Chapter 3

"Oh my God!"

Jolting awake with an unattractive snort I bolted up to a seat in bed, instantly regretting my actions as the room began to spin in protest. Groaning, I cradled my tender head and nursed the hard lump that had formed on the side of my skull; struggling to piece together what was happening and why I was in so much pain. Had I been drinking?

Racking my memory of what could have caused such a smack, it took a solid few seconds of deep thought before a mental dam suddenly burst and everything that had happened came flooding back.

All thoughts about my aching head flew out the window as I hurriedly began to search the room for anything out of the ordinary, i.e., one vampire. But nothing seemed out of place, the only thing of note being the daylight now bleeding through from the tall curtains of my bedroom.

How long was I out?

"Lilly?" I called out, listening out for my little sister who was out of sight. Was she alright?

"You cleaned!" She yelled in reply from further into the flat.

...What?

Scrambling from bed, I kicked off the duvet with a surprising amount of struggle before rushing barefooted out my room and beelining to the glaringly spotless kitchen. No dishes in the drying rack, clean tea towel on the counter—heck, even the dog bowls had been replenished. "What in the world...?"

"Couldn't sleep last night?" She asked cheerfully, either completely ignoring my confusion or fully unaware of it as she grabbed a box of cornflakes from one of the overhead cabinets. Too befuddled to answer, I stared at the sparkling countertop of my kitchen island transfixed. Did Dracula do this?

Why would he...?

"-- say Jess was back?" I vaguely heard her ask as I was too preoccupied wrapping my head around the situation to listen, "Danny?"

"Hmm?" I asked, snapping out of my daze. Still processing it all, I came to the realisation that he could still be in the apartment somewhere.

"I asked, when's Jess back?" She smiled, pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

Discretely taking a step back to investigate the living room, a quick scan revealed it to be empty, "Oh um, Ruby's bringing her this afternoon. Wanted to impress some guy or something... Lilly, what's going on? What happened last night?"

She looked up puzzled, "What do you mean, what happened?"

"You know, after I passed out?"

Putting the cereal back in the cabinet she turned to me confused, "You passed out? Wait, when?

"You were there! You were right in front of me," I countered, my mind reeling even further as her words confused me more and more.

"No, you didn't... or at least I didn't notice if you did. As far as I could tell you were right as rain the whole night. When did you pass out?" She asked concerned, sitting down on one of the several tall stools I had by the island.

Did she not remember? But...

I stared at her in disbelief as she picked up her spoon and began to eat casually without a care in the world, "Lilly, what did we do last night?"

"What? Danny, are you okay? What's up with you?" She asked, a slight chuckle leaving her lips as she looked at me in a mixture of concern and humour, "Did you hit the tequila or something after I went to bed? You're never like this."

"Please, humour me," I said curtly, trying to discern if what happened last night was real or not, "What did we do?"

"I don't know, we..." She began, pausing the spoon of cereal that was about to enter her mouth, "We ate pizza and watched TV."

"The pizza never came, Lilly," I rebuked, quickly searching for any trace of a pizza box and finding nothing. If it was here that meant that the pizza guy had to have been over, and my version of events last night wasn't correct, "Why are you acting like this?"

"Acting like what?!"

"Like all we did last night was eat pizza!" I snapped back, my voice rising in volume as my frustration grew.

Her face contorted in annoyed disbelief, "But we did!"

"Fine, then where's the pizza box?"

She fully put her spoon down at this point, growing equally as frustrated as I was, "I threw it away after we were done last night! Jesus, usually you're up my arse about not throwing the rubbish out; now you're scolding me?"

"B-but, the guy--!"

"--What guy? Danny, you're scaring me. Do you need to call Dr Lynn?" She eventually asked, her concern over taking her annoyance as I stood in the doorway dumbfounded. I blinked several times in disbelief, still not entirely certain that this wasn't some sick dream that I'd wake up from any second. Last night couldn't have been a hallucination, it was far too real.

"Maybe," I eventually muttered, turning and leaving her calling after me. My first course of action was to check the entire apartment to make sure some bat didn't pop out of nowhere and bite me on the arse. Searching the flat top to bottom, everything was where it should be and there was no sign of the Count. Even the front door was fixed. Oh, come on! I definitely didn't imagine that.

Returning to my bedroom, I picked up my phone from the bedside table and reluctantly dialled Dr Lynn's number. If this was a symptom it had gone way too far. It literally felt so real that I was struggling to differentiate between reality and imagination.

It went straight to voice-mail as I thought it would. She must've turned her phone off in order to give her full attention the family emergency. Brilliant, perfect timing.

