"She doesn't know she changes," Nara said, looking around the gathering of wereanimals in the community hall. "She doesn't even know what a wereanimal is. She thinks she has a 'curse' that makes her bck out during full moons."

  The assembled group exchanged troubled gnces. The tiger-strain man who had ughed at Maria's speech the day before now looked uncomfortable.

  "But she talked about fighting animal ways," he said. "How can she not know?"

  "Because no one ever told her," Nara expined patiently. "She grew up in a blood farm where the older prisoners helped her hide her condition from the vampires. They passed down stories about 'the curse' from before the outbreak. They created a whole belief system around it."

  "So she really believes all that stuff about light and demons?" asked a younger wolf-strain woman.

  "She does," Nara confirmed. "It's not an act. It's not madness. It's what kept her alive and gave her hope in a pce where hope doesn't exist."

  The small gathering fell silent, many looking ashamed of their earlier reactions to Maria's strange sermon. Nara took advantage of the moment to continue.

  "Baron Cassian and I are asking all of you to be patient with her. Don't contradict her beliefs directly. Just listen if she wants to talk about 'The Promise.' And remember to use simple words when you speak to her."

  "Simple words?" someone asked from the back.

  "She doesn't know what 'protection' means," Nara expined, her voice softening. "Or 'reading.' Or 'safety.' The blood farms don't teach basic words anymore. She only knows what other prisoners taught her."

  A murmur of shock ran through the room. Even those who had been kept as pets by vampire nobles had been taught to speak properly—if only to better entertain their owners.

  "What do we do if she asks questions?" asked an older bear-strain man.

  "Answer honestly, but simply," Nara said. "And if you don't know how to expin something, find me."

  As the meeting dispersed, Lyra, a young wolf-strain tracker, approached Nara.

  "I could help show her around," she offered. "I'm good with the youngest cubs. I know how to use simple words."

  Nara smiled gratefully. "That would be wonderful. She needs to see more of the territory before..."

  "Before what?" Lyra asked when Nara didn't finish.

  "Before Baron Cassian decides what's best for her," Nara said carefully. "He's written to Archduke Lucius requesting permission for her transfer to Viscount Gabriel's territory."

  Lyra's eyes widened. "Gabriel? The religious vampire?"

  "His background might help with her beliefs," Nara expined. "But for now, she's here. And seeing might be better than telling for someone like her."

  In another part of the estate, Baron Cassian was having a simir conversation with his household staff and the few vampire officials who managed his territory.

  "The girl is not to be mocked or treated as entertainment," he said, his voice cold and precise. "Her condition is not her fault. Her beliefs are not to be ridiculed."

  The assembled vampires and human staff nodded, though a few looked disappointed. News of the strange wereanimal girl who believed vampires were demons from hell had spread quickly through the estate.

  "She will be addressed with basic vocabury only," Cassian continued. "No complex terms. No references to wereanimals, transformation, or other concepts she doesn't yet understand."

  "Why keep her in the dark, sir?" asked Morris, his human household manager. "Wouldn't it be kinder to expin her condition?"

  "Her entire understanding of herself and the world is built around these beliefs," Cassian expined. "Destroying that framework without repcing it would be cruel, not kind."

  He looked around the room, his gaze lingering on each face. "This is not a request. It is an order. Anyone who deliberately upsets or confuses the girl will answer directly to me."

  The room tensed at his tone. Baron Cassian rarely made such explicit threats.

  "My concern is the condition of Blood Farm #17," he continued after a moment. "The deterioration of standards there suggests simir decline throughout the lower territories. This girl is evidence I intend to present to Count Dominic."

  That expnation satisfied most of the vampires present. Resource efficiency was something they understood, even if human comfort was not their concern.

  "In the meantime," Cassian concluded, "she will be shown selected parts of the territory. Prepare the north fields, the food production areas, and the central medical facility for visitors. Ensure all staff in these areas are properly instructed."

  Maria stared out her window at the garden below, watching people with the curse walking freely in the sunlight. They looked so normal most of the time, except when their eyes fshed animal colors or when they moved too quickly.

  A light knock at her door made her turn.

  "Hello?" she called.

  The door opened to reveal Nara with a younger woman beside her. This new person had reddish-brown hair and friendly eyes that sometimes fshed green.

  "Good morning, Maria," Nara said. "This is Lyra. We thought you might like to see more of this pce today."

  Maria hesitated. The demons had been strangely nice so far, but she still didn't trust them. Maybe this was when the trick would be revealed.

  "See what?" she asked cautiously.

  "Pces where food grows," Nara said. "Pces where people live. Would you like that?"

  Curiosity won over caution. Maria had never seen anything beyond Blood Farm #17 and this strange house.

  "Yes," she decided. "I would like to see."

  Outside, a vehicle waited – smaller than the one that had brought her here. Maria climbed in reluctantly, still not comfortable with the strange moving boxes.

  "This is a car," Lyra expined, noticing her discomfort. "It helps us travel faster than walking."

  As they drove away from the main house, Maria pressed her face to the window, amazed by how much space there was. No walls, no fences, just open nd with trees and grass stretching far away.

