The good, the bad, and the strange

Joey barely remembered getting upstairs.

Everything after Cassandra biting him felt strange and dreamlike.

Too sharp.

Too loud.

Too ALIVE

The hallway lights outside his apartment buzzed like angry insects. He could hear footsteps from somewhere two floors below. Water running through old pipes inside the walls. Even Crystal’s slow breathing from the backseat of the car downstairs had sounded unnaturally clear before he carried her up.

At first he thought the blood loss had finally scrambled his brain.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

“You’re staring at the wall again,” Cassandra observed softly.

Joey blinked and realized he’d been standing in the kitchen for several seconds holding Crystal’s car keys.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I can hear… everything.”

Cassandra’s expression shifted slightly at that.

“Everything?” she asked carefully.

Joey frowned. “The refrigerator compressor sounds like it’s fighting for its life.”

“…Ah.”

“And Mrs. Hernandez upstairs is watching some kind of crime documentary.”

Cassandra slowly crossed her arms.

“…Interesting.”

Joey looked at her immediately. “Interesting good or interesting bad?”

“Yes.”

“That is becoming my least favorite answer.”

Despite her exhaustion, Cassandra smiled faintly.

Together they managed to maneuver Crystal into the apartment. Joey carried her while Cassandra unlocked the door and cleared space on the couch.

Crystal stirred slightly as Joey lowered her onto the cushions.

“…Joey?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Still asleep,” Cassandra said quietly. “Her mind is drifting.”

Crystal relaxed immediately.

Joey pulled a blanket over her.

For a moment he just stood there looking at her.

“She really won’t remember much?”

“Not clearly,” Cassandra replied. “Bits and pieces maybe. Fear. Confusion. Emotions.”

Joey nodded slowly.

“That’s probably for the best.”

Cassandra watched him carefully.

“You worry about everyone, don’t you?”

Joey shrugged awkwardly. “I mean… somebody should.”

The look Cassandra gave him after that made his chest feel strangely warm.

Or maybe that was still the blood thing.

Honestly, it was hard to tell anymore.

Joey rubbed the back of his neck absently—

—and froze.

The bite marks were still there.

Not painful.

Sensitive.

His fingers brushed the skin and a strange shiver ran through him instantly.

Cassandra noticed.

Her eyes darkened slightly.

Joey noticed that too.

Actually—

he’d been noticing EVERYTHING about her since the bite.

The way her breathing changed.

The faintest shifts in her expression.

The subtle tension in her shoulders.

And underneath all of it—

something deeper.

Something emotional humming quietly between them.

It took Joey a second to realize what he was feeling.

Her.

Not thoughts.

Not words.

Feelings.

Concern.

Exhaustion.

Relief.

And underneath all of that—

want.

Joey swallowed hard.

“…Cassandra.”

Her gaze lifted to his immediately.

The air between them felt heavy.

Charged.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” she asked softly.

Joey nodded slowly.

“I can tell when you’re looking at me now,” he admitted.

A faint smile touched her lips.

“I can hear your heartbeat speeding up.”

“…That feels unfair.”

“It’s very fast right now.”

“Well maybe stop standing there looking like a supernatural Victoria’s Secret model.”

Cassandra laughed softly.

The sound hit Joey harder than it should have.

Everything hit harder now.

Every look.

Every touch.

Every tiny shift in her expression.

It was overwhelming.

And intoxicating.

Cassandra stepped closer slowly.

“You should rest,” she murmured.

“That sounds smart.”

“Very.”

Neither of them moved.

Joey’s pulse thundered in his ears.

Cassandra’s eyes flicked briefly toward his throat again before returning to his face.

There was restraint there.

Careful restraint.

Which somehow made Joey want her even more.

That realization hit him hard enough to make him straighten slightly.

And for the first time in his life—

Joey didn’t retreat from the feeling.

Didn’t panic.

Didn’t apologize for existing.

He stepped closer too.

Cassandra’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly.

“You’re different already,” she whispered.

Joey smiled faintly. “Better different or horror movie different?”

“…Ask me tomorrow.”

He reached up slowly, brushing a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

Cassandra actually leaned into the touch slightly before catching herself.

That tiny reaction did dangerous things to Joey’s brain.

“You almost died tonight,” Joey said quietly.

“So did you.”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “Kind of puts things into perspective.”

Cassandra searched his face carefully.

“Joey…”

Whatever she’d been about to say disappeared when he kissed her.

Soft at first.

Tentative.

Then suddenly not tentative at all.

Cassandra made a small startled sound against his mouth before grabbing the front of his shirt and kissing him back hard enough to drive him against the kitchen counter.

A glass rattled loudly somewhere nearby.

Joey laughed breathlessly into the kiss.

“Super strength,” he muttered.

“Focus.”

“Yes ma’am.”

But despite the joke, something had changed between them now.

The teasing was still there.

The attraction too.

But underneath it—

trust.

Need.

Relief at still being alive.

Cassandra kissed him like someone starving.

Not just physically.

Emotionally.

Like she’d spent centuries holding herself apart from people and suddenly didn’t want to anymore.

Joey felt it through the bond between them.

Felt her fear from tonight.

The panic when he’d been stabbed.

The overwhelming rush of protectiveness she didn’t fully understand herself.

And instead of scaring him—

it pulled him closer.

Cassandra’s hands slid through his hair as Joey pulled her against him, both of them half-laughing and breathless between kisses now.

At some point they stumbled toward the bedroom.

At another point Joey accidentally walked into the wall.

“Enhanced senses my ass,” he muttered.

“You’re distracted.”

“You’re very distracting.”

“That’s fair.”

They fell into bed together still clinging to each other like letting go might somehow undo the fact they both survived.

For once Cassandra didn’t look ancient.

Or dangerous.

Or untouchable.

Just tired.

Beautiful.

And deeply relieved.

Joey pulled her against his chest as the adrenaline finally began fading from both of them.

For several quiet moments neither spoke.

Then softly—

almost hesitant—

Cassandra pressed her forehead against his.

“You stayed,” she whispered.

Joey frowned slightly.

“Of course I did.”

Like there had never been another option.

The emotion that flashed across her face at that nearly broke his heart.

So instead of saying anything else—

Joey just held her tighter.

And sometime before dawn, with Crystal asleep safely on the couch and the world outside suddenly much darker and stranger than before—

Joey and Cassandra finally fell asleep tangled together.