The apartment was a controlled mess. Well, calling it "controlled" was generous—there were suitcases sprawled open on the floor, piles of clothes everywhere, and Carmen pacing back and forth muttering about "the essentials."
Meanwhile, I was sitting cross-legged on the couch, staring at a list I'd made of things I needed to bring, as if by sheer willpower I could conjure the mental clarity to pack properly. Spoiler: it wasn't working.
Two weeks had flown by in a blur, and now we were down to the wire. We were leaving for the vampire realm tomorrow. Tomorrow.
The thought made my stomach flip every time it crossed my mind. I tried to focus on packing, but my brain kept drifting to everything Carmen had told me about her home.
Apparently, the vampire realm wasn't as intimidating as I had imagined it to be. Carmen had described it as "strangely normal," with cities, towns, and countryside just like the human world.
