The street was abandoned, the pavement beneath her boots slick and wet from a brief shower earlier that hour. There was the smell of rain still thick in the air, a smell that Roxanne normally took great fondness in, but she was far too preoccupied to really take notice of something that brought her calm when her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to leap out of her chest and explode in the open air.

Tonight had been going so well, too.

She had just accomplished achieving a raise from work, moved up the corporate ladder, and as such she had felt it was a decent enough reason to head out and celebrate with friends. Family lived far too away, but the encouraging words from her mother and father over the telephone had brought her a strong sense of pride and achievement.

So off they had gone, she and a select few of her work mates... and one extra that she could have done without.

"I tell ya Roxie, I told ya," Hal, a red haired chubby man who tended to gravitate towards her whenever possible at work, said as he held a glass tightly in his hand, "I told ya that you'd climb that corporate ladder lickity split."

"Thanks, Hal." Roxanne had smiled her best 'no of course you're not bothering me why would you be bothering me' smile.

"Just between you 'n me I don't mind watching gals climb the ladder either. Especially when they wear skirts! Ha ha!" Hal lifted his hand, anticipating a high five from those around him. But when he got none he turned it into an elaborate scratch to the back of his head, and busied himself with his drink.

Despite Hal inviting himself, Roxanne had enjoyed herself. The bar they had chosen was fancy enough to get some really nice drinks but casual enough that they could dance on a dance floor set up not too far from the bar. It wasn't overly packed at first, but as the night wore on more people began to filter in after a hard working week.

She had found herself dancing against some tall, able bodied man, who had smiled at her in a suave manner which made her cheeks flush. He was very handsome, with thick blond hair and clear blue eyes. What was his name? They didn't exchange them, but he seemed very keen on her the way he danced against her, and bought her a few drinks.

Hal had glared at the guy from his seat at the bar for the entirety of the evening until he had left in a huff, and driven off alone.

While she wasn't plastered, Roxanne knew she wasn't fit to drive herself home. Hal had already left and he was normally her wheels, since being her new cameraman it was his job. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt bad for snubbing him the way she had, but he just creeped her out sometimes... unlike the blond man who was walking with her outside in order to wait for a cab to come on by.

That's when things had started to get interesting. The man had pulled her close when she had commented on how cold it was, and while it did feel nice she didn't feel any warmer than before. But the sentiment was appreciated, and soon her arms were up around his shoulders and she was acting like a drunk, horny teenager.

His hands gripped at her back, and her rear, which made her heartbeat quickly within her chest. It almost felt as though this encouraged him since he began to knead his hands against her body, pulling her in close as he kissed her full on the mouth. It was a brief affair, however, since he began to kiss down her chin to her neck.

Why was he so cold to touch though? Even his lips on her skin weren't warm and soft, but cold. He was gripping at her far too closely now, enough that it hurt, and Roxanne suddenly had a shudder run through her body that made her body feel as cold as his was. Roxanne knew self-defence, and strong-minded woman of the day should, and she had soon pushed him off of her.

Red eyes had replaced blue ones, and his skin had turned a sickening pale that she only managed to pick up since he had stumbled backwards into a street light. Then his mouth opened, revealing his teeth had become sharp and pointed at some point, and hissed at her like an animal. Instinct for survival kicked in and after staring at him in shock for but a few short moments, Roxanne turned and ran down the street.

The pavement was wet and slick, and the heels she was wearing were not meant for running. So despite the panic rushing through her veins when she suddenly tripped and fell over, she had almost anticipated it. Roxanne cried out as she tripped and fell, but not so much as when she rolled over to see the once handsome man practically leaping onto her. She screamed, shut her eyes, and turned her head away to block the inevitable pain she was no doubt about to endure.

The black boot seemed to come out of nowhere, connected with the man's jaw, and sent him flying and crashing to the floor.

Roxanne, having not felt the cold jaws of death gripping at her, opened one eye to peer at the world. What she saw she didn't expect. Someone was standing between herself and her attacker, and from the looks of her protector she had no chance. He was incredibly skinny, wearing black leather from head to foot. His coat was billowing in the soft breeze of the night and his head covered in a black hat making it impossible to see the back of his head.

"You dare!" snarled the fallen adversary, getting to his feet and she could see where he had been struck on his jaw. "You dare get between a man and his meal?"

"Oh I dare all right," replied her savoir, readying his fists as if he was about to enter a bout of fisty-cuffs. "And if she's your meal, then you have terrible table manners!" he added boldly.

This enraged her attacker who was up on his feet and leaping at the man same as before. But the stranger twirled, faster than Roxanne had anticipated, and once more his large boot came in contact with the mans head. It kicked him away, and this time he crashed into a wall and fell down to the ground with a slump but he didn't stay down at all, he was back onto his feet and growling in anger. "Quick for a freak."