"This is Dr Haryath Lynn, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Hi, Dr Lynn. It's Danny. Hope everything is okay on your end, send Pete and the kids my love. I was um, I was just wondering if you could call me back as soon as you get this message? It's urgent and I'd be really grateful, thanks," I rattled out while sat on the bed, my leg bouncing up and down on the spot. What on Earth is going on?

"Did she answer?" Lilly asked once I was done, popping in just as I finished my message.

"No, I left a voice mail," I mumbled in return, snapping my phone shut and running a hand down my tired face, "Hopefully she'll get back to me soon."

"What's going on, Danny?"

I shook my head and eventually blew out a breath of exasperation, "I wish I knew..."

"Should I be worried?" She asked, crossing her arms and staring in anticipation for my answer. The concern was clear as day on her face as she waited for my response. I looked up at her stood figure as I slouched over on my bed, palm of my hand on my chin as I debated what to answer.

Thanks to her narrow frame and various complications early on, Lilly had a pre-disposition for a traumatic pregnancy and had been in and out of hospital for months. The doctors advised us that any form of severe stress could trigger an early labour which could prove catastrophic. Basically, Lilly needed to be cool as a cucumber long enough so that she could be induced safely.

Me starting to develop symptoms again after years of being supposedly on the rise was not exactly what you'd call smooth sailing. If she gets too stressed it could be potentially life or death, and between exams and this—it wasn't looking good in terms of zen and tranquillity.

So, I lied.

"No. It's nothing, don't worry," I said, straightening my posture and smiling reassuringly, "Must've been a weird dream I had or something. Sorry for worrying you."

"You sure?" She asked suspiciously.

"Crystal," I nodded, placing my phone on the bedside table.

"Okay..." She eventually shrugged, before I noticed she was playing with a piece of paper in her hand, "By the way, who's C?"

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, I eyed the note in her hand "Who?"

"C? I found this number stuck to the fridge this morning," she said, holding out the paper as evidence. My eyes widened as I realised who the note could possibly be from, "You didn't have anyone over after I went to bed last night, did you?

"N-no," I shakily replied, shaking my head in the negative as I stood up and practically snatched the little scrap of paper from her hand. Exiting the bedroom, I made my way into the living room to read the note privately.

"Oh my God, you totally did! Are they hot?" She cackled, practically bouncing in after me and ruining my train of thoughts. Where the Hell were my glasses?

I waved her off, "Shut up. Have you seen my glasses?"

"On your head dumb-arse," She smirked knowingly, her reply causing me to find that they were in fact on my head. Oh, when the Hell did they get there?

Giving her a snarky smile in return, I quickly wore my glasses and read the note as she returned to the kitchen, "I'm making a proper breakfast, you want anything?"

Call me: 220-768-0987 - C

"That's it?" I muttered to myself, flipping the note over in my hand to check the back. But there was nothing, just ten digits and a letter accompanied by a demand.

"Danny?"

"Huh?" I replied, glancing up from the note as Lilly came back into the room.

"Breakfast? You want some?" She repeated. I shook my head with a no thank you and turned back to the note. This obviously meant that what happened last night was real, and ergo meant that he was real, "You gonna call them?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly, staring at the paper transfixed as I tried my best to process everything at once. This was tangible evidence. This was physical proof that someone had been into my apartment and left a note because Lord knows I didn't write this. I wasn't hallucinating and in all honesty at this point I had no idea what was better; fiction or reality.

What the Hell do I do?

Buzzzzzzzz

Twenty minutes of heavy processing later and the doorbell rang. I jumped out of my skin at the sound as my head snapped up in the direction of the intercom, my heartbeat spiking and palms growing sweaty as I debated if the vampire was back or not. Taking a deep-breath, I shakily stood up and made my way to the entryway, pressing the green call button after a moment's hesitation and swallowing to elevate my dry mouth, "Hello?"

"It's me, your father," A deep gruffly voice replied from the other end of the line. The minute I heard it I felt my whole body practically deflate in relief; a breath I didn't know I was holding being let out as I leaned my head against the wall. I guess she was early.

"Hey Dad, come on up," I muttered jokingly, the reply half-arsed even to my ears. I pressed the button and buzzed my best friend up. We'd met through mutual friends a couple of years ago and had been almost inseparable ever since.

About two minutes after the interaction a loud knock sounded from the other side of the door. Peeping through the peephole for my own sanity, I was relieved to find that it was in fact the brunette waiting for me on the other side.

"Son," She grunted in her fake voice as I opened the door, "I am so happy to see you."

"Dad, you're shorter than I remember..." I commented, playing along with the joke, "Your boobs have gotten bigger too."

"Don't look at your father that way," She scolded, "I'm not that kind of Daddy."

"I wish you were that kind of Daddy."

