"Hyun-Seung? Interesting name. I'm Viktor, Viktor Alanzo." Normally he would have extended his hand but she seemed like she was far too sophisticated for such a normality. He gave a short but somehow elegant bow from his seat and backed with a soft grin. Squinting his eyes slightly as he leaned on the counter and stared at the woman he asked, "So, Ms.Seung, what brings a person of your stature to our humble little back-wood town?"

She was far too high class to be here simply because she liked the area so there had to be something else. Besides her scent bothered him. It reminded him of his own but far far stronger and more evident. He usually wore a light cologne to mask his own but he was sure he would be able to find her in a crowd anywhere. "I can't help but notice how we have a few things in common. It's kind of surprising. I grew up feeling. . . different from everyone else." I still feel that way now, it's just not as bothersome as it was then.

Blowing on his latte in long deep breaths, he had high hopes that he would be able to take a drink soon. Glancing over at the waitress he scowled playfully, "Weren't gonna worn me that this was hot huh," doing his best to maintain a neutral face and stern tone as he teased her. A few moments later, another woman walked into the place, "Dang, how many women are there in this town," he asked sarcastically. She had a strong smell similar to the one coming off of Ky. She moved in an almost surreal motion, even more graceful than Valkyrie did. It was, awe inspiring to say the least but he didn't reveal that.

Suddenly curious Vik looked to Ky again with a crooked head, "Are you two related?" His question came off a bit too curious in his opinion, but it was too late to take back his tone. This place was filled with nothing but people who had oddly distinct smells something told him that he should investigate but of course that would wait. For now he just wanted to have a few latte's, which he decided was finally cool enough to drink, and chat with all the lovely ladies he found himself suddenly surrounded by.

"Hm. Your name is also quite interesting, Viktor." Hyun-Seung sipped her tea daintily and peered into the tea cup. She gave a nod and a slight smirk as he bowed. Most people weren't so mannerly nowadays. "Well, as for that question, I'd heard some...interesting rumors about this town." She folded her hands in her lap and raised an eyebrow.

Hyun-Seung noticed how Viktor was sniffing about, albeit discreetly. She mentally slapped herself; she had forgotten to put on the perfume that would erase the scent of her and make her seem like a human. "A few things in common indeed. However, I grew up around people like me." The vampire stopped to see if Viktor knew what she was talking about. The vampires of London were quite infamous in the vampire community. They were incredibly smart, beautiful, and powerful, but the other vampires never liked how the vampires of London managed to claw--literally--their way to the top of the hierarchy.

She was momentarily distracted by another woman who sashay-glided her way into the cafe. The woman had a extremely similar smell to Ky, and knew immediately that she was a pixie when she unscrewed the cap on the saltshaker. "Goodness." She muttered under her breath and restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Those pixies were always running around causing trouble.

Ky only fixed Vik with a droll stare as he teased her, but it was obvious by the sparkle in her eyes that she knew he was joking. "You did order a hot drink. Forgive me, I thought it would be obvious," she said, with obviously feigned innocence. Her eyes shifted as the door opened- another women waltzed in, and there was something... strangely familiar about her. Ky's expression deepened into a frown at Vik's question- not because she was angry or bothered by it, but... well, she couldn't explain why.

"Not that I'm aware of," she finally replied, lifting her eyes to look up at him. "Grandma didn't tell me that I had any relatives in this town."

Yuri looked over at the Pixie that entered; had she been in her wolf form, her hackles would have been on end. Weres and Pixies naturally didn't get along, and her nose wrinkled slightly at the scent that hit her like a semi-truck. Full-blown pixie was too strong, too florally sweet for her.

"If you'll excuse me, I see a friend," she murmured, forcing a smile before slipping away and going to the table the pixie was at. She slid into the chair across from her, keeping her expression carefully guarded. "I hope you're not causing trouble," she breathed softly, trying to keep her voice from a growl.

Entering Waterstone, the local cafe, Itzli, or Izzy as she preferred, shivered violently. Blast the wintry temperatures! Caught up in her frustration, she failed to notice how many people were actually in the cafe, blanching when she realized her mistake. Still, her supernatural grace, equivalent to that of an elf or pixie, prevailed as she walked over to a stole away from everyone else, masking her nervousness. "Excuse me? May I get a white chocolate hot chocolate with peppermint please?" she asked, eyeing the waitress for a negative reaction. The fact that there was a pixie somewhere in the building made her anxious, though she was simply afraid that they would start something.

