THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR

Chapter 2: First Encounter

Maria's alarm blared, waking her at 9 pm. Her body screamed in protest as she rolled over to shut it off. This new schedule was going to take some getting used to.

At the hospital Maria had worked in Texas, she'd complained about the 12-hour day shifts, starting at 6 am, she was often scheduled. Was night shift now the universe's cruel way of slapping her in the face with karma for being ungrateful?

Any minute now, the second alarm she'd set across the room would ring, and then the third one she'd put in the living room. She really had no faith in herself last night that she'd actually wake up at 9 pm. The whole going to sleep at two in the afternoon had weirded her body out so much yesterday that she hadn't actually fallen asleep until 5 pm. Which now gave her a whopping 4 hours of sleep to go off of before her first day working 10 pm to 6 am. This shift was going to be rough.

Maria swung her long legs over the side of the bed. In the three days she'd been living here, she'd managed to purchase a bed, an area rug, and a few essentials for the kitchen. But as far as making her new home 'homey,' well, that was still a work in progress. It seemed the unpacking would happen on an as-needed basis, meaning that there may very well be boxes laying around her house for the following year.

Right on cue, the second alarm rang, and Maria padded across the blue rug to the small dresser across the room. She looked herself in the eye, her dark hair a frazzled mess around her freckled face. Her Abuela would refer to this as her 'bruja look' and she did indeed feel like a witch beginning her day at this hour of the night.

"It's game time," she said to her reflection.

***

THE GAS STATION

It turns out that it wasn't quite game time for Maria. She had managed to buy a few essential kitchen appliances but had, of course, forgotten the most fundamental– a coffee maker.

Maria pulled up to the brightly lit station and threw her truck into park. The fifteen-minute drive out here had seemed like an inconvenience until she realized it had already put her halfway to the hospital, which could be dangerous, seeing that this may become a daily habit.

The chill outside ran through Maria's purple scrubs as soon as she stepped out. The severe contrast between Arizona's night and daytime temperatures would take some getting used to. She'd totally forgotten the whole detail about this being a desert and the temperature dropping after sunset.

A small bell rang above the door as Maria stepped into the fluorescent glow of the gas station. The aisles were packed tightly with food, candy, and tourist souvenirs. Only a couple of people roamed the aisles, all seeming to be locals as they expertly navigated the packed shelves. In the back of the station between the lottery tickets and freezer units was the creme de la creme that Maria had come for--coffee!

She nearly skipped towards the machines, where before her lay four options: blonde roast, medium roast, french vanilla, and caramel macchiato. The device resembled a soda machine, though the levers extended slightly longer, and the warm scent wafting from inside filled the air with a heavenly smell.

Maria grabbed a giant styrofoam cup and began filling it up. Her hips were doing a bit of a dance as the aroma of the blond roast came out fresh and hot.

"Thirsty?" said a deep voice beside her. Maria turned in alarm to see that someone had caught her happy dancing for the coffee.

"A bit." She smiled at the young man, who seemed amused by her current state. He stood a good five or six inches taller than her, which was saying a lot since she was tall herself, having tapped out at about 5'8 her sophomore year of high school.

The man's smooth and creamy skin was a stark contrast to her naturally tan skin. But there was something different about his complexion, almost as if he'd been carved from a slab of marble and been freshly polished. The sleeves to his black hoodie were rolled up, showing off his toned biceps, and Maria had to force herself not to stare too much as her heart fluttered with lust.

The man pushed back his silky dark shoulder-length hair, shifting his weight as if he was suddenly embarrassed he had said anything.

"No judgment from me." His grey eyes were alertly set on hers. "I'm more of a french vanilla guy myself, though." He moved to grab a cup but swung his arm back a bit too much and knocked over the entire stack.

"Sh*t!" The man knelt down and frantically began picking up the cups. Maria knelt beside him, grabbing as many as she could.

"Don't worry, I won't tell." She looked over her shoulder to see the man at the cashier desk staring directly at them. "Spoke too soon. I think we've been caught."

The stranger gave a small apologetic wave to the cashier.

"I feel as though I'll need to buy something now to make up for my destructiveness. I only came in here to cash in my lottery ticket."

"Oooh, big winner?" Maria asked.

"Yup. Five dollars!"

"Hell yeah!" Maria raised her hand for a high five, then immediately regretted it. It wasn't that she was trying to flirt with him, or cared whether she made a good impression or not on this stranger, but going around high-fiving cute men (or anyone for that matter) was not a habit she wanted to get into.

