The morning light poured across the marble lobby of Hirunkit Holdings, soft and deceptive - as if the building itself didn't house monsters who walked like men.
Nani descended the private lift with William at his side. Behind them trailed Gawin and Billkin, their expressions sharp, professional, and unreadable.
The Supreme moved with effortless grace, each step carrying the quiet authority of someone who had lived long enough to forget what hesitation felt like.
At the same time, near the main entrance, Sky and Est waited for their car. Est scrolled through his phone, sunglasses perched on his nose; Sky stood beside him, posture crisp, every sense attuned.
He could feel it - that familiar prickle at the back of his neck - before he even looked up.
The air shifted.
Everyone in the lobby seemed to notice the moment the Supreme entered the space. Conversations died mid-word. Movements stilled. Even the lights seemed to soften, bending toward him.
Nani's gaze swept across the marble expanse - and landed on Sky.
The rest of the world might as well have disappeared.
He walked toward them with the kind of silence that carried weight; William and the others instinctively held back, giving their master room. Sky stood his ground, though his pulse ticked a little too fast beneath his collar.
When Nani stopped in front of him, the space between them was barely a breath.
"Good morning, Sir," Sky said, keeping his tone polite and steady.
He didn't bow. Didn't avert his eyes. But he didn't challenge either. Just the perfect balance between respect and defiance.
Nani inclined his head slightly, eyes tracing the faint shimmer of protective magic still clinging to the wolf. "Guardian," he murmured - too soft for Est to hear.
Sky stiffened, unsure if he'd imagined it.
But before he could respond, Nani leaned in - close enough that Sky could feel the cool whisper of his breath near his ear.
"Stay alert," Nani said quietly. "Not every shadow in daylight belongs to me."
It wasn't a threat, but something about it made Sky's pulse kick.
He didn't notice the faint gold shimmer that rippled in the air around him - the ward Nani left behind, invisible and ancient, wrapping around Sky like a second skin.
Est, oblivious, tilted his head between them. "Oh, we're doing dramatic whispering now? Should I turn around?"
Sky cleared his throat, stepping back a pace. "No, sir. Just... orders."
Nani straightened, his expression as unreadable as ever. "See that you follow them."
Then, to Est, with a faint dip of his head: "Don't keep him out too long."
"Relax, Grandpa," Est teased, grinning. "I'll bring your new favorite guard home before curfew."
William gave Est a look that said please don't die today.
Nani said nothing - but his gaze lingered on Sky just long enough to make the wolf's skin prickle.
Then the Supreme turned, his entourage falling in step behind him, and the moment passed like the ghost of a storm.
---
The drive into the city was mercifully uneventful - unless you counted Est's playlist.
By the third K-pop track, Sky had resigned himself to his fate.
At first, Sky kept it professional: formal tone, distant replies, posture perfect.
"Yes, Mr. Est."
"Of course, Mr. Est."
"As you wish, Mr. Est."
Until Est groaned dramatically.
"Okay, stop. Stop. You sound like you're about to read me my rights."
Sky blinked. "...I'm just being polite?"
"You're being a robot," Est said, rolling his eyes. "Drop the sir, drop the Mr.. I'm Est. You're Sky. We're going shopping, not robbing a castle."
Sky hesitated. "It still feels wrong."
"Then fake it until it feels right," Est shot back, grinning. "I've been around vampires longer than I've been alive. Trust me - a little normal never killed anyone. Except, you know, the people it did. But they deserved it."
That startled a laugh out of Sky - quiet, short, but real.
"Better," Est said, satisfied. "Now, tell me - why do you look like you're expecting a sniper every time someone sneezes?"
Sky shrugged. "Old habits."
"Soldier habits?"
He nodded once.
"Mmh." Est tilted his sunglasses down just enough to study him properly. "So what made a soldier work for vampires, huh? Thought you wolves didn't play well with bloodsuckers."
Sky's expression tightened. "I needed a job. Didn't know I'd be serving that vampire."
