Helsinki, 6.

Saturday

It was around nine in the morning when Kielo left for home. We hadn’t slept at all and she said she needed her beauty sleep. Buttercup obviously wasn’t as thrilled about last night as I was; she jumped into my bed after Kielo had left and I had crawled back in, and sat on my stomach to glare at me.

“Don’t you give me that look or you’re getting sardines. We both know they give you gas. But I can live with that.” I told her, and the cat stuck up her little nose and walked away. Warm and satisfied as I was, and still a bit high on all the sex and the slight infatuation I was feeling, I rolled over to my stomach, hugged my pillow and went to sleep.

As said before, Saturday started out very good. Once I crawled out of bed again in the late afternoon, the sun was shining brightly behind my heavy curtains. I dared only a small peek, the light was so bright it hurt my eyes to gauge the weather more carefully. I trusted that I’d manage to survive it anyway come evening and time to work.

Kielo wouldn’t have one of her dates that evening, but she was going out to meet some of her friends, and wanted me to come along. Nice change, at least I wouldn’t have to sit alone. It has been a long while since I’ve been out with a group of people. My current life in Helsinki has been a quiet and peaceful one, and even though I’ve grown to like it that way, an evening out partying sounded very inviting.

After getting out of bed and feeding the cat, who was sulking at me for leaving her alone so much lately, I took a long shower before diving deep into my wardrobe. I was sure there would be something suitable there for a night of clubbing, and lo and behold, I did manage to find a pair of reasonably nice black pvc pants and a skin-tight red sleeveless shirt with black glittery cobwebs on it. Discarding my usual scarf I put on a thick black velvet choker around my neck. Add to that a pair of boots –with heels high enough to give me a bit more height but reasonable enough to run with if need be- and I was ready to go. Only problem was that I still had a few more hours to go, and nothing to fill them with.

A very intriguing idea on how to spend them occurred to me, and with a smirk I picked up my cell phone and called Kielo. It took a while for her to answer, and when she did there was music in the background.

“Hey there sweetness. How are you?” I asked, and smiled when she laughed.

“All right, looking for something to wear tonight! How about you?”

I told her that I had just finished that particular task and was now wondering what to do until the evening. “I thought I could maybe come over, we could go to the club together. I’m sure we can think of something to do until that…” I made sure to honey-coat my voice, making it clear to her what I had in mind. The silence that followed my words from her side was disappointing, even when she hurried to answer after it.

“Oh I’d love to, it’s just that,” she hesitated a little there, “my roommate is home as well, and we’re having a bit of a situation here right now. Nothing serious, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t come over right now and see this mess. So…”

I nodded even when she couldn’t see it, and glared at Buttercup. I swear, she was smirking at my disappointment! “All right, I understand. So I’ll see you later, then. I’ll come and pick you up as we agreed.”

“I’m sorry, I would have liked to see you. I’ll make it up to you later, though.” Now she sounded like honey, and I managed a small smirk.

“Sounds good. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Don’t be late, gorgeous! Bye for now!”

I closed the phone and threw it to the other end of the couch from where I was sitting. Buttercup apparently pitied me enough to forgive me, and came to sit and purr on my lap. There we sat for a good half an hour, the cat fell asleep and I just stared at the opposite wall, pondering this recent change in my life. The job itself would be over in a week’s time, but the romantic side of me was starting to entertain thoughts that maybe it wouldn’t mean the end to this thing that was evolving between Kielo and me. The romantic side of me was in fact imagining a whole future for us, even when the more sensible part of me tried to rein it in. I had only met her a few days ago!

But that’s what the human heart is like. It doesn’t want to be alone, and mine has been for quite a while now. Sure I’ve dated some every now and then, and company for sex is easy enough to find, even in such a relatively small place as Helsinki. But the last time I was in love was in the fifties. It’s been far too long, long enough to stop pining after a love affair which lived a good life and died in peace. My heart was ready to open itself up again, and here was someone who made it beat all that faster than normal.

