Naked Came the Vampire (Hypernaturals 1)

In the Car

I woke up when I started to sweat. It was too warm. Nothing seemed right. I opened my eyes to a bright sun streaming through the windows of my Fiat 500c. I lay in the driver seat which had been reclined as far back as it would go. Next to me were all my things. The Cabrio roof had been rolled back to its first position, AKA the "Sunroof" position. I lay under a towel, but otherwise naked. My clothes remained in the trunk I assumed.

I levered myself up with effort and looked around the parking lot. I am in my damn car back up at the top of Hippie Hollow. The sun looked to be in the nearly noon position in the sky.

What the bloody hell?? I have no idea how I got here.

Here is absolutely not where I want to be. Not by a long shot.

A piece of paper stuck out of the visor. I flipped it down and snagged it, looking at my reflection in the built-in visor mirror. There were dark circles under the eyes, and what looked like bruises on my shoulders. I have bug bites everywhere, especially on my neck, and in and around my genitals.

I have never had that much exercise while engaged in sex. Jessica did not really look like it when standing naked in the sunlight, but she is an athlete. Toned muscles hidden by her curvature. I work out, but I am not an endurance athlete. My stamina efforts ran on the distilled pure inspiration that Jessica provided.

I hurt everyplace, but I am not complaining, other than not waking up next to her.

I unfolded the note, and there was a picture inside the fold. I read the precise rounded cursive handwriting

"Dearest Adrian,

Thanks for everything. I had a great time last night. Just incredible. You are a great guy. I mean that in every possible sense of the word. Amazing. I have no words.

So many points. I lost count. Let's just call it an even gazillion.

Aspirin in the glovebox, and some water in the little cooler.

Love,

Jessica and Snowball"

Started with 'Dearest'. Great is in there twice! The picture is of Snowball, sitting on the bench seat on the back deck of the 'Nightwing' where Jessica and I sat watching the sunset. Snowball looked serenely at the camera, clearly knowing about posing and cameras and such. The picture is a copy of the one inside the cabin of the boat. Surely not the one from inside the boat...?

Over on the passenger side floor sat a small cooler that is not mine. I picked it up and opened it. In addition to ice and several bottles of water, it contained an IPA and a Negra Modelo.

I opened the glovebox to find the aspirin.

I took three. Considered a fourth. Committed to the fourth. If a 100-pound adult can take two, someone my size should be able to take four, with margin to spare. Five? I thought about that. No. That is pushing it.

I quickly finished that bottle of water and I felt very slightly better and so went to get my clothes from the trunk. I scanned and saw no one in the parking lot yet. It being Monday, I guess everyone is at work. I slowly and stiffly dressed, using my car as a prop. Moving helped loosen things up.

Once dressed, I walked over to the edge of the bluff and looked out over the sparkling lake. The 'Nightwing' is gone. From here I could survey most of this part of the lake, and there was nothing remotely 'Nightwing' shaped out there. Only one or two smaller boats.

If it had been there, I would have swum back to it, even though I seem to be uninvited and further that Jessica went to a lot of trouble to get me back here. It felt kind of like I am being a stalker, but after last night we have no physical secrets from each other.

Did she need space after being so completely uninhibited? None of that seemed right. Jessica did not lack for self-confidence. Anything but. It did not align with the letter either.

I am so confused.

How the hell did she get me up here? I could not carry her up that path from the lake. Not even.

Shit.

She had help? Wonder what they thought about carrying the unconscious bruised and bug-bitten guy to his car.

I started to feel depressed, decided that to be ungrateful, remembered the word "Love" on the note, and instead settled on a mix of sated and tired. Sore. Stiff, Insect riddled.

How did she get me back up here? Did I swim and walk and I just don't remember? I did get slightly squiffed last night, at the beginning. I couldn't have done everything we did stone drunk.

Right?

We did keep getting more drinks. Is an alcoholic blackout possible??. Damn it... that meant that I did not recall my last minutes with her, and that made me start back in on feeling sad again. Better than some stranger carrying me up the hill I guess. That made me less sad.

As I bi-polarly pondered the situation I realized a few other things. I do not know her last name. I did not know any way to contact her. She did not know my last name or have my number.

Xaviera Hollander's 'zipless fuck'. A classic. I did not want to be part of that classic just now.

Public nudity leading to a night of rarified passion is as far as I know not a common happening at the Hollow, despite what some might imagine. I have been going here for years, even before the daily parking fees and guard shack (and, come to think of it, being a regular is probably why they did not tow my car off). Most of the time it is just regular folks who prefer being naked to wearing clothes. People with the shame gene don't grok that.

Nothing like last night ever happened to me or anyone I know of. If the couple reading the porn yesterday have ever swung with someone from here, I did not know about it.

A lot of people go fully clothed to bars looking to get laid. Many will settle for 'some'. Some sex with someone. I always settled for 'some' in my long-term relationships.

I just did not know that. Not until the living definition of 'all' showed me.

Austin is a party town to be sure. Great night scene, amazing music. Iconoclastic people. I tangentially wondered if there is a spike in pregnancies after one of the big events, like South by Southwest or Austin City Limits.

I suddenly realized that Jessica and I had unprotected sex all night. If Jessica got pregnant I needed to be there. A slight panic set in at that thought. Not of being a father but of not being there when the baby is born. That assumed she would decide to have the baby. Fuck. Not like I have any say in that.

I stared at the horribly empty place where the 'Nightwing' once floated. I am not going to be able to figure out anything about Jessica or last night sitting here. I went back to the car and headed out of the parking lot. As I pulled out onto the road, a police cruiser... Travis County I thought, based off the color... pulled out from the shoulder and began to follow me.

"Great" I thought. You are not supposed to park overnight at the Hollow. I felt stone-cold and ever so achingly sober. That did not mean I smelled sober. Getting pulled over would not be fun. If nothing else my longish hair (short compared to Jessica's I thought. My mind kept going back to her.) Usually got me into trouble with official types.

It turned out to be a wasted worry. He or she followed me for a number of very tense miles, mimicking my turns, increasing my tension, but eventually, they turned into a convenience store parking lot and were quickly lost from my unsettled sight. I drove the rest of the way home warily. One eye on the road. One eye on the rearview mirror. Both mental eyes on my memories of Her. The One.