The ass had bitten me.

He actually had bitten me and it had really hurt too.It still hurt a little even now.

I was so confused. It's not like I believed the movies had any bit of truth to them, but seriously? Ouch.

I rubbed my neck nervously as I looked at the spot in my reflection in the window.

When he left, he said to lock up, clean up, and forget everything that had happened. Right, like the bloodstained clothes were going to just not matter anymore. As soon as he was out of there, I grabbed a towel and pressed it to my wound. Then I locked the door, texted my friend, and packed some clothes.

Now I was sitting on the bus, taking it back to her place where I'd been hiding out for the last week. The nice part about Emily is that she didn't ask me any questions yet. Yet being the operative word. At least by now, my brain had finally snapped awake and I could start deciding what to tell her.

'Hey so I'm afraid to go home because a vampire lives above me and has bitten me and I'm worried if he bites me twice more that I'll turn undead like him. Yes, I know, like Dracula. That's why I'm not taking any chances. So basically, just don't let anybody with glowing blue eyes come in, okay?'

I sighed. She would certainly laugh at my antics and tell me to go home because she wouldn't want to catch 'the crazy' from me. Every day I made a point to leave work with enough time to make it back before dark. I didn't know any better so I may as well be careful with all the rumors and figure out which ones are accurate.

Today however the fates were against me as we sat in traffic for what felt like forever while I watched the sun drop. When my stop came, I paid my fare and hopped off. This was getting expensive, but I didn't want my car followed so I had her pick me up from the apartment. Walking the rest of the way back in the twilight with an eye over my shoulder and my ears strained for the slightest disturbance was exhausting.

Emily's car was there so I knew she'd beat me back. I ran up the stairs and tried the door, but it was locked. I knocked.

"Hey, it's me, Nicole. Let me in. It's getting dark." I shouted through the door.

Hearing the clinking of the chain and lock, I glanced over my shoulder one last time before pushing my way in.

"Emily, what's the deal with locking me out?"

But I wasn't looking at Emily. She hadn't opened the door, instead it was my nightmare come to life. Ian stood there in a black graphic T-shirt, jeans, and a dubious smile. "Would you like to come in and join us? We were about to sit down for some dinner."

My evil feet froze me on the step while my brain screamed at them to wake up and run. I needed to leave. But if he was already there, what happened to Emily? Was he going to bite her too?

"Where is she? What have you done to her?"

He stepped to the side and gestured to the kitchen where she waved as she pulled out a pizza from the oven. "Nicole, close the door before you let more bugs in. Pizza's ready."

I felt a cool hand slip behind my back and pull me inside. The door shut behind me. Shivers ran down my back as I jumped away from his grasp. I watched as he just chuckled softly.

"So um, how do you and Ian know each other?" I called out as I rushed over to the kitchen, tossing my bag to the floor.

"Really?" She rolled her eyes at me and my discarded items. "We didn't until today. But apparently, you two know each other very well. When were you going to tell me that he's your boyfriend?"

"What? No, he's not. That's ridiculous. I don't know what he's told you, but don't," I said, but a cold hand slid to my mouth and chilled my lips, freezing the words on my tongue. I got a good whiff of his fingers, dish soap with a hint of grease. My eyes snapped over to his. What had he been doing before coming here?

Ian leaned towards my ear and whispered, "We wouldn't want to bring anyone else into our private, little affair, now would we?"

"Hey you guys, get a room and not here." She turned away from us and continued pulling out dishes. "You did a terrible job covering your hickey, by the way. Shame on you, Ian for leaving it in such an obvious spot."

I started to protest, but Ian's hand suppressed my voice yet again and he chuckled darkly.

"My bad, next time I'll choose a spot that's less visible. We just were caught up in the moment. I don't think either of us was thinking clearly."

My heartbeat thrummed nervously with every second he held me there. Okay, yes, I was terrified of where this conversation was going and how little I could correct it. Next time? No, there wasn't supposed to be a next time. How had he even found me?

"Well, I appreciate the company, but running away because you're embarrassed about it being your first time? Come on, Nic. I pegged you as more of an adult than that." She laughed and so did Ian, whom I immediately turned to and glowered at.

"Yes, I'm sorry if she caused you any trouble. I'm glad you understand me. I truly didn't mean to make her feel uncomfortable. So we'll just go collect her stuff and I'll drive her back. Don't worry about a thing. Pack our pizza to-go."

I saw his blue eyes brighten a bit while he stared at Emily. Then he turned to me and pushed me over to the spare room with my bags. He closed the door behind us.

"What do you think you're doing?" I shouted at him.

He glared at me. "Do you really want to drag your only friend into this?"

My eyes narrowed on his, but then darted away when I thought about his comment about glowing eyes. I wanted to glare at him so badly that I just tried burning a hole into his chest with my fiery gaze.

"Okay," I whispered since his hearing was excellent. "What the hell are you doing here? Why can't you leave me alone?"

"You were supposed to forget." His brow rose as he observed me. "But you didn't."

"How the hell was I supposed to forget about someone essentially stabbing me in the neck? The towels, the conversation, everything? You have got to be kidding me." I shook my head and folded my arms. "I don't owe you any favors."

"Really? Saving your life twice doesn't count for anything?" He leaned against the door and cocked his head to the side, probably guarding my only exit."Mackenzie noticed your car's still out front and hasn't moved all week. She's worried about you and asked George and Roberta if they've seen you around. You shouldn't worry them like this. You're fine."

