, then we can chill it for a few days here and there. Okay?"

"Sure."

Once I deal with the vampire problem.

Niko was asleep when I walked up the stairs to the attic. Brad was in the backyard. He'd lamented that we now had to buy a lawnmower or pay someone to mow the lawns. He was trying to figure out what was the cheapest and if he could make his employer pay for it. Brad's reasoning was that he would have picked an apartment like the last place we lived in, except Hades didn't have any. It was houses with land, lots of lawns to mow, and gardens to maintain.

"Evelyn," Niko said sleepily. "You're home early."

"Yeah, I faked being sick to make Brad come and get me."

"Then something is wrong. Sit and tell me what you have learned that troubles you."

Even though he was clearly tired, Niko rose from his camp bed and moved to our chairs. When he was settled, he waited for me to join him and then offered a reassuring smile.

"Okay, so, I was at my locker, and I heard the mean girls talking."

"Mean girls? Were they horrible to you?"

"No, it's a term that people use to describe girl bullies. They're usually a part of a clique and target, well, people like me."

Niko opened his mouth, no doubt to offer something enriching like I was beautiful, and they were jealous. I raised my hand to stop him, avoiding the dramatic rolling of my eyes.

"Don't go there."

"Don't go where?"

I stared, wondering how long it would take to bring him up to speed on the current phrases and trends.

"It doesn't matter. One of the girls is the builder's daughter. She was talking about what happened after he left here."

"He is a vampire?"

"No, I think he's like a wannabe familiar, but all he's gotten is a little monopolization thanks to the local vampire leader."

"I see," Niko murmured, frowning slightly.

"The girl said that her father told her that the master was not happy. He told the master that he was at a job on the east side of town with a crack in the basement wall. The master went off his tree at the underlings around him. I'm assuming she meant the followers?"

Niko nodded wordlessly. The frown was still the same, but Niko sighed as he stretched back into his seat.

"This was to be expected though I did not think that the source of the issue would be right before me. Had I known that there was an agent of the leader in this house, I would have taken another path in the past twenty-four hours. Regardless, it is done, and it cannot be changed. All we can do is prepare for the future. With that thought in mind, I want to give you something."

Reaching under the pillow, Niko pulled a pendant necklace out. As he stood, Niko gestured to me to do the same. With a twirl of his fingers, I turned and waited for him to put it on me.

"Wear it always. This is a sign of our alliance. It will show those who cross your path that you and I are one. United as master and familiar."

I turned to Niko, running my fingers over the cold metal. There wasn't much time to see it, but I knew that the stone inside the filigree frame was green. I could assume it was jade, but I had no idea because I never bothered to learn what stones were. My life was lacking in money so pretty gems and necklaces were always beyond my reach.

Niko gripped the edges of my shoulder, looking at me with a warm smile.

"Those who know nothing of this world, they will be oblivious and think that it is just a necklace. Those mean girls, they won't understand. Some may try to take it from you, but it will burn their skin. Only a familiar can wear it after their master has gifted it to them. This will protect you from the other vampires, Evelyn. If they cause problems, ensure it is easily seen, and it will be enough to send them away."

"They're coming for you, aren't they?" I whispered.

"It's okay, my dear child. They can come after me again and again. I will always fight them. Now, we should discuss lore and protections in more depth."

We sat back down. I took a quick glance at the pendant. It kind of looked like those jade ornaments sold at the market stalls. The stone was flat, marked as if something had once sat on the center of the pendant.

"There is little that we can do in preparation for the inevitable. I have not seen a witch in several hundred years, and I doubt that they exist now. At least the kind of witch I would require if I were to utilize black magic. Of course, that is dangerous. If we ever venture down that path, we will discuss it again, as it can corrupt the soul. It would have to be a dire situation for me to consider that. Aside from dark magic, we can try the standard weapons but that only drags out the melee."

"So, how do you kill a vampire? I'm assuming that the standard folklore is wrong."

"Generally, yes. Aversion to sunlight is a created lie, a stake to the heart is lacking in information, garlic is gross, but that is a personal opinion, and holy water depends on the source. We've already covered the sunlight, so we'll go to the stake. Yes, it is an issue, but we can self-heal quite well. To make it effective, the stake has to remain in the body and the head must be removed. Many forget the latter, thinking that the former is enough. That is another one of those created lies. You will find that many of these folklores are altered to suit our own needs."

Yeah, that made sense. Create a lie, and if slayers or townsfolk toting torches and pitchforks ever became a problem, they'd be doing a terrible job at trying to get rid of their vampire problem.

"We cannot consume food, but if someone were to hold out garlic, it would mean nothing to us. Cram it down our throat, sure, that's a problem as it would be for anyone. And holy water. The standard priest that preaches to his flock once a week is hardly a problem for the likes of my kind. Those found in the suburban church are churned out with information about how to keep the parishioners in his church. How to rake in the donations and ensure that everyone believes in the Almighty, but they are not taught how to deal with real evil."

"Do you consider yourself evil?"

"I take lives. I kill humans, Evelyn. I have no remorse for what I do, and I never will. I will not stop, and there is nothing that anyone can say to alter that."

"You don't seem evil to me."

"Thank you for that. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I suppose it could be applied to this as well. As for using holy water against a vampire, it needs to come from higher up in the chain. The higher, the better."

"Can you enter holy ground?"

"Vampires are not limited to any place. We do not need permission to enter a home. We can frolic through the holiest of grounds if we desire. You will find that particular lore came from a vampire that had set up a home in an old church and lured people in with the false belief that it would be enough to save them from him."

Charming.