Exiting Nyais' apartment, [Y/n] was quick to take note of the surroundings. A painting of a man with cropped grey-ish black hair wearing a long black trench coat was nailed to the wall opposite Nyais' door, a fancy golden frame with beautiful engravings surrounding the flattering work of art. Underneath the painting was a golden plaque — it read:

ASRIN To commemorate your victory against the centaurs. An exceptional spy and warrior.

Upon closer inspection, this 'Asrin' person seemed oddly familiar, though she was sure she'd never met him before. She shook her head and took one last note of the painting for reference, before making her way down the hallway once more. An exit. No doubt one would be heavily guarded... but maybe she could slip past? You never know until you find it, [Y/n] concluded. And so she kept walking, on high alert for any more footsteps though thankfully hearing none. Despite what some might suspect, it seemed that vampires rested through the night just as humans do. Or perhaps these halls were just usually quiet.

[Y/n] turned a corner in hopes that it would lead to somewhere useful. Only moments later did she hear a voice in the distance from Nyais' apartment. She froze.

"What do you mean she's not here?!" Laion snapped and the sound of someone being pinned against a door ensued. A low muffled response followed which [Y/n] was too far away to make out, but she could only guess the speaker was the doctor she'd seen moments before. A thud sounded and then a pained groan, though not from Rayne as [Y/n] had expected. Laion seemed to be in pain. Though worry for him caused her movements to tense, [Y/n] couldn't afford to care. She pushed her empathy to the back of her mind and continued moving.

Had Rayne just helped her? Maybe so. Or maybe he was just curing his own boredom. [Y/n] didn't plan to stick around and find out.

Her pace had picked up now. She kept glancing to the walls, noting the faces on the portraits she walked past, though she figured she was less likely to remember the names than the images so she didn't bother with them.

"You!" an unfamiliar voice sounded. [Y/n] froze once more and turned around to face her newest obstacle, a man with caramel brown hair and soft hazel eyes, though his gaze was fixed in a serious and confused cast. "You're that human. What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"I- I-" [Y/n] stuttered. She couldn't just say she was trying to escape, could she? Though it seemed she wouldn't have to as this man seemed to understand fully at the lack of information she gave.

"I'd be quick if I were you. I've met those kids..." he tailed off, seeming to shudder. Was this guy...? Was he letting her go? He turned around and began to walk the way he had been walking before and [Y/n] couldn't help but whisper-yell out to him desperately.

"Wait! Wait, please," [Y/n] said quickly. He turned, his expression surprisingly apologetic. "C-can you tell me where the exit to this place is?" she asked.

"No," he said darkly, "I saw what those kids did to Nyais. I don't fancy being next," he muttered, though his gaze was soft and sympathetic. "Good luck." And with that, he walked away. [Y/n] considered chasing after him again, but if he feared the boys that much... she wouldn't be surprised if he'd take her to them just to get in their good graces. But, if this man was here, then surely he was an elite? If she remembered correctly, you had to fight your way into being an elite. The boys only lived where they did because of her and Nyais — technically they should be with the, um... was it workers? She couldn't remember exactly.

[Y/n] hung her head and quietly made her way into a new hallway, walking down it with hurried steps, though as light on her feet as she could be. She knew she couldn't run — she didn't want to draw attention to herself and vampires had heightened senses. God, if one of the boys had hearing like Nyais', she would've been found long ago. She shuddered at the concept.

Turning one corner, then another, she found herself in a place that was oddly familiar.

"That painting..." [Y/n] whispered to herself, staring over at the prideful illustration of the great spy Asrin. And of course, directly opposite it was the door to Nyais' apartment. She'd gone in a massive circle. Well shit.

If Laion had already been here, maybe the boys wouldn't care to check again? And maybe Rayne would've left by now. She held her breath and walked over to the door, slowly creaking it open.