  "So much room," she whispered.

  Nara and Lyra exchanged a gnce but said nothing.

  Their first stop was a rge open area with rows of green pnts growing from the ground. People moved between the rows, checking the pnts and carrying tools.

  "What is this?" Maria asked as they walked along a dirt path between the growing things.

  "This is where we grow food," Nara expined. "These are vegetables. Things we eat."

  "Like ration packs?" Maria asked, thinking of the bnd nutrition bars from the farm.

  "Better than ration packs," Lyra said with a smile. "Here, look."

  She bent down and pulled something orange from the ground, brushing off dirt.

  "This is a carrot," she said, offering it to Maria. "You can eat it."

  Maria took the strange orange thing and looked at it doubtfully. After a moment, she took a tiny bite. Her eyes widened at the sweet, earthy taste – nothing like the processed food she'd known all her life.

  "Good?" Nara asked.

  Maria nodded, still chewing. It was the best thing she'd ever tasted.

  They continued through the fields, with Lyra showing her different pnts and letting her taste some of them. Maria couldn't understand how food came from dirt, but she couldn't deny the evidence in front of her.

  Next, they visited what Nara called a "vilge" – small houses where humans lived. Not blood bags but workers who tended the fields and did other jobs around the territory.

  "These people aren't in a farm?" Maria asked, watching children pying in a central area.

  "No," Nara said. "They work and live here freely."

  "But the demons... they don't take their blood?"

  Lyra looked to Nara for guidance on how to answer.

  "Baron Cassian doesn't believe in blood farms," Nara said carefully. "He has a different way."

  Maria fell silent, trying to understand. How could demons not want blood? That was what demons did – they took blood as punishment. The Promise said so.

  Their final stop was a building Nara called a "clinic" – a pce where sick or hurt people came to get better. It looked nothing like the medical areas of Blood Farm #17. It was clean and bright, with comfortable pces to sit and friendly staff.

  A human woman in a white coat showed Maria strange machines and expined how they helped people heal. Maria only understood some of the words, but she couldn't miss how different this pce was from the extraction rooms she knew.

  By the time they returned to the main house, Maria's mind was spinning with everything she'd seen. It didn't match anything she knew about demons and blood farms and the curse.

  "Are you okay?" Nara asked as they walked back to Maria's room.

  "I feel strange," Maria admitted. "Like I'm having a dream. This pce isn't real."

  "It is real," Nara said gently. "Just different from what you've known."

  "But The Promise says demons take blood for punishment," Maria insisted, her voice uncertain. "These demons don't take blood from those people in the vilge."

  "Different pces have different ways," was all Nara would say.

  Back in her room, Maria sat on the edge of her bed, trying to make sense of what she'd seen. The world was bigger and stranger than she had imagined. She closed her eyes and whispered The Promise to herself, taking comfort in the familiar words even as doubt crept in around the edges.

  Three days ter, Cassian was in his study reviewing reports when his telephone rang. This was unusual enough to make him pause – the archaic communication device was reserved for rare direct contact with higher nobility.

  He lifted the receiver. "Baron Bckwood."

  "Baron." The deep voice on the other end was instantly recognizable. "I understand you have a rather unusual guest."

  Cassian sat straighter, though there was no one to see. "Archduke Lucius. Yes, I have requested permission regarding her transfer to—"

  "Viscount Gabriel's territory," Lucius finished for him. "An interesting choice."

  "Her religious beliefs make him the most suitable option," Cassian expined carefully.

  There was a pause, then a sound that might have been a soft ugh. "Yes, Gabriel and his... theological interests. Very well, Baron. You have my permission for a temporary transfer."

  Cassian blinked in surprise. Archduke decisions typically took weeks, not days, and certainly didn't come via personal telephone calls.

  "Thank you, Archduke. May I ask what prompted your direct attention to this matter?"

  Another pause. "Let's just say I find your reports on Blood Farm #17 concerning. The deterioration of standards suggests inefficiency in resource management."

  Cassian recognized the careful framing. Resource efficiency was a politically acceptable reason for an Archduke to show interest in human conditions. Humanitarian concerns were not.

  "I've also written to Count Dominic," Cassian ventured.

  "Yes, I'm aware," Lucius replied. "His wife will no doubt find your evidence compelling. Arrange the transfer within the week, Baron. And keep me informed of any... notable developments."

  The line went dead before Cassian could respond.

  He repced the receiver slowly, considering the implications. Archduke Lucius rarely involved himself directly in such minor matters. That he had done so now, and with such unusual speed, suggested Maria's situation had touched on something of particur interest to him.

  Cassian made a note to investigate the historical records of Blood Farm #17 more thoroughly. Perhaps there was more to Maria's story than even she knew.

  For now, though, he had a transfer to arrange. Viscount Gabriel would need to be notified, secure transport would need to be organized, and Maria would need to be prepared for yet another dramatic change in her already turbulent life.

  He buzzed for Morris to begin the arrangements, wondering as he did so what Gabriel would make of a wereanimal who believed in the light's redemptive promise and had no idea she was anything other than a cursed human.