Like A Bad Movie

Still smiling, the vampire shook his head. "You should be careful where you go in this city, Liebchen. Monsters walk with human faces."

I snorted. "You don't say." This was the first time since I was eight that I had faced a vampire without either backup or Tasey. Still, I wasn't going to back down. I could so take a solitary vamp.

His hair was dark and curly, longer than most vamps wore it, giving him an almost artistic air. Well, minus the corpse he was rocking underneath the glamour. He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "There are things in this world you're better off not knowing. Go home and leave the night its mysteries."

"Wow, melodramatic much? You vampires always take yourselves so seriously." His eyes bugged out in surprise. "Yeah, I know you're a creature of the night. Bringer of death, sucker of blood, needer of tans, so on and so forth. And oddly enough, I'm still unimpressed."

He narrowed his eyes. "How do you know what I am, child?"

What is it with paranormals and calling me "child?" I'd be seventeen in December. How about a nice "ma'am" or something? "I know because it's my job. It's also my job to tell you this whole troll-stalking thing you've been doing is over."

He threw back his head and laughed. I felt like I'd walked into some cheesy vampire movie. Finally done with his little show of sinister confidence, he focused on my eyes. "You will take me back to the trolls."

Vampire mind tricks are dependent on their glamour, and with my nice view straight to his white corpse eyes, he just looked silly. I let my face go blank and nodded slowly. "Yes. The trolls. Back. With me. Cannot form. Complete sentences." I shook my head. "Yeah, so not happening."

He considered me, annoyed and at a loss for what to do next. "I don't kill humans."

"Me neither! See, common ground already."

"Then I suppose we should both be on our way."

I put my hands on my hips. "No, we shouldn't. I'm not going to let you murder any more troll kids."

He sighed. "Then I'm afraid we'll have to lose our common ground." Flashing his fangs, he lunged forward. I drew my arm back and punched him full in the face.

"Ow!" we screamed in unison as he clutched his nose and I shook my poor, poor hand. Why didn't anyone ever tell me punching faceshurts?

"You hit me!"

"You were trying to bite me!"

We glared at each other, his intensity somewhat diminished by the hand he still held to his nose. "So what now?" he asked, smooth voice muffled.

"I haven't thought that far ahead yet." I wasn't going to let him go, but I had neither the weapons nor the inclination to kill him. After another tense minute, he crouched down on the porch stoop. With a heavy sigh I sat down next to him, wrapping my arms around my knees in a pathetic attempt to ward off the chill. It felt like the blisters on my feet had coupled off and started forming little blister families. Tonight sucked.

I turned to the vampire. "You don't bite humans, huh?"

He leaned back, staring into the night. "Not for a long time now."

"Why?" I knew a lot of vamps like Arianna who didn't drink human blood-but they didn't drink trolls' blood, either. This was the first time I'd ever heard of paranormals being targeted by a bloodsucker.

"Because, Liebchen, I remember what it felt like to have a heartbeat, a pulse. I remember what it was like not to be a monster. I am content to watch humanity swirl around me, growing and aging and changing in ways that I never will."

"Fair enough, but if you're such a pacifist, why murder troll kiddos?"

He turned to me, the weariness he'd displayed while talking about humanity replaced by an almost palpable anger. "Because I am eternal, and blood calls to me. It calls to me everywhere I go, begging for me to take it, crippling me with thirst. What made me this way? What else in the world is untouched by time? These creatures, and others like them. If I am a monster, I will play my part. But I will prey on my fellow monsters, and someday I will find out how they corrupted human life to make vampires, and I will kill all of them."

I shivered, and it had nothing to do with my wet clothes. When Viv was on her spree, at least she thought she was helping paranormals by setting them free. This vampire-he simply hated. I resisted the urge to scoot farther from him. "Why do you get to decide? It wasn't like the troll kids chose to be here. It's outside their control, like your, uh, change was. You're punishing them for being what they are. How does that make sense?"

A smile colder than the dark night spread across his features. "I have had four hundred years to think this through. You're very sweet, but when you've been a monster as long as I, 'sense' stops having any influence."

I squirmed, my butt going to sleep against the concrete steps. What had I gotten myself into here? My communicator was still in my wet coat, which I'd stupidly abandoned on the riverbank. Maybe I could knock him senseless and find Hulking Teeth Gnasher and the other trolls. But they'd probably kill him. Didn't he kind of deserve it, though? And did thinking that make me just as bad as him?

"I should have stayed home and studied," I muttered.

He let out a low chuckle. "Indeed. It would appear we're at an impasse. I will not stop, and you're committed to stopping me, no?"

I shrugged. "It's my job. Sort of."

"I ought to let you in on a secret, then."

"What's that?"

He leaned toward me. "You don't smell entirely human."

That did it. Vamp guy was going down. How hard could it be to beat a corpse senseless? I stood up, balling my hands into fists. "Tell me something I don't know."

He stood, too, a cruel smile twisting the rotting, desiccated remains of his real face. "Something you don't know? Very well. I've found that paranormal blood has added benefits over human blood."

Before I could move, he reached out and grabbed my wrist. I tried to jerk it back, but couldn't break his far-too-strong grasp.

Oh, bleep.