Now that she was stationary, she could observe the others as well. The pixie was the one being confronted by the... were? It was a bit harder for her to tell when it came to them. Regardless, the waitress was also a pixie, or at least had pixie blood. It was faint from her. Then there was the unnatural air of vampires, again one stronger than the other. It was certainly a motley group. Just being there among other people made the faerie long for her apple tree. But the owners of the farm were working on it for something, so that was out for the day. Sighing, she waited for her drink while listening to the sounds of the others.

***

Hefting the bag over his shoulder, Jai'kar opened the door to the cafe and stepped inside. The clink of metal emanated from the bag with every step he took, revealing that he had come from the hardware store. His father had sent him to get parts for the tractor, which he had. They would need the vehicle to move the apple tree that they were felling that day. Shaking off the light layer of snow that had built up on his Carhartt coat, he gave a slight wave to Ky and Yuri, knowing them from school. "Hey," he said, peeling the coat off and hanging it on a rack. "I'll take the usual, Ky. Seems rather busy in here today, huh?"

Smiling good-naturedly, he took a seat next to a blonde man that he recognized as Vik. It had been awhile, though they had never really spoken. A petite pink-haired girl sat two seats away from him, looking as if she was attempting to disappear while watching everyone. She definitely seemed paranoid, but that wasn't his concern. Oddly, Yuri seemed to be confronting another girl about something. Usually, she wasn't aggressive at all, but it was none of his business, so he kept his mouth shut. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

Vik poised himself and put on the facade of surprise as Ky played along with his little act. Then he looked up and tapped his chin with a long slender index finger as he played coy, "These things come hot!?! Learn something new everyday," his long blonde hair swaying against his back.
The expression he saw when she looked at the other female wasn't a the look of someone who knew something. When she told him she didn't know, he wasn't all that surprised especially since he didn't know of Ms.Summers having any other relatives here either. He glanced back at the woman with his hazel eyes then nodded and gave a half shrug; that was all he could do having nothing else to say.

Turning back to the older woman next to him Vik smiled and nodded, "I'll take that as a compliment." Taking a short swig from the white coffee cup with the Waterfront logo on the side, it was difficult for him not ask what she meant. Instead he simply raised an eyebrow in curiousity. Interesting rumors?

As Hyun-Seung spoke, the half breed continued to study her, taking mental notes about all the things that stood out. And the things that they seemed to have in common, like their unnaturally sharp fingernails. As well as her deadly looking canines. He wondered if hers retracted and extended when she got hungry. Sitting back and folding his arms across his chest he picked up on the undertone of her question. Is there something I'm missing? "Then count yourself fortunate to be born into the high life. Everyone here has to make the best of what they have. With the exception of a few, that is."

Just then another person with that unique and surreal grace, elegantly made their way into the cafe. This was getting ridiculous, or wait. . . Was he just now noticing these things? For whatever reason, he had never really noticed so many little quirks about this town's until he started having those. . . urges. It was all extremely odd to him. The woman sat away from everyone else and Vik wasn't sure if he had seen her around or not. She looked familiar but that was it. Since she picked a stool so far away from them all, he assumed she didn't want to be bothered.

Following her a few moments later was Jai'kar. They weren't particularly close or well aquainted, but he hadn't heard anything bad about the guy. His bag gave away its contents with all the loud clinking going on. After he spoke to his friends and took a seat next to him, Vik grinned kindly and gave the boy a cordial nod and nearly dismissed his presence. Taking another sip of his latte the half-blood couldn't help but realize that the place was getting crowded and he was starting to get nervous. Vik didn't handle crowds well, and because of it he especially didn't like them. Unconsciously he started bouncing his leg with an axiousness.

Ky rolled her eyes at Vik, unable to help the faint smile that pulled at the corner of her lips. She turned her attention as another woman approached the bar- it looked like it would be a busy day, after all. She hesitated, noting the concerned look on the woman's face, then decided it was none of her business to pry.

