Page 2 of Hungry for the Vampire

I saw him in slow motion as I ran past, my eyes wide, my mouth trying to tell him to turn around, that there was danger coming right for us. I recognized him, vaguely, but my brain couldn't put the pieces together in that moment. He was my age, somewhere in his early twenties. Broad shoulders, dark hair that was cut short and buzzed on the sides. A face that seemed serious, full of gravity. And he was dressed like a vampire, with a white shirt and ruffled collar, a dark cape around his shoulders, decorative blood on the side of his mouth with fangs poking down.

I caught a root and flew forward, landing hard on my shoulder. My breath rushed out of me in a whoosh, and all I could do was turn over to get on my back so I wouldn't get eaten with my face in the dirt.

I heard shouting, and it had to be the vampire guy. Did they get him? Fuck, this was my fault. He might have been following me, hoping to find his way to the cabin. Obviously he was going to the party too. I got up on my elbows, struggling to catch my breath, looking forward to see what was happening.

When the dark shape came out from around the tree, I braced myself for the worst. But it wasn't three wolves, or even one. It was him, the vampire, strolling calmly back toward me and reaching a hand down to help me up.

"You're okay?" he asked me.

I just nodded, wheezing, taking his hand and getting to my feet as my breath came back.

"They are gone now," he said simply.

I took him in. Yes, I knew his face. He was in a couple of my classes at college, an international student with a Slavic accent. He stood ten inches over me, and he looked like he lifted cars as a warmup for his workout. His dark eyes looked me over seriously, perhaps checking for wounds, perhaps checking to see if he could bench press me (I assure you, he could).

"You are a pirate," he said.

I couldn't help it. I started laughing. I laughed until I cried, my mind trying to come to balance between being inches from death and being informed by this guy in a vampire costume that I was in a pirate costume.

"Oh, my god," I choked, leaning against a tree. "I'm sorry. I'm—" I sucked in a huge lungful of air. "I'm fine."

I exhaled. "Yeah, I'm going to the costume party at the Pine cabin. Looks like you are too."

"Yes, that's what I was getting at," the vampire said. "I know you, I think?"

"Jared," I said, reaching out a hand. He took it in his strong grip.

"Roman," he told me, squeezing my hand. "You sit near the door in Statistical Thermodynamics."

I nodded. "I recognized you, too. Uh...what happened? With the wolves?"

Roman shook his head. "Foul creatures being foolhardy. I sent them away."

I waited for him to elaborate on that.

"You sent them away," I repeated.

"Yes."

Well. Maybe wherever Roman was from, chasing off a wolf or two was a normal occurrence. Or, possibly, the wolves got one look at him and decided that it was a fight they didn't want. Remember how I said that you'd have no chance fighting off a wolf? I wouldn't; you wouldn't. Roman, he might. Especially with that cape around his shoulders making him look even more intimidating, I found myself actually believing that this guy could scare off a pack of wolves.

"You saved my life, man," I said, finally finding the words I had been looking for. "Thank you."

"I heard trouble, so I came," Roman said with a shrug. "It was no problem."

"It was a problem for me," I told him, lifting up a hand to find that I was still shaking a little. I let out another long breath, trying to rein it back in. "Okay, this party. You're going, right? I got kind of turned around in here."

"It will be better for us to go together," Roman said. "In case you find more wolves."

I couldn't tell if he was joking. I pulled out my phone, which had been without signal this whole time, and was pleased to find I had a single bar. That was all I needed. I opened up the map and got reoriented, thanking my past self for being smart enough to mark the cabin location on here back when I had service.

"Phone's working now," I said, relieved. "We're not too far from the cabin. It's over this way."

"Let's go, then," Roman said. "Ah. Wait."

He bent down and picked something up. My pirate hat. He handed it over to me.

"The pirate needs his hat," he said.