Chapter Text
Shadow checked his eyeliner in the phone camera. He ran his finger across a bit of the fallout under his eye, then wiped that on his ripped jeans. Stupid phone cameras always had issues. Bad lighting, repeated focusing, lag. He didn't own one himself, preferring the indistinct images in buffed aluminum, but the selfie phone camera would do in a pinch.
"I'll make my own way home," he said to Zelda, who sat in the driver's seat of her car, a pink convertible he would be mortified to be seen in, if it weren't his best option for transportation. He dropped her bedazzled phone back into the cup holder.
She raised one eyebrow. "You just have to be back on time."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, shut up." Shadow rolled his eyes and exited the car, his heavy boots hitting the pavement and crunching a few dead pine needles.
Zelda called after him. "I won't cover for you if you don't make it tonight!"
"Princess," he shot back, with as insulting a tone as he could manage.
"Nobody!"
Shadow didn't bother answering that. He just waved a hand and hopped up the curb, staring up at the lit sign of his favorite 24/7 coffee shop: Gerudo Grounds. He heard the convertible's wheels roll out into the night as he pushed the door open.
The bell jingled, getting the immediate attention of the only girl working tonight, a blonde with a bit of acne on her cheek. Her eyes caught Shadow's, and she began to blush.
Shadow grinned. He liked Erune. She was easy to manipulate, as long as he let her actually make the choice. Her drink of choice happened to be far too sugary and sometimes chocolatey, which made this his favorite stop.
"Welcome, hi, can I get you something?" Erune said, trying and failing to keep her eyes on Shadow's face and not his tight jeans or bare stomach under his own cropped sweater.
"You," he responded with a smile. He prided himself on making her blush. See? Easy.
"Just kidding," he continued. "You're way out of my league." Shadow pretended to look over the menu above Erune's head. "Do you do mochas? One of those. Just small is fine."
"Uh… yeah. Is that it?" Without taking her eyes off of Shadow, Erune reached forward and picked out one of the colorfully printed coffee cups. She fumbled it. It fell to the floor, and she blushed even more somehow, then grabbed another.
"That's it. Make it… however you prefer it." Shadow leaned up against the countertop and watched Erune steal glanced back at him. He paid with cash that hadn't originally been his.
He didn't have a crush. He rather thought it was impossible for him to have one. What he did have was hunger, and preferences. Erune was cute, and she tasted wonderful.
Erune went about making a drink, needing to warm up some of the machines. The shop filled with the smell of fresh coffee.
"So, Erune, do you often work this early?" Shadow asked. He'd done this before, not that she remembered their encounters. He could use the same lines if he wanted to.
"Uh… usually, yeah. My shift's over at eight, I just head right to school. Um, how do you know my name?" She turned around, a finished drink in hand.
"You have a name tag." Shadow took the drink from her and brought it up to smell, never letting his eyes leave her.
"Oh."
Shadow paused. "Would you like to… Never mind."
"Like to what?" she asked, leaning on the counter. Ah. She felt bold today, apparently.
Though Shadow didn't answer with words, he glanced at the back door for a moment, letting Erune connect the dots by herself. He shrugged and looked back down at the coffee he had no intention of drinking. "It's nothing. There's no way someone as pretty as you would…"
Erune raised her eyebrows as if in challenge. "Bet. I think you're pretty good-looking, yourself. Come on, there's a break area out back. The shop can watch itself for a few minutes." She touched a button behind the counter, and the neon OPEN sign flickered off.
Shadow let himself smile. She always liked compliments, getting them and giving them. He just gave her opportunities. "I'd be honored to be the reason you break some rules."
"There aren't cameras in here, they're too cheap for that." Erune waved her hand and picked up a printed cup she'd clearly been working on drinking. She took her baseball cap off and dropped it by the cash register. "Nobody will know."
"By all means, then." Shadow followed her behind the counter, then held the door for her. She appreciated that, if he could take her smile at face value.
Behind the bright coffee shop, Shadow found a familiar sight: a dingy little break area with trodden-down grass and a chipped picnic table, facing the pine forest. Crickets chirped as if they weren't sure they would be heard over the sound of a nearby brook. Cars flew down the road nearby, but not often, seeing as it was four in the morning—definitely not a time most people were awake.
Shadow settled on top of the picnic table, Erune joining him, a scant few inches away. She smelled like coffee and human, drawing him in like a moth to a flame. He pressed his side to hers, and held his coffee cup loosely.
"So you know my name," Erune said. "What's yours?"
