Xera hummed to themself. The song of the summer had been playing on the radio a lot recently, something about a beach and partying with the girls, they didn’t really know the lyrics, but it was a catchy song. The club was playing it now, some electronic club remix, and everyone had been into it, dancing, and grinding against eachother. It seemed to be so popular that it had been playing once an hour.

Xera, no last name, no middle name, had been sitting at the same stool at the bar, nursing the same drink, for the last two hours. Word in certain circles was that a vampire had been seen around here over the last few months. That was all Xera needed to come to town. That and the possibility of another notch on their belt. They thumbed the leather, each of the twelve notches on it from the last three years, each one a different vampire killed, each one a step closer to a safe world.

Xera felt it, the hairs on the back of their neck began to stand up straight, the slight acidity that tinged the air, the itch in their fingertips. The vampire was here. They turned glancing over their shoulders. There, amidst the crowd of dancers, there was the vampire. She was small, slender, staring straight over at Xera. Xera didn’t blink.

The vampire raised an eyebrow, cocky, as if challenging the hunter. She turned with a flourish of hair, disappearing into the crowd. Xera cursed and pushed their drink away. The pushed off of the chair, quickly falling into stride. They deftly moved through the crowd of dancers, dodging hands reaching out to pull them into a dance. Dancing was what people without purpose did.

Xera spotted a flash of the vampire’s hair through the crowd and pushed towards it. They paused, lips pursed as they came face to face with the women’s bathroom door. They groaned and reached under their leather jacket, unleashing the two small silvered daggers from behind their back. The metal grew warm in their hand instantly, the silver rippling, small spikes growing out of the blade in response to their connection to the host. Xera raised their foot and kicked the door in.

The door slammed against the back wall with a thud. Xera stepped in, their blades readied. The vampire stood by the sink, checking her reflection. She had a tube of lipstick and was busy applying it. Completely naïve to Xera. The door closed with a soft click behind the hunter as they stepped forward.

Xera raised their hand to strike, only a few feet between them and the vampire. Another notch. Another one dead. Their knuckles tightened, whitening as they lunged, the blade flying forward, their other hand readied.

Xera was yanked backwards forcefully as if pulled into a brick wall. They let out a gasp as their back collided with the object. They looked up at their arms, raised high above their head. A pair of strong hands, fur and claws on the edges of them. They struggled to break free, their wrists pulling them onto their tip toes. The hands squeezed tighter, twisting. Xera’s hands instinctively flew open, the blades flying loose, colliding to the floor. The spikes on them sinking back into the blade’s metal. Xera was defenseless. Their head dropped into their chest, defeated.

“Look. I don’t know who you are, but if you’re going to attack someone, kicking in a door does not provide any kind of stealth.” The vampire pursed their lips not looking away from the mirror. They smiled and brushed their hair back before turning to look at Xera. “So who are you and what did I ever do to you?”

Xera looked up, hatred and anger in their eyes. “You’re a vampire. You ruin my life by even existing.”

The thing holding her up growled, snarling defensively. The vampire raised a hand. “Dani please. She’s welcome to her opinions of me. Could you justify it though? What does me being alive have to do with you?”

Xera snarled and shifted their weight trying to break free. Dani. That was the big things name. Whatever they were. “Can’t you tell? Even now you want to make me your obedient thrall. That’s all any of you ever want with me. You disgusting bloodsucking monsters.”

The vampire looked between Xera and Dani for a moment, confusion and surprise across her face. Suddenly she broke out laughing. Her laugh echoed in the stillness of the bathroom air. She took a breath and composed herself wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry. But what kind of logic is that? I couldn’t care less about you, or anyone else for that matter. I’m pretty sure you’ve got the wrong person…whatever your name is.”

“My name is Xera and I will be the death of you!” Xera spat out. The hands tightened again, claws digging into their wrists lightly.

“Well. Xera. Nice to meet you too, but genuinely I’ve got no interest in you. Don’t get me wrong, you’re attractive…” Dani growled low and possessively. “But, no offense, but I’m taken and I’m not really into crazy, murderous types much.”

“What do you mean? You’re a vampire!”

The vampire rolled her eyes. “Yes but people don’t usually go about yelling it in public.”

Xera shook their head. What was this vampire playing at. Right now they should be fighting tooth and nail to sink her fangs into their neck. Xera should be fighting for their life against becoming the vampire’s mindless slave forever. What sort of game was this.

