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It was a good life that Jamil was living. Calm, peaceful, uneventful.
At least until the new neighbor stepped into his life.
He had just returned from a hunt, although Jamil didn’t like using such brutal terms. Of course the ones he fed on were not exactly aware of what he was doing to them, but he made sure they didn’t suffer, that they wouldn’t remember anything about it. To them they had just spent a nice night with a handsome man and that was all there was to it. After all, humans were so easily swayed, succumbed to his powers oh so easily.
And Jamil wasn’t like those barbaric monsters who drank and murdered without a second thought.
He was happy with his simple life, with being able to mix in with the humans, to not have anyone bother him because of what he was and because of what he needed to stay alive. To others it might have seemed a little unfair, but what did Jamil have these hypnotic powers for if not to make his life easier?
Plus, it wasn’t even as if he was changing much about other people’s memory. Barely more than making them forget about his lack of a shadow, about his missing reflection in the elevator mirror, stopping them from questioning the unnatural coldness of his skin, little things like that.
It wasn’t different this time.
Or rather it shouldn’t have been.
The elevator doors were already closing when a hand was pushed in between them, triggering the automatic that opened them again, destroying Jamil’s hopes of having a quiet ride. He hadn’t seen the boy – man? – before and his eyes instinctively scanned the other, unconsciously trying to categorize him, making sure he would remember him. He was tall, about a head taller than Jamil himself, short teal coloured hair with a black strand on the right, mismatched yellow eyes, a curious grin forming on his lips while he leaned back against the wall, burying his hands in his hoodie, his own gaze drinking in Jamil.
For a second neither of them said anything.
And then, instead of a greeting, instead of introducing himself, he said something that made Jamil frown in discontent:
“Oh wow, you don’t have a reflection! That’s cool! How’d ya do that?”
Then again, this was hardly a problem, merely an inconvenience, something that was easy to solve. All it took was to activate his powers a little bit, smile, play pretend.
“What are you talking about? Everyone has a reflection, I’m not an exception from that.”
Look into the other’s eyes to wrap his powers around his brain, make him see things that weren’t there, that couldn’t be there, and then-
“No, but ya really have no reflection! Seriously, it’s totally sick!”
He could feel the smile slipping from his lips, turning more into a grimace.
This had never happened before! Why did his powers not work? They always did! Maybe he just needed to try again, needed to really focus this time…
“I have one; you’re talking nonsense!”
For a second there was a contemplating look on the other’s face and Jamil thought he had surely managed to fool him this time.
“Ah, ya don’t wanna tell me your trick. That’s cool by me I guess. It’s a magician thing, right?”
“Yeah...a magician thing...”
At least this weird dude didn’t seem to have realized what it meant that Jamil didn’t have a reflection, didn’t seem to think of it as all that odd. And they hadn’t ever met before which meant he was probably here to visit someone, which meant that they would probably never meet again, that this stranger wouldn’t really think about him again, right? Maybe it was something he could let slide, right?
He realized his miscalculation when they got off on the same floor, when that weirdo stopped at the door next to his own.
At the door to the apartment that had been inhabited until yesterday.
Realized his mistake when the other grinned at him in almost childish joy.
“Oh, we’re neighbors? That’s cool! I’m Floyd.”
“...Jamil...”
He wasn’t sure what else to say, after all, this was the man – boy? – who had almost uncovered his secret, the one person whose memories Jamil apparently couldn’t alter. And this was the guy who now lived in closest proximity to him? The one who could disturb him any time, witness any more of the things Jamil sought to hide?
Great, so from now on using the elevator was out of the question.
It wasn’t only the elevator though.
Floyd noticed all kinds of things from Jamil’s missing shadow to the pointy canines that were only visible when he really smiled or laughed and he still wasn’t exactly sure how Floyd had found out about those, because he usually didn’t show them to people unless he was about to bite them.
Still, what was the most irritating was that the other didn’t even question what he saw.
