Theo’s body aches from the night before. He couldn’t remember anything; how long had it been since he last ate? As he regains consciousness, he keeps his eyes shut, trying to recall what had knocked him out. The voices of young men whooping with excitement fill his ears again, as he remembers the rough, dotted outline of the tree he’d been flying low to avoid. After stooping lower, though, everything goes fuzzy. Maybe he was still rusty with his echolocation?

What in the world could I have hit?

The voices are suddenly smothered by pleasant singing. Well, more pleasant than the shouting, anyway. Theo tries to pinpoint where the singing is coming from, but his brain is flooded with a speaking voice. He assumes the voice he remembers is owned by the singer, however it was riddled with anxiety and thoroughly muffled, like the speaker had a pillow to his mouth.

Whatever he’d run into was probably gone- or so he assumed. The singing gets somewhat softer, then is covered by the sound of running water. Pipes rattle and a faucet nearby begins leaking.

Where am I?

Theo opens his eyes but loosely covers them with his hand. He slowly sits up, panicking when he realizes a large portion of his back is entirely numb. He’d been laying on top of... a Tupperware container? The vampire shakes his head as his eyes adjust to the fluorescent lighting and knocks the box away. It clatters to the floor, and Theo pauses for a few seconds before realizing he’s sitting on a wooden desk. He panics, not wanting to break it, and begins to flail his arms wildly. He remains planted to the tabletop.

Shoot! Not a bat anymore.

He pulls his body into the air, dropping the lid of the container to the floor by the box, and pushes himself so he’s standing on some other plane of existence. He still wasn’t exactly sure how that worked, but it was better than crashing to the floor and having to pay someone for damages. His feet land silently upon the invisible layer that keeps him hovering above the linoleum floor.

The sound of running water continues as Theo begins to walk around the small apartment. It was little and smelled musty- he assumed there was probably mold somewhere. The apartment had a living area, where he’d woken up, and was connected to a hallway by a kitchen. The hallway led to two bedrooms on one side and a bathroom on the other. Theo judges the place silently. Despite its rather pathetic appearance, it was a place to stay, which is more than he had. Theo tilts his head and picks up a small mug. After looking at it and turning it over in his hands for a few seconds, he places it on the counter again, noticing a satisfying “clink” sound as the porcelain hits the granite. His slightly pointed ears twitch as he listens to the sound, gently tapping the cup on the counter over and over again before a lack of ambient noise leads him to put it back down.

The water st-

A young man, no older than 25, stops dead in the hallway, staring at Theo. He’s clearly terrified. His face has gone sheet white and his dark eyes dart across Theo’s body, before stopping on his feet. Theo takes a few steps away and the other boy’s eyes go wider. As he takes another step back, the vampire trips over his own feet and falls on his backside. When he lands without an audible impact, he remembers he’s hovering. The invisible plane merges with the one the humans stand on, and he slowly drifts to the floor. Theo stands up and brushes his back off, then turns and smiles sheepishly at the boy before him. He can hear the boy’s heartbeat- his ears had become especially sensitive since he’d turned- which was getting steadily faster, much like his breathing.

He’s scared of me. Should I say something?

Theo opens his mouth to speak, but before he can make a sound the boy collapses.

Oops.

He chuckles to himself, knowing he probably shouldn’t find a human going unconscious humorous. The boy, now in a heap on the floor, has oddly shallow breathing that becomes far more apparent as Theo walks over and picks him up, awkwardly lifting him so that the towel the boy had been holding around his waist will continue resting across his hips. Theo walks down the hall and nudges a cracked door open with his foot. As he walks in, he takes extra care to not knock the boy’s head on the door frame. He looks around the room and notices the smell of mold had vanished and was replaced with a vanilla scent. Theo smirks a little and walks to the bed, then places the stranger on his side with the towel still covering him. Theo looks to his feet and walks out but stops just outside the door.

Maybe I should stay and explain why I’m here.