Fangs for the memories

Viola had been patiently waiting for a text from Adrian for two entire days. One day she could have accepted, she almost expected him to wait that long to play cool, but two? Viola actually felt a little offended, she thought she had played the role of an adorable and innocent girl quite well, but apparently not.

Of course, Adrian being so socially inept that he couldn't even text her was also an option if Viola really thought about it. But she hadn't really bothered thinking that far because she had spent those two days being bored and thus growing more and more impatient every hour. And in her mind, she had already decided Adrian was definitely what was going to stop her from being bored.

If he ever answered her text that is.

It was around the same time of the day as the least time she had gone out to feed when Viola decided to finally take matter into her own hands and head out to look for him. Chances were that he was out searching the same streets for vampires as he had when they met.

It hadn't taken her long to find him, after getting to the same general area as before she could easily track down the smell of the blood she had been denied a couple of nights ago, and also the slight smell of vervain that she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed before, probably due to her senses being dulled down from tirst.

Currently Adrian was walking down the street, a lttle further up ahead and Viola followed him in a similar way as she had the first time they met, only now here intentions with the hunter were very different. She picked up her phone and shot away a text.

Hey, I think I see you further up the street, turn around!

She added a happy blushy emoji to it, but Adrian didn't even stop to check it. Viola scowled just for a moment, before wiping the negative expression from a face, replacing it with a smile. If he didn't want to answer she was going to make first contact.

She hurried up to the man, half running half walking, in a pace that was suited for a girl her size.

"Adrian! Wait up! That's you right?!"
 
Adrian considered running away. With the peak athletic form that came with his vampire hunter genes, he would most certainly be able to outrun the girl behind him. He knew it was Viola. He recognized her voice almost instantly, and suddenly he felt ten times worse for never answering any of her texts, but his pride prevented him from fleeing. Thus, he turned around.

"Hey there, Viola", he said with a smile that didn't quite reach all the way up to his eyes. "I didn't see you there, are you looking for escort to your friend's house again?" They were almost at the place where they had met for the first time, so it was a plausible explanation for them running into each other. It also made for a fool-proof method to avoid talking about the unanswered text messages for at least a little while longer.
 
"Oh no, I'm on my way home actually" Viola lied casually, easily going back to being the girl she had pretended to the night they met, "But I saw you walking down the street so I thought I'd stop to say hello"

She wasn't about to let the fact that the hunter had not answered her text slip though, she kind of needed to know what the reason was, or else she would probably go crazy. Or not, she certainly didn't need the hunter's validation, but she would be annoyed if it turned out he wasn't even the tiniest bit interested in her.

"I actually tried texting you to stop you, but you didn't answer," Viola said, turning her smile into a little frown, "You didn't accidentally give me the wrong number, did you? Oh wait, maybe you did that on purpose,"

She supposed that could be an actual possibility to, it happened that people did that even if Viola hadn't really had it happen to her once since people started to carry cell phones with them at all times. So, if Adrian had in fact given her the wrong number she was not going to be happy.

"and now I look like a total creep for running after you, I swear I wasn't trying to find you or anything," Viola pulled a concerned expression as she assured Adrian that she wasn't doing what she most definitely was doing.
 
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Viola", Adrian started out, eyes darting all over the place as he frantically tried to come up with a believable, yet cool excuse. "I didn't know it was you who texted me. You see, I got this... friend... that's been blowing up my phone, asking for... money... because I have a lot and they don't... have money that is..." Nice! That would be a believable excuse, and Adrian got to brag about how rich he was in a subtle way.
In reality, Adrian was broke of course, and he hoped that Viola wouldn't see through his lies and the fact that he had fed only on cup noodles and raw hot dogs for the past few days. He was just being frugal, okay?

"I don't think you are a creep at all", Adrian said, trying to comfort an obviously insecure and embarrassed Viola with a gentle smile. "Actually, I'm glad that we rushed into each other again." That was actually true. Apart from the occasional calls from his parents, Adrian was more or less on his own in this unfamiliar town. Apart from the short exchanges of words with cashiers at super markets, Adrian rarely spoke, and being all alone with only his thoughts o keep him company was starting to drive him nuts.
 
Viola really had to make an effort not to roll her eyes at Adrian's horrible excuse. She had almost forgotten how awkward the guy was. At least he did seem happy to be running into her again though so she decided to accept it and assume the reason really was his obvious lack of social skills.

