Refracted

Found by a Flirty Vampire

Listener Profile:

Name: Verona Shane
Sex: you wish, loser
Pronouns: she/her
Hair: jet black and curly, messy strands that are usually somewhat tangled, long enough to reach the middle of her back
Eyes: dark brown
Skin: olive toned, Caucasian
Stature: tall-ish, solid build, not muscular but in shape because she does cross country
Personality: sarcastic and cynical, tsundere when someone is arrogant or flirty but kind to anyone she feels needs it, standoffish, dark/dry humor, motivated/task-focused, tends to scare some people off with her bad attitude, categorizes people into those she needs to defend and those she needs to defend against.
Extra: her parents named her after the city from Romeo and Juliet, and Vincent likes to tease her that "a Rona by any other name would be as sweet"

Normally, Verona wouldn't have taken her friends up on their stupid dare. She usually had no problem telling them where to shove their pointless, embarrassing ideas. But that time, having lunch with her friends at a diner they frequented, Rona had stupidly mentioned her strongly held disbelief in the supernatural. Of course, her idiot friends (who she was pretty sure still believed in the tooth fairy) had practically jumped out of their seats in outrage.
After a short but vicious argument, Angeline and Keya had dared her to explore some abandoned amusement park a few blocks away that she swore up and down was haunted or something. Rona agreed- who'd turn down the chance to prove her friend wrong?- and had left the diner with the intention to pay Wonder World a visit that night.
She'd parked her red Ford in the empty, expansive parking lot and dug her necessities out of her glove compartment. Keys, phone, and pepper spray- in case she encountered the rare bear or, worse, creep.
Rona had remembered to tie her curly black hair back in a ponytail before she got out of the car, but those stupid loose strands were already falling into her face.
The flashlight on her phone would last as long as she needed it to. She'd charged her phone before coming like a smart human being, so there was no chance of it dying and leaving her in the dark. When she turned it on, the little light was dimmer than she thought it would be, but it would serve. Time to prove her friends wrong.
She walked beneath the stained white sign that read "Welcome to Wonder World!" in big, red bubble letters. A huge red roller coaster towered over her with a huge gap in the middle, like a chunk had been taken out of the peak of one of the hills, and what had to be the train for it lay in pieces on the ground at its base.
She crept in for a closer look, clutching her flashlight like a lifeline.
As she curved around the edge of the coaster, she shone the light around her. Abandoned food kiosks, ticket stands, and rides surrounded her. The biggest was the coaster, but an enormous rocket-shaped ride would have pulled a close second had it not been tipped on its side, the windows shattered.
She approached the only intact window and shone the light in through the dirty glass. The seats of the planet-shaped cars were torn, and-
Rona spun around. For a second, she thought she'd seen another silhouette in the reflection in the window, but her wide eyes saw nothing as she scanned the terrain.
She was completely alone.
Breathing until her heart rate slowed down, Rona continued past the rocket ride and on to a circle of picnic tables in view of a kiddie roller coaster. Remembering why she'd come, she texted the "Girlz GC✨✨" with a smirk she forced onto her face to feel more confident.
Fair Verona: nothing here
Fair Verona: can i go now?
Angel 😇: five more minutes
Keya 🌙: (is typing)
She was so focused on her reply that she didn't hear anyone approach.
Then a soft voice puffed right next to her ear.
"Boo!"
Rona spun around with her fists up. The phone clattered to the cement, blinding her in the process.
"Ah-ah-ah, sorry, sorry, you're okay. I'm sorry."
The newcomer was a man about her age with pale olive skin and short, wavy black hair swept back behind his ears. He wore a red, long-sleeved, button-up shirt and black pants, as well as an irritating yet probably-supposed-to-be-reassuring smile. His features were delicate and pointed like an elf's, and there was a smattering of faint freckles across his nose and cheeks. It was too dark to see him well, especially since her light was on the ground, and she dared not take her eyes off him to bend down and pick it up.
"I just... I couldn't resist. Cute little thing like you, wandering around all alone at dusk?" Um, what? "What on earth would possess you to do such a thing?"
Rona scowled. She had the distinct impression that the man was toying with her. "I'm just out for a walk," she said shortly. The phone was snatched up in her hand quickly, before the strange man had a chance to do anything. She aimed the flashlight directly in his face, trying to annoy him into leaving her alone.
