"Please Soph!" he urged when she hesitated and he glanced over his shoulder as the shrieking became louder. Was there more than one?

"What is going on?" she demanded. Before he could respond, a blurred shape flew out of the fire exit and slammed into the wall opposite. For a moment it was still enough that Soph could see a woman's face framed in lank, black hair. A feral snarl twisted her expression and her eyes were blood red.

A second thing flew out of the fire exit to join the first, and Eli turned to face them, his back pressed against the invisible barrier across the doorway. Both of them - Soph could only assume that they were vampires - turned their gazes as one to look at Eli. The one with black hair stalked forward a few steps and growled.

"Fuck!" Soph gasped. "Get inside!"

The invisible barrier vanished and Eli fell back through the doorway and into the apartment. The two vampires flashed forward with an ungodly shriek. Both Soph and Eli tumbled to the floor as he staggered into her. Soph swore again as the two vampires hit the ward of the doorway that Eli had just come through. They both screamed, their fingernails scrabbling horribly against the doorframe, then Eli kicked the door closed.

It didn't completely shut out the noise of the shrieking outside, but it muted it enough that Soph noted Eli's ragged breathing. Her heart hammered.

"What the fuck was that?" she demanded. Eli was on his feet in a flash, leaving Soph to scramble up after him.

"Predators," he said, not being very helpful at all.

"Predators? What's that? Some other vampire power?" she ran shaking fingers through her hair, eyes darting between Eli and the entrance. Outside, the Predators continued to scrabble at the door, trying to get in. Eli hesitated, then nodded in response to her question.

"And you led them here?" she exclaimed, throwing her hands wide. "Why would you lead them here?" a thought occurred to her, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you here, Eli?"

"I'm sorry," his apology seemed genuine. "I was cornered and couldn't get back to my place. You're the only person I know in the area."

His story had so many holes it was like a slice of swiss cheese. She backed towards the armchair and reached over it, pulling a crystal from her handbag. She transferred her own energy into it, making it flare hot with the warding spell it still held.

It wasn't ideal for a witch to use her own energy to power a crystal - it could leave her weak when she needed to be strong - but it was instantaneous and didn't require the chanting and time it took to summon energy from the Ethereal.

As the power of the ward bloomed from her hand, Eli cringed away, his back hitting the door that still had the two vampires trying to get through from the other side.

"Tell me the truth," she warned. "Why are they chasing you?"

"I'm a vampire," he gasped, eyes closed and chest heaving. Sweat beaded on his forehead. "I have enemies."

"And why here? And don't give me that 'you're the only person I know' crap. You're a bloody CEO, you'd know everyone living in City Central!"

"Because," he was practically panting now, "you're the only one I could trust."

That threw her a bit. The only one he could trust? She'd spoken to him only twice before this, and one of those times he'd felt her up.

"You mustn't have many friends," she told him. He nodded, but didn't respond. She considered him, wealthy CEO of SinCorp and a vampire to boot, pressed crippled against her door while the monsters chasing him howled from the other side. "How long will they be out there?"

"Until morning, when the sun comes up."

"And they can't get in here?"

"Not unless you invite them through your wards."

"And you promise you'll leave if I tell you to?"

He nodded, his movements jerky as he suffered beneath her ward.

She watched him for a few moments longer, the crystal hot in her hand, even as her amulet still warmed the skin of her chest. Finally, she drew the energy of the ward back into herself.

Eli sighed with relief as he sagged against the door. Still, his eyes remained closed for a few moments longer. When he finally opened them, they met hers. "Thank you," he said earnestly.

She shrugged and headed towards the kitchen. "I can't exactly throw you back out to the banshee twins out there, can I?" she went to the cabinet above the sink and withdrew a second wine glass. When she returned to the lounge room Eli was still standing beside the door.

"You're not going to stand there all night, are you?" she joked, moving to the lounge to set the wineglass on the coffee table. Then she put the crystal beside it. She'd drained it of most of its power, but she'd left enough for it to be a reminder to Eli whose home he was in. She looked over her shoulder at him. "Will you come and have a drink with me?"

He moved around the lounge and sat down. She poured him a glass of red then flicked on the TV, turning up the late night game show loud enough to block out the shrieking of the two vampire women still scratching at the door.

"So, how did you know where I lived?"