"Coming up," she said with a bob of her head, moving to prepare the drink. She had to strong-arm the lever to the machine down, grimacing slightly. Remember to have Boss oil that, she noted silently, getting the rest of the ingredients together as she waited for the water to heat up. After a minute she pulled another lever, and threw all the ingredients together into a cup. The scent of peppermint filled her nostrils before she stuck a cap on the paper cup, sliding it in front of the girl.

"Hey Jai'kar," she said, as the young man entered the cafe. She knew him from school; it was nice to have a familiar face among a sea of strangers (Well, technically, she knew Yuri, but the other girl was busy... talking to someone. She couldn't really tell, actually, but it was none of her business.) "I'll get that ready for you." It only took her a moment to get his drink ready, and moments later she was sliding his cup in front of him.

She leaned against the counter, realising she'd gotten wound up as she'd worked. She rolled her shoulders slightly, forcing the tension from them.

Seeing the half-blood give her a look out of curiosity, Hyun-Seung brought a pale finger to her ethereal blood red
lips. "I'd love to tell you what that meant, but secrets must stay secrets, after all."

"Yes, I've noticed." Hyun-Seung said out loud and then thought to herself, "But a place like this is a perfect breeding ground for creatures." Most towns didn't have so many creature in one place, but Dresden seemed to be different. Just the different creatures coming through the cafe doors were enough evidence that the seemingly bland down was laden with mystical beings and creatures.

Hyun-Seung glanced at the young man who had just walked in, but did not pay any special attention to him. The faerie that strolled in before had caught her eye though, and seemed more tense than the faeries Hyun-Seung was acquainted with.

The lean vampire scrunched up her eyebrows in concern as Vik started bouncing his leg up and down in tension. Although the two had just met, Hyun-Seunf often felt motherly or sisterly towards the much younger vampires and half-bloods. "You're anxious?" She asked and ran her fingers through her silky dark hair. "There are an awful bunch of people here, aren't there?"

Vik's tension at the crowds was interesting to the older vampire; most vampires were not bothered by these types of things at all. In fact, the vampires never really acted like the humans were there, unless they were feeding, of course. It was almost as if humans were ants to vampires.

Vik raised an eyebrow to the woman, "Secrets must be secrets?" What does that mean? This woman obviously knew things and probably had some answers to his questions. They seemed to have quite a bit in common and although he wasn't sure if she was really offering to tell him anything, she did hint that secrets must stay secrets. The half-blood wasn't one to speak of things that she be silent anyway so that wasn't an issue. If she was willing to talk, now would be the perfect time for them to get out of here and discuss these things.

After hearing Hyun acknowledged that this place wasn't quite suited to someone like her, that only helped to intensify the curiosity. Then she went on to point out his anxiety making Vik feel like he did a poor job hiding it (which he had), "Yeah, there are too many people gathered for my liking," he replied looking out at everyone here now. Figuring now to be as good an opportunity as any, Vik's golden gaze turned back to the elegant woman beside him, "Maybe you'd like to go somewhere a little less crowded and share some of these secrets of yours hmm?"

Downing the rest of his vanilla latte Vik turned to Valkyrie and noticed her stretching her shoulders, "Thank you for the food and drink. Maybe I could return the favor sometime and get to know each other a little better in the process?" Sure they had just met, but she was different enough for him to at least try. The worse that could happen was she say no anyway, and he had been rejected enough to take that in stride. He wasn't a beloved son of Dresden by any means after all.

Hearing Vik suggest that they go somewhere a bit less crowded to continue their conversation, Hyun-Seung nodded her head in agreeement. "Now that I think about it, it would be better for at least one of you to know what is going on in your town."

Hyun-Seung scanned the cafe and sipped the last of her tea in a very ladylike manner. She tipped Valkyrie extremely generously; she didn't need money anyways, and having too much money was eventually going to make her corrupt and greedy, like many of the other vampires.

"Let's go." Hyun-Seung slipped off the stool and straightened her sparse clothing. She waited at the door for Vik to finish talking to Valkyrie with her arms crossed. A smirk crawled up the side of her face as she watched. The two had just officially met, but they would be seeing each other much more often once they knew what was going on...