"Hmm? Just going for a walk?" The man didn't seem bothered by the light in his face, merely squinting and covering his eyes with a pale hand as he smiled. "Well, I'd say this is quite the place to go walking, wouldn't you? An old, abandoned amusement park isn't, ah, isn't most people's idea of a relaxing spot for a stroll."
Maybe if she told him her friends were waiting for her, he'd leave her alone. "My friends and I have heard stories about this place. They dared me to go check it out."
This seemed to amuse him. "Oh, you've heard stories? Well, yes, I can imagine there'd be a lot of stories about a place like this. Just what kind of things have you heard?" he asked, leaning closer. His bangs fell into his face as he did. "Maybe that, uh, devilishly handsome men with pale skin and silver eyes prowl the grounds? That they're... bewildered and bewitched by equally stunning visitors who insist they just came here... to walk?"
He'd gotten much closer while he talked, and now his chest was barely a foot away from hers. Her face felt hot. Rona needed to get away from this guy for... for... for REASONS.
She crossed her arms, refusing to step back. He could get as close as he wanted; she wasn't going to let him intimidate her. "Um, no. Nothing like that," she responded.
He mock pouted. It was oddly adorable. "Oh, how disappointing. But it doesn't make my story any less true," he spoke softly, recovering his soft grin.
This time Rona did take a step back, disliking the effect the stranger's smile had on her heart rate and cheek temperature. "I heard there are things wandering around here at night," she tried to get the conversation back to safer waters.
"Hmm," he considered. "You heard there are... things here in the park? Creatures that only mill about in the dark? Interesting. Very interesting." Here he took a step closer, raising a hand as if to brush back her hair but stopping at the last moment. "Although not as half as interesting as you. Tell me, friend, were you born this devastatingly attractive, or did you make some kind of deal with a demon?"
Verona scoffed to cover up her confusion, and the redness she was sure was in her cheeks. What was this guy's deal? "Demons aren't real," she said flatly.
"Hmm, oh." He snorted, but not meanly. "I assure you, demons are very much real." Huh? "But I suppose that gives me my answer all the same. Do you mean to tell me you don't believe in things that go bump in the night?" His voice was a barely audible coo, and he'd leaned forward with the last few words until his chest almost brushed her shoulder.
She cast a befuddled look at how close he was. She meant it to come off angrier, but for some reason she couldn't muster up her usual venom.
"Um," said Rona eloquently, eyes on his shoulder.
"Oh, I know I'm very close," the stranger said, smiling mischievously. "You're welcome. But you didn't answer my question," he breathed, so close now that his breath brushed her ear. "Is that why you came here, little one? To prove your skepticism right?"
Rona had had quite enough by the time his face was a few inches from hers, but her stupefied state quickly turned to indignance when he swept his eyes up and down her.
"Hey!" was all she could think to say. Not My eyes are up here; not What the hell do you think you're doing? "Hey" was all she could manage, apparently. Such a force to be reckoned with she was.
"Oh, hush." But he did step back. "I'm not touching. I'm just looking. I'm just trying to get a  good look at you. And it's a very good look, by the way. Do you work out?"
What was with this beautiful stranger's interest in her? And WHY in the name of ALL THAT IS HOLY did it GIVE HER FREAKING JITTERS?
"You- you ask an awful lot of questions for a strange man in an abandoned park at night," she fired back.
The man laughed, and Rona begrudgingly acknowledged that his laugh would have been as endearing as his smile if he hadn't been a creep who prowled amusement parks at night.
"Attitude! I love it. Well, my insolent little friend, perhaps I wouldn't ask so many questions if you actually started answering some of them," he teased. "You smell divine, by the way. Is that a scent you're wearing, or just another of your many natural gifts?"
What was Rona supposed to say to that? She didn't know, and the longer she remained in stunned silence, the angrier she grew at herself.
"Goodness, that heart of yours is really pounding. I can hear it from here," he said, which Rona thought was impossible. "Like a little drum, beating in that delightful chest of yours. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom."
Rona sputtered indignantly, face burning. "Um, who told you you could talk about my chest?" she demanded.
"Oh, and a blush!" the stranger observed. "How cute."
"Can you stop being weird? I don't like it," she muttered.
