Chapter Three: Everday Screening

In its place stood a human outline filled with white light. An alarm erupted. UNLINEAGED OBJECT DETECTED. The registrar blanched and reached under the desk. Shang Xian broke his finger before it found the button. “Mr. Pei requested discretion,” he said. “She's the Blank—” “Tonight, everyone may be what they claim.” Shang Xian tied a gray ribbon around Jianyue's wrist, classifying her as “Kin, pending.” He was concealing her not from kindness, but because someone needed her performance to continue. Running footsteps approached. Six Everday guards sealed the corridor. Their leader was the vampire she had frozen in the rain. His soaked suit had been replaced, but a paper-white patch marked his temple. The freeze had ended.