My Annoyingly Handsome Vampire

Chapter 5

The campus club smelled like cheap cologne, spilled beer, and desperation.

Friday night. Coat check. R$ 85 per hour plus tips.

Kira had been on her feet for 9 hours already between Trish Ware and this. Her feet hurt. Her head hurt. But rent was due in 4 days and R$ 248.60 wasn't going to cut it.

"Hey. New girl."

Three guys. Fraternity jackets. The kind that thought 'no' was the start of a negotiation.

The tallest one stepped forward. Alex. He smiled like he owned the place.

"You smell expensive," Alex said. "You work here?"

Kira kept folding coats. "Coat check."

"You should be out there. With us. Buy us drinks, slave son's girl."

Her hands stopped.

"Excuse me?"

The other two laughed. Ethan and Gary.

"You heard him," Ethan said. "The slave son's girl. That VALOR guy. The one who was at Trish Ware last week. You're his, right?"

Kira frowned. "I don't know who you're talking about."

Alex leaned on the counter. Too close. "Sure you don't. We saw him looking at you. Like you were something special." He snorted. "Turns out you're just a waitress."

The air went cold.

Not metaphorically. Actually cold. Like someone had opened a freezer in July.

Kira looked up.

He was there.

No door opening. No footsteps. No warning.

Just _there_. Standing three feet from Alex, hands in his pockets, suit jacket off. Black shirt. Eyes like nothing she had ever seen.

Xeron.

"Touch her and die," he said.

His voice was quiet. That was the scary part. It was not loud. It was not angry. It was quiet. Like he was stating a fact.

Alex laughed. Nervous. "Slave son. Your mother was—"

"Was what?"

Xeron took one step forward.

The temperature dropped again. Kira's breath fogged.

"A better person than your father will ever be," Xeron finished.

Silence.

Ethan and Gary had gone pale. Alex's smirk was cracking.

"Y-you can't—"

"I can," Xeron said. "And I will. Leave. Now."

They left.

Fast.

Then it was just her and him and the hum of the club outside.

Kira realized she was shaking.

"Are you— are you okay?" Xeron asked.

The question threw her. Not "what happened." Not "are you hurt."

"Are you okay."

"I... yeah. I'm fine." She swallowed. "Who are you?"

He looked at her. Really looked. Like he was memorizing her face.

"Go home, Kira."

Her blood went cold.

"How do you know my name?"

Xeron did not answer. He stepped back, into the shadows by the emergency exit.

"Go home," he said again. Softer this time. "Don't take the bus. Call a cab."

Then he was gone.

No sound. No movement. Just gone.

Kira stood there for a full minute, heart hammering, staring at the empty space where he had been.

"Who... who are you?" she whispered to the empty hallway.

Her phone buzzed. Unknown number.

_Go home. -X_

She did not sleep that night. She just couldn't.

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