At least Alina was feeling cooler by the time the bus reached her stop, the air conditioning of the vehicle having done wonders for her mood. Without her black skirt and plain cream blouse sticking to her skin, she felt more ready to go home... and continue the endless grading of papers and planning of lessons. She had only been teaching for a few months, a newbie compared to some other teachers, but she was definitely sure of one thing. It wasn't easy. And she wasn't sure it ever would be.

But then, what had she been expecting? She hadn't signed up for the job so it could be easy, she had signed up because she had wanted to make a difference. Was she making a difference? With a sigh, Alina made her way to the front of the bus. Made sure to smile at the bus driver. Swiped her card and got off.

As she stepped out, the humidity hit her once more. At least it wasn't as bad as before, now that the sun was about to set. About to set. With a sinking feeling, Alina realized she had spent too long over at the school. She still had to make dinner, prepare for tomorrow, wash and iron her clothes, make sure she actually had food to last her through the week, and a whole lot more. Lately, she felt like she wasn't in control for enough of the time.

Beginning to walk the well known route back to her apartment, Alina allowed her smile to drop and her shoulders to slump, tired eyes becoming more vacant as she allowed her mind to wander. She was alone now. This section rarely had more than one or two people walking it at a time, and now it was just her.

---

@Dracorex

Matthew was stalking a vampire.

It wasn't easy, staying far enough away to go unnoticed, especially given that his target was currently loitering, possibly waiting for someone. But Matthew wanted to know who this stranger was and what he was like without actually going up to the other man and asking, so here he was. People usually showed their true colours when they thought no one else was watching.

And there was no one else. Empty grass fields on one side of the road, apartment blocks on the other side, a gloomy dusk making long shadows of everything. A bus passed by, a brief bout of movement and noise.

The other vampire moved, heading forward with clear purpose. Matthew began walking too, behind the row of bushes, keeping an eye on his target. The stranger had peroxide blonde hair, pale skin, and hunched his shoulders a little every time he stepped out of the shadows. Matthew's own skin still prickled despite his black longcoat and pale grey jeans, and his face felt sunburned, but he knew from experience that the weak sunlight was leaving no physical trace on his skin at the moment; the pain was negligible.

A woman came into view, and then the stranger set upon her from behind - one hand clamped over her mouth, the other wrapped around her waist, and he dragged her to the relative privacy of the alcove under the nearest flight of stairs, doing so with ease and speed that would be entirely shocking to a mortal human.

Matthew crossed the couple dozen metres between himself and them in a moment. The other vampire sank his fangs into her neck, and then was promptly yanked away as Matthew seized him and slammed him against the wall.

---

@VampireOracle

Even if Alina would have been paying attention to her surroundings, she would not have known that there were in fact two vampires nearby. All had been quiet and still to her, so she was taken off guard as a hand suddenly clamped around her mouth and she was pulled aside. Dropping the bag she had been holding, her first instinct was naturally to struggle, panic welling up. She tried to squirm away from the person's grasp, but it was too strong, too iron. She couldn't. This couldn't be happening. No.

She drew in breath to attempt to scream out some words through her attacker's hand, but before she could, a spark of pain in her neck made her freeze. Teeth. Sinking into her neck. Her mind reeled with confusion and more panic, but before she could figure out what was happening or continue her struggle, the teeth were torn out of her neck as the hold on her was released. Pain lanced through the area, one hand clamping over her wound as she scrambled backwards. Screaming was an option, but she didn't want them to remember she was here. If she could just get away... get away...

The other vampire struggled, trying to push him off, black-brown eyes wide with shock at being confronted by a foe who was stronger than him. Matthew punched him - felt something crack - and shoved him to the concrete ground with contemptuous ease.

One hand pinning his opponent by the neck, knee pressed against his back, Matthew finally looked at the woman properly, eyes drawn briefly to the wet redness on her fingers where they were pressed to her neck. "Good, keep pressure on that. Are you hurt otherwise?"

