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Flipping the page, Sophia sighed. Perhaps there was no hope this evening. She threw down the book she’d tried to distract herself with onto her bed, and stared at the open balcony door. The cold November air made her want to hide under her duvet.
Maybe that was a good idea. She had been waiting for hours, after all. She turned and crawled halfway up to her pillows, before she heard the wind blow in that specific way that made her hairs stand on end. Finally, she was here!
“Sophia?” The crackling, deep voice she was trying to make sound soft rung out into Sophia’s bedroom.
“Angeline!” Sophia replied, excited by her sudden presence, rushing over to the balcony doorway where Angeline was as she always was: a whispy figure of black, bright pink-ish red eyes and the occasional reveal of feathers when the wind blew particularly hard.
“I’m… sorry I’m late.” Her voice was deep, so deep Sophia could feel it if she stood close enough, like the roar of thunder.
“I was starting to think you weren’t going to show up. I thought we agreed eight?”
“Is it not eight?”
“No, silly. I did teach you to read clocks, didn’t I?”
“Well, yes… I just didn’t really understand how many the numbers are.”
“Oh?” Sophia quirked an eyebrow.
Angeline’s head tipped to the side, just like the cats she adored. She seemed to wonder on how to respond.
“I’ll teach you them again!” Sophia offered, taking what she (correctly, thankfully) guessed was Angeline’s hand. Nothing but blackened skin with long nails forming into claws, warm and sweet and fascinating. Angeline looked between their connected hands and Sophia’s face, “Oh… kay.” She nodded.
Sophia lead her by the hand into her bedroom, Angeline coming so easily with her that she swore she was forgetting to manifest legs again. But once they reached her bed, Angeline had a pair of human legs, still blackened and bare-foot, that she crossed exactly like Sophia did.
“Okay, can I see some hands, please?” Sophia joked, holding up her own hands for Angeline to copy.
Out from the darkness in just a few seconds came two human arms, hands held up and meeting Sophia’s perfectly. They were probably copies of Sophia’s arms.
“Thank you.” She laughed, pulling away her hands just slightly.
“This many,” she said, holding up all of her fingers and thumbs. “is ten.”
Angeline put her hands up in front of herself, drawing all of her fingers and thumbs in, then out, then in, then finally out again. Once completed, she looked up to Sophia and nodded. “Ten.” She repeated.
Sophia drew her left thumb in. “Nine.”
Angeline drew her left thumb in too. “Nine. One less than ten.”
Sophia nodded excitedly. “Yes! Well done.”
They continued like that for six fingers each, until Sophia got to three.
Angeline and Sophia both held up the index, middle and ring fingers of their right hands.
Sophia lowered her ring finger. “This is two.”
“Two…” Angeline echoed, lowering her ring finger as well. “Like… us?”
Sophia nearly swooned. “Yes,” Her voice was soft. “just like us.”
After learning more numbers — and Angeline trying to process how numbers are infinite — Sophia settled on reading Angeline her story. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a little book she had picked up after hearing all the hub-bub from her sisters.
“This… man, Dracla,” Angeline began, laying on her stomach, now appearing as a full human. She looked like a porcelain doll or a princess, around Sophia’s age, with long black curls and a pretty black dress. “Drac-u-lah.” Sophia interrupted.
Angeline nodded. “Dracula.”
Sophia nodded silently for her to continue. “He is not human?”
Sophia nodded her head lightly. “Yes.”
“Is he… like me?”
“No, not quite, dear.”
“What is he?” Angeline’s deep pink eyes sparked with interest.
“A vampire!”
“Oh… okay. What does that mean?” Angeline picked apart some non-existent knots in her hair.
“Vampires suck human blood, can’t go out in the sun or eat human food or sleep in beds, and can levitate objects.”
Angeline hummed, taking a moment to consider. “They can’t do much, can they?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“We can do a lot though.”
“Your kind?” Sophia was interested to hear this. “What can you do?”
“We’re… a lot stronger than you, faster, your lead lumps in those iron cylinders can’t hurt us.”
“You mean… guns?”
“Mhm.” She hummed, staring up into Sophia’s eyes without a trace of interest in them. Though, looks were deceiving. Especially when it came to Angeline. She looked at Sophia like she was trying to find something, some emotion in her.
“Your skills elude us, though… as I think you know.”
Sophia nodded. “I remember when talking was hard for you.” When Angeline would only use one-word sentences like a toddler.
It was more awkward, back then, Angeline simply stopping by this human girl’s bedroom by chance — hell, for all Sophia knew Angeline was there to eat her — has led to this. Sophia waiting by her balcony for a night every once in a while to see her wonderful supernatural friend.
Though, she thought, was ‘friend’ really… accurate? Angeline called her her friend, but that didn’t mean much when Angeline didn’t know anything beyond ‘friends’.
Angeline stared at her as she thought, and Sophia stared back. Sophia felt herself slump a little. Was now the time?
“Angeline…”
“Yes, Sophia?”
“Have you ever heard about…” she hesitated on the word. Angeline’s curiosity seemed to have been peaked.
“…love?” Sophia finished, feeling her cheeks bloom red.
Angeline looked visibly shocked, and almost fascinated by the expression of Sophia’s face. She herself had pink cheeks when she next spoke, “It’s not a… foreign, concept to me.”
“Do you know how we humans express that kind of love?” Sophia felt her heart beat faster. The words tumbled out of her mouth like they were long memorised lines in a play.
Angeline sat up, crossing her legs. “I… think so.” She murmured, glancing between Sophia’s eyes and her mouth.
Sophia fidgeted with her skirt. She didn’t know what to say next. Did she just… go for it? She was so unused to making the advances, men had always made the first impression in her experience. But with her — with Angeline, whatever she was — it was different. Oh so different.
She shuffled closer. “Forgive the intrusion…” She muttered, before placing a hand against Angeline’s cheek, cupping it. It was warm to the touch and perfectly smooth. Of course, she thought, fondness overwhelming her building anxiety. It was just Angeline, she told herself as she moved closer.
Soon, Angeline’s lips were pressed to her own and she could feel herself smile as her eye lids closed. It felt right, it felt inevitable that this would happen.
Sophia moved back after a few seconds to see Angeline frozen in place. She blinked several times before she refocused on Sophia.
Without a word, she reached for one of Sophia’s hands that were retracted just seconds ago. She held the hand softly, so softly Sophia could have melted, and raised it up to her mouth. A gentle kiss was placed on one of her knuckles. Then another on the next one over, then another.
Sophia giggled, partly flattered partly nervous. “What are you doing?” She laughed out, letting Angeline move onto the joints in her fingers.
“Kissing.” Angeline replied simply, before placing a kiss on her middle finger’s central knuckle. “That’s what it’s called, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes, but what is your point?” Sophia laughed again, breathy, as Angeline stopped kissing her hand but didn’t let it go. Instead, she suddenly moved forward, pulling herself in one swift motion into Sophia’s lap.
Before she could process anything, Angeline was kissing her again: on her cheeks, her nose, her chin, anywhere she could reach. Sophia laughed all the way through — each peck left her dizzy.
After pulling back from Sophia’s face, Angeline held both of the human’s hands in her’s. “Kissing.” She muttered to herself again, leaning forward to press a light peck to Sophia’s lips. “I quite like it.”