In the city of Budapest, it was an ordinary night.
People moved about their lives, going to their destinations across the city.
Yet, within this normalcy, something stood out that nobody noticed.
A beautiful woman walked through the crowd, her beauty attracting attention from all the people nearby, both good and bad.
And it was the bad kind that would follow her today.
From a distance, three men followed the woman, making sure to keep enough distance to not be suspicious, but close enough to not lose her.
That is how they kept up with her until she made a turn into a dark alley, probably in panic. A fatal mistake for any woman in such a situation.
The men did not let go of this opportunity and rushed in behind her.
Within the secluded alley, surrounded by darkness, the three men surrounded the extremely beautiful woman, pinning her to the wall and making her drop her bags.
"Well, would you look at this? Boys? What's a lady like you doing out here at such a time? Hm?"
"Shut it, Ivan. Let's get to business."
The bald-headed one pulled out a knife and placed it against the woman's neck.
"Take out everything you have. Purse, jewelry, everything."
The man called Ivan grinned from behind his companion as he stared at the woman lecherously.
"And take off those clothes while you are at it. We'll give you some real warmth on this cold night."
At his words, the last of the trio, a man with a thick beard and shorter than the others, grinned and moved forward, preparing to do the deed himself, his eyes roaming the woman's body with undisguised ill intent.
Yet, before they could do the deed, something else happened.
The woman, who looked helpless and at their mercy, moved.
The short man did not even have the time to scream before his head was separated from his body.
The bald man tried to shout, but a hand was shoved through his neck, ripping out a piece of his spine.
Ivan, the final guy, was left trembling in shock, unable to comprehend what was happening.
The woman grinned and finally revealed her true form.
Her electric blue eyes danced with melevolent mischief as her canines extended into fangs.
"How kind of you three. You delivered yourselves right to me just when I was starving."
Ivan did not even answer as he turned, trying to escape from the alley.
Unfortunately for him, it was already too late.
He felt a sharp pain in his jugular, making him scream in pain, only for his voice to be muffled as the woman wrapped her hand around his mouth.
Slowly, deliberately, and painfully, the woman sucked the man's blood, leaving his body completely devoid of blood in a matter of minutes.
It was only when she was done did she smiled beautifully and looked up towards the roof.
"How long are you going to watch the show? Gabriel?"
".....You really are too sharp for your own good, Erika."
Following the exasperated words, Gabriel Corvin dropped from the roof, landing with a grace similar to a cat while his body glowed a deep crimson underneath his clothing from the small gaps she could see, much to the vampire's hidden surprise.
She did not remember this entertaining human being like this a month ago when she was called back from the company to her coven.
And she knew that it was the man she knew under all that Welding clothes and mask, since she would recognize his scent anywhere, thanks to her familiarity with the man.
Watching his ridiculous outfit, she smiled mischievously..
"Wow~ would you look at that? Is dear old Gabriel working in a factory now? If you were lacking money, you could have just told me, you know~?"
At her teasing words, Gabriel just sighed fondly, almost falling back into their usual routine before catching himself.
It was only when he focused back on the present that he caught the discrepancies between how Erika usually behaved around him and how she was behaving now.
Her eyes were still filled with the familiar mischief, yet below that, he spotted the caution and even hints of fear.
Below her smirk, he caught the tightening of her expression.
And in her body language, he saw the urge to flee.
Knowing that he needed to handle this delicately. So, he took off the welding helmet and stared her directly in the eyes, preparing to ask her some carefully worded questions.
Unfortunately for the human, his mouth had other plans.
"Talk over dinner?"
'....Fuck you, brain! Fuck you and my damned crush!'
He really wanted to cuss out then and there. However, he refrained from doing so when he noticed the changes in her body language after his words.
The way her smirk loosened into a genuine smile, the way her body language relaxed, and the way her gaze turned a tad warmer.
"You finally gathered enough courage to ask me out? Tonight is full of surprises, eh? Gabriel?"
"....Yeah. It really is."
"I accept, by the way, but not in those clothes."
At her pointed gesture towards his clothing, Gabriel sighed and nodded.
With that, the superhuman and the vampire left the alley, but not before Gabriel used his heat to ignite the bodies after Erika doused them in a special chemical made by Ziodex, originally used in the agricultural sector, but also could serve other purposes when synthesized in a different way, one that only her kind had access to.
In the end, all that was left were ashes in the wind where three dangerous criminals were supposed to be, while the duo made off to the nearest restaurant.
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As we sat in the restaurant, where I continued drinking coffee while Erika drank cloned blood within her opaque cup, disguising it as a regular beverage, I waited patiently for the vampire woman to speak.
And just like I predicted, the woman finally spoke up softly.
"How long did you know?"
I knew she was talking about my knowledge of her true nature.
"A few days now. I found it odd how you never ate anything in the three years I've known you at the company, despite the many meals we had where we discussed stuff. I always chalked it up to you being health-conscious or not eating food from the outside."
"Then, there is your pale skin, your beautiful eyes, and your overall unnatural beauty-"
"Whoa there, tiger. Slow down with the flattery, will you?"
Her words said one thing, but the way she preened at my words said something else, which made me chuckle.
"You are awfully chipper about your secret being known to me."
Erika leaned into her hands, and she stared at me with amusement, and oddly enough, relief.
