The morning's evaluation ended early, leaving the recruits free until afternoon briefing.
Sky followed the others through the glass corridor toward the café on the executive floor - the kind of place where everything smelled faintly of money and good coffee.
Gawin stretched his arms. "Man, I thought Joss was bad. William's worse. He stares like he's peeling your soul."
"At least he's polite about it," Tor said, grinning. "Try working under Est. He insults you and steals your fries."
Billkin snorted. "He's human. What's the worst he can do?"
"You haven't seen him throw a latte at a vampire," Gawin replied. "It's art."
Micah and Mosin laughed quietly, trailing a little behind. Sky listened more than he spoke - old soldier habits. But even as he smiled faintly at their banter, his senses stayed sharp.
Something about them felt... unbalanced.
Mosin and Micah were human - he could tell by the steady, clean rhythm of their energy.
Tor and Gawin carried the cold undertone of vampires - faint, restrained, but unmistakable.
And Billkin - that was the surprise. His energy pulsed warm, rhythmic, lupine.
Sky's eyes narrowed slightly.
So William already knew there was a wolf in the ranks and hadn't said a word. Which meant the company tolerated it - or the Supreme did.
Interesting, Sky thought. So this isn't just business. It's diplomacy.
---
They turned the corner toward the café - and everyone suddenly stopped.
The air changed.
Like the temperature dropped ten degrees, or the light dimmed without losing brightness.
From the far end of the hall, three figures approached.
Even before seeing him, Sky felt him.
That ancient, unmistakable pressure - elegant and absolute, like gravity.
The Supreme.
Nani Hirunkit moved through the corridor like a shadow of light - every step precise, silent, and deliberate. His suit was simple black, no jewelry, no unnecessary adornment - yet he looked unreal. Skin too pale to be human, eyes a luminous amber-brown that caught the light like liquid gold.
He was beautiful in a way that hurt to look at.
And terrifying for the same reason.
Beside him, William walked with calm deference, and Est with his usual careless grace, sipping iced coffee through a straw as if walking beside an immortal monarch was casual Thursday business.
The recruits all bowed or lowered their heads in unspoken respect.
Even Tor and Gawin went still, instinctively deferential to their kind's ruler.
But Sky froze for another reason.
The wound on his shoulder - the one Felix had sealed - pulsed sharply beneath the fabric, like his blood itself recognized something it shouldn't.
No. Not now. Not him.
Felix's voice echoed in his memory:
If he ever catches your scent, even through my charms - it's over.
Sky took a small, controlled step back, angling himself behind Gawin just as Nani and his escort drew closer.
Est, of course, was the only one smiling.
"You all look tense," he said lightly. "Relax. He doesn't bite unless provoked."
Nani said nothing. His gaze swept briefly over the group - calm, unreadable, like an ancient sea - until for a fraction of a second, it faltered.
Something in the air changed.
A heartbeat - not his own - echoed faintly in his chest.
He turned slightly, his eyes flicking toward the right - toward where Sky had been standing seconds ago.
But Sky had already slipped out of sight, half-turning down a side corridor under the pretense of checking his phone.
Every nerve in his body screamed move.
---
William noticed the slight pause.
"My lord?"
Nani blinked once - a tiny, almost imperceptible break in his perfect composure.
"Nothing," he said quietly. "Just a scent I haven't felt in a long time."
Est glanced up at him, brow quirking. "A scent you felt? You're mixing your senses again, Your Majesty."
"Be quiet, Est," William sighed.
"No, seriously," Est said, grinning. "If something can make him stop walking, I want to know what it is. Maybe I'll finally have competition for his attention."
Nani ignored him, stepping into the elevator.
But as the doors began to close, he looked once more toward the corridor Sky had vanished down.
Something inside him - something long buried - shifted.
A pulse beneath his ribs.
The last time he'd felt that sensation was centuries ago, on a night when the stars had bled red.
---
Sky, in the meantime, reached the café through the back hall, trying to calm his breathing.
The air around him still hummed faintly, like the world had brushed against a live wire.
He pressed a hand to his shoulder. The scar glowed faintly through the shirt - silver beneath skin.
"Great," he muttered. "Of all people to almost bump into, it had to be him."
He didn't see the faint flicker of crimson ripple across the surface of his coffee cup as he sat down - the mark of the Blood Moon stirring once more.
---
The elevator doors slid open to the top floor - quiet, cool, and perfumed faintly with rain and cedar.
Nani stepped into his private office suite, William following close behind with his tablet, Est trailing with all the subtlety of a peacock.
The Supreme removed his gloves, placing them neatly on the desk. "Those were the new recruits?"
"Yes, my lord," William replied. "Six candidates. Mixed backgrounds - two human, two vampire, one wolf, one unknown. Joss believes at least three have potential."
Nani glanced out the wide glass window, the city lights reflecting against his pale features like gold on porcelain.
"Unknown?"
"Ex-soldier," William explained. "Background checks clean but... his energy doesn't match the file. It's faint, contained. Possibly a charm masking something."
Nani hummed softly - a sound like a note from a string instrument plucked once.
"Interesting."
