Alice

Alice rolled her eyes so hard she could have pulled a muscle. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

And with that she whipped out her wand and cast a flash bomb effect. In the blinding light she was able to spirit herself away and out the door. The flash-bomb spell was a powerful one, so the most magic she could summon to speed herself along was only double fast.

Terror seized through her chest as she ran. Her lungs felt white hot from all the running, but the witch knew the woods like the back of her hand and she easily avoided the brambles, roots and spurs.

But none of that mattered, because suddenly the monster leaped down from a tree and landed right in front of her. His face looked different.

“Don’t make me chase you. It only wakes up the beast,” he said in a voice that did not indicate he was the slightest bit winded from traveling so fast. But there was still something that sounded different. Feral. Dangerous.

Pure adrenaline shot through her, and the electricity that exploded from her wand made Drew stumble backward. It gave her just enough time to get away and sprint back to her cottage. This time, she locked the door. She gasped for breath. She felt like a wounded rabbit being batted around by a bobcat.

Well, the beast had another think coming if he thought he was going to feed off of her. She didn’t know what would happen if he ever sucked magical witch blood into his system, and she didn’t want to find out.

Alice breathlessly stumbled to the kitchen to make herself something restorative. Doing battle against a vampire had sucked away all her energy.

She rifled through her stash of magical potions to make a cocktail for energy and protection. She sucked it down immediately, and then, for good measure, took out her wand and cast a protection spell through her locked front door. She would have to wait until she recovered her full energy before casting a hex to cast the vampire out for good. She might even need multiple witches for that, depending on how old and powerful he was.

And how the actual fuck was he out in the daylight, she wanted to know. This was bad. Had something changed in the whole history of vampires that she wasn’t aware of, or had somebody failed to tell her?

Moments later she was wrapped up in a blanket in her comfy chair, eyes on her front door. It started to feel as if he had decided to leave her alone, yet she remained vigilant, watching.

She thought about texting Birdie, but she would still be at work, no doubt filling prescriptions of herbal love potions and boner pills on Valentine’s Day. Plus, she was probably still angry. Fern would either still be on her date with the sandwich guy, or, having ditched him, off to wander in the woods, alone. And finally, she didn’t want to worry Morgan, who was with child at the moment. Alice knew Morgan would come to her aid immediately. Only problem was, so would Adam, her husband. He was just coming in to his power as a witch himself, and his energy was wild and unfocused. As a cop, he also carried a gun. Combine all that with his irrationally overprotective behavior around his pregnant wife, and Adam would obliterate himself and everyone around him in half a second. Alice only wanted the vampire subdued. Didn’t she?

So she decided to wait it out.

“It’s a convenient thing that you witches all leave your kitchen doors open for each other.”

Drew was in her house.

Alice’s heart jumped into her throat and she reached for her wand. “How did you get in here? I cast a protection spell!”

Drew held up his hands in surrender. “You invited me in, remember?”

If she got through today, she would have to remember to plant some garlic around the perimeter and invest in some holy water from the high priestess in Salem, and affix some evil eye symbols around the place. Oh boy, that wouldn’t scare off the little schoolchildren on tour days, would it?

“What do you want?” Her voice shook as she pointed her wand at him.

“You,” he said. “I just want you. I want to understand why I can be in the sunlight when I’m with you.”

“Do you know the theory of Occam’s razor?”

“Of course I do. Occam was a friend of mine back in the day, in fact. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one,” said the vampire.

“Yeah, well, so maybe you're in the light because you’re not actually a vampire? If you were a vampire, you would have already overpowered me and sucked me dry,” she said with defiance.

“Normally I would say you have a point. But I don't want to hurt you. I just want to understand our connection. The last time I went out into the sun, just to try it, I got second-degree burns on my hand. Didn’t feel great.”

“Maybe you need better sunscreen. Maybe it’s just a sun allergy.”

“I’ve been alive for over 700 years, surviving on blood. How do you explain that?”

She wasn’t falling for any of this teddy-bear vampire bullshit. Angel and Buffy? Bella and Edward? All bullshit. Vampires were nothing but low creatures who scurried around in the shadows like murderers waiting for their next victim. They preyed on the small and the weak to get by. Because if they ever met a formidable foe they would draw attention to themselves and their kind would be wiped out.

“Delusions of grandeur, and iron deficiency.”

He started walking closer to her. “Why, if you yourself are a magical creature, is it so hard to accept that I am who I say I am? Isn’t there a truth spell you can do to me?”

“Yes, but I’ve already used two subdue spells on you and it took everything out of me. It’s tiring enough using aggression on regular humans. I’m utterly spent.”

He smiled. Oh god, the dimples. “So you admit it. You admit I’m different. I’m some kind of magical creature.”

“Bitch, please. You’re an overgrown frat boy who’s landed his dream job of being a bartender.”

“Excuse me, ma’am, but you’re an overgrown sorority sister who’s still living in la-la land with your snooty coffee and your open mic nights and hippie-dippy friends. Pretending you’re just so counter-culture with your blown-out hair and perfect teeth.”

OK, that actually stung a little bit.

“I just want to have a nice place for nice people to come together and be nice,” she said, feeling pathetic as a tear rolled down her cheek. Oh shit, she really didn’t want this ogre to see her cry. Her shining silver wand clattered forcefully to the floor. “Go ahead. I have no defenses now. Suck my blood if you want to so badly. Kill me if you have to. You win.”

He stared at her in astonishment. She supposed he was in awe of the fact that she wasn’t going to put up a fight. She didn’t want to die, but she was totally outmatched, if he was a vampire. If he was not, well then, he probably would not try to kill her. He was just the silly, love-struck boy that she suspected.

“Here,” she said, rolling up her starched linen sleeve. She held out her wrist and beckoned him to come closer. “Prove it.”

She watched Drew’s face as he took her wrist. He appeared to be hungry for it. A look came over his face and she knew it even before the fangs showed themselves and the wildness crossed over his face. She saw the hunger and felt his energy change. He was fighting with a very real beast inside. She watched him hold her exposed wrist up to his nose to inhale her scent liked aged wine. His fingertips on her tender skin sent a warm wave up her spine. His hands were cold to the touch, but he felt good against her overheated body.

The beast finally revealed his fangs, and she accepted the darkness.