After saying goodbye to his friends, Jesse headed over to his mom’s clinic. Even though he was reasonably certain the tiny bat that they had found was harmless, all the talk about the imp queen had set him on edge. He thought he’d better check in just to be safe.

  They had arrived at Gravewood in the afternoon, and apparently the talk with Dr. Rotbart had lasted longer than he expected because the sun had almost fully dipped behind the buildings on the street the clinic was located on.

  As he was waiting for the light to change so he could cross safely, he noticed a suspicious figure standing in the alleyway between two buildings on the other side of the road. The logical part of his brain told him to look away, that it was yet another monster lurking around Oak Hollow, but he couldn’t help himself; he recognized the figure. It was Damien, the vampire he and Noah had run into on Halloween night.

  Thankfully, the silver-haired teen hadn’t noticed him yet and was instead looking up at the sky with a frown. As Jesse watched, he tentatively held his hand out into the fading sunlight, pulling away sharply when his skin started steaming.

  What the heck is he doing? Did he get stuck there during the day? Jesse got so wrapped up in his thoughts that he forgot he shouldn’t be staring. Too late he averted his gaze, but Damien had already seen him. A wide grin split across his face and without warning, he sprinted over to where Jesse was standing.

  He had seen movies where vampires had super speed, usually depicted with some outdated blurring effects, but the way Damien ran was different, taking only a few strides to cover the entire distance. If he had blinked, he would have missed it and mistaken his speed for teleporting.

  The side of the road where Jesse was waiting was more shaded, and he let out a sigh of relief once he was out of the sunlight. A few parts of him were still sizzling.

  “Hey there, fledgling,” he greeted as he patted the sleeves of his leather jacket to put out the steam. “Fancy running into you out here.”

  “You didn’t have to run over here if it was going to hurt you,” Jesse pointed out.

  He shrugged. “Eh, what’s a little sunlight? I just forgot my sunscreen and daylight savings has me all messed up. But anyway, I haven't seen you in a while. Where ya headed?”

  Jesse debated internally about how much he should tell him. “I uh... I was just on my way to visit the vet. There’s this bat-”

  “A bat?” Damien’s eyes lit up, and if it were possible for a teenage vampire in full punk attire to look cute, he certainly did. “I love bats! Can I come too? Please?”

  He supposed Damien loving bats made sense in a weird way; he was a vampire after all. It was very hard to say no to him, much like Hank. If he had been a werewolf, his tail would have been wagging. “Sure.”

  He pumped his fist in the air. “Nice!”

  As they started walking down the street, Damien looking visibly happier, Jesse discreetly pulled out his phone and texted his mom.

  Jesse: i’m about to show up at the clinic with someone

  Jesse: no time to explain, but could you please pretend not to know me?

  Three dots appeared to indicate she was typing, then disappeared. A second later, she sent a thumbs up.

  She really was the best mom ever.

  “By the way,” Damien said offhandedly. “I heard your thrall became a ghoul. That sucks, man. Want me to help you find another one?”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Jesse hastily stuffed his phone back in his pocket. “Oh, uh, no thanks. The first one was kind of a pain.”

  “I hear you. That’s why I’ve sworn off making them.”

  “We’re here,” he said when they arrived at the clinic, thankful for the distraction. The whole thrall lie from Halloween had completely slipped his mind. At some point, he’d probably have to get together with Noah to figure their story out.

  He opened the door for Damien, remembering a bit of vampire lore about them needing to be invited inside buildings. At the front desk, the receptionist smiled when she saw them.

  “Hey, Jesse. Your mo-”

  “Hey, Miss Janice,” he interrupted. “Don’t worry about us, we’re just going to head into the back.”

  He pulled Damien through the double doors leading to the treatment rooms before she could say anything else. He had no idea what sort of assumptions the vampire had made about him since they met, but he figured the less he knew about his personal life, the better.

  His mom was at the very back of the clinic, in a room normally reserved for birds. To his knowledge, the bat they’d found was the first one she’s ever had to treat.

  “Doctor,” he greeted, and was relieved to see she had removed her name tag. “We came to see how the bat is doing.”

  She went along with him, nodding over to a cage where the bat currently hung upside down, sleeping away. The white bandage wrapped around its arm sticking out against its brown fur.

  “It’s doing much better than when we found it, though we were swamped with other patients today, so we haven’t had much time to tend to it. We still don’t even know what species of bat it is.”

  “Big brown bat,” Damien said automatically, moving to crouch beside cage. “One of the most common in North America. This one looks to be on the younger side.”

  A smile played on Jesse’s mom’s lips. “Do you know a lot about bats, young man?”

  “They’re my favorite animal,” he said with a grin. “They’re just so cute with their little snouts and big ol’ ears.”

  The Damien that Jesse saw now was a far cry from the vicious monster he met on Halloween. He could almost believe he was a normal, albeit a bit eccentric, teenager.

  “Do you have an estimate on when it can be released?” Jesse asked.

  “She,” Damien corrected, not taking his eyes off of the bat.

  “Right, she.”

  “The break in her wing was pretty bad, but nothing that won’t heal back to the way it was before,” Jesse’s mom explained. “Bat bones are different from birds’ and tend to heal a lot faster. I would give her about three weeks to be safe, since she’s so young.”

  Damien gently wrapped his fingers around the bars of the cage. “You hear that, girl? You’ll be flying again in no time.”

  Apparently, she did hear him, because she unfurled her wings and stretched them out, a small squeak escaping her as she yawned.

  A buzz sounded and Jesse instinctively reached for his pocket, before realizing it was Damien’s phone, not his. He pulled it out, making a face as he read the text.

  “Oops, looks like the others are wondering where I am. I’d better get home before Trace kills me.” He tucked his phone away. “I guess this is goodbye, girl.”

  “Hmm.” Jesse’s mom looked thoughtful. “How would you like to come in and volunteer to look after her sometime?”

  “What?” Jesse said, the same time Damien asked, “Can I really?”

  “Sure. Unless there’s some reason you think he shouldn’t?” She stared pointedly at Jesse.

  “Nope,” he said through gritted teeth. “None at all.”

  He took back everything he thought about her being the best mom ever.

  “Is it okay if I take night shifts?” Damien asked.

  “Whatever works for your schedule. Just don’t let it interfere with your school work.”

  He saluted. “You got it, Doctor...”

  “Please, just call me Carmen.”

  “See you later, Dr. Carmen.”

  As soon as he had left, she raised an eyebrow at Jesse. “So, do you want to explain what that was all about?”

  “Uh, I met that guy at the block party on Halloween. He’s just really weird and I didn’t want him to know where my mom worked.”

  She didn’t look like she bought it, but she also didn’t push him further. “He was a little odd, but he seems like a nice young man.”

  Yeah, sure, young.

  “What’s even more odd is seeing you with someone other than Siobhan,” she remarked. “I think that Halloween party must have been good for you, if you’re getting out of your comfort zone and making more friends.”

  “I guess so.”

  It was strange to think about. It was true that because of everything that had happened at Gravewood, he considered Alicia and Noah his friends, but was it possible there was more to it than that? Was he growing closer to the monsters as well?

  And if he was, did he really mind?