Archive of Our Own ^beta

Gura let out a groan as the alarm blared to life right next to her head, the sound thundering in her head worse than any concert she’d ever been to. She reached over to her bedside table, slamming her hand atop wood on her first missed attempt, before she felt around with her fingers, trying to find the worst invention of mankind. She felt the plastic of the clock, and her fingers crawled to the top, allowing her to grip it to pull it slightly closer so she didn’t have to stretch her hand out so far, and then she slammed her fist on top of the damn thing, ending the sound.

The silence was a blessing.

“Mmm…” She felt someone shifting beside her, and the arm wrapped around her waist tightened just a little more, and she felt a soft breath tickling her ear, “Good evening, Gura.”

She let out another tired groan that quickly shifted to a whine when she felt the weight behind her shifting up and away, the cool air touching her back, “Ame…” She whined softly.

“Time to get up,” Amelia said, letting out a loud yawn, her jaw practically unhinging.

Gura groaned again, and finally opened her eyes, blearily looking around the darkened room. She watched Amelia through half-opened eyes as she went over to the window, where two very heavy curtains hung, preventing any sort of light from shining through. Amelia grabbed them, and threw them open, where the night sky greeted her. The horizon was a very dark blue, the sun had set maybe thirty minutes ago, and the last vestiges of oranges and purples were quickly fading.

She looked away from Amelia, and turned to the clock, which read a little after eight pm. She let out a yawn, and threw her blanket off, and her toes touched the carpeted floor, again sending another shiver up her spine – she wondered if perhaps she should turn the heat on. It was almost November, and the nights were starting to get a bit chilly, but she wasn’t sure if she could justify the cost that would incur quite yet.

“I’ll make us some breakfast,” Gura muttered after stifling another yawn, “You can take a shower first.”

Amelia smiled sweetly at her, and Gura’s stomach fluttered at the sight – they’d been married for nearly a year now, and have known each other for a little over two, and she still swooned after every single smile from her wife.

“Thank you,” Amelia replied, fruitlessly trying to pat down her ragged hair – she had a serious case of bedhead going on, and Gura doubted she was any better. “You’ll help make sure I look good for tonight, right?”

“You always look good.”

Amelia let out a soft laugh, “Yeah, ok.” She rolled her eyes and walked over, planting a soft kiss on her wife’s lips, biting down very lightly with one of her elongated fangs, and Gura shuddered at the feeling. “You need to be my mirror, Gura, please?”

“Yeah, ok,” Gura muttered faintly, “Always.”

Amelia pulled away, and she tossed off her pajamas, exposing her extremely pale skin – almost completely white – before walking down the hall towards the bathroom. Gura watched her behind the whole time she could, and then Amelia disappeared into the bathroom. Amelia didn’t bother locking the door – she didn’t even bother closing it. She heard the shower start, and Gura stretched one last time, deciding to go start breakfast.

Their home was small, almost a little too cramped. They were just renting the place, and they chose it because it was cheap. Considering their “handicaps” they couldn’t really afford to be picky since the jobs they could do was pretty limited. It wasn’t because they were incapable of doing them, but rather because of what they were.

Gura was a 9000-year-old Atlantean, give or take a few hundred years, she didn’t keep track of her age anymore. She had a large shark fin protruding from her back, and both of forearms had fins that were currently folded inward. Her legs also had large fins on them, and like the ones on her arms, these were also folded in, since she was dry and on land. Her hands and feet had translucent webbing between the digits that like her fins, retracted when she was on land, and she had razor sharp teeth that could rip through almost anything.

Fortunately, Atlantis had provisions in place for when Atlanteans wanted to go above the waves and participate in the human world. There was a magic pendant she often wore that would disguise her in a human glamour – her fins would fade from view, her teeth would look normal, her white hair would turn blonde, and for all intents and purposes she just looked like a slightly smaller than average girl in her twenties.

Amelia was in the same boat as her, but at least she looked almost completely human. As long as she made sure to receive a steady supply of blood, her skin would remain its unnaturally pale hue and not turn sickly, her fangs would stay fairly small and out of the way, and not protrude from her mouth like a feral animal. She could go a total of three days before her body would yearn for blood, and Gura would make sure to be there for her with her neck ready. The only thing she couldn’t really hide were her red eyes, but contacts helped well enough with that.

For you see, Amelia Watson was a vampire.

Gura made it to the kitchen, and looked in the fridge, deciding to make some fried eggs since their distressingly empty fridge contained little else. Just a half carton of milk, some eggs, butter, and their pantry had some toast… They would definitely need to go shopping soon, perhaps after the fair they were going to visit tonight.

As she got to work, her mind wandered back to Amelia, and she couldn’t help but think of the first time they met. It wasn’t under the best circumstances, but it was certainly memorable, nonetheless.

XxXxXxX

It was impossible to not know about the haunted house. There was an urban legend about an abandoned house atop the tallest hill in town, all on its lonesome, surrounded by nothing more than dozens of acres of trees and wildlife. It had been around since the late 1700s, and the same family owned it for generations, until only an old woman was all that remained. Her husband died young, and they never had any children together, so there was no one left to inherit the house once she too eventually passed away.

Legend goes that the house was due to be torn down in the 1980s, but the demolition crew sent out to destroy the building were chased away by the sighting of a ghostly figure that screamed and wailed at them when they attempted to tear it down. Since then, the house lay alone atop the hill, slowly decaying as years upon years of neglect and disrepair took its toll on the property. The house growing more and more dangerous to traverse every day as the decay made it hazardous to take even a single step upon its rotten wood.

Children had taken to going to this house as a dare. No one really knew when it started, but students from the local high school started to make a game out of it – spend a single night in this house to prove your bravery. It was a stupid dare, and it led to several injuries, and complaints from residents to dismantle the place. Urban legend or no – the place was a hazard, and they wanted it gone. However, the cost was high, and the land wasn’t valuable, there were better things for the town to focus on.

For Gura, it was an interesting tale, but one she’d heard more than once. Every town had its own ghost stories and legends, they had their different regional flavors and some of the details differed, but it was always the same old crap.

That said, when she was eating at a restaurant (disguised as a human, of course!), she caught sight of a poor kid nearly in tears talking about his test of bravery. His peers were laughing at him, calling him a coward, but he was insistent that he truly saw something.

“It was there,” He whimpered, his hands shook as he held his glass of soda, and his eyes had large bags under them like he’d not slept at all the previous night, “I saw her – the ghost!”

“Uh huh,” The girl to his left rolled her eyes, “Sure ya did.”

“I’m serious!” He insisted, “It’s like the urban legend says – she was pure white, and her eyes were blood red – she was staring at me, and she had these huge teeth! I know she was going to kill me if I stayed there any longer!”

Gura chuckled to herself, and decided that she had to go check this place out. Humans were always so cute when they reacted to the supernatural like this. She was sure that he didn’t actually see anything, undoubtedly, he just saw his own reflection and scared himself, but she loved to go check these places out. She got scared easily, but the thrill was always so enticing, and places like this were one of the few places to get that thrill above the water.

She downed her drink, and made her way out, intending to go find this haunted house.

Turns out it was pretty easy. It was a small town, and there was one hill that looked like a mountain in comparison to the generally flat terrain. She couldn’t make out a house when looking upon the hill, but there was a single lonely road that went that way, so she took it upon herself to walk there.

The day was quickly fading, and this road had no lights on it, as darkness crept further upon her, she took in her surroundings. Trees lined both sides of the road, and with her enhanced vision, she could see the wildlife running about, stopping to stare at her as she walked along the road. She didn’t take into consideration how quickly darkness would arrive, especially when the trees blocked out all of the remaining sunlight. She started power-walking, wishing that perhaps she’d waited until the following day to do this in the morning.

It was almost a relief when the road took a sharp turn, and she exited out into a small clearing. She smiled as she spied the titular haunted house. It was three stories tall, and it looked like it had seen far better days. The paint – what remained of it – was peeling off of the sides of the house. There was only a handful of shingles left on the roof, and she could see a hole in the roof where a tree must have fallen on it during a particularly bad storm sometime in the past. Wood littered the yard, she could see rusted nails sticking up, and the steps leading up to the front porch were completely missing, only a frame of where they once were stood. Additionally, the porch itself had several gaping holes in it, the wood looking rotten everywhere else.

She walked past what she assumed used to be a wooden fence that surrounded the property, though only a few wooden poles stood in reminder of what was once there. She spotted a small spot where it looked like a firepit was recently set up, with several logs pushed around it like seats, and she figured that the local kids would camp out here while trying to work up the courage to go inside the house. She could understand the hesitation – with the backdrop of the woods and the ever-darkening sky, it truly did look spooky, she’d perhaps even go so far as to call it scary.

“Alright, Gura, you’ve got this. You’re not a stupid weak human!” She steeled herself, and walked towards the front door. She had to take a large step onto the porch, and the rotten wood boards she stepped on creaked dangerously with her weight. Thankfully she was pretty light weight, despite her muscle, and she was able to make it to the door without falling through the flooring. She reached out for the door handle, and she turned it – click.

“Huh,” She muttered, “Locked? How’d the kids get in?”

She looked around, and saw that a few feet away from her was a smashed window. She could see a curtain gently swaying inside from the small breeze, and she gently walked over, making sure to mind her steps, and she peered inside. The room was a complete mess – furniture was turned over, she could see what looked like a TV, though there were several cracks in the screen. There was a vase smashed on the floor by the window, and several other decorations littered all around the room, lying on the floor where it had probably stayed for a while, until the next sucker came in to test their bravery, no doubt.

She worked her way inside, she placed her hand on the glass shard and pressed down, crunching the glass with ease. Atlanteans naturally had tougher skin than humans, so the glass didn’t pierce through. It did catch on her clothes though, and she jerked her sleeve, groaning as she accidentally cut her shirt. When fully inside, she took another look around the place, trying to get the lay of the land, so to speak.

The carpeting below her looked like it was full to the brim with dust, each step she took sent a huge puff of dust into the air, and each piece of furniture had a thick layer of dust as well. There was trash scattered across the floor, undoubtedly from the youth that snuck in here and didn’t bother to clean up after themselves. Gura walked further into the house, she spotted the front door, and went to unlock it. The door opened with a click, and she wondered why the kids would lock the door – why risk getting a cut going in and out through the window? Or were they just that stupid?

She looked down the dark hall, and she started walking down, the carpeted floor of the hallway gave way to a wooden floor of the kitchen. The table was still set up, but most of the chairs were knocked over and missing parts. There was a fridge that was open, whatever was inside was long gone, it was just a reminder of a time when this place actually had electricity. The kitchen wasn’t too interesting, so she walked back down the hallway, and noticed some stairs, and started to make her way upstairs.

Then she heard something.

She knelt down on the stairs, her knees slamming into the corner of the next steps, and she fell forward a bit more than she wanted to. She balanced herself with her hands, annoyed that she had been so clumsy, but she sat still and listened.

There appeared to be the sound of someone crying in one of the rooms on the second floor. She listened intently, her shoulders felt tense, and a nervous drop of sweat rolled down the side of her face. She was sure she was hearing something, and it wasn’t her overactive imagination playing tricks on her, so that meant that likely some high school kid was in here for a prank or something, it would at least explain the closed door.

Still, she wasn’t sure. It sounded like a girl’s whimpering cries, and it sounded so sad. Her heart yearned to go comfort them, and she crawled her way up the stairs until she was at the landing on the second floor. It was a long hallway, and she could see the last door was slightly ajar, a dim light was flickering, illuminating shadows across the wall of the hallway… She could make out movement in the shadow, but little else.

She crept forward ever so slowly, getting to her feet while trying to ignore her heart’s rapid beat against her chest. It was clearer now; it was definitely a young woman crying at the very least. Her thoughts went to the ghost the stupid kid talked about at the restaurant, and she involuntarily shivered, wondering if she should just get out of there. However, despite her thoughts, her body crept forward even more, until her hand rested on the door. She took a deep breath, and pushed it open.