Another foot backwards, then another. Getting away, slowly. The place where blood had been drawn throbbed as Alina tried to figure out why she had been bitten. Rabies came to mind, but both the two men moved too fast. Her mind whirled as she backed away, moving slowly but steadily... until attention was fixed on her once more. She froze and tensed, gripping that spot tighter and wincing as it caused the dull pain to flare up again.

He had asked a question. A question. No, she wasn't hurt. But was this man on "her side"? It took the flustered woman a few seconds to respond with a shaky word. "No."

A hand slipped into a flat pocket and made a fist as if grasping something. "If you try anything, I'll scream and get the authorities."

"I will do nothing to you," Matthew responded seriously, turning his gaze back to the other vampire. "This man, however.... would you like me to kill him? You needn't worry about evidence; his body will turn to ash within minutes."

Kill... evidence... ash... what? This man was offering... to kill her attacker and telling her that there would be no evidence of her condemning a man to death. (Did she want him dead?) Because he would turn to ash in minutes. What. the. fuck. Alina was scared, she was tired, she was confused.

Pull yourself together.

A few breaths were taken, as deep as she could make them at the moment. "Look," she began. "I don't know what your deal is with this man, I don't know who he is, I don't know who you are. But I want nothing to do with this--" Ash. Ash. Was he joking? There was that nagging curiosity appearing, despite the situation. "What do you mean by ash?"

"He's a vampire," Matthew replied plainly, glancing sidelong at her. "My 'deal' with him is that he clearly attacked you. Were you planning to kill her?" he remarked to the man under him.

"No! Of course not! Please don't kill me!" The trapped vampire's fingers dug shallow scratches into the concrete, but he could not budge his assailant at all.

"I can't tell whether you're telling the truth," Matthew observed coldly, over his cries, "and truth be told, it doesn't matter. Shut up." With a blurred flick of his free hand, he was holding a long black-bladed knife, its point pressing lightly to the other vampire's back.

Not funny. That was the first thought that popped into Alina's head, but then, after what she had just seen... was he joking? She couldn't focus, couldn't put proper thoughts together. Especially not when someone was potentially going to be murdered in front of her.

But she needed to do something. Walk away, call the police, scream, talk to this man, ask this man not to murder someone now... she needed to do something. She didn't know. Why was she so indecisive? Do something, do something, do something. "So if he's a vampire..." Yeah, right. "Then you are...?" Alina was stalling, and she knew it. The second man had the same speed and reflexes as her attacker, and seemed, was stronger. But no, no, it couldn't be. That wasn't possible.

"I'm Matthew," he replied with a faint, wry twist of his mouth, giving her a look of consideration. ".... And I'm a vampire too."

He looked back down at his captive, coming to a decision. "I don't think she wants you dead. So I will show you mercy" as I was shown mercy once "and you will not behave so disgracefully again. Animal blood will do. Or try asking someone for permission." Matthew sheathed his knife inside his longcoat with another quick flick of the hand, and rose to his feet.

The other vampire stammered thanks as he scrambled to his feet, and ran. He vanished from sight in moments.

Matthew eyed the woman soberly, waiting for her response.

Right. Wonderful. Both... vampires. Pull yourself together. Alina watched the vampire flee the area, staring at the spot he had disappeared for a few more moments before turning back to... Matthew. "Thank you." The words were surprisingly genuine, despite the situation. "I'm Alina." She briefly considered shaking hands, but with her right hand coated with quickly drying blood, that didn't seem like such a good idea. She winced. Perhaps she was trying too hard to make this situation normal. "Uh..." Alina forced a smile. "It's not everyday I meet a vampire. "

The corner of Matthew's lips quirked in a slight smile. "I try to keep a low profile." He glanced about. "You may want to go home and wash that up-" he gestured at the drying blood on her "-and, ahem, is that your bag?"

Low profile... right. She really wasn't sure how she was feeling about all this vampire business. Still wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not. The smile dropped and a grimace replaced it as Alina's thoughts returned full force to the bite on her neck. Very, very, unsanitary. And now her blouse was ruined, meaning she would have to buy another one to replace it. As well as hope that she had enough shirts that could cover that spot while it healed. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it, but didn't.

