Well, we've reached the end of our little journey, hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have!

Much love, D

"Whatare you then? I know you are not human. Obviously."
"I'm a vampire. George, my flat mate I told you about, he's a werewolf."
"I thought it smelled a bit like dog when you opened the door." She giggled and he chuckled, a bit nervous but it was still a chuckle. With a thought she lit the candles and closed the door again, this time he barley flinched. His eyes looked very dark, almost black in the soft lighting of the room, he wore a t-shirt and a cardigan paired with dark jeans, heavy boots and green cutoffs.

"Let me see your hand Mitchell."
"My what?"
"Your hand, you know, the thing at the end of your arm, the one with fingers attached to it." She wiggled one of her own to show him. Now he saw what he had previously just heard, around her wrist she wore a strange collection of bracelets, leather and silver for the biggest part, the tingling he had been hearing since she first knocked on his door was the small charms that were knocking into each other with every movement she made. He gave her his hand and she gently took it, softly pulling off his glove and turning his palm upwards.
She tilted her head down so all he saw was her neck, her nails were longer than expected, a bit pointy and looked like they were dipped in stars, the tips were glittering and sparkling. She trailed along the lines in his hand, silent at first.
"You've had a long life John Mitchell. A long, chaotic life. You will get your happy ending, but not yet, there will come a time when you doubt everyone around you, even yourself but don't despair.' She looked up at him with a grave face; "Happiness can be found in the darkest of places, if only one remembers to turn on the light." Then she shook her head;
"Sorry, that was Harry Potter, a great book series, not entirely accurate, but still extremely good."
"Harry Potter was a good series, you are right." He smiled at her. She folded his fingers inwards again and gave him back his hand.

"Not everything out there is black and evil Mitchell, there is light too, trust me, I'm as light as they come. Don't be afraid to tell your friends the truth, it can save more than one life, and most certainly yours." She leaned so close he could see the pulse on her throat and smell the coffee on her breath when she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry, you just looked like you needed it." She blushed a bit, inside she felt how drawn she was towards his animalistic side even if she had seen his future, and Annie, that he hadn't mentioned yet.
"No that's all right, thank you. I need to hear things like that. Up until very recently my life have just been struggle after struggle."
"I could see that, just remember what I told you and you will do just fine, I promise. Your salvation will come." They looked at each other and then she blinked at him; "Wow, don't I sound all doomsday-ish today. Let's find a cheerier subject, shall we?"
He chuckled, a genuine chuckle that almost reached his eyes.
They talked for hours and hours, forgetting the cups on the table. She told him about herself and he told her things about him and George.
She could feel the sun about to rise when she stretched and yawned big.
"Dee?"
"Yes?"
"Those cat I saw earlier? What where they?"
"Oh, I guess you could call them my guardian angels, they are always with me." She shook her shoulder a bit and his eyes grew large when she suddenly had a striped housecat in her lap, tail whisking, purring softly with half closed eyelids. A shake of her ankle and another one, this one almost a spit image of the one in her lap, now sat on the backrest, tail flipping back and forth.
"You can touch them if you want to."
Hesitantly he stretched out a hand towards Jim, the one on the backrest and his eyes grew even larger when the cat sniffed his fingers and nuzzled its head against them.
"But how?"
"Life is just an illusion. And these are mine. That one is Jim, and the little lady in my lap is Tara, they are named after my parents."
"But I can still see your tattoos?"
"Like I said, it is just an illusion, though a very solid one. They can alter size if they feel that I am under attack."

She flicked her fingers, almost as if she was shaking water away from them and he threw himself backwards on the sofa, where there had just been two sweet, purring housecats now stood a couple of Bengal tigers, staring at him with golden eyes. She petted one of them behind the ear and soon enough they were gone again, only the purring lingered in the air.
"That was. I don't know, I am speechless."
"Neat party trick, huh?"
"To say the least. I am impressed. You named them after your parents, you said?"
"It only felt appropriate. One morning I woke up, realizing something was different from the night before. Then I saw the news and my parents had been killed in a big blast. What had really woken me up was a tingling sensation, one on my shoulder and one around my ankle and there they were. It took some time for me to get the whole 'illusion' thing working but since that day they have been with me, through thick and thin."
"And how long ago was this?"
"I don't know, maybe fifty years or so? Time flies, especially when you don't stay at the same place for too long."
"Fifty years? How old are you?"
"Seventy-five, I was about fifteen when they died. At first I was very lonely but I soon adapted to my surroundings and here I am, working a normal job, having my own little house just like everybody else. Except my neighbors are a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf."
"How did you know about Annie?" He hadn't mentioned her all night, not sure how Dee would take it, not that he knew why he cared about her knowing he lived with a female ghost.
"I saw her in your hand, in your future Mitchell. Why do you think I haven't even tried to flirt with you? I know I've already lost. You don't know it yet, neither does she, but your destinies are joined harder than any I have ever seen."
"But Annie is just my friend!" He wasn't sure why this upset him as much as it did.
"I'm sorry Mitchell." Suddenly she looked very uncomfortable and he could hear the low sound of a tiger growling vibrating through the room.
"You don't have to be sorry, Dee, it's not your fault. But I thank you for a really, really nice evening and I hope to see you soon again." She avoided to look at him as he got up from the sofa, putting on his jacket.
"Sure, and oh, the sun is coming up, there is an umbrella by the door, please use it."
He looked over and saw the big black umbrella with an eagle head for a handle next to the door that opened without any visible force. He leant in, kissed her softly on the cheek;
"I mean it, I hope to see you soon Dee, I want to know more about this world of yours." Then he put his cap on, folded up the umbrella and stepped out in the glowing morning light. Just before the door snapped shut he saw her still sitting on the couch, her forehead resting on her arms that were leaning on her knees, one tiger taking up the space in the sofa he had just left, the other one sprawled out on the floor next to her.

Not until he got inside he realized that he had forgotten his cutoffs at her place and smiled to himself, they would have to meet again.