The moment Phil Doyle heard a knock on his apartment door he immediately got up and opened it. On the other side of the door was Archer who gave him a bright smile while Esme stood a bit further back, looking downtrodden and miserable.
"What happened?" Phil asked noticing the wound on Esme's shoulder as he let them in.
"Jarold Walker." Archer said as he helped guide Esme, "Some sword. You have a med kit right? She needs something more than a tie." Archer said before pausing as he looked at Esme's wound.
"Or maybe not." Archer said as he unwrapped his tie bandage and revealed that her shoulder had mostly healed now.
Esme looked more horrified than relieved at the fact that she was no longer bleeding. Phil in turn raised an eyebrow in interest as he asked Archer, "Infected right?"
"With what I'm still not a hundred percent sure, but yes." Archer said as he led her to sit down on the living room couch, "How are you feeling? This is all pretty overwhelming."
"I, I have no idea." Esme said as she stared long and hard at Archer, "Who, what, are you Archer?" She asked trying to get herself out of her shocked stupor.
Archer gave a quick glance over to Phil to see if he would stop him or not. Phil gave Archer an indication to do what he wants so Archer gave Esme a reassuring smile and sat down next to her.
"Let me properly introduce myself. My name is Archer Griffen, I'm actually a member of the WDO, in training at least. I came to Trinity Academy as an undercover agent here to help mitigate any disasters that befall the school due to the expected turmoil for the next few years. Professor Phil Doyle acts as liaison for the WDO." Archer explained and Esme looked at Archer as if he had just grown a second head before her.
"WDO? You're a hero?" Esme said blinking multiple times trying to process the revelation.
"In training." Archer corrected.
"Oh okay." Esme said nodding her head before asking, "So why are you telling me this?"
"Well, you are currently a bit compromised as a student of Trinity Academy." Archer said scratching his head awkwardly.
"Compromised?"
"They did try to kill you." Archer pointed out.
"Why?" Esme said.
"You did eat a bunch of the animals in the garden."
"I know that, but how did they find out so quickly? They didn't know while I was there! Wait! How did you find out?"
"Oh rather easily actually." Archer said with a straight face.
"What, how?" Esme said looking almost offended, "I did my best to hide everything! I even knew how much progress they were making!"
"Well you see…" Archer then blinked as he realized an inconsistency, "Hmm actually, did any of them talk to you?"
"Only briefly. Just told me to take files and deliver them."
"Did they check your shoes?"
"No?" Esme said looking confused.
"What about your glasses? Did anyone else notice the small crack?" Archer asked.
"Uh, I don't think so." Esme said just as she brushed a finger against the crack that she had struggled to ignore the entire time.
"Did they mention anything about you in the timeline?"
"Eh, no?"
"Did they smell you?" Archer said tapping his chin.
"What, ew! No! Wait, did you smell me?" Esme said instinctively covering her body with her arms.
"Well, I breathe in your vicinity, so of course." Archer said calmly causing Phil to try and hold back his laughter, "No one approached you while you were at school?"
"No. I thought I got away with it." Esme said collecting herself.
"Is that normal?" Archer asked Phil.
"If they knew she was the culprit, they would have gone after her there, quicker, easier, and fewer eyes." Phil said looking thoughtful.
"So how did they know?" Archer asked aloud, though a certain name did appear in his head, well two actually.
"How did you know?" Esme asked her unanswered question again.
"Oh, you see the bodies were still warm, which meant that they would have only been killed no longer than a few hours ago. You let them enter and feed them at six, then after they leave you could enter." Archer began to explain.
"But I could have been standing at the door."
"Yes, but whoever entered the garden didn't force their way in through the fences, so I imagine they likely had a keycard. Now I suppose it could have been one of the few teachers around, but the shoes were a giveaway for it being a student."
"Shoes?"
"Imprints on the ground, matches the patterns of a student's shoes, the girl's one specifically. Then the fact that the prints match your shoe size and I saw dirt on the bottom of your shoes."
"When?"
"When I broke the chair and caught you."
"You broke my chair! That was because of you!" Esme said looking upset.
"I apologize but I needed to make sure it was you before coming to a conclusion." Archer said sheepishly, "Do you want me to continue explaining why I knew it was you?"
"I guess." Esme said in a huff.
"Well the smoking gun was your shampoo, or rather conditioner in this case." Archer said pausing as he thought.
