At first, Harriett couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Usually, glass windows looked like glass windows to her. But upon squinting and channeling just a tiny bit of her magical energy into her eyes, she found that without warning, the entire warding not just on the window she was looking at, but all the windows, lit up brighter than any Christmas tree Harriett had ever seen. As she continued to stare on at the light spectacle beginning to go off around her, her senses caught the sound of the window she had been staring at beginning to crack, followed by another one behind her, and another to her side.

“Harriett,” Feron silently yelled at her side, “Pull it back.”

“Feron, I didn’t mean to! I just wanted to sense it myself.” Harriett quickly closed her eyes and rubbed them in order to assist her body with dissipating the magic in her eye sockets. After a moment or two, she knew her magic had settled, and with that, the warding system dialed back down to zero as well.

“Phew,” Feron exclaimed, putting his hands around his head in his usual relaxing way, “Hare, you can’t just gather your magic like that in here. This place is set up to sense and deal with any type of magical interference long before the user/caster has any time to do anything.”

“Oh, oh,” was all Harriett managed to say as she stared at her best friend with embarrassment pumping through her body and directly out of her face. “I really didn’t mean to.” She defensively looked to Kylia for support, but Kylia simply shrugged, the incident not affecting her in the slightest.

“Hey, don’t look at me. This ain’t my fault for once,” Kylia said.

“But then, how were you able to see the wards?” Harriett asked.

Kylia pointed at her eyes and smiled. “Innate abilities, baby. What? You humans don’t have those?”

“Some do,” Harriett retorted before looking away from Kylia’s stare, “Not me. Just the magic.”

“Well there’s your first mistake, Rabbit,” Kylia replied.

“Hey, it’s not my fault my birth only checked the box for infinite magic and… did you just call me rabbit?”

Kylia nodded. “I thought that’s what the hybrid was doing with the nickname he was calling you? You know, Hare, because like a rabbit, you are quick to act and less quick to think.”

“That hurts in so many ways that ‘Rabbit’ was the least offensive thing you said just now,” Harriett coldly countered.

“But it isn’t the most untrue thing that I’ve heard today actually,” Feron added.

“Feron!” Harriett exclaimed.

But Feron simply waved it off. “We can worry about your new catchy nickname later, Rabbit. We have something more important to deal with right now.”

“Oh please, the plan can wait,” Harriett said defiantly, her pride not wanting another nickname to be added to her repertoire. “The nickname is the highest priority right now.”

“Look around, Hare. I think your priorities might have to shift just a little bit.”

“What do you me…,” Harriett’s words trailed off as she looked past Kylia and saw that somehow, within the time it took for the warding system to cease its rumbling and for Harriett to get another new and unwanted name, the three of them had become surrounded by what could only be described by Harriett as an entire football stadium’s worth of S.A.M. guards. “Oh no,” Harriett squeaked.

“Oh yes!” Kylia exclaimed, her body beginning to give off an intense heat that Harriett could feel making her sweat.

“Kylia,” Feron began, “We are not going to do this here. I told you guys that I would handle things here.”

Kylia looked at Feron and scoffed. “Yeah, but that was before the rabbit made a move that I wanted to do anyways. So now, the next move is mine. Don’t you agree, Rabbit?”

“My mind can only handle so many things right now, Kylia, and I hate that it’s currently prioritizing being called rabbit over my imminent arrest. So could you please stop?”

“Fine, but only if you agree to use your magic on me later on.”

Harriett begrudgingly turned her head to glance at the demon lord’s daughter. “Really? You want me to agree to that now?”

Kylia nodded. “Say the words or I’ll go demon wild.”

“Is that different from normal wild?”

Kylia nodded again. “It includes fire. A whole lot of fire.”

Harriett sighed so hard that a little bit of magic escaped her mouth and caused the warding system to blink for just a second. “Fine, whatever. Just let Feron handle this, okay?”

Kylia nodded with devilish glee and a wicked smile this time. “Alright then! It’s a deal. Hybrid, you’re up.”

“Oh you are too kind,” Feron sarcastically replied before stepping in front of Harriett and Kylia and drawing all of the guards’ attention on to him. Harriett could sense the amount of energy beginning to rise about the room as Feron moved and she knew that if any of them, specifically Kylia, made the wrong move, S.A.M.’s London branch would have to think about renovating an entire building in the very near future. “I apologize for interrupting everyone’s important jobs, but I, Prince Feron, heir to the Vampire King, have a scheduled meeting. I apologize profusely for the damage done to your warding system by my associates and will gladly reimburse the S.A.M. London branch for any and all problems caused. But I must now ask if any of you would be willing to now step forward and assist me with navigating to my meeting.”

