“Oh shit, I’m going to be late!” I knew I should’ve done legs on a different day.

  After we had gotten back to the office, the rest of the day was textbook normal. Michael suggested we meet up at the downtown library to see what else they might have in their catalogs for us to look through. We agreed on Saturday morning, wanting to reserve a good studying table before all of them were filled.

  I told myself that I could work out my legs on Friday and be fine enough to walk by the time we planned to meet up on Saturday.

  Note to self: never plan for anything after a leg day ever again.

  I saw Michael standing at the top steps of the library, looking relaxed in his sunglasses and tee shirt.

  He waved when he noticed me.

  He greeted, “What happened to you? You’re walking worse than my granny.”

  I groaned, “Leg day.”

  He nodded solemnly in understanding before breaking out in a grin, “Shall we?”

  We walked into the building, an oddly shaped glass and steel structure eleven stories tall. The inside was well lit, and throughout the shelves there were studying areas. We went for one toward the back of the library; not only quieter, but also much more private so we could actually talk while we were here.

  We looked at the stacks after setting down our bags.

  “You start from Z, I start from A, we’ll meet in the middle?”

  Michael agreed and we went to separate computers looking up vampires, vampyres, vampirism. We often went for the same books as there was not all that much in the library about the creature or phenomena. We arrived back at the table with arms full of books of conflicting facts.

  “Garlic is offensive to vampires,” “Vampires turn to ash in the sun,” “Wood of the yew tree can kill vampires...”

  “Well duh, yew is straight up poisonous.” I looked at Michael, confused. “I took a botany class in college,” he explained.

  I nodded, affirming.

  Decapitation, fire, decapitation and fire, holy symbols generally or only holy water and crosses. Information varied, and a lot of it contradicted between books.

  “Should we try the internet again? Maybe focus on journals written by historians or something?” We were here to learn after all, so why not?

  After hours of research with little to show for it beyond our individual headaches, I needed a break. So much info, and I knew a ton of it was crap or twisted from what was originally intended, but without the aid of a certain centuries-old vampire, we had no idea what things from our lists were bogus.

  “We’ll need to run these things through Antun, see what he knows for certain from his own experience. Maybe we can bring a gift for the host this time. Unless you think that’d be a vampire taboo to watch out for.”

  A rolling of eyes and an accompanying smile were Michael’s reply. He looked relaxed for someone trying to figure themselves out. Not that I was paying any attention.

  ? ?? ?

  After attempting to deep dive at the library, the office seemed even more dull. I sat at the desk, typing another note into the file I was currently working on. I looked across the desk at Michael’s empty chair.

  Where is he? I wonder if vampires can still get sick…

  Movement caught my eye. Michael was walking toward the desk, but something seemed… off. He was wearing his sunglasses inside and seemed to flinch at every single little noise.

  Is he… Don’t tell me he showed up hungover to work. It’s the middle of the week, no one should be that hungover in the middle of the week.

  He sat down, cringing at the squeak his chair made as he sat.

  I spoke up, “Hey Michael, looking a little rough there. You okay?”

  He cringed back from my voice. “Shhhhhh! Oh my God, everything is just so loud and awful today. Everything’s too bright, everything’s too loud, and I keep smelling the most awful things.”

  If he wasn’t hungover, he sure wasn’t convincing me. No way was he going to get work done in this condition.

  “Maybe a coffee will help things? How do you take yours?”

  “Straight, I’m boring that way.” Nothing about this man had said “boring” to me thus far. A little daft at times, but I think it was more that his personality prioritized others as opposed to himself.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  I went to the breakroom and prepped a coffee for myself and Michael each, mine with one cream and two sugars, his with just coffee. I set the mugs down on the desk as gently as I could, not wanting to make things worse.

  He nodded his thanks and sipped, immediately spitting the liquid out in a spray away from the computer.

  “Aw, nasty! What the hell is this, Drew?” He looked at me like I just tried to poison him.

  I didn’t appreciate the tone at all.

  “Coffee, straight like you asked. Is there a problem?”

  “Where did you get this? When was the last time someone cleaned the pot? That is the wrong kind of bitter, yuck!”

  I was getting rather annoyed by now.

  “I just brewed that coffee myself, it's all fresh. And before you ask, it was even the same bag of beans we’ve been using since yesterday.”

  “Yesterday's coffee was fine, but this…” He shook his head and pushed the mug to me. “Am I going crazy? Please taste this and tell me that it’s disgusting.”

  I gave him a flat look.

  “Please, Drew?”

  I took his mug, sniffing it first. It smelled like normal coffee. I took a small sip, grimacing.

  “Yep, it’s disgusting.”

  Michael’s shoulders relaxed.

  “It needs one cream and two sugars, then it’d taste fine.” I pushed his mug back across the desk.

  Michael’s face went back to worry.

  “Not funny, Drew. It really tastes different, I swear!” His face screwed up. He whispered, “And I’m pretty sure more than one person skipped deodorant today because there is BO, bad.”

