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Finding cheap places to live was definitely not easy, especially in a time where renting or even owning a home costed your entire soul, kidneys, ten liters of blood, and still might not be enough. However, the good graces of fate finally blessed you with an apartment that was small but spacious enough to live in, complete with furniture and a communal laundry room. Rent included amenities as well, which made the cost even more surprising. The actual apartment was fairly old though. The living room was spacious enough to move around and included a television and TV stand with cabinets for storage, couch and matching chair, coffee table, and a rug. The cabinets at the TV stand were locked, however, and the landlord just shrugged when asked for a key. Easily seen from the living room was a small kitchen with the bare essentials: fridge, sink, stove and oven, cabinets and drawers, and some space to prepare food. The square tiles weren't very shiny and some were cracked in some places, but otherwise like the living room the kitchen was spotless and well kept. The faucets were even very clean despite how old the apartment was.
Through the hallway was an odd sight. Nothing out of the ordinary except for the bedroom doors. On the apartment listing there were two bedrooms, both across from each other, with another door for the bathroom at the very end of the hall. The doors were what first caught you off guard. Despite the bathroom door not having anything on it, the bedroom doors both had numbers on them. The numbers themselves weren't even in order. "Room 2" was fairly barren on the inside with a bare mattress on a bed frame, a dresser, and a bedside table with an old lamp on top even though there was a ceiling fan. Room 4 however was locked, and the landlord had the same answer when asked about the key. However, they decided to try and open the door but to no avail. Jiggling the handle and attempting to stomp the door down weren't enough. "I'll call someone to come over and unlock it in a few days," they said, and the tour was considered to be over.
Moving in was as painless as moving could be, which was barely, but that first day of carrying boxes and unpacking the bare essentials was exhausting. Even though you ordered takeout for dinner, you managed to unpack your dishes and kettle along with a few other things. Quite the feat for a first day! It was just enough of a feat to have a warm shower before bed. Getting used to the empty walls and noise of the city was definitely something to adjust to, but moving and carrying heavy boxes was enough to overpower even the loudest of cars or neighbors. Just not enough to overpower the sound of boots walking on the flooring outside of your new bedroom.
You checked the clock; 3 AM on the dot. The footsteps sounded heavy as well, so whoever decided to break into your apartment wasn't doing a great job at being stealthy. Nonetheless, it was time to ward off this unwanted visitor and send them to the shadow realm with the help of the nearest heavy thing at your disposal. Now armed with your weapon, you slowly opened the door and peeked out of the hallway. The kitchen had a single light over the sink, and that light was the only one in the apartment that was on. The burglar also turned on the stove judging from the small smell of gasoline. Then a glimpse of someone walking by, and from the sound of it they were looking through your unpacked boxes muttering to themself. You couldn't tell what the burglar was saying but they had a fairly deep voice, definitely a man. Suddenly you heard him quietly go "ah!" and pull something out from a box. The man's head peeked around the corner cautiously, making you duck your own head back to your room. Silence fell on the both of you as you contemplated your next move, only to be interrupted by a slight whistle of the kettle.
"Shit!" you heard the burglar quietly swear and quickly dash to the kitchen, now the boots making noise on tiled flooring. From your room you couldn't get too good of a look of the man, but he was definitely tall and something white or gray was moving behind him. As the man hurriedly moved the kettle away from the fire, he turned off the stove and shot one last look at the bedroom hallway. It was a very quick look and he didn't notice you hiding, so he released a silent breath and poured the hot water into what you could assume was a cup next to the stove. The whole action only confused you more. What kind of burglar wears a bright color like light gray, breaks into people's homes, and then makes themselves a cup of tea without going for the valuables first? You shook your head out of your thoughts. This man broke into your home, so now you have to defend it! You quietly exit the bedroom and get a better look at the back of this man. His long hair was the light-gray thing behind him, and it had a few black streaks. He had a long-sleeved, clean white shirt with black pants and strapped boots of the same color. The only thing that made sense for a burglar to have were the black gloves. You brushed off how weird he was dressed and decide to shout at the man who was cleaning up his nonexistent mess. "Hey!"
The man jumped with a shout, and made a gesture that suggested that he was trying to not spill his tea. He spun around quickly and put his teacup down, letting you have a good look at the front of him. The front of him caught you really off guard. His skin was very pale, almost unnaturally so, and it made his soft violet eyes stand out even more. Behind his small oval glasses was a shocked expression, and the man raised his gloved hands up. His hair now behind him revealed a black and gold vest, and what appeared to be a bat-like broach at his collar. All in all, the burglar's appearance was so out of place that it was possible he was just some crazy guy rather than a burglar. Pointed ears with a single band for an earring, the formal clothing, pretty much everything about him screamed only one thing: somehow, a vampire mistook your apartment for his. Were vampires even real?
You shook your head and raised your heavy weapon. "Who the hell are you?" you shouted. "Get out of my apartment!"
The man shook his hands in front of him. He made no move to approach you or attack, but there's no telling what he was capable of. Though, there was a good chance he wasn't going to fight since he started panicking and apologizing immediately. "I am so sorry!" he nearly stuttered. You could see his fangs as he opened his mouth, which didn't help the vampire allegation. "I didn't mean to wake you but I woke up really late and, and..." he trailed off. His expression turned from panic to realization and confusion. "Wait. You can see me?"
There was a pause between you too. You spoke up, "What?"
