I quickly helped out Ji-Yun while Creep helped the cab driver who was shocked. I hypnotized him that nothing happened and made him go home by hypnotizing another cab driver nearby. The cab went away as fast as I told him to go.

Ji-Yun had some cuts on her face and arms. However, she looked okay to me. When I checked on Creep, he turned into his sigbin form, protecting me from an incoming assault from an unknown enemy, which I belatedly noticed.

I could not do anything as other people got confused in the situation. Others were running away fast while the others stood in terror, especially seeing my familiar in his real form. Others were screaming. Well, talk about mayhem.

I wasn’t so sure how to deal with this anymore. It was all in chaos. I was almost sure that this was going to be on the news in no time. However, I did what I could to protect the innocents when a car was thrown toward them by another unknown enemy.

“Get back, Ji-Yun!” I shouted, and she hid behind the upside down cab.

I kicked the car away from the people and it landed on some of the fast oncoming vamps and other creatures I haven’t had pleasure in meeting before. I assessed how many they could be. Creep must have been right all along. They were quite a pack! A huge one to be precise.

The car was torn apart in several pieces as the vamps and other creatures got rid of it. From what I saw, the vehicle was like a piece of paper as they tore it. I realized that the other creatures were in fact ghouls. I only knew how to kill them in theory, but I never knew if it would work in real life because they were stronger than vampires. Feeding them with ordinary human food, which was their weakness and would lead them to their death, was out of the question at this very moment. We were in the middle of the street and everything was in a huge mayhem. Totally.

Some of the vamps and ghouls were already attacking innocent people. I did my best to take them one by one but they outnumbered us. Creep was also busy doing his thing and Ji-Yun was helpless at the moment.

I felt blood splash on my left arm as I was busy fighting with a strong vamp. I managed to tear his head off from his shoulder and turned to see that Ataru cut off the vampire’s head using some of his cards while I wasn’t looking. I nodded at him, and he used a card to give me a salute. He then threw it to the next target.

It seemed that the pack’s number grew larger by the moment. I also noticed Sephora hypnotizing the people, mainly the men who were not immune to her powers as a succubus and hypnotist. However, I could not see Zurko anywhere near us. I wondered where he was.

“No! I’m not going without them!” I heard Ji-Yun’s voice, protesting, so I turned around.

And there he was. Zurko gripped her hand, trying to drag her out of the chaotic scene. I understood what he was about to do. He was also trying to protect her from all of this.

“Ji-Yun, go with him!” I ordered her. “Get out of here now!”

She looked at me hard and long enough, weighing her options. She then nodded and did as told while I was busy fighting. The blood user took a nearby car and used it as a getaway vehicle, leaving us behind. Just then, I heard a not so far away howling. My heart did a somersault. Deep inside me, I knew that Haunter would never leave me in this situation alone. And I could almost hear the werewolves’ hurried footsteps coming nearer and nearer to our location. Their paws pounded the ground. Quick and hard.

Some of the ghouls and vampires were immobile for a second as they listened well. They all looked at me like I was truly the center of attention.

“Traitor!” One of the vampires yelled at me.

“You align yourself with dogs?” another butted in, a ghoul. He looked disgusted.

I grinned at them without care and shrugged. “I think in terms of loyalty, the dogs are better than bloodsuckers and human flesh eaters like you.”

Creep’s whip-like tail turned some vamps into mists and weakened the ghouls. So I gave them the finishing blow by cutting their heads off with my bare strong hands or using my silver Eiffel Tower ring. Now, one theory had just been proven. Ghouls could die like vampires when their heads were detached from their bodies. That is, if human food was not available. However, they won’t turn into dust. Just like humans, they would stay dead like the way they were killed—headless and bloody. It was such a huge, gruesome mess!

Even if the vampires and ghouls wanted to escape now, they couldn’t because Haunter’s kind finished our job. It was only less than a minute and every vampire was turned into silvery dust and every ghoul was beheaded or torn into bloody pieces. The stench was so strong I wanted to throw up.

Haunter’s pack in their massive wolf forms was truly strong to get all those that remained from our fight. In fact, the users, Creep, and I just looked on as the pack executed them all—like hungry wolves thrashed their preys.

I stood there when the seemingly head of the pack stepped closer. He looked at me with penetrating eyes that were dark as night. He had short dark hair and muscled body but not as tall as Haunter.

“I am guessing you’re our alpha’s mate,” he said it like in a growl.

I lifted up my chin to let him know that I was not afraid of him. “That’s correct,” I confirmed it without batting my eyes.