"And I'm just going to go back like everything's okay? Because it's not. You bit me!" I jumped when I realized how loud my voice got. I shook my head and glanced at the wall, but Emily didn't say anything.

"Yes. Like I said, you weren't supposed to remember anything. So I was just as surprised when you vanished." His eyes narrowed on me like he was working something out on my forehead.

"And why was I going to forget?"

"Because I said so."

I threw my hands in the air. This thing, Ian, made no sense at all. "And why, pray tell, would that matter at all?"

"It's one of my abilities. It didn't work on you at first, but then it did later. I figured maybe your shock made you temporarily immune. So when your hands dropped, I saw a chance to reset everything for both of our sake."

I gaped at him, meeting his eyes in shock only to remember the warning and stare at my bags on the floor by the bed. None of them had been emptied since I wasn't sure how long I could hang out here. "And you decided to bite me thinking I wouldn't remember? Wow, yeah, you definitely did it for my sake. I'm glad you're such a great friend that you'd stab me right before wiping the slate clean. That's so considerate of you. How do I know you're not going to just try that again? This is ridiculous. You shouldn't be here. How did you even find me?"

"It wasn't difficult considering you only have one friend." He crossed his arms now, most likely annoyed with my lack of packing. "I may have been more than a little hungry and you happen to be skilled at pushing my buttons. Perhaps, you should start packing so we can get going."

"So it's my fault? It's my fault that you chose to hang out and then subsequently take advantage of me. Sorry that I'm not a paranoid ass like you. I guess you just got a free meal out of it." I crossed my arms back at him.

"Look, if you had to deal with some of the shit I've been through, you'd be a lot less naïve. Could we just move on now? Are you really going to hideout at Emily's forever?"

"No, obviously I can't do that." I exhaled and turned side on to him. "Especially now that she thinks I'm even more of a child. She's never going to let me live that down. Thanks, for that by the way."

His eyebrow rose at that and a smirk dared to show on his face. "Are you embarrassed that your friend thinks I was talking about sex?"

My cheeks burned, but I didn't move.

Ian started chuckling and took a step towards me. "I could give her a great reason to kick us out if you want."

My eyes widened and darted to his feet to make sure they hadn't moved anymore because I couldn't hear anything over my wildly beating heart. "No thanks, I'm good."

"So, if you're not going to stay here forever, what's your plan?"

"I, I could lock my doors and windows and pray you leave me alone." My head bent lower and my shoulders sagged. After a few silent seconds passed, I slowly walked over to my bags and began tossing the few unpacked items back inside. Within minutes, what little I'd brought with me in my daring escape was packed and I slung the duffle bags over my shoulders.

"And here I was hoping you'd take me up on my offer," he said with a mischievous smile and a wink as he turned and opened the door.

He must be chipper because he got his way again. Did he always get his way? My hand gripping one of the shoulder straps was shaking. I clearly was out of my league.

Since he stood in the doorway, the only way out was for me to slide past him. As I nearly cleared the door, he grabbed my shoulder and held me in place.

"I am supposed to be your boyfriend so I should carry at least one bag." His minty breath blew down my neck and his hand slipped from my shoulder to the strap and easily lifted the bag off of me.

"Thanks." I muttered and walked past him, trying to brush off the chill that had gripped me.

"Here's your pizza to-go as requested. Careful it's still pretty hot," Emily said with a smile and a semi-dazed look.

"Is that what I look like?" I asked in a whisper as I wandered away to pick up my discarded purse. I assumed Ian's almighty hearing would catch it, but this was a good time to test these boundaries.

"No, you look much cuter because you have a grumpy face like you know that you're being tricked," he answered with a smile and nod to Emily. He grabbed the plastic-ware with the pizza and guided me to the front door.

"Bye Nicole," she said and waved to me.

With a trembling frown on my lips, I replied. "Be safe,  Emily.Hopefully I'll see you later. "

He closed the door and directed us to his navy Subaru hatchback a few spots down from Emily's tan Accord. I stared at the door as he tossed in my other bag and hopped inside to start it up. My energy just seemed to dump out of me and I couldn't bring myself to get in. There was a pinch building between my eyebrows and pressure behind my temples.

The engine roared to life and my window rolled down. "Nicole, it's all right. I'm not going to do anything to her. Just get in the car and I'll take you home."

"I thought home was supposed to be a safe space. I have no place to go now."

He didn't say anything, but just looked straight out the windshield for a few seconds. Then he got out of the car and walked over to me.

I probably should have cringed or tried to run, but I was just drained. This man had haunted my dreams for a week straight and had just proved to me that no place was safe from him. If he wanted me dead, I would have been by now.

"Can't you just try brainwashing me again? Maybe it'll work this time. I mean, I want it to work. I can't deal with this anymore. Nightmares all week about you and now I have to go back to living under you? I swear I'll keep your secret if you just let me go. I'll move someplace else and take your secret to the grave. Just please, give me a break. I'm exhausted. I can only take so much." I was breaking. I could feel it as tears started dripping down my cheeks, stupid, embarrassing tears that burned my skin.

He lifted the other bag off of my shoulder and tossed it in the back of the car while I just stood there, motionless except for the streaming tears.

"It's not that simple. There I can, never mind. Just get in the car," he said as he opened my door and waited for me to move. His eyes glanced at my neck.

Maybe he thought he was subtle, but I saw that glance through my tears and the fear of a repeat session shocked my legs into movement. I just stared at the door lock as he shut me in. Looking outside at what I'd thought was freedom hurt too much.

He returned to the driver's seat and buckled in. There was an audible exhale and a long pause before he switched gears and we drove off.

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