7. THE SHADOWS

7

THE SHADOWS

C harlotte rubbed her tired eyes. She wasn't in the mood for a group meeting, but it was almost over. After the day she'd had, all she wanted was to crawl beneath her sheets and sleep the rest of the night away. The entire weekend if she could. Friday was supposed to be resting and hibernating in her apartment, but she'd forgotten about their group meeting after how long the police took at her apartment.

"Shouldn't take long" my ass.

As much as she wanted to be optimistic about the two deputies coming with her to her apartment, it turned out worse than she suspected. Not only did the lady deputy not believe her, but the other guy muttered comments along the same lines when they didn't find fingerprints or any other physical evidence.

When they left, they informed her they would stop and pick up the security footage, but if they uncovered no leads, there wasn't much they could do .

Noah sat in the chair next to her at Rachel's dining room table. "You know pizza is better with stuff on it, right?"

She looked up from her dissected pizza. "Huh?"

"Did you not like the toppings? Why didn't you speak up when we called in the order?"

"No, it's not that. I'm just thinking." She started layering the pepperonis back on top of the slice in front of her.

"What's up?"

"Just tired. I wanna go to bed."

The meeting ran longer than expected. The only reason for the meeting was to review the final presentation before Monday's class. Monique and Rachel wanted Charlotte and Noah to approve changes they'd made, but when Charlotte pointed out inconsistencies in the data, they spent another two hours sorting the numbers and another thirty minutes for Rachel to rework the PowerPoint. Then Monique sat on the couch and moved everything over to her laptop while they ate dinner.

The job didn't require four people, but Rachel insisted on dinner, and Charlotte didn't want the questions if she left early.

"Why don't you duck out early?" Noah smiled at her, fine lines appearing at the corners of his eyes. "We can finish this up. The hard part is done, and you caught something important."

"What's the matter?" Rachel asked, grabbing another slice of pizza from the open box on the table.

"Charlotte's tired."

Rachel shrugged. "It's eleven. Not surprised with how hot it's been. You get your AC fixed?"

Charlotte grumbled. "No. Maintenance isn't in until the start of the week, and it was functional enough until the weekend."

"My microwave is functional, but it can barely heat a bagel. There's functional and there's working half-assed."

"Yeah, well, nothing I can do about it until Monday."

"Why don't you crash here tonight?"

As nice as it sounded to be in an apartment with decent air conditioning, it wasn't smart to stay with anyone while someone crept around in the shadows of her life. She wouldn't put someone else in danger.

"It's fine. I didn't bring extra clothes, and I need to take care of some things back at the apartment."

"Suit yourself." Rachel shrugged. She left the table and flopped down on the couch next to Monique.

Monique looked up from her laptop. "Once I finish this, I'm getting out of here, too. I had a date with Jayden tonight, but since this went on so long, we had to reschedule." She twisted her lips to the side and gave a brief shake of her head. "Ah well. I'm sure there's something we can do tomorrow."

Noah turned back to Charlotte, nudging her thigh with his. "You gonna get out of here, then?"

"I guess so."

No one seemed bothered by the idea of her leaving early, so at least she wasn't disappointing anyone.

"Want me to walk you to the bus stop?"

"Oh no, I don't want to trouble you."

It wouldn't be a good idea. As much as having someone there to make her feel secure seemed nice, it would be like staying the night at Rachel's apartment—she would put them at risk. Still, the police told her to not do the same things she always did. It upset her stomach to go back-and-forth in her head about it.

He stood and picked up her backpack. "Come on, it's not any trouble. It's hot, you're tired. I don't want you to pass out and hurt yourself. At least let me walk you down to the street. If you fell down the stairs, I'd feel like shit."

The humidity index reached a record high today, but she never passed out before. Still, she didn't want to argue when he only wanted to help.

"Fine. To the street."

He would be able to see her get to the bus stop if she walked fast enough.

Noah's eyes squinted with the wide smile that overtook his face. "Awesome. Come on, let's go." He looked at Rachel and Monique. "I'm gonna walk her downstairs. I'll be back. Don't eat my pizza." He gave Rachel a pointed look.

She held up her hands. "I don't want your pizza."

The muggy night air made breathing uncomfortable, and Charlotte already felt her curls sticking to her neck as Noah led her down to street level.

Once they reached the sidewalk, he turned to her. "I was gonna ask you about going out to dinner tonight, but I didn't expect the project to need revising. I don't know why the hell those two changed things." He looked back toward Rachel's apartment. "It was fine as is."