"Shadow," he answered, and she snorted like she always did upon learning his name. "Do you like chocolate?"
"Well, yeah."
"I do, too." Shadow broke the brief pattern of answers and questions, turning to look her in the eyes. Her pupils were jagged and a little irregular, evidence of repeated exposure to vampire toxin.
She bit her lip, the faint light from a street lamp nearby lighting up one side of her face. "I've never done this before."
"Done what? Played hooky from work to flirt with some guy, and maybe make out a little? Oh, come on. You have to have done it at least once. You're undeniably gorgeous."
That made Erune laugh. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Nope. Not even once. I hope that doesn't make me less intriguing."
Shadow grinned at the irony. She said that every time. He lifted his free hand to rest on her back, just shy of wrapping his arm around her. She was warm beneath the green uniform shirt. "It doesn't make you less intriguing at all. It makes it better. May I claim the privilege of stealing your first ditching-work-to-make-out kiss?"
"Who says stuff like that?" Erune asked, a faint smile on her lips. She set her coffee cup aside and turned toward him. One of her hands wrapped around Shadow's waist, though he almost wished it wouldn't. She didn't matter. It was fine. This was almost over.
"I do. Is that a yes?"
"Yeah."
When Shadow let Erune agree, she was always more receptive to him. That was the case with a lot of victims. Some of them liked being maneuvered, but others, like Erune, liked pretending to maneuver. Of course, they were just human. Shadow was in control.
After a few moments of a rather lackluster kiss, Shadow moved.
With one arm under Erune's body and one behind her head, Shadow lowered her down and bit deep into her jugular. His fangs extended as he did so, piercing her even deeper. Her blood spilled out into his mouth, and he let out a moan.
Erune gasped, but soon went limp in his arms. Shadow liked this part. He pulled her closer, entirely in control, and drank deeply from her. He lived for these moments.
He was careful, though, not to take too much. The last thing his Family needed was a murder investigation that could be blamed on him.
Shadow finished up, then used the cuff of his sweater to wipe the blood from his lips. He licked Erune clean, leaving no wound thanks to his saliva, and sat her back up.
She stared off into the distance, dazed but still conscious. Shadow straightened her shirt out, then pulled her to her feet. The toxin he'd administered through his fangs would erase her memories of the last hour or so, meaning that next time he came in to see her, he could do it all over again.
"Lovely seeing you again," Shadow told her, then turned her toward the door. He adjusted her hair down her back. "You'd better get back in there."
"Yeah…" Erune headed back into the store, walking… well, mostly straight. She'd be fine.
The door to the coffee shop opened and closed, and Shadow stretched his arms above his head. Another successful hunt. Honestly, who else could find bloodbags as consistently as he did? Unless they cheated and brought home a pet, like Zelda had done this summer.
Shadow did not have the time or attention for one of those humans right now. He'd take the forest bike trail back home, probably, he enjoyed the walk and the peace—
Something snagged his attention. Something that definitely didn't belong out here in a tiny coffee shop break area that smelled like fruit-flavored vape.
Shadow took a few hesitant steps forward. His senses rose to high alert. He curled his hands into claws, ready to fight if he needed to. Something… white. Something very, very white flashed around the corner of the building.
He followed it, stepping slowly, and stopped dead in his tracks.
Then he burst out laughing. "A unicorn?"
Standing there, in the dark, grimy little nook next to the dumpster, was a unicorn. A shiny, white, iridescent unicorn with a single spiraling horn that protruded from its forehead and came to a sharp point. It stepped forward on delicate legs, and the movement made the nearby street lamp glint off its coat. It wasn't just white and silvery, but a little bit lavender, too.
Shadow couldn't stop laughing. He had to put a hand on the brick wall to stay upright. "This is the dumbest thing that I have ever seen. Nobody is going to believe me! Are you dumpster diving? I bet that horn is great at sorting garbage." He let himself wind down, gasping. "Ah, I needed a laugh."
The unicorn stood there, watching him. Shadow felt judged.
"All right, shoo," Shadow said, flapping a hand. "Away. Off to… poop rainbows, or whatever it is you do."
Heedless of his pleas, the unicorn just tilted its head.
"Whatever. I don't have time to worry about some dumb animal." He had to get home. Shadow turned away to head into the forest.
He didn't get three steps before something punched him in the back. Had someone thrown a rock at him? Shadow scowled and made to turn around, but found himself stuck. He looked down instead.
Upon closer inspection, he was not just stuck, but impaled, stuck right in the chest with something sharp, white, and dripping with fresh blood.
