As one of the longest, most grueling math lessons I’ve ever had ends, I pull out my lunchbox and begin digging into Mum’s stir-fried noodles. Her vegetarian option is still heavenly, but I’m just crestfallen I’ll never taste the old meat variants ever again.

“That smells nice,” Dennis mentions from beside me.

“You want some?”

He shakes his head. “Nah, I’m fine.”

We both look towards the far side of the classroom, where a large number of people have gathered around Alice. I wonder which ‘group’ she’s going to get conscripted to.

“I heard she’s your cousin,” he says, opening his own lunchbox.

I grunt in reply. “Hm.”

“She’s… quite beautiful.”

I stop eating slowly and look up. “What the-“

Eyes widening, he shakes his head. “No, I’m not interested in her. But I can still acknowledge her beauty.”

“Well… I guess she’s pretty.”

The sound of eating next to me slowly stops. Curious, I look up to see what the problem is. Dennis is staring at me with a curious look.

“Bran… could it be that you’re gay?”

I almost spit my noodles out. “Wh-What?”

“I mean, I almost never hear you talking about girls, and you seem to have no interest in them whatsoever… even when people like Ashley throw themselves at you.”

It’s not like that... I just don’t have the time, nor do I want anyone to be hurt because of my line of work.

“Dude, I’m straighter than a one-hundred and eighty degree line.”

Dennis raises an eyebrow. “I thought you were good at math. Anything over one eighty degrees isn’t straight.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

He resumes eating, making sure to cover his mouth when he speaks. “So who do you think is good looking then?”

Oh man… how did I get myself into this situation…?

“Judith,” I say. “She’s always complaining about all the boys that ask her out. I guess her good looks must run in the family.”

“She doesn’t count,” Dennis shoots me down. “I’m talking sexual attraction. Who do your loins burn for?”

There’s an intense look in his eyes, completely different to his usual self. I think it’s topics like these that he really gets triggered on.

But seriously… what kind of questions are these?

“Alice,” I decide with a safe option. After all, it’s pretty much a given that everyone finds her attractive, myself included. I just have good self-control.

“Bran… are you telling me you lust for your cousin?”

Oh shit. I completely forgot she was supposed to be related to me.

“Um… never mind. Well uh…”

Come on… pick a girl, any girl…

“Leo’s sister,” I say. “She’s definitely cute.”

I’m not lying, either. She’s got that girl-next-door feel, and if I’m completely honest with myself I don’t exactly dislike it when she interacts with me. My common sense just usually gets the better of me – the common sense which went flying out the window the moment Dennis brought up loins.

“Ashley?” he asks.

I nod. “Leo doesn’t have any other sisters, does he?”

Dennis shakes his head. “No, I wasn’t talking to you.”

A feeling of dread settles over me as I follow his gaze behind my shoulder.

“A-Ashley!?”

She has her lunchbox in her hands, and her mouth is open in surprise. “S-sorry… I didn’t mean to overhear…”

How did I not hear her approaching? Damn it, Dennis…

She closes her mouth and takes a few uncertain steps backwards, looking at the ground. A red blush creeps across her face. I haven’t ever seen her this shy or embarrassed.

If word of this reaches Leo…

“Don’t worry about it,” Dennis says, giving a reassuring smile. “My friend and I were just having a bit of a heart to heart. What can we do for you today?”

This idiot… Acting as if nothing happened…

“I… I was just going to ask if I could eat with you guys.”

Dennis gives a firm, understanding nod. “I get you.”

Standing up, he’s about to bravely sacrifice himself when the sound of a chair scraping loudly across the ground stops him. Everyone instinctively turns to the corner of the room, where Alice has stood up and is excusing herself from her admirers. The classroom is dead quiet as she approaches me, stopping next to Ashley.

“Come on, Bran,” she says. “There’s something we need to discuss before lunch ends.”

Could this situation have gotten any worse?

She grabs onto my hand and pulls. I almost go tumbling onto the ground, but another hand stops me.

“Hey, I asked first,” Ashley says, all traces of her bashfulness gone.

No… no, no, no, no, no… I’ve maintained a low profile for so long and now this happens…

“Don’t worry about it,” she reassures. “It’s just family business. I have no intention of taking him away from you.”

Dennis is watching on with amusement. That bastard… it’s all his fault!

Alice’s vampiric strength feels like it could tear my arm off at any moment… but Ashley is no weakling either, being the karate team’s ace. I’m sure many guys would dream of being in this situation… but for me, it’s more troublesome than not.

“I’m his cousin,” Alice says again.

No you’re not.

Ashley finally succumbs and lets go. Like a rubber band, I go flying forward before Alice stabilizes me. Dennis winks at me and gives a salute before I’m dragged out of the eerily quiet classroom.

***

“What’s wrong with you?” I groan at Alice as she drags me up to the rooftop. A strong wind blows at me, almost knocking me off my feet.

“Hm? I was just boosting your popularity by letting you ride on mine.”

“That’s not the problem - and besides, it’s better to blend in than be infamous!”

“Are you dating that girl? She seems awfully into you.”

I’m about to respond when I realize that Alice’s eyes are boring uncomfortably into me. She seems abnormally… pressing.

“I’m not.”

Alice suddenly realizes she’s still holding my arm and lets go. She turns around and presses herself against the wire fence, looking out across the school grounds. A long moment passes, only disrupted by the wind as it sails past us.

“You’re right,” she finally says. “I was a bit short tempered after all those people started crowding around me.”

It seems like she’s calmed down.

“I didn’t want to be impolite,” she continues. “But they just wouldn’t stop. In the end, I decided that prioritizing our mission was more important than maintaining good relations. Those people don’t really want to be my friend anyway, they just want me as a status symbol for their group.”

…Can’t argue with that. I would have handled the same situation a lot worse.