"I thought so too, but they meant well." She shrugged. "Besides, the new additions will go a long way in improving the presentation. I mean, now that the data is right."

Noah turned to her. "Yeah, well, it's done now." He pulled his T-shirt away from his stomach and fluttered it a few times, fanning himself. "Damn, it's hot out here. You sure you're good to wait for the bus?"

"Yeah. I mean, aren't you gonna do the same?"

"Nah. My roommate is picking me up in half an hour. We have some stuff to take care of before going home. "

"At almost midnight?"

His shoulders lifted in a light shrug. "No rest for the wicked." His easy-going smile made her roll her eyes.

"How cliché."

"I'll have you know, we know how to show out when we want to. Super wicked. The baddest."

She scoff-laughed, her hand pushing his arm. "You're so weird."

The laughter died in her throat when he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her in, stepping closer until they were almost touching. She looked up at him, her mouth parting to ask him what he was doing, but he cut her off by reaching up and running his fingers over her cheek with gentle strokes. She hoped he didn't hear her swallow; it sounded so loud to her ears.

Before she could process the move, his head lowered, tilting as he closed the distance between them. When his lips touched hers, her body went rigid.

He lifted his head, a frown marring his brows. "Charlotte?"

When his grip on her wrist fell away, she stepped back. Clearing her throat and shaking her head, a shaky laugh slipped past her lips.

"Hey…" Noah stepped forward.

She put both hands up, resting them on his ribs, and looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I don't think—"

"Hey, no." He stepped back, allowing her hands to fall, and scratched the dark scruff on his jawline. "It was stupid of me to assume you were interested like that."

"It's not that. I just don't know what my plans are." She scratched at her palm in front of her, looking down at her feet. "I need to focus on my schooling. Until I get any of that sorted, I can't even think about this"—she motioned between them—"kind of thing."

She looked up, expecting disappointment, maybe anger. Not the gentle understanding she saw in the way his eyes crinkled with his smile.

"Look, I like you, Charlotte. But I get it." He reached out and lifted her arm, his hand trailing down until he clasped her hand in his. "This doesn't have to be anything more than what it's been. Your schooling is more important. I'm not going anywhere, okay?" His hand squeezed hers. "And if you decide to never see where it can go between us? No worries. I'll still be your friend. It doesn't have to be anything."

In her experience, boys didn't act this way. Men didn't either. Entire forums existed on the internet that put men on blast for acting entitled to a woman's time and vice versa. People seldom responded well to the friend zone.

She looked down at their joined hands. "How are you okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Her lips twisted to the side. "Just the way it usually goes."

Maybe her experience made her jaded. Former classmates from high school often got angry when she dismissed their advances. They accused her of leading them on when she hadn't. She never wanted to hurt anyone. She only wanted friends.

"Yeah, my roommate's little brother got into hot water for not taking no for an answer last year."

Her eyes rounded. "He didn't…"

"Oh, shit, no. No. He didn't, like, assault the girl or anything. Jesus." He cleared his throat. "My roommate Jonathan told me his brother spent months harping on it and spamming the poor girl through texts after she told him she wasn't interested. She wanted to be friends, but he wouldn't let up trying to get her to agree to more. Eventually she ghosted him, and her dad paid his parents a visit when he saw her phone."

"That's… something else."

Noah chuckled. "Yeah, but Jonathan's been working on him. He's only thirteen, so he can still learn. The girl forgave him when he apologized, but she still wanted nothing to do with him. I don't blame her. I saw some of the texts." He whistled low. "Her dad basically forbids them from communicating at all now. Anyway, I'm not so hard up for sex that I can't be friends with a woman."

"I would hope not." She picked her backpack up from the sidewalk, where Noah set it before kissing her.

"Listen, just forget that happened. I promise it's not a big deal."

Somehow, that disappointed her. While she didn't have time to invest in a relationship, to have him water down what happened as insignificant felt bad. Made her feel cheap, like sharing a kiss with her meant nothing.

It's college, Charlotte. You're nineteen. This is how it works.

She never liked the "pep talks" her mind gave her. College life or not, she wanted something meaningful, if she had anything at all. That Noah could blow off what happened showed her he wasn't right for her. Sure, he showed respect, but he didn't have to downplay it. Full of yourself, much?

