What sort of invader knocks the door? Was the question Subrina found herself asking, nevertheless her footsteps only halted momentarily before she started heading toward the back again

'Too confident, either a person of great strength or someone that knows me….either way I don't like this'

If it was the former then it would depend on whether or not this person was here to cause trouble or merely wandered in after curiously seeing the place, if it was the latter however then it meant someone had followed him from Hortus, something that shouldn't be possible with how sensitive he was to the gaze of others

'How do I go about this'

He found himself in a tricky position, either be polite and invite the guest with unknown intentions in or sneak attack them right away to guarantee a chance of victory

As he thought the soft knocking came once more promoting him to clutch his dagger hard and focus harder, there was no time….

"?....Ahh.."

Letting out a voice of realization he relaxed his tense body, putting away his dagger and taking a seat casually

"Subrina"

His loud voice called for the maid who was in another room on her way to the back, putting a stop to her running as she looked back into the hall

"Open the door for our guest"

She blinked a couple of times, trying to understand how the situation turned from grave danger into welcoming a guest, in the end though she just walked back into the hall where YuJu was once more sipping some tea, then toward the double doors

'Master wouldn't put me in danger'

Firmly believing so she pulled open one of the doors to reveal their guest

Two blue eyes met that second, each staring in surprise

Subrina's shock came seeing as the 'human' before her was clearly not really a human anymore, with pale white skin, two small white fangs chilling in her raggedly breathing mouth that match the excessively white dye coloring her hair, the only thing missing would be a blood red for her eyes rather than the calm blue staring back curiously at her

The guest's slight shock was for reasons similar to Subrina as she stared back, after all how could she not be surprised when the maid of the Master's house was in fact a mere human?

"Do come in"

Subrina broke the moment, making way for her to enter with newfound excitement, they had just been speaking of the blood essence applications and a vampire suddenly showed up at the door making her unable but wonder if this woman could add to their discussion or perhaps even provide some for them to experiment with…

As the woman entered she felt a chill coming from the smiling Subrina, weak and fragile as she may be, this did more than insult the honorable vampire status of hers, at the same time though she knew not to hastily judge others by appearance alone

Suppressing the conflicted feelings within she walked over to the man quietly sipping his tea, faint as his presence may be she could her blood humble itself at his presence clearing any doubt of his identity

"My Lord, Zero offers her greetings"

Taking a knee the woman finally reveals her identity, not that it enlightened Subrina much about the situation

YuJu eyed the woman whom he felt a certain control over, it was faint when she was behind the door to the point he only recognized it as he focused, even now when she kneeled before him he could barely sense the oppressive power he held, it was this however that assured him of her friendly status

'She feels nothing like a thrall'

Her hair might be untamed and her full black clothes unkempt she still carried a hint of pride in her demeanor, not to mention the lack of any fidgeting

"Blue eyes?"

He finally noted, asking aloud

Zero looked up into his own jade eyes, realizing that he, like her, was a vampire without red eyes, making her wonder what skill affects them enough to turn green

"Yes my Lord, my eyes turned blue due to the skill I acquired after crossing the first strength threshold"

This made YuJu curious to know what it was, he thought it was better to ask Mia instead of her thrall though, for appearance's sake

"You came at the right time, the moon is out and my gatekeeper hungers, no better time to hunt"

"As you wish my Lord"

Viewing the interaction between the two Subrina couldn't help but be in awe at her Master's quick mood flips, one second he was ready to face off a deadly foe the next he was elegantly instructing this supposed enemy, it was for the better that Zero didn't know the grave atmosphere ready to great her earlier else it would certainly seem embarrassing to have put her Lord on tenterhooks for a minute there

"May I join?"

She asked, in great need of a breather after being stuck in here for a couple of months

"Well, we could easily cover for you, it would be advised that you get some rest however"

"Worry not Master, if I do not exert myself then I need no rest, after all I am Sleepless"

"Hmm, then we shall set off"

Subrina nodded, always at the ready to go while Zero stood up to lead the way, both excited about their first hunt alongside him

"After I finish my tea"

"..."

"..."

Way to dampen the mood….

.....

It was dark outside, with nothing but the pale half moon shining down upon the earth and its scarce residents, there were no stars even with the clear sky, none of the bright lights once dotting this land, a perfect time for the night dwellers to make their move

On this deadly hour three figure were seen stalking through a small jungle of sorts, leading this trio was the white haired pale girl whose presence magnified in the darkness, followed by the silver haired maid looking all over curiously and lastly, with the faintest of presence, the lean black haired young man

There was a common trait among the three different individuals, a very obvious lack of weaponry as each strolled through this death place with nothing but their somewhat fancy clothes

Looking like the easiest of prey the three attracted much attention through their quick walk, each a predator seeking food to last the night, bringing about many more encounters than if they arrived armed and ready

SShhhaa!

Came yet another such predator, lunging itself at the weakest looking one, the woman in the middle who hadn't a strange atmosphere about her

This snake wasn't the fastest of beasts thus Subrina was afforded the opportunity to look up, what more throw a vial from her sleeve into the open maw before the lunging body was thwapped to the side by Zero's dainty legs

"You didn't kill it did you?"

Zero shook her head at Subrina's question

The maid was happy to know that as she approached the half meter length snake, pulling the head and tail without fear and rolling it until it fit the small empty bag she brought along

"Keeping it alive?"

"Yes Master, I drugged it as I want to extract the venom for a prolonged period of time to make some useful concoctions, it's better to have something to guard myself with in case the fight does get to me"

It seems the small happening earlier gave the maid some motivation to pursue combat, even in the form self defense

"If it's poison you want then throw that away, I have a much more potent one at hand, better yet it's an unending supply"

"Oh, thank you Master"

Happily throwing the snake onto the ground she brought out her tools and dissected it on the spot, extracting whatever blood essence she could before the creature died due to blood loss

"My Lord, I believe something large is up ahead"

"Only now you've realized? The thing left its footprints everywhere"

Zero looked taken aback, she just noticed a faint trace of some large footprint, and they were barely noticeable so when did he take note of them

"We've been changing direction every few clearings no? It was to adjust to the beast's course, those clearing came about from its movement"

"?...."

She didn't question the logic though it didn't make sense, what did the clearings have to do with footprints?

Subrina soon finished extracting and preserving whatever blood essence she could before they moved out once more in the direction of this footprint

Some time, and a few kills, later another clearing in the jungle came to sight, upon reaching it Zero immediately started looking for the footprints which were absent along the way, she didn't need to search for long however as the large two foot like holes stuck out even with how faded they were

Her blue eyes blinked in confusion a couple of time, staring toward YuJu and then back at the trace, sadly he didn't enlighten her and only gave a teasing smile