At the harvesting facility, Rook's message reached Vespera while the vampire was being secured to a stretcher.
He flinched when she took her phone out. Vespera read the update beside the wrecked trolley.
Kaiden was resting. He had eaten. Yunohana was looking after him personally.
Her eyes narrowed with sudden suspicion. "Yunohana, you..."
"Let go!" The vampire thrashed, clawing at her.
Vespera pushed one foot into his neck, her thumb resting against the screen for a moment before she typed her reply.
"Tell him to rest as long as he needs."
"They'll avenge me, cunt!" the vampire gasped as the medics lifted his stretcher.
Vespera put her phone away. The medics carried him past the steel door she'd torn out of its frame.
...
In Tokyo, Kaiden lay with his cheek against Yunohana's robe while she finished tying the replenished cord around his wrist.
"There," she murmured. "I would be grateful if you could keep this one clean for a little longer."
