Elian loved his family. Really, he did, but liking them wasn't always easy.

  'Mum and Dad want you to come home for dinner on Sunday.' His little sister Celia's voice crackled through his phone speaker. Elian held it wedged between his shoulder and ear as he re-shelved the day's misplaced books.

  'And I would rather risk getting eaten than spend the night in that house again.' Elian paused, looking out at the last dregs of purple slipping below the city skyline before he added, 'Don't tell them I said that.'

  Celia sighed. 'You know if you toned it down a little, they wouldn't be so hard on you.'

  Elian shoved a book back into the shelf with such force that the ones on the other side came toppling out. 'Look. Now's not a great time,' said Elian, rounding on the other side of the shelf to clean up the mess he'd made. He could hear his sister eye-roll over the phone.

  'Don't be like that, Ellie.'

  'Don't be like what?' Elian heaved a box of books into his arms, nearly dropping his phone in the process.

  Celia was silent for a while, which Elian knew meant she was pinching the bridge of her nose. 'You know what I mean.'

  Dumping the box on the counter tucked into the corner of the shop, Elian said, 'Yeah, but I want to hear you say it. Tell me I'm so gay it makes them uncomfortable.'

  'That's not it, and you know it. No one has a problem with your sexuality.'

  Elian wanted to believe her, but she sounded more like an NPC spouting pre-programmed lines than his sister. 'Sure. So long as I don't look, act, or sound gay.'

  'They're just not used to-'

  Elian had heard that one before, and he wasn't interested in hearing it again. 'Now really isn't a good time, C.'

  'Elian-'

  'Love you. Kisses.' Elian guessed he sounded just as much like a few lines of code simulating humanity than her brother, too.

  'Eli-!'

  Elian hung up on her, but he hardly got a second's rest before the bell on the door sang, and a whisper of chilly night air wandered through the shop.

  'Welcome!' Elian plastered a friendly smile on his face, but when he searched the entrance, all he found was the door chiming closed. 'Hello?'

  Should he have been more cautious? Probably. But owning a second-hand bookstore wasn't exactly a gold mine, and Elian wouldn't turn away patrons just because they were dead. Technically, it was illegal to keep any commercial establishment open past dark, but those laws were written to make sure employees got home safely. Elian didn't have employees, and he wasn't in the business of selling books, not for the hour he was open after sunset. Still, that meant he couldn't keep the lights on.

  Neon flashed through the shop windows, staining the brown shelves of the Bookworm red and blue as a cop car whined by. Elian scanned the shop's interior, but his eyesight was already poor, and there was only so much glasses could do to fix that, never mind the insufficient lighting.

  Elian's heart fluttered in his chest like a caged bird when another zephyr of night air wended under his hair and trickled down his spine like an exploratory hand.

  Light Elian knew wasn't real exploded through his vision. Suddenly, he wasn't in the Bookworm. He was above it in his cramped studio apartment, a man he'd never seen before sprawled next to him on his bed. Elian's hand ran along the man's back, tracing the sprawling tattoo of a tiger and a demon fighting for dominance on a backdrop of blood red maple leaves.

  The image seared into the back of Elian's mind, and he was left with nothing but a name as his vision came back online. The shadowy silhouette of a man leaned against the opposite wall.

  'Kakuji.'

  'Given names, already.' The intruder, Kakuji's steps clicked against the floor like a mechanical heartbeat. 'Although I suppose it's only fair.' Every word from his mouth was perfectly articulated, but a foreign affectation held his vowels open and tuned his consonants just a little sharp of pitch perfect. 'I had to see for myself if the rumours about you were true, Elian Beddoe.'

  Kakuji stepped through a shaft of moonlight leaking through the storefront as he sauntered forward, and Elian almost thought he was seeing in black and white. The skin that had looked golden under the soft lights of his apartment was death-bleached in the naked moonlight. Kakuji's mane of wild, shoulder-length hair was black. His worn leather jacket was black. The button-up under it, with far too many buttons left open, was black. Even the shadows clung to him like a cloud of black smoke. They shifted and curled around his fingers.

  Elian's breath turned to a stuttering staccato. Under no circumstances would he claim to be a vampire expert, but that wasn't normal.

  Revealing a maw of pointed canines and molars, Kakuji cackled. Another step forward, and his sunglasses were gone, revealing vermilion eyes that pierced right through Elian's heart and thwarted its feeble attempts to beat. He stood open-mouthed like a beached fish behind the counter.

  'Poor human,' mused Kakuji, a maniacal smile that was more akin to a threatening display of teeth still twisting his features. 'Did I scare you?' Kakuji planted his hands on the counter between them and leaned up into Elian's face. 'Don't worry. I've no interest in killing you.'

  Elian wished that's what he was worried about. The snippet of Kakuji's naked back was still playing on repeat behind Elian's eyelids like the blaring of an alarm block.

