Sadik stared at his neighbor, who was coming home from his job. This was a calm neighborhood, but one, well, two, people stuck out. Not that the rest of the white color busybodies knew it.

One was Sadik himself, a vampire. The other was Nikola, a hacker. Only Sadik knew that Nikola was a hacker. And all that because Nikola had gone and busted the security of Sadik’s private bank account and had helped himself to a couple of Millions.

Then, the brown haired man had the gall to deposit them to an offshore firm and from there they vanished into thin air. Nikola, to be fair, must not have known that he was hacking his neighbor. Or, he might have not done it. Sadik didn’t care much about the money. He could live without them just as well. But the insult was there.

For Nikola, Sunday church going Nikola, had stolen from him. And had the gall to place the blame on the bank. However, Sadik had pet hackers of his own. And, while they have been able to trace who took the money, they hadn’t been able to hack into Nikola’s account and get it back. If it was even there — now.

Frankly, it was almost like an invitation to Sadik. A tease that he had to respond to. So, he took an empty cup and went to the door of his neighbor. He hadn’t fed tonight, and Nikola did steal his money. It was only fair that the Bulgarian paid them back in some way.

Knocking on the door of the plain house, he waited silently. Smiling made his face hurt, but he kept at it. Then, Nikola was there. In a soft white sweater and dress pants and his green eyes were framed with his thick long lashes. Almost like a woman’s. And Sadik knew how to punish the lamb that tugged the wolf’s tail.

“Hello, do you have some sugar? And, may I enter?” Nikola nodded and stepped to the side. That was his first mistake. There were many myths about vampires. That they couldn’t go around in the sunlight. That one was false. When they were fed, they could. For up to five hours as their body metabolites the blood.

And, while Sadik hadn’t fed, it was dark out. Another myth, this one unfortunately true, was that they needed an invitation to enter a house. Sadik pretended to linger in the doorway out of politeness, and realization hit Nikola.

“Yes, do come in. We are neighbors, right? My name is Nikola. I moved in here a month ago,” Nikola extended his hand for a handshake and Sadik gripped it firmly before giving it a shake. Nikola had one of those uncertain ways of giving a handshake. A little on the soft side when it came to grip and too fast to make an impact. Sadik now knew that something was off.

People like that couldn’t have hacked into someone’s account. Sadik stepped inside regardless. Then, he used the little blood in his system to check Nikola’s memories of the past few days.

Then, surprise, surprise, he saw the brown haired man on his laptop. But then, it was working on some code. Not breaking into an account. Sadik decided not to beat around the bush.

“Are you a hacker?” Nikola blinked at him and closed the door.

“No, I am a security program developer, but, these days, I mostly test other people’s programs,” Sadik nodded, having checked Nikola for any lies.

“Someone hacked in my bank account and made off with five million dollars,” Nikola’s eyebrows shot up.

“You think I did it? Look, I don’t do illegal things. I am here on a green card. One trial and I might get deported,” Sadik knew all that. He had researched Nikola before coming here.

“I still have a problem. Can you track and see who it was that took the money? I don’t hope that you can get them back. But, knowing who did it and getting proof would be good for pressing charges,” Nikola nodded. Then, he turned around and led Sadik to the kitchen.

“I’ll give you the sugar first,” he said, distractedly. Sadik checked his mind. The Bulgarian was already thinking on how to track the trail. That was good. If he performed well, then Sadik might turn him into his newest pet.

Nikola filled Sadik’s cup with sugar and left it on the counter.

“Come to my office,” Sadik’s respect shot up slightly. The man did overtime work, to have an office in his house. “I do all my work there.”

“Don’t you go to work?” Sadik had stalked Nikola for a week. And he went out at eight am every morning.

“No, I go to visit a friend of mine in the hospital. His name is Ivan, and he fell down the stairs two weeks ago. Broke many bones,” Sadik nodded. So, Nikola did remote work. All the better for him to suddenly become a complete shut in.

“So, Nikola, how long will you need to find who did it?” They entered a plain room with a big mahogany desk and a plush chair. There was a laptop on the desk and a printer with a scanner next to it.

“Won’t be long. I have this program that I have been developing between jobs. It is done. But, I keep adding things to it. Money tracking is one of the features,” Sadik smiled. How convenient.

“Can I get a copy of it? Just in case this happens again?” Nikola looked around. Sadik saw that there was an icon over the desk. Of the Virgin Mary. The Turk scoffed. Still, he didn’t comment.

“I can’t give it to you. I intend to sell it, after a couple of more tests,” that disappointed Sadik, but he figured that it couldn’t be helped. Then, he got confused.

“Wait, how do you get access to the databases of banks?” Nikola shifted from foot to foot.

“It is not exactly legal — yet. But, once I get a contract with a big firm, they can make contracts with all the banks that I have included. And then, no one will need to know how I do it,” Sadik grinned. The lamb was shifty.