"Why?" I asked genuinely puzzled. "You didn't dive through that hole for fun. If the wires had caught you, you'd have set off the klaxon and had Clerics with stakes and silver on your ass until you were ash. Vampires don't seem the self-sacrificing kind to me. Plus, the sun is rising." I pointed east. "You don't have much time, and to be out this early, or late, you must be super hungry to risk the true death. Or suicidal. Which brings me back to the fact you guys are big on the self preservation."
He made a low rumbling noise and his shoulders shook. It was laughter, and it was gruesome and wretched. "I have been looking for you."
I thought about this. For a vampire to be looking for you and not hunting you, was unheard of. It was intriguing and I knew then curiosity was about to get me into more trouble.
"You're not the first to try that line today. You demons know how to flatter a girl."
He growled a little. "Fairies." He said the word like a curse.
I sighed again, exaggerating the rise and fall of my shoulders. Fine, my tribulations for the morning were not over. I could deal with that, but I needed the safety of Temple walls. The forest was no longer comforting, but alien and hostile.
"If you're not going to eat me would you mind if we walked and talked? I'm tired but have to keep going, or I'll be late for class."
He remained still and peered past me into the trees. I found it hard to read his face. His expression was not worried, but I thought it brooding, or rather, preoccupied with being anxious about something.
"I need to find a dark place. A safe place."
The dead and the sunlight didn't mix well. They burned, badly, and burst into extravagant blue and red flames. Then their blackened corpses flaked into ash. I could see why he might be anxious to find a 'dark place' as he put it.
"My wardrobe is dark." The words popped out of my mouth before they registered. "Wait," I said, and held up my palm. The standard cracks in my judgment were now gaping canyons, and there were all kinds of crazy ideas flying around. "You're friendly, right? If I help you, you aren't going to turn on me. Or turn me."
"As you rightly pointed out, the sun is rising and I weaken by the moment. I need to talk to you. Hear what I have to say then I'll go."
"Okay," I said slowly. There did not seem to be too big a downside to this arrangement. "I can do that, hear you out. But tell me, the fairy-boy I met is hunting you." I watched his face carefully. "Why? Did you do something bad to him or his kind?"
He looked me over so intently I squirmed in my skin. He made a quick movement with his hand that said 'so what'.
"If they find my resting place they will kill me, and they won't listen to what I have to say, which is why you must."
I mouthed my next words silently before I spoke them aloud. "I'm a fairy too." It was easy to say and I smiled. "It's important I know if talking to you will get me in trouble." I paused then grunted. "In more trouble than I already am, I mean."
His eyebrows rose and he focused on me more intently. I backed up a pace and couldn't help cupping my neck with my hand. He tilted his head and narrowed those bottomless eyes of his.
"I smell magic, but you seem human to me in every way."
"You seem to know a lot about me and what I've been doing. But then if you knew a lot about me you would know I have only just found out I'm a fairy." That sentence was convoluted, and I had confused myself. It made some kind of crazy sense, so I stood my ground and waited for his answer.
The vampire did not seem confused. "I can explain. But at night." His eyes darted to the east and his mouth pulled down.
The sky was much lighter now, but the clouds gave extra cover. Time was running out, I was beyond terrified, the curls of fear in my stomach were tornadoes, and I felt a responsibility to protect this vampire from bursting into a firework display.
"My cupboard it is." He placed a hand on my lower back and I jerked away. "Watch the hands," I said and eyed him.
"I'm going to carry you," he explained. "It will be faster and we will not be seen."
He was not much taller than me or bigger in size. No doubt he could carry me, but still, the thought of being so close to death itself was worrisome. His presence still rubbed me up the wrong way. I was strong willed, not infallible, and me losing control would be fatal.
