[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-four-of-a-kind":3,"chapter-four-of-a-kind-four-of-a-kind-chapter-204":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Four Of A Kind",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1529898,1985,"Chapter 204: [4.22] a Vampire’s Bite is a Butler Contract","four-of-a-kind-chapter-204",204,"\u003Cp>\"That’s comforting.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’d avenge you, though.\" She lifted our joined hands and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. \"I’d wear the succubus costume to your funeral.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s... wildly inappropriate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I know.\" She grinned wickedly. \"You’d haunt me forever for it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn’t help but laugh. This girl was ridiculous, standing here in a vampire maid costume talking about wearing sexy outfits to my acid-dissolution funeral.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re something else, Valentine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I know.\" She looked pleased with herself. \"That’s why you like me best.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I never said that.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You didn’t have to.\" She tapped her chest, right over her heart. \"I can feel it. Right here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s your lung.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wow. Romance truly is dead.\" She sighed dramatically. \"And here I thought becoming a vampire would make you more passionate, not less.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I haven’t become anything.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not yet.\" She winked. \"But the transformation takes time. First comes the mark.\" She touched my neck again. \"Then comes the thirst.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I am pretty thirsty,\" I admitted. \"But I’m thinking water, not blood.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Boring.\" She rolled her eyes. \"Fine, go drink water like a normal person instead of embracing your new vampire nature.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thanks for the permission.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re welcome!\" She beamed, completely missing or ignoring my sarcasm. \"But don’t think this means you’re off the hook for the butler costume. I already have your measurements from Mr. Bellamy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course she did. \"When’s this festival anyway?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Two weeks from now! It’s going to be amazing. We’ll have the vampire butler and maid cafe, a haunted house, a fortune-telling booth—it’s going to be so fun!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her enthusiasm was infectious. I found myself smiling despite the absurdity of the situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I should go check on Iris,\" I said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She’s fine. Last I saw, she was in the kitchen convincing Chef Laurent to teach her how to make chocolate soufflé.\" Harlow smiled. \"She really is the sweetest.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She’s manipulative is what she is,\" I grumbled. \"Abandoning me to your costume ambush.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She loves you,\" Harlow said simply. \"She wants you to be happy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"By throwing me to the wolves?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Vampires,\" she corrected. \"And I’m hardly a wolf.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was right about that. If anything, Harlow was more like sunshine personified—warm, bright, and capable of burning you if you got too close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I still need to find her,\" I insisted. \"We need to head home soon.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harlow’s face fell. \"Already? But you still have time with Sabrina!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She canceled, remember?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh.\" Harlow brightened. \"Then you can spend that time with me instead!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I need to get my stuff together. And make sure Iris is ready to go.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Harlow.\" I cut her off gently. \"I really do need to leave soon.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her shoulders slumped slightly. \"Fine. But you’ll come back soon, right? And you’ll actually wear the butler costume for the festival?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I said I would, didn’t I?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes, but sometimes people say things to make me stop talking, and then they don’t actually mean it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The matter-of-fact way she said it made something in my chest tighten. I squeezed her hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I meant it. I’ll wear the costume.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her smile returned full force. \"Promise?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Promise.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good!\" She bounced on her toes again, the motion doing dangerous things to her costume’s neckline. \"I’ll walk you to the kitchen. I want a cookie anyway.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She started pulling me down the hallway, still holding my hand. I followed, not bothering to point out that she was still in full vampire maid regalia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You know you’re still in costume, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Duh.\" She glanced back at me with a grin. \"I need to get used to it for the festival.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re going to give the staff heart attacks if you walk around like that.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mrs. Tanaka has seen worse,\" Harlow assured me. \"You should have seen the Sailor Moon costumes Cassidy and I made when we were fourteen. We didn’t understand proportions yet.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mental image of fourteen-year-old Harlow and Cassidy in too-small Sailor Moon outfits was not something I needed in my head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m surprised Vivienne let you wear that around the house.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh, she didn’t know. She was at a business conference with Mother.\" Harlow’s voice took on a wistful quality. \"It was just us and Sabrina. We had a whole cosplay fashion show for the staff. Mrs. Tanaka made us rice balls shaped like Luna.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mention of Vivienne and their mother sobered me. I was walking through their house holding Harlow’s hand after she’d given me a very visible hickey. If Camille Valentine saw us now, I’d be fired instantly and probably blacklisted from every job in the tri-state area.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tried to pull my hand away, but Harlow’s grip tightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don’t,\" she said softly. \"Please? Just a little longer?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your mother—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Isn’t here.\" She turned to face me, walking backward down the hallway. \"She won’t be back until tomorrow night.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That doesn’t mean this is a good idea.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s just holding hands, Isaiah.\" Her eyes searched mine. \"It’s not like I’m asking you to marry me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Put like that, it seemed silly to argue. We were just holding hands. Compared to everything else that had happened in this house over the last twenty-four hours, this was practically innocent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fine,\" I conceded. \"But if your sisters see—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They already know I like you,\" she interrupted. \"I told you, we’re all competing. There’s no secrets between us.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That seemed... unlikely. But Harlow looked so certain that I didn’t argue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Whatever you say, Valentine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s right.\" She grinned. \"Whatever I say. And right now, I say we get cookies and find your sister.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She tugged me forward again, and I let her lead me through the mansion’s winding hallways toward the kitchen. With her cape flowing behind her and her pink-streaked hair bouncing with each step, she looked like something out of a fantasy—the vampire princess and her reluctant companion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Except I wasn’t all that reluctant. That was the problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mark on my neck throbbed slightly, a reminder of what had just happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What might have kept happening if I hadn’t stopped her.\u003C\u002Fp>",1002,"2026-06-06T06:03:59.990Z",1,"novelbin.me","be0d794ce2b2108c141bbfe7cc0ddb942e2dbdcfe0c045b7954fbf0a70cf2721","four-of-a-kind-chapter-205","four-of-a-kind-chapter-203",251,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Ffour-of-a-kind-cover.jpg"]