Vampire Cultivation System in a Hidden World of Monsters

I looked around at the girls at the booth and said, "Do you really think I overreacted?"

"Yes!" They all said at once.

"Ok, I'll go apologize. There's something else I need to deal with later, but I'll do this first," I said.

As I walked by Ophelia, I used Night Whisper, to whisper in her ear without anyone else hearing, "You and I need to talk later." No one seemed to notice except Ophelia who looked at me like a wounded animal. I didn't have time to deal with that reaction, so I just kept walking.

When I got to Penny's room, I knocked on the door. The door opened, but when I pushed on it, there was the loud sound of scurrying. Then when I opened the door all the way, no one was around.

Penny must have been hiding by imitating something in the room. I sat down on the bed and laid back on it. I sighed. "Penny, I'm not here to scold you anymore. I'm actually here to apologize. Something was bothering me and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

"I understand as a mimic, it's in your nature to hide in plain sight. I won't fault you for that. If that's how you feel more comfortable, you can keep doing that. I just feel like you would be a lot happier if you let people include you on things instead of having to be a hidden observer of other people having fun and interacting."

"I'll come out, but you have to get off me first," she said.

I got off the bed and stood up. I watched as the comforter on the bed turned into Penny. There was the real comforter underneath her. She had covered up the real one with her body. That was clever. I wouldn't have guessed that's what she was imitating.

"I'm sorry for spying," she said. "I'm just not used to so many people looking at me like I'm alive, if that makes sense. Acknowledging my existence. It's stressful. That's why I'd rather hide and just try to enjoy watching other people have fun."

"That's not going to help you live a happy fulfilled life though," I said, sitting down next to her and putting my arm around her. "You should be a part of things. You deserve to be included. If anyone makes you feel like you don't belong, you let me know."

"Well, now that you mention it, there is one person," she said.

"Who?" I said. I had a suspicion I knew who it was.

"Ophelia," she said.

Yep. I knew it. "What did she do?" I said.

"She caught me hiding in the hallway pretending to be the pot around a plant. Said she could smell me or something. She told me to go back where I came from. That I didn't belong here. That I wasn't strong like the other girls. That I would only hold you back and be a liability, like I was on the last mission," she said.

"Penny! None of that is true. You belong here just like everyone else. I don't require you to start off strong. All I require is that you follow the rules I set out at the beginning, and you've done that. The rest will come later. You'll get stronger as time goes on. I mean, you've already gotten stronger," I said.

"Now, you can change into things other than a chest full of pennies. That is all you could transform into before, right?"

"Yes," she said, looking down at the floor.

"See! Now you can transform into all sorts of things!" I said. "I'm going to talk to Ophelia and tell her to back off. If she doesn't agree to it, she's off the team."

"Ok," Penny said. "I don't want to be the reason anyone gets thrown off the team."

"You're valuable too. At least know that I value you, even if you don't value yourself. But you should work on that," I said. I got up and went to leave to talk to Ophelia, but Penny grabbed my sleeve.

"Can you make out with me for a bit?" She said. "It would make me feel better."

"Sure," I said. I pushed her down on the bed and kissed her. We made out for half an hour. "Do you want to be with the rest of the girls, or should I leave you here?"

"I think I'm going to rest for a bit. I didn't sleep well last night," she said.

"Ok, rest well," I said as I left the room.

I made my way back downstairs. My original five and Mel were still there but everyone else had left. "Where is Ophelia's room?" I asked Victoria.

She gave me the room number. "Hey, Mel, are you going to be ok spending a while with these girls?" I asked her.

"Yeah. They've all been very nice. They even said I could watch you fuck them, next time," she said.

"Good," I said, wrinkling my brow slightly. "Girls, take good care of Mel."

They all nodded. I said goodbye and I made my way to Ophelia's room. I knocked when I got there and said, "It's me, Dylan." The door opened. When I walked inside, Ophelia was on the other side of the room. She had used her tail to open the door.