"Tough for a freakier... freak." shot back her saviour as he boldly walked towards him, stance reading one of confidence. "Come on then. I should be no match for you at all!"

One growl later the attacker had leapt at him, one arm swinging either to claw or punch him. But that arm was grabbed, and his attack was turned back on him, and he was driven down into the ground. Roxanne was sure she heard a snapping sound, and she looked away but not for long. Her curious streak had her looking back seconds later and what she saw alarmed her far more than when she was being chased by a man with sharp teeth.

The man on the floor was now pale as a ghost, his eyes red and no iris' to speak of. His hair had become white too, and his skin was taunt and ugly to behold. How had he once been handsome? Those jaws were open in a savage snarl, his teeth protruding, sharp and pointed. But the one standing above him is what gave Roxanne even more reason to be alarmed. His skin was blue as the day sky, eyes a fierce green that pierced the darkness, and his head was swollen in size.

"I wondered when I'd run into you..." hissed her ex-date, voice distorted and sounded like it should belong to the little girl in the Exorcist.

"Hope you weren't waiting too long, I do so hate being late for special occasions." sniped her rescuer as he pulled something from under his jacket, something she couldn't see. "Give my regards to the afterlife." he said and the next thing she knew he had slammed something down into the man's chest.

Light suddenly erupted from the fallen man from the point of impact. There was no blood, despite there being something lodged right where his heart would be. The man withered for a second and screamed in silence before being consumed by the light, and suddenly erupted into a plume of ash that was shot skywards before being caught by the wind. Not even his clothes had survived the onslaught. It was as if he had never existed.

Roxanne felt as though her eyes would never return to their regular size, and stared in horror at what she had just witnessed. Surely this couldn't be real. It had to be some kind of a dream brought on by the drinks in her system, by the closeness of the bar. This, this was a dream. No, a nightmare. A hallucination. She was too drunk! She should never have drunk as much as she had... why didn't she think of freaked out hallucinations happening before?

"Oh man I got some of him on my boots." complained the man with blue skin, lifting a foot to glare at the muck sticking to the heel of it.

"What... what..." Roxanne breathed shakily, heart still racing.

He spun around on his heels suddenly, eyes wide in alarm. "Oh! Sorry, almost forgot you were there. I kind of get carried away when I run into one of those guys, you know?"

Roxanne stared at him, unmoving still.

"...You're still freaking out aren't you?" he asked with a small, awkward chuckle. "Yeah sorry. It'd probably do you better if you just forget this."

"Forget this?" Roxanne asked her first suitable sentence since this whole thing had begun. "Forget? You just- he just- was he a-"

"Vampire? Yes." replied the man was he walked over to her and squatted before her, placing his gloved hands to his knees. "And yes, Vampires exist. No they don't sparkle. No they can't go out in the sunlight. Yes they can walk into Churches. No, they do cast a reflection. They can be very hard to spot, and you have to know what you're looking for unless you want to steak a normal person and that is a no-no." he gestured to himself. "For one you get blood everywhere, and getting blood out of your clothing is not as easy as you'd think it is!"

Roxanne stared at him, before looking back to where the fallen... well, vampire had been. "So..." she looked back at him, "How does that explain... you?"

"I'm a hunter." he said proudly, "Raised from a baby to know what I was doing."

"Why are you blue, then? Is that war paint?" she asked.

"Pfttttt. No. It's my skin." he replied as he smacked one of his cheek with the palm of his hand. "Anyway." he got to his feet and worked out a kink in his shoulder. "You should get home."

She agreed. What Roxanne needed was a good soak in her bath, a headache tablet, and her bed. She struggled to get to her feet and hissed when she realized she had sprained her ankle. Reaching out she leaned against the wall, and was surprised to see how many bricks had been knocked loose by the small battle she had witnessed. A fair number of them were on the floor, while a couple were half hanging out of the brick wall, refusing to fall and kept their place by way of the cement mix used to put them there in the first place.

"Ooh. That's gotta hurt." he said as he observed her swollen ankle. "You live far then?"

"Far enough I can't walk it." Roxanne said quietly, wondering just how she had become so at ease talking to a blue man wearing black leather who had just killed a man in front of her. Maybe watching Buffy when she was a teenager had paid off, and dulled the shock? Who knew?

"Eh. It wouldn't be fitting for me to rescue a damsel in distress then desert her." mused the man, stroking at a small goatee that lived quite happily on his pointed chin. She could see he was considering things, weighing pros and cons.

That's when a black car pulled up besides them on the road, and the back door was opened from within. "Well hello good looking," said a voice from the front seat. "Need a lift?"

