"The Dark Stranger" © VeGirl 2014

A few weeks fly by and no matter how many times I ask Vincent about his cryptic comment about him and me, he is adamant in his refusal to reveal what he meant.

Albeit this puzzle to solve, life is good. Every day Vincent has dinner ready and I can't wait to get home. During my late nights, Vincent is there to meet me when I get off and everybody expects him to hang around. He has somehow become a permanent part of my life... again...

We invite Eddie and Kevin over for a dinner party and we all get along amazingly well. Vincent has an old kind of courtesy and he is well mannered in a way that contradicts his outer appearance. He is extremely attentive towards me and has a wicked kind of humour that has us all bursting with laughter. Nobody seems to even remember that Milo was our fourth group-member just weeks ago.

It is actually mindboggling that people totally ignore the fact that Vincent abruptly has popped into my life in a supernatural kind of way. But then again, I don't tell them we've been married for several hundred years. That might be a little too hard to swallow.

Life is good, and has been for weeks, when one day everything changes. Surprised I look up as I deliver another tray of cupcakes into the store; Vincent is there with Esmeralda.

I widen my eyes. "What are you doing here, Eddie might recognize you!" I hiss alarmed.

Esme just smiles. "No, she won't." There is a confidence in her statement that is confusing. Sure, the girl was definitely not wearing tight jeans and a top like that, last time they met, and her hair is completely different when she flattens it like she has today.

"She's not blind and she can walk out here any minute now," I hiss as I walk around the counter for a more private conversation.

"I promise you!" She widens her eyes and nod in a way to convince me.

"But...?"

Vincent slides an arm around me and kisses my cheek. "I'm getting out of town, but Esme's staying with you. My presence has been... requested by... the..."

"...faction."

"By the organisation...and I'm leaving shortly."

I narrow my eyes. "What are you not telling me?"

Vincent wraps me tight in his arms. "I'll be back as soon as I can, and Esme will protect you."

Eddie walks out into the shop and I freeze. "Hi, what's going on?" she asks.

"Hi Eddie, I'm sorry to pop in like this, but I've been called away on a business trip rather abruptly and I just wanted to say goodbye." Vincent sounds very convincing but I wonder what will happen when the Esmeralda-bust is happening. "Oh, this is Esme, my cousin."

"Hi, I don't think we've met?" Esme is quick to offer her hand to my friend, who looks surprised.

"No, I don't think so. I'm Eddie."

"It is nice to meet you Eddie. We might run in to each other over the next few days. I'm staying in Vincent's house when he's gone."

Alarm is ringing in my ears, but Eddie doesn't show the slightest recollection.

'Calm down!' Vincent's voice flows through my mind and I do my best to obey. "I just came to say goodbye." He pulls me in for a hug and the sentence feels ominous. "I'll try to speed it up so I can come home to you."

"Okay..." Something inside of me is getting more anxious by the second. "And I suppose you can't tell me anything...?"

He sighs with a bitter smile.

With one last kiss he let me go and after a 'see you tonight' from Esme, they leave. There are too many hours left of the day and I am restless for some answers from Esme. Why did he have to leave, and where is he going?

"You're cupcakes are about to be a chunk of coal."

I snap my head up to Eddie's troubled face and follow her look to the oven. "Oh shit!" With hurry I rush over and flung the big doors open before I roll the huge trolley out of the heat. At closer checkup I exhale a sigh of relieve as I realise the damage is not severe. "It's just a few that are slightly dark," I inform her.

"You're distracted..."

I look surprised at her. "Yes, Vincent had to go away and I'm..." My brows are furrowed as if Eddie is supposed to know that he might be in danger. She knows nothing about him, but neither do I. "I'll fix this..." Is all I say before I turn away from her and focus on my work. Internally, I contemplate of what kind of business Vincent might have been called away.

Suddenly Mary is standing in front of me. "How long will you be staying?"

I don't understand; does she want to get rid of me?

"It's five o'clock!" she smiles and I look surprised up at the watch.

"What?" How can two hours already have passed? I look around to find that I have mechanically executed my work to perfection while my mind have been busy brooding about what I have no answers. "Wow!"

"Yeah, they look delicious!" Mary smiles at the patisserie that fills the work surface.

I blink surprised.

She helps me to put the trays on the trolley that is pushed into out vast cooling room. "So, let's take off then." She smiles as we walk into the changing room where we transform into civilians. "Was the hunk leaving?"

I am still not fully recovered from what I consider magic. "Yeah..." I utter absent-minded. "Away on business."

"That's sad," she offers consolingly

"Yeah, but hopefully he'll just be a few days." I smile bravely even if I've been worried all day.

We pop out heads inside the doorway to Eddie's office door and say a quick goodbye before we head out the back door. To my surprise I find somebody I know leaned up against the back wall. "Layla?"

"Hi babe, I thought I'd surprise you." She smiles broad.

"You did!" I hurry to hug the girl while Mary leaves in her car. "Have you come for a few days? Not for another party I hope?" I frown at the memory. "I can't remember the last time I was that hungover."

Layla laugh. "Yeah and I must have tripped and scratched myself because there was blood on my pillow the next day I found a scratch on my neck. Weird!"

"No; really...? I didn't notice!" I exclaim but secretly devote to meticulously study Buffy the vampire-slayer to brush up on vampire-disposal. "Let's get to my place." I say and that's when I notice the trunk next to her. "Are you in trouble?" I ask concerned as I deduce that she is planning on staying.

"I just need a change in scenery..." she dodges the subject and we head for my car.

I try to think what my fridge contains and decide it is best to stop at the supermarket before we head home. Layla is her most bubbling and charming self as we stock up on food and snacks. Soon we're heading on in my car to put the groceries away and for me to put my feet up on the coffee-table. I can't wait.