Est plopped down on the couch, crossing one leg over the other. "Why do you even need a mortal bodyguard, anyway? You're the Supreme Vampire. No one's touched you in centuries - not unless you allowed it. You already have William, and he's basically a security system in a suit."
William gave him a look. "I do more than that."
"Oh, I know. You also frown and sigh impressively well," Est teased.
Nani turned slightly, lips twitching just enough to suggest amusement.
"Perhaps I'm hiring for entertainment. The centuries grow dull."
Est arched a brow. "You? Bored?"
"Occasionally."
"You mean every day."
Nani finally turned from the window, gaze settling briefly on Est. "Then consider it an educational experience."
Est blinked. "For who?"
"For me," Nani said.
William's head tilted slightly, just enough to register mild surprise.
Est stared, then broke into a laugh.
"Educational? You're a thousand-year-old encyclopedia! What don't you know, boss?"
Nani's gaze drifted back to the window. "People," he murmured. "They change faster than I do."
The silence that followed was soft, thoughtful. Even Est didn't have a quip for that.
---
Later - Nightfall
Rain had begun to fall by the time Sky left the building. The city lights blurred in the wet pavement, gold and crimson bleeding together like old memories.
He tugged his hood up, ignoring the faint sting in his shoulder where the charm pulsed against his skin. Felix's words echoed again:
Stay away from the Supreme. He's older than the stars that curse us. If he senses you, you're finished.
"Yeah," Sky muttered to himself. "No problem staying away from the bloodsucker."
He cut through the quiet glass corridor toward the exit - just a few more steps, and he'd be out into the street-
Until someone rounded the corner from the opposite direction.
They collided.
It wasn't a heavy impact - more like two worlds brushing too close, a tremor in the balance the universe had tried too long to keep apart.
Sky's reflexes kicked in before his mind could catch up.
He caught the other man by the arm - firm, steady, the way a soldier saves someone without thinking.
"Sorry, I wasn't-"
The words died in his throat.
Because the man he held wasn't just anyone.
He was impossible.
Nani Hirunkit.
The Supreme Vampire.
The air itself seemed to pause.
Even the rain outside - soft and constant against the glass - sounded suddenly distant, like the world had turned down its volume to let this moment breathe.
Nani's eyes lifted to meet his.
Amber-gold, faintly luminous beneath the white corridor lights - like molten honey behind glass. Calm. Detached. But with a depth that spoke of centuries watching the world burn and rebuild itself.
Sky felt the faintest chill where his fingers still brushed the Supreme's sleeve.
The fabric was smooth, expensive - but beneath it, the skin was cold. Not lifeless, not dead - cold like marble polished by time.
The contact lasted less than a heartbeat, but something jolted through him - like static, or recognition.
He pulled back instantly, hands dropping to his sides, shoulders stiff. "I wasn't looking, sir. My apologies."
His voice was even, polite. But his heartbeat - traitor that it was - stumbled in his chest.
Nani didn't answer at first.
He simply watched him. The kind of look that stripped away pretense - not cruel, not invasive, just... searching.
Measured.
Up close, Sky realized what made him so dangerous.
It wasn't just his power. It was his beauty.
Ageless and effortless - not delicate, but precise. Every motion, every breath seemed deliberate, controlled.
Even his silence had weight.
This is what they worship, Sky thought bitterly. A monster dressed in grace.
But he couldn't quite make himself look away.
Nani's voice, when it came, was low - smooth as old silk.
"You're one of the new recruits," he said, the faintest lilt of curiosity in the words.
"Yes, sir. Sky Nateetorn."
"A soldier," Nani murmured, eyes flicking briefly to the straightness of his stance, the controlled calm in his shoulders. "You move like one."
"I was," Sky replied shortly.
He meant to sound neutral, but there was a thread of challenge beneath the words - one that didn't escape Nani's notice.
A corner of the Supreme's mouth curved, the barest hint of amusement.
"And now you guard vampires?"
"I guard whoever pays me, sir."
A faint hum of approval - or maybe interest - slipped past Nani's lips.
"Pragmatic. Refreshing."
Sky's pulse jumped again. The scent of him - faint sandalwood and something darker, metallic, ancient - was too close.
He took a small step back, as if the distance might steady him.
"If you'll excuse me," he said quietly.
But Nani tilted his head, studying him as though seeing through the charm Felix had cast.
That knowing glint deepened in his eyes, gold threading into something darker - like sunlight catching blood.
"Curious," Nani murmured. "A wolf who bows to a vampire."
Sky's breath hitched. "I-"
Nani's smile was small, dangerous, beautiful.
"Relax. Your secret's safe, for now. I don't bite without invitation."
He brushed past him lightly - no push, no force, just the faintest whisper of movement, a presence that lingered like cold fire on the skin.
The moment he was gone, the spell broke.
The sound of rain returned. The lights seemed too bright.
Sky stood frozen, heart thundering against his ribs.
He told himself it was fear. Instinct. Hatred.
But the truth - the pull he refused to name - still burned where his fingers had touched that impossibly cold skin.
Outside, thunder rumbled low - and somewhere, unseen, the Blood Moon shimmered faintly through the clouds.