  Taking a deep breath and rolling up his sleeves, Elian said, 'If my reputation precedes me, then I suppose you know how this works.'

  Kakuji's unblinking vermilion eyes caught every muscle twitch like a fly trap. 'I'm looking for someone.'

  A heavy breath shuddered through Elian. 'Do you have something of this person's?'

  'Will blood suffice?' Kakuji's lips parted to show his teeth.

  At that moment, when Elian should have been contemplating at least a dozen other things, one of which was probably calling the police, all he could wonder was how future him possibly got this guy into bed without losing a limb in the process.

  Before Elian could muster the nerve to ask the vampire if he had literally anything else, Kakuji said, 'Family troubles of a sort. You humans know all about that.'

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  'Well.' Elian sucked in a breath. This was always the worst part. 'There's still no guarantee, even if this person is someone you know well. So, you only have to pay half up front, and then if I find your person, the other half. If I don't, you've paid for the attempt and I send you on your way with an apology.'

  'You drive a hard bargain,' said Kakuji, taking his eyes off Elian only to flip through a thick wad of bills. 'But I suppose it pays to be the one who can see into the future.'

  Elian didn't correct him. What was the point in explaining the nuanced difference between clairvoyance and seeing backwards, forwards, upside down, and in kaleidoscope to a vampire who thought he'd found an oracle? It was bad for business. Besides, no one wanted to hear Elian talk their ear off about the intricacies of a phenomenon he still called his 'gift' because he couldn't come up with anything better for it after twenty-eight years of life.

  Pocketing the cash that Kakuji slid across the counter, Elian said, 'Think of this person you're seeking. Feel that need to find them in your heart and hold onto it.'

  Taking one final deep breath, Elian took Kakuji's hands.

  Cold, sucking shadows flooded Elian's vision. Through the darkness, he heard a rough voice barking the same command repeatedly in a language he didn't speak, but nonetheless understood.

  'Find him, Kakuji. Find him. Find him. Find him.'

  The voice echoed, repeating its order until the syllables were lost in a screaming cacophony of obedience. Images like fragments of something reflecting in a broken mirror pierced Elian's mind. Tatami mats. A bucket catching stray drops of water from a leaky roof. Bloody knuckles.

  The voice changed. Sharp and haughty, it said, 'Found you,' and then something cold plunged into Elian's stomach. For a moment, he felt at peace. The darkness sparkled with more stars than Elian had known existed. Then, heat seared through him, pulsing from the stab wound like the indomitable push and pull of the tides, the warmth of his lifeblood scorching as it ebbed away. The stone street beneath his cheek was mercifully cold as a pair of wooden geta sandals approached, clicking like a mechanical heart.

  Ca-lack, ca-lack, ca-lack.

  The vision ripped itself from Elian's mind, leaving behind a void that churned the contents of his brain like soup. Elian groaned, letting go of Kakuji's hands to steady himself on the counter and hold his stomach where the echoes of pain still radiated through him like ripples from a stone dropped in a pool of water. Kakuji didn't need predatory senses to recognise the feeling on Elian's face, nor the placement of his hands. If the rumours about vampires were true, it was burned into Kakuji's soul.

  Elian's feet stumbled beneath him, and his vision swam as if his eyes were swapping back and forth between the interior of his shop and that sparkling, starry sky.

  Soft wefts of night engulfed Elian, grabbing his arms and legs, his waist, and even his neck from behind. It was like falling back into a bed of hands, all of which cradled him tenderly. They were the same frigid cold Kakuji's hands had been in his. Only in their embrace did the churning mess of memories in Elian's mind calm.

  'You didn't find him, did you?' Kakuji leaned further across the counter, moonlight catching on the multitude of silver rings adorning his pointed ears.

  The scent of leather and cigarette smoke wafted from the shadows at Elian's back and the man before him. 'No.' Up close, even through the black eyeshadow smeared around his vermilion gaze, piercings, and anachronistic punk jacket, Kakuji looked young. That youth carved Elian's insides up worse than the vision.

  Kakuji sighed, but the corner of his lip quirked up. 'I suppose it can't be helped.'

  Freeing himself from the shadowy hands cradling him, Elian said, 'Thanks for the save, but you know, most people are less than thrilled when I don't see what they want.'

  Kakuji huffed a laugh and ran his tongue along one of his long, serpentine fangs. 'And most humans have better survival instincts than you.'

  'What can I say? I'm special.' Elian's heart finally did the reasonable thing and shuddered at the sight of those teeth. 'Who are you looking for, anyway? Maybe my human detective skills can be of service to you, yet.'

  Kakuji raked his eyes down Elian's front, raising an eyebrow as he said, 'I doubt that.'

  'Try me.' Elian didn't even attempt to stuff down the pathological need to prove himself as it bubbled up his oesophagus.

