Drita looked up as Aleksander came back into the kitchen, a bemused look on his face.
“What?” she asked, drying the last glass and putting it back in the cabinet.
“Our new neighbors are simultaneously the scariest and nicest people I’ve met,” Aleksander said, sitting down at the kitchen table with a sigh.
“What do you mean?” Drita asked, her brow furrowed. She liked it here, and didn’t want to have to move again.
“Well, they were so chatty. They talked about where they were from, their jobs, how they just got married. They asked about us, where we are from and what we did. They even recognized my accent, and asked me about home.” He sighed, rubbing his temple. “They invited us over for dinner tomorrow. And that we could come by any time we wanted.”
Drita sat down next to him, and clasped his cool hand in hers.
“Aleksander, that doesn’t sound good,” she murmured. She started mentally packing their small home, glad that they tended to keep their personal items to a minimum.
“Drita, they didn’t seem like a threat. I didn’t get a bad feeling from them. People are just more friendly here, I think.” He lifted her chin so she would look at him, focus on him. “I don’t want to leave either. I think we should stay, even if just for a few more weeks. Just to see if these people are as dangerous as we think they might be.”
She sighed. “I am so tired of running, Aleksander. And you know they will never stop hunting us, and you know they are smarter than we want to give them credit for. This could be a trap.”
“But what if it’s not? What if we could stay here? What if we could stop running, at least for a little while?” He kissed her hand softly. “These people intrigue me, Drita. What if we could learn from them?”
Drita sighed, pushing a stand of hair out of Aleksander’s face. “All right, Aleksander. We will stay.” She stood, trying to cover her worry with brusqueness. “I need to do some laundry. Can you check the sink in the bathroom? I think it’s been leaking.”
Aleksander smiled, and went to investigate the bathroom sink.
—
“But Aleksander was so nice! Do we have to kill them?” Keke asked, loading another clip with silver bullets.
Derek sighed. “You know what they are, Keeks. Killing them is what we do.” He looked up from across the room, where he was shaping a new stake out of a branch from the yard.
“But this one seemed different. He didn’t even look at my neck, like all the other ones have,” Keke protested. “Maybe they are different. They seem so normal, like they’ve been around people a long time. How else would they still be alive? Maybe they are like the ones we heard of, the ones who only drink animal-”
“Keke,” Derek said heavily. “They are still vampires, no matter how human they seem.”
“Please, Derek. Let’s just hold off, for a little while. We can study them! Learn more about them, so we can,” she swallowed, “hunt them better. And maybe these ones are different! Maybe they can help the others be different, too.”
Derek looked at her for a long moment, and Keke held her breath. He finally sighed.
“Fine. We can hold off, for a little bit.” He smiled at her. “You know I can never say no to you.”
Keke let out a happy squeal, and Derek laughed, pleased to make her happy. Even if he did resume working on the new stake, with a glance out the window to the house across the street.
Inspired by a writing prompt from The Character Comma’s prompt generator.
© The Lightning Tower, 2020