"Yes?" She said, lounging on the bed, like she didn't have a care in the world. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You need to stop being hostile towards the other girls. First, it was Zara. You implied she didn't belong here. That she belonged in her nest. Then you tore into Penny. And then you stared daggers at Mel. What is your problem?" I said.

"There's no problem. Why would you think there's a problem?" She said. Her tail was twitching despite her outwardly calm expression.

"Normal people don't act the way you have around those women. So there has to be a problem. What is it?" I said.

"You're my problem!" She said, raising herself up.

"What's your problem with me?" I said.

"You're my only option. I don't know why, but I can't find a mate. And don't get me wrong, you're a good option. But you have all these women around you I have to compete with!" She said.

"You don't have to compete with them though. They aren't your enemies. We're all a family. We need to work together," I said.

"Yes, I do have to compete with them! I haven't gotten one moment alone with you and it's been a full day. You're so busy with all the other girls, you don't have time for me. So what am I supposed to do? Just sit around and wait for scraps?" She said.

"I don't do that. I take charge of my own life, of my own fate. Only I can determine what I get in this life. No one else has ever done it for me, and they never will. If I want your attention, I have to make the other girls get out of the way."

I massaged my forehead. "I see your point. I'll admit, it is difficult to get alone time with me right now. It's not my fault though! I didn't expect this many mates to want me and need me."

"If you had just told me you needed more time with me, I could've taken some time out of my day. It was important to me to save Mel, but it could have waited another hour. You just have to communicate with me."

"Then you wouldn't have had to bully and despise the other women for having time with me, because you would've had time with me too. Don't you feel bad for acting that way, towards Zara and Penny? Not to mention any other women you may have bullied that I just haven't found out about yet."

"No. Why should I? They have other options for mates. I don't. Most of the other women are only here because they feel weak and want to get stronger. Boo hoo. Cry me a river. Lamia are some of the weakest monsters there are. We don't even have 'powers' that need to be unlocked," she said.

"I'm sure that the other girls could find a mate among their kind or any number of others, but I can't. I've explored all the options. No one wants me. Zara is the worst among them. She openly rejected her very eligible mate." Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

"And this Mel girl. Who even is she? She's so pretty, I'm sure she could find a mate, by just walking down the street! I don't have those options. You're my only hope at finding a mate. And you're going to hold my competing for your affection against me?"

"How dare you! I'm going to die alone, and these women just want to 'find themselves' or something, and you're going to prioritize their feelings over mine! How dare you judge me!"

"Whoa! Whoa! I'm not going to tell you to calm down. I'm better than that. But I do need a minute to process what you said," I said, and thought for a moment. "I understand where you're coming from. But this all comes down to communication. If you told me how important this was to you and why, I would have taken you on the first mission. I would have taken you to the bedroom in the Dragon Sect. Assuming you would want that."

"You just need to talk to me. After what you said, I don't blame you for what you did. This is basically life or death for you. I get that now. But if you want to be in a relationship with me and you want my affections, you have to communicate that to me. How am I supposed to know that if you don't?"

Ophelia seemed to calm down some at that. She held one arm with her other one. "I suppose that makes sense. I could learn to communicate better. Why do you have to be so popular, damn it! Why can't I find one single eligible bachelor who wants a mate with a snake for a lower body!"

"I may not be single, but I am very eligible. And reasonable," I said. "I mean, if I can work this out with you, then I can do anything, right? How about we work out a deal? You stop antagonizing the other ladies and I promise I will spend a certain amount of time with you everyday."

"I will never not be jealous of the time you spend with other girls," she said.

"That's why I didn't say don't be jealous. I said don't antagonize. I'm sorry about the jealousy, but there's nothing I can do about that. I can however promise to prioritize spending as much time with you as I do with any other girl everyday," I said.

"You will get just as much time with me as any of the other girls everyday, if you agree to stop antagonizing them. Feel jealous all you want. Just don't act on it, and I will give you what you want. Quality time. Do we have a deal?"

"I suppose we do have a deal, as you say," she said. She extended her hand and we shook on it.

"There. That wasn't so hard was it? Now how about we start off our agreement with some quality time?" I said. "What do you want to do?"

Ophelia gave me a mischievous look.