"Th-Thanks," Izzy replied, stammering slightly. At the very least, she wasn't used to dealing with humans, or anyone at all for that matter. She took a small sip of her drink to help calm her, the peppermint soothing her in a way that was hard to beat. The drink was perfect too; not to much peppermint and not to little.

Hearing all of the conversation around her, Izzy felt that she was expected to participate, so she took a deep breath and spoke up. "I-I haven't seen you around before, miss. Are you new?" she asked the waitress hesitantly. "You certainly make a better drink than the other lady."

As she looked out over the people again, she noticed a man with black hair that looked extremely familiar. Staring at him, a puzzled expression covering her face, she took a moment to place where she had seen him. The farm! He was the son of the farmer! She found that interesting; coincidences were certainly funny little things. Turning back towards the waitress to hear her response, Izzy finished off her drink, sighing as she did so.

***

Jai'kar gave an equally cordial nod to Vik as Ky prepared his drink. He certainly seemed interested in the... elegant, for that was the only word that fit, lady next to him. Mentally, he congratulated the half-blood; she was quite a catch if it worked out.

Then Ky set his drink in front of him and broke him from his thoughts, which allowed him to notice the pink-haired girl staring at him. She turned abruptly though, so he didn't say anything. He did, however, take the opportunity to look her over as well. She was petite, looking several years younger than she probably was, though her mussed up hair didn't help matters. Really, she seemed familiar, though he couldn't say why.

"So, Ky, how's everything going?" he asked, hoping to start up a conversation with someone. The longer he could talk, the longer he could stay in the warm cafe. The walk back to the farm wasn't appealing in the least.

Ky looked at Vik for a moment, her expression unfathomable as she considered his words. After a moment, she nodded. "Sure. I'd... like that." Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper, and then she'd turned her attention back to her costumers, avoiding his eye. She wasn't used to people actually asking her to hang out or anything- the few people she did know were always too busy for going out or anything. Not like there was anywhere to go in Dresden.

"I just moved here a few weeks ago," Ky replied to the pink-haired girl, turning her head to look at her as she spoke. A small smile turned up the corner of her lips- her job was one of the few things she could take pride in, which wasn't saying much. "I'm glad you enjoy the drinks," she said with a bob of her head, then reached up to brush pale blonde hair out of her eyes.

Ky returned her attention to Jai'kar, shrugging slightly. "Can't complain," she replied. "It's just been work and school for me." she glanced up at him through thick eyelashes as she wiped down the counter (again.) "How have you been?"

At least one of you? Who all is she talking about? Well apparently there were things he didn't know but was suppose to that she did. It wasn't until recently that he started noticing these weird quirks about the townsfolk and how so many of them had odd smells and particularly inhuman traits. Sure there were a few humans that had a seemingly unnatural grace and there were even humans that had a putrid smell, but not to the extent of some of this town's people. Some people even smelled like wet dog sometimes but not when they were dry and didn't even own any dogs. All of this brought about questions that begged answers that hopefully Hyun-Seung could answer.

Smiling as Valkyrie accepted his offer, the male reached into his pocket and grabbed a pen. He jotted down his number on an unused napkin and left his pay and tip on top, "Thanks again." As the blonde got up out of his seat, he patted the napkin with a smirk and joined the woman at the door, "I'm ready. Now, where are we headed?" Looking back at Yuri he waved goodbye to her so not to be rude as he got ready to follow the older woman.

Hyun-Seung waited for Viktor to catch up with her. "Quite obviously, somewhere nobody would be. You wouldn't want some nosy person listening in." Hyun-Seung pushed open the glass door with a slight shove and stepped gracefully onto the sidewalk.

"I know you're probably confused at the moment; just please follow me." The vampire led the half-blood through the streets into a more deserted area filled with factories instead of shops and restaurants. "Hold on." Hyun-Seung grabbed Vik by the wrist in a tight grasp and crouched, then sprang up in an arc to land on the roof of a nearby building.

"Where to start?" Hyun-Seung let go of Vik and wrung out her hands. "There's so much to inform you about." The pale lady looked out at the town below them. The sun was shining, and a tad too bright for the vampire.

