"I don't... I mean, I... ugh. It's complicated," I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck.

  "Oh, tell me, tell me! As your 'Big Sister,' it's my duty to help you navigate your messy little heart." I can practically feel the gossip-hungry energy radiating off her.

  "Can't you just read my memories? Why make me say it?"

  "Where's the fun in that?" She ughs, the sound echoing musically in the cave. "Besides, memories are just pictures. Emotions are understood more clearly when the person who feels them describes the weight of them. Go on. Tell me about the little human teacher."

  I sigh, staring at the cave entrance where the sun is still hidden. "I first met Rose at college. She's my zoology lecturer… The moment she walked into the hall, every guy in the room—myself included—was floored.

  Imagine a young, beautiful woman in her thirties among a faculty of old, grey professors." I chuckle despite myself. "Even some of the male teachers tried to hit on her."

  "And you thought you had a chance?"

  "I thought she was mature. I thought that if we had something, it wouldn't get messy. One thing led to another, and we started talking, and for a while, I thought we were actually... comfortable.

  But then, two months ago, a new couple moved in next door to my house. Imagine my shock when I saw her standing there with her husband, Loris.

  I felt like shit that day. I thought she'd betrayed me, but the truth was she never owed me anything. We never said the words. It was probably all in my head."

  "If it was in your head, why did the husband try to murder you?" Velora asks, her head tilting.

  "Because Loris is a paranoid moron," I snap, my voice growing cold with rage.

  'Haah'

  I take a breath to steady my heart. "After they moved in, Rose changed. She became distant, lost. She had dark circles under her eyes. Many approached her to ask about her problem, but she politely refused.

  I also approached her, and to my surprise, she told me it was grief over her parents. We started talking again, just as friends... but then I saw the marks. Bruises on her arms. Fingerprints on her neck."

  My hands clench into fists. "Despite her refusal, I called the police. I thought I was saving her. But Loris has his cws in the local precinct. Instead of arresting him, the cops came to my house and threatened my family for 'false reporting.'

  The Jones brothers even went to the shop where Olivia works to scare her. Olivia begged me to stop. She told me we couldn't afford to fight people like that. So, I forced myself to look away. Every time I passed Rose in the street, I looked at the ground."

  I look over at Rose's sleeping face. "But Loris... he couldn't let it go. He misunderstood the way she looked at me, I guess. He thought something was happening, and that's why I ended up on that cliff." I look up to realise that the sun is already shining brightly in the sky.

  "Ah... so it is like this," Velora says with absolute confidence. "She likes you, huh."

  "I told you, it was probably one-sided—"

  "Who are you fooling, Harry? Yourself?" Velora scoffs. "Anyone who hears that story knows the truth. Why would a woman like her, surrounded by unwanted suitors, open her heart to a shy student unless she felt a spark? It's as clear as the lust humming in every succubi's blood."

  I stay silent, the truth of her words sinking in. Then, the worry returns. "Is she alright, Velora? I mean... did I take too much?"

  "You shouldn't believe everything you read in those silly human novels," Velora says, her tone becoming professorial. She conjures a pair of gsses onto her nose again.

  "Yes, we Lust Demons feed on vitality. And yes, a feral demon can suck a partner dry until they're a husk. But we are higher-tier beings.

  When we 'exchange', it's just that—an exchange. We take vitality, but we also give a tiny fraction of our own demonic essence back. It's a bond."

  She pats my hand. "She is perfectly fine, Harry. In fact, she'll probably feel more energetic than she has in years. I only stopped you st night because you're a newborn; you don't know your own strength yet. Exchange depends on power, health, and many conditions; yes, it would have been different if I hadn't stopped you before you sucked her entire vitality."

  "Thank you… big sis." Thinking about how close I was to killing Rose yesterday made me shiver.

  "Now, enough talk about the human," Velora says, her expression sharpening into something regal and serious. "Sit in front of me, Harry. I didn't bring you here just to py dress-up. I have something important to show you before I go back."

  "Wait a minute... going back?" Her words startle me, a cold spike of anxiety hitting my chest. "What do you mean?"

  "It's just what you heard," Velora says, a small, weary smile tugging at her lips. "Back to my realm. To remind you, in case you forgot, I also woke up from a millennial-long sleep recently. This big sister of yours needs time to heal."

  "Can't you recover here?" I asked.

  "No. The environment in the pace is saturated with Ojas compared to this barren world, and I can't babysit you every hour of every day."

  A sudden, sharp jealousy stings me. I realize that if she needs to heal, she likely needs to harvest vitality too.

  The thought of her with someone else—doing what I just did with Rose—makes my blood boil with a possessiveness I can't control.

  "Well, lucky for me, I've acquired an elixir that can help me recover," Velora remarks, perhaps sensing the dark turn of my thoughts. "Though it will take me several days to fully digest its power."

  The tension in my shoulders vanishes. My heart is at ease, but a new fear takes root. "Should I also have to go back with you?" The thought of leaving Chloe and Olivia behind—of never seeing my home again—is unbearable.

  "No, you're not ready to go back... yet," she says, her eyes drifting toward the sealed cave entrance. "You will stay here on Ervium."

  Relief washes over me. I'm not ready to leave my family, and looking at the sleeping woman across the cave, I realize I can't leave Rose now, either.

  "Now, focus, Harry," Velora commands. She reaches out, her fingertips glowing with a soft amethyst light. "I am going to show you the true nature of your power. Close your eyes."