When we get back home I notice Esme sitting in my front porch. Wow, is everybody here to socialize when I need to think? "Hi!" the three of us says, equally surprised. "Oh, this is my cousin Layla, and this is my friend Esme," I introduce as if there is nothing wrong with this at all. Every day I introduce a vampire-bitten friend to my closest witch.

I put the loaded grocery-bags on the porch as I fiddle with the key.

"Oh, I made dinner for us." Esme says. "I'm sure it's enough for three."

I look surprised at her and my mouth might have fallen open a little; luckily not repulsively much.

"I put it in the kitchen." A twinkle in Esme's eyes reveals that she has just magically made food appear in my kitchen.

Wow! I need to have her around more often!

"Wow that was so sweet of you!" Layla says with a huge smile on her face. "You do that a lot? I'm starving!"

Esme laugh without a care in the world and unburden me from one if the brown paper bags loaded with groceries.

"So... you live close by?"

I walk behind the innocently chattering pair feeling like an eavesdropper.

"My cousin is away on business, so I'm looking after his house." She points to the house across the street and I expect Layla to drop some line about Esme looking after it so it won't fall down.

"Wow, it's cute!" she says instead and all I can think is; what?

With furrowed brows I cast a glance out the kitchen window to find a cute little red house standing there with a white picket fence around. My mouth falls open with a gasp.

'Careful now!' I hear a humour-laced Esme send into my head. I snap my mouth shut and rearrange my features to hide the surprise.

"I've surprised my cousin with the white picket fence. I think he's gonna love it, don't you Sam?"

"Err...yeah, I think he'll be ecstatic," I mumble while thinking about how this could happen. 'Is it some kind of glamour; some kind of spell?' I ask Esme silently while looking out at the house on the other side of the road again.

'It is... wow, how do you know about that?' she answers while setting the table and putting the dinner in the centre of it.

I ignore her question and focus on my cousin. "How come you showed up here Layla?"

"Oh, I..." she stutters in a way that sounds like this is a fabrication, far from the truth. "It looks like I met a guy on that party and he's kind of clingy." She looks away with an embarrassed expression on her face.

'Vampire' I project to Esme.

"You mean like a stalker?" Esme asks Layla while putting a fork of delicious food in her mouth. I have almost a need to stop everything without chewing and moaning, but I realise that is not the best combo.

"Yeah... something like that."

"That sounds creepy!"

* * *

A few days pass and Layla stays put in my house. I miss Vincent like crazy and even if I long for solitude to sulk, I am glad to have her company. Layla has a great sense of humour, and besides that; she has dinner ready when I come home from work and I am grateful to simply slump down by a set table and dig into a delicious dinner.

"I met Esme today and she invited us over for barbecue tomorrow night," Layla informs me in a b.t.w. kind of way.

I stop breathe for a moment. How does this glamour-thing work? What if Layla needs to powder her nose; what if the glamour wears off? How come Layla and Esme are hanging out? How long will it take for Layla to find out stuff I want to keep from her?

"What's the matter; don't you like her?" Layla snap me out of my brooding and I look up into a curious face.

"Yeah, it sounds great." I blink and try to come up with a plausible reason. "I had just a little too much on my mind. Day after tomorrow there's some catering business and we lack staff... I'm just a little preoccupied."

"I can help. I've worked as a waitress."

"I didn't know that...?"

"You don't know everything about me," she smirks and I nearly choke on my water.

Well...dito...

Barbecue at the neighbour's house could have been awkward, but this is truly amazing.

I catch myself glancing around, trying to find some kind of crack in the fabric of fabrication or what this is called. Nowhere can I see the slightest implication that the house that used to stand here shines through. In the backyard, Esme has set a fantastic table.

"Wow, this is amazing!"

Farie-lights twinkle, turning this into a magical place. I have never been here in the backyard, but if I had, I'm sure it wouldn't have looked like this. Suddenly I notice that it feels familiar and homy. The trees I spot further off don't look like they belong in this part of the world. This setting looks more like it belong next to Esme's house in never-never land.

"What a beautiful table!" I say, pulling attention from the treeline to the closest proximity. "It looks delicious." I can't help myself from nicking a piece of vegetable and chew on it. "It tastes like heaven," I exclaim. "I never knew that you were such a good cook."

Esme snickers. "Magic fingers...." She wiggles them in the air while her eyes twinkle and I feel the need to roll my eyes at her. "Actually I've practiced for a long time."

'I bet you have' slips through my mind and Esme snicker while she walks up to the barbecue and picks up the meat that smells absolutely divine. 'For centuries...' she replies mirthfully turning my mouth into a secretive smile.

The dinnerconversation is shaded by the orgastically delicious food before us. I'm not even aware of the bedroom-sounds I make while chewing until I look up into Layla's judging eyes. "Sorry..." I feel actually embarrassed. "But it is fabulous."

"I totally agree, but when your sounds are about to turn me on, there is something seriously wrong." She tries to sound judgemental, but crack up in the end and all three of us start to giggle. "I think I need a man."

"Me too..." Esme and I say in choir and we start to giggle again.

I haven't felt this good in a long time and certainly not since Vincent left. A thought cross my mind and I contemplate how many 'hair from unicorn', 'fast luck insense' and 'eye of newt' is in this anyway? The smile in my lips widens and I realise that I don't care if Esme is hexing me or not, as long as I get food this good.

"How can you eat like that and never gain a pound?"

I snap out of my euphoric reverie and look up at Layla's mildly accusing face. "I work out," I defend myself between chews. "I went out for a run yesterday when you were hugging your pillow." I put another piece of the warm salad with sugarsnaps and radishes in my mouth and add a piece of steak. "This is truly a piece of heaven."

.