The damn thing finally hits the pins from the center, knocking all but one.

“Type O? So, do you just think it’s okay to take human life—?!” My bodyguard’s tone flips as he shouts over at her. 

His accusation hits something in Valeria as she wipes the red drip from her lip. “Huh? You really want to jump to conclusions with me, bud?” Valeria verbally retaliates. 

A spark ignites between the two. 

Valeria continues, “It’s just donated blood from the hospital, you weasel. What the hell have you been drinking to stay alive? Rats?” 

Star flinches.

He grabs another ball. “I only drink animal blood,” he comments. 

Melody fidgets with her hair as she covers her face. The crowd around us, now more noticeable than before, with even that pig staring at those two vampires. 

Valeria mocks, “Heh! Is that why you looked like you were pissing your pants? How do you even function?”

Murmurings grow as the argument continues. 

Star tries to hold himself against Valeria. “It’s ethical…! It’s moral. How do I know you’re not the vampire going around killing-?” 

Melody turns her head to the side, becoming more uncomfortable. 

“You wanna accuse me of something big in front of these humans!? You really wanna throw me under the damn bus!?” Valeria spouts out. 

Star throws the ball at the remaining pin at a much quicker pace. His form looked the same, but the result was much more powerful. 

Everyone remains fixated on the two. I can’t have anything break out between the two. It wouldn’t be advantageous if this continues.

I look at the scores and recall the names Star inserted. 

“Heh, it’s your turn, ‘Valorant’. Star is such a silly little guy who can’t get any of our names right,” I say out loud. 

The crowd still resumes watching, but the tone stirs. Melody holds her mouth. Star’s stiff posture shifts into a flustered state. Valeria laughs with everything she’s got, holding her forehead as she reels back.

“You’re kind of a funny character, Star,” Valeria says as she picks up her own bowling ball. 

Melody’s face lights up in a panicked state. “Val! Please remember what I said earlier today,”

Bam! The vampiric lady annihilates the lane in front of her. The ball cleans out not just the pins but everything around it. The wall is broken.

The crowd erupts, running in all directions. Any that wasn’t around us. Melody nervously plays with her hair. Star watches the stampeding masses with a stunned expression.

Valeria snickers before turning to my bodyguard. “The power of human blood,” She pats Star on the head. 

“Don’t touch me…” 

Melody shouts over, “Val, you can’t keep doing this! You've got to hold back sometimes.”

The lone employee approaches us, stumbling through his words, “Eh-Erh-, c-can- you please leave the premises? P-Please?”

A pathetic display of a human. His body is shaking as he should, but what pisses me off is that he’s still here to try to make us ditch this game. I know the lane is fucked, but come on. We still have several other lanes that are no longer occupied by those fleshies.

I stand my ground. So does Valeria. Melody and Star are way more eager to listen to this human. I guess it makes sense for Melody, but Star shouldn’t have to listen to this guy. Ugh. 

“We’re leaving,” the one human in our group asserts. 

Valeria sighs before following Melody. Star goes along. Me? Well, I can’t be left behind.

We walk out of the building, now catching the eyes of the public. I’m hoping we’re mellowing it out now. Valeria and Star don’t look to be at each other’s throats anymore. Melody looks peeved after that display. When she catches my glance, her face transforms as if trying to correct itself. She claps her hands together.

“Well, we can’t bowl, but we can still hang out, right?” Melody asks with a forced smile. 

I jump at the chance to prolong this. “Er— Yes!” 

Star looks at me for a moment. 

Melody’s face lights up once more. “Oh— I forgot to ask you two something!”  

A question? Oh, shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! I clutch my pocket. 

She continues, “You see, Val and I are running from some personal troubles. I was wondering why you two are here?”

Oh. I can work with this. I relax my posture as I scan my surroundings, still seeing the meat pile of fresh skins. 

I answer first, “Yeah, Star and I are looking for a guy called Dr. West. I personally need to get something checked with my… conditions.” 

I don’t feel too comfortable disclosing everything, but it’s obvious that I’m just a disgusting rotting corpse — one that’s held by chemicals, threads, and whatever the third option is. There’s also that reflection.

Naturally, the conversation moves over to Star as we all look at him. He pauses before tilting his head down. His hat guards his face, hiding his eyes from our glares. 

“I think Star is too shy to reveal that he’s here to look for his girlfriend,” I say, forcing the truth out of him. 

The vampiric man holds his hat tightly. 

Melody and Valeria glance at each other.

The human springs up. 

She exclaims, “Ooh! Tell me more about her, Star!” 

I walk behind him to nudge him forward. I need him to start drawing their sympathies, and I don’t care how. 

Star musters his will to strength. “Y-Yes… Her name is Maya Pozharsky. I’ve been… looking for her.” 