"Oh okay," she said and sighed as if his words had assured her that she wasn't a creep, which if Viola was being completely honest with herself kind of was by stalking him up like she had, "That's kind of a relief actually,"

Then she looked up at Adrian with some hesitation, wide eyed and twirling a strand of her unruly dark curls.

"So, are you busy vampire hunting?" Viola chuckled a little, joking as if she still couldn't really believe his claims but smiling as if she didn't think the claims were completely crazy. She supposed that part of the façade was true, though, since she knew Adrian wasn't crazy, "because I'm not really doing now so…"

She was making an effort to open up for Adrian to invite her to do something, she had a feeling that would maybe boost his confidence a little. And hopefully he would be more interested in a chance to hang out with her than keeping vampires off the street.
 
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Adrian was glad he had managed to assure Viola that she wasn't being a creep and he was over the moon when she basically handed him an opportunity to ask her out. All he had to do now was play it cool, and if there was something Adrian could do, it was being cool.

"Well, I'm usually busy right about now, but for you, I'll make an exception. The streets can handle one night without constant supervision. Especially as..." he gave a small laugh and winked at Viola, "they don't know that the streets are without supervision."
It wasn't until after the words had escaped his mouth as Adrian realised exactly how crazy he sounded. Like a paranoid mental patient.
In an attempt to lessen the damage, he laughed a little, as if what he just had said had been a joke, and casually put his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and moved his leg a little to shift into a more omfortable pose for standing still for a longer time.
"So... you wanna do something? I know this really great bar we could go to if you'd like?" That would also make for a great excuse to escape this hellish cold. It wasn't really cold enough to dress up in full winter accounterments, but after a few hours of walking around the same old street corners, the cold really dug itself all the way into the marrow.
 
Viola masked an actual laugh behind a cuter giggle at the mention of none of the vampires knew about his whereabouts. At least one of them knew the streets were without supervision. But Viola was coming with him after all, so she supposed he was more right than wrong. Then again, he had also just confirmed he wasn't a very good hunter once again, Viola had a feeling he wasn't actually supposed to leave his post.

The Viola Adrian knew had no idea a hunter deciding to do something other than hunting could lead to a couple of innocent people dying, though, so she chose not to comment on it. Instead, she gave Adrian an intrigued look, this one wasn't a fake one, she was genuinely curious to see what someone like him considered a great bar.

"That sounds like a pretty nice idea to me," she gave the hunter a small smile, and for a moment she debated hooking his arm with his, he would probably love it, but she decided not to just in case he had any more vervain on him, it was risky enough hanging around a hunter, no matter how bad, she didn't need to jeopardize it to get attention she already had.

"lead the way?" She gestured a little with her hand in front of her to indicate that she wanted him to take the initiative, so far her impression of him was that he needed some coaxing to be less awkward.
 
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Adrian forced himself to close his mouth. It had opened on its own as Viola actually had wanted to hang out. He didn't know if he should thank his lucky stars or praise his own smoothness. Maybe a bit of both, he though as the beauty of the girl with the pale gray eyes. Her smile almost made him melt on the spot, and for the first time, Adrian wondered if he was dreaming. Maybe he had frozen to death in one of these street corners, and Viola was but an hallucination, created to keep his dying conscience company...
"Sure", was the word that came across Adrian's lips in his dazed state. He blinked hard and shook his head slightly in an effort to wake his wandering brain back up, and as he stole yet another look at Viola, he promptly decided that even if she indeed was a fidget of his imagination, he would gladly keep her company for the night.

"It's really not far from here, but it's easily overlooked", he explained to the girl as he led the way through the streets and walkways. "It really is too bad, it's one of the best bars I know." Not that Adrian knew that many, but that was besides the point. He had encountered the place by chance during one of his rounds, and the bar had offered him a warmth that his shivering bones almost had forgotten. Perhaps that was the most important part, as it made Adrian feel almost indebted to the place.

"Watch your step", he warned his date as he led her over the rather big threshold and into the dim-lit and sullen bar. as always, he gave the female bartender a big smile as their eyes locked, and she gave him a stern twitch of the mouth back before continuing to focus on wiping the glasses clean. Sometimes he wondered if she even remembered that he had been here before. It should be inevitable though, considering how empty the bar always seemed to be.
In fact, Adrian and Viola was the only ones there, except for the bartender, a small group of college-aged friends, a couple of shady men playing cards in the darkest corner of the room, and an obviously homeless man whose clearly stolen patent-leather shoes didn't fool anyone.
"Cozy, isn't it?" he told Viola as he made his way towards the counter.
 
