𝓑𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓭 ~✰ | 18+

Ch. XII [12] ♡

Angel had been beyond ready to leave the squalid apartment he shared with his coworker for upwards of about 6 months. meaning he was ready to leave squalor just to re-enter the squalor of the apartment building that she lived in. the guy he lived with was quite nice, yet he was a complete slob. he was messy and didn't like to clean up... ever. a few weeks before moving out, Angel decided to take a walk on his block and a couple blocks over.

a couple blocks over were the very apartment buildings that had continued to invade his previously empty dreams. he stood in front of the building looking up at its worn exterior and the dirty alleyways on either side.

"there once was a crooked man
who walked a crooked mile.
he found a crooked sixpence
upon a crooked stile.
he bought a crooked cat
which caught a crooked mouse,
and they all lived together
in a crooked little house! ♪"

it was her, of course. he always seemed to run into her in the strangest of places. she'd come to recognize him as the "Sunshine Man," because, according to her, his hair was "as yellow as the sun." Angel thought it was cute, so he never actually told her his name, but she never told him hers either. he thought he may have to do some detective work. luckily for him, she was playing on the sidewalk with chalk. he wondered if the Cedric character she often talked about was looming around. she was out at night with not an adult in sight. before she could notice him, however, he scanned her nonsensical writings and illustrations for something coherent. next to her, he saw, in pink chalk, the letters B, I, and A. Bia. he tried it out.

"Bia?"

she turned around at the sound. he figured it out! "h-how did you figure it out?" she pouted, widening her big, brown eyes. Angel smiled because he realized she had been purposely hiding her name from him. she was either an extraordinarily intelligent kid or she was closely following the orders of Cedric.

"it's on the ground right next to you," he chuckled while pointing to the chalk artwork.

"okay, well since you know my name, Sunshine Man," she stood up and wiped the chalk off her hands. "what's yours?"

"I'm Angel," he replied. "nice to officially meet you, Bia." he stuck out his much larger hand for her to shake.

Bia attempted to shake Angel's hand but right before she could, a looming figure appeared behind her. "can I help you?" he shoved Bia behind him.

Angel strongly disliked the energy he was being presented with, but he kept it off his face. "no trouble, sir. it's just that she was by herself and I wanted to..." Angel trailed off seeing the intimidating squint that the vampire gave to him. he wasn't buying the excuse.

"she wasn't by herself. so you can leave now." he left no room for argument.

Angel opened his mouth to say something, but he figured that it'd have no effect. he glanced at Bia, who stared back at him in wide-eyed wonder. he turned to head back to the apartment he shared with his coworker.

"bye Angel!"

Angel smiled and waved. "bye Bia."

"he's a nice man, Cedric. I've seen him around a couple of times ..."

"a couple of times? Bia, exactly how many times have I told you to avoid strangers like the plague?"

Bia shrugged. she was losing interest in the conversation because she knew she was going to get scolded. "I don't know. millions of times?"

"yet you continue to not listen to me? you especially know how I feel about you around men. you are a young vampire girl. you're a hot commodity. you're lucky I was nearby or else the man might've snatched you, and I wouldn't have ever seen you again. and i don't know if I would've gone through all the trouble of getting your disrespectful ass back."

"ugh! how do you know!? can you read minds now? can you tell their 'tentenctions' or whatever they're called?"

Cedric pinched the bridge of his nose. "intentions, Bia. and no, I can't read minds. I just know that as you are, you could be kidnapped and sold. I've seen it happen. I know it happens literally every day. why do you think I never let you out of my sight, hm? it isn't fun, Bia. be careful. also, you've seen him more than once? he may be scouting for you!"

"sold to who?" Bia was becoming curious now. Cedric had always gone into the "being sold to bad people to do bad things" tangent, but he had never gone into full detail. and on Cedric's end, he knew better than to go into detail about sex trafficking to a little girl.

"very, very bad people, Bia. now go inside. I'm sick of talking to you about this."

Bia shrugged and skipped into the apartment building. he hoped the blonde wouldn't come around much more often. he didn't seem like he had terrible intentions, but it was more so Cedric's jealousy that'd take him over when any other man would get near Bia. he knew that it tied in with the fact that her blood is the only scent he can really tolerate. once again, he knew what it meant, and it always seemed to slap him harshly in the face, but he'd often push it back down. he'd have to wait longer; she was still too young.

he also knew that someone else-an acquaintance-was in search of Bia for himself, which Cedric thought was ridiculous since he already had a harem full of pets. he remembered a conversation that they had.

"no, I'll keep her," Cedric had told him.

"oh really, Cedric? are you sure you won't just ... throw her away? she'd have sisters, a lavish home, plenty to eat..."

Cedric clenched his teeth. "no I won't. she'll be fine with me. she wouldn't want to leave me anyway. especially not for you." he stood up, fed up with the conversation.

"no need for hostility, Cedric," he chuckled. "just looking out for Bia."

"no need; I got that too, thanks." it wasn't anything that Cedric wanted to get into that night. he was not in top tier shape because of his blood deficiency. he knew the smartest thing to do was leave.

despite the fact that the acquaintance seemed to back off, Cedric knew the man wouldn't give up easily. he hoped Blondie wasn't one of his henchmen.