Instead, her snapped to the place where her bag had been dropped as Matthew brought it up, turning halfway to go retrieve it before stopping. Don't turn your back on him. "Right, mhmm." She knew it must look absurd and silly, but instead of turning around, Alina backed away instead before stooping down to pick it up. There was a slight flush on her cheeks by the time she had gotten her bag back, hanging it off one arm.

Matthew had a small, wry smile on his face. "If I was going to attack you, I would have by now."

He shrugged, pulling out his phone from one of his coat pockets and glancing down at the screen; his long, thin fingers tapped swiftly across it, and then he held it up for Alina to see a handphone number on display. "I don't imagine you're all that keen on giving your phone number to a random stranger," he said seriously, "nor for said random stranger to follow you home, so here's my number instead. I hope you'll call me; I would like to know that my heroic efforts haven't been in vain."

Stop smiling. Of course it had occurred to Alina that it would not be any trouble for this Matthew here to attack her or whatever, but still... it seemed like a good thing to do. If he were to change his mind, she wanted to at least see him coming. Or did she? A hint of a scowl flickered across Alina's face, deepening as the phone was held up. He's joking. He's got to be joking. Giving her his number and asking her to call? She supposed that she was actually in his debt. In his debt. Those words were not appealing, far from so.

How would it look if she actually put his number in? But even as she struggled over whether she should or not, her hands were moving. Pulling her phone from her bag, opening the contacts and copying the number before saving it. It was for identification, if she ever wanted to report this incident. That's what she told herself. But another part... this man was intriguing, to say the least. Vampire.

Putting her phone away, Alina nodded tersely at Matthew-- "Thank you."-- before promptly turning and beginning to walk away. It went against her instincts to turn her back on him, but she made herself look ahead and not turn around.

Matthew pressed his lips together, suppressing a chuckle; his gaze lingered on her for a moment, and then he walked away, hands in his pockets.

Alina made it back to her apartment without any more unusual occurrences or delays, though she was obviously quite nervous as she kept looking around her. At last though, she unlocked the door and entered her apartment. Her small, cramped, mildly messy apartment. Unwashed dishes from that morning when she had rushed out of the house. A pile of laundry in the corner, folded but not yet put away.

With a sigh, she set her bag down on the counter before rubbing her hands over her face. She almost let herself sink down into a chair, but stopped herself in time. She needed to change, shower and clean out that bite, then get to work. No resting yet.

Oh, and there was something called dinner too.

Plus that phone number she could call.

---

Half an hour, Alina was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee in front of her along with many papers, clad in yoga pants and a loose top. She tried to correct the latest papers written by her students, cringing slightly at the mixed up use of grammar and spelling.

Unfortunately, focus was not on her side this evening. Her phone was getting sidelong looks every few minutes, and she found herself reading paragraphs over and over again as she struggled to keep her mind off the vampire. After a little more, she gave up, grabbing the phone off the table. It revealed a few missed messages each demanding her attention, but she ignored them for now and went to her contacts page.

This is crazy. Why do I need to call him? Because it wasn't normal.

She clicked on the number. Pressed call.

"Hello?"

---

@Dracorex

Matthew took a short stroll about, just to check that the other vampire wasn't lurking anymore; it wasn't like Matthew was in a hurry to go anywhere. There was no sign of the young miscreant, and individual humans were beginning to trickle through the estate as they returned home from work, so he went back to the road and, to his fortune, quickly flagged down a taxi.

Fifteen minutes later, he was home. Home, currently, was a very nice condominium flat, positively a statement in elegance: floor-to-ceiling windows, white and pale blue walls, dark polished wood for flooring; the furniture was steel and glass and pearl-grey leather, while the curtains were dark grey patterned with silver leaves. The place felt lived-in, nonetheless: battered boardgames and books stacked on a set of shelves, a laptop with a few too many things attached to it sitting amid a tangle of wires, cushions piled up on one side of the sofa.

It always felt good to see it.

Even though - or perhaps because - he knew that it couldn't last forever.

