12:39 A.M.

The rain had begun to pour down on the city streets.

There was a knock at her door. For a second, she froze. Who could be bugging her at this hour? It was much too late for solicitors, and even more so for guests. 

The knock came again. Sighing, Iota stretched her arms back behind her head, then, pushing back her chair, rose to answer the call.

What she was not expecting to see was Kiyin, covered in blood with his uniform jacket ripped in several places.

Yet he didn’t look harmed. In fact, he looked invigorated. There was a wild look in his eyes. His eyes, why did they…

“What the hell…”

Before she could even finish her sentence, his mouth was open.

“I need to stay the night! Please! And thank you!” And he was shoving past her into her apartment.

“Hey, just wait a second!” she called to him, but he was already settled into one of her kitchen chairs. “Okay, what’s the big idea? You can’t just shove into a girl’s house uninvited and without any explanation!”

“Sorry,” he said, voice uncharacteristically dull. He sat with his fingertips together, foot tapping quickly against the hardwood floor. He had this faraway look in his eyes, like any second he might drift out of her dining room in gaseous form.

Iota watched him for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. Should she confront him? Or just leave him be?

His back was to her, head down. All she could see was his long jacket, torn like he'd just been in a fight.

Was that really all there was to it?

His foot tapping grew louder. She wasn’t quite sure he was aware he was doing it.

So that's how it had to be.

Clearing her throat, she put a hand on her waist, like her mother when she was about to scold her. “So, what happened?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing…well, something, but-” His golden eyes turned sharply to a picture on her wall. “Oh, how’s your brother doing?”

“He’s doing great. Why are you here?”

“Can’t a person just visit their friend?” As if deciding he’d been sitting long enough, he suddenly snapped to his feet, nearly knocking over the chair in the process. “Gosh, I’m hungry!”

Iota followed him to the kitchen, where he put on a teapot and searched through her cabinets and drawers.

He moved fast and nervous, like a caged animal. He still wouldn’t look at her.

“I have instant noodles in the cabinet above the fridge.” She pointed.

He reached up and grabbed them, then cracked open the package and set it in the machine atop the counter. It was done in seconds.

He pulled it out, peeled away the cover, and began to pace around the kitchen as he slurped down hot noodles. They were gone within the minute.

Waiting for the water on the stove to boil, he moved throughout the kitchen like a madman, keeping Iota from getting a good look at him.

Steam rose up from the teapot.

He riffled through the kitchen cabinets again.

She pulled open the one closest to her, pointing.

“You’re so old-fashioned!” Grinning, he pulled down two satchels of green tea and seeped them into two medium-sized teacups.

“Tea?” He handed her a cup. 

She didn’t miss the way his hands were shaking.

“Kiyin. You’re stalling.”

He tossed the noodle package in the trash bin.

“What do I have to stall for? There’s nothing going on. I just need a place to stay for the night, then I’ll be out of your hair! I swear!”

She raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. And what’s wrong with your place?”

She watched his eyes shift quickly from side to side. Something was off about them. She couldn't properly see them, but his pupils were widened into dots. With a swift motion, he pressed a button to the side of her back sliding door. A blackout curtain was generated over the glass.

“Nothing at all!” He pointed to the living room. "Couch? Is that alright?”

Sighing, she followed him as he flopped onto her couch. He wouldn’t meet her gaze.

She remembered when he was younger, when she’d first met him, the day Sister Calyna brought him to the temple to train. At first, he was a nervous boy, always holding his little sister's hand and guarding her from the grownups, watching everyone with distrustful eyes. 

Then he'd started to grow into himself, and as his skills grew, so too did his confidence. Whereas before he wouldn't look someone in the eyes, he now would always make eye contact. He declared everything in a strong voice, and though he still worried about his sister, he trusted her to be strong and smart, and he trusted the people he trained beside to always take care of her.

Iota herself became friends with him not long after that, and ever since then they’d had each other’s back in this terrifying world. They were family. So the fact that he was here so late wasn’t the part that made her nervous.

Dread was beginning to knot in her gut. “Kiyin. Look at me.”

Her heart skipped a beat when he did.

Now she got a good look at his eyes. His irises, once golden-amber with the light of the Divine, were tinted dark at the edges.

On instinct, her hand rushed to her waist, fingers grazing the butt of the gun on her belt.

“Where have you been tonight? Where were you before you came here?”

Those corrupted eyes shifted away, his face now darkened. He stared at the ground, cheeks burning as if he were embarrassed. Then, looking up at her, he widened his mouth.

Two sets of sharp-fang-like teeth shone in the dim light of her apartment.

Her eyes widened.

For a second, she forgot how to speak, to think, to even breathe.

Slowly, she forced her mouth to form words, though the question she asked had an obvious answer,

“You’ve been turned, haven’t you?”