“Have a nice day,” the cashier sang out as I left the corner deli. This place had the best potato wedges this side of Pike Place, perfectly seasoned and roasted with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese over the top.

  I looked up just in time to see a harried Michael running toward me at a very, very fast pace.

  He stopped right in front of me, panting, a hand on his chest, “Drew! Thank God, you gotta help me!”

  “Slow down, are you being chased by a dinosaur, what the hell?” I looked around him to see who might be heading this way.

  To my surprise, Kelsey was running in this direction, waving her hand and yelling something.

  “She’s one of those crazy girls! You know, where they go out with you one time and they become obsessively persistent in getting your attention back? She keeps texting me, calling me, asking for another date! She saw me up at the grocery like a block away from here and she’s been chasing me since. What do I do? Please Drew? Help me!”

  I knew that it could be very exhausting to have a persistent caller, though I’d never had one.

  I sighed, “You gotta play along, alright?”

  By now she was close enough, we could hear her calling his name, “Mike! Mike, slow down!” By the time she caught up to us, she was panting and sweaty, her blonde curls sticking to her face in places. “Mike, you really are fast. Did you do track and field in school? I bet you would’ve made a great sprinter.”

  I looked up at Michael, then to Kelsey.

  “Honey, who’s this? I’m Drew by the way. How do you know my boyfriend?” I held out my hand to her.

  I’m not sure who had more shock on their face: Michael or Kelsey. Luckily, Michael recovered first.

  “This is Kelsey, I met her about a week before we started dating.” How are you, Kelsey?”

  He doesn’t even have the decency to pretend to be winded in front of her. Harsh.

  Poor Kelsey was definitely taken aback by the news but she shook my hand. “Oh, Mike, I didn’t know you were already dating somebody. I wouldn’t have run after you otherwise. After all,” she paused, looking at me, her brows drawn in warning, “Women have a code.”

  Oh, I have to play it up now.

  “I was just getting those potato wedges I was telling you about, babe. Would you like to try one?”

  He nodded and I grabbed a wedge between my thumb and forefinger. Instead of handing it to him, however, I bit onto the end of it, holding it out that way. I was giving him a very obvious and blatant way out, as nervous as I was to pretend like this.

  I’ve had boyfriends but we never did cheesy stuff like this… Okay fine, boyfriend, singular, but I’ve gone on dates.

  My heart thundered in my ears as I stared at him, daring him to take a bite.

  He leaned in, an eyebrow raised as if to say, are you sure, before he bit through the wedge, very close to my mouth.

  I couldn’t even blink as he chewed and swallowed, wiping a bit of grease away with his thumb.

  “You’re right Drew, these wedges are fantastic,” he smiled down at me genuinely.

  Oh boy.

  It’s a good thing I knew we were pretending because if he looked at me like that and we weren’t, I knew my legs would’ve turned to jelly and melted out from under me. Now that was a knee-wobble inducing smile.

  Michael turned to Kelsey. “It was nice running into you, Kelsey.”

  She gave a tight smile, turned around, and walked away, her dignity bruised but the crisis averted.

  He turned to me when she turned the corner, relief palpable on his face.

  “Drew, I owe you, big time. Thank you for helping with Kelsey. It’ll be nice for the hounding to stop.”

  No kidding you owe me, my heart rate is still sky high.

  I tried to ignore the blush that had started on my ears. “You seemed to run remarkably fast. New gift?”

  His face brightened.

  “Oh yeah, and I absolutely have to show you. Are you free tomorrow night?”

  I am now.

  “Yeah, I can make that work. What time?”

  “Let’s do it at night, the running trails are least busy then. I know a place.”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Going out in the dark with a vampire. What could possibly go wrong?

  ? ?? ?

  I must’ve had the survival instincts of a potato because there I was that evening, walking down a tree-lined trail. Crickets chirped, the night air nipping as summer came towards its end. The trees were dark, despite the lamps that lit the way. The eerie sense of danger that always accompanied me into dark places was making the hair on my neck stand on end.

  “Can’t you just tell me what your new gift is? It’s really creepy out here.”

  I rubbed my arms, wishing I had grabbed a better jacket, my goosebumps not entirely from the cold.

  Michael smiled, “You have nothing to worry about, you’ve got me here.”

  Without another word, he vanished.

  It took a moment for what happened to catch up to my brain, but as soon as it did… My heart leapt to my throat. All around me was the susurrus of air through the leaves and the creaking of trunks in the wind. I spun around, noting that I was indeed all alone.

  Fuck, this was so stupid! Follow a vampire to a dark walking trail when it’s practically abandoned for the evening, that sounds like a brilliant idea! Drew, you’re an absolute idiot!

  Without anything else I could do, I started running down the trail, the pavement pounding against my feet.

  “Shit! What the hell?! Michael?!”

  “Yeah?” a male voice said right behind me.

  My foot hooked around the opposite leg, bringing me to the ground. Without looking, I swung my arm back and pushed the lever on my pepper spray.

  The man screamed and grabbed at his eyes in pain.

  “Drew, what the hell?!”