"Ah," Est said, leaning back. "So you hate my boss."
"I don't hate him," Sky said, a little too fast. "I just don't trust him."
"Good. Neither does he."
Sky blinked. "What?"
Est smiled faintly. "Trust is... complicated in our world. Especially for him."
There was a pause - then Sky asked, quieter: "You're human. You live among them. Aren't you afraid?"
Est's smile faltered for the first time, softening into something fragile.
"When I was thirteen, a vampire clan slaughtered my village. My parents were among them."
Sky's throat went dry. "And yet you live with them now?"
Est nodded slowly. "Because the Supreme and William found me before I starved. They didn't ask for gratitude - just offered shelter. Protection. The kind that doesn't demand obedience in return."
He looked out the window for a moment, sunlight catching the small silver charm on his wrist. "So, no. I'm not afraid. I've seen monsters. Nani isn't one of them."
Sky glanced at him, the words sticking somewhere deep.
"You talk about him like family."
Est smirked. "He is family. Just the ancient brooding, emotionally unavailable kind. You'll see."
By the time they reached the shopping district, Sky's guard had lowered - just slightly. Est dragged him through racks of clothes, endless boutiques, and cafés. They joked, gossiped, and for the first time in years, Sky almost felt... normal.
Almost.
Because every so often, when sunlight hit his wrist or the reflection of a glass pane caught his eyes, he thought he saw something golden flicker there - faint, protective, and impossibly ancient.
And he couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere, across the city, someone else was feeling it too.
----
The late evening had been too peaceful.
Est insisted on one more stop - a boutique at the end of a narrow side street lined with glass windows and street lamps still flickering from daylight sensors. The place smelled of coffee, perfume, and faint rain. Sky followed quietly, half-listening to Est's chatter, half-tracking every passing heartbeat around them.
Something felt off.
Too quiet.
Too still.
He couldn't hear birds, couldn't sense normal traffic hum - just a low vibration in the air, the kind that made his pulse tighten and his wolf stir uneasily under his skin.
"We should head back soon," Sky said lowly, scanning the rooftops.
Est looked up from his phone. "What's wrong?"
Sky's hand brushed the concealed dagger at his waist. "Everything."
The words had barely left his mouth when the light shattered.
A burst of shadow crashed through the nearest window, glass exploding into a thousand shards.
Est screamed - a sound cut short as Sky yanked him down, rolling them behind a row of mannequins. The smell hit him first: rot, iron, and old magic. Something wrong. Something ancient.
Shapes moved in the broken glass - tall, sinewy, their skin gray as ash and their eyes like coals sunk deep into skulls.
Rogues. No - something worse.
Sky shoved Est back. "Stay down. Don't move."
He rose fluidly, claws half-bared, the charm Felix had woven around his wrist flaring with pale blue light.
The first creature lunged.
Sky met it midair, slamming it through a display. He moved with precision - soldier efficiency mixed with feral instinct. For every one he cut down, two more emerged from the shadows.
Est tried to run toward the exit, but a creature dropped from the ceiling, snarling. Sky lunged, taking the blow meant for him. Teeth grazed his shoulder, tearing through skin - burning like acid.
"Sky!" Est's voice cracked with terror.
Sky's eyes flickered gold - too bright, too wild. The air around him pulsed once, twice - then erupted.
The floor beneath the creatures split as moonlight seared through the cracks, blasting them backward.
Guardian light.
It burned them - even as it burned him.
The charm on his wrist shattered, scattering blue sparks. The protective illusion fell away, revealing the faint sigil glowing over his heart - the mark of the Guardian.
Sky dropped to one knee, panting, forcing himself to stay conscious. He could taste blood. Too much. He needed to protect Est. That was all that mattered.
He didn't notice the air shifting - that same pulse he felt the day before, now thrumming violently across the city.
---
At Hirunkit Holdings.
The meeting was mid-discussion - investors, diplomats, William on one side, Gawin and Billkin on standby.
Nani sat perfectly still, an unreadable statue of calm.
