Maggie agreed to give Felix and Alex the master bedroom for three hundred a month. There is another German wizard girl that will be in the last bedroom, but neither of them know who she is. As long as she isn't mean to Felix, Alex doesn't mind. Maggie gave them a week to pack all their belongings and it is now the next Saturday morning. Alex is saying goodbye to his aunt and 16-year-old cousin. “I’m so proud of you dear!” His aunt squeezes the air out of him. She says something enduring in Chinese which Alex can’t fully translate but understands nonetheless.

“Don’t worry; I will. I’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.” He gives her a reassuring smile. The house clock chimes at 8:30.

“Mom, let Alexander go before he’s late.” His cousin, Cathy, is sitting on the base of the stairs with her black cat familiar. She’s a wizard like the rest of the family, but picked up the piano after Alex moved in and has a book of simple witchcraft spells from Felix. Very few people are as flexible as she is when it comes to magic. Her mom simply believes Cathy is a bookworm that loves classical music and picked up a stray cat that likes to appear out of nowhere sometimes. She isn't the sharpest tool in the shed but definitely one of the best. 

Alex has to roll his suitcase and carry his violin 12 minutes down an uneven gravel path to reach Felix’s house. There is a for sale sign from the bank on the lawn. Will they mention how the previous family was three magicians with demons in their bodies? Probably not.

He knocks on the dusty window instead of ringing the doorbell and waits two minutes. Felix opens the door with his pjs still on and his hair a tangled mess. When he yawns, the air thickens and Alex finds himself yawning too. It drowns his trachea and fills his lungs. All his energy from before blows away with the breeze.

“G'morning, sleepyhead.” Alex fights through the fatigue to pat Felix’s head. “Trouble sleeping?”

Felix gives a tired nod. “Give me a few minutes to get ready.” He opens the door all the way and shuffles down the hallway to his room. Alex cautiously steps into the dark, stuffy house. He remembers a home with light pouring through the windows and the smell of BBQ flowing from the kitchen. Now the coat rack is gone, the potted plants are gone, the hand-drawn posters are gone, everything is gone. It’s like someone ripped the skin off a person, leaving an unidentifiable template behind.

Alex has not been here since Felix’s family died. He remembers seeing Felix’s mother and sister in the newspaper. Not the Velveteen Times, of course. Normies would never portray themselves as magician murderers. No, Alex saw them in The Hills Have Eyes, the underground paper specifically for magicians of Velveteen Hills.

Eunsun and Jenn Yun, mother and daughter witches, were butchered and thrown into the Velvet Creek by a group of normies. Their son fished out their parts and left them in a field for ravens to scavenge on. All children of the demon Venar must ultimately return to him; everyone knows that’s the final stage of a deal with a demon. Alex shivers at the memory of walking Felix home from that field.

He sets down his violin and speed walks down the creaky wooden hall. He does not want to be alone in the depressing hall any longer. Felix is in his room, struggling to zip up his hoodie with shaking hands.

“Stupid cheap zipper,” Felix grunts. Alex nudges his hands away to easily slide the zipper up for him. He flashes a proud smile. “Thanks...” Felix keeps his eyes low when he asks in Korean, “Do you sense the magic in the air?”

“Of course I do,” Alex replies, also in Korean. “It’s like breathing smog. I’m surprised I haven’t passed out yet.”

“Ugh." He heads towards the bathroom. "It won’t go away and I don’t know why.”

“Did you upset that crybaby demon inside you?" Alex follows and sits beside the door. "When is the last time you fed that whiny bird?”

“I don’t know. Over a month?”

“Over a month!? Um, this is why magic is just spilling out of you!” He starts to scold him with fast Korean, talking about responsibility and bodies being fragile. He finishes with, "Are you trying to die, Hyo-Jun Felix Yun?" 

"Maybe I am, Alexander Yu."

Silence falls upon them. Alex gulps down his regret and gets up. He enters the tiny bathroom while Felix is combing his hair.

“Privacy,” he growls. Alex pulls back his left sleeve to reveal multiple little puncture scars on his forearm. Felix looks away and pouts, “I don’t want to." 

“But you have to.” Alex grabs the comb with his right hand then nudges his left arm right up to Felix’s mouth. “Drink or I’ll go kill a squirrel and make a smoothie with its blood for you.”

"Smoothies are made of fruits," he grumbles as he bites deep into the warm flesh Alex flinches at the sting that becomes a dull burn. He watches his best friend lick his bleeding arm with his black tongue. Sometimes he wonders if his darkness sinks all the way to his bone marrow or if Venar left some light behind. 

Felix finishes by brushing a cool thumb over the fang holes. The small action manages to stop the bleeding. "That's two more to the collection," Alex sighs and pushes his sleeve back over his numb arm. At least the air is lighter now with less death filling it. "Hurry up and brush your teeth so we can get going." It is almost 9 now.