Vicki hadn't seen the vampire in this kind of light before. He had come all this way to see a moonflower, yes it was rare, but it seemed like a long way to come.

"Why are you so focused on hiding your identity?" she asked.

"One question at a time, Vicki. It's my turn, remember?"

"Alright, then you ask one."

He walked towards her, grinning from ear to ear. She had already laid out her life to him, she doubted he could ask her a more personal or embarrassing question than that. Once she answered, he would have to explain more.

"I don't think I will. Not right now anyway. Come on. Let's find what we came here for."

She grumbled but followed him through the garden paths. She had no idea where the wolfsbane would be, and since the flower was out of season, she'd have to identify it only by its leaves. Not exactly easy in the dim light.

"This might take a while," she said.

"Hang on," the vampire said, pointing his nose in the air. "It's not too far."

She followed him down the winding dirt path towards the rock shelf that held up the mansion above them. Wolfsbane did prefer partial shade, so it did make more sense for it to grow away from the bluff. Of course, it made it even harder to see, so when the vampire offered her his hand, she took it. He had been holding her hand a lot tonight. Like he was using any excuse to touch her.

What was she thinking? He obviously knew she couldn't see and that's why he had offered his hand. It didn't mean anything more than him being kind and his motivation for being kind was more than likely to get her to agree to a blood contract.

"That's it, right?" he said, pointing over a short brick and wrought-iron fence.

The plant was still green and had long stems sticking up from the center that were absent of any flowers. The vampire handed her the gloves in the basket and helped her onto the wall so she could step over the gate.

She stepped lightly, trying not to disturb the sensitive plant and also trying not to be seen. She crouched down and pulled aside branches, looking for anything that had naturally fallen from the plant.

"Maybe over there," the vampire said, pointing a little further from her. She shuffled in that direction and parted the foliage. There, caught in the green leaves were wilted purple flowers. Vicki pulled a vial from her pocket and carefully set the delicate blooms inside.

"Your sense of smell is incredible," she told him.

"Has to be. I do consider myself an apex predator, you know."

She laughed. "Yeah, I hear those hospital bags can be horribly slippery."

She took his hand again to step over the wall, but just as she lifted her foot, a flashlight beamed on them.

"What are you two doing?"

Medusa's tits! A marshal! How were they going to explain this?

The vampire lifted her over the fence and took off running, pulling her along with him. She was going to tell him it was pointless, that they were probably just making it worse, but when she looked at his face, he was smiling. He was enjoying this. Why?

The marshal was still following them, but falling further and further behind. It wouldn't matter, Vicki didn't know where the exit was and she couldn't imagine Evan knew either. He seemed to be running on complete instinct, picking up her hand to let her know to step up, and weaving around snagging branches. He was a vampire, a real underdweller accustomed to these kinds of conditions. Vicki hadn't inherited anything that practical.

The vampire pulled her into a hollow that was hidden by a curtain of vines. It was small— barely enough room to fit both of them without their bodies pressing together. Vicki could hardly breathe with her chest pressed up against his.

"He's probably tracking our scent, we can't stay here," she whispered.

"I already considered that." He laced his fingers around her necklace and pulled it over her head. She was about to question him on it when he placed a finger to her lips.

Outside of the curtain, she saw the shadow of the marshal hobble by, grumbling about miscreants and how nice the flowers smelled that night. Once he was finally gone, the vampire pulled his finger away.

"Are we in the clear now?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so," he said.

But one of his arms was still wrapped around her waist, and he didn't make a move to leave. She looked up at him, trying to decipher the lines between his furrowed eyebrows.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, but I don't think I'm going to be," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"If you'd let me, I would kiss you right now."

The finger that had been on her lips a moment ago was now tracing her jaw. She didn't know what to do. She could barely remember to breathe. Alarm bells were going off in her head.

Don't make the same mistake you made with Carter.

"That does sound like an after-sunrise sort of thing," she said as she wiggled herself out of the suffocating space. The vampire instantly dropped his hands. She noticed him avoiding even looking in her direction on the entire walk back to his apartment. She felt horrible about it, but she promised herself she wouldn't let pity force her into the same situation she had found herself in before.