The stupid unicorn had staked him. Right through the heart, if he could judge correctly.
Shadow stared down at the spiral horn and the hole in his top, dumbfounded. It began to hurt, a sharp ache spreading through his chest, accompanied by the blinding sensation of lightning striking him.
Ah. He was going to die. Not good.
"I liked this sweater," he said, and then everything went black.
---
The first surprise was waking up.
The second surprise was the face hovering over him with a modicum of concern, lit by the dim yellow light of familiar lamps shaded with red.
Shadow lifted his hand to rub at his head. "Uncle Vaati?" His voice felt rough.
"You are a very lucky boy," Vaati said without inflection. "What happened?"
"That's what I'd like to know." Shadow sat up, frowning. Last he remembered—
He looked down. Blood stained his sweater and his stomach, flaking and dried. But when he poked past the hole in his sweater, his skin was unbroken, if a little sore.
This didn't make any sense.
Someone had laid him down on the couch in the front parlor, even going so far as to put one of the throw pillows behind his head. His spiked jacket was folded with sharp corners on the ground, though he still wore his boots. Heavy curtains obscured his view of the familiar suburban cul-de-sac that he knew to be outside, though the light through the cracks wasn't bright. Had he slept through the day and into the night again?
Only a few members of Shadow's Family stood around the parlor—Vaati, Aunt Veran, Uncle Onox, Zelda, Isidore. They watched Shadow with apathy, though he thought he detected vague curiosity and perhaps morbid fascination.
While not everyone in the Deforest Family was related by blood, most were. Shadow's parents had been the heads of the Family until their deaths, upon which Vaati had taken over. Despite the Family's relatively small size, they had custody of an entire two counties, making them one of the most powerful in the state. They were an old family with a long history.
"What do you know?" Vaati asked. Silvery hair covered one of his red eyes.
"I was attacked by a unicorn," Shadow said, his lip lifting in a sneer. "Stupid thing got me—I have no idea how I'm still alive."
Vaati stared at him. Zelda's eyebrows rose, as if amused. He imagined her telling him that he was stupid.
"A unicorn," Aunt Veran repeated flatly.
"I'm not lying. I saw it! I laughed, too!"
"They could be using hallucinogenic drugs of some kind, Uncle Vaati," Isidore said, his dark eyes never leaving Shadow.
"A possibility." Vaati sighed. "We'll need to lay low for a while, though I don't think we need to stop all hunting. Whoever these hunters are, they're clearly incompetent. If they actually knew anything, they would do more than just wound one of our own and leave him on our doorstep."
"Is that what happened?" Shadow didn't entirely believe it. He could have dreamed up the unicorn, sure, but he wasn't sure he could have dreamed up the pain that came from being staked straight through. But if he hadn't, then why wasn't he still injured?
Aunt Veran crossed her arms, her crisp white shirt and tight black skirt wrinkling ever-so-slightly with the movement. "You didn't arrive on time last night, and we found you just an hour ago at sunset, laid across the back porch. You must have barely missed the sun. Congratulations."
Shadow felt a chill. Whether it had been a unicorn or not, he'd been nearly killed, laid unconscious for at least twenty hours, and almost crisped to jerky. He absently scratched at the dried blood on his stomach.
"Go get clean," Vaati ordered. "Don't bleed all over the furniture. Stay in tonight, and be sure to attend etiquette class. I can't have you disgracing the Deforests at this decade's gala, especially not when we're finally hosting."
Uncle Onox, Veran's husband, spoke up from the armchair, his voice deep and his face shadowed. "It would be a worse disgrace to be hosting and not have a feast, Vaati."
"We will have a feast prepared," Vaati snapped. "Do not doubt me, Onox."
"Nobody is doubting." Aunt Veran stepped in. "Don't we all have places to be tonight?" She narrowed her eyes particularly in the direction of Zelda.
Zelda took the cue and promptly snatched her keychain from an end table, her perfect golden hair tossed over one shoulder. She headed to the front door, Isidore close behind her. "Come on, Isi. Let's leave Hugo to his class."
Shadow sent her a dirty look, but she just gave him an innocent smile before leaving, the screen door slamming behind her and Isidore. As annoying as Zelda was, she was also right, he did have to go. He stood up, expecting dizziness to follow him, but he didn't even feel woozy. He snatched his jacket from the ground.
He felt the eyes of the three adults on his back as he headed farther into the house. They spoke in quiet, indiscernible tones once he left, well aware of his hearing range.
