It feels weird to be back in Haventown after so many years. Part of me thought I’d never come back. And another part wanted to return from the moment I left.

We arrived a couple of hours after nightfall. Too late for the interview for that bartender job. Nikolas did it on purpose, of course. When he wants to get somewhere in time, he does, come hell or high water. So the fact that we were late says a lot. I don’t know why he bothered to come with me since he so clearly disapproves of my plan to get a new job. He’s been muttering about wanting to get a new Childe, someone who will do as he says. And yet, here he is.

Things have been shaky between us for a while now. My fault. I came back to him, but my mind stayed with Beth, and what she showed me. I wish I had understood faster. I haven’t killed in a long time, and Nikolas knows it. He really doesn’t like it.

The town has changed in all those years. A lot. But at the same time, it still feels like home. And so does the apartment. I have so many memories in this place. Memories of waking up with fangs and learning to use them, but also memories of years spent with Beth after Nikolas left. The best years of my life.

Deep down, I had hoped Beth would still be in the apartment. A small hope, true, but hope nonetheless. She wasn’t, and maybe it was better that way. She wouldn’t have been happy to see me with our Sire. Not happy at all.

She was happy when I joined her at the club, though.

I was too late for the interview but I went there anyway, thinking I might manage to sweet-talk the owner into giving me another chance. That plan just flew right out of my mind when I saw Beth on the dance floor.

Her hair was shorter than in my memories, and so was her dress, but it was her. My Beth.

Except that she was never mine, not that way.

And she wasn’t Beth anymore either. She’s Lisa, now. And whatever reserve still clung to her from her human days when I last saw her is gone. The anger she felt toward me back then seems to have disappeared, too. Or at least, I suppose it has.

Why else would she have invited me to join her and her human lover?