She wanted to be loved for her, not what she offered as a food source. And even though he was handsome and kind to her, she couldn't risk losing herself to that setup again. It would be too tempting, she learned that after the alpha incident. If he looked hungry or sick, it would be hard to deny him if she let herself love him.

Again, she was thinking too much of it. He only asked for a kiss, not love or even a relationship. Maybe he would forget about it easily. Maybe he already had, a guy like him must have kissed plenty of gorgeous women. She doubted he would miss hers very much.

Flicking the sign over to 'open' felt good. Amazing really. The store was ready for customers again, all the displays looked good, and yeah there was a new rug near the counter to cover some blood stains, but it fit.

Vicki adjusted her hat. Hopefully, she'd get some customers today. The full moon was only a few days away and when the underdwellers wouldn't be able to hide their nature and want to go out. It was also the night she had promised to the vampire. Warmth touched her cheeks. She'd go through with it since she always kept her word, but that didn't mean she was looking forward to it. Last night had been awkward enough after she snubbed him. He didn't even say anything when she left just a couple of hours ago.

The bell rang above the door and Selene walked in with a drink carrier. When their eyes connected, she full-on sprinted over to the counter.

"Vicki! Oh, I've been so worried about you. Are you alright?"

She nodded. Selene took her by the chin and turned her every which way as if inspecting a jewel. She sighed.

"I knew Evan would keep you safe. How is he? Did you two get along okay? Did you give him a special reward?"

Vicki did not like the implications of the two winks that came after she said 'special reward'. She didn't even know they were on a first-name basis. She took her drink out of the carrier. Selene must've been feeling guilty since the drink was twice the size of what she usually ordered.

"He's okay and we got along just fine. No 'special reward' necessary."

"Tsk tsk. Come on, you had to have given the man something. He took on an alpha for gods' sake! He could have died!"

The only thing Vicki had done for him was help him pilfer blood from the hospital, and she couldn't really tell Selene about that.

"I helped him with dinner," she said.

Selene gaped her mouth at her. "Vicki! Spaghetti is not at all an adequate payment. We've both put out for less than this."

"Selene!"

She put up her hands. "I'm just saying. Couldn't even give the guy a kiss?"

Vicki raised her eyebrows as she sipped her drink.

"Look, I just, can we talk about something else?"

Selene put her hand on her hip, her usual stance she took when she meant business.

"No. Why are you being so weird with him? He's saved your ass twice now and you're obviously attracted to him. What's the big deal?"

"It's not that simple."

"This isn't about Carter, is it? Because you and I both know he wouldn't have stood up for you like Evan does. And I don't know anyone who would enjoy the chase you've forced this man on. He really really likes you."

"I know."

Selene stared at her intently and Vicki worried she might be prodding for more than an answer as to why she hadn't just had a one-night stand with him. Vicki bit her lip and looked away.

"You like him too."

"I mean he did save my life."

Selene pulled her by the shoulder. "You know that's not what I mean. You like him like him, don't you?"

"Selene..."

She screamed and began jumping up and down. It was just then that the door rang out, and there was the vampire, coming in the store with what was probably another gift wrapped in brown paper.

"Speak of the devil," Selene said, loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm no devil, but hi to you too, Selene."

He brought the package to the counter and propped it up against it.

"I got you a gift, for the business," he said.

Selene elbowed Vicki in the side. It wasn't like she and the vampire were on bad terms now. She had already agreed to accept his help at the store, so she crossed in front of the counter and began to unwrap the square package.

"Is that...like a picture of your grandmother or something?" Selene asked after the painting was revealed.

"Gods no. My grandmother is still a very beautiful woman, as aged as she is."

"Then who is this hag supposed to be?"

Vicki remained silent. The decrepit woman was only vaguely human, with green skin, eyes the color of coal, and boils with their own heads of white hair.

"This is the proprietor of Scented Sticks." He smiled in Vicki's direction, as if she were to be happy about this. Selene knew better so she didn't respond to his screwed-up statement.

"Art isn't one of your strong suits, is it? That looks nothing like me," Vicki grumbled.

The vampire looked at the painting.

