Eline finished the bowl of soup.
It was actually good.
He was still thinking about that when he heard a knock on the door.
His back straightened immediately.
"Come in," he said.
The door opened, and Carlson stepped inside.
He looked calm, as always.
"Did you like it?" Carlson asked.
Eline nodded. "Yeah… it was pretty good. I liked it."
He hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"But… if you don't mind, can I ask something? Why do I have to take a different diet?"
Carlson looked at him quietly before answering.
"Well," he said, "a special body needs a special diet to take care of itself."
Eline stared at him.
A special body?
Inside his head, his thoughts started running.
(A special body? Just because I have different genitals from you doesn't make me special enough to need a separate diet. What are you even talking about? You sound like a creepy old man. Though you're not even old. What the fuck are you thinking?)
Shut up. Shut up, my thoughts.
He kept his face neutral.
Before he could say anything else, Carlson spoke again.
"I have to tell you something," he said. "And you have to come with me."
Eline blinked.
For a second, he hesitated.
He wanted to refuse.
But he knew that wasn't really an option.
"…Alright," he said quietly.
He stood up and followed Carlson out of the room.
They walked through the hallway in silence until they reached the study.
Carlson opened the door and stepped aside.
Eline walked in.
And froze.
Darian was there.
Alric.
Lucian.
Servian.
All of them inside the study.
Waiting.
Eline stopped near the entrance, suddenly aware of how quiet the room was.
So this is not just a simple talk.
Something was about to happen.
Inside, the long study table was occupied.
Alaric was seated on the left side, arms resting on the table.
Lucian sat beside him, fingers loosely intertwined.
Darian was across from them, back straight, unreadable as always.
Serian sat next to Darian.
Severin was at the far end.
Carlson walked in first, then stepped aside slightly to let Eline enter.
All five of them looked at him.
Carlson gestured toward the chair placed at the head of the table — his usual seat.
"Sit there," he said calmly.
Eline stared at the chair.
Why there?
I can sit anywhere else.
That's his seat.
That feels like a king's seat. Like whoever sits there rules the whole damn place.
His thoughts started running wild.
This feels wrong.
But Carlson was still waiting.
Fine.
If he says sit there, I'll sit there.
Eline walked forward and pulled the chair back slightly before sitting down.
Now he was at the head of the table.
Everyone else arranged along the sides.
Surrounding him.
Carlson remained standing for a second, then took the empty seat beside Severin instead of reclaiming his usual position.
"As you know," Carlson began, folding his hands on the table, "you are very special."
Eline's jaw tightened.
"And you also know that your blood is special. Along with your body."
Eline exhaled slowly.
"Yeah," he said. "But it has no use in witchcraft. I was just born this way."
The room went quiet.
His eyes moved from Alaric to Lucian. From Darian to Serian. To Severin.
Then back to Carlson.
"You're not going to kill me, are you?"
Carlson's gaze did not waver.
"No one is going to harm you, Eline," he said, his tone firm but measured. "You need to quiet those thoughts. Remove them from your mind. You are not in danger."
He paused, letting that settle.
"For the next five years, you will be the most protected being in this world — as far as we are concerned."
Eline blinked.
Protected?
"For five years?" he repeated slowly. "I'm sorry, but I'm not understanding any of this."
His stomach tightened.
"And what happens after those five years?" His voice sharpened. "You kill me then?"
The air shifted.
Carlson's expression changed — not louder, not angrier — but colder.
"If you repeat that accusation," he said quietly, "you may discover how fragile you truly are."
It wasn't shouted.
It didn't need to be.
Eline fell silent.
The threat wasn't dramatic. It was controlled. And that made it real.
Before the silence could grow heavier, Lucian leaned forward slightly.
"No one is going to kill you," he said calmly. "You are misunderstanding the nature of this conversation."
His voice was almost reassuring.
"In truth, you are about to undertake the most precious task a human has ever performed."
A faint pause.
"Although," he added carefully, "you are not entirely human."
Eline's pulse thudded in his ears.
"What does that even mean?"
Lucian held his gaze.
"You possess the ability," he said, each word deliberate, "to bring a vampire into existence."
The statement hung in the air.
Eline stared at him.
Then he let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
"This place has been strange since the moment I walked in," he said. "But this? This is too far."
His eyes moved from one face to the next.
"First of all, I don't even know what a vampire is. And even if I did, how exactly would I give birth to one?"
No one answered immediately.
And then—
Something shifted in his mind.
Memories.
Carlson moving too fast that one time — impossibly fast.
The way the others sometimes blurred red at the edges of his vision.
That faint, unnatural flicker in their eyes.
He had dismissed it.
Illusion. Stress. Imagination.
But now—
His breathing slowed.
His gaze snapped back to Carlson.
"You're… a vampire."
It wasn't a question.
Carlson inclined his head slightly.
"That," he replied evenly, "is an important detail."
A faint pause.
"But far more important," he continued, his eyes sharpening, "is the fact that you are going to give birth to one."
The room felt smaller.
Closer.
And for the first time since he arrived—
Eline realized the strange house was not strange at all.
It was something else entirely.