Viola had been definitely been to better and cosier bars in the past. Not everyone would, but Viola could definitely see the charm with this one. Not fancy in any way at all, a little shady even, but it wasn't bustling with people and Viola liked the atmosphere. It was just kind of what she would have expected a place Adrian would like to be like somehow, despite not even knowing him. She shot the hunter a smile, a genuine one, there was something about finding out someone's favourite place like this. It could tell you quite a lot about a person, it also.

"Yeah, I like it," Viola smiled, "very you," then she gave the place another curious look around, taking note of the people instead. Some kids in Adrian's age and her physical age, a group of men playing poker, some of which were worse at making sure their heart rate was calm and steady than others, and of course the bartender, who wasn't giving Adrian enough of a break in Viola's opinion, the poor guy was trying his best for God's sake.

"Buy me a drink?" Viola suggested, it was a little blunt but also a little more her. She wasn't sure how long she was planning on hanging around Adrian yet, but if she ended up randomly running into him more after this evening she would probably want to lay off the sweet girl persona a little. Although she still suggested it in a sweet voice and with a shy smile on her face, "Since you know what's good here than I do,"

Viola wasn't close to as excited about drinking as she was acting, the worst downside to doing things with humans, according to her, was honestly having to consume foods of different kinds. She didn't mind liquids as much otherwise she wouldn't have suggested it, but she could have most certainly lived without it if she hadn't been so adamant about wanting to use Adrian to kill her boredom for the evening.
 
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Adrian decided that when Viola said that the bar was very 'him', it was a compliment, and he felt a smile grow from the corners of his mouth. She had complimented him. Even better, she had complimented him on something that wasn't his looks, she had seen past his good-looking self and into his soul. Perhaps the two of them were meant to be?

"Sure thing", he said confidently when Viola asked him to buy her a drink and fished in one of his many pockets after his wallet. "I know all of the drinks at this place." That was... quite the exaggeration. Adrian's 'usual' at the place was a glass of water, and occasionally, when he felt courageous, the cheapest beer in the house. As he opened his wallet and saw the lonely penny in the bottom of it, he was once again reminded of exactly how poor he was, and he quickly closed the wallet again and put it back into his pocket, hoping that Viola hadn't seen its insides.
A nervous laughter exited his mouth as he scanned the room for a possible way out of the sticky situation he had found himself in, and he found the solution in the most unexpected of places.

"But before that", he said, his smile confident once again, "how about I show you my mad poker skills?" Yes, that was correct. Adrian's master plan was to win big by gambling. It was a genius plan, if Adrian would say so himself. Also, chicks digged pro-gamblers, right?
 
Viola found it quite amusing to see Adrian fumble and try to impress her with the money he very clearly didn't have and waited to see how he was going to get himself out of the situation. Poker it seemed. Viola was intrigued. It was an interesting game, a lot of fun to watch from the sidelines when you could hear the pace of people's heartbeat. She had no problem at all with postponing the drinks with poker, actually, she had no problem postponing the drinks completely, but that wasn't the point.

"Ooh that sounds interesting," Viola said, she was being honest but she played up her excitement quite a bit. She gave the look another once-over as if to look for where Adrian was planning on playing, even if it was quite obvious, and let her gaze stop at the shady looking men.

"Hang on, you don't mean joining those guys do you?" Viola lowered her voice and pulled a worried expression, she had started getting to know Adrian as the girl who was too scared to walk through an alleyway alone and she had to at least stick to that role enough for him not to notice it wasn't really her. In reality she, of course, wasn't scared of the shady looking men in the least, "They look kind of scary,"

She bit her lip, grabbed a little at Adrian's sleeve, and looked up at him, "Promise I'll be safe with you?" She kind of liked feeding into this guy's ego for some reason.
 
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Adrian hadn't even given the plan enough thought to realise that Viola would be an easy target for those rough men, would they apporach them, and he felt embarrassed that she needed to point it out for him to realise it. Well, no matter, he thought to himself. He trusted in his own hunter abilities enough to be almost certain that he simultaneously would win the game and protect Viola. Almost.
However, he couldn't back down now. Thus, he flashed the gorgeous girl a confident smile and took her hands in his. Her hands felt cold, and he assumed she was even more scared than she let on.

