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Walking into Casagranda’s Tavern never failed to soothe Felix’s mind in a way few public spaces could when the dulcet sounds of undiscovered artists paying their dues and singing their hearts out were practically guaranteed every time he came to this dimly-lit bar on Saturday nights.
Liberally decorated with orange and teal painted roses and tawdry tassels covering every inch of the scuffed furniture and scarcely populated by patrons (or at least ones willing to stay for more than a pre-game drink before heading to flashier pastures in the heart of Enbarr), the place could be charitably described as past its prime at best and a dive bar ready to shutter at worst.
And that was precisely what a vampire like Felix appreciated about it the most.
He loved live music but the sound of hundreds upon thousands of human heartbeats in one place overwhelmed him ever since he was turned into a blood-sucking monster as an adult.
State of the art earplugs couldn’t dull the tantalizing thumping tempting him to commit acts against his moral compass. Neither did consuming pre-concert hospital blood bags for that matter. Scoring expensive box seats did make it manageable but alas, cost was a barrier and corporate invitations were scarce when office jobs and network connections were virtually non-existent for creatures like him who could only work nights.
So needless to say, visiting bars who used live music as a siren song to lure customers in was a far less painful way to get his musical fix.
Well, aside from one constant Felix knew to be true.
Nothing good ever lasted forever.
Struggling bars shuttered, sales tactics changed, and undiscovered artists always moved on.
Felix always lost what he loved. So much so that he became acclimated to letting go with one sole exception.
And, coincidentally enough, as he settled in for the night by sitting at the closest table to the miniature stage in the corner with the same lager he got every week, he spotted his exception tuning her acoustic guitar.
Annette Fantine Dominic.
The only person on this planet who hadn’t cast him aside when he’d turned all those years ago.
The only person in this bar he couldn’t sense the heartbeat of, even as she sent her guitar pick flying into his beer as she waved at him with a demure smile that sent his own heartbeat into the stratosphere.
Shit.
Felix had hoped he’d hallucinated that particular observation during the first set she’d performed post-accident. But picking up on her lack of traceable heartbeat in two separate occurrences was damning. He couldn’t sense those that belonged to paranormal beings he had no appetite for. Thinking on it, this likely meant her self-proclaimed car accident that derailed her big break wasn’t likely an accident but rather an incident. One where she was turned inhuman.
But what could she have turned into that would be bad enough to hide from someone she’s known forever?
From the villain who arguably posed a greater threat to her very existence by selfishly seeking her out wherever he could?
The conundrum made him morbidly curious.
As she set her guitar down against the brick wall and walked over to his table, Felix couldn’t help but take in her figure to search for clues. Her short white frilly dress had thin straps, showcasing her creamy column of her puncture-free neck; a far cry from how he always dressed in turtlenecks in public to avoid drawing attention to the wound he had. While he didn’t think she was a vampire like he was, her closed-lip smile gave him pause. Was she self-conscious about her mouth somehow or was that coincidence?
There was only one way to find out.
Fishing the pick from the depths of his lager, he wedged it between his middle and pointer fingers like a playing deck card.
“Please tell me this isn’t your only guitar pick,” he dryly teased.
“I won’t tell you then,” she cutely replied, opting to cup her hands right in front of her face like she was collecting a tithe.
Felix did not drop his expected donation, however.
Instead, he stretched his arms backward to use the pick like a bartering chip.
“I’ll give this to you if you let me walk you to your car after your set,” he told her. “Deal?”
Annette lowered her cupped hands just enough to carelessly reveal a toothier than normal smile warming his ice-cold insides when it should have sent a chill down his spine.
She let out a theatrical sigh. “Okay, okay, you have a deal, Mr. Paranoid.”
As Felix made good on his word by dropping the pick into her hands, he couldn’t help but let a bittersweet smile settle into his expression.
I’ll find a way to help her once I know more about what happened, he decided right then and there.
As much as he benefited from her dreams being dashed, Felix knew with certainty that Annette was destined for bigger and better things. Even if the cost was never seeing her play in front of him like this ever again.
So as she took to the stage and began to play for her audience consisting of him, the bartender, and a scattering of customers criminally more invested in their personal conversations, he made sure to take in every note, every strum, and every word like he was a starving man eating his last meal.
Once Annette finished the last song of her encore, Felix accepted the death of everything he knew.
🎶🎵🎶
Once Annette finished the last song of her encore, she accepted the death of everything she thought she knew.
After enduring the worst two months of her life, walking side by side with Felix in the meandering streets of downtown Enbarr in the twilight felt like hope, not consolation.
The attack may have robbed her of normalcy between the hospital stays and overwhelming grief of burying dreams, but it also granted her new perspectives on a lot of things. Things she could have never understood before getting turned and acclimating to her new normal.
For starters, she gained an appreciation for what Felix did over what he didn’t as a supernatural being with far more limitations than she had. While she felt like a massive burden despite only being affected once a month as a newly-turned werewolf, he had the waking hours to contend with every day and then some.
