“Yeah, yeah, I think I got it,” I whispered.

“You think or you know?” Killian asked.

“I… know!” I pulled the alternator out. It was practically fried, a mass of scorched metal in my palm. “Mm, someone put some stress on the battery, and maybe even the serpentine belt.”

“Damn, you do know your stuff,” he seemed impressed, inspecting the piece.

“Yeah, I practically grew up in the junkyard,” I told him. “That’s where I found my truck. It’s not the best thing; salvaging scraps doesn’t exactly produce perfect results, but it works well enough. Still can’t figure out what’s up with the heating though.”

“Well, bring it in sometime, and I’ll take a look.”

I felt my stomach doing barrel rolls. I lived in that truck. Not only were all my meager belongings in there, but also the money. I couldn’t let him see the money. If he found it, there would be thousands of questions.

“We best charge the battery,” Killian was saying.

“Right,” I nodded, pushing my black hair out of my face. “If the alternator’s fried, then the battery’s probably depleted. And we should change the belt while we’re at it.”

“You can head out if you want,” he told me. “It’s getting pretty late.”

“You sure you don’t need any help?” I slowly asked.

“Yeah, I got this last part,” Killian nodded. “Head… wherever you sleep.”

I smiled and nodded, then gathered my jackets and gloves. I said bye to Mika, who was closing up the front, then stepped out into the cold snow. Three days on the job, and Killian was already starting to lighten up. I had been told that I would get my paycheck every other Thursday, which was reasonable. Four-day workweeks, too, but I was more than happy to spend my time in the heated shop rather than my truck.

I had noticed that things were surprisingly cheap in this town, and all the lights in every store and restaurant were dim. A lot of people had little lanterns and candles and even fairy lights! It was surprisingly pretty peaceful. People seemed to have mostly gotten used to me, even though it had only been three days since I got that job. Maybe because I now had a job, and wasn’t seen as much of an outsider.

When I turned the corner into the alley, I froze.

The first thing I saw was the smashed windows.

The bumper had been partially torn off.

The front tires were slashed.

A small piece of paper was taped to the door.

I slowly approached my ravaged truck.

“Oh, baby,” I whispered. “What did they do to you?”

I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall. Then I ripped off the note. The words were simple and sent shivers down my spin: Where’d you get the money, Raine? I softly gasped, then peeked in to see the suitcase still in its place. It was unzipped. I let out a deep sigh of relief at the sight of it. At least they hadn’t taken it to the police or something. But they had seen the money.

More importantly, they had destroyed my only source of warmth during the well-below-freezing night. I didn’t have a choice now. I had to take it to Killian.

The first thing I did was zip up the suitcase. With tears on my cheeks, I attempted to start the truck. It took a few moments, but eventually came to life. I knew it wouldn’t go far, so I pressed on the gas and rolled out of the alley. Luckily the shop wasn’t that far, only a few blocks.

The cold seemed to freeze the tears to my face, forever staining this scene in my mind. Someone had destroyed my truck. They had found the money. They had slashed my front tire. I could probably still drive it, even though I knew driving on the rim wasn’t a good idea. At least the shop wasn’t too far.

I was pretty sure that the offender was Anna. I had seen her a few times since that first day I met her, when she had practically threatened me, and all I had gotten was disgusted and suspicious looks. It had to have been her.

When I rolled up to the shop, Killian seemed confused. I dropped out of the truck and walked towards him, dragging along my bag and suitcase.

“Damn, this thing is a piece of…,” he trailed off when he saw the drying tears on my warm cheeks. Without a word, he walked around the entire truck as I warmed myself in the shop. “Raine, what the fuck happened?! Who did this?”

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Finally, I was able to choke out, “I-is there somewhere I can sleep? Just until I can fix it?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Killian put his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll take care of it. But, first, I’m taking you to Abraham. He knows you the best, and his place has the most room….” He trailed off. “Maybe that’s not the best idea. They’ll be awake soon, and you’re a clueless human.”

“Hey, K, I’m heading-- By the gods, what happened?!”

“Someone attacked my truck,” I mumbled as Mika approached us.

