Joel hummed softly, his hands buried in his pockets to protect his fingers from the cold, but he couldn't help but admire the starry skies that rarely got to make an appearance through the light pollution caused by the large city he lived in.

Even though Joel could have driven, he wasn't headed anywhere in particular, and simply wanted to feel the cold air on his face while he looked up at the almost cloudless skies, at the beautiful stars high above.

Since he lived in a relatively upscale part of the city, he wasn't too concerned with encountering someone with bad intentions, as in the modern age, as long as he didn't wander into any darker areas, he'd be fine.

The occasional headlights of cars passing by showed that no matter how late, even at four in the morning, people still had places to be and things to do.

His walk continued until Joel came to a dead-end, and just as he was about to turn around, he saw a figure collapsed in the mouth of an alleyway, a little ways ahead.

Taking out his phone, he dialed 911 but didn't make the call while approaching the figure with quiet steps, frowning when he got close enough to make out the figure was just a child with red patches on their clothes.

"Are you alright? Do you need help?" Joel scanned the alleyway and then crouched next to the child, his eyes scanning the alleyway constantly for any signs of ill intentioned people.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to call an ambulance?" Joel asked when the child stirred and raised their head. Joel briefly stopped scanning the alleyway to look at the child, and then his body immediately leaped back.

"Never mind?" Joel hurriedly distanced himself from the child, the terrifying dark eyes staring into his own immediately jolting him out of his mood to help, but after walking away, Joel sighed and returned slowly.

"Can I help you with something? Do you need an ambulance? You look injured?" The figure turned their head and stared at Joel with their dark eyes but didn't move or speak.

"Can you understand me? Hello? I'll call an ambulance, okay?" Joel mumbled and approached the child and crouched next to them, using his phone's flashlight to check the ground around them for blood.

"I can smell blood. Did you hurt yourself? It's forty degrees out. Where's your parents?" Joel asked almost to himself and then took a closer look at the child's attire.

If the child's family couldn't cover the medical bill and he called the ambulance, they'd be stuck with the hefty fees, so he sat down and used his flashlight to scan the child's body and then froze.

Lodged in the girl's chest was a piece of wood, with dark red blood oozing slowly, but the child didn't do anything besides stare at Joel, but this time her eyes had become less terrifying and showed hints of pleading.

"I'll call the ambulance and the police." Joel frowned, looking at the injury that could only be labeled extremely dangerous even on an adult, much less on a child.

Before he could press call, the girl weakly extended her hand and grasped Joel's right hand and shakily brought it to her chest, to the piece of wood embedded inside, and then her hand fell.

"I can't take it out. The wood could be preventing you from bleeding out. When the ambulance gets here, you can..." Joel looked at his shattered screen and warped phone that had been crumpled into a ball unknowingly.

"Okay, no police and ambulances. I'll remove the wood, but I can't do anything more than that." Joel knew it was dangerous, he hadn't even noticed when his phone had been destroyed, but leaving a child in this state in on a cold night where no one might pass left a bad taste in his mouth.

Crouching above the girl, Joel grasped the wooden shaft in his right hand and pressed on the girl's shoulder with his left. He pulled the wood free with a bit more effort than he thought he would need, falling back heavily.

"Are you okay?" Joel asked when the girl began to move. Her dark hair that had hidden her face the entire time shifted, revealing a delicate face with splashes of blood on her otherwise unblemished caramel skin.

Joel tossed the wooden stake aside and immediately walked away with his hands tucked in his sweater, his hands trembling. The girl's injury had begun healing almost as soon as the wooden stake had been removed, which was neither natural nor something he had seen before.

He wasn't overly religious, but he had done a good thing, right? He had saved someone, even if they weren't normal. He wouldn't be killed right after because he was a loose end, right?

Joel managed to return home much faster than he had done before, his shaking hands slightly red from the blood he'd touched when removing the stake.

"I'm not going out at night ever again!" Joel swore after taking a deep breath and heading straight to the kitchen to wash his hands. Even with the hot water and soap, Joel still felt his mind reeling from the sight of the injury.

"What even was that? Like, was she some lab experiment that escaped or something? No one can heal that quickly... Actually, it's better not to know, to lessen the chance of getting caught up in something way beyond my capabilities." Joel then winced at the thought of his scrapped phone being used to track him.

"I'll... I'll go back in in the morning after sunrise to get it." Although the child hadn't done anything to warrant fear, his mind naturally began to leap to the worst conclusions as to what had transpired.

"Here." A soft voice sounded from behind Joel, almost drowned by the sound of water being washed down the drain. Joel shivered because he lived alone, and he definitely didn't invite anyone over.

"I'll forget what I saw. Can you let me off?" Joel didn't even mention saving her. What if she got annoyed and killed him because he thought he could use it as leverage?

Turning slowly with his hands raised, Joel looked at the girl who seemed to have completely recovered, sitting on his counter toying with his ruined smartphone.