If Harriett’s senses weren’t lying to her, she still had to question them for the amount of energy she had been sensing about the room instantly dissipated as Feron had completed announcing just who he was. Harriett knew that the realm of the Vampire King the Midworld, was well known for being one of the most powerful dimensions in existence. Though not necessarily demons in nature or genetics, the vampires were well known for being capable of bringing about the destructive level of power any demon could muster, hence being sometimes known as “fake demons”. And if a bitten human could wreak havoc the likes of a small warzone, a vampire by birth? Well, one only had to look at Feron’s innate abilities to see proof of that. So to see the guards follow up their dissipation of their energy by then sinking to one knee was not something Harriett was surprised by. But what did strike Harriett as surprising was the number of non-guards, the people of all diversities and cultures that she had mentioned earlier, had also sunk to one knee or bowed in some way. Needless to say, Feron grabbed the back of his head with one hand and blushed for Harriett knew how much Feron hated being reminded of his royal status.

“Now now, no need for that,” Feron chimed, “If all of you are on your knees like that, how can you assist me? Please, rise.” None did. Feron looked back briefly at Harriett and Kylia. “I hate this so much.”

“Just bear with it for a little bit longer,” Harriett kindly added to her best friend as encouragement to keep him going.

“Yes, please keep the embarrassment going. I couldn’t have asked for a better seat,” Kylia sneered.

“I hate you so much right now,” Feron shot her way.

“Stop, you are making this show into a masterpiece too early,” Kylia replied with a smile.

Before the two could get into it for what felt like the fiftieth time that day to Harriett, a clap came from the stairs before them that Harriett only now noticed led to a hallway of black and gray elevators. But, focusing back on the sound of the clap, Harriett noticed that one person was still standing to their, or rather, her full stature. She was barely taller than Harriett, probably around 5’8”, but the presence she was bearing down upon the three made Harriett feel something eerily similar to something she had felt in the past. Her hair was illustriously smooth and brown, kept in a tight ponytail. She had brown eyes and visible freckles from where Harriett was standing, and she was wearing a navy-blue business suit that hugged her obviously well-built frame well. But it was her patronizing smirk of a smile that brought it all back to her.

It was her. Though it had been many years since that incident in their preschool private class, Harriett’s mind knew it would never forget the smug smile of the grad student who had instilled in her a fear unimaginable in power. Harriett’s body started to unconsciously breathe heavier as the woman drew closer and closer to Feron. Even though Harriett’s mind knew that the three of them could easily handle the woman if she tried anything, Harriett’s unconscious fear was too strong to fight. And so, as the woman stopped directly before Feron, her attention fully focused on the Vampire Prince, Harriett’s unconscious mind had already accepted defeat.

“You enter one of the largest branches of S.A.M. with three nuclear reactors of energy, you damage our warding system, and to top it off, you then announce yourself as royalty to solidify your actions?” As the woman finished speaking, she then fell to one knee before Feron and lowered her head as well. “As always, I am honored that you would humble me in such ways, My Prince. Senior Magical Investigator Elizabeth Gail, at your service.”

“Please, Liz, do you have to be like this every time I see you?” Feron asked with what Harriett could only describe as awkwardness in his tone.

Elizabeth Gail lifted her head back up to stare at Feron with the creepiest smile of delight and pleasure that Harriett had ever seen and hoped to never see again. “Of course, My Prince. I know no other way to act when I’m with you.” At this, her creepy smile thankfully dispersed to be replaced by her previous look of seriousness. She then rose to her feet and waved at the surrounding people around them. “Return to your stations by the power of the S.A.M. Council that has been invested in me for this matter.” Harriett watched as the entire lobby started to move again like clockwork as if Harriett, Feron, and Kylia had never arrived and caused such a commotion. “There, now that the antics for the day have been accomplished, care to tell me why you simply didn’t come to see me the normal way?”

“I think this is the normal way, Liz,” Feron replied. “What you usually ask for is definitely not the normal way.”

“I would ask that you call me Elizabeth here, My Prince.”

Feron sighed. “Only if you stop calling me “My Prince”. We’ve talked about this many times.”

“Very well,” Elizabeth said, “If I must.” Elizabeth then turned her attention onto Harriett and Kylia only for a moment before looking back at Feron. “New servants?”