"It doesn't really matter, Gabriel. You are not the first human to find out about our existence, and you probably will not be the last. And given your own unnatural situation, you won't have to be silenced like the rest of your kind either, so it is no burden on my mind."
Those words instantly made my heart beat harder in my chest.
The casual way she said it made it seem like she was discussing the weather, but the subtle implications in her words were staggering.
First, her words about humans finding out about her kind were not something unexpected. I remember from my past life where some humans learned about their kind's existence or the Lycans' existence and were promptly silenced, either by the Covens, the Werewolves clan, or even the men of Alexander Corvinus.
But the other words that mentioned my unnatural situation and how she did not have to silence me, as if this was an already established procedure for her and her people, and implied that there were at least a few precedents of situations like this, that had a lot of implications that I am not ready to think about just yet.
"Besides-""
I turned up from my cup to meet her eyes as she smiled mischievously.
"- I was planning to turn you into one of us anyway sometime in the future, when you realized the limited lifespan of your species. So it doesn't matter that you found out about us."
I nodded at her words.
Like I thought, all those subtle words and offers in the past years, when we truly grew closer as friends, were indeed her way of offering to turn me into a vampire.
She leaned in as her eyes glinted with curiosity.
"Now, tell me, how did you manage to hide your powers for so long?"
".....I just had no choice but to expose myself with the accident a few days ago."
A blatant lie, but a necessary one. I cannot tell her the truth.
I have no illusion that, despite her fondness for me and our friendship, her loyalty lies first and foremost with her coven. There is also the implication in her words, which seem to say that powers in a human are to be hidden, as if they are gained from birth, so I can't tell her that I just gained them recently.
Granted, I might be reading too much between the lines, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
Thankfully, one of the perks of the Heart-Shaped herb that I can use in its limited form right now is to control my body language perfectly, allowing me to lie without giving it away to anyone. Hopefully, this power will also allow me to fool her as well.
"Oh~ that's interesting. Speaking of, why did you leave the company?"
"....I wanted to get some rest. And think about life and what it holds for me."
"Heh. Does thinking about life also mean hiding on rooftops, watching women get assaulted, and doing nothing but watch despite being strong enough to stop such things?"
The flat stare I gave her made her giggle cutely. (Damn! I really am down bad for her.)
"Erika. I know that you and your kin are extremely strong, so there was no reason for me to intervene. I still remember what happened with James, so there is no way those three fools would have been able to so much as touch you."
"...Don't bring up that scum."
The way she frowned and her eyes flashed with genuine anger showed just how much she hated that man.
A year ago, we got an intern by the name of Natalie. A local girl fresh from college who chose to work at Ziodex for some reason.
She was a cute one, not gonna lie. Extremely beautiful, kind and caring, diligent in her work, and went far beyond what was asked of her.
So it was no surprise that she was very popular.
Unfortunately, her popularity attracted the wrong kind of attention at the company.
James Adams. The department head of Marketing. The guy, who was 30 years old, married, and had two kids, started hitting on the girl.
Given that neither he nor Natalie was part of my department, I had no way to do anything about it aside from informing Mathew about it.
However, I never realized that the bastard would stoop so low as to try and assault her.
I don't know what exactly happened since I took some time off at that time to try and pull Marcus out of his apartment, trying to force him into getting a life for himself.
What I hear, however, paints a rather grim picture.
The bastard supposedly called her in for an extra shift through official channels using his authority and then tried to assault her in the office.
Fortunately for the girl, Erika was there that day for some private business.
Long story short, she turned the bastard's hands into pretzels and had him arrested.
Given what I know now, it is clear to me how she managed to get him locked away for life so easily. She must have used her coven's pull on the local government to get things going.
Unfortunately, the traumatic incident was too much for Natalie, who quit the company and moved out of town.
Shaking my head to get rid of those depressing memories, I turned back to Erika, who still held a frown on her face, staring off into the distance.
Taking a deep breath, I spoke out the main reason why I wanted to talk to her in the first place tonight.
"Erika, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Hm?"
"What I am about to ask you might be a bit too much for you, but I assure you that I am only asking this for the sake of my safety and that of my brother."
"...Go on."
"I want to ask for your help in hiding my brother away in case he is ever in danger."
I saw the confusion in her eyes, so I elaborated a bit.
"I think he might be in danger from a few unsavory elements."
"What unsavory elements?"
"....I can't tell you just yet. But I promise I will tell you in the future."
"....Hm. I'll see what I can do. Don't expect instant results, and I can't promise anything. But I'll look into it."
I felt tension leave my shoulders at her words.
While I can't fully trust her just yet, it is still reassuring to know that she could at least provide me with another possible safety net for my brother in case the worst comes to worst.
"Thank you, Erika. Truly."
Once again, she leaned into her fist, and she smiled wryly.
"My, how shameless of you, Gabriel. Asking things of me at our first date. What kind of rogue are you?"
I chuckled at her words and relaxed a little.
"If it works, it isn't called being a rogue, it is called being a bad boy."
"In other words, a lazy bum."
We chuckled together and fell into a comfortable silence.
That night, when I returned home, I felt a strange sense of fulfillment.
'Damn it! Erika. You really are the bane of my sanity.'
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Erika: (click here for image)
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: https://patreon.com/Tiranus2