The Vampire Always Bites Twice | Wattys 2022 Grand Prize Winner

5

M̶a̶d̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶r̶g̶a̶r̶i̶t̶a̶ Isla Margarita Santiago-Corrigan, Thirsty Thief

I cut through the Bean & Brew on my way home. The entrance to the three apartments above it is on a side street around the corner, but there's a back door in the café that'll lead straight into the stairwell for those with a key. When it's not broken. Then the key matters significantly less.

In my hurry to leave the scrutinizing gorgon's office, I forgot my coffee. It was still half full and hot. What a waste.

Perk of renting above a 24-hour café is that I get to remedy this horrific mistake right away. The sun may have already set, but it was barely 'midday' by my internal clock. Necromancers tend to keep odd hours.

"Evening, Mason," I yawned at the barista at the register. "Anybody come in looking for me?"

You know, potential customers for Madame Margarita or lost reanimated corpses or Magistrates with a warrant for my arrest...

He shrugged.

Informative.

I blew on my hands for warmth. I'd forgotten gloves earlier, and they ached at the sudden shift into the warmth of the café. They still trembled, I noticed, from my oh so harrowing experience in Nazira's office. "Kay, well, the usual."

"Extra hot red eye coming up," he said, already punching it into the register.

Behind me, the cafe door opened, letting in a rush of winter air that lingered and made me shiver harder.

"You know how to treat a girl, Mason."

As Mason pampered the espresso machine, I opened my wallet. Which was empty, of course, I used the last of my cash grabbing drinks earlier. One cup of coffee didn't meet the credit card minimum and neither did my bank account at the moment. Yeah, obviously I felt bad about swiping some bills out the tip jar, but what choice did I have? I lived upstairs. I'd just pay it back later. With interest and a generous tip. Pinky promise.

"Keep the change!" I yelled, slapping the bills onto the counter.

A man snickered. "Sneaky devil."

All the hairs on my neck stood up. Troll balls. There was somebody behind me?

I spun. Pissed. Ready to tell the creep off for not minding his own damned business.

The words died in agony in my throat as I nearly slammed face first into the prettiest man I'd ever seen. Tall, lean, perfectly tousled black coif. Eh, he could use some Vitamin D actually, but that just right amount of stubble on his square jaw more than made up for his vaguely sickly complexion.

He stood still. Perfectly still. Jaw set, hands stuffed into his leather jacket. Too still. Creepy still.

And then his gleaming blue eyes fell onto mine, and my whole body seized up as a massive chill rolled down my spine. I shuddered, hard enough for my teeth to chatter. Unable to tear my gaze from his, I felt the tingle of a phantom kiss on just the right spot on my neck to make my knees go wobbly, followed by the graze of sharp teeth over my jugular, causing my pulse to spike...

He blinked, and then quickly, almost guiltily, looked away, just over my head, the outline of his tongue rolling around fangs in his mouth.

Well I'll be damned and probably already was. I'd just been checked out by a vampire.

He cleared his throat. "Our little secret."

"If you say so," I oh so elegantly mumbled back.

I pulled my coat tighter around me (the zipper was long since broken). Jeez, when did it get so cold in here?