There was no way that someone witnessed all these weird things and just ignored them, but somehow Floyd did exactly that, didn’t question anything he saw further than wanting to know how Jamil was making things appear like that.
The truth was...Jamil wasn’t doing anything. It was just a fact that he was a vampire, a fact that he didn’t have a shadow, that he didn’t have a reflection, that he needed blood to continue to exist, that he couldn’t enter any other apartment without being invited. These weren’t just odd quirks, there was nothing he could do about these traits.
There was no way he could tell that to someone.
After all, he was indeed fond of the calm life he had built himself, perfectly disguised as a human, and he wasn’t going to give up on that anytime soon! Especially not because of some random dude who kept pestering him with stupid questions and unfortunately wasn’t one to give up easily.
He had tried to stay away from Floyd, to escape his curious eyes, his questions, had thought that if there was nothing new the other would get bored of him, would stop following him around.
It seemed to almost have the opposite effect, Floyd figuring out his schedule, waiting for him in front of his door, accompanying him all the way down the stairs, sometimes even dropping him off at work and Jamil really didn’t know what to do with this situation. It wasn’t even that he didn’t like Floyd. That guy was surprisingly good company, and in any other context Jamil would have admired his keen eye, his incredible memory, the amount of different areas he was interested in.
With their current situation though he almost had a heart attack every time Floyd started with “oh did ya know” even though his heart had stopped beating years ago, scared that now would be the moment that the other had figured things out, the moment when Jamil would probably have to kill him to keep his secret, because after all his hypnotic powers didn’t work on Floyd.
And then there was the thing with Floyd’s brother and Jamil finally understood just how hopeless the situation was that he had gotten himself into.
He was about to go to work and he did expect to meet Floyd in the hallway. He didn’t, however, expect the other man next to him, looking way too alike. He hadn’t known Floyd had a twin.
“Jade, that’s the cool neighbor I talked about.”
The grin on Floyd’s face seemed innocent but it was hard to believe that it truly was. After all, Jamil didn’t even need his supernatural senses to instantly know that this was a fucking hunter standing next to Floyd and instinctively he made a step back, ready to defend himself if needed.
The twin, Jade, smiled.
It wasn’t exactly a nice smile, quite contrary it seemed rather twisted, as if he found it amusing that Jamil feared for his life.
He should have known, of course he should have known! Floyd was a little absentminded, not dumb; there was no way he hadn’t added up all the little things Jamil hadn’t managed to hide from him – especially if his brother was a hunter!
“I’m glad to finally get to meet you, Jamil. Floyd has told me a lot about you.”
“Yeah...”
Suspiciously Jamil narrowed his eyes, didn’t take the hand that was extended to him. There was no way he was dropping his guard for something like pleasantries. After all, there was not a single shred of hope that Jade didn’t know what he was, which meant that he could attack any time, that he was probably just waiting for Jamil to make a careless mistake.
The smile on the other’s face got a tiny bit wider at his reluctance. This damned hunter was enjoying this way too much!
With a frown Jamil closed the door behind him, made sure that he didn’t take his eyes off the other.
“Anyways, I have to go or else I’ll be late for work. It...was nice meeting you...”
Jade held him back when he had almost passed the twins, his voice sickly sweet.
“Floyd has never been interested in this enough to care about who or what you are. But rest assured that I do. So...get along with him, okay?”
The thinly veiled threat together with Jade’s light chuckle sent shivers down his spine even when he was halfway down the stairs and he almost died again from the shock when Floyd suddenly appeared next to him, casually matching his steps with Jamil’s frantic ones.
“Ehh, are ya scared?”
There was a hint of amusement in his voice and when Jamil looked at him the grin on his face took an almost evil nuance.
“But Jade would never squeeze a cute lil vampire like you – not as long as I’m here.”
The words sounded more like a threat of their own rather than something reassuring.
And at this point Jamil really wasn’t sure anymore who the monster was and who the prey.