Author's Note: Hello and welcome! What am I doing, writing a fic when I should be doing many other things, I have no idea, but I'm not about to stop.

Before we get on with this, I just wanted to say a little bit more about this fic. It's a sort of modern AU with vampires, mages, sirens, fairies and all other assorted beings that really have no place in this world. Inspired by two prompts found on tumblr that I ended up blending into one, "I hit you with my car but you just got inside and yelled "Drive!"..."

Anyway, this is going to be a little bit more heavily action-focused and then romance-oriented, but I guess I can say there'll be plenty of both.

Rating M for mature themes and likely some smutty events later on.

Thanks for checking this out and I hope you like it!

If there was anything worse than midday traffic jams when she was in a hurry, it had to be midday traffic jams in the summer.

Slowly baking under the smoldering sun, stuck in the middle of a sea of vehicles that extended for likely several kilometers while the heat of all the working engines and midday sun reflected of the asphalt was not how Lucy intended to spend most of her day. She would've been better off visiting a sauna or something like that, really. This way, she could barely even breathe and exhaust fumes were hardly nice to smell.

Occasional swearing and loud horns made the already awful day that much worse.

On the seat beside her, sky blue smartphone flared to life, low melody humming into the rough materials before it settled down. Poor thing must have been struggling in the heat as much as its owner was.

Lucy afforded it only a simple glance, too late to see anything but the red dot blinking in the corner, something that had been going on for the past hour.

"Great… just great. You're not going to last long enough for me to call Levy, are you?"

The blinking continued at its unperturbed pace, as if mocking her.

Lucy snorted and glanced back to the low fuel tank, letting out a raspy groan.

"What's next? A hail storm in the perfectly clear sky?"

Lord, she should have known not to say that. Fate had that perfect way of turning everything in on its head lately and this was her giving an open invitation for it to stomp in and ruin her life.

Her shirt was drenched in sweat and hair that had been tied in a ponytail hadn't escaped the cruel fate, either. What had been the point of washing it that morning, anyway? Even with all the windows open and the fans working at their highest output, the inside of her car was only barely breathable. Another reason to consider making friends with that huge sum of money on the account she'd promised to never touch.

Phone hummed again, and Lucy slammed her head down on the horn. It blared to life, so sudden and unexpected, but her will and water-depraved body barely even twitched, letting it just go on while she slowly gathered the strength to lean back in the seat again.

"Shut the fuck up!"

Obviously, the macho in the silver Toyota beside her—with a functioning AC, she noted as the windows automatically closed—didn't appreciate her efforts.

Out of spite, she pressed down on the horn again and stuck her tongue out at him, then set the radio volume to the max, letting the beats wash over her, although even the music had stopped having a significant impact twenty minutes into this mess.

The bliss lasted for all too briefly, the song finished and the radio hosts taking over to move onto the news. Any attempts to switch the frequencies ended in a whole lot of buzzing that really only gave way to another headache.

"Ah what is going on? What is going on? What's happening here?" The impatience was eating her alive, draining the last bits of her energy.

Several horns blazed to life again, some much louder than Lucy's could ever hope to be. Driver of the air conditioned Toyota cursed the world loud enough she could hear him even through closed windows. Then the girl finally realized that the dark blue SUV that had been in front of her for the past hour or so was finally beginning to move… while the Toyota's lane remained firmly stuck.

So maybe there was some cosmic justice in this world, after all.

Stepping on the gas, she pressed down on the siren again, then made the victory sign at the Toyota driver, a mustached jerkass who seemed much too stuck up for a nice car like that.

"In your face, hah!"

He might have started on a whole other set of curses, but at this point, she would happily let it be. Her lane was moving. His was most definitely not. Take that, slimy ass!

Lord she was finally moving. The crowd was finally clearing out. Thank god.

"Yessss!"

Had she had music, she most definitely would have sung at the top of her voice.

It took another fifteen minutes to go over the distance that she usually would have crossed in less than five, but thank goodness the roads in front of her had cleared out and she was finally going to get out of this godforsaken city.

"First stop, convenience store. No way I'm gonna go through this without some water."

Her cheerfulness came to the point where she was humming under her breath even without beats in the background, throat too dry for any actual attempt at singing, at least until something caught her eye for a brief moment. Momentum lost and interest piqued, she tried to get a better look, but it was moving so fast—ohmygod!

Lucy screamed, foot pressing on the brakes, but it was far too little, far too late. He'd noticed her a moment too late, the speed at which she was going too much for the collision to be avoided. The crash was loud as he landed on the hood, but all she got to see was pink hair, dark red t-shirt and a cracked windshield before the car came to a stop and he slid onto the ground.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Lucy was already fumbling with her seatbelt, but at that speed, god, what if he—

Cutting off the thought before it could form, she grabbed her dying phone and punched in the emergency service numbers, in haste to get unwrapped from the aged seatbelt. She'd been just about to get out when the passenger door snapped open and the very same person she'd just flattened settled into the seat, rubbing his shoulder.

