Long Time No See

The convenience store doors slid closed behind her. She was wearing slides and in her home clothing since she had to run to the store for butter and other spices to finish making her curry that she ran out of right before. It was a lazy weekend for her to catch up on her TV shows and clean around the house.

Charlotte ran a hand down her flimsy white long sleeve, a testament to the warmer weather rolling in and shuffled her way down the street. She was cleaning out her refrigerator from the old vegetables and ingredients she hadn't used in a while and decided to make curry out of the blue. She did have a short phone call with Emma, a coworker of hers since Emma needed to blow off some steam.

Emma was a casual friend of hers, and they normally only chatted about work. But there seemed to be something on her heart today which was why Charlotte listened to her ongoing chatter to give Emma the little comfort she could offer.

She pulled out her phone again to check for any other messages, but there were none. Hopefully, her friend was doing alright. Charlotte walked a fast clip to get home as quickly as she could. She took the backroads that were closest to the larger roads and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

There was a couple up ahead, and by the initial glance, definitely not a happy couple. The woman was being dragged by the man, and Charlotte wanted to step intervene, but she waited to see if the situation would escalate.

The man pushed the woman up against the wall. Charlotte turned to look around, but there was no one down this street. The man suddenly pulled the woman down the dark and enclosed alleyway. Charlotte ran forward and passed to see the man crowding the woman into a corner.

He opened his mouth and bit the woman. The woman cried in pain, and Charlotte could see the man start to put his hands underneath the woman's shirt. Charlotte ran forward and swung her bag of groceries at him. The cans of curry rolled out from the busted bag.

"Hey!" Charlotte yelled. "Back off her right this instant!"

The man pulled away and ran his tongue on his teeth. Charlotte was stricken silent. He was feeding off of the woman. The woman slumped to the ground unconscious and the vampire hissed at her. She hadn't encountered any odd people or vampires in a while.

It's been three months since she last saw Vincent or dealt with any other vampires. The man who she had gone on a blind date with and who she thought was going to press charges sooner or later had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

The police had questioned her since she was one of his last contacts before he went missing. The questioning led nowhere, and Charlotte was let off. It was a bizarre case, and she knew it wouldn't be a coincidence if it were tied to other vampires.

She was living without the paranoia of encountering more dangerous situations for a short but sweet time, but it was over. Charlotte took a few steps back from the vampire that was approaching her.

Charlotte didn't have any other defense weapons besides her fists. That wasn't going to do her any good. The last time she used her fists she had bruised her knuckles for a while. It negatively impacted her performance at work since she couldn't use her fingers correctly.

She gave the vampire a tight smile. "Let's play cat and mouse."

Taking off in a sprint, it would be foolish to think she could outrun a vampire, but it was possible to get him off her tracks by getting to the main streets where many people witness him.

Her slides were coming off her feet, and she ended up kicking them off. The rough stones on her feet were harsh, but they gave her better traction than her slides. She ran straight down the street and was about to reach for the lights when she knew she couldn't make it.

Immediately taking a sharp turn, she bumped into a wall with too much force but forced herself to keep going. Losing her breath, she hasn't run this hard in ages.

The adrenaline pumped into her blood wasn't going to keep her safe any longer. She suddenly screamed out for the man who she knew could save her.

"VINCENT!"

Charlotte crashed into a huge body and without a second thought, wrapped her arms around him. Vincent pulled her tightly into his embrace, and Charlotte buried her face into his neck.

Her body was shaking, but his strong body kept her safe. His warmth was enough despite his hands being despairingly cold.

There was a moment of silence, and Charlotte eased back to see Vincent staring at the other vampire not even ten feet away.

They seemed to be communicating with their minds because the other vampire must have decided that Charlotte wasn't worth the effort to break through Vincent and turned his back to them.

"Take a breather, Declan," Vincent growled. "I'll take care of this."

The vampire hissed, his golden eyes flaring. Vincent glared at the vampire, waiting to see his response. The vampire then inclined his head and jumped, scaling the side of the building with alarming speed. Vincent put Charlotte back on her feet and tilted her face up.

"Did you two communicate telepathically?" Charlotte asked quietly.

Vincent shook his head. "No, although that would be convenient. It is body language."

She gave him a sheepish smile after a long pause. "I could have saved myself you know."

Vincent rolled his eyes. "That doesn't matter. You still called out for me in the end."