Ruby was what you'd call the full package. Standing at 5'3 she stood significantly shorter than my 5'8 frame, but for what she lacked in height she more than made up for in voice. She currently attended NYU Medical School and was studying for residency at the local hospital on scholarship, the twenty-five-year-old being one of the most hard-working people I knew.

Originally from Brooklyn, she was incredibly pretty with a mop of curly dark hair, large lips and was for lack of a better term; well endowed. I remember thinking how unfair it was for the rest of us, when people like Ruby Channing existed in the world.

She smiled suggestively before tugging on a familiar purple leash and bringing my little baby into view, "Any day, Sugar. I brought your bitch back."

"Oh my God, hey poopy!" I cooed excitedly; the hideousness of the world forgotten for a brief sweet moment as I crouched down to properly greet my puppy that had been on loan for the past week. She started jumping and yapping like mad, leaping up and off as I smiled and relished the first good feeling I'd had in what felt like eternity, "How have you been? Were you good for Auntie Ruby?"

"Your obsession with dogs is concerning," Ruby smirked from the doorway as I unclipped Jess's collar, the growing Old English Sheepdog bouncing away as she ran to the kitchen as fast as her little legs could carry her; most probably looking for Lilly.

"Your obsession with dick is concerning," I replied, stepping aside so she could come in, "Does he even know that she's not your dog?"

"Damn, low blow," She tutted sarcastically, hanging up her coat and bag whilst kicking off her shoes, "And yes, of course he knows. I told him you were away with work for a week. But enough about that, how are things? How's the deadline going?"

I closed the door and turned to her, biting my lip as her question hung in the air. Ruby had no idea about my sessions with Dr Lynn and ergo what happened in the past to cause me to require those sessions. The less people who knew about what I used to do the better, but at that moment I could've wished for nothing more just to be able to spill everything to her and begin to cry right there on the spot, "... Good. You? How was your week?"

"Oh my God, it was a week," She groaned, drawing out the word week and tilting her head back for emphasis, "I'll tell you in a bit. But first, where's that gorgeous sister of yours so I can smoosh her face?"

I nodded towards the living room, smiling at her antics. I could always count on Ruby as a good distraction, "She's watching TV."

"Sweet," She replied, linking arms with me before practically dragging me into the lounge where Lilly was sat watching some ghost show, "There's my favourite Teen Mom!"

"Hey, Ruby," Lilly smiled from the sofa, a face mask now soaking into her face as she turned to greet us with Jess in her lap frantically trying to lick the green slime from her cheeks, "What's up?"

"Nothing much," She sighed, plopping down next to her and placing her head on her shoulder, "What you watching?"

"True Ghost Stories of the Extra-terrestrials. It's actual trash, but I can't stop watching."

"Sweet. Any hot guys?"

"They're all ghosts, Rubes," Lilly replied as I sat down on the sofa next to them.

She sucked on her teeth in thought, "...I could do a ghost."

The two continued to talk about random bits and bobs as I stared absentmindedly at the TV, my brain filled with cotton-balls I took this opportunity to work over what I was going to do about the whole situation. I must've been sat there silently for a while, as Ruby's voice cut through my thinking what felt like an eternity later, "What would you say, Dan?"

"Huh?"

"Ghost aliens? Smash or Pass?"

"Alright, so you know Noah? Nice smile, bit arrogant... the baker? Yeah, you know him. So anyway, we went out last night. All was going well. Sparks were flying. Like it was really turning into what looked like a good night. But then we got back to his, and no exaggeration here, he literally had an inch," Ruby exclaimed, using her index finger and thumb to mimic a particular part of the male anatomy. My mouth popped open in disbelieving shock as I struggled to hold back my laughter from her story telling.

Lilly had gone to bed a while ago and it was now about 11 o'clock at night. Rubes had spent the entire day with us doing nothing but goofing around and watching TV, inadvertently becoming the perfect distraction as I clung to anything to help me forget what happened yesterday for as long as I could.

"Oh my God, seriously?!" I cackled, placing my wine down on the coffee table to stop myself from spilling it all over the place, "The guy who made that deli sausage joke at Berni's?"

"Yes!" She cried, laughing hysterically holding a wine glass in one hand whilst pointing and clicking her fingers in confirmation with the other, "Seriously! I was just there like-- Okay... Where is it?"

Manic laughter filled the room for minutes afterwards as we both discussed the ins-and-outs of this particularly arrogant man's anatomy.

"This just goes to prove, men who wear that many V-neck shirts are all talk," I pointed out all knowingly, popping a piece of leftover cheese in my mouth from the charcuterie platter we'd made earlier for dinner, "Talk about too good to be true."

"I know, you did warn me," She admitted light-heartedly, sighing loudly as she slumped back into the sofa content, "Life was getting too good anyway. So how about you? Any babes on the scene?"