  It wasn’t until I heard my name that I opened my eyes and focused on who was bent in two in front of me.

  “Michael? What the hell, you were here one second, the next you’re behind me and I haven't seen anything! Why’d you scare me like that?!” My blood thundered in my ears and I could feel my heartbeat thudding throughout my body. “What kind of creep sneaks up on women in the dark like that?!”

  He howled, “The kind that wanted to show you something cool! Shit, this burns!” His hands came away from his face and I saw blisters forming around his eyes.

  Shit, this pepper spray is no joke.

  Michael hissed in pain, his eyes clamped shut and tears leaking from the corners.

  I didn’t know what to think, all I was feeling at that moment was angry.

  “Well, this just happened, so maybe you should just tell me like you should’ve done in the first place?”

  Michael swayed on his feet, the pain moving him more than he was in control of himself.

  “I just finished a lap of the trail.”

  I was stunned. He said this trail was over three miles long, and he more or less disappeared and reappeared within what felt like seconds. Fast indeed.

  Now that the adrenaline rush was easing away, my anger melted away into embarrassment.

  “Let me get you to the ER, your eyes look pretty bad.”

  Michael huffed out a single chuckle, “Ha, they feel pretty bad.”

  That felt like a punch to my gut. I went to him, putting one of his arms around my shoulders.

  “Come on,” I groaned, “Let’s get you to the hospital.”

  ? ?? ?

  “I am so, so sorry Michael! I didn’t know it was you! One moment you’re standing next to me, the next you’re just gone, and then I hear a man’s voice right behind me. I panicked and sprayed without looking. I’m so sorry!” I could not apologize enough.

  He had chemical burns and angry blisters around his eyes. The red of his skin made the green of his eyes pop out.

  “I told you, it’s my fault for scaring you the way I did. If anything, I’m impressed by your quick thinking. A lot of people don’t have that kind of wherewithal when they are starting to freak out.” He winced as a jolt of pain went through his eyes. “Pepper spray: good idea, especially with vampires on the loose.”

  I snorted in derision.

  Michael pointed, “Eh, see? Made you smile.”

  He insisted on walking me home even though he was a veritable mess. I couldn’t help but be grateful that he’d still do something so nice after I hurt him so badly.

  The lights of the city glittered around us, reflecting in puddles of water and oil as we passed. Cars drove by, occasionally honking at pedestrians or other vehicles. We walked up to my apartment building, the brickwork old but not breaking.

  “I still feel awful about it. It looks so painful.”

  “If you want to make it up to me, do you still have that bag of peas I could borrow?”

  I laughed and guided my guest inside. He followed me to the kitchen, watching as I got out the frozen peas and a linen towel.

  I guided him to the couch, telling him to try to lay down so gravity could hold the peas in place.

  His long legs hung off the end of the loveseat but he otherwise seemed comfortable enough.

  I set the linen towel over his eyes, then the peas, not wanting the freezing to burn his, well, burns. The white and green bag on his face was frosty with cold and I’m sure it felt nice on his angry skin.

  “What’s your guess?” Michael said out of nowhere.

  “Pardon?”

  “My new power, what’s your guess?”

  “Super speed,” I answered automatically.

  “Errh,” he made the noise of a buzzer, “Not it. Wanna guess again, or should I just tell you?” Before I could reply, he sat up, the bag falling off his face and he said, “I can fly!” He started giggling like a little boy. “I started to fly around the time we met Antun, except… well, I really sucked.” He chuckled at the memory.

  “Human bodies aren’t necessarily the most aerodynamic of things, and I happen to have long, apparently ungraceful legs. Arms get in the way a lot too. Like I said, I sucked. So I practiced until I could fly without making a complete fool of myself.”

  He picked up the forgotten bag of peas. “Guess I still managed to make a fool of myself.” He sat up the rest of the way, his feet coming to rest on the floor in front of the couch.

  “Flight?” I smiled, “Not gonna lie, that’s pretty badass, Michael. And you managed to keep it a secret this whole time? Good on you, I don’t know if I could’ve had the patience.”

  “Of course you would, you’re Drew Nelson! You deal with incompetence from coworkers daily and still show up day after day to make the floor run smoothly.”

  I didn’t know how to react, so I looked away. Sure, I showed up, but not like how Michael did.

  His personality brightened rooms. His smile could power cities.

  I just did my job and hoped to be left alone.

  Having friends was unfamiliar. I didn’t hate being friends with Michael and Antun, but my coworkers… most of them, I was pretty sure I still wouldn’t want to be friends with.

  Michael adjusted as if to stand.

  “Are you leaving?” I inquired.

  He nodded, “Yeah, I’ve already taken up way too much of your evening. And the peas helped, my eyes are already feeling a little better.” He handed them to me and stood.

  I stood as I took them from him.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, Drew.”

  I locked the door behind him as he left. Husker gave an inquiring purr before settling back to sleep on my bed. I leaned against the door, my mind starting to whirl. Despite how the evening had ended, I felt… I didn’t know what to call it, but it was warm. Familiar. Dangerous.

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