Jax and I had five rum shots each before I ordered the girly drink – Coquito, a rum-based, sweet and creamy tropical drink with hints of coconuts, cinnamon and vanilla.

He ordered lots of traditional dishes for us: Mofongo, a mashed plantain dish, filled with meats and seafood, Arroz con gandules, which was rice cooked with pigeon peas, and Asopao, thick stew made with chicken and vegetables.

Jax ate like his life depended on it, which it did. But my own appetite surprised me more. It's been almost two months since I've last eaten anything human, and I enjoyed the different tastes, aromas, spices and herbs. Everything he ordered, I gladly tried.

By the time we've finished our meals – my appetite was sated, and I was drunk on rum and his proximity. As the night went by, Jax came closer and closer to me. My body responded, sending jolts of electricity down my spine each time he touched my arm or leg.

Which he did often.

He told me about his upbringing. Some things he shared were so honest and brutal that it made me feel guilty for being such a stupid fucking liar. He told me his father got into some shady stuff, and he'd tried to escape his shadow by joining the military.

I told him about my father, how for the biggest chunk of my life I didn't even wonder where his wealth came from, and how I still wasn't sure if any of it was legal, which was true. How I had been his favourite up until I started asking questions about his business, and he disowned me without a second thought, leaving me high and dry.

Jax listened without judgement, his eyes never leaving mine, and asked questions about how the entire thing made me feel, whether I missed my family, whether a part of me wanted to go back.

After the sixth shot of rum, I didn't even care if I was oversharing.

Part of me thought I needed to protect my community, but the drunker, more destructive part of me just wanted someone to know, even if it brought forth our ruin.

"I still think you're brave, for what it's worth." He spoke, leaning his elbow against the plate-filled table. "Not many people would have the guts to leave the comfort of their wealth."

"It's all blood money."

In more ways than one.

"Blood money's still money." Jax shrugged. "I'm proud of you."

My heart swelled to the point of exploding. I've heard many things in my life, but no one has ever expressed their pride in regards to me.

"I thought I'd be better off." I admitted, the truth spilling from my lips like the rum had spilled over the colourful tablecloth. "But I'm not, I'm fucking miserable."

"You're babysitting a pregnant teenager." Jax said. "If you weren't miserable, you'd be a psychopath."

I laughed, "She's a handful, that's for sure."

Jax's expression dimmed significantly, and his eyes darted around the table.

"She looks... bad." He looked up at me. "How bad is she?"

He had no fucking idea. But frankly, no one did. Not even Doctor Martin.

"It's bad." My voice quivered.

"How far along is she anyway?" Jax asked. "She looks very pregnant."

Quickly, I tried to calculate how far along she would be if she were human. Vampire pregnancies were twice as long as human, but her belly wouldn't be quite as big if she were only five or four months pregnant. I hoped Jax knew about pregnancies as much as the next single, childless guy.

"Six months." I answered. "The doctors say she needs to make it at least to the eighth month if she wants to keep the baby."

I saw the question in the way his gaze fell down, in the way he sucked in the lower lip, and squeezed his fingers.

"Why didn't she get an abortion? If her life was in danger?"

Lucia and I spent weeks talking about it, considering it. Sometimes she wanted to keep the baby just because she claimed she already loved it. Other times, she claimed she hated it more than anything in the world. It was a roller-coaster of emotions, doubts, and second-guessing.

Eventually, she said she couldn't get rid of it. Not with everything it meant for our world, for humanity. The implications were too big for her to be the only person making the decision.

"She made her choice." I answered.

Jax opened his mouth, ready to say something, when someone dragged a chair from the other table and sat around ours. I almost jumped up, not expecting such an abrupt intrusion. Jax seemed surprised too, but when he looked at the young man now sitting at our table, his face relaxed.

"Jax, man, you catch wind of this yet?"

The young man leaned his thin elbows against the table and pushed his phone in front of Jax's face. He appeared Puerto Rican as well, with his skin a shade darker than mine, black curly hair and brown eyes. He wore a yellow Hawaiian tee, too big for his thin lanky body. The thinness made his face sharp, but his youth was still apparent. He could be eighteen, or nineteen.

Jax moved away from the phone, squinting as screen light blinded him, "Mikey-"

"Been all over the news." Mikey's voice bordered on yelling. "I heard some folks finally saw them. I'm bettin' that tape is straight up real-"

"Mikey, I'm on a date." Jax interrupted him. "This is Odette."

I chuckled and waved, guessing this was just one of the kids that desperately wanted some of Jax's attention. The fact teenagers felt relaxed enough in his presence to interrupt his date made me like him more.

"Yo, I been chillin' outside with my homies for the past couple hours." Mikey folded his hands behind his head. "I thought you woulda been done with it already. Ain't no need to be spendin' more than two hours on a first date, homes, makes you look like you tryna hard."

I laughed out loud and elbowed Jax, "See? You're trying too hard."

He frowned at me, but quickly looked at Mikey again, "What is this? What happened?"

"Dude." Mikey's eyes widened too much to be healthy or natural. "All over the news, I'm tellin' you. Just look!"