“So… before lunch ends on us, what’s the plan?”

Alice steps away from the fence and sits down on a bench, gesturing me for me to follow suit.

“Right. So, first off, we know that the feral vampire is active every night,” she begins, all business.

“Yep.”

“All the people it’s attacked have been in places close to the woods, so I think it would be safe to assume that the vampire’s lair is somewhere in the wild.”

She whips out her phone and brings up a map. The woods she’s talking about are quite small, right on the edge of the city. They stretch on for a few kilometres before the next settlement – Ashbrook is just about the last main urban area before it starts diving into rural territory.

“We met at that park there, didn’t we?” I ask, pointing to a spot near the edge of the woods.

Alice nods in agreement. “We’ll patrol starting from that area, and split up in opposite directions.”

“Isn’t it dangerous to split up? The last time it almost killed us both, and we were together…”

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take. We’ll put each other’s numbers on speed dial and the moment we catch sight of it, ring the other person to let them know. We don’t want to shout or alert any people, otherwise things will get messy.”

“Alright then. So, what time?”

“I think eleven is when all the traffic starts to die down, especially since it’s a weekday too.”

“Eleven at the park, got it.”

For some reason I can’t help but feel like we’re going on a date.

Dad, Mum, what was your first date like?

Well son, it all begun one frosty winter night, when we decided to team up to kill a vampire…

I shake my head to clear these thoughts.

“Something the matter?” she asks.

“Huh? Uh, just a little nervous, that’s all. I mean, I almost died last time we fought that thing.”

“It’ll be fine. This time, you’ll be ready… and as a vampire, you should be more than a match for it.”

We sit on the rooftop for a while longer, before the bell rings to signal the start of classes again.

***

For once tonight, it’s not snowing.

The day passed as usual for me, except I wasn’t able to get much sleep. Every time I think about fighting that monster my blood starts to rush and I can’t relax. I’ve never felt such an intense desire to kill anything before, not since my first encounter with the things known as demons.

Even though it’s not snowing the ground is still covered in white from earlier in the afternoon. I wrap my scarf more snugly around my neck and pull the zipper to my jacket up to the very top, more out of habit than anything else. To be honest, I could walk around naked without feeling anything.

I gently remove my contact lenses and place them in my pocket. With the thin layer of plastic gone from my eyes, I feel slightly unburdened.

“Good to see you again,” Shizuka says. “I was worried about you for a bit.”

“Please, I’m fine.”

“The demon hasn’t killed anyone at all over the weekend, its last victim being at the park. The only reason I can think of is that people were out later at night than usual, and thus harder to isolate. Either that or it just wasn’t hungry.”

“Makes sense.”

“In any case, this only means it’ll be even more likely to appear tonight. Be careful, no matter what happens.”

I deliberately haven’t told her that the demon technically killed me already.

“I will,” I say. “I’m honoured that you care so much for your subordinates.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, it’d just be a pain if you died - that’s all.”

“Sure, sure,” I nod. “You should be more honest with yourself, Shizuka. Guys like honest women.”

“Just get out of here already,” she growls, flicking a cigarette butt at me.

I grin in spite of myself at the meeting earlier this afternoon. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I kill that fiend and take its bounty – a feat worthy of the woman herself.

Alice is already at the park by the time I arrive. She sits on the swing, looking out passively into the distance. Even though I was prepared, I still can’t help but have my breath taken away from me when I see her. She really is something completely different at night.

Does it really matter that she’s not a human?

“How long are you going to stand there for?”

She tilts her head and her eyes meet mine. I immediately look away before trudging across the snow to her.

“Are you cold?” I ask stupidly. Her frock is more something that you would wear in summer, not winter. I take note of the crude stitches around the waist, where it was torn open by the vampire’s attack.

“No.”

“Maybe you should wear something just in case. We wouldn’t want to look too out of place in case we happen across anyone.”

She seems to think for a moment before nodding. I unzip my jacket and pass it to her.

“We’ll meet back here in half an hour,” she says, wrapping it around herself. “If either of our phones ring, we head immediately to the other person’s patrol route even if they don’t say anything.”

I nod and watch her leave, trudging away in her sandals. Before long, I’m alone in the park. Letting out a deep foggy breath, I turn in the opposite direction and head off.

No matter how many times I wander Ashbrook at night, I’m always surprised at how quiet it is. It’s hard to imagine that somewhere in this tranquil, sleepy city there’s a beast running amok. The place has a rather good reputation as far as crime and homelessness is concerned, so that may be part of the reason why.

At some point during my patrol, I begin to catch scent of something in the air. It’s faint, but the unmistakable smell of blood. I can already tell from its potency that it’s O type. I put my hand into my pocket where my phone is, but hesitate.

I could be mistaken. I should confirm first.

Following the trail takes me up to the far end of the city, near the river. The smell is growing stronger – the only way it could be so strong is if the blood were directly exposed to the air. Breaking into a light jog, I head up along the road until I reach the riverside path. The murky waters slosh gently along the edge of the concrete canal. The smell of blood is sickeningly sweet, and it’s all I can do to resist succumbing to my instincts.

I climb the slope, finally reaching the beginning of the bridge. It’s a place that holds memories for me, and a place I’ve avoided coming to for a long time. I immediately press the speed dial button for Alice’s number, but forget about her as soon as I see what awaits me.

There is a man lying dead against the railing, his face deathly pale and devoid of blood. His chest has been opened quickly and efficiently, not a trace of clumsiness to be seen. There is no red around him, just a small stain about his wound. The feral vampire stands over its victim - a long, thin being akin to a wraith come to claim its prize.

“Hello? Bran?” Alice’s voice goes unanswered.

The dead man, the demon, the bridge…

It’s almost an exact repeat of that day.