So it had only been a few days since Kielo and I met. Big deal. It only takes a heartbeat to fall in love. That famous romantic side of me does believe in love at first sight after all. Now it was just a question of whether she would think the same of me. No matter how kind her rebuttal of an evening of sex had been, it still dampened my mood.

I realized I was once again getting ahead of things, and decided to occupy myself with something more useful than boring a hole into the wall with my eyes. Buttercup protested a little when I lifted her to the sofa from my lap and went to look for something to read or a movie to watch. I settled upon one of my favourite books which I like to reread every now and then, knowing that the plot would keep me occupied. But I hadn’t made it through the first two pages before I found my mind escaping back to daydreaming again. No matter how I tried, every time the words ended up turning into a blur in front of my eyes as the thought of Kielo proved more engaging. Eventually I closed the book and tossed it over to keep the cell phone company. To my frustration I noticed that barely an hour had passed, and there was almost three more to go before we were supposed to meet.

Pacing around my living room got old faster than reading, and seemed to annoy Buttercup, so I stopped after a few minutes. I wasn’t hungry at all, and the apartment wasn’t in need of cleaning either. Everything around me seemed so dull, no matter that on any other night in the last few years I could easily find something here to occupy myself with.

Damn my foolish heart.

Eventually I just packed up everything I might need into a handbag –phone, money, knife, stake (old habits die hard), a small can of mace and my keys- pulled my jacket on and headed out. The sun was low in the sky already, giving off light but not so high to make being outside unbearable. Shops were closed, so I wandered aimlessly around town, letting my mind do the same. My feet took me to a pub I like to go to every now and then, so I entered and enjoyed a few pints of beer. The atmosphere there finally managed to calm me down a little, and when it was late enough that I could head out to pick Kielo up, I was ready for a night of fun and not worried at all about being possibly rejected by her.

The city was full of night life once again as I walked through it to Kielo’s apartment building. The scent from flower arrangements by the sides of the streets mingled with smoke from cigarettes and perfumes of people passing by. Everything was so lovely and the beer inside of me amplified things so that I thought my heart might just burst. Luckily it didn’t, and I reached the building in one piece and early. As I waited I watched the people passing by. Some of them gave a wave or hollered a greeting.

Ah. Springtime. Making even the grumpy Finns sociable.

Some fifteen minutes later I could hear footsteps coming down the stairs inside, and barely had time to run a hand through my freely flowing hair before Kielo opened the door beside me and gave me a hug and a kiss in greeting. I just managed to stare at her with my mouth hanging open a little.

“…what kind of a place are we going to?” I finally managed to ask.

I had thought that my pvc-pants might be overdoing it a little. I needn’t fear that. Kielo’s dress made me feel terribly underdressed.

Her dress was made of pitch black satin. Thin straps held the skin-tight bodice up, and the rest of it flowed freely down to just above her knees, held in a bell-like shape by what seemed to be several white petticoats. Black lace gloves covered her arms almost to the elbow, and a thick, black choker with white frilly lining, same material as the petticoats, circled her throat. Covering her feet were black and white striped socks and black shoes. They had soles almost four inches thick, which made her about a head taller than me. And speaking of her head, her hair had been done into two buns on both sides of her head which were tied with black satin ribbons.

Kielo just laughed at my confusion, grabbed my hand and started to head towards the city central. “A goth club. Didn’t I tell you?”

“I think you failed to mention it…” I muttered as I tried to inconspicuously take a peek to see whether the striped socks were just socks or pantyhose.

“Don’t worry,” Kielo said, looking me over and raising an eyebrow in approval, “you’ll fit right in.”

