Nikola finished his shift, and he rushed to the stationery shop. He began to look through the drawing tools on offer as soon as he stepped through the door.
Only to see someone who had red eyes and looked pale between the shelves.
Something told him that this lady was just like Dimitri. But he didn't know for certain.
He went and grabbed a sketchbook and some pencils and went to the checkout.
The lady behind the desk was new. Not the old lady Nikola remembered, who always tried to chat him up and hook him up with her granddaughter.
"Hello," he placed the sketchbook on the counter and then the pencils over it. "I would like to buy these."
"Oh? Are you going to learn how to draw?" The girl asked him, as she began to bag his purchases.
"No. It is for a friend," Nikola said. Even though he wasn't sure if Dimitri was a friend or not. He just wanted to go home and surprise the man.
It seemed that the myths were no lies. Vampires really imprinted on people.
"Oh, must be a special friend to fork over 50 dollars for them like that."
Nikola blinked. He double-checked the price tag on both items. But it was too late. This sketchbook had been the only one to catch his eyes. Not only that, but it was something he felt that would make Dimitri happy.
"Yes, I guess so," Nikola said, as he pulled out his wallet. "That will be… oh, this is cool."
He pointed at the sticker over the laptop. It was the first time he saw it.
It was an old computer, one of those from the beginning of the internet days, with a text bubble and an arrow pointing at the laptop.
"Do you sell more of those?" Nikola just had to get one for his laptop. The irony was not lost on him. An old computer telling everyone who saw it that it was a laptop's grandfather was funny.
"No, sorry. That was my first question when I started to work here. These were just for the stores," she took out other stickers. One of them had a kitten with vampire teeth on it.
Nikola thought that this sticker might have been left over from last Halloween.
"I will take this one," Nikola said, as he took the vampire cat sticker. He wondered what Dimitri would have to say about it.
When he was exiting the shop, the lady who had the same vibe as Dimitri exited it after him. He tried to ignore her, but for some reason, he could not shake her off his trail.
He knew that if he started to run, then she was going to run after him. He continued on his way home.
Thinking that if she followed him all the way home, he was going to call the police on her. He was not someone who was willing to go to jail for hitting a woman.
Even if the woman was a vampire.
His front door was in sight. Dimitri was waiting at the front porch.
Nikola quickened his pace. When he looked behind him, the woman was gone.
With a sigh, the man climbed the steps of his house and handed the bag to Dimitri.
"I got you a sketchbook and some pencils," Nikola looked behind his back once more.
The woman was gone, but he felt watched.
"What is wrong?" Dimitri asked, as he looked around.
"I think a vampire followed me home," it wasn't the best way to welcome the weekend, but Nikola was certain that he wasn't mistaken.
Dimitri led Nikola inside the house. He spared the darkness one last look and then closed the door behind him with a click.
"I did report the vampire. But there wasn't anything on the news about her being captured," the vampire said, as he took out the sketchbook. He pulled the sticker with the cat with it as well.
He smiled.
"I think we should skip town. Just for a couple of days," Dimitri said, as he placed the sticker on the sketchbook's cover.
"What if I lose my job?" Nikola asked. It was the one constant in his life. He didn't want to lose it.
"If you end up dead, I doubt you would be able to go to work, either," Dimitri told him, as he took him by the hand. "I think that a couple of days' worth of hiking in the forest will do us good. She will either follow, or she won't. At any rate, there won't be collateral if we go hiking."
Nikola nodded. He didn't want someone's life to weigh on his conscience.
Soon, he was packing for a three-day hike. He called in to tell his boss that he needed the break.
A break he hadn't taken in the past two years.
It was during the night that they drove away from his house. Dimitri's pickup truck took them further and further into the forest.
Until they stopped by a nice wood cabin in the woods.
"Home sweet home," Dimitri said, as he opened the door for his soulmate. "And now, do you mind if I go for a swim? You can go to sleep, if you wish."
Nikola knew that there was a lake nearby. He wanted to see it. To get his fair share of nature.
"May I come with you?" He wasn't going to swim in the lake. He knew that this was not something he could or should do in the dark.
But he could watch as Dimitri swam. And that was good enough.
Dimitri winked at him.
"Oh? You want to see me just in breves?" The vampire teased.
Nikola chuckled.
"Something along those lines, sure," he teased back.
Vampire and human went to the lake. One sat by the shore and began to gaze up at the moon. The other one undressed and got in the water.
Just as the Selkie was coming out of it. A creature only its prey could see.
And that prey was… Nikola.