She was truly in awe. Not that she was ready to tell him such just yet. Someday she’d burden him with the information. But not tonight. Tonight would only be for celebrating little victories. Happy things.
“Annette, I want to help,” Felix declared out of the blue, stopping her in her tracks well before he stepped in front of her. “Listen, it may sound strange but, I can sense you were turned into a supernatural being. I don’t know which kind.”
Oh, fiddlesticks. It looked like they were having this conversation now.
She should have known he could have picked up on something, no matter how hard she tried to shield this from him. The man could always tell when her blood sugar was low like clockwork, so why would something like this be any different?
“Felix, what is it you’re exactly offering to help with?” she asked, too tired to bother putting up any resistance. “As much as I appreciate you for offering, I don’t think you can stop me from turning into an awful beastie every full moon.”
He tilted his head. “Werewolf?”
“Yes, werewolf,” she confirmed, her gaze faltering further by the word. “The kind of beastie no one likes. The kind labels drop because they’re too risky to take on tour.”
“Last I checked, no one likes vampires either,” Felix dryly replied. “Other than you, that is.”
Annette let out a bitter chuckle. Oh, he was so close and yet so far. She liked a vampire, alright. Singular, not plural. But she suspected that didn’t quite count when she started liking him before he turned.
“Maybe,” she non-commitally answered with a shrug. “But it still doesn’t help that the music industry is not built for paranormal performers. Even if I had days off on full moons, I can’t control my mind and strength when I shift. Labels don’t want to pay damages for trashed hotel rooms or buses. It would be one thing if I was trying to be a rebellious rockstar, but it’s a PR disaster waiting to happen for a cutesy pop singer like me to have a bad reputation.”
“That’s the part I want to help with, actually,” he replied. “I can’t play the villain bandmate to shield you from a bad reputation but I do have the strength to keep you in check on full moons. You shouldn’t have to give up your dreams because of something you literally cannot control.”
Annette eyed him curiously, her earlier thoughts about limitations coming to mind and taking new life.
She always assumed he supported her within his capacity because he was a live music lover denied the ability to go to most shows since he didn’t want to hurt anyone but… now she wasn’t quite sure that was the only reason. Even if she could argue that he was undoubtedly her number one fan, why offer something so dangerous that wouldn’t truly benefit him?
If it went well, Felix would never see her perform at the bars he could visit ever again. And if it went poorly, well… that would be really bad too. Truth be told, it felt very much like a ‘if you love her let her go’ scenario from her favorite tear-jerker movies if she didn’t know any better.
Then her earlier thought about limitations slapped her in the face once more.
She’d called herself a burden and yet never paused to wonder if he felt the same way about himself, choosing pure awe instead. Because if that was the case, it could explain a lot of things — especially why she had enough faith to keep waiting for something that never happened.
But as tempting as it was to theorize and continue to wait for evidence, they were a block away from her car and safe is what led them here before this nighttime stroll. And if Felix could risk discomfort and prod her into difficult conversations, so could she.
“I say this with all the love in the world but, I don’t want your help if you’re trying to use your offer as a workaround for what you actually want.” she told him, making a point to look him square in his piercing amber-red eyes. “So be honest. Is this what you truly want?”
To his credit, although his nostrils flared at the question, he didn’t break eye contact like she thought he would. But he also didn’t answer the question right away either.
“I’m not allowed to want. Selfish vampiric wants and desires only harm others,” he eventually argued in a low voice. “Your dream is more important.”
“Felix, my dream has you in it,” she confessed as she reached out for his hands to hold them in hers, refreshingly cool to the touch in a way that sent shocks down her body. “I want you to be by my side but not as my glorified babysitter. And I know, it’s hard not to feel like a huge burden dragging everyone down with all the curveballs paranormal life throws at you, but, but believe me when I say that I don’t care if we have to find our own way to get the things we both want. I would feel more burdened if I couldn’t share my life with you.”
Felix’s eyes widened, his hands grew clammy, and his mouth turned slack jawed enough to see the tips of the fangs he was usually so good at concealing.
“How…long have you felt this way?”
“Since before either of us were turned,” Annette admitted, giving his hands another reassuring squeeze. “I hope that’s a good thing.”
“It is,” he thickly admitted. “I’ve…felt the same way since the moment I met you. Before I could name the feeling, even.”
Underneath the twinkle of the stars above, the air between them calmed as a soothing lull washed over them until Felix was brave enough to break the silence once more.
“…Annette?”
“Yes, Felix?” she replied, flashing him a soft smile.
“Would it be alright if I embraced you?” he asked, his gaze momentarily flitting to their joined hands. “This…is making me realize just how long it’s been since I’ve felt another’s touch.”
With a simple nod, Annette let go of his hands and raised them just enough for Felix to wrap his arms around her in the perfect sort of tender embrace to convey all the longing and yearning he must have felt for all those years as his fingers desperately found purchase around every curve, gently pressing into her skin with enough delicious pressure to truly feel alive.
When it was all said and done, the embrace was more than alright in Annette’s books.
It was the perfect start to their new beginning.
Together.