After Reva left, Xavier stood still for a moment. Silent. The master suite door clicked shut behind her, and the apartment felt too quiet. A hum from the ceiling panels buzzed faintly, the city outside flickering through the wide panoramic windows.
He sighed, rubbed the back of his neck, and stepped toward the main console near the entrance. The biometric panel blinked in standby.
He pressed his palm to it.
A thin blue light scanned up his arm, and then the console beeped.
[Security Protocol Unlocked.]
[Owner: Xavier – Identity Confirmed.]
[Would you like to initialize full apartment lockdown and set biometric access?]
Xavier muttered, "Yes. Do it."
[Processing...]
[New security profile established. Apartment access limited to owner only. Additional users: none.]
He pulled his hand back and turned to leave, but his pocket buzzed. Incoming call.
"Angel..."
He picked it up.
"Yo," he said.
"So?" Angel’s voice came through—teasing, smug, half-laughing already. "How was the date?"
"You could’ve told me," Xavier said, walking across the massive living room. "That Reva wasn’t... human."
There was a short pause on the other end. Then: "Didn’t think it was important."
"Are you serious?"
"C’mon, Xavier," Angel said, "you’ve been in this city long enough to know half of it isn’t human. Space-breeds, bio-mods, altered bloodlines, beastkin—you name it. Vampires, elves, dracs, it’s all normal here. Reva being a vampire from outer space is like ... someone being from Canada or Europe. Not a big deal."
Xavier sighed again. "She tried to bite me."
"She what?"
"She locked the door, turned off the lights, and tried to bite me."
Angel went quiet.
"She said it was a surprise," Xavier added flatly.
"Oh, I’m gonna kill her," Angel muttered. "She said she’d be cool about it. Told me she’d just hang out and have a chill time. Stupid fangy woman. I’ll call her."
"Wait," Xavier said. "Before that—how do you know her?"
Angel went silent again, longer this time.
"...It’s a long story."
"I’ve got time."
"Not the right time for it," she said. "I’ll tell you someday. Maybe. Why do you ask?"
Xavier stared out the window. "No reason. Just curious."
"You sound more than curious."
"I’m not," Xavier said.
Angel clicked her tongue. "Fine, fine. Anyway—I haven’t heard from her yet. After I hang up, I’ll call her and chew her out for pulling a Twilight on you."
"Also," Xavier said, walking toward the elevator, "you know anyone who does custom security systems? Like real custom. I don’t want anything default. I want the whole network stripped and rebuilt. From scratch."
"...You serious?"
"Just moved into a new place. Big place. Came with a whole bunch of built-in protections, AI sentries, retinal locks, multi-floor firewalls. All corporate stuff owned by the Blackwood family. Obviously, they are my enemy so I don’t trust them."
Angel responded, "I’ll try to contact them, but no promises. They’re pretty busy these days. Might take a while to get a slot, but I’ll let you know if they’re available."
Before hanging up, she added, "Oh, and the fake report’s ready. The DNA, the suicide angle, the whole package. I’ll send it over once this call ends."
"Got it."
They hung up.
Xavier headed down to the second-floor apartment. As soon as he opened the door and stepped inside, he found Lilia and Lyra standing near the wall, arms folded, staring at him like he just committed a war crime.
He blinked. "...Did I miss something?"
No one replied.
So Xavier tried again, casually. "Have you two eaten yet?"
Lilia clicked her tongue. "We already ate. Just came back from Seraphina’s restaurant."
Lyra nodded. "I ate too... but I can eat again if you haven’t."
"I already ate."
Lilia scoffed. "Of course you did."
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "What’s going on?"
Lilia didn’t even blink. "Seraphina told us everything. How you brought a girl to the restaurant... then took her to the new apartment. Together."
Xavier rubbed the back of his neck. "She was insisting. And I hadn’t seen the apartment myself, so I figured... might as well check it out."
There was a short silence.
Then Xavier added, "You two want to check out the place too?"
"I don’t want to see your love nest," Lilia snapped.
"My what?"
Lilia’s eyes narrowed. "Don’t act dumb. I’ve seen you jerk off here naked—more than once, by the way—so now that you’ve got a bigger place, you won’t have to jerk off anymore. You’ll just fuck girls in peace without anyone disturbing you."
Xavier’s expression tightened. "It’s not like that. Nothing happened between me and Reva."
Lyra stepped closer.
Way too close.
She sniffed his chest, then his neck, then moved up to his face. Her expression was oddly serious, almost like she was performing some kind of ritual.
Then she turned to Lilia and said, "She’s not lying. Her scent’s all over him. Chest, neck, face... mostly those three."
DING!
Xavier’s phone buzzed.
Xavier backed away from her. "What are you, a detective now?"
He grabbed his phone and checked to see Angel had sent him the fake report.
He turned to Lyra and Lilia and muttered, "Don’t waste your brains sniffing me. Go sleep."
They didn’t look convinced, but it took a while... and eventually, the tension eased. One way or another, the three of them ended up sleeping.
Morning came.
Xavier had breakfast at Seraphina’s restaurant and then returned to the apartment to get ready to leave for the academy.
Xavier put on the academy uniform, and stepped out of the apartment. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but he was already outside.
However, Xavier wasn’t planning to take his bike to go to the academy today. Instead, he walked to the nearest pick up station and waited.
He stood even though there were empty seats to sit. With his eyes on the sky, and hands in his pocket, Xavier let out a sharp sigh.
It was time for Dominic to fulfill his second promise.
And it was also the day when Xavier would officially commit his second murder.