Maya went back to the vampire meeting that next week. Her mom had agreed to drive her, a bit too enthusiastically.

“I’m just glad you’re getting involved in something,” she had said.

“I’m involved in lots of things,” Maya had argued.

“I know you have your friends,” her mom had said with a sigh. “But it wouldn’t kill you to get out of the house a bit more.”

“I thought I was supposed to stay away from the sun.”

“You know what I mean.”

Maya had turned away. Her mom didn’t understand what it was like, being tired every waking moment of the day. Night was the only time she felt really alive. Half of everything she said in front of her friends was an excuse– school was a constant obstacle course of avoiding mirrors and trying not to show her fangs.

But she was happy to see Gabriela again.

She pushed through the old coffee shop door again and wandered through the dusty, dark room. She pushed open the Staff closet, and found herself back in the somewhat familiar crowd of vampire faces. She looked around.

“Maya!” She saw a flash of dark curls and then someone was hugging her. “You’re back!”

“Hi!” Maya said, hugging Gabriela back. She hoped her cheeks weren’t as bright red as they felt. “How are you?”

Gabriela let go of her and smiled big, her fangs showing. “I was hoping you’d be back.” She held up a finger. “One sec.” She darted to a table and dug around in her floppy gray backpack for a second. She returned with a dark device that she tucked behind her ear and into her hair.

“What’s that?” Maya asked.

“Cochlear. So I can hear you.” Gabriela smiled at her again. “What do you wanna do?”

“Oh! I don’t know,” Maya said. What exactly do you do with a super cute vampire at seven o’clock at night? “Um…”

Gabriela looked away from her to wave at someone. A woman with straight, dark hair and the exact same twinkly eyes as Gabriela walked up to them. She wore dark red lipstick that stood out against her light brown skin. “Welcome in,” the woman said to Maya with a kind smile.

“Hi!” Maya said.

“This is my mom,” Gabriela explained. She signed as she spoke. That was so cool.

“You can call me Ms. Badalejo. It’s so nice to meet you,” Gabriela’s mom said and signed. “Gabi’s been talking about you so much.”

“Mami,” Gabriela said. She looked at Maya, embarrased. “Not in a weird way.”

“Not in a weird way.” Her mom laughed. “Maya, you are a fruit vampire, correct?”

“Yes!” Maya said. She shifted her weight from left to right, unable to stand still. “I was turned when I was six.”

“Six. Wow.” Ms. Badalejo looked her up and down. “That makes sense. The epidemic.”

Maya nodded, though she didn’t completely understand what the epidemic was. She’d heard about it, of course, at the few vampire meetings she had gone to, but she didn’t know how it had happened. There had been a big bacteria outbreak within a load of fruits that had been transported all over the world. Thousands of people had gotten sick, but a very small percentage of the population had it much worse. That was where the fruit vampires originated from.

Maya was one of those unlucky few.

“Our family goes way back,” Ms. Badalejo said. “Some of my own great-grandparents are still here.”

“That’s so cool,” Maya said. She’d forgotten generational vampires existed. She couldn’t even imagine a whole bloodline of people like her.

“Can we head out to the park?” Gabriela asked her mom. Her fingers moved gracefully through the air, like everything about her.

“Yes. Stay safe,” Ms. Badalejo said.

“We will.” Gabriela smiled. She took Maya’s hand and led her out a back door Maya hadn’t noticed. They looked at each other in the sudden light. Maya’s breath caught in her throat. Gabriela pulled out a pair of sunglasses at the same time Maya did. They laughed.

“Hi,” Gabriela said. Her sunglasses, lopsided on her face, made Maya giggle.

“Hi,” she said. She formed the letters in her hand. H-I.

“Do you sign?” Gabriela asked. Her face lit up.

“Literally just my ABCs.” Maya was embarrassed of her lack of knowledge. “But I’m definitely going to learn more.”

Gabriela smiled. “That’s sweet.”

Maya shrugged. “I wanna be able to talk to you all the time.” She flushed as she realized what she’d said. “Not in like… a weird way…”

Gabriela just smiled at her. They walked together. The air was cool, and it blew Maya’s hair up a little. She tied it into a ponytail, though it didn’t stop her wispy bangs from flying around her face. She batted them out of the way.

“Do you wanna go faster?” Gabriela asked.

“Sorry, am I walking super slow?” Maya tried to speed up. Walking was a bit weird for her– she always felt like she was tripping over herself, like her legs weren’t meant to move the way they were.

“No.” Gabriela laughed. “Like, running.”

Maya started to jog along the cool sidewalk. She grinned at Gabriela, who shook her head and laughed.

“Vampire running,” Gabriela corrected. She glanced at Maya, who was confused. “Have you never tried that?”

Maya shook her head. Her vampire abilities were usually something she would rather avoid than lean into.

“Okay.” Gabriela gestured for her to look at her face. Her eyelashes were so pretty– they lilted downwards over her eyes, shading them. Maya could stare at her eyes forever. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath.” Maya breathed in. Her eyes were shut tight. “Okay. Just think about the fastest thing you possibly can.” Probably her heart, with how fast it was beating right now. She kept feeling her fangs against the inside of her mouth. “Now imagine you’re going that fast.” Maya could see it from behind her eyelids. “Now open your eyes.”

Maya opened her eyes. She was face to face with Gabriela, who looked at her expectantly. “You should record a meditation or something,” she said.

“A medication?”

“Meditation.”

Gabriela laughed. “Maybe one day. We have a lot of years.”

The phrase startled Maya. She’d never thought too much about the fact that she was destined to live longer than all her family and friends. A whole lot longer. She didn’t want to think about that yet.

“Okay. Now run.”