No. Plenty of girls wanted relationships with substance and depth. Probably the same amount of girls who would rather have a quick hookup to scratch the itch. There was nothing wrong with either; she just fell into the former category.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up at him. "Nothing. Why?"

"You look mad. Did I do something?"

"Nope. Just tired." And a little off-kilter from the kiss. "I think I'm gonna get going before I miss the bus. "

Noah tucked his hands in his jean pockets. "If you get to feeling sick later, text me. You can come over to our place or we can take you back to Rachel's."

"Sure."

"I'm serious. Promise you'll let me know?"

"Yes, Dad ."

He snorted. "I never thought I'd hear you call me daddy."

"Oh, gross. I will never—no."

"Did you just kink shame me?"

She balked, spluttering at his serious expression. "No, I—"

He threw his head back, laughing loudly.

"Oh, you ass." She shoved him and he stumbled, putting his hands on his knees as he continued to laugh until she couldn't help but join him.

"That's more like it. I'm glad to see you perk up a little. Go on and get going. I'll have my phone on me if you need me."

Pulling her cell phone out of the front pocket of her backpack, she held it up in acknowledgment. Hitching her backpack on her back again, she turned, heading toward the bus stop, hoping to get there before Noah went inside. She didn't want to ask him to wait to avoid unnecessary questions, but she wouldn't miss the opportunity to have someone watching whom she knew.

She hummed to herself as she approached the intersection near the bus stop. Before she crossed the intersection, a low distressed sound caught her attention. She turned and saw a small cat limping and yowling as if in pain.

Stuffing the phone in her back pocket, she detoured in the cat's direction, following the illuminated sidewalk to where the cat circled a light post.

When she got close, she said in a soothing voice, "Hey sweetie, are you okay?"

The cat hissed and darted into the alley beside the apartment building she passed.

She put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Not that injured if you can run away like that."

Turning toward the intersection, she began the trek back the way she came. Before she even made it a few feet, the hairs on the back of her neck rose like a sixth sense alerting her to danger. The same feeling that always came when she knew someone was following her.

Her sandals' steady rhythm faltered on the sidewalk. She could see the intersection but had moved far away in her pursuit of the cat.

Not now…

She kept her eyes focused ahead of her, trying not to give any outward appearance of awareness to whoever followed her.

In hopes of throwing them off her trail, she crossed the street and turned down a small side alley that would circle back around above the bus stop.

She breathed out in relief when she saw a couple ahead making out against the wall. No one would attack her with witnesses around. Right?

Keeping her eyes averted, she approached, preparing to pass the couple without impeding their privacy, but the clear sound of pain instead of pleasure made her stop short.

Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the alley lit by the dim glow of street lamps from the main road, so she could make out the figures against the wall.

A man with a shock of red hair had his head tucked close to the neck of his partner. They weren't kissing. The other guy's head rested against the bricks, his face visible and contorted into a grimace.

A wet, popping sound reached her ears as the young man against the wall cried out. The sound turned her stomach. Those weren't cries of pleasure. His partner was hurting him. How?

Cold tendrils of fear unfurled in her belly when her eyes connected with the man in pain. His lips moved, but she didn't hear.

Again, he tried, and a broken plea reached her ears. "R-run… go…" He squeezed his eyes tightly as he gnashed his teeth and groaned in discomfort.

At his words, the red haired man hunched over him lifted and turned his head to look at her.

She choked on the scream lodged in her throat.

Eyes glowing blue like a glacial cave stared back at her in the dim light. Blood dripped from his lips and chin. Blood belonging to the young man who remained motionless against the brick wall, supported only by the hood on his jacket, and the grip of the other man.

When the man's lips peeled back in a sneer, she saw the sharpest canines she'd ever seen. Longer than the rest of his teeth, they grazed his lower lip. They, too, were coated in blood.

When a low rumble echoed in the alley, she started. The growl coming from the man was enough to shake her from her silent, but stunned, perusal of his features and make her turn and run in the opposite direction, darting down another alley to throw the red haired man off her trail.

What in the hell had she witnessed?

That wasn't a trick of the lighting. There wasn't any blue lighting around. His eyes glowed.

And the blood.

So much blood coated his face.

The other man had to be dead by now. His last words had been a plea for her safety, not his own .

Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision as she stumbled on the sidewalk, her foot slipping on the edge of her sandal in her frantic attempt to get back to a busy street and the bus stop before it was too late.

It was the weekend in a college town. The main streets were always filled with bar hoppers. She only needed to reach them or the bus stop.

