"Whoah.... You're so calm with digging up your mom's grave, Master Harker!" Yan exclaimed. "Ah, sorry! I said 'Master' again! But won't this count as disrespecting the dead?"

"Nah. I'm sure she'll understand." Harker chuckled as he placed the evidence in the hole he dug then buried it again. "Won't want her son to go to jail after survivin' an attack from a demon.. Plus I brought her favorite flowers to make up for it."

He set down a bunch of red spider lilies. He swiped them from a flower shop while swinging around the city with his hair.

"Been a while since I visited, Mom. Sorry. Got busy with stuff." He said. "We all miss you."

The flowers swayed as the wind blew over the small wooden statue of a beautiful woman that stood to mark Mrs. Jones grave. His dad carved that statue himself. Underneath were the words:

'In the memory of a loving wife and mother

Josephine Jones 1955-1990'

Harker took the breeze as a sign of her being glad about his visit. He smiled softly and then went on his way back to the hotel.

--------------------------

Xi Hua luckily took off her clothes and placed them where they wouldn't be stained with blood. This showed that she was quite careful with her victims. She just never anticipated Harker to gain the shapeshifting ability and fight back.

As Harker picked these clothes up and transformed into Xi Hua, he finally asked the question he had been meaning to ask Yan.

"If all you could do is to serve your master... Why did you help me kill Xi Hua?"

Yan was quiet for a while once again. Then, he said:

"It just felt natural."historical

"Felt natural?" Harker frowned using Xi Hua's cherry-red lips.

"Like fate, or something like that. When Master Xi Hua became my Demon Lord of the West, it didn't feel right. It's like when you have lice in your head that you try to ignore. But the more they bite and drink your blood, the more unbearable they become."

"You don't even have a head, how can you have lice?" Harker joked.

"I'm just giving an example that you might understand, Mas— Harker." Yan said. "I tried my best to be satisfied and accommodate Master Xi Hua. She is actually a good master, just very bloodthirsty and headstrong. She likes to rebel against her parents and so she eats more than how much they let her."

"But that's because she knows what she's capable of. She's not reckless. I think that her ruthless and ambitious mind is a great thing for a new Omniscient One to have... But it still didn't sit right with me somehow. Then when she was about to eat you ...."

"It just happened. I thought to give you the ability, and as soon as you drank her blood, your instincts made it so that you ate her head immediately."

Harker rubbed his chin. "So both cases are pure instincts, huh? I don't really know if I believe in fate or not, but I do understand natural instincts for survival. Maybe since Xi Hua likes to seek trouble for her parents, you subconsciously thought she won't survive that long so you won't have a master?"

Yan shrugged. "Maybe. I will lose my powers if my master dies before I find a new one. That's why I was stuck in that crypt."

Harker twirled his hair, emulating how Xi Hua would act.

"Hmm... I actually feel a bit sorry for you. I don't like the idea of slaves that much. It's just unfair, when you both have free will and yet the other tries to take that away."

Yan thought about it. "Well, I have always existed this way... I never really thought of being anything else than a slave or assistant. It doesn't trouble me at all. "

Harker nodded. "I know. I won't bother you about it if you're fine with it. Do you feel guilty about Xi Hua's death, though?"

"I do, a little." Yan admitted. "But like I said, I felt like it was needed to reach this outcome."

"Right."

Harker continued to ask questions as he went on the elevator. "Did you foresee this outcome? Can you travel to the future?"

"Er, the future is complicated. It's not just one line, it's multiple possible pathways. I can travel to one future pathway if you willed me to."

"Can you travel to the past and change the fate of your Master Quan Zhi if I asked you to?"

"Asking is different from willing, Master Harker." Yan said seriously. "Willing means you need to be aware of exactly what you will have me do, and fully control me as you do it. It's like willing a billiard ball to enter a hole. You can't just ask it to go to the hole itself, you have to strike it correctly. Or else I might get lost in some other plane."

Harker nodded. "I see. Since your Master Quan Zhi is so powerful, was he able to do that? That's why he can control reality?"

"Yes. He can also manipulate matter and existence itself just by will. That's his ability." Yan said proudly.

"Then how did he get defeated if he's all-powerful?"

Yan was silent for the third time.

"I'd rather not talk about that. It's.... still painful."

Harker can notice the grief in his voice when he says that. It's just like how he find it difficult to talk about his mom's death with someone else. Especially with strangers he just met. It's not really something that should bother him, so Harker let it be. He doesn't want the eyeball to start crying again.

The elevator finally reached the ground floor with a Ding!, and they stepped out.

Yan vanished but just like his natural instincts, Harker could tell the eyeball was still there. He went to the receptionist, also holding Xi Hua's purse.

"Hello— Oh." Xi Hua's large jugs hit the desk. "Sorry. I'm here to check out from the suite on the 39th floor."

Harker hated how these jugs felt so heavy. His back aches a bit, and they also fucking bounce with every little movement he makes. So troublesome..

"Oh, Ms. Westenra. Yes, you can just hand out your credit card and sign here."

Harker had seen Xi Hua's signature and tried his best to replicate it.

As it seemed like all of it would be settled, they receptionist then asked when she handed back her credit card:

"By the way, Ma'am. It says here that you had a guest accompanying you. Where is he?" She asked.

"He already went out last night." Harker replied.

"I see. Because we had a call that was transferred to your room last night, asking for this male guest with you. The caller complained that no one was answering his call..."

Harker's heart went cold. "Uh... Who was this caller?"

The receptionist said. "He said his name was Roland Faust, and that he was a friend of yours."

Shit, it's Roland!

This could complicate things. Since Xi Hua used a fake name and dummy credit card, that helps save him from suspicion of the police if they ever realize she was missing. But if Roland gets involved....

He wasn't so sure if his best friend wouldn't figure out something's wrong. Roland was even more observant than him, and he's also very smart. All his professors claim he'd become one of the best lawyers in the state of New York once he graduates.

Harker still tried to stay calm and thought about what he should do. He just took the credit card back, bid farewell to the receptionist....

Then, he took a cab.

"Please take me to the Faust Residence in Scarsdale."