“Why would a house composed entirely of mimics have the ingredients to create cookies?” Monika muttered to herself as she pulled a metal pan out of the mimic-oven. It grinned at her before using its tongue to pull up the opened oven door. Monika placed the pan atop a mimic-stool that promptly scuttled over to Khrx.

Khrx picked up a cookie and shoved it into his mouth, closing his eyes with an expression of ecstasy on his face. If Monika cooked him a cloud pusher, he might just die from happiness. It was decided then, once he found the tracking skill, he’d use it to locate a cloud pusher. He wasn’t delaying tracking down Fufu, he was simply testing the skill to see if it’d work properly. What if it had nasty side effects that would affect Fufu? He couldn’t let that happen; thus, cloud pushers had to be located and eaten first.

“Is this what you meant by searching for a skill?” Monika asked, placing her hands on her hips after wiping them on a mimic-towel. “Did it work?”

Khrx let out a sigh as he sat up and licked his lips, reaching for another cookie. “The doglike mimics I were expecting to come still haven’t arrived yet,” he said, stuffing the cookie into his mouth. “The smell must not be strong enough.” He swallowed. “We’ll need to bake more stuff. Like a pie.”

“There aren’t any doglike mimics,” the table next to Khrx said. “The—”

Khrx stuffed the empty metal pan into the table’s mouth, causing it to choke. His gaze didn’t stray from Monika.

Monika sighed as Khrx stared at her with his large round eyes. How could she refuse? To her surprise, she found everything she needed to bake a pie inside one of the mimic-cabinets. “The owner of this house really likes baking,” she said after locating another tray and wax sheet. “If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t believe that this place is a dungeon. Why aren’t the mimics attacking us?”

“Oh, that’s because I invited him in,” a feminine voice said from the entrance to the kitchen.

“That’s right,” Khrx said with a nod. “I was invited inside.” He blinked and turned to face the entrance. A beautiful woman with unusually pale skin and red eyes smiled at him, revealing a pair of pointed fangs. “Who are you?”

“Me?” the woman asked, pointing at herself while raising an eyebrow. Her fingernails were curved like claws and as sharp as knives. “I’m Duchess Rose, the owner of this mansion.” She smirked at Monika, who had positioned herself in front of Khrx. “Is she your familiar?” She glanced at Khrx. “Aren’t the roles usually reversed?”

“She’s dangerous,” Monika whispered to Khrx as she adjusted her hat, lowering the brim to obscure her eyes. A string of incantations bubbled out of her lips as her fingers wove patterns of light in the air in front of herself.

“Lightning Field?” Duchess Rose asked. “How rude.” In an instant, she appeared in front of Monika with the heel of her fancy shoes planted on the wizard’s chest. The duchess straightened her leg, and Monika let out a cry as she was sent flying into the wall. Arms extended out of the nearby refrigerator and cabinet, locking Monika in place. The duchess lowered her leg and smoothed out her dress before turning to smile at Khrx. Her smile widened even further as she leaned forward, placing her nose above his head and inhaling. “As I thought. You’re an existence sent by God Theda.” She glanced at the tray which was still stuck in the table’s mouth. “Were the ingredients to your liking?”

“Yeah, they were great,” Khrx said with a nod, taking everything in stride. He pointed at Monika. “You should let her go. She was going to bake me a pie.”

Duchess Rose nodded at the mimics holding Monika, and the arms retracted. The duchess fell to one knee and lowered her head. “What does my god request of me?”

Khrx scratched his tail. Was he a god now? He was a co-owner of a goddess’ domain, so that was close enough? Khrx nodded. “A tracking skill.”

“A tracking skill?” Duchess Rose asked, raising her head. “What type of tracking skill?”

“I want a tracking skill that’ll let me know where anyone is just by thinking about them,” Khrx said.

“That’s impossible,” Monika and the duchess said at the same time.

“Huh? Why?” Khrx asked.

“Because that’s completely imbalanced,” Monika said. “The cost to do something like that, no one can pay it.”

Khrx furrowed his brow. “But I know people who can do that.”

“Then why don’t you learn it from them?” Monika asked.

“It’s too hard to find them,” Khrx said with a shrug. Besides, he didn’t know if they were even still alive. It’d be easier to find Fufu than to find those people to locate Fufu. “Then what kind of tracking skill can you teach me?”

“I have the skill Vampire’s Pursuit that I can bestow upon you,” Duchess Rose said. She smiled at Khrx, her pointed fangs glinting. “As long as you have a single hair of your target, you’ll know the general direction they’re in. Would you like to learn?”

“Yes!” Khrx’s eyes glistened. He had plenty of strands of Fufu’s furs lying around the cavern. This skill was exactly what he wanted.

“Great,” Duchess Rose said, her smile widening even further. She placed her hands on Khrx’s knees as she rose to her feet, bringing her face closer and closer to Khrx’s.

“Stop right there!” Monika said, whisking Khrx away from the seat and out of the duchess’ way. “Khrx! It’s called Vampire’s Pursuit for a reason. Vampire!”

Khrx blinked. “So?”

“That means you have to become a vampire to learn it,” Monika said, her expression darkening. “What do you mean so?”

Khrx tilted his head. “What’s a vampire?”

Duchess Rose stared at Khrx. “You don’t know what a vampire is?” Her eyes turned into crescents as she chuckled. “Why don’t I let you experience being a vampire for yourself?”

“You, be quiet,” Monika said, sending a withering glare at the duchess. She whirled Khrx around in her arms to bring him face to face with her. “A vampire is a wretched creature. They die under sunlight, and they can only drink blood to survive. They can’t enter a building without express permission, and garlic is fatal to them. There’s too many weaknesses if you become a vampire.”

“Hold on,” Khrx said. “Did you say garlic’s fatal?”

Monika nodded twice.

Khrx put on a troubled expression. “But I love garlic.” He sighed and looked at Duchess Rose. “Okay. Theda has a new request for you. You’ll come to my realm and help me track someone down with your pursuit skill.”

“You want the lord of all vampires to act as a hunting dog?” Duchess Rose asked, raising an eyebrow. “But a new realm.” She licked her lips. “I’m tempted. If it’s the request of my god, then I can’t refuse. When do we set off?”

***

Awakening Cycle 1,072,362: Day 42.

Dear Diary,

According to Monika, I’ve found the natural predator of the surface dwellers. All I have to do is introduce her into the ecosystem, and then there’ll be no more surface dwellers trying to blow my tail off with missiles! Oh, this vampire can also track down Fufu. I can’t wait to be reunited with her! I hope everything goes well. It’s been too long since I’ve last seen Fufu. I hope she hasn’t encountered any danger after escaping from Luke.

Love,

Khrx