Hunters in town? Shadow couldn't think of another possibility. Unicorns didn't even exist. He must have dreamed it. Someone had been watching him, and knew he would go visit Erune. They'd spiked her drink with something so that he'd be drugged, then wounded him. He'd have to be less predictable.
But why leave him alive? For all these hunters' seeming experience, wouldn't they want to finish the job? Shadow's shoulders spasmed in a shiver as he remembered what it felt like to have something poked right through the heart. He didn't imagine that. He was sure of it.
Maybe the hunters were just overconfident, and Shadow had just healed it off. They thought they killed him and intended to leave his body as a message. In that case, Shadow agreed with Vaati's assessment. They were stupid and did not need to be taken very seriously.
He headed down the house's basement steps and into the tunnels.
The Deforest Family may have been small, but they had wealth. They owned the tunnels underground in the city, and a few that connected them to other Families in the state. They slept, stored their possessions, and conducted most vampiric business down here in the many rooms that wound under the entire town, labyrinthine. The Deforest tunnels were painted deep purple in most places, with moldings on the ceiling and chandeliered alcoves furnished with antique chests of drawers, beautiful chairs, and old mirrors.
The silvered mirrors, of course, did not reflect Shadow as he walked past. Vampires never reflected clearly in anything, though they could be seen in warped or dull surfaces like rippling water or shiny pots. Cameras worked just fine.
In addition to the tunnels and the cul-de-sac above them, the Deforests owned some other properties in town, like the nearby golf course and a few event centers. Shadow was partial to the historical Riven house. Those generated some income—not that they really needed it—and gave them strings to pull.
Shadow entered his room, plastered with band posters, and grabbed some clothes off the top of the coffin he slept in. He kicked aside a pair of boots, then went right into the mirrorless bathroom, dumping the probably clean clothes on the counter.
Shadow pulled off his sweater over his head and held it up. He saw two fraying holes in the gray knit, decorated with dried blood. The holes appeared to be the size that Shadow remembered, an inch or two across. But—he touched his chest again—there was no wound. Not even a scar or a scratch. He couldn't feel anything on his back, either, when he reached back to check.
Confused and somewhat spooked, Shadow shook his head, then got into the shower. He couldn't miss etiquette class tonight, as stupid as he found it.
The heat of the shower felt good. It washed away his doubts and worries. Even if there were hunters around during the gala, that was Vaati's problem. Shadow would just be more careful.
---
"You're on time, Master Deforest," Madame Cloud said derisively, her old voice creaking. She was barely visible behind the screen of her incense smoke. "For once."
Shadow walked into the office and chose one of the half dozen or so hard chairs set up in a line. "Oh, you know."
"I do not, actually. Might you care to enlighten me?"
"Uncle Vaati told me not to talk about it. Take it up with him." Shadow leaned back in the chair, crossing his ankles and trying very hard not to think about how dying for good would have gotten him out of this class.
Madame Cloud sniffed and straightened the very straight stack of books on her desk. The room smelled like her old-fashioned incense, so Shadow held his breath to avoid going light-headed. This room was in the Deforest tunnels, since they were the ones hosting the gala, and as such, had a lovely chandelier lit with candles and support beams running across the ceiling. Shadow didn't start a conversation, and neither did Madame Cloud, the instructor and one of Shadow's great-aunts. He could see her scalp through her thin white hair.
Several other young vampires trickled in, all of them from other Families. Shadow knew most of them, thanks to this class. Enrique, Molly, James, a few more. They each took one of the seats, until only one was empty.
Well, it wasn't Shadow this time. He could be smug about that.
"At least a few of you are punctual." Madame Cloud began class, as she did most days, sharp and disapproving. She pulled a heavy mace from the other side of her desk and touched the gleaming points. "Disgraceful. Swearing fealty to the king used to have a more significant weight in vampires' minds. You'll ruin us all."
That was nice of her. Shadow refrained from rolling his eyes or making a snarky comment—he'd tasted that mace before and didn't really fancy doing it again. The others stayed quiet, too.
"This gala is your one and only opportunity to be accepted into the fold. If you make any mistakes"—Madame Cloud threw the mace suddenly, hard enough that it embedded itself into the wall near the door—"you won't survive. While I'm not particularly worried about you children living, your Families would likely be disappointed if you failed." Her voice cleared, ice instead of an axe. "Molly. The most important part of the gala will be…"
"The fealty ceremony," Molly answered, perfectly word-for-word. They'd learned to avoid deviations. "After we swear to him, the king will drink from us, and then everyone will drink from him, strengthening everyone's powers."
