~~~Like a fairy tale, she came in her beautiful gown and the males all stared. But she would only walk into the arms of one man. The man with the skin coat stood awaiting her. Her small hands were taken into his. Lips would touch…~~~

Nori woke up feeling completely awkward, or maybe ashamed. The man from the shop had been in her dreams all night and everytime she woke up she only felt discomfort. Maybe she was stuck in this house too long. That must've been it. It wouldn't kill her to take one walk, maybe she can take Kreature with her.

Quietly, she walked down the stairs and reached for the door.

"Going somewhere?"

Nori whirled around in complete shock. Never had she known Sterling to be at home during the night. "I…I needed some air."

"You won't find any clear air out there." Sterling was sitting in the darkness of the living room and the sound of his voice sounded to eerily to her. "It's been stench with the greed and lust of a new society." Nori hand was trembling on the doorknob making a shaking noise. "Come here, Nori."

She dropped her hand from the doorknob and walked over into the dark living room. As much as the whole situation was scary, she was more scared to not do what he said. She felt the floor until she found a spot to sit. She could hear his breathing really close. "What's wrong, Nori?" He asked her.

"It's just that…I can't sleep. I've been having these strange dreams all night. Do I really have to get married?"

Sterling grunted. "You'll be much more safer being around soulless than humans, remember. Besides I am considered your guardian and I have to approve of who will let you in. Your job is to hide being human as much as possible."

"But I'm too scared," she cried. "Everyone's so desperate to eat." She smelled a foul odor in the air coming from Sterling. He blew smoke straight up into the air to avoid getting it into Nori. "There are some things that we have to face. The truth is it's over for us. We might as well be dead. All we have left is to blend in. Besides, aside from certain things, the soulless live normal lives."

Nori began to cry even louder. "NO!" she screamed. "What…what happened to you?! You're not the Sterling I know! You promised to protect me but you're only sending me to my death! You're doing things I don't understand! You're scaring me! I'm scared all the time!" Nori stood up and ran to the front door. She slammed the door on the darkness. Sterling didn't move or say a thing when she left.

There was much doubt as to where she could go. She couldn't trust Sterling's motive at all. To be among the soulless was the last thing she wanted. So she turned towards the direction of the woods. She ran not caring how dark or quiet it was. As she did, a shadow in the distance caught her eyes. Nori could not stop herself in time to avoid colliding with it. It happened to be a real person and real arms reached out to grab her.

Nori kept her eyes closed when she felt the grip. "Are you all right?" said a voice. She looked up and found that the voice belonged to that same man. The one from the boutique and in her dream. "It's you," Nori said nervously.

"And it is you, I see," said the man. "You shouldn't be out here all alone when it's so cold outside."

"I know…bbbuttttt."

"Did you run away from home?" asked the man. "yes," said Nori with a bit of confidence. "That's exactly what I did."

"Oh I see. You should come with me then. I have a carriage nearby that will take us to my home. Here." The man took off his skin coat and wrapped it around Nori. He led through a forest path and found a small horse-drawn carriage waiting. Nori felt relieved and tired. In time, they arrived infront of a huge mansion in the country. "This is my home. Kinda like a castle isn't it?"

"Yes," said Nori.

The man took her through the giant halls of the mansion. The place itself was well furnished and was much warmer and more comforting than living with Sterling. The man led her down the hall where a large door was at the end. They stopped at a smaller door right before it. "This will be your room," he said as he opened the door. "It's right next to mine in case you need me."

"Thank you," said Nori.

"It's still late, you should get some sleep. And I have my servants prepare breakfast in the morning." The man left Nori in the room. She looked around through the drawers and the dressers. It seemed that the room was already made for her to be in. The closet had beautiful dresses that looked like they could fit her. The drawers were filled with lingerie and undergarments. And a wide arrangement of perfumes and feminine objects stood on top of the dressers.

Nori picked out a nightgown and change in front of the mirror. That's when she realized it. She put her face closer to the mirror. Nori did not put on her red lenses. And the man had seen her brown human eyes. It was a trap or a set up. Nori went to the door to find it locked. The only window in the room was very small and was located near the ceiling with no possible way of reaching it. She placed her hands to the wall beneath the window in frustration and that was when the wall slightly moved. With her hands Nori pushed the wall to one side and found the secret passage. It was barely big enough for her to squeeze through.

It was very dark and small. Nori felt claustrophobic, as she had to feel her way down the dark path. She nearly tripped at the passage was descending downwards. She would have to keep moving until she was out of the passage, no turning now. Finally she felt another jerked wall and slid it open. Nori was face with a small flight of stairs. She went downwards making turn after turn until she could see light. There was a curtain in front of her and she opened it.

She had come face to face with a nightmare. The biggest of traps. The large room consisted of almost a hundred see-through coffins. All of them were naked bodies that seem as if they were asleep. They didn't look really dead. Nori feared the worst. That these were human bodies.

She turned around and found the man there. Nori shrieked, but the man did nothing. He grabbed her and tried to control her to keep her from running off. "Calm down," he said.

"No. This is a trap. You're gonna kill me and put me into one of those coffins!" she screamed.

"No, no. I will do nothing of the sort." By this time Nori was calmer but much more afraid. "But I'm a human."

"I know," he said. "Even in the store I knew. But you will not suffer their fate. They are my soul supply and I rarely feed on them. I hide them in here and come when I am weak. And as you can see there are so many that I do not need another human."

Nori was still shaking. "But, you locked the door," she said. "Then why am I here?"

"Young one, you know that you are to take on the rites of passage since you began to bleed. I know you are human but moreso I've been captivated by your beauty."

"But, I'm not…I'm only nine. Sterling said I got this illness and that's how I bled and…" Nori put her hands to her breasts. "You've been given a blessing, child," he said. "To become a woman shall be the most wondrous thing once you are wedded."

"But, I don't want to marry!" Nori protested trying to get out of the man's grip.

"Child, I love you," said the man. "What?!" said Nori. "Believe my words, I truly care about you. You are living a fragile life of great danger. Become my bride and I shall protect and provide for you. I will not force you to grow up if you do not wish. All that marriage is will be a contract. My promise to you to give you everything you want. And your promise to stay here forever."

Nori looked down thinking of the situation. She was still too young to understand these feelings of love. She hardly knew the man and she still didn't know his name. Would she be willing to spend the rest of her life with a total stranger? But what about those dreams? Did they meant that she liked him in some way? "That man has brought himself into the darkness. He cannot help you like I can," he said.

To Nori, this was true. Sterling was not the same man he was. She would listen to her heart. She would follow her dreams. "I'll marry you."