The Vampire and The Ghost | ✔︎

Chapter Three: Getting To Know You

                                                                                 Annalise 

Annalise was pacing the living room nervously, it had been three days since Eugene had arrived at the house and they hadn't talked that much since. Apart from passing hello's Eugene seemed intent to do his own thing even though they were sort of living together. Or at least that's how Annalise had viewed it anyway.

Through this period though, she had noticed a few weird things about her new 'roommate'. He never went outside during the day, only at night. And then when he did eventually leave at night, he wouldn't return until the early hours of the morning. The most startling thing though, was the fact that he never ate.

She hadn't seen him eat a single thing during the whole three days he'd been living here. She'd even checked the fridge, and it was as barren as a dessert. All apart from one singular container, it was a bright blue, and opaque blocking her from viewing what was inside it. Yes, she was dead, but she was pretty sure he needed to eat at least once a day to keep going.

Not only that, but not once, had he questioned the fact that she was a ghost. 

The man in question walked into the living room with a wide yawn, making him look younger than he was. Annalise perked up, giving him a smile. "Hello!" She greeted him. Eugene nodded back silently in greeting, making to sit on the aging sofa. Annalise tried to grab his arm to stop him, but phased through it. She huffed an angry sigh.

Stopped in his tracks, Eugene tilted his head, finally looking her in the eye. Annalise flushed, looking away from him shyly. "Sorry, I just thought we should get to know each other," she said, "I have so many questions for you, and since we're going to be living with each other, it only makes sense right?" Eugene paused, crossing his arms. For a moment Annalise thought he'd refuse, but he nodded agreeing.

He sat down on the sofa, looking at her expectantly. Annalise perched on the floor, having tried and failed many times to sit on the sofa. She couldn't find it in her today to try. 

"So, first things first, I want to know why you aren't scared of me?" she asked. Annalise had been so caught up in the joy of finally being able to speak to someone, she hadn't realised that speaking to the dead wasn't exactly a normal thing to do. When she was alive, she hadn't even known the afterlife existed, let alone ghosts. But Eugene had hardly even blinked an eye at her presence. It was weird, for lack of a better word.

Eugene crossed his legs, and leaned back into the cushions spreading his arms across the back of the sofa. Despite the ease of his position, his left foot was jiggling incessantly, fingers drumming a rhythm of the back of the sofa. He looked conflicted, Annalise considered, like two parts of himself were at war. She wondered what he had to hide. "I'll tell you after you answer a few questions first," he reasoned. Annalise shot him a disbelieving look, eyebrows scrunched and raised.

Despite this she nodded, it couldn't be that bad after all. And she, really, really wanted to get to know him.

"Were you really murdered here?". Well straight to the point then, Annalise thought grimly. She stroked the back of her neck where her birthmark was, and then wrapped her arms around her knees. She nodded,  there was no need to say anymore than that. Eugene's face softened, and he lent towards her. "Im...sorry," he offered, pausing like he was unfamiliar with the words. Annalise gave him a short smile at that, at least he was trying.

"Has anyone else been able to see you before?" he then questioned.

"No, no you're the only one who has," she said, shaking her head. He nodded to himself, seemingly appeased.

"One more question," He said, "has anyone else lived here?" Again, Annalise shook her head, his questions were a little odd, but not exactly too weird.

"You are aware that you're dead, correct?" He asked, the absurdity of the question forcing her to laugh quietly.

"Of course I am, besides I thought you said you only had one more question left?" She smirked, at his blank look. He crossed his arms over his chest, before saying,

 "So you're aware that there are other beings than humans, right?" She would have loved to sit there staring at the muscles in the arms, which had flexed when he moved but the cautiousness of the question took her off guard.

She narrowed her eyes at him, letting go of knees, and leaning back. "What do you mean?" She said slowly, tilting her head at him. His fingers resumed their drumming, only this time they were on his biceps, and Annalise had to try hard not to stare.

 "I'm not intimidated by you, because I myself am not human," he confessed, dragging out a sigh then he continued, "I am what you would call a Vampire." Annalise sat unnaturally still for a moment, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

"You're joking right!" she said, wiping the tears that had pooled in her eyes, "You look human to me!" Her laughter continued, and then slowed when she noticed he wasn't laughing either. His fingers had stopped fidgeting and had instead resorted to constricting his arms.

"Right?" She prompted him, her joy stopped altogether. He shook his head, and Annalise sat for a while in silence.

It would explain why he hadn't eaten ever since he got here, and the reason he always went out at night and never during the day. It was unnatural, and strange, yes, but weirder things had happened. The main one being that she was dead, and still somehow able to talk. It wasn't exactly like he could hurt her. Nor could she do anything about the fact he was a vampire. Dying had really expanded her horizons, ironically. 

She shrugged her shoulders, there wasn't much she could do about it now. Besides, he could see her and he was willing to talk to her! She wasn't about to let that go, for something like that. It would be a little hypocritical after all.

"Okay," She declared, offering him a grin. His dark green eyes widened, mouth opening as if to say something, then falling shut again. 

His nose crinkled a little as he considered, "You are acting better than I thought, I'll admit."

"I'm dead," She said as a way of explaining, "It's not like I could make that much of a difference either way, so why not accept it?" He still seemed like he was waiting for the other foot to drop, as if he didn't quite believe her. 

"You're strange," he stated, before nodding, "I agree, it would be mutually beneficial for both of us to get to know each other." Annalise deadpanned, quirking an unimpressed eyebrow at him. "I thought we were doing that already," she said. A slow seductive smile drew over his face as he looked up at her through his blonde lashes.

"Oh no, we've hardly started." 

Authors Note-

Hi!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! They're finally getting to know each other, how sweet! But for how long...

Hope ya'll well!! Feel free to drop a comment or like ;) 

Love Sam.E 

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