Back at his own apartment complex a few hours later, Hunter sat at the foot of his bed, unable to stop thinking about the unbelievable events he had been subjected to. And despite being in the presence of vampires and witness to some sort of crime, not to mention a man’s death… He kept thinking about those eyes. Those deep, green eyes.

As the sun rose a few hours later, Kai sat in a windowless office, his legs propped up on a desk, staring at a soulless, buzzing fluorescent light embedded in the ceiling. 

Hunter couldn’t pick up on his influence. It was a one in a million chance. And he was open and honest the whole time. He hadn’t come across someone - a human - like that in ages.

Not since… 

And those eyes. Those soft, kind eyes.

The next night, just before the clock struck nine, Kai took the winding trail along the tree-lined border of Anderson Park. He’d been based out of Dallas for nearly ten years, but he hadn’t taken the time to really appreciate the beauty the city had to offer. Buildings were impressive, the lights an interesting distraction, but it was the parks, the zoos, the nature still afforded the residents that he enjoyed most. And with his boosted senses, he appreciated so much more - the scent of the wood from each tree, the sound of leaves as they floated to the ground, the coos and hoots from birds and owls perched high above.

He saw the large concrete fountain as he rounded the bend. The oval fountain was surrounded with park benches. And underneath a path light at one of those benches was Hunter. Kai could see he was wearing a very light sweater and khaki pants. One leg was crossed over the other, a black sneaker tapping the air anxiously.

Kai approached closer, careful not to speed toward him as his body willed him to. “You’re here a bit early,” he said, with a friendly tone. He sat on the opposite end of the bench. He wanted to ensure Hunter he was not to be considered threatening.

Hunter shrugged. “I want to be reliable to you, I decided. I want to help however I can.”

“That’s good,” Kai said. “So let’s look past what must have been a completely” —

“Can you fly?”

Kai nodded.

“Is that what happened to Alex last night?” Hunter’s voice carried a pining tone, a degree of genuine worry. “Was he flown away from here? Is he… dead?”

“He was flown by one of my agents to be questioned.” Kai’s voice was soft and deliberate. “No, he is not dead." 

Relief washed over Hunter’s face.

“You still care about him.”

“I can’t stand him anymore, but yes, I do,” Hunter admitted. “Our mothers died our first year in college. That’s what we bonded over; that’s what led us to date.

“He lost his way though,” Hunter continued. “He became distant. It was like a wall was built between us that I couldn’t climb around. But yeah, he was my first real love. I can’t separate from that.”

Kai had a sudden desire to put a comforting hand on Hunter’s shoulder, but restrained himself. The mere notion caught him by surprise: he’d never behave this way around any other subject involved in an investigation. What was compelling him to do so now?

“So you can fly too,” Hunter said.

“Yes. Some of the lore you pick up about vampires is true. Flying is one of them. But no, not as a bat. We can’t shift our forms. We just… levitate, and with great speed.”

“What’s keeping you from just… biting into me and killing me right now?”

Kai frowned slightly. “Well, as I tried explaining last night, some of my kind like to practice self-control. I happen to be one of them. There are also other tools I have at my disposal to take care of any unexpected cravings — cravings, I should add, I am not experiencing. So if that sweater neck is getting obnoxious, you can roll it down.” He tried adding a small smirk to lighten the mood.

To his delight, it worked. Hunter blushed before chuckling softly and rolling the sweater neck down.

“I need to talk to you about the thumb drive Alex was trying to sell last night,” said Kai. “It’s protected by a three-layered encryption. We brought it in last night to examine, but our techs tell us it’s also got a self-destruct code that will wipe the drive if we test the passwords too many times.”

Hunter seemed to recognize the conundrum Kai was posing. “It’s how he got his job at InnerCore, actually,” Hunter mused. “It’s a rudimentary type of code by today’s standards, but it impressed the higher ups to hire him in the IT department last year.”

“So you may know how to crack it?”

“At least the first two passwords,” Hunter said. “He taught it to me when we were living together and he wanted to protect our personal computers.”

“Fantastic,” Kai said with energy. “What do we do?”

“Well,” Hunter closed his eyes. “He takes the file name he’s given the root folder or hard drive and he creates a password based on that file name.

“Pretend you’ve got a keyboard in front of you,” he continued, opening his eyes and looking towards Kai. “Let’s say for example that the file name is GRAPE, in all capitals. Usually what he’ll do for the first password is select characters two keys to the left of each letter in that name.”

Kai imagined the keyboard in his office as Hunter suggested. “So, instead of a G, he’d pick… a D.”

“Right,” Hunter confirmed. “And for the R, it’d be a W.”

“What about the A? There’s only one key to its left.”

“Then you’d go up to the next row and hit the key furthest to the right,” Hunter answered. “And since the A was capitalized, you’d hit the shift key. So on my keyboard, that’d be the vertical line character. And in his method, you   skip every non-character key except the delete key. So if the letter were Q, you’d hit delete and move on to the next character.

“And if the character were on the top row and you ran out of keys, you’d start over again at the right-side of the first row of characters. The second password is exactly the same. You start with the capital A but move two keys to the right.”

Kai pulled out his smartphone and began sending a text message. “I’m telling our tech guys to follow these instructions. I’m certain you’re right that this is the method to get those first two encryptions.” 

“I’m afraid I’m not sure about the third,” Hunter said. He rose from the park bench and crossed to the fountain. He sat on the cool cement rim and absently put a hand in the water. “He changed the third one constantly. And he never told me how I was able to log into my computer without needing it.”

"It's a tremendous first step though," Kai said. He smiled at Hunter again, only to again be hit with a pang of guilt. Guilt over what? He thought. Griffin has been gone for so many decades now...

"Is there something else you'd like to ask about... me, or what's going on here?"

Hunter shook his head slowly. "Probably a lot, but I can't think right now." He took his hand out of the fountain water and shook it. 

"For someone who just recently confirmed the existence of vampires, you're taking it in stride," Kai observed.

"I've learned to take shocks as they are -- just things that have happened. No sense in contemplating how big or small the event is. It's real, and there's no changing it. It's just that last night were four or five big shocks in a row - bam, bam, bam." Hunter looked directly into Kai's eyes. He began to speak again, but--

Kai's phone lit up and buzzed. He looked at the screen for a moment, then frowned.

"What happened?"

"They got the first two passwords to work using your instructions. But then the drive ran a program automatically when the second password was accepted. They weren't even prompted to enter the third - it just ran the program... and then fried the drive. It's totally unusable. Damn..."

Hunter turned his head to one side, gazing absently towards the amber light of the path light near them. "I have a thought..."

"Yes?"

"I wonder if Alex still lives in that apartment in Arlington."

Kai's ears pricked up. He rose from the bench and sidled up to Hunter. "Tell me. What are you thinking?"

"I still have a copy of his key," Hunter said.

Kai smirked coyly. His natural investigative instincts told him they maybe hadn't hit a dead end so quickly. "Field trip?"

"Only if you don't mind a rideshare," Hunter said, taking out his phone. "I don't think I have the stomach for a midair vampire flight."

As Hunter turned to order the car, he added under his breath, "at least, not yet."

Kai heard him.