Mr Green continued talking to the officers, but Blythe was already losing interest. This was all so petty and pointless. She couldn’t even go to a restaurant without having to explain her actions to the last detail. Everyone needed to get over themselves. Luckily at that point a car drove up to park next to them, a car she recognised. Finally her evening looked like it might get a bit more interesting.

Her case worker undid his seat belt and exited the vehicle, tall and strapping, and, most importantly, kind. He strode up to them in a very nice, pressed white shirt that showed off his muscles underneath in a most pleasing manner. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and surveyed the scene with his big sweet eyes. He bore an absolutely cruel resemblance to her first husband, and had many of the positive personality traits of her third. She had to compose herself carefully so as to not accidentally treat him as though he were one of those long lost men. Of all the people who could have been assigned to help her adjust to modern life, of course she would get a pretty boy to remind her just how alone she was. She knew almost no-one in this dark future, and Mr Green was hardly the same man she had left behind. She put on a good show, but underneath she felt an emptiness. A place inside where she could feel all that had been lost. She knew none of these people would be able to relate.

“Hello Officer, my name is James, I am this vampire’s support and rehabilitation guide. I can assure you she isn’t a danger to anyone, I am sure this is all a misunderstanding,” he told them earnestly. He was such a good boy. It was possible she appreciated that even more than his looks. He was like a puppy just ready for someone to train him. Someone who knew what was what. Someone with experience. She worried for his safety though. She had met many paranormal beings in her time and many would see his kindness as weakness.

“My lack of reflection spooked a lady,” Blythe told him, to bring him up to speed. “You know, you told me that vampires are accepted in society now. Were you telling me a naughty fib?”

His cheeks went a little pink when she spoke to him that way, which is precisely why she did it. “Ah, I’m sorry Blythe. People should know better,” he said.

“Perhaps the term ‘accepted’ has changed since the war,” Blythe mused.

“Which war? You went into hibernation in the 70s didn’t you? There’s been a few,” James asked her with furrowed brow.

“The nuclear war. The one that’s turned London into a provincial little nowhere town and Surrey into a maze of wooden box houses,” she replied gesturing around at the pathetic attempts at architecture all around her.

There was a silence as the gathered group contemplated her words, then they all burst out laughing. Mr Green guffawed like he’d never heard something so ridiculous and the Police Officer bent over shaking. All except for James.

“There was no nuclear war Blythe,” he explained kindly, then looked at those still laughing with an annoyed expression.

This information still made no sense to her though.

“I was told I was in London,” she pointed out.

The police let out a fresh burst of laughter at this. Blythe didn’t care, she just wanted answers.

“Ignore them for now, this isn’t funny. You should have been told all this, I’m sorry. You aren’t in England, Blythe. Your coffin was sold to a collector in London, Ontario. In Canada,” James said.

“Oh, Canada,” Blythe repeated. “Well I guess that’s better than the post-apocalypse.”

“I’m sorry, I thought someone had gone over all of this with you,” he continued.

“So where am I now?”

“This is Surrey. In British Columbia, Canada. When you told them your address, this is where they thought you meant,” James explained.

The police gave them leave to go once it had been established that no one had been bitten, and she was bundled into the back of James’ car while he got back in the driver’s seat like a personal chauffeur. This was the life, or rather un-death, she could look forward to now. Mr Green had been telling her during their meeting that her assets had appreciated greatly while she slept. She was a rich woman all of sudden, not the little girl begging on the streets of the East End. It seemed unfair that she had been so poor when she actually needed it, and now she was immortal and cut off from everyone she had wealth. It all felt a bit pointless when you had no-one to spend it on.

While she was still thinking about such things, James apologised about the rudeness of the police. She just stared out the window, watching the unfamiliar streets slip by. The roads were wide, the houses large, and rain-battered. They passed under a bridge, and she saw homeless people had set up tents there. She sighed. New world, same old problems.

“James. Why is it I am assigned someone to look after me, and those poor folks are not?”

James frowned. He glanced over at the people, trying to stay dry. “We have some outreach programs, but its not enough. The local politicians just keep getting police to come and clear their camps, instead of spending money to actually get them more support. They often have quite complicated issues. Its like you Blythe, just getting someone assigned to you doesn’t suddenly make your problems go away. Keeping that going matters a lot.”

“I think my problems are rather minor compared to not having a home.”

“You don’t have a home either Blythe.”

“It’s because I’m dangerous, isn’t it,” she said with a little chuckle. “Can’t have lost and confused vampires wandering around, can we.”

“Helping paranormal people is helping those who are different. That’s a good precedent to set for society. Its for the good of everyone.”

“That’s very sweet of you James,” she replied, once again feeling that creeping feeling that this man was going to get himself into some hot water. If he didn’t think vampires were dangerous, who else could he get mixed up with?

“Here I am in the future, and we are still trying to solve homelessness,” she mused.

“And we will keep trying,” James insisted.

“How?”

“What?”

“How are you going to solve homelessness?”

“Well, how would you solve it?”

“Guillotines,” she said. He looked back at her, clearly shocked. “For the rich,” she added with a mischievous smile. This lasted for all of a second before she suddenly realised what she had said, and blurted out, “wait... I’m rich...”

James laughed uproariously. “How about we avoid blood if possible?” He eventually managed to answer.

“James darling, what a thing to suggest to vampire.”

Once she had pointed it out, he started laughing even more. Clearly they were both capable of speaking without thinking. As the laughing died down, she found herself looking out the window again.

“At least there aren’t children begging on the streets any more,” she said quietly.

“I suppose life was harder in the past?”

“Yes and no. How to describe it? It’s like... It’s like...” she thought for a moment on a good metaphor to explain how she was feeling. “It’s like dating a mediocre man,” she said at last.

“Um, how do you mean?”

“This future I’ve woken up in, has good things in it, I won’t say it doesn’t. They just pale with what it should be. If you’ve only ever dated terrible people, a mediocre man suddenly seems like the best thing ever. Wow, they opened a door for you. They put the laundry on sometimes. They take the spiders out. Big deal. That’s what this future is. It isn’t the nuclear apocalypse. It isn’t Utopia. It’s... the bare minimum of progress. It’s mediocre.”

“Wow.” James grinned, as though impressed, but didn’t seem to have a ready reply. She had apparently stunned him into silence.

“We’ll always try to improve the world but... I’m sorry about men,” he said at last. She chuckled. Not a terrible response.

“Some of my husbands weren’t bad,” she allowed.

“Oh, you were married?”

“Three times. All dead,” she explained, careful not to go into too much detail about that. The manner of some of their deaths might change his opinion of her somewhat. It definitely wasn’t time for that. James was basically one of the only people she knew now.

“How about you?” She asked him, deflecting away from her own messy life.

“Well... actually...” he said. She found herself gripping the handle above her window rather tightly as he very shyly glanced at her. “I’m going on a dating show. On TV. A Television dating show.”