Page 4 of Hungry for the Vampire

"He flew away," I said with a laugh.

"Where have you been?" Malik asked, gesturing around. "We got here like, half an hour ago."

I opened my mouth to tell them the crazy story of what had happened in the woods, but then somebody else we knew came over, the topic quickly turned to the girls at the party, and I didn't get a chance to tell my story. That was fine, it would be better shared when I didn't have to shout it over music and voices.

I started to loosen up, started to move with the music, bump into a few people playfully and get into the spirit of the party. There were some cool costumes around, and definitely lots of hot women dressed about as skimpy as they could get away with. That's what Halloween is all about, right?

But as I scanned the party, there was only one person I kept noticing. Roman.

"Yo." Malik elbowed me. "Is that guy staring at you?"

"Uh...I don't think so," I lied, looking Roman directly in his eyes. He stood almost a full head over the people around him, and yeah, he was looking right at me. I had no idea why. If he wanted to come over and hang out, no one would be able to stop him from pushing through this crowd.

I gave him a nod, and he returned it with a very slight nod of his own. But he didn't make any move to come over.

"I recognize him, I think," Malik said. "Guy's built like a brick shithouse. Look! Look at Azalea getting all over him!"

The red-haired chick Malik was talking about was dressed as either some kind of sexy flight attendant or maybe a tennis player, flaunting a 20:80 costume-to-bare-skin ratio. She had a hand on Roman's arm, getting real close to him, tilting her head up and saying something that was probably meant to be flirty, based on how she was acting.

Not like I could blame her. He looked damn good in that vampire costume. But why did I find myself watching, wondering what Roman would do?

He glanced down at her, blinking once. He shook his head in reply to whatever she'd proposed—a dance, maybe—and Azalea made some little pouty motion before turning away.

"Shit, he just turned her down?" Malik scoffed. "Azalea's hot as fuck. What, is he gay?"

I shrugged, but a little grin tugged at my face. I didn't really understand why, but I was glad to see Roman brush off Azalea. Malik moved us along, and I grabbed a little snack before we found some more people to dance with, marveling at some cool costumes and having a good time. Pretty much every one of my friends had their eyes stuck to some girl's ass or tits, and people dipped in and out of our group as they ventured off to go dance with somebody and try to get laid.

I suppose I had agreed to come to the party with that in mind, at least at first, but that wasn't what I was thinking about now. Cecil and Malik normally would have given me shit about missing out on all these hotties wearing barely anything, but they were too busy chasing dances themselves to worry too much about what I was doing.

And me, I just kept letting my eyes go back to Roman. I didn't always catch him looking at me...but I usually did. I didn't know how to feel about it. He was clearly watching me, but why? Wondering who I hung out with? Worried I was going to tell someone about his eerie penchant for wolf-taming?

To keep you safe.

The words came back to me like icy water down my neck. Was he really...worried about me?

Nah. That was crazy. This was practically the first time we'd ever interacted. But there is that saying, something about how when you save someone's life, they're your responsibility, right? Something like that.

Well, if he really felt that way, after the party I could assure him that he had done plenty for me. No need to be over my shoulder. No need to protect me.

I swallowed, my mouth dry. Shit, if I did want someone looking out for me, Roman would be the guy I'd pick. He was...I mean, no one was going to mess with him. I couldn't imagine what he might have wanted to protect me from, though. It was just a party.

Heh. Maybe he was seeing if anyone was hitting on me.

It had been a couple of hours now, and I found myself making my way over to Roman. It might have been subconscious, but he was there like a caped beacon, and I was heading his way. I wanted to see how he was doing. It was possible he was shaken up by those wolves, too, and just putting on a brave face for my benefit.

"Hey!" I said to him.

Roman nodded. He'd seen me approach, of course.

"You, uh...having a good time?" I asked.

"It's fine," Roman said.

"You just seem kinda tense," I said, getting a little closer so I didn't quite have to shout. "I haven't seen you like, dance, you know?"

"I don't dance," Roman said simply.

"You got nothing to be embarrassed about," I said, waving my hand around. "Nobody here knows how to dance." I laughed.