“Sit.”

My body obeys without question and I am sitting next to Seo on the couch in Ms Pink’s office. I wonder what she has to say to me. Maybe she’ll explain what just happened. But instead, she reaches to her side and fiddles with something I can’t see. A wince. A grunt. And she’s holding a strange little contraption I’ve never seen before.

“It’s a vanguard bullet.”

I stare at it. Flat. Slim. Tiny. It looks as cool as a Lamborghini on the road with its matt-silver exterior and about as harmless as one of those thumb drives so little that you’d lose without realizing. That’s a bullet?

“It has little teeth around its head that will sink into your flesh if it enters your body. This bullet is deadly. The metal alloy it is made of is lethal to a lesser vampire. And will wound more powerful vampires, greatly reducing their abilities.”

“But you’re…you’re totally fine.”

“Ms Pink’s clothes provide extra protection against these bullets. We’d known the vanguards to get to you but this is sooner than expected.”

I shudder at the memory of the black furry thing on the floor. “What’s a vanguard?”

“You saw what it is.”

“Yes, but what exactly is it?”

“It’s a ferocious monster. A monster hound. It’s a bad sign, seeing one.”

“Why is it a bad sign?”

“Vanguards are trackers. They hunt the target down. If you see a vanguard coming for you, it means its owner is coming next. And very soon.”

“Enough chat. Let’s go.”

I turn away from Seo. In front of us stands Ms Pink, free of blood and fur. She looks as good as before the appearance of the vanguard and I come to realize that the lifting sensation in my chest is the feeling of relief. Immense relief. Weird as it may sound, I’m more than happy to see Ms Pink in the pink of health. The last thing I want is to see Ms Pink bleeding or hurt.

“Move it, stupid human. Slow even in emergencies.”

Seo pulls me up to my feet and pushes me to Ms Pink. “She may be in shock,” she says.

Am I? Is this what shock feels like? But Seo’s explanation seems to appease Ms Pink a little and she strides to the shutter of the car lift. It opens as Ms Pink draws near to it and she steps in.

Turning to look at me, she says, “Get in the car, now.”

Once we’re in, the shutter closes and I ready myself for a quick trip down but it goes up instead. Where are we going? Up to…the sky? Can Ms Pink fly or something?

My questions are answered when we reach the top. It’s not a long ride up the lift either. Turns out, there’s a helipad at the top of the stiletto heel tower and Ms Pink has a helicopter. It shouldn’t be a surprise, considering how much money the company makes even as we stand here in the gusty wind.

“You can fly a helicopter?” I ask Ms Pink as she near-tosses me up onto the seat.

I’m not really expecting a reply so I’m pleasantly surprised when Ms Pink says, “I bought my first helicopter back in 1942 and learnt how to fly it.”

1942…she’s definitely a vampire. But is she really 270 years old? It’s so confusing when she looks like she’s in her twenties.

Ms Pink gets on the helicopter and looks over at me. “Strap on the safety belt.”

I fumble with the straps and buckle as I try to do so. And that’s the limit of Ms Pink’s patience, evident in the way she makes an impatient noise and leans over to take over the job for me. Credit to her, I’m strapped in safe within a second and Ms Pink switches her attention over to the countless dials and switches on the panels of her helicopter. Soon, we are lifting into the sky above and the view is fantastic.

“It’s a great view, isn’t it.”

I nod absently, too taken with the vantage view over the skysc