“Is this it?”

Henri looked outside to see the circular apartment complex. As broken down as ever. He was oddly grateful to have had this disaster happen in the middle of the month. No bills or rent to miss. He nodded. “This is it.”

The vampire parked at the curb. It seemed almost too easy for Henri to take off his seatbelt, open the door and step out of the car. If anything though, the vampire seemed to just be waiting for him to close the door so he could drive off.

Henri almost did. A thought to return to the life he had had before he had walked into the wrong part of town. The life where the vampires were just those creatures who walked around that he never dealt with. His mother would be horrified.

“What is your name?” Henri asked, all mental faculties still present.

People weren’t supposed to ask vampires their names. That was known.

The vampire looked at him for a moment. Probably determining if Henri was dumb enough to be considered a decent meal that no one would miss. But, against all of Henri’s thoughts, the vampire smiled instead. He looked… younger than Henri had thought.

“Haruki.”

This wasn’t dangerous at all. Henri’s chest hurt from how hard his heart was pounding. His flight instinct threatened to take over. “The offer’s still open. As thanks.”

Then he closed the door and walked away, back home. Behind him, the car drove away.

That seemed to be the end of that.