Jax let the video play, and a bad feeling washed over me the moment I heard the word 'vampire' in the background of the tape. I swallowed more rum, needing to do something with my hands, and leaned casually towards Jax, hoping to catch a glimpse of the video.

He simply turned the phone towards me, making me think he truly did not know I was a vampire, nor he knew that regular vampires didn't quite look like the Elders.

The video was short, only half a minute or so, and the camera spun and shook as the recorder desperately tried to get the better shot. People shouted in the background, trying to push forward, and simultaneously pushing the cameraman. There seemed to be guards around someone leaving a townhouse, dressed in black, wearing suits and sunglasses. They moved quickly, pushing something – someone – out of the way.

I had no idea what was going on, where they were, or who that was, but both Jax and I glimpsed it at the same time.

He sucked his breath in, while I lost mine.

The shot was quick, too quick, and Jax paused it, then replayed. Then paused.

A man stood at the entrance to the house, dressed completely in black – a sharp contrast against his pale, almost greyish skin. Red, bloodthirsty eyes looked straight into the camera. Calm, composed and lethal. Even through the camera lens, probably miles away from this very spot, he radiated undiluted power, a quiet promise of destruction. An Elder vampire.

Jax let the video play to the end, which was only two seconds after the glimpse of the nocturnal creature. The cameraman whispered a quiet 'fuck' before he stopped filming.

"Where was this?" Jax asked, his voice completely shifting to something I haven't yet heard.

Fear trickled down my spine, reminding me I was the enemy. Pounding began in my chest, and I forced myself to stay put, hoping Jax would misinterpret the meaning behind my fear.

"London." Mikey answered. "I heard some hackers found out where one of them bloodsuckers chillin' at, and they caught him just when he was rollin' back from some twisted orgy, or virgin sacrifice, or whatever. They stormed the spot a few hours later, but it was all cleared out. That's why they thinkin' that video is fake, but it ain't feelin' like that."

That video was definitely real and the Elder in it was one of the most vocal supporters of the vampire coming out movement. This might as well have been a suicide attempt on his part.

The Elders were tired – understandably so. Hiding their entire lives, unable to go out, unable to appear in front of people.

Before photos and videos, they existed as phantoms, solely in the eyes and minds of those later proclaimed insane. But now, humans could film them. They could prove their existence with much more ease.

Most of the Elders hated hiding to this extent. Most of them wanted out. It was the regular vamps, like my father, who preferred the shadows. After all, their business could only grow in the shade.

"Odette?"

I lifted my gaze, "Ha?"

"What do you think?"

"About what?"

"The video. Do you think it's real?"

Jax's eyes bore into mine, and I found myself blinking rapidly. A couple of things crossed my mind at the same time, all plots and schemes I hadn't considered before. I was sitting in a Puerto Rican restaurant with a vampire hunter who has just asked my opinion on the realness of the whole vampire situation. This was either my in or my out.

He would either trust me with the information he had or he wouldn't talk to me about it ever again. So, when I spoke, I spoke with more conviction than I truly felt, well aware I might be throwing my entire species under the bus.

"I think it's about damn time someone did something about it."

Mikey slapped the table, "That's what I've been sayin'!"

Jax kept his eyes on me, only slightly frowning, like he considered my words very carefully. I tried to keep my throat from bobbing, and ignored the rapid beating of my heart against my ribcage. He looked away and took his shot glass.

"Maybe someone is doing something about it."

My stomach flipped upside down.

A confession.

Heaviness sat on my chest as I realised I didn't truly believe he was a vampire hunter. I thought Lucia had made a mistake, and the sign on the card in his wallet meant nothing, but she was right.

Remembering the role I had to play, I frowned, "What do you mean?"

Jax shook his head, "Someone must be doing something about it. Most people don't like talking about it, but our world hasn't been the same since it happened. Hell, my mother hasn't been sleeping soundly for two years, and I know Mikey's mom and grandma are the same. People are scared, and someone should do something about it."

I've never thought about it like that.

My mind has been preoccupied with greater ideas, such as what coming out meant for the humanity in general, what kind of threat vampires presented if unbound by darkness. And what it meant for us, revealing our existence to humans, allowing them to know our weaknesses.

I didn't even think about how this mere revelation affected regular folk, who simply feared to close their eyes because they realised there were things beyond their wildest imagination roaming in the darkness.

Because I also feared things roaming in the darkness and therefore haven't closed my eyes in months, I sympathized.

"God, the world got flipped upside down." I whispered, as if just realising it myself.

"Mikey." Jax suddenly faced the boy now sipping my Coquito. "Leave."

"Oh, come on!" Mikey frowned.

"Now." Jax repeated. "I'm on a date."

Twenty minutes ago, I would have smiled, but the heaviness still sat on my chest, partially disabling my breathing.

Mikey took my Coquito and walked away, grunts of disappointment falling off his lips.

"Sorry about that." Jax smiled. "He thinks he's the hottest shit in town."

This was either my way in our out. I had to take this shot.

"You okay?" My date asked.

"I just realised," I licked my lips, "that you've never told me what you do."

Jax looked confused for a second. Just a second.

Then, his face relaxed, "For a living?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you want to know?"