“He needs a place to stay,” Killian said. “I was going to take him to Abraham’s but those beta vamps are going to be waking up soon.”

“V-vamps?” I echoed. “Like, vampires? Geez, all of you are crazy.”

“No, no, taking him to the community is a good idea,” Mika replied. “He’s a human, they’ll be able to take care of him. And we both know that none of them will feed on him. Hell, he doesn’t even smell that good.”

“Hey!” I was suddenly offended. “It’s not my fault I haven’t showered.”

“I meant your blood,” Mika said with a small eye-roll. She looked at Killian. “You start working on the truck, and call Abraham to tell him that I’m bringing Raine over.” She began leading me away by the sleeve as Killian took out his phone.

My mind felt… empty. I was still trying to process what she had just said. My blood didn’t smell good? Beta vampires? Abraham lived with vampires? No, that wasn’t possible. Magic wasn’t real. Creatures like that weren’t real. Right? Yeah, magic wasn’t real. The people in this town were just… crazy.

The car ride was silent. The tears were dry on my cheeks. Everything felt… numb. I felt… overwhelmed. All this talk about vampires, the sight of Killian using telekinesis multiple times, Mika’s ability to smell my blood…. I didn’t understand. I had assumed that Killian was some sort of Demi-human, but now I wasn’t so sure.

She drove me to the edge of town, to a small circle of two-story houses. A few lights were turning on. Abraham was waiting on one porch.

“I just told Nicolai,” he said to me. “You are welcome to stay as long as you require or desire. No one will harm you here.”

“Are vampires real?” I whispered.

“Yes,” he nodded. “You look tired, you need to rest. Come in.” He whispered to Mika. “We’ll take it from here, thank you.” Abraham guided me into the largest house. “I know you’re overwhelmed right now, so we’ll save the introductions and proper explanations for later. All you need to know right now is that… vampires are real.”

Abraham took me into the warm house and up the stairs. I kept my eyes on the scuffed wooden floor as I was taken to a large room.

“No one will bother you here,” he told me. “I suggest you take a shower, then get to sleep. We’ll try to keep the volume down. These are beta vampires, after all. Kinda stereotypical, but they won’t feed on you.”

“You people are insane,” I whispered as I looked around the room.

“Sure we are,” Abraham chuckled. “Just get some sleep.”

The door softly closed behind me, throwing me into near-darkness. The only light came from a string of lights set up along the headboard of the bed and the little moon lamp. It was a huge shift. It felt weird. Too weird.

I collapsed on the bed, taking shaky breaths and trying not to cry again. After a lot of deep breaths, I turned and sat up. I looked around the room, at the desk, the bookshelves, the bathroom, and the wardrobe. It wasn’t a huge room, but it wasn’t small either. It was about the size of the room I shared with seven other kids back at the group home. Only this time it was only mine. It felt nice.

Reality hit me like a fucking plane.

I was in a complete stranger’s house.

My truck had been attacked.

Killian had a tail and telekinesis.

Mika could smell my blood.

Abraham lived with possible vampires.

Vampires. Were vampires actually real? Or was everyone in this town suffering from delusions? At this point, I didn’t care. The thing I did care about was….

What did I care about? Killian was fixing my truck. I had a warm place to sleep for the night. Yeah, someone wanted me out of town and had discovered all my money, but I found myself… not caring. Why didn’t I care? Was I in shock?

My eyes drifted around the room. I couldn’t sleep here, but I couldn’t leave either. So what could I do to keep my mind occupied? Well, there were plenty of books.

I stood up and stumbled over to one shelf, trying to get a look at the titles. They seemed to be… species. This bookshelf was filled with books about different species, and likely their histories and evolutions as well. But not canines and felines, no. I saw books about werewolves, angels, demons, mages, and a footnote mentioning how there was a whole room about morphs (whatever those were)! I searched for the book about vampires, soon finding that there were a few. I took them all and set them on the bed before getting myself together.

After a shower and changing into more comfortable clothing, I got under the covers and opened the first dusty old book. This would put me to sleep in an instant.

I ended up staying awake most of the night.