"Precisely. Have you ever been bitten before, Hugo?" Madame Cloud asked.
Shadow's lips tightened. He didn't like thinking about it. "No. It's too dangerous to bite another vampire, unless you're the king."
"Yes. Serafina—demonstrate a curtsy appropriate for the king."
Class continued in that vein, and when the last student finally showed up, they were the one who got the mace in their back. Shadow watched, just glad it wasn't him.
---
"Excellent, Zelda."
Vaati's voice echoed through the modern training room, stopping the fight before Zelda could actually slice Corinne's throat. At his word, Zelda pulled her sword back up and into a resting position. Corinne scrambled back and picked up her own practice sword.
It hadn't been much of a contest. Zelda remained reigning champion, though Corinne was getting more and more ruthless. Shadow leaned backward on his hands, watching them eye each other like wary snakes. He didn't think either would strike again after Vaati ended it, but if one of them did, it would be Corinne, and Zelda wouldn't hesitate.
"And that , you little slugs, is how you wield a sword," Vaati continued from his place several feet above the ground, courtesy of his vampiric talent of levitation. "Corinne, drop it."
Though she didn't look happy about it, Corinne let her wooden practice sword fall to the thin mat. She took her spot again on the sidelines, sitting cross-legged and very obviously trying not to rub her sore sides. None of the dozen or so other cousins went to comfort her.
Zelda's expression didn't change, but her chin lifted a hair. She preened under the praise.
"We have time for one more. Any volunteers?" Vaati's visible eye sorted through the assembled cousins, most of them already tired from the training. Not every Deforest was expected to be an expert in swordplay, but all of them had to know some of the tradition. Some of them excelled in other weapons or styles of combat, at least by this age. The youngest had their own training.
Shadow preferred using his hands over anything. It felt more vampiric and elegant to him, digging into flesh with his nails. Why bother putting a weapon between you and your victim?
A few seconds into the deafening silence after Vaati called for a volunteer, Shadow shifted to his feet. He had a few blooming bruises and aching muscles from earlier in the night, but he could still take on Zelda. Whether or not he'd win was up in the air.
"She'll kill you," Isidore mumbled, low enough that Shadow could pretend he hadn't heard it.
Unfortunately for Isidore, Shadow had flair. He turned and smiled, holding his hands out to the sides. "Been there, done that."
"Stop wasting time," Vaati told them. "Shadow, get over here."
Shadow kept his shoulders straight as he stepped up onto the mat, missing his socks but happy about the loose pants, even if everyone else wore the same thing. They let him move. He picked up the discarded practice sword and swung it around a few times.
Vaati floated down and took a spot between Shadow and Zelda, who moved to opposite sides of the mat. "I expect a more graceful defeat than Corinne's, Shadow."
" If she defeats me," Shadow said, meeting Zelda's eyes. They narrowed. The two of them settled down into stances, slightly different ones that served the same purpose.
"I think we all know how this will play out," Vaati said with a sigh. He raised one hand, then slashed downward and backed away, rising again to observe.
Neither Shadow or Zelda were ones to play defense. With two steps forward, they clashed. The wooden blades of their old swords clunked in a way that was very anticlimactic. Shadow would have made a comment, except he shortly became very busy fending off Zelda's relentless attacks.
She struck toward his face, he blocked and turned the momentum into a slash at her shoulder. He kicked at her ankles, but she danced away with a parting swipe that nearly got his ear as he ducked.
Somehow, she still managed to smile at him. He bared his teeth back. They threatened each other, and Shadow knew that if he gave Zelda an opening, she'd happily scar him, and he'd return the favor. Normal scars eventually faded from vampire skin, anyway. But he didn't truly think they'd kill each other. Not without a direct order, anyway.
The training room faded in Shadow's periphery, turning into a blur of black spots from cousins' tank tops, white lights from above, and blue from the thin mat beneath their feet. His attention remained fixed to Zelda's face as they fought.
They didn't speak much. Their spars usually included banter, insults and jabs meant to throw each other off. Tonight, however, with Vaati and so many cousins watching and judging, they kept quiet. Shadow felt more attention on him than usual, though perhaps he imagined it. He felt like he had to prove that he hadn't lost anything in the attack that nearly left him dead.
Though they both used offensive styles, Zelda tended to use her feet more, whether to kick or to dance around, while Shadow moved more deliberately. He'd seen the occasional depiction of humans fighting with swords, but to him, they were slow and performative. Between two young vampires, this was quicker and far more brutal. They both began to sweat under the strain.
