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'What? Why did you stop me?' I asked with hope flaring. Did he perhaps regret not giving me a parting hug or kiss. Deception showed the tip of its nose then. Or did he have more instructions to give me before he got rid of me?

'Don't you think you forgot something?'

'I looked around. My bag was with me, with the book carefully stored in it, my locket was with me. What else did I miss?'

'You didn't think that Nana was going to let you go face this alone, did you?' Lifting a heavy Weekender which was behind him and slinging a backpack over his shoulders, he took one step towards me. 'You forgot me. Let's go. At three.'

At the count of one, he took one last step until my nose was almost touching his chest. At two, his eyes were level with me and the locket . At three, he bridged the distance between us and we both kissed the locket at the same time.

Once again, there was this blinding light that forced me to close my eyes, but I didn't mind as it allowed me to focus on the pressure of his lips instead. The trip did not last long and when I opened my eyes we were safely in my bedroom. My legs were like jelly, but at least this time I did not collapse. I hung onto Dave's arms for some time before I was confident enough to stand on my own. He was not looking at me, but was instead scanning the surroundings.

'Do vampires really have heightened senses?' I asked, breaking the silence.

'Yes, we see better, hear more accurately, have a better olfactory sense than common people. Just like werewolves.For example, I can see the deepening groove between your eyebrows. You have been frowning too much recently.' At that, my hand reached out automatically to smoothen the area he was talking about. 'I'll keep you safe, Ash. You have my word.'

Yes, I trusted that he would do his best to protect me from whatever forces were conspiring against me, but who would protect him. Even he was putting himself in the line of danger for me. But why? He barely knew me.

'Nani saved my mother's life. Now it's my turn to help you,' Dave said.

'Tell me more about it please.'

'Let's get settled first, then we'll talk.'

Patience had never been a virtue of mine, but I knew that I had to abide by the rules for once as he was right. As it is, I badly needed a toilet run; my bladder was on the point of bursting.

While I had been answering nature's call, Dave had already opened the curtains and had started the preparation for lunch. With all that traveling I had lost count of the hours and it is only after switching my phone on and connecting it to the charger that I saw that we were already On Sunday at 11 00.

I was going to get used to it, having someone cook for me.

'Scrambled eggs were my limit, in fact. Just cutting up the veggies for a pasta dish. I hope you can cook.'

I didn't know that it was a good thing or not that he could read my mind.. It definitely saved time, but here was no privacy at all.

'Is there anything I can do to stop you reading my mind?'

'Well, you could stop overthinking for one.'

'I'm serious.'

'Even I'm serious. You think too much and this is what is generating your stress. You could try wearing a heavy metal helmet,' he said cheekily.

I took over from him and started cooking the pasta. It took barely 15 minutes as most of the work had already been done. I felt very self-conscious though as I could feel Dave constantly looking at my back. It was as if he was burning a hole in my back through the power of his gaze. We then sat down for the meal and I was very curious to see Dave eat as I had never seen him do so.

'You know, vampires eat too. We can't survive only on fresh air and blood,' he said on seeing my interest in his plate.

'Tell me about your initiation, please,' I said between mouthfuls.

'It was a simple affair. Nani was my donor,' he said. It still felt strange to hear words like donor, vampire and blood so often, I still wasn't used to it and yet here I was sharing a meal with a full-fledged vampire. What if he wasn't satisfied with his meal and wanted something to drink, like my blood maybe?

'Will you let me?'

'Huh? Let you do what?' After 3 seconds of staring blankly at him I understood that once again he had read my mind.

'NO!' I replied vehemently though I knew that I wouldn't be able to resist, remembering how close I had been to letting him last time. I squirmed in my seat, trying to ignore the tingle in my spine.

'Tell me about your mother and Nani,' I said trying to digress.

He saw through my attempt, but luckily chose not to call my bluff.

'Nani saved my mother's life. She was head of security at one of the major offices in Bhuvar. She was attacked by a group of 5 werewolves and 2 Vetalas. They had stolen a locket from a vampire after killing him. Nani saved her,' he said simply as if such incidents happened on a regular basis. Maybe it did for his world. But for me, this was a shocking incident.

'So you're paying back Nani's favor by staying with me?'

'Partly.' He didn't elaborate on the other part of is motivation and I didn't feel like asking him to. I was feeling full and even though I wanted to take a nap, I had many papers to grade. I still had a job to go to.

'Can I help?'

'With my papers?'

'What are your qualifications?' I asked bluntly. I was so desperate that even if he had only a diploma in any field, I would give him some scripts for the younger students.

'I have an MBA, done my PhD in Astrophysics, a degree in history, a diploma in linguistics, a...'

'Okay, okay, I stopped him with the palm of my hand. Sorry I've asked.'

You know that in the 150 years I've lived, you do get bored studying the same subject, so I've tried to diversify my knowledge.'

'You're going to regret boasting about your skills,' I added.

'But I haven't shown you all my skills yet Ash,' Dave said putting both his hands on the wall, trapping me squarely in the middle. I clenched my fists in an attempt not to reach up and touch his forearm with its fine sprinkling of hairs, but it was hard. If I stood on tip toe and bent forward, it would put my face right in front of his and our lips would be in touching distance. I just needed to dare.

'I dare you,' he whispered, making desire unfurl in my body. I curled my toes in my shoes and reached out my hands which wanted to pull him, but I had to push him away as I felt I was drowning in the complexity of emotions he aroused in me. I was not ready to embark on something new before I was sure where I stood in this relationship with him. Before I changed my mind and begged him to kiss me, I almost ran to my study, where the pile of papers waited for me.

Here,' I said, giving him a batch and handing him a red pen. 'The answers are written on this sheet. It's a fill-in-the-blanks exercise.'

'You know that we need to talk Ash.' I knew it, but I was trying to postpone it for as long as I could.

'After the correction.' I escaped to my bedroom with my papers, leaving Dave to manage in the living room. Correction was usually one of the toughest aspects of teaching, but today the repetitive nature of the task allowed me to focus and not think about the man sitting in my living room. It provided a welcome diversion.

2 hours later, I was interrupted by a knock at the door. Who else could it be? Dave came with the corrected scripts and sat down on the edge of my bed. He took my pen and papers from my hand and put it to the side.

'We have to talk NOW.'