13 2030-08-04: Walking towards Steve's bed
The vampire prince obeys the Empress' orders and casually talks with Dionne who obviously has no idea about the Empress' travels. True to his responsibility as one of the elite vampire guards, he goes to report it to their Captain. Rhine didn't call for a meeting among the guards so it's not usual for Dionne to be here in their headquarters on the other side of the island.
"Why aren't you in your post?" The captain questions him upon Dionne's arrival, not wanting to be reprimanded if something happened because one of his units isn't on his post.
Rhine's slightly scolding tone compels Dionne to state his business there quickly, "I have something to report, Captain. And, my sister replaced me in my shift for a while."
"Is it really important for you to leave your station?"
'You told us to report to you right away and now you're asking me this? Are you for real, Captain?' Dionne laughs inwardly with his sense of humor before responding seriously. But, anyone can sense his hesitation from the sound of his voice, "I'm not… sure if we can discuss it, Captain. It is… about the Empress."
Dionne notices the change in the captain's eyes. Rhine is facing him completely compared to earlier while leaning forward putting his arms over the table. The former vampire guard sees him becoming interested in hearing him mention the 'Empress' but he just shrugs it off, not making a big deal out of it.
He continues talking after observing the captain shortly while scratching the back of his head, "I don't even know if I should know it. Surely, the Empress might have heard us talking but she didn't make an appearance to warn us not to share it to others."
To conceal himself better, Rhine returns to his previous comfortable position with him leaning back on his chair. He speaks as nonchalant and uninterested as possible, causing Dionne to doubt if he's imagining things earlier, "If that is the case, state your report then go back to your station."
"After the laws are approved by the Empress, she will be traveling alone. I have no idea why and where. That is all. I'll take my leave, Captain."
Rhine starts to make himself busy with his laptop, opening a lot of documents and scanning it. Underneath all of it is an email address to the 'General' sent by him yesterday. Half an hour of fiddling only with his mouse and laptop, he opens a new email and sends one word, 'Confirmed.'
On the other side of the island, Milla sits on his bed with crossed legs and eyes closed. She puts a pillow on her lap, at the same time after Rhine sends the email, then her hands find its way on top of her pillow. If someone could see her, they'll think she is really typing on a keyboard. Like a robot, her fingers move on its own.
Milla abruptly opens her eyes, leaps out of her bed and room. Sprints along the hallway as if she's not even touching the floor and she does all of this, not making any audible sound. She stops outside a door, turns the knob which isn't locked again. Then, she lifts her left forefinger in front of her mouth to give a silent signal to the vampire inside.
She closes the door, not giving a care about a certain vampire princess in the opposite room of where she entered. Despite Sonia's being still and holding her breath, it's to no avail because Milla senses her. The vampire princess has been peeping at the peephole or door hole so she clearly witnesses the Empress entering her brother's room.
Milla, on the other hand, scans the whole room for a typewriter. She's looking for something similar to it because she didn't hear the sound of a typewriter earlier. Something grabs her attention as she moves towards Steve's bed. The vampire prince who's now sitting on his bed is feeling both apprehensive and excited, making him unconsciously gulps again, 'Uhh… why is she walking towards me… and my bed?'
She halts in front of him and leans forward propelling Steve to move his upper body backward. The startled vampire prince is about to have a heart attack when Milla stops halfway to the bed. He's looking at her the whole time especially since he's been feeling imprisoned by her emotionless stares. Resulting in his cluelessness regarding Milla extending her right hand beyond him.
Steve is almost done in gathering his courage to make the first move when Milla backs away and naturally turns her body in a counter-clockwise and sits on the left side of where the vampire prince. He looks at her and sees her looking down, then he hears slow typing coupled with her squinted eyes, making him follow Milla's line of sight. Behold, it's the laptop he's using when she arrives in his bedroom.
Realizing the situation earlier, he unintentionally stands up because of his bewilderment. It's being repeated on his mind, him sitting and leaning backward like a fool, and the laptop behind him. Then he sees the cause of all of it who has her eyes closed with her fingers on top of the keyboard.
Milla begins typing 10 characters blindly, opens her eyes after, and slightly smiles meaningfully at the screen. She hands the laptop back to Steve then walks out of his room. She doesn't forget to tease Sonia by quickly glancing at her door.
'Confirmed?' Steve reads it in his mind after Milla's gone.
'I should be getting mad at the Empress but why is that smile so attractive?!' The vampire prince shakes his head and walks to his door to shut it. He also hears the erratic breathing from her sister's room, but he couldn't care less. He slumps again on his bed and throws his hands in the air while kicking his legs, like a kid throwing a tantrum.
Sonia tries to catch her breath with a huff and a puff, right after Milla vanishes into thin air. Still scared for her life since the moment Milla turns her head towards the peephole and directly locks eyes with her. Calming herself down, the vampire princess convinces herself that it only might have been a lucky coincidence and not a guillotine about to plummet over her.
She tiptoes towards her bed and lifts her left forearm until her classy French Rose-colored LED digital watch and palm point to the upper part of her face. The watch projects a phone-like screen on her forearm like it's floating on the wind after it scans her eyes. She clicks something on the projection and reveals a keyboard as she types away.
Finishing composing a message, she turns off her watch and casually leaves her room. Not even glancing at the farthest room where the Empress resides, afraid to summon her out by simply looking there. She unconsciously releases a heavy breath after stepping put on the first floor and attempts not to attract any attention as she goes outside the mansion.
The vampire princess arrives in the port area of the island and types on her watch again. She swipes upward making the message float in the air saying, 'I have something to report to the Vampire Emperor.' She doesn't utter any word, knowing the Empress can hear everything. Unfortunately, Milla has been standing by her curtains since Sonia stops walking.
Closing her eyes and opening it again, her black pupils enlarged almost occupying fifty percent of her eyes. It's like she's also standing with them despite the huge difference between their distance from each other. No one knows about her aptitude of seeing farther than the human eye could see and even with the new vampires' eyes, except the Vampire Emperor, himself.
Subsequently knowing it's for Lionel, Milla loses interest and lies in her bed again under her thick blanket. Meanwhile, one of the Shadows appears behind the vampire princess causing her to squeal but instantly covers her mouth. She turns around, swipes a new message up to project it into the air, and beside the previous message.
The Shadow reads the message in his mind then disappears without any indication that he will leave. He stays away from the hearing radar of the vampires, all except for Milla's. No interest in anything related to Lionel, she blocks all sound excluding the sound of the ocean waves, then falls asleep.
He pushes the button on his small wireless earbud located on his right ear, it automatically connects with Josh's black LED watch which the call transfers to his own earbud that he wears after getting a call. Upon hearing the Shadow's report, he's quite surprised and definitely looking forward to seeing what the vampire emperor would react. The call ends with Josh not wasting any time but still controls his excitement.
His face maintaining a neutral expression is a piece of cake for him stimulated by his years together with Lionel. Josh starts to make his way to the gym level of the mansion with his trained equal footsteps, having the same continuous sound to it. Every day, he is used to hearing the sound of punches, sands falling to the floor, things getting smash or thrown to the wall, and the sound of woods cracking.