He slowly grinned. His mouth though was still bloody from the battle.

“Very well. From my observation, you’re not incapable as I imagined.” He bowed slightly. “I’m Farkas from Hungary.”

I extended my hand and he took it to shake it once. He had a strong, reliable hand.

“Saber. Pleased to meet you and the pack.” I directed my eyes at the wolves behind him to acknowledge them as well.

“If you need anything…” he started but someone cut him off.

“We’ll manage. Thank you,” Sephora butted in. The half-succubus looked at the wolf with a scorn.

Farkas, on the other hand, merely grinned at her and I caught his wink before I turned to Sephora.

“They’re allies, Sephora. Treat them with respect if not like friends.” I told her with contempt.

Sephora gave me a chilling look but I ignored it. After all, the Threesome Users pledged their loyalty to the alpha of this pack—to Haunter. And Haunter was my lover.

“Our deal is with Haunter and not with them,” she shot back coldly and walked away.

I followed her with my gaze and looked at Ataru who made a salute to everyone using his card. He looked at me apologetically and followed the snob half-succubus. I then bade my goodbye to Farkas and the rest of the pack. We hailed a cab as sirens of approaching police cars got closer. Farkas and the rest would deal with it.

Creep and I then went to our hotel and we met Ji-Yun and Zurko there. The two seemed to be in cold war. Ji-Yun embraced me as soon as she saw me and patted my familiar when he turned into a cat.

“It’s great to see you’re safe,” she said. Relief was mirrored in her little eyes.

“I think I gotta go,” Zurko mumbled.

I nodded and thanked him. I went to the bathroom as soon as Ji-Yun closed the door of our hotel room. I was soaking in the bubbly and warm bathtub for half an hour when she knocked on the door and I let her in.

She sat on the lid-covered toilet bowl, while Creep was seated on the bowl’s water tank. So much for privacy with these two.

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t do anything back there. How I wished that I could help you then,” Ji-Yun started. Her head hung.

I smiled at her. “It’s not your fault that you’re helpless right now. But don’t worry. I can teach you how to fight.”

“Really?” She got excited by the sound of it.

“Yeah! Why not? Besides, if not me, then Creep can also do that for you. He can even imitate Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan and teach you Kung Fu!” It sounded like a joke but it was true.

“Leave me out of it!” The cat jumped down and turned into a cute twelve-year-old boy.

“And why is that? You don’t want to help Ji-Yun here?” I tried to convince him so that he won’t get bored while we are here. We still got some long hours before we meet the others tomorrow at our rendezvous point and plan our next step.

He looked at the teenage girl who was amazed at how he looked right now. Then he turned to look at me.

“I’ll think about it, alright? Right now, I want to go out and explore this place,” he stated and grinned. He went out and locked the door.

I just looked at Ji-Yun with a toothless smile. “I think he’ll do it. He’s got an ego, you know.”

▼▼

Ji-Yun and I went to bed later. We were completely exhausted.

She got up and went to my bed to sit down. She extended her arm to me without a word. I looked at her and shook my head. But she insisted.

“Fine.” I took her arm and bit her wrist.

My energy was restored. It had been hours since I fed—on Haunter. And I had a bloody fight just a while ago. So I badly needed refreshment even though it would be fine until tomorrow.

I thanked her afterward and she smiled at me. “I’m just happy that my blood can help you.” She got up satisfied and went back to her bed.

“Good night, Ji-Yun.”

But before she could say her goodnight, the door burst out open. The dark haired boy came in with a grinning face. I wondered what it was and he immediately answered.

“I found a ghoul friend!” He burst out and went back out just to get inside again.

This time, he dragged a frail-looking lady ghoul. She greeted us shyly. In my observation, she was in her twenties in human age. She wore a pair of tattered jeans and a loose T-shirt. She had dark brown hair, pale skin, wide mouth, high cheek bones, and green eyes like a cat’s. The latter attribute was no wonder how Creep could fall for her even in just a single glance. He liked cats in the first place.

“Are you sure she’s a friend?” I asked him through our telepathy.

“Yes, of course! Why won’t you trust me on this?” he answered with a pout.

“Alright. So, what’s her name?”

His face lit up. “She said her name’s Crina and she’s from here. I met her near a club. A bouncer kicked her out because he thought she was weird. And then we talked. I learned that she doesn’t have a home and she’s all alone. That’s why I took her here.”

“Alright. If you trust her, then she’s welcome. But I’ll watch,” I decided.

