His baby came in the form of a red vintage Ford Mustang. There were even a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. It looked like a movie prop.

The seats creaked when we sat down on the pristine leather. Abel seemed overly happy as he turned the engine on, and it roared.

“Purrs like a kitten, right?” he asked almost gleefully. “Please keep paws and tails inside the car at all times.”

I sent him a bit of a dead glare, but he didn’t seem to notice as he turned the music on. Jazz flowed out through the speakers, and he bopped his head along with the rhythm.

“I didn’t take you for a jazz man,” I said.

Abel smiled. “I love jazz. It’s a wild genre. No boundaries, just creativity.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just listened along to his music. It was alright. Not like the kind of jazz where four people are all playing their own song at the same time. There was actual rhythm, and the singer was alright too. I could get into this.

“It’s on the right here,” I said and pointed out at my house.

“Woah, dude. Nice house!” He stepped out of the car and tipped his sunglasses up, maybe to get a better look. He dropped them back on the bridge of his nose and smiled at me.

“Thanks.” I took two steps at a time up the stairs leading to a small porch that could room a swinging bench and not much else. My hands shook as I unlocked the door and stepped inside. I looked back over my shoulder waiting for Abel to come inside too.

“Uh, you need to invite me in. Can’t just go inside other people’s homes without it.” He shrugged a little, his hands buried in his pockets.

“Oh, so that’s also a real thing. Right. Uhm, I formally invite you in.”

He snorted and stepped over the threshold. “Thanks.” He shrugged off his jacket and hung it on the coatrack and then kicked off his pristine sneakers. He certainly had great style. Much better than mine. The jacket was in this dark army-green colour. Underneath it he wore a black tight t-shirt and a pair of very well-fitting black jeans. The only really colourful thing on him were his socks. They were rainbow coloured. It was really cute.

“So, I haven’t fully moved in yet. Still missing some boxes and stuff, but I’ve got all the furniture in place at least.” I made a pretty unenthusiastic wave towards the combined living room and kitchen. Right in front of the door was a staircase that led upstairs to the bedroom and bathroom. A small house, but it was perfect for me.

And Dave.

He was lounging on the couch, barely even lifting his head as he greeted me with a cute ‘woof’.

“Who’s this?” Abel asked and knelt down in front of the couch, running his hand over Dave’s head.

“That’s Dave.”

“Dave? That’s such a… Human name,” he laughed and scratched my dog behind his ear.

“It’s the only thing he’d react to when I got him as a puppy. Tried a lot of names, but he chose Dave.” I shrugged and looked down at my phone, ordering some pizzas for us. “Pepperoni okay?”

“Sure.” He was barely paying attention to me. Dave had turned on his back, letting Abel really get a good scratch on his belly. I couldn’t blame Abel. Dave would win any attention contest any day.

“He’s so cute,” Abel said and looked back at me over his shoulder.

“The cutest.”

“I’ve always wanted a dog. My parents would never let me. They said their lifespans are too short and I’d be too broken up about it every time they die.”

“I mean, some breeds live until they’re twenty.”

“And I’ll probably live until I’m like… Hundreds of years old.” He shrugged a shoulder. “My parents are old. They don’t consider time the same as you and me anymore. Twenty years is nothing to them.”

“But you’re only twenty-four. So, they don’t consider that…”

“A grown-up? No. I’m barely above toddler age for them.” He snorted and sat down on the floor, leaning against the couch. Dave put his head on his shoulder and Abel scratched his ear again.

I sat down next to him, keeping Dave’s head between us. Dave licked my cheek, and I scratched him under his chin.

“Do you talk to them?”

“Not really. They don’t live here, and I moved out to be more independent. They’re used to it though. Sometimes they’ve gone like ten years without speaking to each other even.” He shrugged a shoulder and turned his head, looking at me. “They love each other but sometimes they lose track of time. And when you’ve been with the same person for literal centuries, you might need a break sometimes.”

“I guess.”

“What about you? Parents? Family?”

I shook my head. “Mum’s out of the picture, my dad died some years ago. Left town when I was bitten, then left that town to come here.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” He cringed a little.

“No, that’s alright. My dad’s life insurance got me this house. He would’ve been happy with this development.”

Abel nodded a bit and looked around the living room. “You definitely need some decorations though. There’s this antique shop not far from here. We should go.”

“You like antiquing?” I snorted.

“Hell yeah. Vintage is awesome.” He scooted his aviators up on his forehead, exposing those cartoon eyes again. They were cute. At first, I had thought they were a bit odd, but the more used to them I got, the more I actually liked them.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked with a low voice.

“Sure.”

“Your sunglasses. Do you wear them for a specific reason?”

“My eyes are little sensitive, and they freak most people out. I got tired of explaining I have an eye condition, and instead went full douchebag-wearing-sunglasses-inside.” He shrugged again. “I can put them on again if my eyes freak you out.”

“You don’t have to. Whatever is the most comfortable for you.”

The doorbell rang before Abel could reply and I rose to my feet to get the pizzas. I came back to him still not wearing the aviators, now having them hang from the collar on his shirt. I smiled and jerked my head at the small dinner table separating the kitchen and the living room.

“Do you need to eat?” I asked.

“Actually no. But I really love pizza.” He scooped out a slice and hovered the tip over his mouth before taking a big bite. He had fangs too. I hadn’t noticed before, as he didn’t really open his mouth when he spoke. He was one of those people who spoke through his teeth. Which made sense. I mean, he probably didn’t want questions about having fangs.

“So, blood?” I grabbed a slice for myself.

“Yeah. I don’t drink live though. Having human friends, kind of made me a vampire vegetarian. Unless the other party is willing. So, I don’t go out and maul people.”

I cringed and poked at my pizza with my fork.

“You’ve… mauled people,” he muttered and put his pizza on the plate.

“I think, I have. I have varying levels of consciousness during the shift. Usually, I wake up with like a half a rabbit in my mouth. And a couple of times…” I stopped and grabbed my knife, cutting a piece of the pizza off, shoving it in my mouth.

“Well, you’re a weirdo for sure.”

I looked up, feeling my stomach drop.

“You’re eating pizza with a knife and fork, dude. Messed up.”

I burst out laughing and Abel smiled.

“Okay, another question,” I said as I tried to sober up. “What is exactly out there?”

He tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Vampires, witches, werewolves, banshees… What else is there?”

“Well, Fred’s girlfriend is a griffon. And then there’s dryads, warlocks, different shifters who can like… Shift into different animals. Selkies and mermaids. Pond people…”

“Pond people?” I asked and arched a brow.

“Yeah, they’d be referred to as ‘elves’ in the olden times, but really, it’s just really cranky people living in ponds who gets supper pissy if you swim in them. Like they’d definitely drown you. Also, why banshees go in a huge circle around them. Because of the drowning and all.”

I grimaced a little. This was all too weird, and I had a very hard time wrapping my head around it all. I was hoping it’d come with time? But honestly, I doubted it. I had been living in a world where first, there was no magic. Then I became a freak of nature. And now I was not the only one? There was a whole community?

It was weird.

It was all so very weird.