Holding a arm up to block the sun, Hyun-Seung sighed. "Sunlight is so annoying sometimes." She spun around to face the half-blood. "Let's start with a simple question. Do you know what happened to Eric Bancroft? You do know that he hasn't simple run away,
correct?" Her dark eyes held his, waiting for an answer.

"Agreed," he replied with a nod. Then the half-blood followed the woman through town. For someone who'd just arrived, she seemed to have a pretty good sense of direction as she navigated through the town with a certain ease. To be honest, Vik was impressed- granted the town wasn't very large, but still she made it seem as if she'd lived here for some years. As they walked, Vik took in the town's obvious old age. Not that it looked like it was coming apart or anything but Dresden just had this old fashioned look. It even felt old, likely due to the fact he'd spent his entire life here.

When they came up on the side of town where the majority of its people worked, the factory district as he called it, Hyun-Seung seemed to decide this was a good place for a chat. Stopping next to an old three story cotton factory that was abandoned for the most part, the older woman took his wrist, "Hey wai-!" Before he could finish they were already in the air and landing on the roof. He noticed that she landed gracefully on her feet and he had almost landed on his face if it weren't for his strength. Standing up and dusting off his hands, Viktor had a perplexed look on his face, "How the hell'd you do that?" And even though he asked, a part of him felt like he could've done it himself.

Folding his arms over his chest and listening as Hyun spoke, Viktor's bright hazel gaze was fixed on the woman. When she asked about Eric, it was as if she knew what had happened to him, "No I don't have any idea what happened to Eric. Why, should I assume he didn't just run away?" Something weird was going on. She shouldn't have been able to make a jump that high and he shouldn't feel like he could do it. But more importantly, Why does Hyun know what happened to Eric if she only just got into town? Eric had only been missing for a couple of days, so how does she even know of him? What if she was the one who did it? Is she targeting me next?

Naturally, Vik's expression grew grim as his eyes narrowed and his already toned muscles tightened. His deep voice was low and his tone was venomous, "Did you do something to Eric?" The pale blonde could feel his heart-rate increasing steadily, slightly out of fear and partially out of anger. If she could jump onto a three story building with ease then there was no telling what else she could do. . .

Khallos sat behind the counter, leaning his head in his hands as he stared at an old grandfather clock's pendulum swing back and forth, mindlessly toying with one of the carving knives he would use for the hand-carved wooden watches that tended to be ordered as fancy gifts. Khallos had found a different use for his knives following Katrina's death. He looked out his shop window at the people passing outside his store and took note of those he had found out were monsters. Khallos scowled as he went over their various strengths and weaknesses in his mind. He let out a sigh before tossing the knife aside and heading for the door. He stepped out, flipping the sign to 'closed' before locking it up. Khallos walked down the street towards the cafe, a popular lunch spot, and ordered some food and drink, sitting in one of the outdoor spots to eat it.

Seeing his perplexed facial expression, Hyun-Seung let out a huff. "It's called strength, Vik, and you obviously need some more." She pursed her lips. "Not to be rude or anything, but I guess you're okay for a half-blood." Hyun-Seung stopped talking when she realized she still needed to explain to the teenager. She couldn't have such valuable people having misunderstandings now, could she?

Hyun analyzed the blonde as he analyzed her. So, it seemed that the boy didn't know much yet. He might've already started to show some side effects of being a half-vampire, and every young vampire needed someone to guide them...so they wouldn't go on killing sprees. Hmmm... Hyun-Seung tilted her head as Viktor narrowed his peculiar eyes. He must think I was the one who did it...

The centuries-old vampire scoffed at Vik's accusations. "Do I seriously look like the type to steep so low and expose myself by bothering to kill a human? You don't know who I am, do you?" Hyun gave him an exasperated look, and a soft sigh came out of her mouth. "Stop overthinking. Being smart may be a advantage, but constantly questioning everything is a set-back." Well, this one is certainly interesting... Hyun thought he was ready now, for the big reveal. Luckily she'd chosen a spot that was deserted, otherwise her plan could not follow through.


"Oh, yes. By the way, we are the same...kind, as you may have noticed before." Hyun-Seung walked closer to Vik. "Do you know what you are, Viktor...Alanzo?" She circled around him, examining him like a predator would before going in for the catch. She smiled at him, showing her fangs and changing to her true self while she did so; Hyun-Seung was now blonde, her skin was seemingly illuminating and the air around her turned icy. "Can you guess?"