Matthew took a quick shower; he didn't perspire, but he picked up dust and dirt like everyone else did. And then he was at his laptop, firing off messages and reading the news. No strange attacks had been reported, nor any strange deaths. Not that it necessarily meant anything. He was plenty prepared to speculate on what possible outcomes there could have been for the woman - what was it, A, right, her name was Alina - but unprepared to guess at the probable outcome. Who knew.

Even he had changed, after all.

And then his phone rang.

He glanced at it - unknown number - and picked it up.

Oh. "I take it you're home and safe?"

---

@VampireOracle

Now that she had called, now that he had picked up, Alina wasn't sure what to say. She was... nervous too. She could just say one word, give him a confirmation, and then hang up, couldn't she? But there were questions too. Things she wanted to ask, because this night didn't seem real. The words that came out of her mouth weren't quite her usual self, strange because she wasn't sure how to start. Too harsh. "No. I'm standing here while some stupid vampire sucks my blood, actually." She wasn't usually sarcastic. It wasn't right.

Matthew huffed, a sound of both frustration and amusement. "You don't want to believe. Probably for the best."

She couldn't read him over the phone. What did that huff mean, annoyance? A suppressed laugh? This was why talking over phones wasn't a good idea. If she couldn't see the person, she couldn't react properly. "I..." She still needed to know. "I didn't say I didn't believe." Did she or not? Her voice took on a slightly apologetic tone, though still rather tight. "It's rather a heavy revelation, wouldn't you think?"

"It is," Matthew agreed, softening his tone somewhat. "You're taking this quite calmly, truth be told." Then again, she hadn't been turned; the abrupt paradigm shift that was waking up to a new unlife did tend to exacerbate the situation. He wasn't entirely certain he had ever gotten over it, personally.

"Mmmmm..." Calmly. Yes, the key to everything was remaining calm, at least on the outside. It was a... good thing to hear that he thought she was taking this "quite calmly". If vampires really did exist, then what about werewolves? Fairies? Ghosts? Spirits of nature and the wood? Angels? "Where does the line get drawn?" she mused, not realizing that those thoughts had been said aloud until it was a moment too late. Irritation sparked through her, and knowing that she could not be seen, she allowed it to show by swinging a loosely fisted hand through the air at her side. Bad idea. She hissed through clenched teeth.

"Where does the line get drawn?" he echoed in amused confusion. "You'll have to clarify that, I'm afraid." He wondered idly if the conversation would be more or less awkward if held in person. Ask her out to a café on the weekend? That sounded an awful lot like a date.

"Never mind." She leaned back in her chair, trying to figure out where exactly this was going. Why was she still talking to him? Because it wasn't easy to pass up conversation with a vampire, because they... didn't normally exist. Except they did. "Okay, wait." Alina's voice became more businesslike. "Since vampires apparently exist, are there other supernatural beings out there? How many people get attacked by you guys, and how are you dealing with this? Just now it was luck that you were there, but is there some special group that is actually dedicated to dealing with this?"

"How many people know the... reality?"

Matthew exhaled a quiet laugh. "Here come all the questions," he commented, not unkindly.

A reply popped up on his laptop screen, which he typed a reply to one-handed, thin fingers spidering quickly across the keyboard. Then another; he scowled briefly at it, even as he was amused at the knowledge that Alina couldn't see his face right now. Another reply. "This may be a very, very long conversation to have over the phone. Are you free this Sunday?"

Oh yes, she had questions. Alina waited impatiently as she thought she heard the clicking of keys on the other side of the line. What was he typing? Did he have to actually look the answers up somewhere? When Matthew spoke again, it was not what she had been expecting. Far from it. She shifting uncomfortably on her chair, thinking about meeting The Vampire again. But she already had her answer, though she took her time giving it. It came at last though, accompanied with a sigh. "I can make time. When and where?"

Matthew repressed a nervous shiver, and recited the address of a church. It never gets easier. At lease it wasn't too out of the way to get to from where she lived, but then again, nothing in this tiny country was 'out of the way' to him. "Let's meet at 1pm. Service will have ended and people will be having lunch there; a nice, safe public place."