The room was a wreck, but so was every room in this household, to be honest. There was a bed with a mattress that had several holes in it, along with some stains that she couldn’t identify. The bedframe was completely destroyed, the remains lay on the floor, a reminder of what it used to be. The one window to the room was completely covered with dirty rags and other clothes, no light would be able to pierce through the coverings. The dresser along the wall was missing every shelf, and the carpeted floor was again unclean and dusty, with a single lit candle in the middle of the room. There was a bunch of garbage around, old papers and wrappers, and even a few dried brown stains she could identify as blood.

Gura’s eyes stayed on the blood on the floor where it looked like it had been for at least a few days, and then she glanced up to the wall across from the bed where there was a girl curled up, her head buried in her knees, and she was softly crying and whimpering. She looked absolutely emancipated, her clothes hung off of her like drapes rather than actual clothing. Her skin was sickly white, with what looked like several large open wounds and scabs, and even horrid yellow splotches dotted her body. Her hair was thin and wiry, and she could make out its blonde color in the dim light.

“Hello?” Gura called out softly.

Whoever this girl was, she desperately needed help. Gura typically didn’t like to get involved in human affairs, but she was afraid if this one didn’t get any assistance soon, she would have a dead human on her hand.

The crying girl stilled, “W – Who’s there?” She managed to ask through her sniffling.

“Uh, you can call me Gura.”

“What kind of name is that?” She asked, sounding uncertain.

“Atlantean.” Gura replied, hoping to get her to open up, maybe even laugh at her thinking it was just a dumb joke so she could have an opening to inquire about her health, and more importantly learn why she was in a house in the middle of freaking nowhere.

“Oh,” The girl muttered softly.

Gura stifled a groan, it seemed that this girl wasn’t going to say anything. In fact, the way she just went completely still – she wasn’t even breathing – was a bit weird and unnatural. “Do you need help?” She asked instead.

“No.”

Gura frowned, that was a god damn lie. She may have been born and raised in Atlantis, but she knew that humans weren’t supposed to look like this!

“Just go away…” The girl muttered.

Gura sighed, “Look, you need help. We need to get you to someone who can –.”

“No!” The girl cried, “Go away!”

“I’m not going to have a dead freaking human on my conscious!” Gura exclaimed, “You need to get up!”

“And I’m saying I don’t need help!” The girl cried, “Now go away!”

Gura counted to five in her head, and then managed to say rather calmly, “Can you just look at me? Or at least tell me your name? I told you mine, didn’t I?”

“Amelia.” The girl muttered softly.

“Amelia.” Gura said softly, “Hey, that’s a cute name.”

“Whatever.” The girl muttered, “I told you what you wanted to know, now leave!”

“I really can’t,” Gura tried to reason with her, stepping closer and kneeling down at the girl’s side, she placed her hand on her shoulder and shivered – she was damn cold to the touch! “You’re freezing, and you look like you went through a meat grinder, you need help, Amelia.”

“I don’t,” Amelia whispered.

“Why not?”

Amelia slowly raised her head, and she turned to look at Gura. Gura went to smile, but it faded before it could fully form… Two blood red eyes stared at her – those weren’t human eyes. Her eyes lowered to the girl’s mouth, where two large fangs protruded from her top and bottom lips, they were long, and they looked damn sharp.

She was looking at a vampire.

Gura’s heart did a backflip, and she fell back, her eyes unable to look away from the red eyes of the vampire. She wanted to scream, to yell, but her throat was locked up in terror. She knew about vampires – everyone did. Humans loved stories of the supernatural, even if they didn’t believe they actually existed. The truth was, monsters and the like truly did exist, and they hid from humanity for their own sake. In Atlantis, Gura learned all about the other supernatural beings like her. There were a lot of friendly ones, fairies, dragons, angels, and other animal-human hybrids. However, there were a lot of supernatural beings that she was warned about, that were very dangerous, and she should avoid at all costs.

Vampires were powerful beings, they drained the blood of their victims, and blended in with humanity to find their prey. They were also one of the few supernatural beings that went out of their way to target other supernatural beings. While their bite couldn’t convert other supernatural beings into vampires, they could still overpower them quite easily. They weren’t exactly popular for that reason, and most vampires tended to be loners who led lucrative lives at the expense of everyone else around them. Hell, she’d heard stories of vampires that would move into smaller towns and take over the entire populace.

So she felt completely justified in her horrified reaction. Vampires were known for deception. They used tricks, they always lied, they always got their way, and Gura wasn’t going to fall for this one’s tricks! She ignored the hurt expression that crossed the monster’s face, she ignored how the monster looked like she was going to cry again. She knew that in any moment, the vampire was going to strike and kill her. She climbed to her feet, slamming into the door to force it open, and she sprinted down the hall faster than she’d ever run before. Her senses felt like they were on overdrive as she just jumped down the entire staircase, ignoring how the floor creaked dangerously under her feet when she landed on the bottom floor, and she ran out the front door, nearly knocking it off of its hinges as she bodily shouldered the damn thing aside. Her feet crashed through a hole in the porch, but her momentum carried her forward, and she fell hard against the ground outside the front door, wincing at how much that hurt.

She got back to her feet, shakily looking back at the house, expecting the monster to have given chase, but surprisingly, no one was there. She could practically taste her adrenaline, and she turned tail and ran the entire way back to town, where she collapsed at her motel room. That was the most she’d ever exerted herself, and darkness claimed her within seconds of her head falling against the mattress.

XxXxXxX

Flying was absolutely thrilling, and Gura was so thankful that Amelia had mastered this particular ability. Unlike human literature and folklore, which stated that vampires turned into bats to fly, vampires actually just flew in their normal human form. Granted, carrying another person did slow them down a tad, but vampires were notoriously strong, so it wasn’t that much slower, and Gura had to admit she felt a certain thrill when Amelia held her in her arms. She was used to being the strong one among her peers, especially since she’d interacted with humans most of the time anymore, so it was quite a treat to have someone who was far stronger than her hold like this from time to time.

They touched down in a field a little bit away from the fair they were going to be attending, the parking lot was pretty small and it was already overloaded, so the incoming cars were just parking in the open field next to the parking lot, fairly close to where Amelia and Gura landed. Gura shook a little as she looked herself over – she wasn’t disguised with the pendant, her shark tail and fins were all prominently displayed, and she looked over to her wife, whose red eyes glowed in the darkness. She frowned thoughtfully at Amelia’s fangs, which were thankfully not protruding too far yet, but she could see them starting to poke out from her lips.

“Do you need blood?” Gura asked softly, “Your fangs are starting to show.”

“You just gave me some yesterday, Gura.” Amelia smiled lovingly at her, “Besides, this is Halloween! What kind of vampire would I be if I hid my fangs?”

“A smart one.”

Amelia rolled her eyes and pushed Gura’s shoulder gently, “Hah, hah. Funny.”

“I’m just worried,” Gura admitted, “Neither of us are using the disguise magic…”

True to her words, Gura was far more exposed than she’d like to be. She didn’t bother wearing a top at all, her powerful muscles on full display as well as her gills on either side of her body. Unlike humans (and vampires), Gura – like all female Atlanteans – didn’t have breasts, so there wasn’t anything to cover. She did wear some shorts however that was specifically made with her tail in mind, and they stopped just above her knees, so the fins of her calves wouldn’t be hindered.

Amelia on the other hand looked mostly human, though her blood red eyes and fangs were notably different. She decided to dress up a bit more for her outfit, deciding to go as a goth vampire, she wore heavy black eyeliner and eyeshadow and used mascara for her lashes. As a result, her red eyes were practically glowing. Additionally, she wore black lipstick, and wore a black corset over her blouse, and a black skirt, looking almost like a Lolita. Honestly, Gura felt a little underdressed compared to Amelia, but the vampire had assured her that she looked wonderful.

“No one will question it,” Amelia replied, “They’ll just see two girls who really love to dress up for Halloween! I get to be the cool goth chick, and you can be the furry!”

Gura raised her brow at Amelia, “Furry?”

“You know, people who like anthropomorphic animals?”

“No – I know what it is, but how is being half shark a furry? I don’t have any fur.”

“Ugh,” Amelia rolled her eyes, “Don’t be so pedantic!”

Gura just chuckled, and started making her way towards the fair entrance. It was just a little after ten at night, and the event was in full swing. The sun was well and down, but you wouldn’t know that within the boundaries of this place. The entrance had dozens of blinking and flashing lights that dazzled both girls, and there were a few buildings on either side of the entrance that had their lights on as well. A long fence surrounded the entire fair, though Amelia nor Gura could see where it ended, it just seemed to extend as far as the eye could see. Within the boundaries of the fair were dozens of booths selling candy, Halloween merch, and of course there was the rip off fair games.

Further in, Amelia could see the large haunted house attraction, the main attraction of the fair, though there were also rides one could partake in. There was a merry-go-round, a spinning cup ride, a swinging ship, and all sorts of different things – all of which were Halloween themed, of course. There was a ride through the pumpkin fields where they’d tell supposedly spooky stories, and Amelia even read a sign at the entrance saying that a magic show was going to start at exactly midnight.

They paid for their tickets and stepped inside, and true to Amelia’s word, other than a few raised brows and a few mentions of how good their costumes looked, no one cared about it!

“Huh, humans aren’t really the most perceptive, are they?” Gura muttered, feeling almost alien being around so many humans. There were so many people walking around, and her tail curled around her leg – she felt exposed, hell, she was exposed!

“It works to our benefit,” Amelia replied, “Now come on! I want to eat an elephant ear!”

“A what?” Gura laughed, “Did you just make that up?”

“No!” Amelia shook her head, her red eyes seemed to glow even more intensely with her excitement, “It’s like a big round and super sweet deep fried donut thing! Except there’s no hole in the middle and there’s a ton of sugar and cinnamon on it!”

“Uh, that sounds unhealthy.”

“Extremely!” Amelia nodded in agreement, “Now come on! I haven’t had one in years!”

Gura laughed as Amelia dragged her into the fairgrounds proper like an overly excited child, and she just let her take her around, since she was still feeling so overwhelmed by everything. It was just nice to see Amelia so happy and so excited, seeing her wife like this just made her happy too, and she didn’t have to fake a smile.

Amelia really was so different than how she used to be, she was so much happier and more open, and Gura wanted to make sure she’d always be like that.

XxXxXxX

She couldn’t just leave. There were kids that went to that stupid house for their dumb games, and they were unknowingly putting themselves in great harm by being in the same building as a vampire. She hated the fact that she felt responsible for this now – if only she didn’t visit that damn place last night, so she wouldn’t feel responsible for the lives of these stupid humans! Unfortunately, she couldn’t just leave them to their fate, this was a nice and quiet little town, and she didn’t want a vampire to ruin that.

She worked up her courage and headed back to the house the following day, making sure that the sun was high in the sky. Humans got a lot of things wrong about vampires, but their aversion to sunlight wasn’t one of those things. Sunlight burned vampires like having acid poured on their skin, and long enough exposure would be lethal. All she had to do was drag the slumbering vampire from wherever she lay, and pull her out into the yard and watch her burn alive. She just hoped that she could do it quick enough before the monster realized what was going on and lashed out at her.

She made it to the house, and even during the day it was creepy as hell. The property surrounding the house was overgrown with tall grass, but it was still shockingly quiet, as if the wildlife was smart enough to stay away, knowing what lurked in the shadows. Gura shakily made her way to the front door, noticing it was closed again, no doubt the vampire came down after her frantic flight last night. She tried to open it, and sure enough it was locked. She looked over to the window, and actually saw some furniture blocking it now.

