A woman and a child darted through dank alleys. Their hearts pounded out their ears. At one point, Adele had to carry the kid so she wouldn’t be left behind. She clutched Nellie tightly as she ran.

  “Don’t let those demons get away!” A seemingly high-ranking human knight shouted.

  Adele had to drop her disguise to go faster. Her brown hair turned silver, her hazelnut eyes crimson, her ears and fangs long and pointed. With enough effort, crimson fumes—birthed from her redirected magik—exuded from her ankles, getting thicker as she ran. The more knights she encountered, the more detours they had to take. One by one, all their known exits were blocked off. She could feel their presences closing in on them.

  “Speak of the fucking devil.” Adele frustratedly sighed. Nellie gripped her mother-figure instinctively. They’d turned on a dead end. She could have sworn that it wasn’t like this last week.

  “Halt! Under article 802.a 0f the Federated Human States’ Knightly Code, Demons shall be executed by any knight on sight. No rights shall be given.” The so-suspected ‘captain’ drew his sword. “Any final wishes you wretched vermin?”

  “Why quote damn penal code when we won’t get due process?” Adele snarked.

  “Smart. Article 567.c of the Knightly Code states that any conscious person deserves to know what shall happen to them.” He coldly recited.

  “Gee, cognitive dissonance much?”

  Her remarks were ignored. “Farewell, demon capable of unholy speech, blasphemers against scientifichuman

  prowess.” The man raised his sword, unfazed by the cruelty he was ordered to commit.

  “Really? You don’t feel any remorse at killing a single mother and her child? What if we were your definition of ‘human’?” Unconsciously, the same smog from her ankles started to coat both her and the demi-cat kid.

  “Your insolence has gone on for far too long. Goodbye, demon.”

  As the sword gets closer to Adele’s neck, time seems to grind to a halt. Crimson smog condenses around both her and the kid, forming an opaque, intangible substance. The longer this suspended doom went on, the richer it’s colour grew. Right before the silver blade could graze Adele’s neck, her ambient mana ignites. Red flames licked and swallowed the women whole. In their wake, only a group of dispersing burgundy bats are left.

  With the disappearance of the two women, the ‘commander’ breathes easy thinking the two have been served justice. He walks away whistling, commemorating himself for a job well done.

  The bats re-condense in an empty apartment—barely fit for living by the way—through an open window. From the cloud, both the pink cat-kid and the vampire woman emerge. They both tumble from the unusual journey, but one far worse than the other.

  Adele fell to the ground in writhing pain. It felt like fire was pouring through her veins, forcing every organ in her abdomen to churn.

  “Miss, Miss Adela..?” The kid asks.

  “I’m— I’m fine. Go take off your coat, alright?” Adele winces, trying to keep a smile. The kid seemingly relucted from her concern and left her alone.

  She’d been surviving on shitty iron supplements for weeks now instead of blood and was saving her last bag in case of emergency, so that sudden burst of energy fucked her royally. Nellie outgrew her old worn and battered-up clothes a noticeable amount a while ago, forcing Adela dipped into her food budget to buy new ones. The last thing she wanted was for the kid to know financial stress.

  “Miss Adela. Take it.” Nellie handed her a bag of blood, along with a metal straw. The kid had changed out of her outdoor clothes, revealing cat ears and a tail to match the colour of her hair in a free flowing summer dress.

  “N—No. I’m okay. Can you please go check the windows, make sure nobody is staring at this place..?”

  The kid refused, instead pushing the bloodbag and straw once more.

  “I’ll eat… Just, not now. Can you do that..? Please…?”

  Fed up with her mom’s antics, Nellie breaks the bag with the straw, drops it in one of her’s limp-ish hands and leaves.

  Adele can’t find it within herself, let alone think. The only way her body could survive this was by shutting down, which she did. With a blank stare on her face, she saw the kid come back from the bedroom, check the living room, leave for the kitchen to get some leftovers for herself, and sit down right next to her to eat.

  “I’m not eating until you eat Miss Adela.” Nellie pouted.

  Seeing as the woman wasn’t responding again, she grabbed the blood bag and slit it into a cup. Within seconds, Adele snatched the cup from her, salivating over the liquid. With a few gulps, the entire cup was empty, and her motor functions were restored.

  “I told you to not do that Nellie.” Adele glances briefly at the cup in her hands and holds the bridge of her nose.

  The kid obviously didn’t respond, instead she slowly started working on her leftover curry.

  “Go sit at the table to eat.” Adele ordered.

  “No.” The kid’s tail twirled happily.

  “And why do you think that’s okay?”

  “Because Miss Adela ate here, so I can too.” Nellie cheekily grinned.

  …

  “Go to bed. I’m not asking.” Adele sighs.

  “No! Not if this is going to happen to you again!” Nellie whines in threadbare pyjamas.

  “Then how about this. I promise that this won’t happen again. I won’t forget to buy food. Okay?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes Nellie, I’m sure. Go to bed.”

  Adele sat slumped on a wall, sighing. Dealing with the kid was annoying, but it was worth it. Just when she thought she could finally find peace, her phone rang at max volume. From the ringtone, it seemed to be someone from work.

  “Y’ello?” She answered.

  “Tomorrow, the café’s closed. Meet me at 88 Sterling street.” A gruff woman told her, before immediately hanging up. Adele sighed. Why does her boss always have to be so cryptic?

  Knowing what was going to come next, Adele slowly opened her eyes to find the cat-kid eagerly and patiently waiting to bombard her with questions.

  “Was that Miss Tilly??” Nellie beamed.

  “No. Go to bed.” Adele dryly grunted.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  ***

  “Uhm, boss? You do know where we’re going?”

  “Can it.” The ‘average height’ woman barks, shoving both Adele and Nellie through an old maintenance door.