"I'll protect you with my life if needed", he assured her, as he walked towards the shady table.
Perhaps it was the confidence boost of being relied on, or the thought of Viola's impressed, love-stricken face as he won the whole thing, but Adrian almost radiated confidence as he sat down on an empty chair at the table. The men each gave him a short, sullen look, and Adrian's well-trained eyes noticed how the corner of one of the men's mouth twitched, holding back a smirk. They all pretended not to notice the youngster, though, something that reminded Adrian of the old western movies he had sneaked out to watch at the local theater when he was young.
Fine, he thought, be that way then. Two could play at that game. Or, well, five.
Confidently, Adrian reached forward and plucked the five top cards from the deck in the middle of the table, stealthily swiping one of the $10 bills from the pot at the same time.

"Oh, sorry", he said, as the other men around the table looked more than a little annoyed at his interference. "I thought you hadn't started yet." Giving the pot a long look, as if he was evaluating it, he paused for a moment before continuing. "Well, not seriously at least... I raise $10."
Placing the $10 bill back in the pot, Adrian then turned to smile at Viola and showed her his hand.
"Well, what do you think?" he asked her, feeling more than a little confident.
 
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Viola continued to play the role of the scared girl and kept close to Adrian as he went to challenge the shady men. When he sat she pulled a chair close to him, she placed it slightly behind him as she sat, so she would be able to see his cards but also so it seemed like she wanted him as a protective barrier between her and the men.

Adrian talked to the men with confidence and Viola patiently sat next to him and watched all of their faces turn into annoyed expressions until Adrian properly showed her his cards. It was an okay hand and if Adrian was as good as he seemed to think, or as good as he was acting at least, he could probably win this.

If she wanted to, viola could, of course, help Adrian win. It wasn't like she had x-ray vision and could see the other players' cards or anything, but no matter how skillful of a poker player you were it was going to be hard to hide when you got excited or nervous for someone who could hear your heart thump in your chest, pick up on the small fidgeting movement and see the small glimmer of sweat in the dull light. She wasn't planning on helping him though, that wouldn't be as fun as seeing how well he did on his own. If he was going to win it was due to his own skills if he lost it was going to be due to a lack of them.

"Looks decent, yeah, It's been a while since I played though," Viola murmured, she felt the way she said it was vague enough for the other men not to come to any conclusions about what kind of hand Adrian had, "Do you play a lot?" viola added conversationally, the men around the table didn't seem like the kind of people who would enjoy listening to flirty small talk while playing, but Viola frankly did not give a damn.
 
"I was banned from Vegas after a particularly lucky night, so I don't play much anymore", Adrian blatantly lied. He had never been in Las Vegas, but hey, it could probably have happened!
One of the advantages of being a vampire hunter was that Adrian had slightly better night vision than the regular person, and he noted how some brows were lifted in response to his claim. Being a vampire hunter didn't come with the perk of being a mind reader though, so Adrian had no idea of knowing whether the men believed him or not. He hoped he had managed to impress Viola at least.

However, it wasn't by mind-reading that Adrian planned to win this. No, he had other, fouler, plans. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but having hunter reflexes made him excel at cheating in card games. Like, he could easily hide cards on himself without anyone noticing. Thus, when drawing two new cards from the pile, Adrian swiftly drew six, three at a time, and while sneakily scanning all of them, he hid four of them away in one of his sleeves so quickly that it was barely noticable.
"I call", one of the other men said.
"I fold", another responded.
The next man, the shadiest of all of the shady fellas, a man with a fresh scar running from his left eyebrow all the way down to the chin, ran his beetle-black eyes all over Adrian, as if meassuring him. Adrian stared back at the man, trying hard not to blink. Finally, the man seemed to finish, and in the dull light, Adrian noticed a flash of yellow teeth beneath the man's black beard.
"I raise ten bucks", the man said, giving Adrian an intimidating look that slowly seemed to wander to Adrian's sleeve. Did the man know? Impossible, Adrian had been way to fast for any regular human to catch it! He was probably just imagining it... Still, Adrian couldn't help but swallow nervously.
"Me too", he said, tightly grasping his cards. There was no way his straight flush would lose, the other man was just trying to rile him up. "I also raise ten do-... bucks."

