She unlocked the front door and led Dimha inside. The Demon immediately had a rge smile on her face as her eyes moved around the room, inspecting every corner. Her eyes darted towards the bookshelves, running her fingers along the shelf as she inspected each one. The Blood Magic shelf stood out to her the most and she knelt down slightly as she inspected the spine of each one. Some were more worn out than others, but Amaris had taken her time in restoring each one.

  “How'd you even find these?”“Helps to be an archivist.” She gave a friendly shrug, a smile beaming on her face as she stroked the top of the bookshelf with a finger “Some Vampires will make trades. Others, I found on my own.” “Can I see?She nodded, the smile still on her face.“Uh-hmm. Just be gentle.”“Oh we both know I’m more than capable of that, darling.”

  She examined one of the books, the most worn of the lot and put her gsses on. The recent restorations were fairly obvious and enclosed within was a smaller book of transtions. Her eyes studied page by page, flicking through quickly and yet ever so gently as she absorbed the contents.“There’s nothing in here about offensive magic…” She muttered“What would be the point of that?”

  Dimha looked up from the book and grinned.“That’s what makes you so remarkable.” She shook her head“Eh. I wouldn’t go that far.”

  With the care and grace as if handling a precious gss ornament, Dimha shut the book and pced it back on the shelf, taking a few steps towards Amaris. She wrapped her arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. “I would.”“Could say the same about you.”

  The Demon took a step back, her eyes moving around the apartment.“You said you came here a year ago, is this where you’ve been staying?”“I only moved in here eight months ago. First pce didn’t exactly work out. Bad roommates.” “Other Vampires?”

  Amaris nodded and quickly noticed Dimha’s scowl“Th-they weren’t bad to me if that’s what you thought! They just kept bringing people back every night. Ugh. Alive for hundreds of years and yet no concept of picking up after themselves.” She tutted “Couldn’t stick it out.”“Can’t bme you. I’ve had my fair share of bad roommates, too.”She shrugged.“Now, darling. As much as I enjoy…”“The sex?”She chuckled slyly “Yes, that. I don’t want to leap on you straight away. After all…”“We’re both immortal. We have time. I know.” Amaris nodded“I’ve been around. And sometimes the sex as you eloquently put it is all you want from someone. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong but…”“So when you wanted to come back here…”“You can tell a lot about a person from how they keep their living space. You talk about animals, but no pets?”“I-I have before. It’s just, they don’t live for long.”“You could turn them…” She noticed Amaris’ eyes were facing the ground “But, you wouldn’t.”

  Amaris kept her arms close to her chest “Can we maybe talk about something else?”“Darling.” Dimha’s smile had gone, concern in her eyes “There’s no easy way to ask this, but who have you got?”“Uh…”“I know I said I wouldn’t push. But, I’m worried. Genuinely.”“I…Guess I don’t really have anyone. Huh.” She turned away “Humans don’t live that long and they’re so judgy. Animals, well they’re gone in a blink, Lycans seem to hate my guts, other Vampires tend to be dickheads and well, then there’s the stuff I didn’t even know existed until I ran into you. So no, I don’t have anyone else.”

  She sharply turned around “Happy?” She snapped “Is this why you wanted to see how I live?”“No. Fuck no.” Dimha reached out a hand “I’m just saying, I can help a little. And not as a deal or anything else. I just…”“Just what?”“I care about you being happy.”“My books make me happy.”

  She took a step closer, stroking the Vampire’s hair.“Darling, you’re going to live forever. That’s a hell of a long time to be by yourself.”

  Amaris let out a heavy sigh and let the Demon embrace her in a warm hug.“I’m sorry I snapped at you.”“It’s alright. I just took one look at your apartment and I could tell, that’s all. I felt I had to say something. Sorry, it comes with the job.”“Let’s just try and enjoy the rest of the night. Okay? We’ll worry about the rest ter.”

  Dimha nodded. “What would you like to do, darling?”“Have you eaten?” Amaris smiled “Oh?” She reached for her sleeves, starting to roll them up but the Vampire chuckled “No, silly. I mean, let’s get some actual food. Because of the blood magic, I’m still able to enjoy human food. It just doesn’t sustain me as much.” “Human food.” The Demon tutted “As if they invented it.” She rolled her eyes“Oh, come on. You knew what I meant.”

  They smiled back at each other.“I’d cook, but I don’t know what you like. Wasn’t exactly prepared.”“Next time, then.”“So…Any preference?”

  Dimha ughed “Sweet or spicy is my thing.”“Oh, I love spicy stuff too! I’m well…” She cleared her throat “My, uh. Blood magic doesn’t fix everything. So anything I eat has to be pretty strong in fvour. There’s actually a pizza pce not far from here that, well…They know what I like. I-if that’s your thing, of course.”“I’ll give it a go.”“And um…Do you like movies?”“Well you’re going have to be specific, darling.”“Yeah, obviously.” She chuckled “I guess…”“Because it’s a human invention? No, there’s quite a few I enjoy. Guilty pleasures, that sort of thing. And then there is some actual art.”

  She leaned in closer “Put on one of your favourites. I’m game.”

  ****

  With some slight panic, Amaris had managed to order three pizzas to her apartment. The spiciest thing they had on the menu, which was something she frequently doused in hot sauce, a pizza with multiple types of cheese and one dessert pizza. The Demon had let her get on with it, simply stating “I’ll try whatever you pick, darling.” which only made the Vampire stir more.

  The three boxes sat in front of them on a long coffee table with a TV set in front of it. Amaris held the remote in her left hand, her eyes nervously darting towards the Demon every few seconds.

  “Oh. This movie is actually about a wyer, just realised. Is that alright? You said you didn’t want to think about work.”“Well, what sort of wyer?”“He’s human, but he cares about people.”“Well, if he’s human then, it’s different enough from what I do.” Dimha shrugged “And besides, you said this is one of your favourites.”“I-I know. That’s all the more reason why…”“Darling, just hit the py button.” She smiled.

  ****

  As Scout walked away from the porch of Boo Radley’s house, Dimha gnced over at Amaris who had her head on her shoulder and had drifted off to sleep, one arm resting across her chest. She thought about waking her up, but instead she just smiled gently, reached out a hand and stroked the top of her head. The Vampire hummed in her sleep and Dimha lifted up her tail, wrapping it around her and pulling her in closer.

  Minutes passed and Amaris started to stir awake, seeing the DVD menu on the screen.“Oh, how long was I out?”“Can’t say.”“It’s okay. I’ve seen that movie like fifteen times. Could probably do Atticus’ monologue word for word if you put me on the spot.” She smiled sheepishly “Maybe not right now.” Dimha chuckled “Did you like it?”“I didn’t notice you’d fallen asleep, so what does that tell you?” “Oh, well. I’m gd.”

  She went to sit up but then saw that the Demon still had an arm and her tail around her. Smiling, she leaned back in, resting her head over her heart and letting out a deep sigh. “Anything else you’d like to do?” Dimha asked, stroking her hair“Right now, no. This is…I like this.”