"My conditioner?"
"Or shampoo. I smelled it on the feathers." Archer said as he dug into his pant pocket, "Hmm." He grunted as he found nothing but his phone and wallet there. Checking his handkerchief pocket he found only his handkerchief.
"One second." Archer said standing up and checked his back pockets, again nothing. Archer paused for a second before remembering, "Oh right." He said as he unzipped his jacket's inside pocket and dug out a few feathers.
"Here, what does this smell like?" He said holding them up to her nose.
"Hay and… blood." Esme said looking almost transfixed.
"What else?" Archer quickly asked.
"Uh… soap." Esme said snapping back in focus and thought for a second.
"Exactly, the same brand that they give to students." Archer explained, "You have it, Mercy has it, and Luna does too. I should mention, that it is a different brand compared to the boys'."
"Did you smell Jarold?" Esme asked still unable to get over that weird quirk.
"Of course and every other person who had amenities provided to them who I encountered."
"Why?"
"I need to breathe and I notice these things." Archer said with a shrug before summarizing everything, "Anyways I know that whoever killed those animals and drank their blood had to have access to the garden early in the morning. I know that they use the same hair care products as you, have your shoe size, your unusual behavior in the morning, and also there are a few specks of blood on your uniform."
"Huh?" She said noticing the faintest of specks on end of her sleeves, "How did you notice this?"
"I'm perceptive." Archer said with a shrug.
"It seems so." Esme said nodding her head before anxiety gripped her again, "So now what happens to me?"
"Well you are not exactly human anymore. So technically you are a kill on sight right now." Archer pointed out which caused Esme to shrink back from him.
"Archer, that's not how you talk to a scared child. You're meant to be a hero." Phil said disapprovingly.
"I didn't mean to scare you." Archer quickly said looking apologetic, "But you deserve to know what might happen. If you are found it can get bad for you."
"I, I know that already." Esme taking a deep breath to calm herself, "I'm a monster." She said nodding her head, "Why did you even save me?"
"Because you are not a monster. At least not yet." Archer said, "You haven't attacked someone yet have you?"
"I've been tempted to."
"But you didn't so that means there's a chance we can cure you, or at least mitigate it. If you let us help you. I promise I will do whatever I can, my honor as a hero, in training." Archer offered.
"What do you need?" Esme said looking at Archer with hope.
"First I need to know when exactly this happened to you." Archer said giving her a confident smile.
"Alright." Esme said taking a deep breath and recalling everything, "It happened Saturday night. I was going home after buying some groceries and then I was chased by someone."
"Did you see their face?"
"No they were completely covered up, with a mask and everything."
"What did the disguise look like?"
"Black. Sorry." Esme apologized.
"No worries." Archer said trying to dismiss her concerns, "Can you tell me where you were?" Archer said pulling out his phone and pulling out the maps and showed it to her.
"Here." Esme said finding the convenience store and traced her path that she took.
"Down to the park? Are you sure?" Archer said surprised.
"Yes, I remember seeing it before… he caught me."
"So it is a man?"
"Yes, I remember him taunting me." Esme said gripping her fist.
"Okay, I'll look over the place after school to see if I find anything, I'm going to need to take a sample of your blood." Archer said to Esme before asking Phil, "You have syringes?"
"Yes, part of the medical supplies."
"Right, I'll take your blood sample, have my friend look at what is wrong and report back." Archer instructed, "For now, you need some rest. Miser Doyle, you have a guest room right?"
"Yes, but she can't stay here." Phil said.
"Why not?" Archer turned to him in surprise.
"First, she is someone who hungers for blood, human blood, and I don't think I can sleep with her here." Phil said.
"Oh come on, she staved off her hunger for thirty-six hours, well less. She fed what? Sixteen hours ago? You don't feel hungry do you?" Archer asked Esme kindly. Esme gave no reply and stared down at her knees, almost in shame.
"Okay, so diminishing returns and it seems that animal blood isn't enough." Archer said turning back to Phil, "But she'll try not to eat you."
"There's also the issue that she is a student. I can't be having a student alone in my place." Phil pointed out.
"Oh it's not like you're going to do something untoward."
"I have neighbours around in the morning and I live closer to the school than you, students and staff come by my place." Phil said folding his arms.
"Ah. I see." Archer said realizing that he probably won't be able to convince Phil on this matter, "Esme are you willing to sneak over to my place?" Archer said in a friendly tone.
