Selene bounded towards Vicki the moment the vampire had left through the door. She was still placing the change on the counter in the register when Selene made herself comfortable on top of it.

"So, who's the hottie?" she asked.

He's a freaking vampire! Vicki wanted to say, but instead, she just bit her lip. She knew the vampire was serious about keeping his identity a secret and would definitely make good on his threats to her. News of a vampire stalking the streets at night would put the underdweller community in chaos and that was a natural balance she did not want to get in the way of.

"Just a customer buying a bear," Vicki said, as nonchalantly as she could muster.

Selene pouted.

"You aren't interested? Not even a little?"

Vicki crossed her arms. "Didn't he seem a little pale to you?"

Selene threw up her hands.

"He also seemed to have the body of an adonis! And the golden hair." Selene feigned a dramatic sigh. "But alas, those gorgeous green eyes were only trained on you. What a shame."

There she was, falling for the classic vampiric good looks. If she only knew why his eyes were so focused on her, she doubted she'd still be jealous.

"I'm not interested, Selene."

"Don't like tall guys?"

"He wasn't that tall, anyway, it doesn't matter. I'm still not interested."

"Got something against wavy hair?"

"My hair is wavy, Selene."

"Okay then, what is it?"

"It isn't good for business to be flirting with customers," Vicki said, getting back to organizing the dolls the vampire had pilfered through.

Selene jumped off the counter and joined her at her shoulder.

"I'd argue it's very good for business. That man smelled like old money, and trust me Vicki, this nose, knows!" She giggled at her own joke.

Of course he did. Who knew how old he really was behind that twenty-something exterior? It was something Vicki did not want to know. In fact, she would be thankful if she never saw that vampire ever again.

Selene had skipped out of the store after Vicki went mute hearing her go on and on about how old she was getting and that you could tell a lot about how a man loves in the way he walks and that the vampire had the sort of secret stride that promised all sorts of illicit fun. With as much as she went on and on about it, Vicki was just thankful Selene wasn't interested in taking the vampire for herself. One of these days, Selene's supposedly acute eye was going to get her into trouble.

Not that her eyes were much better...

The bell rang and Vicki came out from behind the counter.

"Welcome to Scented Sticks, how–" courtesy got caught in her throat and she tried to swallow it. Instead, she turned away to pretend to straighten some hand towels. "Let me know if you'd like to purchase anything," she said quietly.

She had just been thinking about how misguided Selene was, but here in the store was her own bad taste likely looking to bite her on the ass again.

"Come on Vic, you recognize me, don't you?"

Already treating her like an idiot.

"Not as a customer, I don't," she said. Her eyes glanced over him and caught his familiar hazel eyes, tan skin, bright white smile, and tight clothes. Even though his hair was now jet black, she recognized him. Like Selene, he often changed his appearance, but unlike Selene, it was usually to find food instead of fun.

He stepped forward, and Vicki moved behind the counter to avoid him.

"You really think this is smart, opening up like this? These hours are dangerous for mortals."

She snapped her head back at him.

"Good thing I'm not a mortal then."

He put his hand out with his palm up. She let it hang there, empty. He sighed and took it back.

"I saw one of my friends wearing one of your bracelets. Let the marshals do their job, you getting involved in the food chain isn't going to do you any favors."

Going broke wasn't doing her any favors either. Her credit couldn't get much worse. She hadn't considered that she might be pissing off some underdwellers, but what reasonable one would get upset that someone didn't want to be fed on? No, she was doing a public good. She'd already helped out the succubi and a little boy. She protected herself against a vampire. Everything was fine. She didn't need this jackass anymore. No one needed anyone who stomped on consent.

"Got it. Well if you think there's a problem with how I run my business you can go tell a marshal about it. Now, would you like to buy something? I was just about to light some incense," she said slowly enough to penetrate his concrete skull.

He stared at her, raising an eyebrow and leaning over the counter. She pulled a box from a cubby out of his view and held up a stick.

"I made this with fresh wormwood, care to take a sniff?"

He jolted backward and sneezed.

"No...no, I'll leave you to it."

Once he was out the door, Vicki took a long drawn-out breath. That was the first time he'd been around since they broke up. And did he apologize for treating her no better than a side dish? No, if anything, it seemed like he was going to try to feed on her again.

Sex with an incubus was good, but the side effects were not. In the beginning, he'd hold her hand through the worst of it and give her a pint of ice cream. In the end, he usually left her to suffer the night terrors alone.

That was the issue with being in a relationship with an underdweller. The lines between love and abuse got blurry fast. Vicki wasn't ready for another relationship, but whenever she worked up the nerve, hopefully it'd be with a mortal or an underdweller that didn't do live feeding.

One Week Later

Business wasn't exactly booming, but it was miles away from where it was a week ago. The pile of bills that had been piling up was slowly being whittled away, courtesy of her underdweller clientele. But she was a long way off from being secure with her business.

Especially with a vampire with a grudge running around town.

Though she hadn't seen him since the night he threatened her. Good, the further he stayed away from her, the better. But she had the vaguest feeling that he was still creeping in the shadows around her.

She flipped the sign on the window to open and went to sit on a stool behind the counter. Now to wait for some customers and Selene to show up with her coffee order.