"Oh, come now, little one," he countered with a smile. "I think we both know that isn't true. I think you actually like it very much when I compliment you. Your body is betraying you in that regard, lovely. But it is a beautiful betrayal."
She swore her cheeks were about to combust, but she couldn't make herself move away.
"I hate to belabor the point, but I really am curious. Why would you come to this desolate place, all alone, so late? The sun's already past the horizon. I mean, surely you've heard there are things that wake with the night," he said.
"Well, I have bear spray, if that's what you're worried about." She held up the can challengingly.
The man laughed. "No, no. I don't think it's bears you should be worried about. I think you know exactly what you really should be scared of."
"Am I supposed to know what that means?" Rona persisted. An impossible thought was starting to nag at her, and she really didn't like where it was leading.
"I'll put it to you this way, little one. You should be very grateful that I found you before one of my counterparts did. I'm old enough to keep my hunger in check. Some of them are still learning."Her brow furrowed, and her heart skipped a beat as she grasped his meaning. He couldn't mean he was some kind of man-eater- could he? "Especially if they were facing something as delectable as you."
"I beg your pardon?"
"God, your blood practically sings to me. You know that? You are testing my resolve with each passing second, lovely," he whispered, the tremble in his voice unnerving Rona.
She took a step back. His pupils seemed much wider than before, with the silver iris almost completely obscured. He has to be crazy, he has to be crazy, he has to be-
The look on her face must have brought him to his senses. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding suddenly awkward. "I'm not trying to scare you. Fear, uh, fear makes the blood taste bitter. Now, nervousness? A little embarrassment? Abject sexual tension?" He drew the word abject out in a way that sent a shiver down her spine. "Now, that makes a cocktail that is irresistible. But I will resist. For now."
Verona was done with his crap. Did he seriously just refer to my blood as a freaking cocktail? She looked up directly into his moonlike eyes.
"I don't believe in bedtime stories," she said.
"Oh? I see." The stranger smiled indulgently, like he was talking to a child. The look boiled her blood. "Well, I can appreciate your belief, lovely. It's, you know, it's good to carry some skepticism with you. But your belief... is a belief. My existence is a reality. And the reality is...that you are very beautiful, very sweet, and very much in danger. It isn't safe here at night. We need to get you back to your car and you need to head home."
"Wh- what?" She hadn't been expecting that.
"Oh, believe me, darling," the man murmured, "it is not a concession I make lightly. I would love nothing more than to ravage you all night, in every sense. You'd barely be able to walk by the time I was done with you."
Rona gaped. She couldn't even muster an indignant comeback. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, and she didn't like it.
"But that would be selfish. Your safety is paramount. So let's get you out of here. Maybe there'll be time for fun another night. And...another place. Your place, perhaps."
"My place." Rona pointed to herself.
"Mmhmm. I'd like that very much. But not tonight. Tonight, I'll be escorting you to your car. Nothing more. Let's go," he requested. He held out an arm, feigning chivalry.
"Oh wow, basic human decency. How romantic; I'm swooning. Really," she shot back.
He only grinned wider. His smile was sweet, not malicious, but Rona wasn't foolish enough to use that as her sole judge of his character. Especially if he claimed to be some sort of creature of the night or whatever. She ignored his arm, but acquiesced to walk by his side for the short journey back to her car.
The walk was short, as Rona hadn't ventured too far into the park. The flirty stranger kept by her side the whole time, occasionally shooting oddly intense glares into random shadows.
Before long, the pair arrived at Rona's beat-up red car.
"Ah, here we are," her escort announced. "Your chariot awaits. I have to ask that you don't return here, lovely. At least not at night. If you want to see me again, there are far more appropriate venues. All you have to do is call my name. I'll hear it," he told her.
Ignoring the obvious question of how on Earth he would hear it, Rona decided to focus on the other main problem with that. "Y'know, it might help if you told me what your name actually is."
He laughed. "Uh, yep, true, I guess it would help then if I actually told you my name. Im Vincent. And you are?" He mock-bowed, and Rona wasn't fast enough to quash a smile, the first one she'd given him.
"I'm Verona. You can call me Rona," she replied.
"A lovely name for a lovely soul." Vincent shot her a grin, and Rona looked away in embarrassment. "Well, then, until next time. Be safe, little one. Goodnight."
"Goodn-"
A whoosh cut her off. When she looked up, he was already gone.