"And you can hear me?" The man slowly dropped his hands. "No shot. No way." He looked away but you brought his attention back.
"Look man, it's 3 AM and I wanna go back to bed. So get out of my apartment, or this" you waved your heavy object, "is going right at your fucking face-"
"No no no no!" The man waved his hands again and froze. "This is my apartment too! Look, I swear it! Uh," he trailed off again and looked around him. Right as you decided to use your weapon after all, a thought struck him instead and he reached into his vest. He pulled out what looked to be an old folded piece of paper, slightly yellowed but otherwise real. He cautiously reached out to you with it for you to take, and retreated back to his stance. A closer look at the paper showed that unfolded it contained an official lease form dating years ago. The information was even the same as the listing for this very apartment, and at the bottom the form was signed by the current landlord and a "Vesper Noir".
You looked up back at him and this time it was your turn with the confused expression. The form was legitimate, even if it was a copy. But something didn't make sense. "But, the landlord didn't say anything about you being here." You then remembered the room door with the number four on it and pointed at its general direction. "That's not your room is it? With the four on it?"
The man, most likely named Vesper Noir, nodded his head. "That's my room right there. All of the furniture is mine too. Well, except for the stuff that's yours. That's your stuff. By the way, I am so sorry that I used your kettle without asking-"
"That doesn't matter," you waved him off and placed your makeshift weapon down. "I'm not supposed to have a roommate. I didn't see you at all today, and the landlord said nothing about you."
"Well," Vesper again trailed off and looked to the side. He messed with one of the fingers of his glove by rubbing it. "The might be because, I'm not exactly alive."
"Holy shit you are a vampire."
"What?" he nearly shouted. "N-No! I'm a ghost! Here look I can prove it." Without thinking Vesper shoved a hand into the counter next to him, but instead of a thud and a cry of pain, his hand disappeared into the counter as if it wasn't there. You widened your eyes, and when he saw your expression he retreated his hand. "See?" He held the same hand in front of him and wiggled his fingers.
A lot of new information was found out that night specifically about your new roommate. After agreeing to sit with him at the living room, you began to ask him some questions while he calmed down with his tea, only getting up once to get more. His name was Vesper Noir, and he was a "resident scholar" of the nearby library (you assumed he meant librarian) and member of some organization you didn't care to remember. As of his death he was twenty-eight years old "give or take 14 seasons" or whatever that meant. He was definitely not a vampire on the main reason being that vampires couldn't become ghosts. Though, he refused to really elaborate when you pointed out his entire appearance. As far as he could tell, he had no memory of how he died or why he was a ghost instead of going to whatever afterlife existed. When you asked him about why he was rummaging through your boxes, he looked confused for a moment before realizing what you meant. That's when he revealed a necklace underneath his shirt with a small key attached to it. "I was looking though a small box I have with my tea inside of it." He pointed at the boxes you had seen him at and, sure enough, there was a different but slightly worn out box fully opened.
"So then you're the one with they key to Room Four?"
Vesper nodded. "Yeah, I just forgot it in there but the locked cabinet is mine. I mean, if you want to see my room then," he paused and said more quietly, "Though I'm not sure why you'd want to."
With a yawn you looked at a clock you hung up earlier in the day. 4 AM, and your body still hadn't fully recovered from moving. Stacks of boxes and random items were scattered throughout the apartment in almost an intimidating way; not because they posed a particular threat but because it reminded you of how much work you had to do in a few hours. You shook your head and turned to Vesper, who was finishing up his second cup of tea. "I don't know man. I just want to sleep at this point. You should get to sleep too, or at least stay in your room. I woke up to you walking around everywhere."
Vesper finished his tea and stood up to go to the sink. "Yeah we should. Again, I'm really sorry about that-" You raised your hand up and interrupted him.
"Let's just get through the morning and then we can talk then."
"No can do," he shook his head as he washed his teacup. he swat at some of his hair that fell in front of him. "I can't physically appear in the mornings. I think that's also why you didn't see me earlier."
"Wait," you stopped in your tracks as you headed to your room, "you were here earlier? N-nevermind. We'll talk later." You waved your hand to shake the thought away before you were awake for longer. You called out tiredly, "Good night."
"Good night." You heard him begin to follow you presumably to his own room. "Oh! I didn't catch your name."
"Y/n."
"Ah ok, thank you. Good night, y/n."
With a sigh you started closing your bedroom door, only slowing down to peek at Vesper walking through the opposite one. He didn't even open the door or anything. Instead he just phased through it without flinching. If the earlier demonstration of his hand phasing through the counter wasn't proof enough, then this tall vampire-looking man going completely through the door might be. At the same time you could just be dreaming. Regardless, you were tired and there was more stuff to unpack, groceries to buy, and it was still only 4 AM. After tucking yourself back into your bed and once again staring at the ceiling, you couldn't help but wonder about Vesper. Despite his looks he seemed like a shy kind of guy, even as a ghost. He even added that he was willing to pay half of the rent ("I don't know how I would but I can figure something out" were his words exactly) but you brushed that off. It was a little difficult to tell from the clothing but he also seemed strong, yet while talking he nearly shrunk himself down. How did he even die? Was the teacup he had his? Your brain was getting to foggy to think of anything else, and within a few minutes your eyelids drooped shut and your breathing evened out. Whatever happens the next day, you would just try your best to just do what you needed to do.