One down

"But they didn't follow me when I asked them to." Nick continued, not giving Ellie a chance to speak yet. "I told them to come back home with me, but they said they couldn't." Nick lowered his eyes in disappointment when he said this.

Ellie, whose brows were still knitted together, stared at him in confusion. 

"Where did you see them?" She probed.

"While I was asleep. They were at the park. Mom told me not to be sad. She said to tell you not to be sad too." Nick answered, lifting his head once again to look at her.

A small smile curved on Ellie's lips. She looked back at the paper, then shifted her gaze to the note beside the drawing which read: My special person is Ellie. Thank you sisi for taking care of me. I love you.

The smile on Ellie's lips broadened as her eyes moved from one word to the other. 

"Awn… That's so sweet. I Love you more, Nick." She wrapped her arms around his small frame and squeezed just tight enough not to hurt or crush him. "Did Mum and Dad ask you to write this?"

"No. It was Anne. I wanted to make you happy, but I didn't know how. So she said I could do this. She helped with the difficult words." 

"She's such a darling." Ellie loosened her hold, then slowly pulled away.

"Did I succeed? Did it make you happy?" Nick probed, blinking as he set his curious gaze on her face.

"Very much. You made me the happiest sister in the world." Ellie responded, and satisfaction settled on Nick's countenance.

***

Ellie stood before the bathroom mirror, fully dressed in her new job attire — black pants, black thigh-length jacket with a hood, black gloves open at the tips of the fingers to expose the nails, black boots, black lace costume mask, blood red lipstick, long, pointy nails painted red, a pair of fake fangs attached to her canines, and last but not least, red contact lenses. 

A small smile played on her lips as she stared at herself in satisfaction. She looked like a vampire, at least, the ones she had seen in movies and the ones described to her in stories. 

"This should do." She muttered to herself, before taking off everything, save for the contacts, nails, and fangs. 

She changed into her regular clothes and stuffed the all-black attire into a bag. Although her neighbors would be in their houses at that time, she couldn't risk anyone seeing her step out of the house like that. She would have to go to her chosen spot — an alley she picked because of how dark and lonely it usually was — and change back into the full vampire costume.

"Next stop, Uncle Carl's jewelry shop." She mumbled her target destination, looking intently at her reflection in the mirror.

There were a number of jewelry shops in Alada, and out of those, her uncle owned two. She had been there several times, so she knew how things worked there.

She had three targets, two of which were her uncle's shops, while the last one was his friend's. 

She would do this for three nights, take a couple of expensive pieces of jewelry capable of yielding enough to help her start a mini business, then she would stop. This was her plan. The people managing these stores she was targeting were familiar to her. She had spoken to them in the past, but she didn't know what their take on the vampire issue was. 

But that wouldn't deter her. There is a way to handle every obstacle, and this one was no exception.

Walking out of the bathroom with the bag in her hand, she moved to the bedside and bent over as she placed a soft kiss on Nick's forehead. 

He had fallen fast asleep after chewing on the sleep-inducing gummies she offered him when he was ready for bed. 

"I'll be back." She whispered to him, straightened, then walked out of the house.

As soon as she got to the alley, a satisfied smile graced her features, seeing that it was dark, quiet, and empty just as she expected. 

She glanced at her wristwatch to see that it was a few minutes past eight, an hour before the shop closes for the day. Normally, they would stay open until eleven. But after the recent news of vampires attacking, they moved the closing time. 

Ellie dressed up in all black again and headed to the store when she was done. The streets were almost empty now, there were only a few people walking around. 

She reached the glass door, pushed it open, and walked inside. Pausing after taking three steps inside, she mentally counted the number of people in there.

There were four altogether, including the attendant, who was standing behind the counter. A man and a woman, who connected their hands the moment she fixed her gaze on them, stood by her right. A different man was standing by the left, while the attendant's counter was just a little to the left, closer to the single man.

The atmosphere in the store changed instantly. No one spoke, but their posture and the look on their faces spoke volumes.

Ellie resumed walking toward the counter, and she saw the attendant's eyes widen. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the other three people finding their way out of the shop in haste.

Visible fear was written on the face of the attendant, as he backed away and tried to maneuver his way out from behind the counter.

"Don't move," Ellie spoke in an authoritative voice, but the guy wasn't ready to listen. He continued moving away.

"You must be stupid to think you can outrun me. When I say don't move, I expect you to obey. I didn't come here for you, but if you piss me off, you will enter my list."

That successfully made the guy pause.

"Please, I'm only a worker here. What do you want?" The guy asked in a shaking voice, his heartbeat spiking at the sight of her eyes and the sharp tips of her fangs.

"I came here for your boss. Where is he?" Ellie probed, placing her hands on the glass counter, and tapping her pointy red nails on the surface of the raised structure.

"He's not here. He only comes around during the weekends."

"I see. Where is your phone?" Ellie threw another question, and the man brought out his phone from his pocket. He slowly dropped it on the counter when he saw Ellie pointing at it.

"Good. Now, run to the bathroom and lock yourself up. Don't come out until after thirty minutes."

The man nodded and took to his heel without a second wasted. Ellie followed behind him to be sure he went to the bathroom as instructed. Seeing he did just that, a smile graced her lips. That was easier than she thought. Fear is such a powerful weapon. 

She quickly moved around and took a few pieces of jewelry worth good money, and once satisfied, she penned down a threat note to her uncle before heading out of the store.

Mission accomplished. In fact, she killed two birds with one stone. Got the gold, and successfully took her uncle's peace of mind away. He would always watch his back from now henceforth.

One down, two more to go.