Dragging her arm across her eyes, she wiped the tears away. She couldn't mourn the young man right now. She needed to ensure she didn't meet the same fate.

What fate would that be?

What was that?

Long, sharp fangs flashed through her mind.

It couldn't be real.

Vampires weren't real.

How else could she explain what she witnessed?

She rounded another corner and heard the hydraulics of a bus. She wanted to sob in relief.

She didn't dare look back. Someone was trailing her. If not her shadow, then the nightmare that lurked in the real shadows.

As she turned the last corner, the bus approached the stop, not slowing because no one was waiting.

"Stop!"

She picked up her pace as she ran down the sidewalk, waving her arm in a frantic effort to get the driver's attention. A group of girls in the back saw her and a couple of them stood. They called out to the driver.

When the bus slowed and came to a stop, her knees almost buckled, but she wasn't safe yet. The doors opened and she climbed aboard, panting and pulling her student ID from her pocket, holding it out with a trembling hand.

"Almost missed me, hon."

She gave a weak smile and made her way to the middle of the bus, looking over her shoulder at the girls toward the back dressed for a night on the town. She lifted a hand in thanks before turning back and putting her head against the window, not giving them the chance to engage her in conversation.

If she tried to talk to someone right now, she would become a hysterical mess.

Holding her cell phone in front of her, she looked at the screen.

Last night she told Aiden she would stick it out, but tonight not only tipped her over the edge—it picked her up and tossed her over it.

She needed to sit down with her mothers and discuss her career path. If she didn't return to Athens, she didn't have to face the man who tormented her day and night. The man who told her leaving changed nothing. Of course nothing changed if she returned. But if she didn't? Everything would go back to normal in her world.

She didn't even want to think about what she witnessed in the alley.

Vampires? Real?

She peered out the window as the bus stopped at a red light, certain she would see glowing blue eyes staring back at her. The relief nothing was waiting there loosened the vice in her chest.

People believed stranger things existed in the world. Was it so far out of the realm of possibility? Not if the things she grew up learning and studying with her mothers held any weight.

Her mothers always expressed a fascination with the strange and eclectic, and she followed in their footsteps.

At an early age, she developed an interest in the occult and the existence of unexplainable beings in the world. The internet had a plethora of information for her to soak in.

While her ma seemed more drawn to Western horoscopes, crystals, and the like, her mom gravitated to things like moon phases, celestial bodies, and other ancient beliefs.

She shook her head.

She put little stock into most of it but found the subjects interesting. She especially enjoyed the New Age, celestial, and witchy aesthetics. Over time, she became a fan of the unknown, darker, and unexplained side of life.

Now, coming face to face with a being in direct alignment with the things that fascinated her, she was uncertain and confused. The idea of the existence of vampires sounded amazing, but the reality horrified her. Beings designed to kill. Indiscriminately taking a human life in a dark alleyway.

No amount of study could have prepared her for the reality.

The young guy— victim —was someone's son, might have been a brother or even a young father.

She swallowed hard. She couldn't tell her parents what she saw.

The monster she observed looked nothing like the romanticized creatures the internet and media made them out to be.

Even if they could be like humans, they were all killers. Not just a few bad seeds like humans. Vampires needed to kill to live. There was no possibility of redemption there.

If what she saw was real.

Surely it had to be a fever dream brought on by the heat. Her real body was in her bed having a nightmare. She needed to wake up and get water to cool off.

She pinched herself in an attempt to force herself awake but sighed when nothing changed around her. She didn't wake up in a cold sweat. No, she remained on a bus where streetlights filtered orange light through the windows as the bus made its way through her college town.

Delusional? No.

Medication side effects? Maybe.

Overactive imagination because of my interests? Not out of the realm of possibility.

Heatstroke? Highly likely.

Her mind whirled with possible reasons to explain what she saw, ignoring the obvious need to accept reality.

She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to block out the mental image of the look of pain on the young guy's face from the alley.

Why didn't he ask for help?

Not that she could have done much, but usually someone cried for help when attacked, not thought of the other person's safety.

She would have called out for help.

Her mind kept trying to rationalize what happened and find a logical explanation.

One thing she knew for certain: if she found herself face to face with one again, she wouldn't stop and stare. She wouldn't hesitate to run.

It was one thing to read about it, but discovering the truth was a whole different ballgame.

In the shadows, far more sinister things lurked than creepy stalkers. Vampires existed, and tonight, they snuffed out an innocent life without restraint.