"You saved me, I would have died when the sun rose if not for you." The girl reached up and smoothed a lock of black hair behind her ear, looking at Joel quietly.

"Oh, then... You shouldn't have any further business with me, right? I'm just a normal person..." Joel trailed off when the girl smiled. Instead of a smile, it was more her baring her teeth, revealing a mouth full of gleaming white teeth.

"I haven't been so close to death in so long. I thought you were a hunter at first, there to ensure I died." Her voice was light and cool, but Joel didn't have the time to appreciate it.

"Okay, uhm. I'm glad you're okay?" Joel's mind raced, then he came to the silencing witnesses idea, but then the girl laughed and placed his ruined phone on the counter beside her.

"You're afraid. I can hear your heart racing. I actually want to thank you, I was going to pay whatever you wished..." She spoke with a smile, one that made Joel sigh in relief until he realized she hadn't said will, but rather, she said was.

"I hadn't felt so hopelessly weak, but you helped me. I was almost resigned to death." The girl's dark eyes locked with Joel's own, and her smile widened.

"Since you saved me, I will save you. You can choose to take the money, or I can save you." Joel was visibly confused at her words, but then her next sentences pierced deep into his core.

"Save the person you want to be, until life told you you couldn't, so you had no choice but to give up. She hasn't really died yet, don't you want to be her, more than anything in the world?" Her voice was haunting, akin to having an old wound ripped open without warning to Joel.

"I can see more than most people can. Even if you tell yourself, it's okay to be yourself, because there's nothing you can do, you still dream of being her, don't you?" Her voice wasn't mocking or even cruel. It was just a simple statement that held no bias or judgment.

"I..." Joel's first thought was to deny it, to repress the uncomfortable feeling of pain and bitterness rising inside of himself, but a hand tilted his chin upwards into the dark eyes of his 'captor'.

"Your world has already been decided, but only because you let it. People still struggle against the world, so can you. Don't be afraid." Joel realized then that she wasn't a child. No child was as wise and calm as she was, but even so, he still resisted the thought.

"I'm not as strong as they are, I can't face other people's judgment and ridicule..." Joel frowned, but then his legs buckled and placed him at eye level with the girl.

"But you don't want to give up. Or you wouldn't dream of being someone else, would you? You just wish for it secretly instead of showing it. You want to be her." Joel averted his eyes, and this time, the girl let him.

"Not very many get the opportunity to have their wishes fulfilled, although it wouldn't be a wish, but more of a trade." With her words, Joel looked at her again in confusion, to which she smiled.

"The inability to walk in the sun, a thirst that threatens to drive you crazy, instincts that want to turn you into a husk of yourself, driven only by bloodlust." Her dark eyes suddenly became different.

"The beauty you see in the endless time you gain. The emotions that are so intense and meaningful, a human couldn't begin to imagine it. To see the beauty of the world while being something that exists beyond something clearly defined as living or dead." Her dark eyes had become a shade of green as bright as emerald.

"The fear I felt when I lay there, waiting for the sun to rise is something a human could never imagine, it was as if the world had become a shade of gray, and each moment an eternity that moved only towards my end."

"I was afraid of ceasing to be, I didn't want to die. But you, even though you were scared and hesitant, saved me. I want to do the same thing for you." Joel could feel it, as if the emotion had somehow become tangible, as if his heart were being crushed by the weight of a planet, every breath hurt.

"In the end, you live once as far as I know. Why not take this chance to be who you want?" Joel could also feel her pleading with him, an intense wave of something greater than hope washing over him.

"You're a v-vampire, right?" Joel asked, stuttering on the word due to the fact he had only used it in a real situation at this moment, but even when she nodded, he didn't feel a sudden fear of her.

"I can't take away your ability to express emotions. Your lack of fear means you aren't afraid of me." Before Joel could be lost in his thoughts, she spoke, clearing his mind once more.

"You can't go back. Being a vampire is permanent. But, instead of existing as someone you can't wake up every day excited to be, why not become the person you dream of?" With her words, Joel felt his breath hitch in his throat.

"What if... What if I..." His words wouldn't form, his thoughts chaotic and a swirl of turbulent emotions that he couldn't even put into words.

"Don't feel afraid. When you look back at this moment, if you reject it now, can you say you had no regrets?" Joel wanted to speak, but his eyes began to blur with tears.

"Instead of fearing the possibilities, just embrace it. I will stay by your side for a thousand lifetimes if I need to, until you feel content with yourself." Her eyes held no untruths, and Joel could feel something. She was searching for it inside him, then her eyes lit up when she found it.

"Ekaterina." Ekaterina took a deep breath and spoke in a hoarse voice. Between living life as she had been the last few years or choosing something where her life would be incredibly different, for the first time, she embraced the unknown whole-heartedly.

"My name is Sabine, it's nice to meet you Ekaterina." Sabine dried her face gently, and then pulled her up and led her to the couch, allowing her to sit while taking a water bottle from the counter.