Looking at her, I suspected that statement. The pair of us, walking hand in hand –although I’m quite sure it was mostly her- received a lot of admiring glances and shouts as we walked through the city. I had no idea where exactly we were heading to, but I guessed we were getting near when I started spotting more and more people dressed in a similar style as Kielo. Soon enough we reached a nightclub with a line of people waiting and chattering outside. I thought we’d go to the end of the line, but she walked straight past it, along the line until she spotted her friends. I heard some annoyed mumbling behind us when we joined the small group around the middle of the line, but no one gave us any real trouble over it.

Kielo made the introductions as the line moved forward a little. Her friends seemed nice enough and didn’t mind having a complete stranger in their company. I zoned out a little when they talked of people I didn’t know, and let my eyes and senses roam over the crowd around us. They all seemed to be normal humans, even when their clothes suggested they were anything but. I’ve never seen so much fake hair, plastic and lace in one place at once.

The line moved on sluggishly but eventually we made it in to the dimly lit club. The almost deafening music had a low beat which made me want to dance, but Kielo’s friends headed over to an empty table as soon as we got in, and we naturally followed. In my opinion the music was too loud to hear anything or to talk, but that didn’t seem to stop these people. They were shouting at each other across the table and over my head, admiring or dissing people going by and what they were wearing. Made me really feel my age.

“You all right?” Kielo’s words by my ear and her hand on my thigh startled me, and I gave her a smile and a nod while few of the others went to buy drinks. She grinned at me and squeezed my leg, letting her hand roam over it, higher than was really proper in a public place like this. But then again, looking at the people on the dance floor, I really was not the only one getting groped there.

The evening soon turned to night while the drinks kept on coming. I dragged Kielo to the dance floor every now and then, leaving her friends to sit at the table where they seemed content. I felt like I had nothing in common with them, and I didn’t even understand half of the time what they were talking about. But when I had a hot blonde in my arms, I cared little.

It was a nice night after all. Was, until I felt them.

Vampires.

I sensed their presence most likely as soon as they stepped in, and I knew that they could most likely sense me as well. Most newbie vampires cannot, but as soon as they get some kind of control over their powers and gain an understanding of them, I’m as visible to them as they are to me. That has always made my work a bit of a drag, but then again, most vampires think that they can take me on. Most have found that they couldn’t. Not when I carry long-range weapons.

Right now I only had my knife, a can of mace and a stake. My first instinct was to grab Kielo and run for the door, escape as soon as possible. But I fought it down; after all, we were in the middle of a large crowd. Even vampires aren’t stupid enough to try anything here. I think.

As soon as I noticed them I had stopped dancing. By the time I had decided to remain in the safety of the crowd Kielo had noticed my hesitance, and had stopped as well. She was leaning her sweaty body against mine, and I could feel her fast pulse.

“What is it?” she more or less shouted into my ear. I hesitated for a moment longer before shrugging.

“Nothing.” I’d give them a moment longer to make any kind of a move. And there was no need to make her worry, as long as the vampires did nothing. After all, they might just be here to party. There were enough people here dressed as vampires that these guys should fit right in.

We resumed our interrupted dance, but I concentrated more on the newcomers than on Kielo. As they got closer I could feel the hairs at the back of my neck stand up, and my hands were itching to hold a weapon of sorts. Old habits die hard. I couldn’t relax anymore, not knowing whether these bloodsuckers had been following us or whether they just happened to come here.

Kielo demanded my attention then, grabbing my hands and putting them around her waist as a slow song started. Her dress felt warm under my cold hands, even a bit damp from the sweat. Her body beneath it was pulsing with energy, blood and life, strong and willing. I wanted to lick the beads of sweat from her rising and falling chest, to sink my face—

Vampires! Vampires! Must not get too distracted. I cleared my throat and shook my head a little to clear it, determined to keep watch. But Kielo caught my lips with hers, refusing to let go even when I struggled a little. Instead she gently bit my lower lip, pulling it into her mouth, suckling it in a way that started a storm inside of me. It was very, very hard to try and keep up with the vampires who had made their way past us to the other side of the club. Either they hadn’t noticed me, they didn’t care, or they were waiting for the right moment. The part of me which wanted to concentrate more on Kielo noted that they could be Alby’s friends, in which case they would know about me through him, and would not be hostile. The rest of me wanted to agree –it really, really wanted to agree!- but I didn’t dare to trust my luck too much.