Then, without warning, the wine glass on the table trembled.
A surge of gold light flickered beneath his skin, too brief for anyone human to see - but William saw.
"...My Lord?" William's voice barely rose above a whisper.
Nani's eyes lifted, suddenly sharp, unfocused. He wasn't seeing the room anymore. He was seeing something else.
A scent. A pulse. A cry.
The Guardian's blood.
His ward screaming.
The next second, his chair was empty.
Just - gone. A whisper of wind, a shimmer of gold dust.
William swore under his breath, half rising. "He just- vanished."
Gawin's eyes widened. "What- how-?"
Billkin's wolf instincts bristled. "Something's wrong."
---
Back at the street.
Sky barely stood upright now. His vision blurred; the world tilted sideways. He swung at another creature, stumbled, caught himself. Est lay behind him, motionless but breathing - his heartbeat faint.
"Come on," Sky rasped, forcing a growl through blood. "Come and get me, you bastards-"
The shadows twisted, circling him, ready to close in.
Then the air fractured.
A sound like glass breaking through silence - not a noise, but a presence tearing through dimensions.
Wind surged. The streetlights flickered violently.
And then he was there.
Nani.
He appeared between the shadows and the wolf - tall, calm, his aura swallowing the air.
The creatures recoiled, hissing, their bodies twitching under invisible pressure.
The Supreme didn't speak. Didn't blink. His eyes glowed gold, so bright the street turned to daylight.
"Mine," he said softly.
Then he moved.
It wasn't a fight - it was a massacre.
Every step was precise, every strike too fast for mortal sight. Shadows imploded under invisible force. The ground split. Blood sprayed like dark mist, evaporating before it touched him.
When it ended, silence returned - broken only by the faint hiss of rain. The street reeked of ozone and death.
Nani stood among the remains, untouched.
For a moment, he just stared at the bodies - then slowly turned toward Sky.
---
The last creature fell, dissolving into ash that drifted away with the rain.
Sky staggered, his knees buckling as his vision tunneled. The street spun - gray, silver, red. He felt cold seep into his bones, deeper than pain.
For a heartbeat, he saw the moon behind the clouds - and then everything gave out.
He never hit the ground.
A blur of motion - a rush of wind colder than death - and Nani was suddenly there, catching him mid-fall. The impact barely stirred the air, but Sky's head came to rest against the Supreme's chest, against silk and stillness and the faint, impossible thrum of a heartbeat that shouldn't exist.
"Foolish creature," Nani whispered, the words a sigh against Sky's hair.
Blood streaked down the wolf's jaw and collar, bright against skin gone pale. His eyes fluttered open - gold flickering once before dimming again.
For the first time in centuries, something in Nani's chest moved.
He cupped Sky's face, thumb brushing over the line of his jaw, smearing a trace of crimson. The wolf's pulse beat weakly beneath his touch - fragile, stubborn, alive.
"You shouldn't exist," he murmured, voice low, almost reverent. "And yet here you are."
Sky's lips parted, a whisper that barely reached the air. "...Stay away..."
But his strength failed before defiance could follow. His body went limp in Nani's arms, the scent of moonlight and blood tangling in the rain.
Nani looked down at him - at the mark faintly glowing through torn fabric, a silver crescent edged in red. The same mark that haunted his dreams.
For one eternal second, the Supreme Vampire forgot restraint.
He leaned closer, letting his forehead rest against Sky's temple, eyes closing.
"You've found me again," he whispered, ancient words laced with something perilously close to awe.
Around them, the rain slowed - drops hanging motionless in the air, caught in the force of his power. The city held its breath.
Then the moment broke.
Nani straightened, gathering Sky against him. The ward he'd woven earlier flared gold around them both, sealing out the world.
He turned toward the shadows - his gaze cold again, but his voice barely above a vow.
"No one touches what's mine."
And with a whisper of displaced air, the Supreme Vampire vanished - leaving only the scent of rain, smoke, and moonlight in his wake.