Melody starts asking questions, “What’s she like? Oh—! Is she another vampire?” 

Star flinches.

Valeria comments, “We vampires don’t have surnames, Mel.”

Star clears his throat. “She’s human. Maya is perfect, we connected so well and everything…”

Human — I was under the impression he was in a relationship with another vampire. However, it makes his stance against human blood much more believable. 

My bodyguard continues, “We fit so well together… I loved her so much.”  Star shakes a bit. “W-We spent so much of our time together when we had the time. We were just two asexual people caring for each other.” 

Asexual… What the fuck is that? 

I ask out loud, “What the fuck is asexual?”

Star’s face shifts up. He tries to explain, “Well, er- It’s when… Like, no weird stuff. Like, uh…” Star stumbles through his words. It’s pitiful, honestly, and I still don’t know what he’s saying. 

“It means Star and Maya weren’t into bedroom stuff,” Melody answers. 

Oh, huh. Okay. That makes my accusation some time ago weirder.

I feel more comfortable with him now. I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because I don’t like men who are into that kind of stuff.

Star speaks, “But yeah… We haven’t seen each other in a long time.” His head lowers. His hat obscures his face once more as fog leaves his mouth. This is really draining the moment.

Star’s a sappy guy. The silence goes on for so long. Almost as long as that throw from before. How are we supposed to move the conversation? Yeesh. 

We talk a bit longer — just the small topics here and there. However, Melody mentions missing her brooch, panicking about forgetting it. That I keep note of as I clutch my pocket. Star looks at me for a moment.

Eventually, the couple grows tired. We say our goodbyes as we wave off. 

We get ready to head off before Star stops me. 

“You’re holding onto something that belongs to Mallory.” 

“Her name is Melody, Star.” I pause, looking into his golden, shining eyes.

I turn away. I could swear that dark reflection was going to talk to me. 

“Please, give it back to her,” he says softly. 

Why do I have to listen to him? It’s not like he’s going to rat me out.

I say, “Fine.” 

Why did I say that? Now, I have to follow through with this bullshit. Ugh.

I run after them, pushing through the crowds. I catch up to them, Melody and Valeria. 

I halt before anything, that fucking piece of shit cop is holding a massive gun at the back of Valeria’s head. Shit! 

The pig starts spouting, “Don’t move! This thing has the power to kill an elephant.” 

Valeria remains somewhat composed, save for her shaking fist. Out of anyone here, Melody is the most anxious. 

“You’ve got a lot of balls for threatening me like this,” the vampire comments. 

I’m not even sure if I should bother with this situation. Maybe, no… I’ll keep watching.

“As sheriff, I have a duty to protect humanity from monsters like you. If you give up your hostage, then we can maybe negotiate your life,” the swine continues. 

Valeria grits her teeth in disgust. “Hostage?!”

Melody gets a bit closer. 

“Don’t you watch the news? The Vision family said that a vampire kidnapped their daughter,” the bastard in blue says. 

Melody takes a step forward. “I want nothing to do with them! I left of my own will. Pull that gun away from my partner’s head and leave us alone. Immediately!”

The air tightens. That piece of shit is not budging. 

He says, “They pay good money for what I’m doing. It could fix this town.” His hand remains aimed at Valeria’s head. His finger is on the trigger, ready to pull. 

I point my gun at the sheriff, adding myself to this standoff. There’s no turning back. I say out loud, “Even if you take out Valeria, you’re going to have to deal with me. I won’t hesitate to blow your brains out if you do anything to either of them.”

Melody glances over at me. Her eyes widen. Valeria motionlessly stands there, facing ahead with the ease of the world. The officer’s hands shake. 

His body trembles upon my addition to this equation. I’ve seen how fast Star works; I know full well that Valeria could rip this human to pieces like nothing before the trigger is pulled. If he turns that gun on me, then he’d give up any advantage he had. 

“You’re free to go, vamp. But this is a warning,” the pig says as he reels his weapon back. 

The sheriff backs off. Valeria grabs Melody’s hand soon after. 

They’re about to head off, but I need to return something.

“You dropped this,” I say with my hand out. 

That silver brooch I planned to sell. Valeria looks at me skeptically, but Melody’s face lights up. 

“Ooo, thank you so much, Sable!” she exclaims. Melody takes it from my hand.

Valeria says one thing before leaving, “You’ve got convenient timing, Sable.” 

She’s catching on. I just hope today wasn’t a total waste in the long run. I’ve put myself out of my comfort zone just to get friendly with these two. 

I think I learned about… Star. Yeah. I learned more about him and his motivation. As well as that whole asexuality thing.

I need to find Dr. West. To fix that contract with that stupid bastard. To find that solution with my body. To remove that vile thing talking to me.

It won’t solve everything, but it’ll put me at zero. It is the bare minimum.