  Trevor had been walking past our desk toward his office. He paused for the smallest moment before carrying on. I watched as he discreetly tried to sniff himself.

  I knew I had remembered deodorant myself, but just to be sure, my nose turned toward…

  “You’re one of the only things around here that smells normal to me. It’s like all my senses got dialed up to eleven this morning.”

  Senses? Wait, could his senses be enhancing, like what Antun had talked about?

  I mentioned it to him, quietly as his ears were so sensitive. He stared at me a moment before he blinked, then sagged.

  “I’m such an idiot. You’re probably right.”

  “I hope so, otherwise you’re dealing with a very odd hangover.”

  Michael looked confused.

  I pointed to his face, “Sunglasses indoors, everything is too loud? Everyone probably thinks you’re hungover right now.”

  The chagrin on his face was evidence enough that he had no idea that was how he had looked to everyone else.

  “Hey, we all do dumb things. You can try to pass it off as a migraine if anyone asks.”

  He nodded, only slightly comforted.

  A thought struck me out of the blue. I went to my bag to get my own sunglasses and I put them on.

  “What’re you doing, Drew?”

  “Matching you, we share a desk after all. Maybe we’ll start a trend.”

  The way that small laugh brightened his face was enough for me to know he’d get over it.

  My chest lightened; I hadn’t realized how heavy it had felt up until now. Maybe I was more worried about Michael than I had thought.

  The other day, his eyes…

  I shook the thought from my mind. Of course I’d be worried about him, he’s a vampire, for Gods’ sakes! I would be dumb to disregard him. No matter what, I needed to remember that the man in front of me was an undead monster. Keep a distance but not so far as to lose track of him.

  Although, perhaps we have gotten a little closer as time has passed. Oh, I don’t know what to think.

  Getting a migraine of my own from thinking about it too hard, I sighed and drank from my bottle of water. I tried to ignore Michael’s unintended stare at my bobbing throat. At least he had sunglasses on so I couldn't see his eyes darken just a shade as he thought of the blood pulsing through me. I set my water bottle down a little harder than intended, making him wince.

  “Sorry,” I mouthed.

  We went on with our work, not noticing that more and more people were wearing sunglasses. By the end of the workday, almost everyone had a pair of shades on their face. Most were regular sunglasses, but a few found party favor glasses and wore those instead.

  Michael smiled as he noticed.

  “Looks like we started that trend after all, Drew.”

  ? ?? ?

  At home, Husker and I were sitting on the couch, me petting his soft fur. I had picked a random HGTV show where couples with weird hobbies are looking for homes in ridiculous price ranges. There were only five minutes left of the episode when my phone started to ring. My heart immediately pounded.

  People only call when it’s an emergency.

  I lunged for my phone, praying that my parents were alright. I saw Michael’s name on the screen, along with the selfie that we had taken just the other day, set as his contact photo.

  Shit, something happened to Michael!

  My thoughts raced around all the awful possibilities that could’ve happened. Praying for the less awful of my imaginings, I answered. “Hello?”

  “Drew! It totally was enhanced senses today at the office. I’m here with Antun on the other line, by the way.”

  “Hey Drew, three-way call.”

  Completely flabbergasted. “You guys called me to tell me something that I already knew, or believed anyway?”

  Silence, then Antun drew out a long, “Mayyybee.”

  Another silence before I breathed out a small laugh. “You guys are so weird.”

  Michael said, “Come on, you know you wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  It was true, I wouldn’t. These men had come into my life like a storm, especially Michael, and my entire view of the world got flipped around and upside down. Vampires were real, and now I was friends with one, maybe two, of them.

  “Hey Antun, did Michael tell you that when he walked into the office he looked god-awful and like he was hungover? He wore sunglasses into the building and was flinching at every noise.”

  A hearty laugh and a grudging moan answered me.

  “He had not told me that part of the story. He did tell me about how you put on sunglasses yourself and started a trend around your office though. Nice.”

  He went on, “I actually wanted to contact you guys anyway. I have an in with a curator at the museum. They just had an Eastern European exhibit that included, quote, “vampire memorabilia,” and there might be some things there that could help us in our search for answers.”

  “That sounds brilliant, Antun!” I proclaimed. That’s way better than the library!

  “Thanks, I know I am,” he said, and I could imagine the pretend hair flip that he had to have done with that tone. “But like I said, they are just wrapping up the exhibit and all the stuff that they have here is being sent back to their respective museums overseas. So our window of opportunity is quite small. Ah,” Antun paused for a moment and I could hear thumping from his end, like he was texting on the phone. “That was my curator friend. If you guys are available, he’s going to take me to look at some stuff that didn’t get to be exhibited for the public tomorrow evening after the museum is closed. Michael?”

  “I’m available. What about you, Drew?”

  “I can make it. But, uh, guys?” A query from both. “This really could've been a text message.”

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