She scanned the room, her chest tightening in anticipation. No one, but that didn't mean there was no one in the whole apartment. She quietly clicked the door shut behind her and tiptoed her way over to Nyais' room, peering inside. Empty. She then turned around and pushed open the door to the library.

Not so empty.

"You came back," Rayne's droning voice sounded from the mezzanine above her. [Y/n] bit her lip in nervousness and her heart rate increased. The man peered over the edge, his shoulders resting on the bannister. He wore a completely devoid expression, before dropping a book directly above her. [Y/n] reached out to catch it, inspecting the cover. Leather bound with no visible title. She checked the spine and it was the same.

"Open it," Rayne hummed. Hesitantly [Y/n] nodded, opening up the book.

It was a sketchbook. The first few pages were of animals, their names and a little information about them stuck to the drawings on little post-it notes. She flicked through the book and then saw drawings of a beautiful woman with long wavy hair and a kind, soft expression. She gazed out to a flower in her hands, a smile on her face. It looked as though they were outside as a couple of birds were added in the distance. More drawings of her followed. Some were of her reading, others of her dancing, and a plethora of other activities as well.

Some pages in the book were torn out or torn in half, seemingly removing a person from the drawings.

"Any ideas?" Rayne questioned, though [Y/n] didn't see the light smirk on his face.

"This was Nyais'," [Y/n] whispered, tears forming in her eyes. She shut the book and held it close to her chest. She never knew he could draw — he was such a good artist. Memories of him flooded her mind.

If only he was still here.

"You didn't get to the good bit," Rayne frowned. [Y/n] held the book a bit away from her and slowly opened it again, continuing to flick through the pages. By just after the half way point, every page was torn out, except for the last one. It was of a living room looking place, though small and cramped and full of other random items. Leya sat on a sofa, her nose buried in a book. In the background was another individual with messy hair and a long lab coat, seemingly trying to work a very human device - a television - but the screen only displayed a static image. The individual in the drawing could only be one person. [Y/n] looked up in confusion.

"Keep going," Rayne frowned. [Y/n] furrowed her brow — this was the last page. She turned over to the back of the page to read a note.

'You've been sad lately so I thought you should try and learn something new. Try drawing — you have a good eye for detail. Sketch the things that mean a lot to you. I'm sure you'll fill this book in no time. I have some human books on how to draw if you need any help, but I doubt you will. Have fun. ~ Rayne.'

"You were..." [Y/n] whispered. She looked up in confusion. That didn't seem like Rayne at all. Wasn't he... wasn't he a sadistic psycho? And Nyais seemed to hate him so much, but it looked as though he'd drawn him as one of the people that mean a lot to him... though on that thought, someone had been removed from the book numerous times. [Y/n] could only assume...

"If you're about to say I was nice I'll throw a rock at your head," he muttered, pulling a large polished, rounded stone from his pocket that he must've picked up in the library as a page holder.

"No— I just... were the three of you close?" she questioned.

"If you can't work that out then you're really beyond help," Rayne shook his head, before dropping drown from the mezzanine to stand beside [Y/n]. He extended his hand, wishing to take the sketchbook from her. She instead pulled it closer to her chest.

"Can I keep it...?" [Y/n] questioned, looking down at the book with a sorrowful gaze. Rayne didn't retract his hand, however. [Y/n] understood the hint and slowly, clearly painfully, passed the sketchbook over to him.

Her eyes widened as the raven haired male pulled a lighter out of his pocket.

"Wait— no! Don't do that!" [Y/n] said quickly as he ignited the flame. Rayne responded with a pitchy chuckle and took a step away from her as she reached out to take the sketchbook from him. He placed the flame to the leather and [Y/n] could only watch in horror as the collection of beautiful memories slowly began to burn away. She knew better than to take it from him now, but every part of her was screaming at her to just do it anyway.

The overwhelming scent of burning leather caused [Y/n] to cough slightly; she took a few steps back to be clear of the fumes.