  'I haven't got anything on him.' Kakuji plucked a pen from the counter as if it interested him greatly. 'Not even a name. If I did, I wouldn't have come looking for you.'

  'You've got to have something,' said Elian. 'You wouldn't have come all the way to New Harbour if you didn't. No one comes to this city without a reason.'

  'What's yours, then?' Kakuji leaned forward, the unbuttoned collar of his shirt flaring open just enough to reveal a hint of ink decorating his chest.

  Elian's eyes swung like a pendulum between Kakuji's playful smirk and his exposed skin. It took all of his concentration to reconnect his tongue to his short-circuiting mind. Every second Elian spent talking to Kakuji was a second his monstrous nature vanished. 'Hey! No answering questions with questions.'

  'I'll answer yours if you answer mine.'

  Not wasting a second on hesitation, Elian said, 'I'm a native. Born and raised. This city is my home and I don't intend to leave it any time soon.'

  Kakuji shrugged. 'I'm looking for an old mistake of my sire's. Got a tip he was skulking around this town, but he's scum who's not worth finding. Besides, I'm having much more fun here than scraping this city's streets for a filthy mut.'

  'I thought hanging out with humans and petty sibling fights were beneath vampires,' said Elian.

  Kakuji laughed. It was as sharp as every other cutting angle of him, but Elian liked the way it made his heart race. 'I wouldn't know. I've never had a sibling, and I don't intend on changing that. My sire will realise this dalliance is a waste of his time. His blood is far too pure to be squandered on the likes of that-' Kakuji ended his tirade on what Elian would bet his hard-earned money was a vile expletive in Japanese.

  Leaning over the counter, Elian said, 'Wait, so your sire is a pureblood?'

  'You thought every vampire could do something like this?' A lick of shadow tipped Elian's glasses off kilter.

  'No! I mean, I don't know.' Elian fixed his glasses, but Kakuji's shadow remained, trailing down the vulnerable skin of Elian's neck like a cold breath. 'There's so much bollocks out there about vampires. I know people who still think you'd burst into flame at the sight of a cross.'

  'Who says I won't?' Kakuji's gaze stalled on Elian's neck. The only things around it were the collar of his sweater and Kakuji's shadow.

  'Oh, come on. How stupid do you think I am?' The lick of shadow thickened around the back of Elian's neck, playing with his hair. 'Firstly, I doubt Christianity is going to do much against a spooky, ancient vampire. You could very well be older than Jesus for all I know. And secondly, I've seen a vampire walk through here in the middle of the day, so I make a point not to be certain about anything.'

  Kakuji's eyes pulsed with colour, glowing faintly in the low light. When he spoke, the words came out clipped. 'You did, did you?'

  'Yeah. His name started with a D. David or something.'

  'Can we go back to the part where you think I'm older than Jesus, because frankly, I'm offended. I'll take spooky though, even if it is a tad patronising.'

  'You'll take it?' said Elian, a lopsided grin lighting his face to match Kakuji's devilish one.

  'Yeah.' Suddenly, Kakuji's vermilion gaze wasn't gripping Elian in a strangle-hold from the front. The darkened interior of the Bookworm stared back at him as Kakuji's voice slithered against the shell of his ear. 'I've always been good at taking what I want.'

  Kakuji wasn't soft or warm. His hands were rough as they bit into the tender skin of Elian's middle, his scent of leather and cigarettes was as suffocating as the shadows he manipulated, and his lips were demanding where they clashed with Elian's. But Elian liked his coffee black and his chocolate bitter. He met Kakuji with the hunger of a starved animal.

  One of Elian's hands fisted in Kakuji's coarse black hair, the other caging him between the counter and the press of his body. Kakuji might have had fangs, but Elian knew how to bite back. His blunt human teeth nibbled at Kakuji's lower lip, his tongue darting out to soothe the sting and take in return when Kakuji's mouth fell open for him.

  They scraped against each other like duelling swords, Kakuji's hands conquering the expanse of Elian's back, and Elian claiming Kakuji's lips for himself. Was sticking his tongue in a vampire's mouth a bad idea? Absolutely, but Elian wasn't thinking about that, not when Kakuji's touch lit him up like a firecracker.

  Elian panted, his chest meeting Kakuji's still one with every breath, but that didn't stop him. He slid his tongue against one of those long fangs and smiled into the sweet noise it earned him.

  Kakuji shuddered in Elian's hold. 'You've kissed a vampire before.'

  'You can't be the only mysterious one in this match-up,' Elian said between lingering kisses down Kakuji's jaw. He needed this.

  'I think I'm going to like you,' were the last words Elian heard before he stumbled into the suddenly empty space between him and the counter.

  The jingling bell as the door shut and the hammering pulse of Elian's heart were the only crumbs of evidence Kakuji left in his wake of destruction