"....Hahaha haha, you're too funny; this is nothing at all; you don't have to feel indebted to me." Sylvie laughed slightly at Peter.
"Still this is too much, this apartment is way too much, it must have cost you a lot!" Peter was looking in amazement, his previous demeanor nowhere to be found.
[Rags to riches, huh?]
"Shut it, Elena!" He barked at her in his mind.
"Hehe, don't worry, this whole complex belongs to my family, and this apartment is, in a sense, doesn't just belongs to the youngest miss of the family, that's to say, I pay it myself so my family doesn't have anything to do with what I do with it!" Sylvie explained.
But she was enjoying his expressions.
He felt too indebted to Sylvie, if she was someone with a bad personality, he would have thought of the possibility of her doing all this to him so he could forever be indebted to her.
But that wasn't the case.
He might have wrongly judged her as being so kind to him while in actuality she was having ulterior, but the experienced Elena said Sylvie was just a good person and there were no hidden dark intentions on him apart from...
Her flawed Vampire obsession... And he happened to be the only vampire on Earth.
He looked around in amazement but he later shock his head, "no Sylvie, I can't take anymore favours from you!" Yet to his words, Sylvie just smirked, "I knew you wpuod say that..."
"How about this: you stay here for the time being until you can afford your apartment after becoming fully awakened. After all, by that time, you would be able to enter towers as a Kindled rather than just an Ember who has just awakened their Spark." Sylvie suggested, seeing that he wouldn't agree.
Peter considered his options carefully. After he becomes a Kindled, he would finally be able to enter the towers as a fully awakened adventurer. Hunting monsters in those mysterious, dangerous gates would allow him to earn his own money.
By selling the loot he gathered, he could start standing on his own two feet, independent.
"Meanwhile, you will be in my care. Don't say anything to deny it, or you will never see me in your life again!" Sylvie threatened. "Work hard to become a Kindled, and at the same time, look for a job to pay me back. $500 per two weeks while you stay here!"
Although he was going to the academy and they provided a dorm, Peter couldn't stay there forever given his situation, the dorms were very monitored, both Elena and Sylvie had advised him to not stay there so much.
And it had many restrictions plus the curfew.
He needed a place of his own.
Peter agreed; looking for a job after he becomes the same rank as a Kindled wouldn't be a problem now, given his physique and handsome face, right?
****
[Come on... Which stupid person wrote this story? It's all wrong; real Vampires don't eat flesh!] Elena was furious; how could they, how dare they!
After settling in, Peter and Sylvie sat in the living room, the obsessed girl put on a vampire show, the most famous one.
But this movie made Elena furious seeing many lies that were put in the movie, what were they thinking?
"Pete, we should avoid this at any cost; we have to find a way so you won't be so hungry to the extent of needing flesh to quench your hunger!" alarmed Sylvie said heavily.
Inside his head, he could imagine the angry Elena gritting her teeth; she did not say anything against Sylvie; the innocent girl did not know anything much about vampires apart from, of course what she saw in movies.
She easily believed what she was seeing right now.
Patting her on the shoulder, he said, "Sylvie, vampires don't eat flesh like the movie shows, only a certain Vampire Subclasses does, but as you know—they don't exist... here." Elena explained the subclass thingy to Pete who explained to the young dragon after he heard Sylvie's worried warning.
He, too, didn't know that much; Elena, though, was doing a great job of filling him with as much as he was supposed to know at the moment.
"Eh? They don't, so what is in the movie is all but lies?" Peter nodded.
"Not entirely lies but yeah, most are lies!"
"So what are these subclasses you mentioned about?" curious to know more, Sylvie asked him.
Observing her curios-filled eyes, Peter shook his head; he did not know, and Elena refused to say anything more.
"We should go with only that at the moment." he filled the gap with that. Sylvie just nodded as she didn't want to pressure him so much.
"You should go take a bath, Pete..." she stated softly, "although they got you cleaned, you still stink...a little." Sylvie touched her nose with a grin on her face.
With a roll of his eyes, Peter replied, "Still the first sentence was enough." It was a bit embarrassing.
"I was just being honest, you know?"
"Whatever, broken girl!"
"Who do you call broken? Am your benefactor; spare me some face!" she shouted at his disappearing figure.
"Well, he's not entirely wrong, I'm a bit broken when it comes to vampires... just a bit!" She muttered to herself with a grin.
Sylvie would be lying to say she wasn't enjoying the little time she was spending with Peter. She used to be an introvert back in her family, and she had no one to spend time with—she didn't want to interact with them, so she locked herself from them too—except her mother.
All her siblings spent most of their time either training in the towers/gates or the Academy.
"Will he become distant from me after he goes to the academy too? No, Pete will not be like that; he would only ignore me when he's busy, right?" her thoughts ran to the future possibilities.
"I should go to the academy with him, help him register in the upper class, show everyone that I am..." She was abruptly halted in her thoughts by her vibrating phone.
Pulling it out, the call ID turned out to be her chauffeur; she grumped before picking up the call.
"What?!" she said emotionlessly.
****
With his incredible hearing, he unintentionally heard their entire conversation.
He felt partly to blame for the whole thing; who knew her father was that an a**hole?
[Don't feel remorse for things you can't undo or do anything against. If you want to help her, become strong, and let her help to the best of her capabilities.] Elena said sharply.
"She sacrificed so much for me, Elly; how could a man such as him birth a good daughter like Sylvie? He doesn't care about her opinion!" he felt his whole desire to have parents crumble.
[That's how powerful families operate to consolidate or maybe even grow more influence, I would have been surprised if something like this didn't happen." Growing up in ancient or powerful families meant more than what meets the eye!
"No matter what, I won't let that happen since doesn't want it; if I die trying, so be it!" Elena didn't say anything else during the entire time after his declaration.
She could understand why he reached such a decision, and although he was rushed in his decision, she didn't advise him against it; it would be a great motivation for him to work multiple times than he would have.
It wasn't that he was a hero who would rush in head first and save anyone in need, he wouldn't save just any Princess in Damsel
It was quite the opposite, but Sylvie... He would do anything for her!
****
"So even Mother has turned a blind eye, letting him do as he sees fit!" burying her head in her knees, the once headstrong Sylvie was on the verge of breaking down into tears.
She was in her world and didn't register his presence as he drew closer to her.
"You still have me, Sylvie, I might not be so strong right now, but I will... five years? That's more than enough for us!" although inappropriate, he brought her body closer to his but never dared to hug her completely.
There were boundaries one shouldn't cross.
"So you heard?" bringing her head up, she added with a sad smile. She had failed to hide her sorrow from him.
Squeezing her shoulder, he nodded.
"Enough with my family drama, let's go sleep." cheerfully, she pulled him out of the couch showing him his room; their next stop tomorrow was the academy, the same place where his killers were...
*****
(Guys the ranking of a vampire is different from that of the Earth's current ranks. I will later update a rank auxiliary chapter.)