Roxanne wondered just who this question was being asked of, but if it wasn't at her why wasn't the one behind the wheel freaking out at seeing a blue skinned man? The man in question laughed, and clapped his hands together. "Yes! Oh Minion, thank you, you fantastic fish you!" he grinned before turning to look at her, the grin being replaced with a look of great concern. "Now you're about to see something you probably haven't seen before. If you freak out and faint on us that's fine, just letting you know I'll be looking in your purse to find out where you live so we can at least drop you off at the right place. All right then?" he asked brightly.

"All... right?" Roxanne asked. "But before I go climbing into anybody's car," she said, "What do I call you?"

He blinked, a little surprised that she had asked. But then he smiled and tilted his head slightly. "Megamind. You don't have to ask why, surely."

"...no, I guess not..."

He took her hand into his and he wrapped her arm around his shoulders while his other arm wrapped around her waist, helping her into the car. Roxanne mumbled a thank you as she slid into the back seat and turned her head to the person in the front seat, and felt herself freeze when she realized it wasn't a person at all. It was a fish. A green, glowing fish on a robot body. She couldn't see much of the body from the back seat but it looked like it had been made from scrap pieces of metal mixed with brown fur.

The fish was looking at her, its golden eyes locked on her with an intense look of judgement.

"Let's go Minion. Now where do you live?" asked the man in leather.

Roxanne gave her address without taking her eyes off of the fish named Minion.

The fish turned around in his bowl of water that he called his home, and actually began to drive.

"You're taking this far better than I thought you would to be totally honest. I would have had expected you to pass out at any-" he stopped when Roxanne suddenly checked out, and slumped back in her seat. "-moment." he finished and sighed. "Oh well. She lasted longer than anyone else has."

"Shall we use the forget-me-gas on her then, Sir?" Minion asked as he drove through the city streets.

"I don't-hey! This is Roxanne Ritchi!" Megamind declared. "OH my gosh I didn't even realize it was her!"

"Roxanne Ritchi?" the fish peered in the rear view mirror of the car, looking at the unconsious woman in the back seat. She was just another saved victim who would go on to chalk up their altercations to a bad dream brought on by bad digestion. "Huh. So it is."

"How did I not notice this?" Megamind asked, slapping his forehead with his hand. "Duh!"

"You were kind of busy killing the vampire, Sir." Minion pointed out as he made a right turn.

"Well of course, naturally, but come on now! She's only the greatest on the spot reporter for Channel 8! And I hear tell she's being allotted more time on screen, maybe that's why she was out tonight?" Megamind was mostly talking to himself now as he watched the brunette doze in the back seat of his car. "I never thought I'd have a celebrity in my car..."

"All the more reason to wipe her memory, Sir. What if she starts... alerting people to our existence? It would undo all that we've worked for." Minion said as he checked where he was on his navigational GPS on the dashboard. "The last thing you want is getting a swollen head. No pun intended, Sir."

"I'm sure." Megamind replied dryly.

"Well, here we are!" Minion declared as they parked outside the apartment complex.

Megamind scooted over Roxanne in order to peer up at the tall complex, and whistled. "Whoa. High living."

"Well she is an anchor, Sir. No doubt her salary doubles, if not triples our own." Minion said as, he too, peered up at the building.

"Hmm." Megamind nodded sagely before looking at his wristwatch, and began twisting it rapidly in his hands. "Well best drop her off then. Without alerting anyone to my presence. Like a ninja."

"Yes sir, like a ninja." Minion rolled his eyes.

When Megamind stepped out of the car you would not see a leather clad, blue skinned individual with a huge head. Instead you saw a regular run off the mill man wearing a black suit, had pale white skin, and thick black hair with a matching goatee. He reached into the car and with more strength than his stature should be capable of, lifted her out of the car and carried her up to the complex.

The security man stared as this stranger carried Miss Ritchi in, but was even more alarmed when he turned to look at him.

"I'm afraid she had a little too much to drink last night!" the stranger said, "Poor thing even twisted her ankle. Now I'm not sure what floor is hers, or which apartment, but I know this is her place. Take care of her for me?" he asked.

Carlos nodded and came out from behind the security desk. "Yes of course..."

Megamind knew he should have sprayed her as he was setting her down on the chair. It was common practice, after you save somebody you give them a little dose of the forget-me-spray and they would continue to live their lives safe in the knowledge that vampires were a thing of fancy and that blue skinned aliens dressed in leather didn't go running around the city killing any and all of them that dare show their fangs. Yet as he set her on the chair, and casually brushed some of her hair out of her face, he missed his chance.

"So?" Minion asked, as Megamind climbed into the passenger seat and turned off his disguise generator.

"Hm?" Megamind asked, pulling on a seat belt.

"Did you do it?" Minion asked, looking at his boss.

"Oh yes, yes." Megamind replied with a wave of his hand, "All done."

Minion gave his boss a good look before nodding his fish body. "Right then. Off we go!" he started up the engine again, and the black car drove off into the city and soon blended with the rest of the morning traffic.

To be continued