It was a radiant and crisp November 17th morning. Not a sound nor soul stirred the calm peace. Roy was disappointed; he wanted a little disorder. After a week and a half of work, the sign on the front door read ‘open’ – but it didn’t mean anything if no one came.

For the first day, he opened the door a little after dawn, 7 A.M. With his top-of-the-line equipment (spending a little more than was reasonable), he tested the waters and baked a few simple items: bread, muffins, bagels. He could have done a lot more, sweets, treats, and fancier foods, but he wasn’t sure how much he should make or what exactly he should make. It was 10 A.M. and he took a look at his stocked shelves. Baking even one loaf of bread seemed like too much at this point. Even though his baking was lacking compared to his brewing, it still felt like a waste to make all this food and have it not eaten.

Mr. Horin erected an artistic metal sign outside by the front door. Bearing a vivid red moon and the café’s name, it was eye-catching. Also, the girls put together a cute street sign for him to put outside the door. While it had useful information like menu and pricing, they decorated it with adorable miniature people enjoying the café. It was made like a blackboard so he could change it up as needed, but Roy didn’t want to touch it for some time; Liz, Amy, and Sarah put a lot of effort into it and he didn’t want to ruin it. Still, no one came.

So, he sat in the front, twiddling his thumbs. An was somewhere upstairs, probably in her room. At the minute of opening, she was downstairs with Roy, but retreated upstairs soon after, leaving him alone for the rest of the time. School was also in session right now, so Liz and her friends were absent as well (there was only about a month left of the school year though).

Without anyone, it was silent – he wasn’t used to that. Back home, Arthur and the others made plenty of noise. If not them, his father always had something to say. Even Mother had something for him from time to time. There was always something going on, but in the rare event there wasn’t, he could always count on his little sister, Cordelia. No matter how early Roy woke up, she would always already be awake, and no matter how late he went to bed, he always fell asleep before she did. She never wasted a moment of her time, taking on projects from coordinating a festival at a local village to riding horses out in the back to perusing through the family library. If there was ever a quiet moment for Roy, she made sure to take it away.

There was nothing but silence now. He was alone – and felt lonely.

The bell nestled on the front door rang. Instinctively, Roy popped up from his chair and greeted, “Hello! Welcome to Red Moon Café…” He trailed off and noticed who walked through. “Oh, it’s you,” he said.

“Is that how you greet all your customers?” Lord Salazar replied with a half-smile

Roy propped himself on the counter, “To be fair, you are my first customer.”

“Then you should do a better job of advertising; I only came here on a whim to say hello.” The Lord surveyed the café. “It’s well-made,” he finally noted.

“I had a lot of help putting it together,” Roy said, remembering the days everyone spent on this project.

Lord Salazar ignored him and squinted at the menu posted above Roy’s head. He signed and shook his head, “Just brew some tea.” He gave up on figuring out what to get. Doromun looked around said, “And make some toast out of that bread,” pointing out the fresh bread loaves sitting about. He went and sat at the window table.

The kettle set and Roy began to cut slices of bread. “What are you making?” Lord Salazar asked, sniffing the air. A rich, cocoa-like aroma wafted through the room.

Roy smiled. “It’s an unblended tea from the east. I think you’ll enjoy it,” he said. The tea still had some time left, so he took the sliced bread to the kitchen in the back to prepare it. He created a simple mixture of eggs, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Coating the toast in it, he cooked it brown then embellished it with maple syrup. He prepared a tray with the plate of toast, two cups, and the kettle of tea. He took it over to Lord Salazar who appraised the spread.

“Well, this actually looks appetizing,” Doromun said.

“What? Did you expect me to open a café without any idea how to cook or make drinks?”

Lord Salazar took the kettle, poured out the tea, and said, “Yes.” He took a sip, taking in the taste. “Peppery with a sweet aftertaste,” he concluded.

“Like it?”

He took another sip, “Very much.”

Roy leaned forward, “Mind if I ask you a question about An?”

Salazar raised an eyebrow as he eyed the toast, “Not really – go for it.”

“Why does everyone act so quiet around An? I asked a girl named Liz this earlier. Her answer was respect, but she admitted she wasn’t so sure herself. I figured people would be more… excited?”

He took a bite of toast. The old man looked out the window at the church, at the sky. “It’s more than respect,” he finally said, “It’s humility. She is the most important figure to all Vampires – some even view her as a deity, but why shouldn’t they? She is the reason we exist. We live and die by her will. Everything we have and are, we only have her to owe for it.” He ripped another chunk off the toast and munched on it. “Now, let me ask you a question: how do you envision running this place? Sit down? To go?”

“I spent a lot of time thinking about that. Eventually, I decided I couldn’t settle on one or the other. I want people who are just here to grab something quick like a coffee or bread or a snack to be able to just walk in, get their order, and go. On the other, I want a place where people can be seated and served, letting them relax and enjoy themselves. That’s the plan, anyways. Right now I’m the only person working so it would be hard to seat, serve, and prepare orders for everyone.”