***
"This is my little place." Archer said opening the room to the door of his apartment and inviting Esme in.
"This looks different from an academy-given place." Esme said looking around.
"You can use my bedroom, the bathroom is there as well, I'll sleep on the couch." Archer said as he threw his torn tie into the garbage, "I need to get myself a new tie, so I'll be gone while you clean yourself up. I'll be back." Archer said leaving the apartment.
"Wait? You're leaving me alone?" Esme said alarmed.
"Oh yeah, only for a few minutes, just don't leave the apartment." Archer said.
"What if I get hungry?"
"I think you can hold on for another twenty minutes. Take care, don't drink anybody." Archer said closing the door behind him.
Esme now left alone decided that she may as well clean off the dirt she had gathered from being buried under all those dead leaves. Entering the bathroom she took a shower. As the warm water washed over her body. It soothed her and helped to calm some of her unease down.
She tried her best to ignore her hunger pangs that had begun to develop. Though she worried what would happen when it got worse. There were no animals nearby that she could consume and honestly, when she did drink them, they tasted foul. She only did so to ease her hunger. Maybe Archer was right, diminishing returns, so how quickly will she lose control now?
Finishing her shower she dried herself off and entered Archer's bedroom. Not wanting to wear her dirty clothes she looked to borrow some of Archer's, hoping that he wouldn't mind. Looking through his drawer she found a nice, clean t-shirt.
Putting it on, she found that her midriff was showing. Confused momentarily as to why, considering that she was slightly shorter than Archer, she realized that there was a difference between the two's chest measurements. Esme quickly began searching for something else to wear feeling self-conscious; it felt inappropriate to have her stomach exposed in a boys' room.
Looking through the closet she found a pair of pristine-looking uniforms, similar in design save for one being red and the other being brown. They looked like something an officer would wear, on the top shelf above the uniforms was a round-brimmed hat.
As she wondered what the uniforms were for, she saw a nice, larger-looking jacket and quickly grabbed it along with a pair of sweatpants that she saw on the top shelf as well. Just as she put on the clothes she heard the door to the apartment open.
"Hello! Sorry I took so long." Archer said, "Huh? Where are you?"
"I'm here." Esme said poking her head out the door.
"Oh, you're wearing some of my clothes. Right, I should get you some clothes. What are your sizes?" Archer said as he dropped a new tie onto the coffee table.
"I'm sorry?"
"I mean for clothes, not like, ugh, you're worse than Julia." Archer said shaking his head before he remembered something, "Ah right. To stave off your hunger." Archer said as he walked into the bedroom and reached under his bed.
Getting back up he held a bottle of yellowish liquid in his hand and as he turned back to her he noticed his closet door open. Esme looked away like a child caught in the act as Archer gave a small smile and closed the door.
"Here." He said handing the bottle to her, "Emergency medical plasma I keep. Should do the same trick as regular human blood if not better."
Esme before she could even stop herself felt her body moving against her and snatched the bottle straight from Archer's grasp. Ripping the cap off, she chugged the contents until the bottle was empty.
She shivered as she felt a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time run through her and let out a shaky and sultry sigh. Archer at this point was wondering if he had somehow intruded on something very private. Despite that not making much sense.
"That was amazing." Esme said breathlessly, feeling a fullness that simple animal blood failed to compare with.
"Did not expect that reaction." Archer said as he stood watching awkwardly. Think of other things Archer, pure thoughts only.
"Oh." Esme said suddenly turning bright red realizing what she just did, "Sorry."
"It's fine, good to see that plasma works." Archer said as he went and dug out another bottle from under his bed. This time the contents inside were a yellowish-white powder and he handed it to her, "Freeze-dried plasma, ten-to-one ratio with water. Should last you the next week."
"Thank you." Esme said holding the bottle as if it was made of gold and smiled at him. Despite the odds she did truly feel safe being next to Archer. He had already proved himself to her several times already.
"No issue at all. You need it." Archer said as he walked out of the bedroom, "Now let's get some sleep. I need to figure out how to stop everyone from killing you tomorrow."
"You sure know how to ease someone's tension." Esme said shaking her head.
"What can I say? I'm a hero in training only." Archer said shutting the door behind him and laying down onto the couch instantly falling asleep with the last thought going through his head being just how interesting those S ranks are.