Where I go to work utterly exhausted, get blindsided by Trisha, and try to figure out what to do with the honest to God vampire living in my pantry. Because that is what I wanted to have to deal with.

Fuck.

~~~~~

I felt less like a zombie by my sixth cup of coffee but I knew my stomach was going to hate me for it later but I brushed the thought aside. I needed to focus, first of all was getting my work done. I was just thankful Marissa had allowed me to linger at the till rather than stocking shelves and doing inventory. I loved crunching numbers but not when I hadn't slept and was dealing with an internal crisis.

That brought me to problem number two. I had a vampire camping out in my pantry slash supply closet. Not only was he a vampire but he was a hungry vampire. A fucking gorgeous blond haired blue eyed vampire who said dude that wanted to drink blood. I made a face as I looked down at my nearly done cup of coffee, unable to even imagine what it would be like to drink blood. It just seemed like it would be so thick and warm. I full out shuddered and set my cup to the side, not willing to drink anything after that image in my head.

"You still not sleeping okay, sweetling?" One of our cafe regulars from next door by the name of Dan grinned at me and I gave a slow blink in response. It wasn't that I didn't know how to be polite, it was that I usually had Henry deal with Dan the Man because he didn't take no for an answer. However, he had called in sick today and I wasn't mean enough to drop him on Marissa so I knew I was stuck.

"I'm good. Just decided to dress up like this. It keep things consistent for the regulars." It tasted biting coming out but I honestly had no patience. I had only a few hours of sleep last night and dealt with a vampire crashing through my bedroom window. I didn't have the patience for it. I was just surprised Laritzia, my boss, hadn't slammed him with the ban hammer yet, she had threatened to a few times when he got overly... close to us ladies.

He laughed and grinned at me and I was tempted to tell him he had lettuce stuck to his teeth but I figured it was best to leave it. Most women would see it and scurry away rather quickly, which was a win in my books. The issue with Dan was he was charming, he was, but he got overly handsy without asking and I knew the ladies working in the cafe understood what I was saying right away. He seemed to take great fun out of picking women he knew weren't allowed to tell him no and do pressure them into dates or to pinch asses when their backs were turned.

"Sam!" At Trish's voice I blinked and turned towards her. She bustled up to the till with two sandwiches in her hand and two go cups. She set them on the counter with a flourish and Dan opened his mouth and she threw him a withering glare. "Don't you have some poor service worker to harass somewhere?" She shooed him off with her disgust all but radiating off of her. "Beat it, creep." He scowled at her darkly before turning on his heel and storming out of the building.

I raised an eyebrow and she waved me off. "Don't bitch. He's always in here and he never buys anything and I know for a fact he has grabbed your ass a few times" She opened the two go cups before pushing one towards me. "Did to me at the cafe. Would be really nice if the whole outlet mall just barred him from the premises but apparently because he hasn't raped someone that won't happen." She scoffed heavily and I didn't blame her. She had filed a formal complaint against him when she had worked next door and it had been thrown out because he was a 'loyal and paying customer' and that they 'could never know the actual events that had transpired' which was code for, he's a man and you're a woman, we automatically believe him over you.

"Why haven't you answered your phone?" She glared at me as she shoved a sandwich towards me and I raised an eyebrow at the harshness of her tone.

"It's on my bedside table. I was busy dealing with an internal crisis this morning due to no sleep and forgot it." I took the cup, opening it up to see what was inside. The smell of lemon honey tea warmed me up and I smiled. Trisha always knew me best.

"Where is Marissa? Can she cover for you for like ten minutes?" Her vivid green eyes dashed back and forth as if trying to seek out my coworker who was hidden in the maze of book shelves.

I shook my head. "Just us two so she can't." We were short staffed, which is why I was so appreciative of her letting me take till today while she did the rest of the major work.

"Damn!" She scowled and fly away curls that hung around her face made me want to tell her she looked absolutely adorable when she was mad but I knew how poorly that would turn out. "Well Sasha clarified her facebook post. She was mocking Ethel." She picked up the sandwich in front of her and unwrapped it, taking a large bite.

"Figured." I grabbed my own sandwich and unwrapped it. I wasn't going to tell her to eat elsewhere. Laritzia was okay with food in the shop as long as no books were touched during the eating and everything was cleaned up afterwards.

She took a rather large drink from her go cup and swallowed before scowling again. "Ethel turned on her phone and called me back." She pointed to me harshly. "Do you know what she did? She laughed at me. Yes, our little Ethel laughed like it was some big joke then when I said that she told me that while her husband was big, he wasn't a joke and I just don't even know what to say to that right now!" She was seething, I could tell but it was more than likely because she felt out of the loop.

"Where did Sasha meet her man?" I figured if anyone was going to know, Trisha would yank that information out of caustic Sasha.

Her attitude sobered rather quickly, "Apparently he helped her out when she had that... you know." At the reminder I winced heavily. We still felt guilty about it. She had been gone for a month, kidnapped by some psycho who was now locked up, and we hadn't even really noticed. Well by the end of the month we realized something was up and she had been returned. Sasha didn't like talking about it and we never pushed, just happy she was alive and safe.

"Okay." I nodded and took a bite of my sandwich with a sigh. I wouldn't push Sasha about what happened, she would tell her story when she was ready. "Ethel?" That one I was curious about because her man was fucking prime and for our rather prudish Ethel, it was a fucking shocker.

"She's a fucking problem child! I can't get anything out of her." Trisha took a savage bite of her sandwich, as if taking her aggression out on it. I didn't mind her mood at the moment, it was keeping my mind off of a certain golden haired surfer vampire in my apartment.

It was super hard because he was super fucking attractive and he was hungry and now living in my place and I didn't know a damn thing about his species. Were vampires a species? How did that work? I didn't understand it at all. "What do you know about vampires?" The question slipped out before I could stop it and I felt my face pale but Trish snorted, rolling her eyes.

She covered her mouth as she chewed and swallowed her mouthful. "Are you going down another cryptid rabbit hole?" At the sarcastic prompt I gave a hasty nod. "Jesus, you and Sasha are like two peas in a pod, I swear. All I know about vampires is that they sparkle. 'This is the skin of a killer, Bella!' Shimmer shimmer, shine bright like a diamond!" She sung the last part as she wiggled her fingers as if trying to pantomime the sparkles she was talking about and I laughed.

"Don't get caught up in those myths, Sammi. The last time we had to dig out when you were booking a trip to Washington state so you could try to track down bigfoot." She levelled me with a look and I gave a gasp of indignation at the reminder.

"Hey! He could be real, I was so close to figuring it out." I had been! I had figured most of it out and they had come in and ruined it.

She rolled her eyes. "Yah, yah but no booking trips to Romania to search haunted castles. I forbid it! You are the only other sane one and I need you right now." She gave me stern look and I nodded. There was no way I would be searching out vampire castles because I had already found a vampire. Not that I was going to spill that to Trisha. She would have me committed, or at least try too. "Okay. Enjoy your sandwich. I need to head out and get in contact with my boss man to see if he can get me anymore contracts." She waved at me and just like that she was gone and I let out a whoosh of air. That had been a dumb fuck move. I was just glad she had brushed it off as one of my inane ramblings about cryptids.

However I still didn't know what to do with tall, golden, and vampiric.

I felt my mouth twitch upwards slightly as a thought emerged from my muddled and tired brain.

I could ask him if he sparkled.