The two of them, Adrian and the bearded man, went back and forth for some more time, until every other player around the table had folded and the other man finally called. The pot was now worth $120, enough money to keep Adrian well-fed for a month. Had he known the returns would be this big, he would have played poker more often.
As the time for revealing came, Adrian confidently strew his cards face-up on the table.
"Straight flush", he said, his hands already reaching for the prize money. Viola would be so impressed when he treated her to the most expensive thing on the menu. Who knew, maybe she would even kiss him as a thanks! At the thought of it, Adrian could barely contain himself.

His hopes were swiftly crushed, though, as the bearded man placed his cards right on top of the money.
"Royal flush", he told the boy, and for a moment Adrian could have sworn that the clad cards were laughing at him. "You better pay up."
Uh-oh...
"Um... you see... I do-... I don't..." As Adrian struggled to come up with a solution, he noticed in the corner of his eye how the four men seemed to draw closer, and something was gleaming in the bearded man's jacket pocket. There was only one thought echoing in Adrian's mind: This wasn't how it was supposed to go down. Would he die here, a virgin, without even being close to achieving his life goal? Perhaps he would return as a ghost, cursing his fate for all eternity. Did ghost even exist? Adrian wasn't sure, but he sure knew he was far too young to become one.

Snatching the money from the table as he quickly rose from the chair, a movement so fast that it almost seemed inhuman, he grabbed Viola's wrist with his left hand and hurled his chair at the men with his right, before taking off running.
"Run!" he screamed at his love-interest as he did.
 
Viola watched the game take place in front of her with genuine interest, watched Adrian cheat his way to what could be a win, betting money she was about ninety-nine percent sure he could not afford to spend. It would be all well and good as long as he actually won, these men did not seem like the kind of people who'd take kindly to someone not being able to pay up.
As people started to fold and Adrian and one final man, the bearded and shadiest looking one, were the only ones left Viola was starting to realize Adrian might not as close to winning as he seemed to think he was. The man in front of them's heartbeat was steady and just a tad quicker than relaxed, it was the heartbeat of someone who knew they were winning and had done so many times before. She could also practically feel the slight uncertainty over the situation grab a hold of the man she had accompanied to the bar.

Viola furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the man in front of them, trying to read him, he was most definitely sure he was winning. While the other man winning certainly would be an interesting turn of events and while she wasn't about to stop the situation from escalating she would be lying if she said she wasn't rooting for Adrian, she saw no reason not to.
Her suspicions turned out to be right and a little while later Adrian lost. It was honestly a kind of funny sight to see him stumble over his words and try to figure out what to do next despite having wanted him to win. She had no time to think about that, though, because Adrian had already grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of her chair and out of the bar. She followed him without hesitation, letting her hand slide down and hold his properly as they ran.

Viola threw a quick look over her shoulder only once, seeing the increasing distance between them and the man who was now following them. Viola could easily stop, grab him without even having to try too hard, sink her teeth into his soft flesh and empty him of his blood. But what would be the fun in that? Nom she found it much more enjoyable to hurry after Adrian, just a few steps behind him, pretending she had trouble keeping up and that the only thing that kept her from falling behind was the hand she was so firmly holding. And besides, if she were to do something drastic as snacking on the man trying to catch up to them, Adrian would know what she was and then she'd miss out on watching him figure it out on his own.

For appearance's sake she decided it was time to stop, "Adrian, hang on," she slowed her pace down, and since her hand was in Adrian's they both soon came to a stop.
They were once again in a dark alleyway, it seemed to be their thing. Viola could faintly hear the running steps of the man further away. Adrian was a hunter and she knew that meant things like heightened reflexes, strength and speed, and it meant they had not really had a problem outrunning the man and they would probably have a solid couple of minutes to themselves. Viola couldn't wait to see what things Adrian would say to try to worm himself out of this situation.

But first, she needed to seem human. Viola let go of Adrian's hand, so he didn't have time to realize her hand was far too cold for the amount of time they had just been running. She moved said hand to her hair and let her fingers through her curls and push it out of her face, then she leaned down, hunched over with both her hands on her knees.
Her cheeks might not have been flushed and there was not a single drop of sweat on her pale face or in her dark hair, but she liked to think she was quite good at faking the near desperate and rapid gasps for air a living breathing person would have had, had they just been running as fast as they had.

