"I met a vampire, but he didn't want my blood,

He only wanted two nickles for a dime.

I keep meeting all the right people—

At all the wrong times."

~Shel Silverstein's Monsters I've Met

Jack could still remember the day he met a vampire as clearly as if it had happened only moments ago. He'd been trick-or-tearing with Mark and Todd when it had happened, when the vampire had just dropped out an oak tree and changed his life forever. If he closed his eyes, he could feel the cool October wind sliding over his skin, lifting his stiff, spray-dyed hair out of his eyes and tugging at his black cape. If he let his mind wander for a moment longer, he would feel his chest start to get tight with the same panic he'd felt back then. Because standing next to a vampire was like nothing you could ever imagine. Jack knew that if he lived for a hundred years he would never feel that level of terror again. It was like being some small, furry creature minding its own business when, suddenly, an owl swoops down from the sky and they only have a second to realize what's about to happen before everything goes black.

Only. . . the vampire hadn't killed him. Which was weird. Because he had been a textbook vampire, gleaming fangs bared in a snarl, pale skin, dark hair and eyes. Jack had thought for sure he was about to die, frozen in place as he was, when the vampire had abruptly stopped flashing his fangs and had broken whatever spell that had kept Jack from moving. Jack remembered thinking that the vampire's voice was nothing like he'd thought it was going to be. Rather than raspy and evil-sounding, it had been quiet, smooth-toned and almost. . . nice.

Maybe that was why he hadn't mentioned the vampire to anyone.

Mark and Todd, on the other hand, had run straight home crying to their mommies that a vampire had attacked them. The next thing he knew, Jack had his two (former!) best friends standing on his doorstep demanding that he tell their parents that they were telling the truth. Jack opened his moth to say that, yes, in fact, they were. Except that he remembered standing, alone, next to the vampire he had been sure was about to kill him, while his 'friends' ran off and abandoned him. Suddenly, he was feeling very brave. He was the one who had almost died, and he was the one that hadn't begged his mom to call the police and report a vampire attack. So he paused, shut his mouth, and thought for a few moments before saying in a bold, certain voice that Mark and Todd had not been attacked by a vampire.

Jack had.

But he wasn't going to admit that, not to vindicate those jerks who abandoned him.

So Jack kept it a secret, and after a while it became his secret. In a weird way, it made him more confident. Math test? Pft. He'd taken on a vampire. Math tests couldn't hold a candle to that level of terror. Gym class? Bring it on! He'd stood next to a vampire and lived.

. . .no friends?

He didn't need them.

He'd survived a vampire attack perfectly fine without them.

Why was all this going through Jack's mind right now, a year and a half later?

Well. . . they say your life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die.

"Hey," the vampire said, brushing his black bangs out of his eyes and shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.

". . ." Jack couldn't get anything resembling a reply out from between his trembling lips. Any noise he made was a bit closer to a squeak, or maybe a whimper would be closer the mark. He'd recognize the vampire anywhere, in any circumstances. And these were. . . certainly odd circumstances, once he thought about them.

The vampire shifted in a way that could only be described as awkward. "Soo. . . fancy meeting you here."

". . ."

". . .you planning on saying anything?"

Jack swallowed hard, throat dry. When his voice finally came, it was raspy beyond belief. "What are you. . . doing here?"

The vampire blinked, then looked around as if noticing his surroundings for the first time. It might be funny if Jack wasn't so terrified. He hadn't pictured his demise taking place in such a deceptively cheerful setting as the annual middle-school Christmas bash. Then again, red blood against the green Christmas sweater that his mom had finally wrestled him into would make his corpse fit right in with the decorations.

The vampire finally finished surveying the scene. "Oh, here? Well, my aunt was helping out with the bake sale, soo. . ."

Confusion was starting to cut through Jack's panic. Vampires had aunts? Aunts that helped with bake sales? "Sorry, what?"

The vampire looked down at Jack, and this time it was his turn to look somewhat confused. "Um, you know, Nelly? Everyone in your grade calls her Grammy, for some reason? She's over there with Henry Mcmillan's mom."

". . .your aunt is Grammy Nelly?" Jack was still trying to wrap his mind around vampires having aunts. He was done being afraid. Now he was just weirded out.

"Yeah." The vampire paused, hesitated, then. . . "You know I'm. . . a vampire right?"

And there came the terror again. ". . .you attacked me on Halloween last year."

The vampire winced slightly. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed. "Yeah, about that. . . sorry, it wasn't my idea. My best friend pressured me into it. Still. . . I hope I didn't scare you too bad."

Jack clamped his hands over the edge of his sweater to his the fact that they were trembling. "Me? Scared? Of a lame vampire? Of course not, don't be ridiculous."

The vampire smirked, and Jack could have sworn he saw a hint of a fang for a split second. He tried his best not to shiver. "You're a pretty brave little kid, aren't you?" The vampire pulled one of his hands out of his pockets and ruffled Jack's hair. Jack forgot about being scared for a moment.

"Hey!" He complained, but the vampire just started wandering off with an absent smile on his face. "Hey, vampire! Get back here!" Jack called, but the vampire just waved absently over his shoulder.

"I'll see you again sometime. Jack, right? My aunt knows your mom." The vampire paused, then, just before he vanished into the crowd, he called over his shoulder, "By the way, you can call me Vlad."

Jack met a vampire.

Twice.

And somehow, he was looking forward to the third time.

BVQA: So. . . belated Halloween fic!