Good thing that I didn’t: one of them, a young man, came so close he passed just beside us, and locked eyes with me. It was one of the vampires from last night. His grin showed off his sharp, sharp teeth very well. He just walked past us, but recognizing him was enough.

My body was crying with disappointment when I forcibly pulled myself away from Kielo, who seemed more than a little confused and hurt because of that. I said something about going to the toilet and started to leave the dance floor. Then I turned back, caught her hand and pulled her along towards the lavatories. Almost forgot that I was here to protect her from the bastards.

Kielo had a cute little pout and a look in her eyes that demanded answers when I had pulled her into an empty cubicle. I raised my hands a little to keep her quiet and got onto my toes to reach her ear.

“There are vampires here. I didn’t want to alarm you, but I guess it’s best you know. At least one of them we met last night.”

Her brown eyes went wide immediately, and the anger disappeared from them. “What do we do? Should we leave?”

“I don’t know. There’s safety in numbers, but we do have to leave eventually.” I pulled out my cellphone to check the time. 2:15. Almost two hours until the club would close. We could use the crowd to our advantage, both inside the club and at closing time. But two hours could be a long time. I could handle myself, but I could see that Kielo was very nervous already. All the booze she’d downed was most definitely not helping to keep her calm.

…was it just me or had the lavatory outside gone very, very quiet suddenly?

Kielo noticed the same and lifted both her hands to her mouth to keep quiet, but a small whimper escaped her mouth anyway. I grimaced as a heavy footstep fell on the dirty linoleum floor outside. Then another, and another, until they reached the door to our cubicle. Kielo had gone as white as the flower she was named after, and in the small space I could feel her shaking with fear. Only years of being in tight spots –although not quite this literally!- were keeping my hand steady as I inched it into my bag as the lavatory fell quiet as a grave again. The music from the club was muffled so well it seemed to be coming from miles away.

My senses were as open as they could go: I could smell the piss and vomit that had passed through the toilet bowl; I heard Kielo’s heartbeats and shaky breathing; I saw all the messages written onto the door, and I felt the vampire on the other side of it, waiting for us, letting us stew in our fear.

And I also saw that we had not locked the door. Not that a small thing like that would keep anyone out who really wanted to get in.

“What do you want?” I asked, thankful that my voice didn’t tremble. Dorian had asked his friends not to harm Kielo, but that wouldn’t stop them from taking matters into their own hands.

There was no answer to my question, just silence. I was about to ask again when the door was pulled open so fast it might have fallen off its hinges. I caught a glimpse of the smirking vampire and how her expression turned into a confused one as my hand came up, spraying mace into her eyes. She screamed and stumbled back. Her eyes would heal fast, but the mace still burned like hell. I should know, I once tested it on myself. I have my stupid moments. But this was not the time to think on those: I grabbed a hold of Kielo’s arm and pulled her out, pushing the vampire down as we passed her. Out of the lavatory we went; I think the phrase ‘like a bat out of hell’ would describe our exit quite accurately. There was a throng of people outside, waiting to get in or just talking. I elbowed a path between them, letting my senses roam over the crowd to notice that the rest of the vampires had scattered all over the place. Oh joy.

I pulled Kielo to the dance floor, still elbowing people left and right, causing a lot of screaming and swearing. I didn’t care, my only thought was to get out now. The vampire’s pattern here was one of a trap, they obviously intended to keep us in the club.

I tried to keep mental taps on all of them while also trying to get out as fast as I could, shoving obstructions out of my way: human, human, human, human, human, most likely an alien, human, human, human, VAMPIRE! Out with the mace, and his screaming and twisting in agony looked like a new dance. Onward we ploughed, Kielo’s hand sweaty in mine despite the lace glove she still wore.