“As if that would stop me.” Gura muttered to herself, and she gently stepped on the porch, which had a few new holes courtesy of a terrified shark last night, and she looked at the new barricade. It was crude, it just looked like someone grabbed as much furniture as they could and crammed it into the window, and did it so hard that the wood actually began to cut into the frame of the window. Still, it wasn’t a perfect seal, she could look around the barricade just fine and see the dark interior.

She tried to push it in, but it was truly stuck. To a human, perhaps, this would have been game over, but to Gura, she just had to use her full strength. She growled, and put up both hands and threw herself forward again, the furniture began to crack and break, before it finally split right down the middle, and gave way. The chair that had been jammed into the window fell to pieces, and it looked like a dresser had been pushed against it as well, and now it fell back and slammed into the floor – the BOOM echoing in the household.

Gura tensed, wincing at the loud noise.

“Shit,” She mumbled, “Be quiet, Gura! Don’t want the freaking monster to know you’re here!”

She waited for a good five minutes after she crawled inside, just staring into the darkness, trying to catch any sign of movement, any sign that the vampire was going to come and eat her. She was ready to jump back out through the window, her legs were already poised, ready to leap towards the window with absolutely no shame whatsoever. However, after a little longer, she slowly began to relax, the rays of sunlight hitting her back emboldened her spirit, and she finally moved again, heading towards the stairs to the room where she’d seen the vampire last night.

The hallway upstairs was pitch black, no light peeked in, and even with her enhanced vision, Gura had a hard time seeing. She snuck down the hall towards the room she’d been in last night. The door was shut, and she gently forced it open. Her heart was beating so loudly in her chest she could hear each beat like a drum in her ears, her mouth was dry, and she felt the adrenaline pumping through her body. With one last breath of air, she opened the door.

The room was of course pitch black, the candle from last night was out, now settled down beside the ruined bed, which was occupied by a body. Gura didn’t need to see well to know that the vampire was sleeping there, she could see their chest slowly rise and fall, though each breath looked labored – she was struggling to breathe it looked like. She was curled up in a ball, and was shaking, and with how frail and ghoulish her frame was, she looked almost harmless. It scared her how human she looked.

She remembered those red eyes though – she remembered the stories. Vampires were horrible creatures; they could not be trusted.

She stood right above the vampire, and reached over and gripped the vampires shoulder, pulling her out of the bed forcefully. The vampire let out a startled cry as she was forced out of the bed and slammed into the floor, where she curled up as if in pain. It was an act – surely. Vampires were strong creatures; they could take a beating! Gura wasn’t going to fall for the act, and she ignored the way the vampire tried to curl up again, she ignored her whimpers as she grabbed her arm and threw her into the wall with all of her Atlantean strength. She ignored the pained cry, and the tears, and the way the vampire’s shoulders began to shake as she fell crumbled to the floor and looked up at her.

Gura knew she had to act fast, the vampire was stunned by her surprise attack, but any minute now she would retaliate, and Gura knew she wasn’t capable of beating a vampire in a fair fight. She rushed the monster, using her shoulder as a battering ram, slamming the vampire back against the wall, where her head painfully slammed back into the sturdy wall, dazing her and giving Gura the opportunity to throw her across the room, tossing the vampire like a sack of potatoes over her shoulder, where she smashed against the ground and rolled a little bit.

“W – Why?!” The vampire gasped out, sounding truly out of breath, “S – Stop it! Please!”

“I won’t let you harm this town!”

“Stop it!” The vampire cowered as Gura stepped closer to her again. She crawled away until she backed herself into a corner, and then she curled up into a ball, her piercing red eyes looked at Gura in…

… Fear.

Gura stopped her advance, and truly looked at the sight before her.

The vampire was curled up into a ball, backed into a corner and crying her eyes out, pitiful whimpers and soft wailing as she rubbed the spots Gura had hit the hardest. She could see the bruising, oddly enough – shouldn’t that have healed by now? Gura knew vampires had an incredibly fast healing factor, one of the reasons they were so powerful and feared, but… This girl wasn’t healing at all. In fact, why did she look so horribly frail and have so many open wounds? Why did her skin look so unhealthy? She was a vampire, right? She was the monster here! Gura was here to save the town, this had to be a monster!

So why did she suddenly feel so awful. Why did she feel sick to her stomach when she looked at the sight before her, when she looked up the crying vampire…? Perhaps it was because she wasn’t seeing her as a vampire right now. Instead, it was just a sickly girl, and she’d been bullying her and attempting to kill her, just like a monster.

“O – Oh god…” Gura took a step back. She tried to rally herself, tried to harden her resolve, “Y – You’re a vampire…”

The girl’s crying didn’t stop, she didn’t even attempt to refute or agree with Gura’s claim, she just cried harder.

“You’re a monster.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone…” The girl cried, “I don’t want to fight…”

“Vampires are horrible, they’re killers.” Gura muttered weakly, her resolve was quickly crumbling, especially since this girl – no, this vampire – wasn’t fighting back at all, “Y – You’re just trying to trick me.”

“I’m not!” The girl wailed, “Just leave me alone! Please, Gura!”

The fact that the girl remembered her name made her heart drop, and she fell to her knees.

She’d just tried to murder an innocent girl. Sure, she was a vampire, but she’d allowed her prejudices to blind her, and she had nearly done an unspeakably evil act. “Oh my god…” She shook, “Amelia… I’m so sorry.”

Her worldview felt like it was crashing down around her, she’d been so set on killing this girl. She eyed the blocked window, and felt sick to her stomach. If she had noticed the curtains earlier, she probably would have pulled them aside immediately and doused the girl in the lethal rays of the sun. She could feel the bile coming up, the realization was more than she could take, and she emptied her stomach. When her stomach was empty, she began to dry heave, and she fell back onto her butt, just staring down at the carpet with wide and horrified eyes.

She was the monster, not Amelia.

She lost track of time, she didn’t even notice Amelia’s stare, nor did she notice when the blonde got up and left the room. She didn’t even notice as Amelia came back into the room, and hesitantly sat down just a little bit across from her. She held a lit candle now, and set it aside for some light, and in her other hand she had two steaming mugs, one she set down gently in front of Gura, and she continued to hold the other in her hands.

“Are you ok?” Amelia asked quietly.

“Am I ok?” Gura blinked, her glazed over expression sharpening, and she looked at Amelia, “I think the better question is if you’re ok.”

“I’ll live,” Amelia muttered, “That hurt a lot, but I’ve been through worse. You’re not the first to try and kill me, and I doubt you’ll be the last. You’re the closest one to come to doing it though. You’re way stronger than you look.”

Gura frowned softly, “It’s because I’m not human.”

Amelia’s brow shot up, “You’re a vampire too?”

“No,” Gura shook her head, and she pulled off the pendant she was wearing, immediately ending the glamour’s effect. Her form shifted right before Amelia’s eyes – the vampire looked at all of the fins, the scales, the sharp teeth, and her eyes widened.

“Y – You’re like some sort of mermaid thing?”

“Mermaids have fish tails,” Gura huffed, “I’m an Atlantean. Don’t you know about this stuff? Us supernaturals are taught about all of this when we’re born.”

“I wasn’t born a vampire,” Amelia muttered.

Gura paused – well, of course that was true. Vampirism was a disease that spread among humans. There of course were the elder vampires that were born into it, but for most of their kind, they were formerly human. Still, most vampires at least had a master to refer to when it came to the truth of the world. Someone to teach them how to actually survive and be a vampire. It was with dawning horror that the implications of what Amelia said began to sink in.

“You don’t have a master?”

“No,” Amelia shook her head, “I was…” She paused, and bit her bottom lip, before she willed herself to continue, “I was driving home from a work trip with some of my co-workers when we were attacked by these people… It was late at night, I was trying to find a hotel for the night, and these people drove up against the car and forced us off the road… There was so many of them, and then they started to…”

“It’s ok,” Gura muttered, “I get it. You don’t have to explain.”

Amelia nodded, tears streaming down her face, and she quickly tried to wipe them away, “They left us all for dead, I don’t know if it was a mistake or something, but… They bit me when they were h – hurting me, and then they left when they thought I was unconscious…”

Gura felt a ball of hatred forming in her gut. Roaming packs of vampires were extremely rare, and were one of the few things that were vigorously hunted down by monster hunters and supernaturals alike. They almost always killed their victims though, the fact that they decided to turn a poor girl and then leave afterwards was unthinkably evil, as far as Gura was concerned.

“I got away, I felt really sick, and I slept for I don’t even know how long,” Amelia muttered softly.

“At least you stayed out of direct sunlight,” Gura mumbled.

Amelia shrugged, “I guess.”

“How long ago was that?”

Amelia frowned thoughtfully, “Been a few weeks now. I don’t know though, it’s been hard keeping track of time.”

She was so young for a vampire… Gura felt a wave of sympathy for her, and again felt terribly guilty for what she did. To distract herself, Gura finally picked up the mug in front of her, and brought it to her lips, taking a small sip. Her eyes bulged out, and she quickly spit it back into the mug, coughing the entire while. “W – What is this?” She coughed, “It’s so bitter!”

“It’s supposed to be green tea,” Amelia muttered, “I, uh, guess it’s not made right?”

Gura watched Amelia take a small sip incredulously, “How can you stand it?”

“I don’t really taste it,” She replied evenly, “Ever since I became a vampire, food and drinks just taste like nothing…”

“O – oh…” She didn’t know enough about vampires to dispute that, “I see.”

Amelia let out a soft hum, and there was a lengthy silence between them. Gura never really expected to meet a vampire, let alone a seemingly friendly one, and she was kind of at a loss for words.

“It’s getting late – for you.” Amelia whispered, “The sun’s going down soon. You should go home.”

“Is it?” Gura mumbled, “I didn’t realize how much time passed.”

“Yeah, you were staring into space like a dork for a while there,” Amelia said, and Gura noticed the slight tilt of her lips – a smile. For some reason, a vampire with any sense of humor was incomprehensible to Gura, and just further reinforced the idea that her preconceived notions were completely wrong.

“Ah,” Gura muttered, not sure what to say to that, “Sorry.”

Amelia shrugged, “I don’t mind. It’s been a while since I’ve talked to someone, even if that someone is a person that tried to kill me.”

“Uhm,” Gura felt like she’d been punched in the gut, “I’m sorry…”

Amelia didn’t respond, she just took a sip of the bitter tea she couldn’t taste, “What’s done is done. You should go, it’s dangerous wandering out around here after dark.”

Gura didn’t have to be clairvoyant to know that she was being asked to leave. Granted, it was politely worded, almost suspiciously so considering she’d literally tried to murder her earlier, but she accepted it for what it was. She set her mug aside, and got to her feet, her legs feeling numb from sitting on them for so long.

“I’ll visit…” Gura mumbled, not sure why she was saying this. Perhaps it was the guilt?

Amelia frowned, but didn’t tell her not to. There was just an unreadable expression on her face, but she finally nodded after a moment, “Alright then…”

Gura walked out of the room, looking over her shoulder to see if the vampire – Amelia – was following her, and sure enough, she wasn’t. She just stayed in her little room, and even when Gura went to the front door, Amelia wasn’t behind her. She carefully unlocked the front door and made sure to mind her steps, and made her way off of the property. True to Amelia’s words, the sky was getting dark, but there was enough light for her to find her way with ease.

She went back to her little crappy motel. When she got there, she laid down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. In truth, she felt absolutely awful for Amelia. She felt so bad for the human girl who was thrust unapologetically into the deep end of the supernatural world, having no mentor to tell her how to live. It suddenly made sense why she looked so emancipated and frail… Amelia may be a vampire, but she still valued human life, so Gura had a feeling that she’d avoided drinking human blood, not wanting to subject anyone else to a life like hers.

