My Roommate Is a Vampire

The chapter opens with a text exchange between Stuart and Sullivan, two guards at the Naperville, IL vampire dungeon. The two discuss a prisoner they have who keeps morosely writing letters to his human lover while crying.

Cassie wakes up in the middle of the night, and Frederick is still not back from his meeting with the Jamesons. She begins to worry, but she has to prepare for her interview at Harmony Academy. Before she can exit the apartment, Reginald enters, clearly alarmed about Frederick’s failure to return after the meeting. He tells her that Esmeralda is beautiful but not someone he would personally like to marry, so he’s glad she set her eyes on Frederick. Cassie is concerned, but she goes to her job interview anyway. Reginald offers to fly her, revealing that vampires are capable of some level of flight, but she declines. She asks Reginald to let her know if he hears any updates, then she takes the El to Evanston.

At the Harmony Academy, Cassie rereads an encouraging text from Sam before heading into the interview. The panel is Cressida Marks, the headmaster, as well as a vice principal named Jeff and the head of the arts department named Bethany, whose bright pink hair puts Cassie at ease. The interview goes well, as all three of the interviewers appreciate both Cassie’s art and her desire to break the traditional mold of art teaching. The panel then takes her on a tour of the campus.

When Cassie gets home, Frederick is still nowhere to be found. She searches for Esmeralda Jameson on the internet and finds her Instagram account, which is full of photos of her posing sexily in different places around the world. One post that stops Cassie in her tracks is one of her posing near a limousine as she helps Frederick into the backseat, with the caption, “Here I am with Frederick, my fiancé. Isn’t he handsome?” (303). Cassie is heartbroken, as she acknowledges she is starting to fall in love with Frederick, and she thinks Frederick could have chosen Esmeralda over her because of Esmeralda’s beauty and vampirism. Her thoughts are interrupted by a text from Reginald stating that Frederick is in trouble and asking to meet her at Gossamer’s.

The chapter opens with a confiscated and unsent letter Frederick wrote to Cassie while in the Naperville dungeon. He tells her that the Jamesons kidnapped him when he arrived for the meeting, as his mother had warned them that he would not go through with the marriage. He’s being held in the dungeon until he agrees to marry Esmeralda, though he hopes she will see that she shouldn’t marry someone who doesn’t love her. He has sitcoms to watch and books to read, but he misses Cassie ardently.

Reginald tells Cassie about the kidnapping and the Naperville dungeon while pretending to drink his coffee in Gossamer’s. Cassie is shocked that the Jamesons would kidnap Frederick, and is even more surprised he’s being held in the suburban area of Naperville. Reginald assures her that it’s true and that Frederick is falling for her, not Esmeralda, and would not have gone with the Jamesons willingly. 

Reginald thinks that Frederick will be shipped to New York for the wedding soon, so he and Cassie need to act fast. Cassie asks Reginald how familiar vampires are with TikTok. She then drafts an email to Edwina demanding that Frederick be released, or Cassie will make a TikTok exposing that vampires are real. Reginald thinks the idea is brilliant, as no vampire wants their existence exposed. Cassie is worried Edwina will see how few TikTok followers she has and know that Cassie is bluffing, but Reginald assures her that it will work.

At the apartment, Cassie and Reginald film their TikTok. Cassie emphatically tells the camera that vampires are real and are responsible for the recent blood bank robberies. Reginald then bursts into the frame and drinks a bag of blood while Cassie screams. Cassie doesn’t know if it will work, but she emails it to Edwina anyway. She and Reginald then wait for a response.

The chapter opens with another unsent letter from Frederick to Cassie. He informs her that he’s spoken to Esmeralda and hopes that he’s persuaded her to agree to call off the marriage. He hopes Cassie is doing well.

Cassie receives a response from Edwina’s assistant Nanmo, who informs her that Edwina agrees to her demands to free Frederick to avoid outing all of the vampire community. He gives her the address of the dungeon in Naperville and the instructions to arrive at 8 PM the next night. Reginald offers to fly Cassie to Naperville, but she thinks she’d be too distracted by the flight to focus on freeing Frederick, so she takes an Uber. Reginald agrees to meet her there and says he’ll be hovering over the basketball hoop, which confuses Cassie.

The next night, Cassie’s Uber arrives in Naperville. As promised, she sees Reginald hovering in the sky just above a basketball hoop next to a suburban house that is apparently the vampire lair. Cassie approaches the porch before a neighbor questions her, asking if she’s seeking to buy drugs. He is suspicious because the house has blacked-out windows and suspicious people come in and out at night. Cassie lies that she’s there because the tenants are behind on their internet bill, which the neighbor believes.

She finally knocks on the door, and Edwina answers. She asks if Cassie has the video and if she will destroy it permanently. Cassie shows her the video on her phone and promises to delete it once she has Frederick. Edwina agrees but promises to hunt Cassie down if she ever posts the video. She slams the door on Cassie, and when it opens again Frederick appears. He thanks her for saving him and hugs her, but he then insists they must quickly leave. Reginald cannot fly them, so Cassie calls them an Uber. Frederick kisses her as they wait for the car.

On the way home, they are mostly silent, as Frederick is too tired to cast a glamor and distract the driver. Cassie caresses his hair as he sleeps. When they arrive home, Frederick kisses her again and asks if she received his letters. She did not. He promises her that he is not badly hurt, and the bruises on his wrists from where he was briefly bound look worse than they are. He tells Cassie he thought about her endlessly and begs her to stay with him, even if her financial situation improves. 

She tells him she probably got the job at Harmony Academy, which would improve her finances, but she wants to stay with him anyway. She asks if he’s okay with her aging like a mortal, and he says he doesn’t care. They kiss.

One year later, Cassie is working at the Harmony Academy. She opens her phone to texts from Frederick that say he’s waiting outside the Fine Arts building for her. She finds him wearing the green henley shirt she likes, the very one he tried on in Nordstrom when she touched his chest for the first time. He asks her to take a walk with him. 

He seems nervous, so Cassie asks him what’s wrong. He tells her he has something to ask her. He says he knows he has no right to ask her to be with him forever, but he’s a selfish man. He asks Cassie to think about being with him forever, then proposes with a beautiful ruby engagement ring. Cassie agrees to think about it and asks Frederick to show her what being a vampire is like so she can fully contemplate it. He promises to show her everything. She puts the ring on her finger, then Frederick takes her home to the new apartment they picked out together.