I’ve only seen them a few times, and if I wasn’t able to sense that they were vampires, I wouldn’t think twice about them walking through town. Both vampires are young men, who were probably in their mid-twenties when they were turned. I don’t know any of their backstory, if they were turned by the same vampire or maybe even if one turned the other. They’re holding hands, solidifying my guess that they’re a couple, and are both dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts.
I lose sight of them behind another wave of trick-or-treaters. We’re getting closer to the end of the night, and the lines are thinning out a bit. We’ve gone through two big bags of candy already and still have another unopened. Part of me hopes we don’t have to open it and I can take it home and binge my heart out on chocolate bars and Sour Patch Kids.
Another part doesn’t want to gain a billion pounds before this kid is born either, and it’ll be best to pass out this candy or at least leave it at the store.
“They’re coming over,” Lucas tells me, able to sense them. I do my best not to be obvious as I look up, watching the two vampires make their way through the crowded street. They dodge around a line of kids waiting for their candy and make a beeline for Lucas.
“Hi,” one of the vampires says, holding out his hand. “I’m Thomas and this is Derek. You’re Lucas King, right?”
“I am.” Lucas shakes Thomas’s hand.
“Ah, good,” Thomas says tossing his head back with a laugh. “That would have been a little awkward if you weren’t.”
“Can I help you with something?” Lucas goes on, not one to exchange fake pleasantries.
“We wanted to come say hi,” Derek tells him. “Mindy Foster from the county’s VC chapter called to check in on us and suggested we get to know the other vampires in town. Turns out, you’re the only one.”
“How did you know my name?” Lucas asks.
I drop candy next to a kid’s bucket instead of into it since I’m paying more attention to the exchange between vampires closer than passing out candy. It’s not strange for the rumors to circulate through a small town, and I’m sure there was talk about how the quiet bookstore owner had a whirlwind romance with some rich guy who may or may not be a vampire.
Lucas hasn’t been into town with me all that often, but it would only take one date at a restaurant for people to know he’s not human since he never orders food or a drink, and pretty much everyone in my coven knows I married a vampire. It wouldn’t be hard for the rumors to spread like wildfire.
Still, I’m on fucking edge, and I hate this. If someone has it out for either of us, I wish they’d just put on their big-girl panties and do the dirty themselves instead of hiring shitty-ass hunters or trying to throw a wrench in Lucas’s business dealings. It’s cowardly, though I’m sure it’s been very well thought out.
They’re trying to annoy Lucas enough to get a reaction out of him, making him retaliate against having to assimilate. They sent Roger after me in the hopes Lucas would get pissed and do something irrational, and when that didn’t work, they had those protestors attack Lucas in public.
And yet it hasn’t worked. I don’t see this mysterious vampire giving up any time soon, and I’m getting more and more nervous he’s going to do something bad. Really bad.
“Mindy told us.”
“Mindy, from the county’s VC chapter, told you my name?” Lucas repeats.
“Was she not supposed to?” Thomas asks, eyeing his boyfriend nervously, worried he said something he shouldn’t have.
“No,” Lucas replies. “I’ve never met this Mindy, so I’m curious how she knows who I am.”
“Oh,” Derek says, and his shoulders relax. “She said a vampire purchased some property in town. She saw your name on the deed or whatever it is.”
That makes sense. A lot of sense, actually. Lucas did purchase a large plot of farmland and then almost bought Suzy’s Café before pulling out of the deal to keep the peace with my coven, on top of our house. Lucas is registered as a vampire, so the info would be easy to see…and it’s made very apparent, so everyone knows what is owned by a vampire.
“We didn’t know there were any other vampires in town,” Thomas says. “It’s nice not being the only ones.”
“It’s such a cute town too,” Derek goes on.
“You had family here, right?” I ask and Derek nods.
“My great-grandmother was born and raised here, and her house stayed in the family for a while until my father sold it out for under my grandparents,” he says bitterly. “The second it came up for sale, we knew we had to snatch it back up and get it back in the fam! It was in shambles and we spent more on renovations than we did purchasing it, but I don’t regret it one bit!”