A crow with tattered wings sliced through the sky at breakneck speed. It crossed time zones without pause—from morning to dawn, dawn to midnight—as if chasing time itself.

It flew until it reached the other side of the globe: a snow-blanketed Nordic town. Though high latitude and the midnight sun cast a faint glow even at night, most residents remained fast asleep.

Unchallenged, the crow soared past a ruined church.

Until a shadow blocked its path.

"We do not welcome those—or any creature—with innocent blood on their hands, Crow Hag. You know this."

From the sunless shadow at the church’s broken wall, a girl emerged. Cute horns crowned her head; a heart-shaped tail swayed behind her. Dressed in slightly revealing attire, she caught the crow and spoke.

Her face was adorably youthful, yet blessed with an impressively ample bust.

"Lily the succubus," the crow rasped, "before you turned over a new leaf—can you truly say you never spilled innocent blood?"

A hoarse, elderly voice cackled from the crow’s beak: "Oh, right—I nearly forgot. You don’t need blood. You crave something else… countless life essences. Hehehehe."

Lily remained expressionless. "Say whatever you like, Crowbeak. Rumors won’t ruffle me. Or put plainly—are you here to declare war?"

"No, of course not," the Crow Hag replied through the crow. "I’m not here to surrender or provoke you, Lily. I have a transaction for your master."

"Too bad," Lily said bluntly. "Not everyone gets an audience with her on a whim."

"No matter. Payment is all I need—who I deal with is irrelevant." The crow scratched its wing, then pulled a vacuum-sealed blood vial from a feather pouch. "I trust you’ll offer a fair price."

Lily took the vial. "What is this?"

"The last vampire’s blood—venous," the Crow Hag cackled. "Purity level: at least Progenitor-grade. Interested?"

"…Let me think."

Lily held the vial, weighing its value. She didn’t doubt its authenticity. Back when the Crow Hag worked as an info broker and merchant, she kept her word. And no one in the dark creature world dared joke with her master.

"Speaking of which," the Crow Hag mused, "since your master has such… interests, do you two enjoy endless fun together? Hehehehe."

Lily let out a soft sigh. "You’re overthinking it. There’s nothing like that."

(If only. Sadly, her master had simply saved and taken them in—nothing more. They’d always assumed she was straight… until that promotion condition leaked recently.)

A faint envy stirred in Lily toward the blood’s owner.

"Send your true form to collect payment. This little bird can’t carry it back."

...

"Wait—hold on. What did you just say?" I blurted out. "‘Daytime thoughts become nighttime dreams’? We’re close, sure, but talk nonsense like that and I’ll sue you for slander!"

If my dream happened because I’d been thinking about her… did that mean I was fantasizing about *that*?!

"Then explain it," An Li sneered. "The Holy See dealt with the Queen of Night before. ‘Queen’ refers to power—not dominatrix behavior. The version in your dream? Pure fantasy."

"But I really didn’t fantasize…"

(Definitely not about *that* with her.)

Still… An Li had a point. I *had* thought about the Queen before sleeping.

Planned to confront her head-on with strength someday… Wait. *This* counts as "confronting head-on"?

Does "bedroom confrontation" count too?

"Ahem. Drop it, An Li. How much longer? I’m starving."

An Li rolled her eyes in the rearview mirror. "Hungry? Drink blood. Arrival time doesn’t affect your meal."

"…Huh. Guess you’re right."

Soon after, An Li reached their destination. First order of business in a new place? Find lodging.