Drip. Drip. Drip.

  Water dropped onto Sora’s forehead. She could faintly see the light of day above her, streaming through the small hole in the ground. Dirt surrounded her on all sides, and she’d be horrified if not for the fact that her brutalized body could not feel pain any longer.

  “Father…” Her parched lips produced a scratchy voice. She remembered what her father said. Now, she was getting punished for breaking the rules.

  The painful words were like in echo in her dim mind. Her father stood in the foyer telling her, “don’t go off too deep in the woods. There are hunter traps.”

  Yet she ran anyway.

  Drip. Drip. Drip.

  More water poured into that small hole. Was it raining? Sora didn’t know, but she hoped that the pain and thirst would go away. She couldn’t move her body, so she hoped a small stream of water would pour into her mouth.

  Eventually, the pain gave way to resignation, and she closed her eyes. The sound of dripping water served as her only company, but it was something pleasing. Something serene, and it gave her comfort as she drifted off.

  Sora’s eyes blinked open to a room full of boxes. She woke up to a cloudy and puffy eyed Emma staring at her.

  Emma sniffled and choked down whatever emotion she was going through. “Hey, you, you’re finally awake.”

  Sora looked in confusion at the vampire. All of the pain from before was gone. Only the parched throat remained.

  As if noticing her condition, Emma brought a metal container full of water. “Drink slowly. You’re still recovering.”

  Sora nodded at the pale woman and carefully grabbed the cup with both hands. She slowly lifted it to her mouth and sipped the water. The girl wasn’t sure whether it was because she hadn’t drank anything in a while or some other reason, but the water tasted like the best she’d ever had. Divine even.

  Her eyes widened as she began to drink more vigorously.

  “Hey, I said slow!”

  Sora finished off the water and looked around the room more carefully. She knew that this was definitely somewhere she’d never been, but it reminded her of the storeroom her father’s manor used to have. She looked down at her own body, noticing the thick furs surrounding her.

  Her heart couldn’t help but feel moved that the vampire had done all of this without even thinking. She remembered the distraught face of the worried woman before and she grinned.

  “Sora?”

  “I knew you weren’t a monster,” the little girl said.

  “What’s this about? I was really worried, you know?”

  Another realization fshed into Sora’s mind. She practically ignored the motherly plea and lifted the thick furs off her body.

  “You need to rex!”

  Once more, she ignored the woman’s plea and scrambled to get the clothes off. As soon as she did, she looked at her side in shock.

  “It’s gone!” The scars that had pgued the little girl for over two years had vanished. It was as if they never existed in the first pce. The wound that would usually bring her agony disappeared. “It’s gone!”

  Sora jumped and hugged Emma. “Thank you! Thank you!”

  However, Emma was equally in disbelief. She didn’t remember even attempting to heal the girl. She had relegated it to something she would try ter or something that would likely be impossible.

  The vampire patted Sora’s head and waited for her to calm down. She noticed that even the girl’s hypothermia symptoms had vanished. Her skin was lively and healthy, so it wasn’t like Emma’s tears had somehow transformed the little girl into a vampire.

  All of it served to remind Emma that she knew painfully little about this world. There was no one who told Emma that her tears would become a magical remedy. Nor did anyone tell her she’d be adopting a small girl who’d cry tears of joy into her snow jacket.

  The realization made Emma pry Sora off of her. “So, how are you feeling? Are you hungry?”

  Sora nodded. “I feel much better now, but I am hungry.”

  “Good, however, if you are going to travel with me from now on, I need to make an absolute rule.”

  “An absolute rule?”

  “Yes, it’s a rule you cannot break no matter what. You must promise me. Promise me that if you are feeling terrible you will not force yourself. Otherwise, I will seriously consider leaving you inside of an orphanage here.”

  Sora’s eyes widened before she broke into a fit of ughter.

  “What’s so funny?”

  It took a while for the little girl to stop ughing, but once she did, she stood up seriously. She grabbed the hem of her over sized fur coat, serving as a dress. “I promise that I will not force myself.”

  “Good,” Emma said. She reached into a rge barrel and grabbed some dry bread. Inside of another barrel she found an apple. “I found these in here. And there is still that rat in my bag should you need some meat.”

  “Hey, isn’t this stealing?”

  Emma shrugged. “It’s not our problem, so eat up. If you think I have a moral compass, perish the thought right now. Everything I do is self serving.”

  Sora pouted as she grabbed the foods. “I know that’s not true! You’re a good person.”

  “I’m not even a person.”

  “You’re a good vampire person.”

  Emma sighed as the little girl began chewing her food. “Make sure to eat it slowly, and don’t forget, after you finish those, you have to eat this rat.”

  “No way!”

  “Yes way, after all, I don’t have a good moral compass. Remember to remember that when you are chewing on rat meat.”

  Emma smiled smugly at the frown of the little girl. But her heart was sighing in relief that she was still there. The vampire hated to think how she’d feel if the worst happened.

  She looked up at the ceiling as if peering at the sky. Some sick bastard transported her here. Innately, Emma wasn’t a religious woman, but there was no denying her situation. She refused to believe that dying and becoming a vampire was the natural order of things.

  Initially, she aimed to remain completely detached, but now there was a new mystery calling her.