Shadow leaned back to dodge Zelda's sword, but unfortunately, he didn't quite regain his balance in time to avoid the bare foot that came hurtling at him. Zelda kicked him square in the chest. The blow knocked him over.
His back hit the mat hard. Breath escaped his lungs like it was happy to be free of him. Apparently, he hadn't quite healed from whatever had happened to him two nights ago, because the memory of a stake through his heart throbbed through him again. Lightning spread from his heart to his shoulders, his collar, his arms.
He managed to hold onto his sword, but he'd lost his footing. Zelda wasted no time pouncing over and resting the point of her practice sword over the neckline of his own black tank top, just beneath the hollow of his throat. She stared at him. She didn't quite smile, but Shadow could tell that she had enjoyed that fight.
"Match to Zelda." Vaati's voice brought Shadow back to the training room and its hard lights. "As usual. A mistake like that could cost you your life, Shadow. Pay more attention."
Shadow let the hilt of his sword fall from his fingers in surrender and sucked in a breath to answer. "Yes, sir."
He winced when Zelda tapped him with the sword before pulling back, as more lightning-like pain made him twitch. It was fading, thankfully. Still, it shook him. He didn't exactly like pain.
"You are all dismissed," Vaati said, raising his volume a fraction.
Shadow knew what that meant. He sat up, but stayed on the floor as the other cousins began to chatter and leave. As the youngest in this group— still —he was expected to clean up every time. It got old, but he didn't want to face any punishments for failing to do it, like having to clean more. He particularly hated cleaning out cars. It took forever to get the human smell out when someone decided a car was a great place to feed.
Everyone soon left, except for Zelda. She clearly had no intention of helping him, though, as she tossed her sword down on the mat. "I enjoy watching you fall limp on the steps to my throne."
"'Best at fencing' isn't a throne," Shadow grumbled, standing, "it's barely a badge."
"And yet you're so intent on taking it." Zelda retreated from the mat and leaned her shoulder against one of the pillars. She twisted a lock of blonde hair between her fingers in contemplation. "I've considered dying my hair pink."
Shadow snatched the two swords from the mat and took a lap around the edges of the room, picking up other discarded weapons. "You want to look like a flamingo?"
"A good pink," Zelda corrected. "I've been a cute innocent girl for a while, I want to change it up. Maybe I'll steal your wardrobe and go emo."
"You could just ask to borrow my band shirts, you know." Shadow opened the cabinet and organized the weapons inside. "Or those red pants, I know you love them."
Zelda's lip curled. "Ask, and deny myself the pleasure of killing you for such a petty reason?"
"As if you need any reason," Shadow shot back, shutting the cabinet before anything could fall out.
"True." She watched him get out the cleaner spray bottle and mop with absent eyes. "Actually, I think I hate your clothes. Ugh , what I wouldn't give to have that girl back. I loved stealing her clothes from her suitcase."
"She had way better style than you." Shadow started on the floor, spraying and working at the few drops of blood on both the hard gray floor and the blue mat. He worked his way across the room, avoiding the few pieces of furniture and Zelda.
"Excuse me? We had the same style. I can't believe Uncle Vaati made me get rid of her…" Zelda stuck out her bottom lip.
Shadow rolled his eyes and sprayed a spot of darkened blood. He leaned on the mop to wait a minute and let it soak. "You had her up in the house all summer, and I never even saw her. I don't think she would have lasted much longer."
"I take excellent care of my pets," Zelda said, sniffing. "Humans are fragile, Shadow, if you didn't know. They need food, water, sunlight, and proper enrichment."
"Yeah. Sure."
"You wouldn't understand. You haven't ever had a pet, have you?"
"A human one? No. I like hunting. Proper enrichment? Sounds like a lot of work." Shadow started scrubbing at the spot of blood he'd let soak.
Zelda smiled. "It helped that she lost her memory every time I bit her. Trying to escape the same way every day definitely was enriching."
"I hope you get another pet soon so you can stop pining over this one," Shadow said, moving on to a different spot.
"Pining? Over a human? Me? Please. As if I'd ever be so crass." Zelda stood up straight and tossed her hair over her shoulder. Despite all the fighting she'd done today, her sparkly eyeshadow was still perfect. "Well, I'll leave you to it. Wouldn't want to distract you."
"Thanks," Shadow said with a roll of his eyes. He didn't bother watching her leave, focused on getting the training room clean in as little time as possible.