"Drive," he said, not even giving her a second glance.

Lucy's jaw tightened, as she struggled to form the words. "W-what?" Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized the engine was off and her hand was still on the handle, and if she really needed to she could still run without getting caught. But running would also mean leaving her car behind along with the assorted boxes in the back seat and many more other things in the trunk. She couldn't do that.

"Seriously, there's no time, you gotta drive!" he urged, while Lucy tried to reach for the door without him realizing it. All her efforts were wasted once he grabbed her free wrist and yanked, until they were face-to-face. Lucy's breath hitched in her throat as two deep, dark eyes locked on hers, far closer than they should have been.

"Look, I know I probably freaked you out right now, but for your own good, we need to get out of here now."

He looked young—probably around her age—and earnest. Handsome too, she'd later recall, but in that moment her thoughts had been a jumbled mess and if anybody had asked her what her name was, she probably would have gotten it wrong. What had to be a scarf was tied around his head, pulling the spiky pink hair back, while his shirt was worn out and damaged in places. Beyond that, though, she saw absolutely no damage. Other than the fact that he'd somehow ripped out her car's emblem and was now twirling it between his fingers.

Damn this guy. How did he dare?

"And just who are you to—" the words died on her lips when he yanked her forward again and into his chest, and tucked her head under his arm. She had a moment to realize that his body temperature was abnormally high and that he had a really deep and old scar on his neck. Then the passenger window shattered, glass raining over them both.

"What the?!" Lucy screeched.

"I'm telling you, damn it! We gotta get out of here now. It's after me, but fuck if it cares about collateral."

Realizing that by collateral, he definitely meant her and her car, Lucy took a deep, calming breath. "Alright, sure… I'm on it!"

She nearly messed up with the keys and she even fumbled with the gear a second too long, until she forced her hands to stop shaking. She could ask questions later. Just as she turned the key, one of the windows in the back shattered.

"Just go!" he snapped, eyes trained on something behind him.

"I'm telling you, I'm on it!"

Stepping on the gas, she pulled onto the pavement, before she managed to stumble back on the road. In the rear view, she caught a sight of something black and distinctly not human, hovering several inches above the ground, right where her car had been moments ago. It was also smoking, dark black fumes lifting of it and disappearing about a meter in the air.

"What was that just now?" she asked, as she made it through the green moments before the lights switched. There was nothing she could see behind them anymore, but the very sight had chilled her to the bone.

When she got no response, she took a moment to glance at the cause of all her problems, but all she got to see was a handsome young man sinking deep into her seat, as far as he could go in a mock attempt to get swallowed up. The muscles of his arms were defined so well that there was absolutely no way that this guy was anything other than an athlete, but both arms were scrunched over his stomach, any and all attempts at words lost in the roar of the wind.

Then it occurred to her that yes, this was the guy she'd crashed into at sixty kilometers per hour. No blood didn't always mean no injury.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! It must be awful. I'll get you to a hospital immediately, I know one along the way. Just hold on tight."

She may have said that, but mildly panicked as she was, she couldn't for the life of her remember if she should take the first or second left turn.

"N-no…" he croaked beside her, strong voice replaced by something barely stronger than a choked whimper. "… am… fine…"

Scrunched brow and sweat rolling down his very green face told another story.

Lucy let him be until she stopped at the next lights, and almost immediately noticed the change in his complexion. For a moment, he looked almost hopeful, a little of the green reverting back to normal. "We there yet?"

"Are you…" she began, though hesitantly, because it was both completely ridiculous, but also the only sensible explanation she could come up with, "… are you car sick?"

What little color had remained on his face now literally washed away, leaving only a twitching eye and pale complexion that did not at all match the rest of his skin tone. "I don't err… deal… with transport well."

"You mean you get motion sickness?"

He grimaced. "Not that simple."

"How can it get more complicated?!" Lucy hissed back. "More importantly, what were you thinking, getting into a car after being hit by one?"

"I didn't have much choice there," he grumbled, then paled as the lights changed. "Damn it." For a moment Lucy though about keeping the speed low, if only out of compassion, but scrapped the idea when she realized driving ten per hour made him just as sick as driving eighty.

"So are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" she mumbled after some time.

The realization that she was alone in her car with a motion sick stranger, two broken windows and a dead phone that she'd dropped next to her foot by accident was beginning to dawn on her, as was the fact that the stranger, at least, hadn't been antagonistic towards her. Yet. Although that earlier grip around her wrist had left a deep red trail.

Beside her, the boy with pink hair knocked out the remnants of the glass from the window frame, then leaned his elbow moments before his head collapsed down on it. The wind seemed to help, if only a little.