The next vampire on our way dodged the mace straight into my upcoming knee. Blood exploded from his nose and another kick sent him reeling into the crowd. I felt like such an action movie hero, saving the damsel in distress. I have to admit, I hadn’t had this much fun in years. Despite the element of very real danger I was enjoying this immensely. But Kielo wasn’t, and she was still the boss, so no time to stay here and play with my prey. Er. Those preying us, I mean.

The stairs down to the front door were quite empty this time of the night, so we didn’t cause any accidents as we practically flew down them. I tossed the doorman a few coins from my pocket as he opened the door, giving us a weird look.

“My place.” I said breathlessly as we continued to run. It was closer than Kielo’s apartment, and, as far as I was concerned, safer as well. I knew I could hold down fort there; I’d never been to Kielo’s place so I had no idea how safe it would be. I couldn’t feel the bastards following us, but it was quite obvious that Dorian’s little friends were not going to honour his word.

After a few minutes we slowed down to a fast walk, as Kielo was starting to complain that her ankles were hurting. No wonder with those shoes. We were fairly close to my place anyway so I didn’t mind. I still kept up a brisk pace, ignoring the drunks on the streets calling to us. None of them were vampires, so none of them mattered.

When we were just a few blocks from safety I dared to slow down more, and Kielo asked if we could stop so she could take her shoes off. As nice as they looked they obviously were not meant for running. So we stopped, and she continued along in her striped socks, minding the dirt and shards of glass on the pavement. The sky in the east was already turning light. Soon nature itself would make sure we were safe.

“Ouch!” Kielo suddenly yelped and stopped, throwing off my balance so that I almost fell. Immediately I could smell fresh blood. Reaching for my knife I turned to see her jumping a little on one foot, holding the other with her free hand.

“What’s wrong?” I couldn’t feel any vampires nearby.

“I think I stepped into some glass…” she whimpered and burst into tears, out of fear, fatigue and pain, I supposed. I let out a sigh and told her to climb onto my back. That made her laugh through her tears, considering our difference in height, but she obeyed. I had no trouble carrying her the last few dozen yards, but I had to put her down once we reached the door and I had to dig out my keys.

I helped her limp up the few staircases to my apartment, trying not to leave too many bloody footprints onto the stone floor. Buttercup had been waiting for me by the door, but escaped underneath the sofa as soon as she saw that I wasn’t alone.

Kielo limped into the bathroom while I checked all windows and made sure the front door was locked properly. Then I went to help her, and saw that the striped socks had been only socks, held up with a garter belt. A very nice lacy one.

Right. Get the glass out of her foot before concentrating on the lacy goodness.

She had tried to dig it out herself but hadn’t managed. Weeping a little drunkenly, her mascara was running all the way down her cheeks. I kneeled in front of her as she sat on the toilet seat, and took her foot carefully into my hands.

“There it is. Not too big, you should be all right with a band aid.” I muttered to calm her down. I wiped some of the blood off with a damp towel before plucking out the offending shard. She jumped a little with the pain before relaxing. The wound was wide open and bleeding, but not too big or deep. Despite the dirt on her foot I leaned in closer and licked the fresh blood off. Kielo made a move as if to pull her foot away, but I held on and gently rubbed the rest of the foot with my hands as my tongue licked the red away.

When I was convinced that the wound was clean I let her foot go and looked up to her blushed face. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile and not a bloody one, and got a small smile out of her as a reward.

“Thank you.” Then she started to cry again. I got up to get a band aid and some gauze, and wrapped her pretty little foot in a neat package. She had stopped crying by then, so I picked her up and carried her into my bed. Her hold around my neck was so tight she was almost choking me. We got undressed, and laid down in each others arms. She asked me to keep her safe, and I promised I would.

I don’t think either of us slept until much later.