Pais

"The Devil's Nest," Vanessa said, her voice oddly echoed through the entire jet, giving an ominous feeling to Alvin. "Or, as humans call it—the Bermuda Triangle."

And that did it.

"Excuse me?" Alvin blinked owlishly; he suddenly started doubting if turning into a vampire enhanced his hearing abilities or made it faulty. "You mean 'THE Bermuda Triangle.'"

He turned to look at the woman who had her back towards them; his voice rose a bit higher than he intended.

Elara, who had calmed down, replied after exhaling a long, strained sigh, "The area around the Bermuda Triangle has a fragile spatial gap. Weak space structure allows us to jump through space with enough power. We will be using that place to leave earth."

"Yes, of course. Did you think vampires lived in the human world? Hiding among normal people despite the power we have?" Elara's lips curved into a small smile at his baffled expression. Straightening her posture, with her shoulders squared and her legs crossed, one over the other, she continued. "Our world revolves around Earth like the moon, but due to a very ancient and powerful spell that envelops the world, no one but those who have been to that place can see it without special means."

Following her gaze, Alvin looked up—only to see the same sky as before, moon and stars gleaming above.

"How long will it take us to reach this place?" He asked, still struggling to process everything. "And how fast are we even going?"

Now that the clouds had faded beneath them, Alvin could finally see their surroundings clearly. The only thing below was a vast, blurred ocean, shimmering white lights flashing across its surface. Above them, the sky had darkened significantly from the last time he looked.

It shifted from black to deep indigo, sometimes tinged with blue—an effect of their altitude, which far surpassed that of any commercial jet.

If he hadn't noticed before, he definitely did now: wisps of clouds that looked like soft cotton balls brushed past them as if they were mere illusions.

Marveled by the otherworldly view he saw for the very first time in his life, Alvin found himself drawn to the beauty of it all.

He focused on one particular spot in the ocean below. Something strange happened. His vision suddenly sharpened, and the blurs vanished, revealing the ocean's breathtaking surface in sharp detail.

He could see the rolling waves, their foamy crests illuminated by the starlight above. The ocean shimmered like someone had thrown glitter all over it; the tides disrupted the glow, but it eventually returned.

This—this was the difference between humans and vampires. At such speeds, no human could catch even the most glaring of details. Yet Alvin, after turning into a vampire, could see the true beauty of the world.

Had they been flying at a lower altitude, he was sure he could have even seen beneath the water's surface.

"Around 5,000 kilometers per hour," Vanessa's voice drifted from the front, pulling his mind back to the present. "We'll reach our destination in three hours. I can go faster, but we have a few things to do before heading back."

Alvin nodded and looked at Elara; curiosity flashed in his eyes.

Elara saw it and decided not to hold back any longer. She started explaining what had happened during his transformation—how their ritual had been hijacked by the umbilical cord's interference.

Alvin's face shifted from shock to worry, then to sheer confusion.

"So… are we even okay?" He asked hesitantly.

"That's what I'm about to find out. I may not be able to do a detailed scan of your bodies, but a simple one should be no problem with the equipment I have." Vanessa's voice remained calm and reassuring. "There's no need to be scared. Whatever that thing did to you, it doesn't pose any visible or imminent danger—"

"Besides," Elara interjected before her maid could finish, "you can feel it, can't you?"

"The… bond."

"The bond?" He asked, looking a bit confused. He immediately closed his eyes and tried to focus on the foreign feelings and emotions he had been feeling in the depths of his being. Soon he felt it—a subtle, undeniable connection to Elara.

He could also feel that there was so much more to the bond than he was able to feel at the moment.

"Yes. The most basic function of the bond is to tie our lives together. So you can be certain—I won't let anything happen to you. We are in this together from here on out."

Her words were reassuring, but something didn't sit right with him.

"Then why burden yourself?" The more he learned, the more confused he felt. "If what you say is true, I'll only hold you back. Why do it?"

Elara smiled.

"You see, the vampire world is far more chaotic than the human one," she said, her tone void of arrogance. "I am a descendant of one of the six noble families. For us, having a Pais is necessary to gain more power. And we can only have one in our lifetime."

"Pais?" Alvin repeated under his breath; something about the words gave him a familiar feeling.

Elara took a deep breath and stared right in Alvin's eyes as she explained, "A Pais is… something like a vampire's other half. Most believe having one grants benefits. But that's only the surface-level knowledge." She paused before finally revealing, "In truth, Pais means slave in Ancient Greek."

Her words struck like a thunderclap.

Alvin's body tensed, his hands clenching into fists. A wave of coldness washed over him; a faint glimmer of violent energy shimmered around him, pulsing outwardly.

"Calm down, Alvin, don't jump to conclusions," she said coolly. "Did I not tell you before? You will not become my servant."

Alvin paused upon seeing her unshaken gentle eyes; he could feel through their bond that Elara held no ill intent towards him.

Still a bit wary and doubtful, Alvin started to calm down. Alvin forced himself to relax, his energy dimming.