[[I finally got back from vacation, so my posts should be better now! ^ u ^]]

In a whirlwind of motion Sebastian snatched the donut out of his brother’s hands and dashed out the bakery door into the chill air. Powdered sugar floated after him.

“I make these for the customers, not for you to keep eating! You’re gonna end up 500 pounds and crying to me because you don’t know how it happened and all I am going to say is ‘Told ya so.’”

“No fair!” Andy dashed after his brother, flailing his arms dramatically. “Today they served us mystery meat covered in cold, slimy, gravy. I can’t survive on cafeteria food. I need my donut back!”

Sebastian ignored him and continued running across the street with Andy in pursuit. “If you don’t stop stealing my pastries…” Yanking the coffee shop door open didn’t slow his forward momentum and he hadn’t yet adjusted to his ‘inside voice.’

“…you are going to end up cold, slimy, DEAD and GREEN! Just like your lunch. Just like that kid probably is.” Sebastian realized his error and stopped dead. Andy ran into him. The donut became airborne. Sebastian did not.

“What the…?” Andy started to say.

First Sebastian landed in an ungainly heap. Then the donut landed in a powdery heap. It bounced in a poof of powder off the closest person’s head before finally settling in a white pile of sugar, crumbs, and donut bits on the floor. Both boys stared at it while the awkward moment stretched.

Khallos' eyes snapped open and he looked over at the two boys laying on the ground and got a stern look on his face as he reached up, plucking the doughnut off his head. He sighed, saying, "Sebastian, as one business man to another, I think you'll find that screaming about slimy cold dead things, you're likely to drive off customers." Though the two of them were a year apart, they had been in the same class, the two of them and Katrina. Khallos wouldn't exactly say the two of them were friends, but Katrina had been Sebastian's friend, meaning he had spent some time with the other guy and got along with him. Khallos got up and held out a hand to both of them, saying, "Now, the two of you are brothers, so stop arguing, all you've got is family." A small smile appeared on his mouth, remembering how Khallos always acted like the older of the two despite the fact he was younger.

Andy mumbled something unintelligible as way of apology and shuffled off to the bar, his ears burning. He slumped low and eyed the room.

Sebastian took Khallos’s hand with a self-conscious smile. “Heh, thanks bro. You know – if you ever wanted to know what you are going to look like in 40 years you should take a look in the mirror. Your hair is totally white with sugar!” He laughed at the former classmate, loud happy sounds that rumbled too loudly. “I think after getting attacked by my ‘World Famous’ donut, I owe you a complimentary dozen next time you come into Sweet Treats.”

Andy was trying to disappear into the counter. His brother was so infuriatingly embarrassing. Didn’t he have any idea how humiliating this was? They would talk about this in school tomorrow. Nothing else happened to talk about except for that boy who ran away. He was probably out partying with his friends and would be back by the weekend. Why was everyone so freaked out? The whole town was on edge for no reason.

“Hi. Uhh… Ky?” Andy thought that was her name. She was about his age and pretty. He had seen her around school but hadn’t talked to her yet. Too shy. Everyone knew everyone here, what should he say to a complete stranger?

“Where did all these people come from? Did you bring them with you from the great-wide-world?” Including Ky there were two other newcomers. All of them female. All of them very attractive. He felt like the most awkward and gawky guy in the world. He should just leave right now and pretend he never said anything. But it was too late for that now. His big mouth had already opened itself.

Viktor's eyes narrowed at the remark, "I'm strong enough, and growing stronger by the day. . . I think." He was showing signs of unnatural things, like growing the iron like claws and fangs when he had those urges. Half blood? The perplexed look grew back on his face since all of this was still well over his head.

After seeing that he had offended the woman Vik relaxed and apologized, "Sorry. I guess it was a little farfetched to assume you were the perpetrator." He felt a little bad for the assumption but it was more of a defense mechanism than anything else, though he nodded at her advice.

As she continued on finally getting to the explanation, Vik was still confused when she said they were the same kind. Then as she began to circle him something grew a bit unsettled inside him and his back started to itch a bit. Then he watched it. Wide eyed he saw the already gorgeous Hyun-Seung transform into a form he was unfamiliar, beautiful while still being a terrifying sight.