Her guilt intensified, and she turned over in her bed, promising to make it up to her somehow… She wasn’t sure how, but she had to do something.

XxXxXxX

Amelia bit down into the elephant ear with gusto, not caring one bit about Gura’s incredulous stare as she scarfed it down. It wasn’t a small thing either, it was huge! Gura supposed that is why they were called elephant ears, after all, but it was still much bigger than she thought it was going to be! Not to mention it had so much sugar sprinkled on it that her stomach churned at the sight of it. If she even ate a tenth of that thing, she was sure she’d be having stomach aches all night. She did go get a soda front one of the other stalls, balking at the insane price of a simple bottle of coke, but she bought it anyway because this was a night for fun and she didn’t want to cause any scenes.

“It’s so good,” Amelia moaned, taking another massive bite. She sounded like she was close to tears.

“I – Is it really?” Gura asked, “It looks like a heart attack.”

“A delicious one!” Amelia exclaimed, “Maybe I should have sucked your blood tonight – the sugar isn’t as strong as it’s supposed to be I think.”

“If it was any stronger you wouldn’t be able to eat it! I wish my taste buds would dull over time so I could eat stuff like that!”

Amelia grinned at Gura, sugar coated her cheeks, and she just looked so cute that Gura honestly couldn’t find the will to badger her about her poor eating habits. Hell, she was a vampire anyway, it wasn’t like the calories were going anywhere. It wasn’t like she had to eat anything or drink either, but she was originally human, so it was likely a habit that she was going to keep. Not that Gura minded, it was nice to have someone eat her cooking and appreciate it so much.

“Can I have some soda?” Amelia asked.

Gura handed it over, “Yeah, here.”

Amelia took a large gulp, and let out a loud sigh, “Where to next?” She asked as she handed it back over.

Gura shrugged, “I dunno, this is your show, Ame. I’ve never been to one of these before. Hell, I’ve never celebrated Halloween before!”

“I love Halloween!” Amelia exclaimed, “It’s so fun! You get to dress up, go to random houses and strangers give you candy!”

“Ok, I know you’re making that up.”

“It’s true!” Amelia said with a laugh, “Though it’s usually only kids that do it, and there’s always a dumb curfew that we never followed. We’d stay out so late going to random houses for candy – it was so much fun… Those were good times…”

Gura noticed the uptilt to her voice, and that far off look in her wife’s eyes. She gently leaned into Amelia’s side, drawing her attention, “Want to go to the haunted house first? I want to see what humans’ idea of haunted actually is.”

Amelia blinked a few times, and then smiled happily, “Y – Yeah! Yeah, ok! Sure, that’s always a lot of fun! So, we’re going to be going inside this house and following along this set path that will have a bunch of spooky things happening. People might jump out at us too, so no punching them, Gura!”

“I won’t!” Gura exclaimed, “Like I would anyway!”

“I seem to recall a certain Atlantean getting rather violent with me when we first met.”

“T – That was completely different…” Gura’s voice wavered, “I – I wouldn’t do that to a human… A – And I wouldn’t do it to anyone, not anymore…”

Amelia frowned, realizing she’d just stepped on a bit of a landmine, and she wanted to slap herself over the head. She knew Gura felt guilty about that, why the hell did she bring it up?! She grabbed Gura’s hand, and pulled her towards the haunted house, “C – Come on, Gura! There’s usually a line! The sooner we’re there, the sooner we’ll get in!”

Gura nodded, and followed along.

They followed a dirt path that was lit up with a bunch of flashing orange and yellow lights wrapped around two wooden fences on either side of them. They had to go up a bit of a hill, and then they made it to a small building that seemed like its sole purpose was to contain the line. Inside was said line, with dozens of people standing and eagerly talking to one another. There were children with their parents who looked very excited to be there, other couples like them, and a few staff keeping an eye on things. The counter would allow a handful of people in approximately every five minutes, so they had a bit of a wait ahead of them.

“Hey, uh, Gura?” Amelia whispered to her wife, the Atlantean was being quiet, and the guilt was eating away at her. She noticed the girl’s look, and she muttered, “I’m, um, sorry, for bringing that up. I don’t know why I did; I wasn’t thinking.”

Gura let out a little huff, “It’s ok, I’m not mad. It just… Isn’t a very happy memory.”

“Not one of my happier ones either,” Amelia agreed, “I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“You said that already,” Gura smiled, and Amelia felt relief flood through her at the sight of it. She couldn’t help but lean down and give her Atlantean a kiss. After the kiss, Gura was giving her an amused stare.

“What?” Amelia asked.

“Nothing.” Gura grinned, “You’re just cute when you’re like this.”

“Like what?” Amelia pressed – she didn’t feel like she was being any different.

“It’s not important,” Gura shrugged, looking forward as the line moved a bit.

“It is!” Amelia insisted, keeping in step with Gura.

“Sorry, I lied.”

“What?” Amelia looked at her in confusion, “Huh?”

“You’re always cute, Ame! Not just when you’re like this!”

It was corny, but Amelia’s face still flushed red. It got even redder when she heard the older looking couple in front of them quietly laughing. She punched Gura’s arm and looked away, trying to get her blush under control. She ignored the smug look Gura was giving her, and started at the wall of the room they were in, trying to focus on the Halloween decorations.

She would get her back for this! She just had to figure out how.

XxXxXxX

Gura found herself returning to the house the next day. This time she waited until night fall, so Amelia would hopefully not feel threatened. Gura was essentially giving up her biggest advantage, and she hoped that her compassion and empathy weren’t being weaponized against her… But then she’d think back to Amelia, to how scared she looked, to how dangerously frail she was, and her suspicions faded away. Amelia wasn’t faking that – there was no way.

She entered the house that night through the window again, since the front door was locked, and she made her way up to the second floor again. The room she’d been in two days in a row was open, and there was a flickering light. She stayed at the end of the hall, wondering about what the hell she was about to do, and then she shoved aside her anxiety and started walking forward. Each step thundered against the floor in the stillness of the night, and by the time she reached the end, she was sure Amelia was alerted to her presence.

She opened the door, and sure enough, Amelia was in there. Her head buried in her arms with her legs pulled up to her chest as she leaned back against a wall. She heard the door opening, and glanced up to see Gura, her eyes widening slightly, “You actually came back…”

“I said I would, didn’t I?”

Red eyes stared at her for an uncomfortably long time, before finally Amelia looked away, “I guess you did…”

“Do you have any chairs or something to sit on? Don’t you get sore sitting on the floor all of the time?” Gura asked, hesitantly walking into the room. She shut the door behind her, the noise echoed in the otherwise silent room.

Amelia shrugged, “I don’t have any chairs.”

“Oh, ok.” Gura muttered, awkwardly rubbing her arm, “Um… Are you ok?”

Amelia let out a small huff, “Fine.”

“Uh, right.” Gura nodded, not believing her for a moment. She went over to the wall and sat down beside Amelia, and just waited in the silence. She must have sat there for close to ten minutes before she just started tapping her fingers on the floor, and she began to wonder if perhaps coming here was a mistake.

“Why’d you come back?” Amelia asked quietly.

“You… Seemed lonely.” Gura admitted, “You seemed a little scared too, I guess.”

“You came back out of pity?” Amelia asked quietly.

Well, truthfully, yes, but she wasn’t sure if saying as much was the right move here. Not to mention it wasn’t the only reason. “I’m worried,” Gura replied after a moment of thought, “You’re struggling, and I was taught to help out those in need.”

“You nearly killed me,” Amelia pointed out.

Gura couldn’t hide her wince, nor could she stop the guilt flooding through her, “Yeah, that was… That was a mistake.”

“Hm.”

Another long silence, Gura fiddled with her fingers, not sure what to say.

“You don’t have to stay,” Amelia muttered.

“It’s cool,” Gura replied, “I’ll stay.”

Amelia frowned, but she didn’t say anything else.

“So… What do you do for fun?” Gura asked hesitantly, trying to get some conversation going.

Amelia sighed, looking over in exasperation, “Really?”

“Well, you’re not saying anything!”

“Can’t you get a hint?”

“Do you seriously want to be alone?”

“Yes!”

“You’re just going to wallow away in misery?”

Amelia’s nostrils flared in anger, “Wallow in – you – after everything I’ve been through! You don’t know me! You don’t get to say that to me! Get out!”

“Fine!” Gura jumped to her feet, “I don’t even know why I bothered!”

“Neither do I!”

Gura felt ashamed when she returned to her motel room that night. Amelia was hurting – she was in so much emotional turmoil and pain, and she’d just lost her shit with her.

“You’re supposed to be helping her, Gura!” She grumbled to herself.

The next night she arrived at the ruined house at around the same time, and entered the room much how she did before. Again, Amelia was sitting there against the wall, looking absolutely miserable, though she did briefly have a new expression of surprise as she turned over to the door and looked at the Atlantean.

“You came back?”

“Yeah,” Gura sighed, “I’m back.”

That was how Gura decided to spend significantly longer in this one small town than she intended. She didn’t have a ton of human money, but the motel she rented was cheap, so she could afford to stay for quite a while. She wanted to help Amelia, and it was a cost she was willing to pay to get that done. If the owner of the motel had any suspicion of what she was doing, they surely didn’t say anything. Considering she was their only patron, perhaps they were just happy she was paying.

Amelia was cold for the first few nights. Most of the early nights Gura would just come into the room and sit beside Amelia doing nothing. Conversation was very sparse, especially the first few nights, where Amelia would just glare at her and look elsewhere in the room, trying her best to ignore her presence. She even growled a few obscenities at her a few times, but Gura didn’t rise up to the bait this time. She just shook it off, and went over to her side and sat down.

“I’m not a cat,” Amelia grumbled one night, “This won’t work on me…”

“Huh?” Gura looked over, “A cat?”

“Nothing…” Amelia mumbled, looking away again.

It came as a surprise when the following night, when Gura entered Amelia’s room, the girl had two mugs of what she assumed was the tea on the floor beside her. Gura walked over, and was even more surprised when Amelia handed one over to her.

“Does it actually taste better this time?” Gura asked curiously.

Amelia scowled, “I don’t know. I can’t taste anything.”

“Ah – sorry,” Gura quickly replied, “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Whatever…”

“Seriously,” Gura accepted the drink, and sat down besides Amelia, almost feeling giddy, “Thank you. I, uh, wasn’t expecting you to make tea.”

Amelia shrugged, “I figured you might want something to drink.”

Gura nodded, and decided to take a drink before she said something she shouldn’t, and her brow rose, “Huh, it tastes better.” It was true. While she wouldn’t classify it as good, it was certainly better than the abysmal attempt the last time Amelia tried to make tea, “Did you practice?”

Amelia just shrugged again, opting not to answer.

She grinned. Amelia might try to be cold, but underneath that cold exterior was a kind girl.

The next night, Amelia prepared another cup of tea for Gura, this time it actually tasted good. It wasn’t like tea was that difficult to make, but the fact that Amelia was unable to taste her own bad attempts would certainly make it hard to improve.

“It’s good!” Gura exclaimed, “Very good! Thank you!”

Amelia looked surprised, and she glanced aside, “Y – You’re welcome.”

Gura drank the tea, and wondered what to do. Try to help her out? What was even her ultimate goal here? She wasn’t even sure other than she just wanted to just give her company. She felt bad for her, sure, but how much could she actually help a vampire?

Well, she could think of that later.

She took another sip, “So…”

Amelia looked over with a raise brow, “Hm?”

“How’s uh, um, life?”

Fuck. She’d gotten into Amelia’s goodwill, and she said something that stupid. She wanted to slam her head against the nearest wall.

Amazingly, Amelia just stared at her in confusion before a hesitant smile crossed her face, “Th – that’s seriously the best you got?”

“Uhm…”

Amelia shook her head and leaned back, she just held the mug of tea casually with her fingers, swirling it around, “It’s awful as usual anymore. I miss a lot of things.”

