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"I have a feeling that you are thrown away."

Iris was taken aback by what Calixto said. An invisible hand hit her in the guts and squeezed her heart that it was too painful to breathe.

"Why would they throw me away?" She asked in a whisper, her voice laced with pain and disappointment.

It never occurred to her that her biological family didn't want her when she found out that the family she knew wasn't her blood.

Hearing Calixto telling her that she was thrown away was unexpectedly painful. The corner of her eyes stung as she twisted her hands on her lap.

"You understand what I am, right?"

Iris stared at Calixto who stopped the car on the shoulder of the interstate, turning on the light hazard of the car.

"Iris, I'm asking you a question."

She swallowed the nervousness that gripped her throat. "I-I know," she replied, stuttering.

"What am I?"

Iris wanted to snap at Calixto. He was asking her questions as if he was asking her a riddle or some kind of existential lamest, asking her who he was.

"You're Calixto and you're a…vampire," she whispered the last word as if someone would hear her and run after her.

"That is correct." He nodded with all seriousness. "What do I need to survive?"

Iris lost it. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Why are you doing this? You know what you are."

"Answer me, Iris!"

She was acting sassy with him like usual because she didn't want to talk about the topic that he suddenly opened up about. She was not in her mind after hearing him say, she was thrown away by her biological family. The idea of rejection hit differently when it was your family, she thought to herself as she met Calixto's angry gaze.

"Blood. Blood is your sustenance."

"And whose blood specifically?"

"Me," she whispered. Her arms were peppered with goosebumps as she answered Calixto's question. She felt that he had some point that he was trying to make her understand in his own way but he was taking his time asking questions that just make everything complicated than actually telling her what he actually needed her to know.

"Yes. You."

Iris waited for Calixto to say more but he just started the car and continued driving without saying any more words. She glared at him with irritation but she kept her mouth shut. She did know what kind of creature Calixto was but she put it at the back of her mind. She didn't give it much thought since before his arrival, she had already planned out how to leave the mansion and be on her own.

She was tired of living in the basement, not knowing exactly why she was being sought by creatures that were like Calixto. They all wanted the same thing from her and that was her blood.

She had no idea what was so special about her blood. However, with the little information that she heard from Calixto, the answers to her questions lay in her blood. And what makes it so special.

She exhaled a deep breath when she saw familiar scenery outside the car's window. It seemed like they were returning to wherever they came from.

"Where's Monette?" She found herself asking even though she didn't really care about her. It just seemed right to ask about her whereabouts right now.

Calixto took his eyes off the road to look at her. "She's at the hotel. You don't have to worry about her. She's safe."

Iris scoffed. "I don't really care," she mumbled under her breath, watching the string of lights outside. Those lights in the houses they passed by, the street lights, and the twinkling and colorful light that they had passed by in some gasoline station was all something new in her eyes.

She wondered if she could enjoy them once she ran away from the mansion or if she would not be able to even stare at them in the dark because she had to look over her shoulder, making sure she would not be taken and woke up in some strange place, tied to a chair.

She exhaled the worry that was starting to carve a place in her chest cavity. She had been carrying these worries with her and tonight, meeting Calixto's father and feeling an imminent danger around him, she had never felt this strong urge to run for her life. Her natural instinct was humming in her guts for her to run away if she wanted to survive.

"I just want to know if she's safe and me as well," she added after being quiet.

"She's safe. My family doesn't need anything from her…about you, I can't promise your safety right now, Iris. I need an ally. I need to know what they had been doing, what they had done while I was deep asleep in my slumber."

Iris blinked as if she was awakened from a deep sleep. She took her eyes off the moving scenery outside the window and twisted her body to face Calixto in the driver's seat.

"There are some ways to find out but not all," she said tentatively. She could not explain the sudden urge to help him.

"It doesn't matter how small. I cannot face my father unprepared."

"Why?" She asked out of curiosity.

"He had me 'killed' before. I cannot be lenient and forgiving if I want to protect what is mine."

"Killed? You can be killed?"

Calixto laughed. "Of course, I can be killed." He shook his head in amusement with how Iris was reacting. If he had known that she would act like this, he had taken her on the first time that they had met.

"I can be killed but it is going to be very difficult."

Iris gawked at Calixto. She had no idea what to make of all the new information that she had learned about Calixto. She wondered if she could use any of them to learn more about Calixto.

She needed to know about him. She needed to know who her father was and how Calixto could help her.