The Vampire’s Redemption

The man looked crestfallen. “What? No,” he said quickly. “It’s the truth. Admittedly, I could’ve just come back tomorrow, but I knew that if I didn’t talk to you tonight I would regret it.”

Danielle watched him warily. “What do you want to talk about?”

The stranger shrugged. “Believe it or not, I haven’t been able to come up with a topic of conversation. I just know I’d like to get to know you.” He sighed and ran a hand nervously through his short blond hair. “Sh*t,” he said, exhaling a frustrated breath. “Look, I know I must sound crazy to you, or creepy, or both.” He paused, maybe to allow Danielle to jump in and deny it, but Danielle wasn’t about to…not just yet. “But I’ve been noticing you all night. I don’t normally notice people, I’m…a bit of a loner. It’s been ages since anyone struck my interest.”

In spite of her better judgment, Danielle found herself smiling. “I think I know how you feel,” she admitted.

The man looked surprised. “Really?”

Danielle shrugged. “I don’t usually notice people either,” she said. “Or rather, I usually don’t allow myself to notice them.”

The stranger cocked his head slightly to the side, appraising her curiously. “But you’ve noticed me?”

Danielle let out a snort before she could stop herself. “It’s kind of hard not to,” she said. “Have you looked in a mirror recently?”

Something darted across the man’s handsome features, a strange look that was gone in a flash. “Not recently, no.”

For a moment, and for some reason, Danielle almost took him literally.

“So we’ve noticed each other,” the man said.

“Yeah,” Danielle echoed. This was rapidly turning into the strangest conversation she’d ever had. “Is that why you came back? To tell me you’ve noticed me?”

The man seemed to think about it for a moment. “I guess it is,” he eventually said. “And to ask whether you would be interested in having an actual conversation one of these days, maybe over a beer.”

Danielle stared at him. “Are you asking me out?” She must be hearing this all wrong; there was no way a guy like this was going for her.

To her astonishment, however, the stranger nodded. “I am. We could meet here on your night off,” he offered. “I realize you don’t know me, so it’s probably best if we’re in a safe, familiar surrounding for you.”

Even with all the reservations in the world, Danielle had to admit that was pretty thoughtful.

“I’m off Wednesday night,” she said, before she could change her mind.

The man lit up. It looked like he had not been expecting her to agree to go out with him, and that was also surprising (really, who in their right mind would ever refuse a man like this?). He pulled a small notebook and pen from his back pocket and scribbled something on it.

“Here,” he said, handing the note to Danielle. “This is my number.”

Danielle took it and looked down at it. “Michael?” she said, reading the name written above the digits.

The man nodded and offered her a pearly, white‑toothed smile. “I guess we’re not strangers anymore.”

“I guess not,” Danielle said, returning the friendly gesture. “I’ll see you here on Wednesday then. Is six o’clock good for you? We could have a bite to eat. Jack makes some mean burgers.”

“Eight would be better.”

“Sure,” she agreed readily. “I’ll see you then.”

And that was that.

Her head spun with the night’s events. But driving soothed her, and Danielle took the long way home and tried to gather her thoughts. It all felt very surreal. Never in a million years would she have expected a man like Michael to walk into her pub, of all the pubs in Ojai. Never in a million years would she have expected a man like Michael to be interested in her, of all the women in Ojai.

After the brief and wonderfully weird exchange in the parking lot, Danielle knew for sure that there was something about Michael. She still couldn’t put her finger on it or define it in any way, but she knew that she wouldn’t have agreed to go out with him if he had not given her the feeling that he really must be something else.

She sighed, still shocked by the fact that she had indeed agreed to go out with the man. After swearing off anything even remotely resembling a date, here she was making plans with a total stranger. What would Jack say? Danielle groaned out loud when she realized she would have to update her friend on what just went down.

And speaking of going down…

She shook her head, pushing those thoughts very far away. She supposed she couldn’t be blamed for fantasizing when it came to a man as utterly drop dead gorgeous as Michael. It was hard not to try and imagine what his touch on her skin would feel like.

Danielle let out another heavy sigh. So much for swearing off men.