“If Dani puts you down, do you promise not to jump for you blades. Maybe we go for a coffee, there’s a decent diner up the road, we can talk over whatever this is like civilized people. And please, don’t try to fight me. Last thing we need is a werewolf ripping you open in the middle of a public space. Does that work for you?”

The vampire was standing a few feet away, hand outstretched in friendship. Xera was at a loss for words. A vampire and a werewolf, clearly more than friends at that. There was no chance they would be able to survive both of them. They were stuck, whatever the trap the vampire was laying, Xera was stuck in it. They nodded slowly.

“Oh and I’m Victoria by the way. You’ve already met my better half.” Dani growled and slowly set down Xera. “Come on. I’m paying.”

“…And she put a blood curse on me for breaking up with her. Any vampires that are near me are drawn to me, determined to make me their enslaved thrall.” Xera took a drink from their coffee. The werewolf, Dani, was working on her third stack of pancakes, and the vampire was just sitting there, which made sense. Vampires didn’t often eat.

“So after the first few tried, I decided to be proactive about it. If I killed the vampires that were drawn to me, then it wouldn’t be a problem. And naturally that involved to me joining a hunters guild and just hunting them down.” Xera ran their thumb over the lip of the coffee cup. This was not how they expected their night to go. Sitting in a dingy little diner, drinking coffee with a vampire and werewolf, that were clearly a couple.

Victoria, the vampire, just stared at them. They finally leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. “You understand how stupid you sound right now. Right?”

Xera looked into their coffee, embarrassed. They nodded slowly.

“Just assuming every vampire wants to feed and fuck off of you is really rude. Take me for example, I couldn’t care less about you.” The vampire blinked. “Sorry. That was rude. What I meant was, I really couldn’t care less about this blood curse you’ve got.” Dani grunted in approval over shoveling food into her mouth.

“Why is that? No offense meant, but it’s kind of nice not having to kill anyone who gets close to me.”

“Well maybe if you stop hunting vampires and settle down somewhere, you won’t have to worry about the blood curse. Ever think of that?” Dani mumbled through a mouthful of food.

“Dani don’t speak while chewing food.” Victoria grumbled out. “She is right though. But if I had to guess, it’s because I feed off of my mate exclusively. So at all times I’m part werewolf. It’s not that I don’t feel the effects of the blood curse. I’m aware of it. But it really doesn’t mean anything to me when I have my mate here.” She reached out and took Dani’s hand possessively.

“I thought vampires and werewolves hated eachother.”

“So did we. Seems things aren’t always what they seem. We’ve been together for six months now and they’ve been amazing. Maybe you’re just looking at your curse as if it was a negative thing.” Victoria teased letting Dani get back to eating.

“I don’t really want to be someone’s obedient slave.” Xera grimaced just thinking about that sort of thing.

“It’s not so-“ Dani swallowed forcefully. “So bad once you get used to it. Having Victoria in my head is kind of comforting. Means I’m never alone.”

“Still…”

“Look. We’re just saying. Think about it. Maybe don’t go jumping the gun.” Victoria leaned back in her seat crossing her arms over her chest.

“And maybe don’t go murdering people right and left over a prejudice you’ve got.” Dani grumbled before licking her plate clean.

“It’s not a prejudice. It’s just…” Xera looked at the two raised eyebrows staring back at them. The swallowed and shrugged. “I will ease off the murder.”

“That’s all we ask.” Victoria shrugged and waived for the waitress. “Now do you have a place to stay for the night. You smell like you’ve been living out of a car for a month and look it.”

Xera lowered their head to their armpit and took a sniff. “Um…” They had definitely smelled better, but they really didn’t think they smelled that bad. Then again, the werewolf had sat as far away as possible at the table. “I have been living out of my car for a while.”

“If you promise to not try to kill us, you can stay at our place. Just until you get yourself taken care of.”

“Oh. Thanks. But I’ll be fine-“

Dani leaned forward over the table. “That wasn’t really an offer to refuse. You smell terrible and need a long shower.”

Xera looked between the two of them. Either they were going to die, ripped to shreds, or have the weirdest threesome of their life. They weren’t sure which would happen or which was worse to happen. “Do I really have a say in this?”

Victoria shook her head. “Not really. Dani has a strong instinct for care. Comes with the Alpha territory. You’re kind of roped in to a good night’s sleep and bath now. Better to just accept it.”

Xera sighed and looked down at their cold coffee. How did things end up like this?