Then it clicked. "Vampire." That's what she was. That's what he was. Taking a few steps back, everything made sense now. His father was killed for being a vampire and his mother kept him hidden because of what that man's offspring was born as. "I'm a vampire." Looking down at the roof of the building, Vik couldn't stifle the scoff that escaped his lips.

He walked over to the edge of the building away from the streets and took a seat, "Well, as surprising as this is. . . I can't say I'm surprised. All the signs were there, I just. . ." he trailed off in thought.

Khallos rolled his eyes, brushing the sugar out of his hair, saying in a flat, humorless tone, "No thanks, I'm sweet enough already. So... you think the missing kid is dead, huh? Kind of a big jump in logic if you ask me. Kids go missing all the time without being found dead. I'd tell you the statistic, but I don't actually know what it is. I remember you being the 'glass half full' type of guy and I was the 'glass half empty' guy."

Ky looked up at the commotion, watching with an expression on her face that said it clearly didn't faze her. A small smile quirked the corner of her lip up as the donut bounced around, followed by the thought- Oh, right, I have to clean that up later. She only shrugged, turning as one of the boys who had been part of the ruckus came over. She recognized him from school... Andy? Her grandma took her to his older brother's shop all the time, and she'd mentioned Andy once or twice before. But she'd never really spoken to him before this.

"Hi, Andy," she said, then glanced around at the shop (which was filling up quickly.) "I'm not sure where they all came from," she said. "And I'm not from the great wide world," she added. "Just Virginia."

“All I'm saying is that it was a full moon right around the time he disappeared. You know weird stuff happens on the full moon. Tidal waves change, the crazies get crazier, werewolves come out to hunt.” Sebastian joked, clueless to the creatures that populated the small shop.

Andy rolled his eyes at his brother. “Yeah Sebastian. Werewolves from the great-wide-world took him. I bet that they even came from Virginia!” He gasped comically, turning to Ky and the petite, pink haired, girl beside him. “What do you think? Sparkling vampires? Werewolves? Maybe the dreaded pixies????”

“I'm still betting on werewolves.” Sebastian said. “Could it be you Khallos? Is that why you are always so cynical? Because you are secretly a furry beast with ears and a tail?!”

Yuri glanced over as the boys went off about the full moon and furry creatures, wincing slightly at the misconception (about werewolves, at least.) She smoothed her features and replaced the frown with an amused grin, waltzing across the cafe to the counter.

"Sebastian, there are children present," she said jokingly, placing her hands over Andy's ears lightly. "You're going to give them nightmares." She removed her hands from over the younger boy's ears and stepped around so that she was next to him, sliding back into the chair where her computer was. "Hi, Andy," she said, flashing the boy a grin before opening her computer. She knew Andy and Sebastian- she frequented the bakery often, and she ran into Andy at school quite a bit.

"Well, if they came from Virginia I definitely don't know them," Ky snorted, shaking her head. She looked amused, but deep down she was wondering just where the Bancroft kid had disappeared to. Grandma had freaked out when they'd found out, but she didn't seem worried for the same reasons everyone else was. It made her wonder. "They still haven't heard anything?"

Hyun-Seung couldn't help but feel some sort of sadness towards Vik as he realized what he was. The last half-blood vampire she had tried to train took his own life by using his power on himself. She didn't want history to repeat itself.

"...But you just couldn't believe that you were one, correct?" Hyun-Seung lightly stepped over to where he was sitting at the edge of the building and gave a chuckle. "After all, we are supposed to be made-up creatures."

"Anyways, we have to get you trained before your...craving...for blood swells up and you won't be able to control it." Remembering that he had mentioned seeing signs of vampirism before, the woman tilted her head in a thoughtful motion and frowned.

"You said you were already experiencing some effects. What were they? I can definitely help you to deal with them, if you want. There's a lot more you need to know about the vampire community than those horrid teenage romance books tell you."

Being a vampire was incredibly difficult. There were rankings, battles, and a whole bunch of rules included. "Just so you know, it's your choice. But you'd survive much easier if I taught you, Viktor." Hyun waited patiently for an answer, turning herself so the sun didn't irritate her as much.