After a while, it was probably too short to be realistic but Viola felt impatient and she didn't want the man to interrupt them prematurely, she let her breathing get a little more even and she looked up at Adrian with a distressed expression, "Sorry, I—I need a moment,"
 
Thankfully, Adrian had spent countless nights patrolling the adjorning streets, so the darkness of the late evening only worked out in his favour. Not that Adrian actually registered that as his feet hammered on the ground and his heart hammered in his chest. In that moment, every logical thought about how he as a vampire hunter would have countless advantages over his pursuers were way out of reach at the moment.

He would have kept running for who knows how long, had the hand he was holding not held him back and forced him to come to a stop. Had he been smarter, he would probably have questioned how a human could have had the strength to do that, but unfortunately for him, that thought didn't even cross his mind.
What did cross his mind, however, were that they probably had managed to escape, and that Viola probably never would want to speak to him again. Ever. The poor girl was horribly out of breath after being forced to keep up with his almost superhuman speed, and he suspected her arm probably hurt from being pulled, too.
"I'm so sorry", he apologized with a concerned expression. "A-... Are you okay?"

A quick look at her in the dim light from a distant street light told him that she didn't have any visible damage, which was a relief as Adrian was piss-poor at treating wounds.
"Sorry that you had to go through that, but that guy, the one who beat me, was a vampire and I needed to protect you", he straight out lied, before realising that it actually could have been the truth.
Come to think of it, the probability of getting a royal flush were next to none, which meant the other guy probably had cheated too, when Adrian wasn't looking. However, going for a royal flush when cheating would be extremely risky as the risk of getting called out would be extremely high. That meant that the other man must have known what Adrian's hand consisted of, something that would require superhuman reflexes or a vision good enough to see the reflection of the cards in the eyes of the player in the sparsely lit bar. To pull all of this off, one would no doubt have to be a vampire... Holy cow! They were lucky to have made it out alive!
"That bar hadn't been a good place to be fighting in, and it would have been hard to protect you in there", he continued. "I'm going to go after him now, of course, but as he might still be out lurking I should probably escort you home first", he said in what he hoped would sound like he was thinking out loud.

In reality, Adrian wasn't too sure about fighting this vampire. Sure, it was the first one he had encountered since he was sent out on this godforsaken mission, but the fact that it had taken him this long to find out that the man had been a vampire probably meant that the vampire was old and had way more experience than Adrian. Which meant that Adrian could die. And Adrian did not want to die.
 
When Adrian claimed the man from the bar was a vampire Viola felt fairly certain he was lying her straight in the face to cover up his own mistakes at the bar, but then a look of realization crossed his face and Viola too realized something. Adrian thought the guy at the bar was a vampire. The guy at the bar was not a vampire.

She let out a small giggle, and she realized her mistake almost immediately. She clasped her hand to her mouth as if that would cover her slip up instead of highlight it. For a moment she didn't know what to do but then she realized something else. This reaction worked with the scared girl persona she had built up in front of Adrian. She had yet to lose her chance for a nomination for best actress, no one needed to know this stroke of genius was a slip up though.
So, she let out another giggle, and let it fade into what almost was a whimper. She was in shock, this was too much for her human mind to handle, she was simply a nineteen, or something, year old girl who had just been chased down an alley by some shady looking men.
"I'm sorry—" She said again, she tried to match her voice to the whimpers, it didn't turn out as successful as she would have liked but she hoped Adrian feeling guilty about partially causing this reaction would make up for it. She was aware that she couldn't make Adrian feel too bad though, her goal wasn't to hurt his ego and scare him off, just to be believable. She added, "It's just a lot, I know it'll be okay because you'll protect me and take me home, but it's… A lot." Because it seemed like the kind of thing the guy would want to hear.

She pushed her fingers through her hair one more time, tried to make it seem like she was recovering by taking a deep breath and looking up at Adrian with a little more confidence. If she was being honest with herself, it hurt her pride a little to act like a wimp all the time, she would never admit that though, that would go against her cool don't-give-a-shit persona she had built up over her many years of being not alive.

"Okay. I'm fine." She said, a little too firmly, a little too much like herself, but she could be bothered to pretend to be terrified anymore, she was impatient and wanted to tone it down to slightly scared, "Why do you think he's a vampire?" She hoped there was an amount of scepticism in that question to make it believable, no one would just buy that vampires existed without proof, and Adrian had yet to show her any. She also wanted to seem interested though, not like she dismissed him like crazy, the guy obviously wasn't, but she suspected people would think he was for making claims like that.
 