"Do my fingers count?"

"Naturally."

"Then there have been many. Almost every night. Twice if I feel up to it." I shrugged, taking another sip from my wine as I felt it start hitting my head a little bit.

"Oh, come on! What is wrong with you?! You haven't had sex since that cute cashier guy at Starbucks," She accused, causing my eyes to widen in shock.

"I had sex with the cashier guy at Starbucks?"

Rolling her eyes, she tucked her legs underneath her arse and looked at me seriously, "Do you want me to hook you up with one of my friends? It's no trouble."

I shook my head in the negative and waved her off, "No, I'm good. Save me from your pity shag, I've got more than enough on my plate with Lilly and work."

Not to mention I'm hallucinating hairy vampires. Or rather, one hairy vampire.

"Its not a pity shag," She cried, looking at me incredulously as I stared at her deadpan in return, "... Its not! You're a hot piece of ass, if anything you'd be pitying them."

"Oh well, when you say it like that," I sarcastically replied, eyes wide and mocking as I sipped my red wine.

"Danny," She whined, shoving my shoulder jokingly, "C'mon, you haven't been in a relationship since Abia for crying out loud. Live a little."

I scoffed amusedly, "I'd hardly call two months a relationship, Rubes."

"Exactly," She said, elongating the word for effect, "So forget about her and shag my friend Justin. He's a skater."

"Oh, wow. A skater? Well, now that you've mentioned that..." I began sarcastically, tilting my head to the side whilst looking deep in thought for effect, "Still a no."

"Boo you, whore," she scolded with narrowed eyes, laying her head against the back of the sofa.

Holding my glass out for cheers, I smiled cheekily as I mirrored her seat and laid my head back tiredly, "For a disappointing week?"

"Hey, who said mine was disappointing?" She smirked, clinking our glasses and gulping down what was left, "Say what you will, but that guy had one Hell of an oral game."

"Wait, so you still had sex with him?"

Nodding she gazed and reminisced "Yeah, then we ate pie..."

"Pie?" I ask amused.

"Hey, the guy's a baker! And when bakers offer you pie you take it," She defended, pointing her finger at me warningly.

Chuckling, I decided that it was bedtime and stood up with a groan from the sofa, holding out my hand for her to give me her empty glass to add to the sink, "Whatever. You going home tonight?"

"And pass up the chance of sleeping in a rich person's bed? Hell no," She whooped, standing up whilst slapping her thighs loudly for effect.

"Yeah, it's less of a bed and more of a mattress right now. The nursery finally got pimped out," I explained, walking into the kitchen.

Following me in she stood by the door and held her hands up in defence, "Hey, your yeti fur mattress is better than my bumpy hay stack at home."

"Yeti fur?"

"You're so rich, I'm surprised you aren't pooping gold. What makes you think you can't afford yeti fur?" She commented, "How much they paying you, huh? Come on... you can't stay quiet forever, what'd you do?"

I chuckled vaguely at her comment. She had an ongoing joke that the only reason I could afford this apartment was because the mafia was paying me off to be quiet. Little did she know how close she was to hitting the nail on the head, "Oh, you couldn't comprehend it, Ruby. I'm basically Scrooge McDuck. I swim in my gold every night."

"Wow, what a life," She sighed, before turning from the kitchen with a hair flick and retiring for the evening, "I shall be in my chambers!"

I stayed behind for a bit, not quite sure if I could go to bed just yet. Jess was lying on her back with her feet in the air snoozing like the lazy dog she was, snoring lightly as I got started on cleaning up the dishes of the day. I'd rescued Jess a few months back when my last girlfriend and I broke-up, the need to cuddle something cute becoming too strong and Lilly just didn't cut it.

I stood by the slowly filling sink, my mind catching up with me as I realised, I was alone for the first time since this morning. What was I going to do? A mythical creature was after me and I had no procedure to follow on what to do next. There wasn't exactly a hand book or anything to Google.

I couldn't leave the country. They wouldn't let Lilly on a plane and I sure as Hell wasn't leaving without her. I couldn't tell anyone for the risk of being sectioned, and the one person I could talk to about it was about a twelve-hour drive away dealing with her own issues.

What would I tell the police? That a man broke into my home, knocked the front door down only to wipe my sister's memory, clean the apartment and let me attempt to shoot him multiple times with my very illegal handgun?

I turned the tap off before the sink over-flowed and sighed, leaning against the basin as I tried to figure out what I was going to do. I could call some less than respectful people, but I doubted even they'd know what to do. I was well and truly stuck in a hole and all I had to go on was one scary phone-number on a piece of torn shopping list paper.

It was official.

I was screwed.