Despite the closed eyes, he managed to mumble, "Out…"

"You do realize that makes absolutely no sense?" she asked, and received back a pained groan.

Teeth biting deep in her bottom lip, Lucy slowed down. The hospital, while not conveniently in her way, wasn't straying too far off from where she was going either, but she wasn't really sure if it was a good idea. After all, she could… she could take that risk, maybe…

She bit her lip until it drew blood and forcefully shook her head, focusing back on the road. Sure, going to the hospital could mean trouble for hitting a pedestrian, but wouldn't it be better to get him checked out just in case? Unfortunately, the hospital was at least another ten minutes away, his pained groans weren't exactly music to her ears and there was a faster solution, so to speak…

Well, she was a selfish person.

Lucy Heartfilia was a very selfish person. As such, for the sake of her own convenience, she risked and did what was possibly the dumbest thing to do for a person in her very complicated situation. As she stopped for the next red light, the tip of her index finger lightly trailed down the skin of his arm, the contact almost sending electric jolts through her body. For him it might as well had been completely unnoticeable, too busy keeping the contents of his stomach inside.

It took some effort, and she wasn't really sure if it even worked, but the wave of sudden tiredness washing over her was a certain sign it should have made some difference.

Tearing her hand away from his biceps and glancing back at the changing traffic lights, Lucy let out a sigh of relief, and then they were finally on the move again. Beside her, the stranger twitched.

"Huh? That's strange…" His voice no longer sounded as if somebody was forcing him to talk through a mouthful of water.

All the girl's muscles tensed as she did her best to keep her attention on the traffic. This… well, this had been a bad idea.

"What's strange?" she asked, despite herself.

"I feel—" his voice got caught in his throat, as a pair of green eyes so dark that they were nearly black focused on Lucy. She tried to keep her attention on the road and traffic, but every so often, her eyes drifted back to him while his face expressions morphed from confused to thoughtful to surprised.

"Whoa, what did you do?!" he demanded, with the amount of energy that left her completely stunned.

"Me?" she squeaked. "I didn't do anything!"

"No way, you had to have done something!" he insisted vehemently. "I never get better in a car. Ever!"

She was just about to point out that sounded like the dumbest excuse ever and she wasn't even driving fast enough to make him sick, the words were right on the tip of her tongue, when he smirked. "Besides, I can smell it."

Lucy almost choked. "What?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know."

Her shoulders sagged in unexpected relief. He remained quiet for a moment longer, during which she inwardly prayed to all the ethereal beings she could remember that he'd drop the subject.

Of course, no such luck.

"I can smell it," he said again, this time with an expression more thoughtful, the tip of his nose twitching. Was he actually sniffing around her car? "You're not human, are you?"

And in that moment, all of Lucy's muscles locked in place. All movement ceased, all the time in the world, her breathing, her heart, her thoughts… all of it might as well had simply frozen.

He gave her the brightest toothy grin she'd ever seen on a human face ever, slightly pointed canines only evidence that he might have a basis for what he was about to say.

"Knew it! Don't worry, I'm not gonna get you in trouble. Hell, whatever you did is actually making this whole transportation thing bearable. Nobody ever managed that! My stomach doesn't even hurt! Well, it's a little queasy and all that but man this is like the first time ever I feel alive in a car! For that alone I could totally kiss you."

What little Lucy heard barely registered in her mind, her hands on the steering wheel completely forgotten, as was the existence of her remaining limbs. Her jaw was beginning to unhinge, hanging unintelligibly while she tried to choke out the words, she wasn't all that sure which, while her pink haired companion continued animatedly talking about all sorts of things, going so far to play with the car emblem he'd ripped out of the hood. Compliment it, even. The sight of that alone pissed her off, but even that happened so far in the back of her mind that she wasn't sure if it might have happened once in a dream.

Finally, her presence of mind slowly began to return. Because, in a strange way that she couldn't quite understand, she knew he wasn't human, either.

"Wha—who—what… are you?" slipped from her dry lips, barely above a whisper.

The young man looked at her, still grinning with exuberance that could have been contagious, apparently hearing her loud and clear.

"Can't you tell? I'm a vampire."

For a very long moment, the only sound was that of the engine roaring and it was getting quieter by moment, as Lucy's foot on the gas slackened.

The car struggled and complained and lurched, until it finally came to a stop, and when it did, only then did she began to understand exactly what he'd said. The strangest feeling of utter dread weighed on her shoulders, sending the oddest ice cold jitters down her spine.

"You're what?"

And in that moment, she wasn't sure if she sounded more stupefied or completely aghast.

"A vampire." He merely looked on at her with the same unrelenting grin, and if he'd had a tail, he probably would have been wagging it at a prank well done. Lucy rested her head on the wheel, ignorant of all the irritated horns blaring around them.

"Right… of course you are."