"Did you ever come out to your dad?" Abel asked as he helped me up a bit of a tricky patch on the trail.

"I didn't have to, really. Once he asked if I had a boyfriend and I said I did. So that was kind of my coming out, I guess. Did you come out to yours?"

"Yeah, but it was basically a formality. The vampire community believes in free love. Most try out a little this and that, since we do have forever. We go through so many phases and stages throughout our lives, we generally agree sexuality and gender can be pretty fluid."

"That sounds liberating."

"It can be, but it can also be the opposite, if you're not fluid at all. It's not like anyone will force you, but you'll be viewed as boring. As if you're not living life to your fullest potential."

"But what if you're fully content with not being fluid at all?"

Abel shrugged.

"That doesn't sound liberated. Just sounds like another societal pressure to be something you're not."

"Never said the vampire community was perfect."

I made it up the tricky part and ended up in front of him. "I guess every society has issues."

"I guess. But at least we won't have to worry about it too much. From my side anyways."

I nodded a little and looked over at the mountains. Clouds were going below them, laying themselves there as a nice blanket. It was beautiful. I brought out my phone and took a quick picture of Dave. It focused on him with the awesome scenery in the back.

"What're you doing on your phone?" Abel asked, teasingly.

"Flirting with all the hot local boys," I murmured and showed him the picture. "Look at this one."

His smile broke his whole face apart, almost. It swallowed his eyes, pushed up his cheekbones and that single dimple dug into his skin.

"You're a dork, Gael," he laughed and pulled me close, squishing my face against his chest.

"I think I'm gonna hook up with this one tonight," I said, my voice muffled in the fabrics of his bomber jacket.

"I bet he'll absolutely adore you and fill your inbox with di-"

I interrupted him with a kiss, getting my face out from his chest, hooking my arm around his neck and pulling him down to me. He was so fast to kiss me back; it was like I hadn't even interrupted him in the middle of a sentence.

I felt his lips stretch into a smile. "I adore you, Gael," he murmured against my lips and placed small kisses on them.

We continued our hike when Dave started barking at us. He was not patient when he was on a walk.

"Can I ask you something entirely different?" I asked then, Abel's hand still in mine.

"Yep."

"The donors. The ones you get blood from. How does that work?"

"Alright, so we've got our own labs. Where they test the blood and the donors, to make sure they're all healthy before they donate. We can get really sick and weak, if we drink blood from sick donors. Like if a donor has blood cancer, like leukaemia or lymphoma, and if I drank that, I'd be puking for days. I wouldn't die, obviously, but I'd be as near as I could get. I'd be starving."

I cringed, a grimace fighting its way over my features. "Yikes."

"Yeah, so they get tested at our labs. And then when they've gone through all the testing, they start donating. Like once a month. You can even subscribe to specific donors. It's really smart."
"How do people even sign up to become a donor? I thought it was all super undercover."

Abel slid his aviators up his forehead and rubbed his eyes. We found a bench with an amazing look-out over the mountains and the valley our own little town was in.

"It is. But there are ways to reach out. Usually, it's one donor getting more. They get paid really well, so many wanna sign up. Most don't know they're donating blood for vampires. They think it's for research or a regular donor bank."

"Isn't that super unethical?" I asked, hesitantly.

"Yeah probably. The system isn't perfect. But we do have to do, what we gotta do, in order to not actually go out and maul people. It's kind of a lesser of two evils." He shrugged a little, taking my hand in his.

Dave sat in front of us, looking back and smiled, his tongue rolling out of his mouth. I jerked my head at him, and he came over, sitting by me. I patted his head, and he wagged his tail. I dug through my pocket, finding a treat and giving it to Abel, so he could give it to Dave. He loved giving Dave treats.

"The vampire community. It's so organised."

Abel nodded.

"Makes me wanna organise the wolves a little better than just leaving my scent everywhere."

"You could always try? I bet Mags knows more wolves she could connect you to."

"You don't think it sounds absolutely ridiculous?"

"Hell no. I'd be so lost without my community. I might not be the most active member right now, but once I graduate, I plan on getting more involved again."

"What, attend vampire bingo night?"

"Honestly, if there was vampire bingo night, I'd go so hard. Socks in sandals, a fanny pack, that weird shade-hat-thingy. Hell, I'd even bring my own stamper-thingy."

I laughed and gently pushed him with my shoulder. "Such a dork."

"You'd go with me, right? To vampire bingo night?"

"Oh yeah, we'd be wearing matching clothes."

"Tell me it's going to be super trashy sports suits in like... Neon colours. And with our names on our backs, but I'd be wearing the Gael jacket and you'd wear the Abel jacket."

"Oh hell yeah. It'd be hard though, trying to not jump your bones when you're wearing a neon-coloured Gael sports jacket."

"Completely irresistible." He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, kissing the side of my head.

Abel was practically lighting up the whole world with his excitement. He had been jumping all around all morning and I could barely get him to sit down for his breakfast. We were going to the river wildlife reserve. He had gotten us a tour with one of the people who worked there, even. His excitement was endearing to a whole new level.

"Abel, you've got to finish that mug otherwise you'll be too drowsy to even enjoy the reserve," I said and handed him the mug again.

"Oh yeah, that's a very good point." He chugged it in one go and let out a huge 'ah' sound, wiping his mouth with his hand. "Can we go now?"

"Yes, let's get going."

We had to drive about ten minutes and then as we swung into the car park, there was someone waving at us.

"Hey guys! So excited to see yous here," she said with a big smile, showing off fangs. So, Abel wasn't the only vampire with a huge interest in fish... "I'm Geneve, but everyone calls me Gene, so you can too."

"Hi Gene! I'm Abel, we spoke on the phone. And this Gael, my boyfriend," Abel said with the largest smile. His voice even shivered. He was so excited he was practically taking off.

"Welcome both of you. We're going to get straight to it." She turned and showed us into the grey building. "We do both preservation and rehabilitation. So it's not only for our gilled friends, but also the ones above water. We've got a pair of abandoned fox cubs in last week. And a badger that got run over but is doing so well in recovery."

The fox cubs were to die for, and I wanted one. Both were so interested in me, and I wanted to bring them home and like, I could totally have foxes with Dave. We could be their dads.

"Must be the wolf in you. Usually, foxes and wolves aren't too happy with each other, but I've heard of werewolves who're like... Guardians of the forest. So, they must feel safe with you," Gene said and smiled sweetly.

No matter how many times I had tried this, it didn't become any less weird, when someone just knew I was a wolf.

We carried on, unfortunately because I wanted to cuddle with the foxes more, but we went outside again and on to the rivers. It was an intricate map of lines coming from all over the mountains, ending up in this big natural lake. And it was absolutely beautiful. I took so many pictures for references photos later.

Gene told Abel about all the fish and what they did to preserve the natural lake, the flow of the water and especially helping the wild freshwater salmon not get mega-caught. Her words.

I was a little bored, but it was alright. The nature was pretty, and Abel was having the time of his life with Gene. And it was cute. I wished I could take pictures of them so he could have a memory of this. Like a really good token.

I was an idiot. I was an artist. I could just sketch this real fast! And I was real fucking good at quick portraits. I had done a tonne of them on the metro when I lived in the big city. I'd just drive around and around, drawing people.

I whipped out my little notebook from my backpack, found a comfortable rock to sit on by the shore of the lake and started drawing. It was over in like fifteen minutes, and I packed it away again. I didn't wanna give it with Gene there. I'd wait until later, so I didn't interrupt or disturb them. He was nerding out so hard.