Soph floated between moments of lucidity and periods of uncontrollable hunger. She kept to her bed mostly, feeling weak and cold. Her body still craved vampire blood, though her head was usually clear enough not to act on it. Sometimes she slept and sometimes she woke with Eli sleeping beside her. His companion, Cole, never seemed to rest and the occasional urge that Soph had to escape to go and find a vampire was quashed by his ever alert presence.

Outside, the storm raged. The TV was on with constant rolling coverage of the evacuations and lists of suburbs that were going under water, but the sound was drowned out by the howling wind.

At one point Soph woke from an uneasy sleep to a pitch black room. She was in absolute darkness, with not even the city lights filtering through the window.

"Eli?" She called out in alarm.

"Here." he appeared in the doorway, his face illuminated by the light of his phone. Soph climbed out of bed and shuffled towards him.

"What happened?" she asked as she reached him. He moved aside so she could see into the lounge room. Cole was at the dining table, working on a laptop with the light of a few candles beside him.

"There's a city-wide blackout," Eli explained. He headed back to the dining table where he sat down with a notebook. "We're just trying to do some last-minute work on the Sinister opening."

Soph slid into the chair between them and pulled her knees up to her chest to stave off the cold. Cole glanced at her before pulling a blanket from his lap and handing it to her. She accepted it gratefully and wrapped it around her shoulders.

On the table, aside from Cole's laptop, a disused tablet and the men's phones, were several neat piles of paper. Soph recognised some of them as her own household bills, and she felt a pang of guilt that Eli and Cole had taken care of them. Many of them had angry 'overdue' stamps across the top. On other papers she saw the Paxus letterhead, and it was these that drew her attention. She didn't pick them up, of course. She didn't work for Paxus anymore and they were none of her business. She was curious, though.

As she tried to read the top proposal, Eli reached over and took it from the pile. He set it in front of him with a frown and began marking it with a red pen. Several times he sighed until he finally sat back and rubbed his face.

"I can't work it out, but it's just not enough."

"Can I look?" Soph asked tentatively. Eli handed the proposal over without hesitation. She read over it in silence, then reached for Eli's red pen and notepad. Eli watched as she drew, and even Cole looked curiously over his laptop. As she sketched, she talked.

"The proposal is too similar to the Sinners one. That's why you don't like it. It doesn't offer the mystery that Sinister needs. We did Snapchat filters for Sinners, and that worked really well. How about this time, you leak some sneak peaks from your own social media accounts? I know you rarely use them, but people - especially women - are crazy about you. If you use your accounts in the lead up to the launch, people will flock to them. On a smaller note," she added, finishing a quick sketch of a few dark fantasy creatures. "Get an artist to do these up and put them on billboards around town. That'll get the really curious there. Imagine going out for the night, not knowing if you'll meet a vampire, or a witch, or something supernatural. Of course, that happens on the down low on a night out anyway... but at Sinister, both the humans and the supernatural can be themselves around each other."

She handed the notepad back to Eli and he looked at it with raised eyebrows. He exchanged a look with Cole, who nodded, then he set the papers aside.

"It seems that you're the missing link," he said with a smile. Soph returned it.

"Don't tell Paxus. They probably wouldn't like me looking at their stuff."

Eli nodded absently and rubbed his temples. "I think I'll get some fresh air." he stood and started towards the balcony. Soph jumped to her feet.

"There's a storm out there!" she told him. He glanced over his shoulder as he opened the sliding door. Rain and wind blew inside.

"I know," he stepped out.

Soph stared after him then, with a quick glance at Cole who continued to work on the laptop, she headed for the balcony. The moment she opened the door, she thought she would blow away. Gripping the frame, she slid outside into the whirling storm.

"Eli?" she called tentatively.

"Here," he responded from surprisingly close. He materialised from the darkness and took her hand in a strong grip. He pulled her to the far edge of the balcony where there was a pocket of calm created by the wall that separated her apartment from the neighbour. They both leaned against it and stared out into the storm.

