2 October 2012
As the door closed with a click, I turned to face the nervous young man. He was wringing his hands and looking up and down my hallway as if he was expecting someone to leap out of one of the darkened corners. We made eye contact for a second, his vivid green eyes still visible in the dim hallway, before he broke away, embarrassed.
"Thank you," he said quietly, "for helping me." I saw him catch his reflection in the hall mirror and dab at his bloodied lip with his sleeve.
"Are you alright?" I asked, for lack of anything else to say. I felt awkward - I was unaccustomed to having attractive young men in my house.
"Um, yeah," he replied, "I think so." He gave a rather forced smile and held out his hand for me to shake. "I'm Theo."
"I'm Lilith," I said, taking his hand. It felt warm against my cool skin, but a little sweaty. "Do you...I don't know, want me to call the police or something?"
"No," Theo replied quickly, "no, it's ok. I didn't see what he looked like anyway. I'd rather just...forget about it."
"Well, if you say so," I started, thinking it was a little odd. Maybe being attacked had hurt his pride. "Can I get you a cup of tea? Or something stronger?"
"Tea would be great," he said, smiling more earnestly this time.
Theo followed me into the kitchen and looked around the room quietly as I filled the kettle. He stopped in front of the large, glass-fronted display case that took up the whole of one kitchen wall.
"These are...interesting," he remarked, his nose centimetres from the glass. His eyes narrowed as he looked inside, although I doubted he had any idea what he was looking at.
"Ah yes," I said, "a few artefacts I've collected on my travels. A little hobby of mine." I pulled two cups from the cupboard. "I'm studying a history degree this time."
"This time?" Theo frowned, confused.
"Yes, this will be my...seventh degree," I smiled, pouring boiling water carefully in to each cup.
"Seventh? That's...amazing. Are you some kind of scholar?" he paused, his eyes narrowing, "But you can't be more than twenty-five," he said, crossing the kitchen to accept his cup of tea.
"I'm older than I look," I smiled, revealing a row of neat, white fangs, before quickly sipping my tea.
"What are you?" Theo said, his eyes widening, fear creeping back into his face.
"Really Theo," I grinned, "that's a little rude. After I helped you out." To my surprise, Theo smiled back, the fear fading as quickly as it had appeared. He carefully placed his empty teacup on the kitchen counter.
"I'm just trying to figure out what I'm dealing with here," he replied, "are you a elder daemon or just another run-of-the-mill vampire?"
Trick Or Treat - Part Two • Opuss № I