Alina grabbed a nearby sheet of paper (though not one of her student's) and jotted down the address along with the date and time. She loosely circled it many times till the circle was dark on the paper, then set it apart further down the table. "Yeah, okay." Nice, safe public place. That did mean a lot to her. She hesitated. "Well, I need to get back to work now."

"Sure, go ahead. Take care." He hung up before it could get any more awkward, and fixed his gaze back on the screen. His fingers drummed on the tabletop nervously.

For a few seconds even after Matthew had hung up, Alina hung on to the phone. Thinking. Sunday, one in the afternoon. She would be there. Then at last she ended the call on her side as well, putting her phone down and taking red pen in hand instead. Back to work.

People streamed out the doors and down the stairs, now that service was over. Matthew stayed in his seat at the back, watching the pews empty, before he finally got up and slunk out one of the side doors, hands in pockets.

Light peeked out from under the door of a second-floor activity room. He let himself in and locked the door behind him, eyeing the other occupant of the room. The same pale blond hair threaded with grey, the clear, piercing blue-grey eyes, and the same small, serene smile. The vampire could almost believe the man didn't age, and sometimes desperately wished it; wished he hadn't noticed the few more strands of grey. "Pastor Mortimer."

"Matthew." He always sounded quietly pleased to see him; there was a particular quality in that deep voice, something about how the name rolled off his tongue. "I'm glad you joined us today." And that was the real kicker, that the pastor was always entirely sincere, never mind that Matthew hadn't attended service for the past few months.

The vampire shrugged. "No one else today?" he asked, with another shrug of a shoulder indicating the room in general.

"I thought you might appreciate a moment of quiet before speaking with Miss Alina," Pastor Mortimer replied, sitting down. He had already taken off his jacket, and was now neatly folding up one sleeve.

Matthew sat down beside him, opening the first aid kit on the table and drawing out supplies. "It's terrifying, how well you know me."

"Only because you allow it," the other man said warmly, offering his wrist.

Cloud-grey eyes glanced away as he grasped his arm.

Pastor Mortimer, for his part, was unruffled as usual. "Heavenly Father. All that we have, all of it is a gift. It comes from you, O God, and we thank you for it."

"Amen," Matthew murmured together with him, and sank his teeth in.

---

The entrance hall doubled as a dining hall, or simply a place to sit, with long tables and benches filling most of the space. It was not an enclosed space, and was currently filled with people having lunch, making conversation, and all the other things that acquaintances and friends did. They no doubt appreciated the weather: bright, but not too hot and sunny, with a cool breeze blowing.

Matthew glanced out at what was the next best thing to direct sunlight, and suppressed a wince, returning his gaze to the crowd. Today he wore a long-sleeved blue v-neck shirt and white pants; overdressed for the weather, not quite formal enough for Sunday best. Or the other way around, depending on how one looked at it. He was leaning against a pillar in the corner, occasionally waving back as someone recognised him. Pastor Mortimer had come downstairs too, bandaged wrist hidden beneath his jacket sleeve, and was doing the usual rounds, asking after people, taking an interest in them.

It was all warm and friendly, and he never could shake the feeling that he did not belong.

For what felt like the fifth time in the past minute, Alina checked her watch as she walked down the sidewalk towards the church up ahead. Ten minutes early. That was good, and if Matthew hadn't shown up yet, she could work on preparing for Monday. There were many school papers (though nothing too important should she lose any of them) tucked neatly into her large handbag, in addition to notepad and writing tools. Because she was sure to have many questions.

She was... looking forward to seeing Matthew perhaps, but dreading it at the same time. A vampire. Yes. The new knowledge had even made its way into her dreams.

Stopping briefly before the church, Alina took a moment to smooth down her clothes that were more dressy than what she would usually wear if not going to a church. Rather like her work clothes, she wore a long, loose, dark green skirt and cream blouse that was buttoned up all the way to hide the mark that still remained. It still ached, sometimes. Her hair was loose, not long enough to be tied up anyway.

Entering the church, Alina stood still for a moment, searching, before a friendly churchgoer bid her good afternoon and began to exchange a few pleasantries. With a composure that did not betray her nerves as it had that night, Alina spoke with the woman for a minute or two before once again scanning the place. There were too many people...