“O – oh?”

Amelia nodded, “Stuff that you never really think about missing. I miss seeing my reflection. I don’t see myself in any mirrors, it makes it kind of hard to check out how I look.”

“Ah,” Gura muttered. She wondered how Amelia would react to her appearance now. She didn’t look healthy at all, and the sickly splotches on her skin and open wounds were very unappealing to look at for very long.

“I know I don’t look good,” Amelia muttered.

“I wasn’t –”

“You were thinking it.”

Gura guiltily looked away, “Sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Amelia muttered. “I miss being able to taste food. It all just tastes like ash. I miss talking to people. I miss not having to hide from people for fear of them running away and telling others about me.” She let out a long sigh, “And I really, really miss the sun. I miss its warmth. I miss watching the sunrise, I miss watching the sunset. I miss being able to wake up in morning, I took everything for granted before, and now that I don’t have it, I miss it so much.”

Gura wished she didn’t ask Amelia about her life. This was backfiring badly, “Um… I – I see.”

“Do you?” Amelia looked to the floor tiredly, “You get to go out and do what you want. You have your magic to look human at least. I don’t get that luxury. I go into the sun, and I die.”

She felt awful, but she wasn’t sure what she could do to help.

“I’ll… I’ll look up some stuff on vampires,” Gura muttered, “There has to be something I can do to help you…”

Amelia smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, “Don’t bother, Gura…”

“Amelia…”

“I appreciate you coming here, and I’m sorry if I’ve been kind of a bitch to you.” She let out a sad laugh, “But you don’t have to come here. I’m not your responsibility.”

Gura didn’t respond.

“It’s getting late for you, isn’t it?” Amelia looked up, “Don’t hold up leaving on my account.”

She felt hurt by the clear dismissal, but she got up anyway, making sure to gently set her mug aside next to Amelia’s.

“Leave the door unlocked.” Gura muttered, “I’m getting sick of climbing in through the window.”

She heard Amelia let out a huff of air, but she didn’t dispute what she said, and she left the house again.

She was going to look up some way to help. She wasn’t going to leave Amelia to her fate.

There had to be something she could do.

XxXxXxX

The haunted house was fun, if a little ridiculous at times. They did in fact follow a set path, going at their own pace as they wandered through the halls of this supposedly haunted house. Animatronics jumped up at them to try and frighten them, men and women in dark clothing hid in the shadows and jumped out at them, and the ambient noise playing was genuinely pretty creepy, though most of the time it was just dead silent. The entire time, they would both jump at the scares, and then just laugh at each other’s reaction, which only made them laugh even harder until they nearly started to cry, much to the confusion of the people that managed to frighten them.

After the haunted house, they went back to the main fair grounds, and looked around for something else to do.

The Hay ride through the pumpkin patch was absolutely hysterical. The two of them sat beside each other on a cart holding a good dozen people as it was being tugged along by a tractor, the only light was the headlights of the tractor and the flashlight their host was using. The man hosting the ride was an older gentleman, and he sat on a lone bale of hay across from the group at the front of the cart, and he told ghost stories. The man certainly tried his hardest, but it was a bore, and then Gura got the giggles, which made Amelia start to laugh, and by the end of the ride they were both struggling not to burst out laughing, trying to stay quiet while the man told his ghost stories.

They went on the other rides, laughing as they were spun around in the Halloween themed machines. They of course sat next to one another, and just held each other as the machine whirled to life and began to move them around. They were so fun that Gura demanded they go on all of them, and Amelia, having nothing against the idea of course went with it. It was just something about riding around in the darkness together, with only the barest amount of light for them to see with and the screams of terror of the other guests that made it just so much more fun.

At midnight, they of course went to the magic show. There was a large line, and they both only barely managed to make it into the crammed room overflowing with people. There were a half dozen benches that could each seat at least twenty people, the back row was the highest, and the front row was the lowest, right in front of the action. In a fortunate twist of events, it seemed that Amelia and Gura lucked out and got a spot in the front row, and they sat beside another couple who came dressed up as Frankenstein’s monster and the bride of Frankenstein respectively.

“Nice costumes,” The woman complimented them, “Your teeth look so real, and your eyes look like they’re glowing!”

Amelia smiled sweetly, “Thank you! Your costume is really good too!”

“How in the world did you manage to get the fins to look so convincing?” The man asked, staring at Gura with his brows raised, “They look incredible!”

“A lifetime of practice,” Gura shrugged hesitantly.

They couldn’t get any more questions in, because the magic show began. The lights in the room suddenly shut off, and only a small light was lit in the front, where a woman came out dressed in the most stereotypical magicians outfit. She bowed to them all, and received polite claps in return, and then she began her show. Amelia had thankfully prepped Gura ahead and time, making sure to tell her that there wouldn’t be any real magic involved, that it was all mostly sleight of hand tricks and manipulating your perception, but even with that in mind, it was pretty impressive how flawless it looked.

“Would someone in the audience shuffle these cards for me, please?”

Gura and Amelia eagerly raised their hands along with most of the audience, and surprisingly, she picked out Gura, who was handed the deck of cards. Gura fumbled with the deck, nearly spilling them out in front of her, but she quickly recovered and shuffled the deck, before handing it back, and was dazzled by the multitude of card tricks the magician knew.

“For this next trick, I’ll need a member of the audience to participate!”

Again, Amelia raised her hand.

“The vampire in the front row,” The magician called, “Could you please come up?”

Amelia bounced to her feet excitedly, and practically ran to the magician’s side. She was vibrating with excitement as the magician detailed their next trick. Their assistant came out, a woman wearing a dress suit, and then the magician tied them up. They made them put their arms behind their back, and tied their hands together, and then they made their assistant sit in a seat, and they tied their legs together.

“Now, dear vampire,” The magician turned to Amelia, “I would like you to sit in the chair beside her, and place your hand on her shoulder and leg.” Amelia did as she was told, “Now I shall blindfold you, and the curtain will be drawn, and within twenty seconds, my assistant will have escaped her bindings!”

Amelia permitted the blindfold to be placed on her, and held the woman in place as instructed. She felt no movement whatsoever during the whole time, and blinked in surprise when the blindfold was removed from her, and the woman was free of her bindings.

“How’d she do it?” Gura whispered excitedly when Amelia sat back down beside her. Several of the other costumed guests learned in too, eager to know.

“I have no idea,” Amelia chuckled, “I guess it was magic.”

The show ended shortly after, and the two of them walked out of the show, both laughing and smiling the entire time, holding each other’s hands.

“What now?” Gura asked curiously, “The night is still young!”

“The fair will be open for another hour or so,” Amelia muttered, “They close at two, I think, but you know how this goes. It’ll probably be three by the time they actually manage to shoo everyone out of here.”

“Hm, in that case, do you want to –”

Amelia abrupted grabbed Gura’s shoulder and took a step forward right in front of her. Gura blinked in complete bewilderment, noticing how intent Amelia’s gaze was staring in one direction, and she looked over. She saw many people walking around together, children screaming and laughing as they ran around, couples sharing food, the odd staff member wandering around keeping an eye on things… She couldn’t see what Amelia was looking at, until she noticed a lone figure standing below a lantern swaying in the breeze.

The man was very tall, wearing a bright red trench coat, an almost comically large red hat, and a suit under his coat. Gura guessed they were dressed up as some character, though she couldn’t tell what they were supposed to be. The thing that made her breath get caught in her throat though was the man’s red eyes. They were glowing much like Amelia’s did, and he had two fangs protruding slightly from his upper lip.

Gura hissed softly under her breath as the man started walking over to them, “A vampire?”

Amelia nodded quickly, “Yeah.”

She didn’t realize quite how tall the vampire was until he was walking towards them. Each step adding at least another inch to his height, until he stood just a mere few feet away, towering over both of them.

“What do you want?” Amelia couldn’t hide the edge to her voice.

“It’s rare to see another vampire,” He replied easily in a deep voice, and a smile crossed his lips, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Gura’s shoulders slowly loosened up, “Y – you’re not going to hurt us?”

He looked at her in bewilderment, “Hurt you? Why would – you seriously think I would do that?”

She felt awful at that moment. She’d judged them simply based on the fact that they were a vampire, much like she did when she first met Amelia. She thought she’d put aside those prejudices after befriending and marrying Amelia, but it seems that it was a little harder than that to get rid of thousands of years of conditioning.

Amelia relaxed too, “Sorry,” She mumbled, “The only other vampires I met were the ones who made me into one… They – well, let’s just say that they didn’t leave a good impression on me.”

The man had a sudden flash of realization cross his expression, and his offended expression softened, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Vampires like that give us all a bad name, I get why you two acted how you did before – are you all right?”

“Fine,” Amelia sighed, “It happened a while ago, and I have someone here to help me out now.” Amelia squeezed Gura’s hand with her own, and she looked lovingly over to her, “I’d be lost without her.”

“I meant to ask,” The man looked at Gura in fascination, “Are you an Atlantean?”

Gura nodded, “Yeah, not a lot of us on the surface, but we’re around here and there.”

“Clever idea for an outfit,” He chuckled softly, “It must feel odd to be so exposed to the humans and not have them expect a thing, huh?”

“You have no idea!” Gura laughed, already warming up to the man.

“There you are! Why’d you run off?!”

A young man ran over, and Amelia glanced over and nearly did a double take. He was wearing a Dracula costume with the oversized collar around their neck, a long cape, a buttoned-up coat, and black slacks. However, unlike the man before them, she could immediately tell he wasn’t a vampire. His face was covered in white make-up to make him look paler, he had painted on blood on the sides of his lips, and she could see fake teeth in his hands as he rushed over.

“Hey, Chris,” The vampire’s smile softened incredibly at the sight, “Sorry about that, I just caught sight of something.”

“Honestly, we need to get you a leash sometimes, Vince.” The man grumbled. He was a whole head shorter than Vince, and Vince had to lean down quickly to give him a quick kiss. “Don’t think that means I forgive you.” Chris was already smiling though, “But what did you – oh!”

Amelia waved, “Hey.”

“I didn’t think we’d run into another vampire!”

The fact that a human recognized her so quickly to be a vampire made Amelia smile, “That makes two of us!”

“And who’s this?” Chris turned to Gura, “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize what you are.”

Again, he realized that she wasn’t a human wearing a costume immediately, and Gura smirked, “You’re looking at an Atlantean.”

“Atlantean – you mean Atlantis actually exists?”

Vince laughed, “There’s still a lot about the supernatural world you don’t know, don’t worry, I’ll teach you about it in time.”

Chris held out his hand to shake, and Amelia grabbed it immediately, shaking his hand, smiling at him warmly. It felt good to have a normal human see her and not only recognize her immediately as a vampire, but be completely nonplussed by the idea. He shook Gura’s hand immediately after. “The name’s Chris. This guy here is Vince.”

“Amelia,” She replied.

“And I’m Gura.” Gura said, letting go of his hand and holding Amelia’s right after.

“We were just going to wander around for a little while,” Vince revealed, “Do you two want to join us for a bit? You seemed surprised to see another vampire, but there’s a whole support network for us that I can help you get in contact with.”

“You can?!” Amelia gaped, “Seriously?! Where were you like two years ago?” She let out an incredulous laugh, “I could’ve really used your help back then!”

Vince looked apologetic, “I’m sorry. We try to help when we can, especially when the more… difficult, of our kind continued to smear our name. Sometimes cases fall through the cracks, or we just don’t know about them.”

“It’s fine,” Amelia replied quickly, “I wasn’t being serious, I get it. Besides, it ended up with me meeting my wife, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.”

Vince and Chris’s eyes went up, especially when Gura’s cheeks went red, “Huh, that must be quite a story.”

“Come on, you tell me about this vampire society, and I’ll tell you all about how Gura and I met.”