He took a sip of the wine and gave her a long sideways look. "I told you, I looked at your employee file."

"Oh, right."

She stared at the TV, but she watched him in her peripheral vision. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt and he had one arm crossed over his chest while the other held the stem of the wineglass that rested on his knee. Even his casual wear looked expensive, though she wasn't sure if he actually wore well made clothes or if it was just the knowledge of his wealth projecting on her. Either way, she suddenly felt exposed in her pajamas. She wasn't even wearing a bra, for Founders' sake. Turning her head a little to look at his face, she found that he was watching her.

"Thank you," he said again, "for letting me stay. It must seem awkward when we barely know each other, but I couldn't outrun them much longer."

"Will you tell me about them?" she lifted her own glass to her lips for a sip. "Last time I asked about vampire powers you walked out on me, but I think this time you owe me an explanation."

He hesitated, but a glance over his shoulder towards the door seemed to resolve him. "There are three vampire powers," he explained. "Each power grants a vampire strength above the usual enhancements. The Possessives, of which I'm one, can manipulate the emotions of humans. It allows the Possessive to retain a measure of humanity, such as the ability to walk in daylight. They can also... encourage humans to worship them, for want of a better term. The vampires call the worshipers their collection. It... makes for easy feeding.

"The ladies outside are Predators. They're faster and stronger than other vampires, and if there's a one-on-one fight, the Predator will usually win."

"Are they always psycho too?" she was sure that if all Predator vampires were like that, there'd be a lot more killings reported in the news. Eli laughed lightly.

"No, only when they hunt. And the older vampires are much more predatory and much less volatile. Vampires gain more control with age."

"And the last power?" Soph prompted.

"The last power is the Psychics. They're similar to the Predators in that they can only come out at night, but they're much more sophisticated in their hunting. Psychics can see glimpses into their victim's futures, among other things. Whenever you hear of a politician or a celebrity being bitten or going missing, it's usually at the hands of a psychic." Eli met her eye, giving her a searching look. She feigned nonchalance as she finished her wine and poured herself another glass.

"I thought this sort of thing would be common knowledge to a witch," he said eventually.

"Ah, well," she replied, somewhat guiltily. "Knowledge sharing in the witching community usually comes in stages, and I haven't stayed with a coven long enough to even learn everyone's names."

"A loner witch," Eli murmured. "That's interesting. How did you learn such a powerful ward then?"

"It wasn't-"she closed her mouth. The ward had been one of the basic ones from her mother's spell book, but it probably wouldn't serve her well to let Eli know that. "Just because my supernatural history isn't up to par, doesn't mean I don't know how to use my magic." Nona had seen to that much at least.

They sat in silence for a moment, the TV not quite masking the scratching at the door. The shrieking and howling had stopped for the time being. Soph wondered if her neighbours had heard the noise. She hoped they had the good sense to stay inside.

"Will you tell me about yourself?" Eli asked. Soph turned to him, surprised.

"I thought you looked me up?"

"Looking someone up won't tell you who a person really is." he nodded to her laptop at the other end of the lounge where her google search of him was still open. Horrified, she leaned over and slammed the lid shut. She glanced back at him to find him smiling.

"Not a word," she warned, "or I'll kick you out on your ass."

His smile only grew, but when he spoke it was to say, "tell me about yourself, Soph. What do you like?"

She pondered for a long moment. What did she like? Saying all the usual things that someone would expect like movies and walks on the beach didn't feel like they'd hold up for Eli. She decided to be honest. "I like my coffee with milk, though I'd never be caught drinking it that way in front of my Nona. I like my job, funnily enough. I'm late every day and I never respond to emails with the correct tone, but I'm creative and my output keeps me from being fired. I like hiking up to Grimshollow Peak to feel the earth's magic rise as the sun sets. I like living alone in the city, being surrounded by so many people and not knowing a soul. I like going to nightclubs and seeing strangers hook up and wondering if it's a one-night thing or if they'll end up together forever. I like being confident enough to follow my instincts to know who I can trust and who I can't." she trailed off, allowing the double meaning behind her last words to hang between them. They didn't seem to make Eli nervous, however, and for that she felt safer in her decision to trust him.

"An admirable trait to have," he told her, saluting her with his wineglass before draining it. "Can I have another one?"