"Of course it doesn't, but it looks like a witch, or what we all think witches look like. Don't you get it, Vicki? You have an image problem. You're too pretty for anyone to think you're an actual witch and not some larping mortal."

Selene snickered.

Vicki was about to lay into both of them when the bell rang and a couple walked through the doors. They were young, probably still hanging onto their teenage years. Twins that were identical in their ambiguity. Vicki went to greet them far from the offensive painting.

"Good evening, welcome to Scented Sticks."

They looked her up and down before muttering a small "hey" and began their wandering around the store. Vicki went back to the counter. That was a typical interaction for her, but the vampire's face made it look like she had failed in some way. He picked up the painting and scanned the walls.

"You cannot put that up," she said.

"Just trust me," he said. He moved towards the center of the store, where part of the wall was taken up by an old fireplace. There was a display of kitchen towels and oven mitts on a table in front of it, and the vampire moved it slightly to access the mantle of the fireplace. That's where he placed the painting, where it couldn't be avoided by anyone who entered the store.

Vicki was in the process of stomping over to him when Selene grabbed her by the wrist.

"Give him a sec," she said quietly.

The two customers were crossing to the other side of the store now, but froze when they saw the vampire fiddling with the painting.

"Who is that?" one of the teens asked.

"The owner, of course. She provides all of the magic here," he said simply, as if it were an obvious fact instead of a malicious lie.

Both of the teenagers' eyes went wide and they suddenly began peering at the wares a bit closer. They picked up wicks of incense and candles, looked at pots of potpourri, and came to the counter to look at charms.

"What do all of these do?" they asked.

"They hold warding magic," Vicki said. The twins picked out matching bracelets and a set of charms to go with them. By the time they're outfitted, they had spent a few hundred dollars in magical goods. Vicki forced a smile as the two took their purchases and walked out of the store.

The vampire leaned against the counter, with an all-too-familiar grin on his face.

"I guess you were right," she said, trying to get his gloating over with. Selene, stuck in between them, looked back and forth.

"I think I'm going to head out of here, Vicki, are you going to need me to come back? It's probably not a good idea for you to stay here on your own."

"She already has a spot reserved at my place, but thanks for the offer," the vampire said.

Selene looked as if her eyes were going to pop out of her head. But whatever word vomit she had, she swallowed, and Vicki couldn't be any more thankful.

"I'll text you later."

Vicki had zero doubts that she wouldn't. The vampire and Vicki said bye, and she left the store.

"Sorry about that," he said.

She looked over to him, shocked. What was he sorry about? He was right, about everything apparently. Unless he was talking about her spending the night with him, which was very generous considering their situation.

"I know it doesn't feel good to know what most underdwellers perceive you as. It sucks and things like this aren't likely to change, considering how rare your kind are."

She nodded. It was strange that in such a short period of time, he had gotten to know her enough to really see her.

"Where did you get that painting anyway?"

"You don't want to know. What you should be asking is what it's going to cost you."

She raised her eyebrows. So it wasn't a gift after all.

"It wasn't cheap, let me tell you. But, like most underdwellers, I am always open to bartering. Money, blood, kisses, I can take either."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Slick vampire. She almost wanted to laugh at how shameless he was. She reached under the counter where she had a plushie tucked away. It was the same one she had made days earlier, the one she had made out of reflex rather than a plan. She held it out to him.

"Here you are. Payment in full," she said.

"A bat, really?" he asked, turning it around in his hands. "Fine. I will accept this, and one other thing."

She lifted an eyebrow. What was he going to do now? He walked behind the counter. Vicki shuffled backward, letting him overtake the space. He took her coffee cup and tilted it to his lips. After a drawn-out sip, he put the cup into her hands.

"Wow, that is a lot of sugar," he said with a grimace. "A bloodied stuffed animal and an indirect kiss is a bargain for the painting. You are quite the business witch, Vicki."

She was blushing so hard that she probably looked sunburned. Would he have done that if Selene were still there? She looked at the grin plastered on his face, a tantalizing smear of whipped cream still on his upper lip.

The door rang again, and neither moved to greet whoever walked into the store.

And that's how she could tell; he would've.