He sighed. He knew that I haven’t trusted her fully even though he already vouched for her. But he gestured to the lady to go to his bed instead and he turned into a cat, settling next to her. I moved to the window and peered down below. I could feel the galvanizing effect that my fellow vampires emitted. They were practically everywhere. Some were in this hotel, while some were just blocks away.

We couldn’t take any chances. I looked back and I thought that Creep’s friend Crina was looking at me before she closed her eyes. Like humans, ghouls sleep—but only for a few hours.

I sighed. I watched them sleep until the first light. Ji-Yun was the first to wake up though. Something was really weird with this ghoul. She was not supposed to be asleep in the evening. Ghouls were supposed to sleep during the day and hunt during the night. However, maybe it was also one of these weird things that drew Creep to her. I guess I couldn’t hold this weird thing though against her—or Creep on that matter.

Creep was also important to me. He was my best familiar and the most loyal one. Besides I loved him after all this time that we’ve been together. And I couldn’t bear to see him hurt or gone from my side.

I sighed and smiled at Ji-Yun who greeted me before she went to the bathroom to change for breakfast. After some time, Creep woke up as well and his cat form moved closer to Crina to peek at her face more closely. He smelled her cheek like a creep he is and nudged it a little bit to wake her up.

I smiled and got up from where I was seated.

“Don’t you think it’s overly familiar to be close to her like that?” I pointed out to him telepathically.

The cat’s head turned, and his eyes looked at me as he grinned without a word.

I was about to open my mouth when the phone rang and I looked at it, near my bedside table. I stepped closer to it and answered. It was Zurko. I knitted my eyebrows because it wasn’t like him to be calling us.

“We’re in the hotel restaurant and waiting for you.”

I grinned. “I’m a vampire and I don’t eat human food, remember?”

Silence for a second or two. “Oh, well. The invitation goes to Ji-Yun,” he said and the other end clicked. It was a sign that he ended the call.

‘Huh! That grumpy kid.’

I looked at the receiver and smiled at Ji-Yun who just got out of the bathroom. She looked at me in confusion and asked mutely. I told her about Zurko’s invitation and intently looked at her expression. She was like normal.

“Then, I’ll go ahead,” she decided.

“Okay. Enjoy your breakfast! But don’t hang out for too long. We’re going out.” I reminded her before she could close the door.

The ghoul woke up and stretched her slender arms. She sat up and greeted me with a smile.

“Sorry. I just woke up,” she apologized in English with Romanian accent. “I’m like this when I’m… deprived of food.”

“Oh!” So that was the reason.

Yes, I heard some rumors about this kind of case about ghouls. But I thought they were merely rumors. It was the first level of food deprivation. The next one was to eat human food, which would lead to their death. However, it seldom happened because their craving for human flesh would always win just like blood thirst does to vampires.

“So, if you didn’t eat any human lately, what did you eat before?” I inquired when she explained that she didn’t eat human for a month now.

Her facial expression turned to sadness from being guilty even though she tried to hide it.

“I… I seduced men. Well, those men that I thought and witnessed doing bad to our society, I promise. But then, I realized they were humans, too, and some people also loved them…”

“So, that’s why you are trying to just eat animal flesh?” Creep asked when he turned into his kid form. He was seated next to her on the edge of the bed.

“Yes. But I know that it’s really different from human’s and it won’t sustain me for long…” She turned to look at Creep.

“But you’re going to die if this goes on like this!” Creep said with a dramatic tone, which I never heard from him before. It was getting clearer to me that he truly cared for this newly found ghoul friend of his.

“Yeah, he’s right. What’s your option now? Surely you don’t want to perish on the face of the Earth,” I added almost cruelly.

They both looked at me before they exchanged glances.

“Well… I thought about this for a long time now.” She started and we didn’t butt in. “I think it won’t be delicious as the live human flesh but dead ones might be better than animal flesh after all. Just that I am so afraid to try it because it is not easy to have access to the morgues.” She shrugged.

Right. Ghouls didn’t have hypnotism powers like vampires.

Well, that seemed to soften my heart and change my overall perspective of this particular ghoul. I wished to help her in any way I can. Well, maybe Haunter had some other ideas. Or, maybe I could do it myself. Or better yet, Creep would more likely want to help her with all his powers. I had no doubt that he could do something for her and it would be sooner than later.

After Ji-Yun’s breakfast together with the Threesome Users, we left our room to go to the rendezvous point. But before that, we stopped by at some place as planned to check the Dark Empress’ whereabouts. But I was sure it won’t be easy because we were also hunted by our enemies—specifically by Dena and her underlings.