Adrian almost felt a little offended when Viola started to laugh. It was sort of understandable, though, he guessed, seeing as the two of them had just run away from a vampire. He didn't doubt for a second that the girl had doubted their existance up until this point, and now it was up to Adrian to convince her of it. Both for the sake of her safety, and for the sake of his pride. He couldn't very well make her believe he had run away from a normal human after losing a game of cards now, could he?

"Look", he told her, "I know it's a lot, I totally understand, but you have to believe me. There's just no way that man was a human." He stopped for a second, unsure of how to proceed. How much information could this frail girl handle? He didn't want to scar her for life, didn't want to be the reason her pretty smile disappeared forever.
"At first glance, a vampire looks just like you and me, okay? There are signs, though. They can't hide their predatory insticts forever, and their thirst for blood comes through eventually. And as soon as I sat down at that table, I noticed the faint smell of blood. I just didn't know which one of them it came from at first, though, so I had to lure him into a trap to find out. Unfortunately, the man reacted quicker and more violently than I had anticipated-...!!" Every muscle in Adrian's body tensed up as he noticed the shadow of a person sweeping past. Or... was it really a person? Had the vampire found them already?

Stepping in front of Viola, Adrian steeled himself and prepared to grab the girl and run away again would it be necessary. The shadow, however, didn't seem to have noticed them, as it kept on walking. Adrian, however, did not relax just yet.
"Be on your guard", he told Viola in a hushed voice. "The vampire is still around here somewhere, looking for prey." Faking frustration, Adrian continued: "I'm so sorry, I need to get you home as quick as I can, so that I can prevent the vampire from killing another victim tonight. I just hope I won't be too late..."
Honestly, Adrian had no idea what he would do after getting Viola home. Yes, he needed to kill vampires in order to get away from this life, but at the same time, was he strong enough? The vampire had seemed like a relatively weak one, though, so it should be fine, right?
 
Viola looked at Adrian with a scared expression but nodded along as he explained to her the characteristics of her own kind, and then why that man just had to be a vampire. She found it incredibly amusing but she kept the laughs to herself this time.
The scared expression was fake, of course, but as a shadow swept past them that expression stayed on her face. It was too quiet to be a human. No heartbeat, not more than one or two light footsteps. She did hear an additional heartbeat, but not from the shadow. The heartbeat was beating fast and coming closer at a steady pace, almost reaching them. It was most likely the man from the bar. But the shadow? There was not a single doubt in her mind that it was a vampire.

She hadn't really thought about where they were running, it was possible that they were on hunting grounds someone had claimed as theirs. It wasn't unusual vampires got a little territorial, Viola wasn't one of the ones who did, in her opinion there was no point in doing something that inevitably end with fighting it out.
Another vampire added into the mix did take a lot of the fun out if it all for her though. It just turned everything into a mess. All she wanted was to have some fun with this incompetent hunter, not start some feud with a vampire who thought she was hunting in their territory.

As it were now, she had a couple of options. She could let Adrian escort her as far out of there as possible and then just run off if either the shady man or the unknown vampire came too close. The pro of that was that she got out of the trouble, the con that Adrian potential could get hurt, or worse. She honestly didn't trust Adrian's vampire slaying abilities and she didn't really want him to die, she was too invested at this point.
Another option was to try to fend off the vampire, but that would most likely lead to Adrian finding out who she was and that was no fun… And she doubted her own vampire slaying abilities about as much as Adrian's.
Or, finally, she could stay with Adrian try to help him if needed, and if things got too bad, pretend she was scared and try to get Adrian to flee with her. And that last one also came with the very fun bonus of getting to see Adrian try to actually beat a vampire.

But of course, that was if the shadow actually was planning on attacking Adrian knowing another vampire was there, it was possible they would only encounter the shady man again, and honestly, Viola found Adrian's little mix up too funny to pass up on. So she made up her mind and decided to stay.

"I—I'm... I'm not sure I want you to take me home," She said in an equally hushed voice, eyes darting around as if she was looking for something scary, "I just… I know you'll take me home safely, but if it is a vampire… What if they come after me after you've left? I don't know how to defend myself," She stepped a little closer to Adrian to put some emphasis on her next statement, her gaze was turned down at her feet and she was so close her forehead practically touched Adrian's leather jacket. She could hear the blood pumping through his veins, "I know I'm safe as long as I'm with you, even if it's dangerous… Can I come with when you fight it? Please?"
 
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