Vince smiled, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

XxXxXxX

It turns out that researching vampires in a human library was an effort in futility. She knew it was going to be a long shot, but she didn’t think it would be this frustratingly fruitless. She of course immediately found ‘Dracula’ and read the first five pages before she tossed it aside and looked elsewhere. There were so-called monster guide books that were an absolute joke, meant to entertain children and not actually help with the monsters listed inside, and she ripped out the pages of one of those books before she was forcibly removed from the library, told to never return again.

With that being a bust, Gura dejectedly made her way back to the house Amelia was currently living in, her head held low even as the familiar and welcoming darkness started to overcast the sky. She was actually a bit earlier than usual, arriving before the sky fully darkened, and she entered the now familiar grounds, not caring that they looked creepy anymore. To her it was just an everyday house, granted, it lay alone lost in the woods by its lonesome, but Amelia lived there, so it wasn’t that bad.

She entered through the front door, smiling since Amelia actually followed through with her request and left it unlocked this time. She walked up towards Amelia’s room, wondering if she’d be awake, and then she opened the door to Amelia’s room. She didn’t even take into consideration the fact that the door was closed, which was unusual, Amelia almost always left the door to her room open.

“Hey, Amelia, are you awa–”

She stopped at the sight before her and stared. Amelia was kneeling over on the floor, a bloodied and torn rat in her hands. Blood coated her cheeks, and she was heaving heavily even as she bit into the rodent, her fangs searching for blood. She licked the rat, trying to get every last drop she could.

Her eyes turned towards Gura, and widened. She dropped the rat, “G – Gura…” She choked out.

“Uhm…” Gura blinked a few times. Her instincts were telling her to run. It was easy to forget Amelia was a vampire at times, especially since she looked so sick, but right now? Now Amelia truly looked the part. She looked like a ghoul, the nails on her hands were like claws, gripping the rat so hard that it was tearing into the flesh. She watched in pure shock, even as Amelia began to heave again, she fell down heaving for breath.

She watched in an odd fascination as Amelia just threw up most of the blood she took in.

“Amelia…?”

“I hate it,” She whispered, coughing up more remnants of blood, “I hate it so much.”

“Huh?”

“Sometimes it becomes too much to bear,” Amelia cried, fat tears forming in the corners of her eyes, then they began to stream down her face, “I feel like I need it so badly. I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to be a monster and go after people, so I eat these rats instead, but – but they taste so horrible… It makes me sick every time I’m forced to do this.”

Gura watched Amelia begin to cry in earnest. She watched her try to wipe her eyes, only to smear more blood and gore over her face.

“You’re early,” She muttered quietly, “I thought I had a bit more time.”

“Sorry,” Gura muttered, “I uh, had nothing else to do.”

Amelia shrugged, “Well, it doesn’t matter now.” She shoved the rat aside roughly, and fell backwards towards the wall, her back hitting it with a solid thud, and she slid down until she was seated, “I’d go make tea, but I’m not really in the mood.”

Gura wasn’t paying attention. She was looking at the remains of the rat, the gears in her head turning. Amelia said that it tasted awful, and she got an intense desire to feast on its body. That fit with what she knew of vampires. She knew they needed blood, and that after a while they start to get more and more feral and frightening in appearance until they successfully got more blood and looked more human afterwards. It was what allowed them to mingle with humanity after all.

“The rat’s blood tasted awful?”

Amelia frowned, “Don’t bring that up, please…”

“No – I’m being serious,” Gura looked at her, and Amelia was taken aback by the intensity in her gaze, “It wasn’t good – right?”

“I already told you it tasted like garbage.”

“And you threw most of it up,” Gura muttered, “What if… What if the reason you’re so sick is because you’re not getting blood – good blood, I mean.”

“I’m not going to bite anyone.” Amelia immediately declined, her voice was hard, her tone was certain. Thankfully, Gura wasn’t thinking of that.

“I know you won’t,” Gura replied, “But what about blood from something that won’t be infected by vampirism? A high-quality blood that won’t make you sick – one that would allow you to heal up a bit.”

“Such as?”

“Are you intentionally trying to be dense?” Gura shook her head, ignoring the glare Amelia was giving her, “Me, you dork, I’m suggesting you bite my neck!”

Amelia didn’t look impressed, “You’d let me bite you.”

“Yeah?”

“We’ve known each other for two weeks,” Amelia muttered, “You tried to kill me –”

“Would you please stop bringing that up?”

“Why are you trying to help me so much?”

“I already said,” Gura replied, sitting down beside Amelia. She was unnerved by Amelia’s unblinking gaze, her red eyes following her the entire time as she went to sit down by her side. She couldn’t get a read on that expression or what it meant. “You were dealt a shitty hand, you need help. Like I said before, I help those in need.”

That unnerving stare again. Amelia didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Gura tried her best to maintain eye contact, trying to convey how serious she was. Finally, Amelia looked away, and she whispered, “You’d let me?”

“Amelia, we’re friends.” Gura smiled, reaching over and patting her shoulder, “Of course I’d let you.”

“Friends…” Amelia mumbled under her breath, and Gura watched as her sunken eyes and cheeks seem to light up as she smiled, “I – If you’re sure, then…”

“I’m very sure.” Gura reassured her again. She was beginning to get the distinct impression that Amelia truly didn’t know how to react to kindness and compassion. She wondered if Amelia was like that when she was a human too, and felt bad for her. Were such things so uncommon for her that she would push people away rather than accept a genuine offer of help? At least it seemed she’d gotten through to her – she could see Amelia was starting to believe her, starting to believe that she was there to help.

“A – Alright, then.” Amelia muttered, “Um… How do you w – want to do this?”

“You just gotta bite my neck.” Gura leaned forward until she was seated on her knees, and she watched Amelia do the same beside her. They faced one another, and Gura reached out to hold Amelia, and suddenly her heart started beating quicker… This was actually a bit more intimate than she was expecting. She pushed forward anyway, and pulled Amelia into her lap. While she was smaller than Amelia, the taller girl was significantly frailer, and was waifish compared to her, so it wasn’t like having her in her lap was any real strain.

“Uh,” Amelia’s voice shook, especially as Gura held her closely, and she leaned into towards Gura’s neck, “A – Are you sure?”

“Just do it.”

Amelia hesitantly leaned forward, and Gura shivered when she felt Amelia’s breath on her neck. It must have been a minute before she finally felt Amelia’s teeth, but they were just prodding her skin, not committing to a bite. Then she felt Amelia’s tongue, and she couldn’t help but shudder again at the feeling – it felt far too intimate for what it was supposed to be!

“Amelia?!” Gura’s voice was a pitch higher than usual, “Do you want to get on with it?!”

“S – Sorry…” Amelia muttered, “I’ve never done this before!”

“Just hurry up, please!”

“Ok! Don’t rush me!”

She felt Amelia’s teeth again prodding her, she felt her fangs biting down, but again not piercing her skin. Gura was about to say something again, she was starting to get annoyed, when she felt Amelia FINALLY bite down. She gasped as she felt the fangs sink into her neck, her body shook, and her flight response was starting to kick in. She wanted to push Amelia away – to stop the pain, but she didn’t do that.

She instead held Amelia tighter, even as she felt the blood being drained. Her neck felt like it was burning, but not quite. It was a difficult feeling to describe – like it burned, but it was also kind of heavy too. Amelia was sucking blood fairly slowly at first, but then it progressively got faster and faster. Her breath became a bit more erratic as Amelia leaned forward, really getting into it now. Amelia’s hair tickled her nose, and she turned her head aside to try and get it away.

“A – Amelia?” Gura called after what she assumed was a minute, “A – Are you almost done?”

She felt Amelia stop, and she felt the fangs slide out of her skin. She reached up to rub where she was bitten, and smeared her blood over her neck and shoulder. When she looked at Amelia, she could see trails of blood running down the sides of her mouth, but Amelia quickly lapped it up with her tongue, and then she leaned forward and started to lick the blood on her neck too.

“Amelia?!”

“It’s so good,” Amelia whispered, her voice was hoarse, “You taste so good, Gura.”

“Uhm,” What the HELL was she supposed to say to that? “You’re welcome?!”

“Can I have a little bit more,” Amelia practically begged, holding her tightly, “Just a little bit more, please, Gura, please.”

“Just don’t fuckin drain all of my blood, ok?” Gura muttered.

Amelia didn’t waste a second, and Gura felt the fangs bite into her neck again. She let out a groan as she held Amelia again, trying to count the seconds, but it was a lost effort with how much Amelia was squirming. It wasn’t that Amelia moving was bad or anything, but the noises she was making too, her moans of delight – they were just a little provocative? She blushed just thinking about it.

“A – Amelia…” She muttered, her vision felt like it was beginning to sway, “I – I think you’re taking too much…”

Amelia mercifully stopped. She felt the fangs pull out, but before she could sigh in relief, she felt Amelia’s tongue on her neck, gently licking the bite marks, undoubted blood was still coming out from the wound. Well… As long as she didn’t bite in again, Gura supposed she could have the blood she’d lose anyway. Still, when Amelia started to use her lips too, practically kissing her neck, Gura wondered if she was just going to pass out from embarrassment instead of blood loss.

“Oh my god,” Amelia whispered, “This is almost addicting… I want to bite you again.”

“Please, don’t.” Gura whimpered.

“I won’t. You trusted me with this, and I promise I won’t hurt you.”

Gura again felt her heart beat speed up – just the way Amelia worded some of these things so was freaking genuine and heartfelt that she didn’t really know how to react to it. She said the only thing that came to mind, “Thank you.”

Amelia’s grasp on her weakened, and Gura let go, taking a look at Amelia. Amelia’s skin had a much healthier hue already, the open wounds were closing, and her fangs that were protruding from her mouth before were completely hidden. Her face looked far healthier, the heavy bags under her eyes were already much lighter, almost gone, and her sunken in eyes and cheeks also didn’t look so sunken in now. Her hair, which was so scraggily and dry looked far fuller and healthier as well… She was literally transforming before Gura’s eyes.

“Amelia,” Gura muttered, “You look – you look amazing!”

“Really?” Amelia asked, she glanced down at her arms, pulling up the sleeve of her torn shirt, and Gura could see only a scar, “Woah – I had a cut right here!” She pointed, “Like, a big nasty-ass cut!”

“Woah, you can barely tell that there was anything there!”

They both watched as the scar faded, and soon enough, it was just smooth skin. Amelia let out an astonished laugh, and quickly stood up, feeling her body all around, “I feel amazing! I haven’t felt like this since I got bit – hell, I feel better than I ever have in my life! I wish I could look in the mirror!”

Gura smiled, and tried to stand up as well, but the world began to spin, and she started falling down. Before she even got close to hitting the ground though, she was in Amelia’s arms, being held up.

“Gura, are you ok?” Amelia asked worriedly.

“I think you might have taken a bit much,” Gura chuckled, her vision felt like it was swimming, “I need to lie down…”

She was surprised when Amelia lifted her up, an arm behind her back and another under her legs. She looked at Amelia’s arms, noticing how much fuller they looked. She looked back up at Amelia’s face, and was surprised to see that she looked completely fine now – aside from the red eyes, she could pass for a human no problem. The once frail and emancipated woman now looked to be at the peak of human fitness and strength, and if Gura was attracted to humans, she was sure she’d be classified as very beautiful… Understandably, she was aware that vampires needed to lure humans for their blood, it made sense that their beauty would be enhanced to help with that goal.

“I’ve got you,” Amelia whispered as she laid Gura down on her bed, “Uhm, sorry for the condition of the bed. It’s not in the best shape…”

“It’s fine,” Gura muttered, “Been in worse beds than this.” She let out a soft breath as her head leaned back on a pillow, and she rolled onto her side so her tail and back fin wasn’t being uncomfortably pressed into the mattress.