Soon, only a charred mass remained. Rayne dropped it on the floor and stamped on it, watching in amusement as the burnt paper inside dispersed like a cloud of smoke. [Y/n] hadn't even registered the tears that rolled down her cheeks. She hadn't processed how her lip trembled, how her brow furrowed, or how she needed to take the occasional gasp for air.

"That messed you up more than I thought it would..." Rayne tailed off, shaking his head. "I thought you'd be a bit tougher by now." [Y/n] didn't hear what he said. All she could think about was that sketchbook and the man who once owned it. "If they ever send you to me, keeping you from breaking will be quite the challenge," he laughed dully, before his eyes fixed on something not far behind [Y/n]. The girl wasn't paying attention. She stared at the sketchbook, tears dripping on the floor, occasionally splashing into the mess of ash.

"Well hello Seishin," Rayne smiled. [Y/n]'s attention snapped back suddenly and she spun around to face what Rayne had been looking at. Indeed, the blonde male stood in the doorway. A moth eaten rag hung from one hand and the other sat in his pocket. He looked less than pleased.

"Come here, [Y/n]," Seishin frowned. She backed away, before bumping into Rayne. He gave her a quizzical look before nonchalantly shoving her right into Seishin's chest. The blonde quickly held her to him, her struggling seemingly futile, before pressing the chloroform-soaked rag to her face.

It burned — it felt like fire. Her eyes grew wide and watered more than they already were. She kicked and struggled more intensely, before falling limp in his arms.

* * *

With a ringing head and a furrowed brow, slowly did Erel being to wake. He didn't remember going to sleep. He didn't remember sitting down, even. He squeezed his eyes tighter, before slowly beginning to open them (despite the headache making him want to stay asleep for a few more hours). It was only when he recognised the place he resided in did panic hit his expression. The dungeons. Soon after, he clocked onto the rope that bound his arms and legs to an old wooden chair. On further inspection, the chair was covered in old, dried blood.

"Stay quiet or I'll cut out your tongue," a bored voice hummed from behind him. "Loud noises are so obnoxious."

"Who are you?!" Erel snapped, trying to look behind him, but to no avail.

"What did I say about quiet?" he growled out, though he quickly continued. "I was tailing [Y/n] earlier. You had a chat with her," the unknown male spoke plainly. "You found her breaking the rules of her contract, trying to escape this place, and did nothing to intervene. In fact, you went as far as wishing her luck," he laughed dryly. Erel slowly began to understand.

"You— you're Kaist's son, right?" he whispered. Seishin slowly made his way over to the front of the chair, before crouching down slightly so he was on Erel's level.

"When I leave, I'll be letting five ravenous dogs into this room as frankly I don't want to have to touch you myself. I didn't realise the 'no pets' rule didn't quite extend to keeping them as interrogatory devices," he explained with a cold smile on his profile. Erel's eyes widened. "Of course, a dog can't kill a vampire thanks to our healing ability..." he chuckled, before standing up straight again. "You'll only be in here for a few days. I'll have Kaist send someone to deal with what's left of you after then. Now, I must be going—"

"Wait!" Erel hissed. Seishin crossed his arms over his chest in an impatient manner. "D-don't hurt her. Sh-she was only doing what any of us would do..."

"Are you defending her?" Seishin questioned. Erel stayed still for a while, but Seishin's intense glare caused him to slowly lower his head and nod. A shrill laugh escaped Seishin, before he left the cell and shut the steel door behind him. Of course in these cells you can't have iron bars as vampires can just shift into bats - which is undoubtably what Erel would do the moment Seishin left, though the ceilings were low so the dogs could still snatch a bat by jumping up. Instead, they had impenetrable glass walls and steel doors instead.

Seishin pulled down on a chain, a sick smile tugging on the corners of his lips. A wall slowly opened in the back of the cell, and five skeletal beasts entered the room with salivating jaws and predatory snarls.