The city was an eerie place when it was so dark, and Soph could only make out the other buildings when an occasional flash of lightning illuminated them. Where they stood, the wind didn't quite reach them, but rain still swirled in, a mist upon their skin. The air was fresh and Soph breathed deeply, revived.

Eli squeezed her hand, and she glanced at him. His eyes were on the storm, but they were soft with deference, as if he respected the sheer force of nature.

"I can't believe we're out here in this!" Soph shouted so he'd hear her over the roaring wind. His eyes flicked down to hers and he smirked.

"Scared?" he teased. She snorted.

"Of course not. It's only the worst storm to hit the city in a hundred years. Why would I be scared?" she laughed through her words, yet her hand tightened involuntarily in his. She could feel her heart racing faster than normal. Could he hear it over the storm? His gaze was unnerving, but before she could look away, his other hand rose to cup her face. His eyes glowed with a warmth that she'd never seen in them before, and he bent his head to kiss her.

It was unlike anything Soph had ever experienced. Electricity sparked where their lips met and his skin was hot where it connected to hers. Soph melted against him and submitted to the kiss. It wasn't lust-driven like it had been in the past. This was different. He was different.

Mist sprayed over them in waves and Eli wrapped his arms around her as if he could protect her from the storm. Maybe he could.

***

The following morning dawned with the storm still upon them, though less intense than it had been the night before. Outside it was grey and wet, but at least the power had been restored. Soph also had a small win in her road to recovery; she managed to keep down half a sandwich without being sick.

From there she improved dramatically. As her appetite increased her blood-lust faded. She still felt weak, with occasional cold chills, but she was beginning to accept that those were just part of being human.

There was also her growing dilemma that was Eli.

Nothing had happened after he'd kissed her, any they went about their days as though they hadn't shared that moment, but something was different now. Soph was hyper aware of him everywhere he went in her apartment. If he went to the kitchen, she found herself at the door watching him cook. When they sat on the lounge to watch TV together it felt like the heat of his thigh against hers would set her on fire. When he slept beside her in bed, she'd lay away for hours listening to his deep, even breathing. She knew exactly what the problem was and it wasn't a good one.

She was fucking falling for him.

Eli and Cole stayed on for a few more days, but as the storm blew out and Soph returned to normality, the time came for them to leave.

"Call me," Eli told her as she farewelled them at the door. He looked worried. "If you even so much as feel peckish for blood, call me and I'll come and get you."

"I'll be fine," she assured him, though she didn't quite believe her own words. "Thank you." she nodded to Cole as well, and he inclined his head in response.

"Farewell, Miss," he started down the hallway and after another worried glance, Eli followed him. Soph closed the door and went to her lounge. The sudden silence of the apartment was too much. For a stifling moment, she didn't think she'd be able to do it alone. She picked up her phone, intending to call Eli back.

Her hands stilled. How silly, she thought. He wouldn't even be out of the building.

And she needed space from him, desperately. Having him so close but act so platonically the past couple of days had driven her wild. She needed headspace, to try and get rid of the feelings she was developing. He was a billionaire vampire; way out of her league.

Instead, she opened Instagram and started scrolling through the pictures. Luie was in Bali with Stefan. When had that happened? She scrolled on, through holiday snaps, baby pictures and artfully arranged meals until she came to an image of a shirtless man lifting a barbell. She stared at it for a long moment, remembering other feelings she'd had before turning into a raging vampire hunter. Safe feelings, ones her grandmother approved of. She tapped to comment.

: Looking good Marco

She continued on with her scrolling, but Marco was quick. Within seconds she had notifications of a reply.

: Thanks QueenSophia. Now indulging in a well deserved post-workout smoothie.

Yum. Maybe you could make me one some time.

For a while Marco didn't answer, and Soph was almost glad. She shouldn't have picked up her phone at all, her emotions in such a confusing turmoil as they were. She switched to scrolling through Facebook for a while. Her phone buzzed as she received a text. It was from Marco.

- Hi there stranger. Thought you'd gone cold on me.

Soph smiled as she wrote a reply.

- Sorry, been busy. Can I make it up to you?

- Tonight, 7pm. Let's have tacos.

- Done x