“I’ll go get us some tea; will you be ok here?”

“Just peachy.” Gura muttered, closing her eyes to make the room stop spinning.

One second her eyes were closed and Amelia was out of the room, and it felt like just a second later Amelia was in front of her gently whispering her name. Her eyes opened, and she saw the cup of tea in her hands, and she tried to sit up. Amelia watched her worriedly, “You feeling better?”

“I’ll manage.” Gura replied, managing to swing her legs over the bed so she could sit, “And Amelia?”

“Call me Ame,” She said quickly, “It’s – it’s what my friends used to call me.”

Gura felt a smile cross her face, “Alright. Ame. Can I ask you a question?”

“Hm?”

“Where do you even make tea? How do you heat up the water?”

Amelia let out a huff, and sat down beside Gura, tea in her hands. “The house has a well out back, I get the water from there. The last owner left all of their silverware and dishes here, so I just use their teapot. There’s matches downstairs too that I use to make the fire.” She went to take a sip of her tea, and stopped. She was so still that Gura took notice.

“Ame?”

“I taste it.” She mumbled. She went to take another sip, and then pulled back away from her lips quickly, “It – it tastes like tea!”

Amelia immediately downed the entire cup, “Woah there, don’t choke on it,” Gura held her hand out.

“It’s just – I can taste… I feel better – I feel normal.” Amelia dropped her cup, it landed heavily on the ground, a small crack appeared in it, and it rolled a few feet away before coming to a stop.

“I guess rat blood is just not good enough?” Gura muttered softly, “You needed something better?”

“Human blood.”

“Or Atlantean.” Gura replied, “Something that’s sentient, maybe?”

“Either way,” Amelia muttered, “That is a problem.”

“What do you mean? You have the solution to your problem!”

“I don’t want to turn people,” Amelia said, shaking her head, “I don’t want to put others in my position. When you leave, what will I do? Will I just go back to being how I was before? Slowly wasting away in this old house?”

Gura frowned – she hadn’t thought of that. She didn’t intend to live here forever, and she wanted to travel. There was going to be a time when she left Amelia alone… She could bring her with, but that brought up its own list of complications, they’d only be able to travel at night, for one, not to mention the fact that as a vampire, they may draw unwanted attention to themselves… Still, could she really leave her here alone?

“I could…”

Amelia looked over with a raise brow, “You could what?”

She shook her head, “N – Nevermind…”

Gura felt awful the moment she said that, Amelia’s eyes shadowed just a moment in disappointment. She knew it was wrong to give false hope, but she didn’t want to commit to something yet. She wanted to give it some time, to think about it. “I – I’ll think of something,” She said rather lamely, trying to reassure Amelia, “I promise.”

“Yeah…” Amelia muttered softly, “Thanks, Gura.”

Hollow words, it made Gura’s stomach churn.

“If you’re not feeling good, Gura. Do you want to leave for the night? I know how much it sucks to be around people if you don’t feel well.” Amelia asked kindly, giving her a soft smile, “You can come back tomorrow.”

Gura narrowed her eyes suspiciously, “Who are you?”

“W – What?”

“Ame would never say I can come back tomorrow!”

Gura’s heart felt lighter when Amelia laughed at that, she looked so healthy and good now that it lifted her spirits, “You said we’re friends, didn’t you?”

She smiled, “Yeah, I did.”

Gura stayed a bit longer, Amelia actually found some cards downstairs, and she taught Gura how to play some games. The entire time, Gura watched Amelia laughing and looking healthy, even as she felt a worm of worry burrowing in her gut. She couldn’t even really explain it, just that something felt wrong. Still, she tried to shove the concern aside, and just played with Amelia for a few hours. They played cards, and then they explored the house.

They went up to the third floor, which was absolutely covered in dust.

“I’ve never been up here,” Amelia admitted, “And I’ve been living here for a few weeks now.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Didn’t see a point,” Amelia replied, and she opened a door at the end of the hall and let out a laugh, “Plus there’s this.”

Gura stepped into the room she opened, and saw that this was where the hole in the roof was. The damage was severe, and it actually allowed her to see over the treetops. It was actually almost a perfect view to see the moon, it hung high in the sky, illuminating the entire outside. They could see the stars too, and Gura had to admit it was beautiful. She could only imagine what the sunrise would look like here as the sun slowly rose above the trees, the scattering light – it would look wonderful.

“The sunrise would look beautiful from up here,” Amelia mumbled softly, echoing her thoughts – Gura wasn’t even sure if she meant for her to hear it.

“Just make sure not to be in here for it,” Gura said quickly, snapping Amelia’s attention to her, “Don’t want to accidentally hurt yourself!”

It worried her when Amelia took so long to react. Her expression was blank until finally it seemed something kickstarted in her brain, and she smiled and let out a laugh a few seconds too late for it to see natural at all. “Well, no shit, sherlock.” She replied.

“Just keeping an eye out for you.”

Amelia just smiled and shook her head, before she left the room. The rest of the upstairs wasn’t too significant. Just a few rooms with a bunch of dusty furniture stored, nothing too interesting. At around two in the morning, Gura was struggling to stay awake, and she yawned tiredly within the kitchen, where Amelia was busy preparing more tea.

“I think I’ll head out,” Gura muttered softly.

Amelia smiled, and this time it at least seemed a little more genuine than the other ones from that night. “Alright.”

Amelia actually followed her to the front door this time, and even held it open for her. Gura eyed her suspiciously, wondering if it was some sort of prank, but finally stepped outside after nothing happened. “Well, Ame, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Of course.” Amelia nodded, then she paused, and hesitantly said, “Thank you for everything, Gura.”

Something screamed in her mind when she heard that. Her gut was telling her not to leave, that she shouldn’t leave Amelia alone. She was smiling, she was laughing, she was acting better than she’d ever seen her, but it seemed almost artificial. She didn’t listen to her gut though, she just left Amelia there alone. She promised herself that she would come back tomorrow – she was going to come back, there was no doubt about that. She wanted to help Amelia somehow, she would find a way.

She just hoped Amelia wouldn’t do anything drastic while she was gone.

XxXxXxX

Talking to Vince and Chris was actually a lot of fun. The two men were very kind, and gave them so much information about Amelia’s little “disease” problem. They gave her a card with a phone number on it, where they could contact vampires in the same position as Amelia. People who were scorned by both the human world and the supernatural world, forced to work together to form their own little group for support. It was a group of vampires and humans – even some other non-humans – that helped vampires like Amelia, who’d been forced into this world against their will. It was full of people who didn’t want to spread the disease, but try to contain it. She wished that she knew about it earlier, but at least she knew now.

The fair was closing down when the four of them went their separate ways, though Vince and Chris both gave them their contact information, and promised to get them into contact with some people who could help them. As the fair closed, Amelia and Gura went out to the parking lot, and then they passed it to go into the field where they flew in hours ago.

“You want to chill out before we head home?” Gura asked.

“Oh? You have any plans?” Amelia turned to her, “I’m all for it.”

Gura shrugged, “Somewhere quiet.”

“Something on your mind?” Amelia asked, walking over to pick up Gura, and then she looked around before she jumped from the ground, and started to glide away, just letting the wind carry her off. Gura wrapped her strong arms around her neck, and rested her head against her chest.

“Been thinking about when we first met,” Gura admitted, “It’s been on my mind all night, but talking to them really made me remember it all.”

Amelia guided them down to a hilltop rather close to where the fair was. They could see the lights of the fair slowly starting to shut off as the stalls and buildings began to close down for the night. They could see the headlights of the cars leaving, they could see the highway even further in the distance, illuminated by the streetlights and the occasional truck and car driving so late at night. The hill top was mostly grass, a few trees stood nearby, their leaves a beautiful array of oranges, browns, and reds, and as the wind blew, they started to fall, welcoming the coming November.

The two sat down in the grass, not really caring about dirtying their clothes. They just stared at the night before them, up at the stars and the crescent moon. The stars were easier to see here, even with the light visible from the fair and highway, the stars seemed just that much brighter.

“Gura…”

“Hm?” The Atlantean turned towards Amelia, “What’s up?”

“What made you come back that night?”

Gura took a deep breath, and looked back to the sky.

XxXxXxX

Gura sat in her motel room, unable to sleep. She turned over in her bed and looked at the clock at her bedside, and let out a groan when she saw it only said a little pass 5:00 in the morning. She’d been lying down for close to two hours, and she felt no more tired now than she did then. The odd thing was that she felt the allure of sleep dangling above her, but her thoughts were so busy revolving around Amelia that she couldn’t grasp sleep even if she wanted.

It was the way Amelia said goodbye. The way she’d been acting all night. Granted, she hadn’t known Amelia very long, but she had lived for thousands of years, and she’d interacted with thousands of humans within that time, so she was sure she had a pretty good ability to read them. She could tell when a human was forcing their emotion, forcing happiness and trying to appease her, and even though Amelia was a vampire, she was quickly learning that truthfully, there didn’t appear to be much difference with a vampire and a human when it came to their emotions.

A month ago, she’d never admit something like that, but Amelia taught her otherwise.

She was concerned with how Amelia said goodbye – how final it sounded. She wanted to see Amelia tomorrow – well, technically today, since she’d be heading out that night to see her again. However, she couldn’t help but feel that if she did that, she might not see Amelia again, that when she arrived at the house it would be vacant, and she’d lose her friend. She wasn’t even sure why she cared so much either – she’d met plenty of humans over the years she’d befriended, even helped out more than her fair share of them, but Amelia was different… She couldn’t place why that was, but it just was.

“Ughhh!” She threw her feet over the side of her bed and jumped up, pacing back and forth in the room, “Damnit!”

She wasn’t going to get sleep like this – not with her worry gnawing at her. She grabbed the key to her room and went to put her shoes on. She made sure to wear her pendant so her glamour to appear human was on just in the off chance that there was a human awake somewhere, and she rushed out of the door. She felt so restless that she practically ran the entire way there. It was only when she made it to the destroyed fence around the house that she finally slowed down. The place was pretty far from her motel, and even running as much as she was it was still a thirty-minute jog.

She looked at the sky, and saw that while it was still a dark blue, in the distance she could see the first traces of day. No sunlight quite yet, but her heart constricted at the sight of it. She really hoped that Amelia was just preparing for bed, or even better, just asleep so she could sneak out and pretend that she didn’t have a mild panic attack and run here for absolutely no reason at all.

As she walked up to the front door, she felt more and more stupid – why did she react like this? Did she really think Amelia was going to leave? Where would she even go? That was something you planned out, especially when you’re a vampire and die in daylight. Hell, Gura even told her that she would come by the following night, so it would be incredibly rude of her if she just ran off! Gura found herself growing annoyed – she wasn’t sure if it was at Amelia for making her worry this much, or at herself for getting so worked up.

“I’m going to give her a piece of my mind,” She grumbled to herself, opening the door – she was surprised it was unlocked, didn’t Amelia generally leave it locked during the day? Well, maybe she felt safe enough? It wasn’t like many people came by to visit this place… Or maybe she was just being stupidly paranoid again.

She wandered into the house, the dim light more than enough for her to see. She walked up stairs to the second floor, over to Amelia’s room, and she opened the door. Her heart was thumping hard against her ribs, and she looked at the bed to see if Amelia was still there, and…

… She wasn’t.

“Oh, shit.” She mumbled. She could already feel the panic rising within her. Amelia really wouldn’t have left, right? Gura left the house at around two in the morning, and the sun rose fairly early this time of the year. That would give her like four, maybe five hours tops to travel… No, there was no way she would go out right now. She had to be in the house, Amelia wasn’t an idiot, she wouldn’t risk her life like that!

Gura ran out of the room, her shoulder slamming painfully into the doorframe. She let out a soft curse, and continued running, deciding to check upstairs, since she hadn’t seen Amelia anywhere on the first and second floor.