The man chuckled, then gave her a high five. At the touch of his hand, Maria felt an instant spark of connection, but it was over all too soon. They both stood and set the cups back on the counter just in time for Maria to stop the lever that'd been filling up her own cup. The liquid swished right at the edge. Had it been one-second longer, the cup would have overflowed.

"I'm gonna be impressed if you can get that out of these front doors without spilling a drop." The man challenged.

The liquid was dangerously close to the edge. Normally Maria would have slurped up a bit of it with one of the tiny straws, but she was never one to back away from a challenge.

"I bet you five bucks that I will." Maria raised a single eyebrow. A glimmer of amusement flashed on the man's face.

"It's a bet." He fished out the five bucks from his pocket that he'd probably gotten from the cashier moments before as his lottery winnings.

Maria stared down at the cup, plotting her next move. The trick was moving the cup as little as possible.

"Stay here." She pointed to the stranger as she backed away to the counter. There, she paid the cashier and then ran back to the coffee machines, where the man stood protecting her bounty.

Maria lifted the styrofoam cup, the liquid sloshing slightly, but so far, so good. The man followed close behind her steps, watching for even a minuscule of a drop to fall.

When she got to the door, Maria looked up at the man and nodded towards the door. He gave a nonchalant shrug.

"Normally, I'm a gentleman and would open the door for you, but I've got five dollars on the line that says you won't make it out of here, so, no-can-do."

Maria refused to find what he said charming and released a strong sigh instead. "Fine. I've made it this far." She turned her back to the door and used her butt to push it open. Step by step, she cleared the door frame until she was standing safely outside on the sidewalk.

"Success!" She cried out, still careful to make sure that she didn't spill any of the liquid gold on herself.

"Bravo, bravo!" The man gave her a small golf clap, and he flashed her the five dollars. "I believe this belongs to you."

Maria didn't even hesitate before swiping it from his hand. "I believe it does." She pocketed the bill, and it looked like she had tomorrow night's coffee paid for in advance.

"Well, um, I should probably head off." The man eyed her scrubs, "And I'm guessing you need to also. It was nice meeting you officially. I'm Alessandro...your neighbor."

"Oh," Maria scrunched her eyebrows.

"I swear I wasn't following you or anything; I just recognized your truck. It's not like many people live up on that hill. I'm Alessandro, by the way. Gods, I've said that, and now I'm rambling."

Alessandro brushed back his hair again. Maria had already picked up on this move as an endearing, nervous tick.

"I'm Maria. And yes, it's nice to meet you finally. I was starting to think that no one lived there. The curtains are always so tightly closed."

"Yeah." Alessandro put his hands in his pocket, "It's, um, bright during the day." He hissed, looking up and shielding his eyes as if the sun were out. "Sorry, that was dorky. I work night shifts like I'm guessing you do."

"Oh, cool." Maria was about to ask where he worked when she heard her phone ding, reminding her that she had her own job to get to. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. That's probably my new boss checking in." She gave a small wave. "But I'm sure I'll see you around."

Alessandro smiled, his teeth perfectly straight and gleaming in the moonlight. "Yeah, I'll see you around."

He turned, walking in the opposite direction as Maria slid into the driver's seat and immediately spilled the entire cup of coffee on herself.

***

POV ALESSANDRO

That was not how THAT was supposed to go.

Alessandro paced around in his yard, replaying the events of a few minutes ago. All he was supposed to do was scope her out and find out how much of a threat she was. He was not supposed to look into her beautiful green eyes and feel his pulse quicken. He wasn't supposed to still be thinking about how enjoyable it was to talk to her.

He had seen how joyful she was, celebrating something as small as a good cup of coffee; then, when she'd been so easy for him talk to, something had happened inside of him that he hadn't felt in a long time. There had been an instant connection, or had he only imagined it?

She appeared to be a recent college grad full of life and hope. He suspected that he gave off a similar vibe...or at least he hoped. He couldn't have her doubting that, though. His body looked only a couple of years older than her, but in actuality, his soul had roamed this earth for centuries.

He would have to avoid her from now on.

She didn't seem like a threat. He wanted to talk to her further, he wanted more encounters like the one tonight, but that in itself was a threat to his low profile lifestyle he tried keeping all this time.

Humans had their lives and he had his own to worry about. Alessandro hadn't spent all these centuries in hiding simply to let his guard down as he'd unexpectedly done tonight. Besides, what kind of bond would they ever be able to explore if he couldn't even set foot in the light of day?