  The scenery split in front of them, shattering like glass. What replaced the concierge closet was a reinforced hallway with what looked to be a security checkpoint at the end. ‘Tilly’—as Nellie calls her— didn’t give them a chance to soak any of the scenery in.

  “Morning Mark.” She nods to the guard, dragging the two past him.

  The guy nodded back.

  What was truly terrifying in that interaction, is that the man wasn’t questioning Adela’s boss. Just accepting it as a part of day to day activities. They quickly understood to keep their mouths shut from then on.

  “There you go Catherine, this is the kid I was talking about, and her guardian.” She practically threw the two into the foyer of a brick elementary school, all while talking to someone Adele recognized as a witch, and an older one at that too.

  Adele and the kid, stunned, could only sit there in shock.

  “What? You said you wanted to give the kid an education, so here you go. Also stop pretending that you two are human, it doesn’t work like that down here.” ‘Tilly’ turns to Catherine, “Well then, these two can get back above ground on their own. I’m out.”

  The ‘woman of normal stature’ bluntly walked away, leaving the two girls speechless once again. Not the school’s receptionist through. She seemed used to this.

  “I guess she didn’t explain anything then… Oh dear.” Catherine sighed. “Hello, My name is Catherine. Welcome to the human city Southwood’s ‘underground’ I guess you can call it. Essentially, it’s a shelter for all races except humans. Well, most humans. A lot of humans that are born outside of human territory aren’t indoctrinated, so they have a hard time fitting in other countries because of their race, or human countries because of their lived experiences.”

  Adele took the chance to dispel her and the kid’s illusions in the meanwhile. Nellie’s ears and tail and her fangs and ears popped out.

  “You’re the child’s guardian are you not? She’s to be enrolled today, correct?” The receptionist pivoted.

  “Yes, Yes I am.” Adele fixed her collar.

  “Good. I’ll ask you to wait in this room while I get the paperwork. There’s a social worker here today, would it be okay for her to show the kid around?”

  “Yes, that’s fine too.”

  “Thank you. Right this way.. Miss…”

  “Adele. Thank you.”

  “Right. This way.”

  Catherine took a pile of papers and headed to the room.

  “And you little one, someone will be here to show you around shortly.” Before she left, she took the chance to pat Nellie’s head.

  “Hello there, are you Nellie?” A bloodkin kneeled to ask her.

  She had silver hair, long ears, blood red eyes, and small but sharp fangs. If Nellie didn’t know any better, she’d have mistaken this woman for her guardian. She nodded softly.

  “My name is Sofia. Would you like to come with me to see this school?”

  Nellie nodded. She swiftly kicked herself off the chair, and peppily followed the bloodkin.

  “Here would be the library, and this would be where the little kids are.” The two walked down the stairs on the other end of the school, wrapping up their little tour. “Would you like to go take a look at the books?”

  “I- I cant read very well…” Nellie shyly and softly blurts.

  “I’ll help you then. How about we try reading this out loud then?” Sofia hands the kid a comic book—The Dark[er] Knight—from a nearby shelf.

  …

  “There’s ratman! Blow him… a-w-a-y, but don’t h-i-t the… the…”

  “The prince.” Sofia filled in.

  “The prince!” Nellie repeated!

  “You’re a lot better at this than I thought. Who taught you to read?”

  “Miss Adela did. We always had to move though… so we couldn’t keep books that Miss Adela wanted to read with me.”

  “Hm? What kind of moving?”

  “I— It’s not important! This ratman guy, he acts like Miss Adela a lot.” Nellie tried to pivot.

  “How so?” The bloodkin tilted her head slightly.

  “Well, shes strong, shes nice, she always tries to help others, goes pa-pow! to the evil people…”

  “Pa-pow to the evil people huh?”

  A second bloodkin entered the room. Their similarity almost gave Nellie a heart attack, with the only restraint being that this new woman was middle-aged-to-old-lady short, while Miss Sofia wasn’t.

  “Commander, why are you here?” Sofia’s face filled with slight anger and resent.

  “Obviously, I came to pick my daughter up since she didn’t have a ride. But all I got was a cold welcome, boo hoo.” The woman mimed crocodile tears.

  “If there is nothing else commander, I can find my own way back to my flat.” Sofia snared.

  “There is something. I’d like to meet this ‘Miss Adela’ now. She sounds interesting.” The (metaphorical) hag smiled.

  Nellie’s stomach dropped. She would give anything to stop that from happening.

  “She already left.” Sensing the discomfort and fear from Nellie, she quickly gestured for her to follow along. “Now, please excuse me commander. I need to take this kid back to her guardian.”

  “Not without me you aren’t young woman!”

  Nellie’s heart dropped as well. She tried her best not to show it.

  “There they are now. That must be Anna along with them as well.” Catherine remarked.

  Adele saw the figures and faces of those with Nellie, her heart close to halted as well.

  Once they were close enough, Nellie ran to her arms from Sophia’s sides. Subconsciously, she kid the kid behind her too.

  “Thank you for showing Nellie around. You are..?”

  “Sofia. A pleasure meeting a fellow bloodkin.” She curtsied.

  “Right…”

  “So you’re the famed ‘Miss Adela’ huh?” ‘Anne’ butted in.

  “It’s Adele.” She quickly corrected.

  “Whatever. Tell me more about yourself.” Silver hair and red eyes were symbols of bloodkin matriarchy. As much as she wanted to tell this woman to piss off, she couldn’t refuse if she wanted to keep her cover.

  “I am a former Bloodkin Imperial Armed Forces. I left to take care of this child.” That was technically true. But for credibility to be intact, she needed every detail she knew of to fake it. Adele bowed.

  “Hmm? ‘former soldier’? Then how about we have a friendly spar. That should be a good way to acquaint ourselves, no?”