She slammed open each door, not seeing her, and her panic only grew, especially as she could see the sky starting to brighten just a little more with each passing minute. Amelia seriously didn’t leave – did she?! She opened every room except for one on the third floor, but she knew Amelia wouldn’t be there – the room with the hole in the roof, that would be suicide! Still, she hadn’t checked it yet, so she walked over to the last door in the hall, and she opened the door.

Inside Amelia stood. Her arms were behind her back, and she stared out across the landscape before her with an almost serene calmness about her. There was a soft smile on her face, though she let out a soft sigh, “Gura.”

“Amelia?!” Gura hissed, “T – The sun! It’s going to be up any minute now! The fuck are you doing standing right there?!”

The first streams of sunlight started to peak over the treetops, and Gura nearly screamed at the sight. She rushed over, and with a great effort, she pulled Amelia towards her, using all of her strength to do so. Amelia let out a startled cry as she fell towards her, and Gura quickly transferred down to the floor and rolled with Amelia into the hallway again just as the sunlight started to shine across the room she’d been in. If she hadn’t acted right then, Amelia would have met her demise.

“Gura! What the hell?!” Amelia climbed to her feet, glaring at Gura, “Why’d you take me out of there?!”

“You would have died if I didn’t!” Gura cried, jumping to her feet and quickly gripping Amelia’s arm again, “Do you have a death wish?”

“So what if I do?” Amelia exclaimed, trying to force her arm out of Gura’s grip, but the Atlantean tightened her grip. It was like a vice – far tighter of a hold than any human would ever be able to produce.

“I won’t let you!”

“I can’t live like this,” Amelia said, her voice softening. She looked at Gura pleadingly, “I feel better now than I have since I’ve become like this, but I know it’s only temporary. I want to die as myself. Please, Gura… I don’t want to be a monster. I don’t want to live like this. I just want to see the sunrise one last time.”

“No,” Gura shook her head, “You’re my friend, Ame… I won’t let you do it.”

“So what, you’re just going to force me to keep on going? What about when I need blood again?”

“I’ll give you some of mine!”

“And when you leave? What then?”

“Come with me!”

Amelia blinked in surprise, “Huh?”

“Come with me – we can travel around together!”

Amelia frowned, but she stropped struggling against Gura’s grip, “Y – You’re just saying that to make me stop…”

“No!” Gura shook her head, “You’re my friend, Ame. I – I was thinking about letting you come with me last night, but I just needed more time to think! I said I was going to be back again tonight! Did you not believe me?!”

“I believed you…” Amelia whispered.

“Then why…?”

“I thought it’d make it easier for you,” Amelia said softly, “If I just went away, I thought you’d be able to move on easier. You were struggling to figure out how to help me, and I don’t know what to do either. There’s no cure for this… I’m going to be cursed to only be active at night, I’m going to need to drink blood to even maintain my form like this…”

“I’ll do it – all of it.” Gura said breathlessly, “We’ll travel at night, and I’ll always be there to give you blood when you need it!”

“I don’t want your pity, Gura!” Amelia tried to glare at her, but it was weak. She didn’t look convinced.

“It’s not pity,” Gura exclaimed, she pulled Amelia towards her roughly, and grabbed her in a hug, holding her close. She tried not to shake, but with the adrenaline beginning to wear off, she was coming down from her panicked high, and now her breathing started to become more erratic, and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes, “I keep telling you, you’re my friend, Amelia. I care about you; I want to help you. I would do anything to help you.”

“We just met…” Amelia muttered, “Why do you care?”

“You were mean at first, but as I got to know you, I learned that you’re a nice person. You’re funny too when you want to be! I care about you!”

“R – Really?” Amelia asked in a huff, though there was no malice in her tone, she sounded more surprised than anything, “Y – You care about me? We just met!” She said again, unable to hide her incredulity.

“I get attached to people easy, is that a problem?!”

“It sounds too convenient!” Amelia exclaimed.

“Ame…” Gura whimpered, “Please, believe me.”

The words were caught in Amelia’s throat when she noticed for the first time how hard Gura was shaking. She noticed her sniffling, her tears, how she was trying so hard to hold back her soft whines and whimpers, and her protests died in her throat. For some reason, this Atlantean really cared for her. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, this was the girl who came night after night after night, even after she’d been so rudely rebuffed each and every time. This was the girl who spent time with her during the long nights, keeping her company even as her mind was plagued by horrible thoughts and nightmares. This was the girl who willingly gave her blood, despite the prejudices she once held for vampires, trusting her not to drain too much.

“Gura…” She said breathily, her arms reaching up and holding the Atlantean closer. Her fingers touched the tip of her fin, and she hesitated for just a moment. Gura wasn’t even human, but… That really didn’t matter to her. She hugged her tighter, and she watched as the glamour around Gura disappeared since she had too much contact with her fin, revealing her true form. Her tail was gently swaying, and she felt Gura hold her just as tightly.

“Ame… Thank god I got here in time…”

Amelia felt her eyes starting to cloud with tears, “Gura… I’m so sorry…”

She felt Gura slowly shift her head until it was in the crook of her neck, and her skin tingled as she felt Gura’s sharp teeth glide right above her skin, it was so slight. “Is it alright, Ame?” She asked softly.

Amelia wasn’t entirely sure what she was asking, but she trusted Gura, hell, she might even like her a bit more than friends, if she were honest. “Uh, it’s ok, Gura.” She muttered. She let out a sharp gasp as Gura’s teeth sank into the flesh of her neck, and she inhaled deeply as Gura’s teeth pierced into her. She didn’t bite down super hard, but it was a constant pressure. Amelia groaned softly as she held it there, until finally Gura gently lifted her teeth out of her. Amelia let out a soft puff of air, “W – What was that?”

Gura’s face flushed, “Uh, it’s h – how Atlanteans show a – affection…”

Amelia blinked in surprise, “It must have been pretty awkward when I bit you, then.”

Gura let out a choked laugh, “Y – Yeah…”

“Then…” Amelia looked down into Gura’s eyes, “You really care about me?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gura huffed.

Amelia smiled softly, “I don’t know what I did to deserve your affection, Gura, but…” She reached up with one hand, and she gently lifted Gura’s head up by her chin, and she leaned down. Their lips touched, and Amelia’s eyes closed as she kissed the Atlantean. It was awkward, Gura was clearly not sure what to do, and it ended up being rather one-sided, but Amelia was still blushing when it was over.

“W – Was that –”

“How humans show affection.” Amelia replied softly, “O – Or I guess vampires? In either case, you need to work on your kissing skills a bit, they’re kind of lacking!”

Tears streamed from Gura’s eyes even as she laughed, “As long as you learn how to bite better!”

“I think given my condition; I’ll be getting plenty of practice on that.”

Gura laughed again, “T – Then I guess I better work on this kissing thing.”

With their adrenaline high collapsing, both girls suddenly felt exhaustion creeping up on them. Gura had not slept at all that night, and it was around the time when Amelia would go to bed anyway.

“Uhm,” Amelia still held Gura, not really wanting to let go, “D – Do you want to stay over for the day? W – we can do something at night together.”

“It will help me get used to becoming nocturnal,” Gura replied, and Amelia’s heart fluttered, Gura was already thinking about fundamentally shifting her schedule for her, “So I guess you can help me out with that.”

“The window in my room is blocked,” Amelia replied, “The bed’s kind of a piece of shit, but it’ll work.”

“As long as I’m with you, we could sleep on dirt.”

Amelia chuckled softly, and the two walked downstairs hand in hand to their changed life. Neither were quite sure how things would turn out, and there was a lot of uncertainty ahead, but together, they were sure that they could make it work.

XxXxXxX

“I don’t know why I came back.” Gura answered after a long moment of thought. “When I left, I just had a bad feeling, and I decided to act on it.”

“Just a feeling?” Amelia asked with a soft laugh, “That’s it?”

“How you acted after I gave you blood for the first time concerned me, I guess,” She muttered, “You were so happy, and then you just got sad again, and you said that you weren’t sure what you would do when I left… I wish I had said something then – I wanted to, but I didn’t want to commit to something right away.”

“Did you only say that you’d help me because I tried to…” She didn’t finish, it was clear she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the thought.

“No.” Gura shook her head, and reached over to hold Amelia’s hand, “I meant every word of what I said that night. You’re my friend, Ame, and now you’re my wife. When I visited you in that house, I grew it like you as the days passed. You were kind of cold at first, but whenever you warmed up and laughed at my stupid jokes, I could see a side of you that I wanted to get to know more.”

“I thought you were pretty annoying back then,” Amelia admitted, “But I’m so glad you kept coming back. If you hadn’t…” She let out a soft breath, “I probably would have tried to end it much sooner than I did.”

“Ame…”

“My life sucked for the longest time.” Amelia revealed in a quiet voice, “Even before I was a vampire, I lived a shitty life. I had no family, no friends once I graduated college, I worked a shitty job that paid horribly. I was basically just a machine; I wasn’t even really living.”

Gura stayed silent, just holding Amelia’s hand. Her wife rarely talked about her life before she was bitten, but what she was learning painted a sad picture. She could relate to the feeling of not really living – it was the reason she ended up leaving Atlantis. As she stayed there, it always felt like she’d been living a stagnant life and wasting away her years, she yearned for adventure, to travel the world and get to know people.

“I felt like I was just wasting my life. I graduated college, got an office job, and I figured eventually I would meet someone that I would come to love, maybe start a family – or get a dog at least. Instead, I stayed at a job I hated for a decade of my life, wasting away my twenties doing something I didn’t love all for the sake of advancing in my career path. I’d work dozens of hours of overtime, I never had free time, my life basically was my job. Then I went on a business trip with some of the company workers, and that’s when I ran into those vampires… At the time, I thought that was it, my life was fucked – and I never got to do the things I wanted to do, it was all a big waste.”

“Ame, it wasn’t though, you –”

“I appreciate the thought, Gura.” Amelia interrupted, she leaned over and kissed the Atlantean, her teeth brushing her cheek very slightly, “But it was. I gave up so much of myself to my job, that I almost forgot who I even was. It’s thanks to you that I let go of all of that – I’m freer as a vampire than I ever was as a human.”

“You’d have figured it out on your own,” Gura insisted, “I know you would have. I – I was in your position too. I hated my life in Atlantis, I was just following in my parent’s footsteps, doing what they did. I hated it so much, and then one day, I just decided to leave. I’ve known you for two years now, Ame, been married to you for one of those years. I know you, even if you don’t seem to know yourself, I know you’d have come to the realization soon that you want to do something with your life, and you’d act on it, because that’s the kind of person you are.”

“Maybe…”

“I know it’s true.”

Amelia chuckled softly, “I don’t know how you can be so sure about that.”

“It’s just a gut feeling.”

“Well, if your gut feeling told you to come back to me, then I suppose it has a good track record.” She smiled as Gura chuckled softly, “But Gura, I know I’ve said this to you before, but I mean it every single time.”

“What’s that?”

“Thank you for saving me.”

Gura exhaled, and this time she pulled Amelia towards her onto her lap, and she bit down softly on her neck. Amelia let out a soft growl, the vibration alone made Gura shudder – she loved it when she did that. She bit down again, this time a little more softly, and then Amelia turned around fully, and kissed her – a human form of affection. After their kiss, Amelia gently bit her neck as well, not using her fangs – an Atlantean form of affection.

“I love you, Gura.” Amelia whispered.

“I love you too, Ame.”

Everything lost focus for Gura as she held her wife. The trees, the wind, the grass they sat in, even the sound of the distant cars on the highway was forgotten as she held the love of her life. There was nothing more important to her than Amelia in that very moment, and the same held true for Amelia – Gura was everything to her, and she wanted to make sure she knew.