“Just ask An to help,” he blandly said between sips.

Roy scratched the back of his neck, “Is it alright for me to ask her to do that?”

Lord Salazar chuckled. “Why wouldn’t it be? She is bound to serve Gieryoums such as yourself, and you are providing her with a bed and food. You may be the only person who has the right to ask her such things.”

Frowning, Roy thought over the idea. There might be some truth to the Lord’s words, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it would be inappropriate to ask. “Maybe I can ask her, but maybe I should ask someone else.” Perhaps Liz or someone from her group needed a job. Providing he started making coin to pay them, he wouldn’t mind hiring one of them.

“Well,” Lord Salazar got up from his seat, dabbing his mouth with a napkin, “Anorlynn isn’t as rigid as she acts. You might be surprised if you ask her – and getting her to work may do her some good as well. I digress, it’s time I take my leave. The toast and tea were beyond my expectations. Now, how much is it?”

“I’m glad you liked it and don’t worry about the cost.” Roy got up and made way to his counter. He took out some loaves of bread and packed them, “Instead of payment, take this bread off my hands and distribute it around. Tell people it came from here.”

“Oh, you want me to advertise for you?” He asked with a smile. “I can do that; the bread was good and I think the people will like it. One last thing before I go: if you ever want to cater the Vampire population directly, I’d suggest looking into stocking blood or the substitute supplements. It makes anything we eat or drink taste better and are needed for good Vampire health.”

“I’ll make sure to look into it.” Roy showed Lord Salazar, who tipped his hat and walked off, cane in one hand and a bag of bread in the other. Roy looked around. The street was empty. He retreated back into his café with a sigh.

Hours came and went. It was clear no one was going to come by, so he hatched a new plan. Closing up shop a little early than planned, he closed himself in his kitchen. He wanted to treat Mr. Horin and his family to something nice as thanks for all the help he gave him. With nothing else to do, he thought he would whip up a few sweets for them.

A little over an hour later, he felt he went overboard. Again. Along with a simple vanilla cake, he baked a hot batch of chocolate chip cookies. Their size was nothing to laugh at. Carefully wrapping the goods, he set out from the shop to Mr. Horin’s.

The sun was setting and the chill in the air grew. He left his little street and went onto the main road. A lot more commotion was on the streets than he expected; people packed the pathways, moving about. People were everywhere but his street. Lord Salazar was right; his advertising was bad. Giving him the bread to distribute was one step, but Roy decided he would need to do a lot more.

It took him a little time to find his way, but he eventually ended up in front of Jim’s home. He knocked thrice and took a step back from the door.

The door creaked open and Mr. Horin peered through. Opening the door completely, he exclaimed, “Oh, if it isn’t Roy. What brings you here.”

“My café is ready to go because of all the work you put in. As thanks, I made some sweets for you and your family.” He presented the package to him.

Jim sifted through. “A cake… and cookie?! You didn’t have too – this is too much…” He lightly chuckled with a sigh. “I’ll accept it on one condition: you have to share with us because I can’t eat that much and I don’t want my kids eat that much.”

Roy nodded his head with smile, “Deal.” He followed Mr. Horin into the house.

Immediately, a little girl, Mr. Horin’s youngest, spotted Roy. She stopped playing with her doll and asked, “Why is he here Dad?”

“Luna, go get Sarah and Riza and bring them to the kitchen. Roy has something for us.” Intrigued, Luna scampered off instantly, calling out the names of her older sisters as she climbed upstairs. Meanwhile, Roy went with Jim to the kitchen and propped up the cake and set up the cookies.

Pouncing down the steps, came Luna followed by her sisters. Her eyes grew wide and ran over to the table with her older sister Riza close behind.

“You brought cookies!” Riza excitedly exclaimed. Luna was already digging in, and she joined in after thanking Roy.

“What flavor is that cake?” Sarah asked, approaching the table with less vigor than her siblings.

“Since the cookies are chocolate, I made the cake vanilla.”

“Vanilla,” she mused. Grabbing a plate, she cut out a little slice and took a bite. “Vanilla was my mother’s favorite flavor. She would have loved this.” Sarah savored another morsel.

Roy frowned and looked around, “Is your mother here?”

Sarah shook her head, “She passed away giving birth to Luna.” Luna was happily stuffing her face with chocolate chip cookies with Riza.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t know,” Roy nervously said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Don’t worry about it. There’s no way you could have known.”

Roy sighed. He remembered the end of November was coming. The 24th was a holiday to celebrate peace and family, a day to give thanks to the end of wars and conflicts waged long ago. Every 24th, Roy’s family would throw a feast and celebrate. He looked around. The Horin family may be incomplete, but from their faces, he could tell they were happy.

His mood was soured. Roy grabbed a plate and a slice of cake. He hoped a treat would sweeten him up.