I Have Two Faces; Blurry is the One I'm Not

|seven|

I push the door to the bar open and Nikki charges into me as Austin slams the door shut and blocks it with an emptied shelf, shoving the shelf with inhuman strength in front of the door. Nikki and I tumble into a stack of empty boxes from today's shipment, a few bottles crashing down from the shelf to my immediate left, alcohol soaking into the wood, shards of deep green glass littering the floor, shimmering under the bar lights.

"Nikki, what the fuck?" I growl, throwing her off of me and standing up, my knees weak.

This has been one hell of a day so far.

Nikki exhales forcefully as Austin makes his way to her, wrapping his arm around her waist, her daisy sundress bunching up as he does so. "We needed to be absolutely positive you were alone, so we made sure that in case anyone was following you, they'd be forced to stay out."

I rub my right temple, closing my eyes momentarily. "What was so fucking important?" I open my eyes and hold my hand up and out, palm facing the ceiling as if one of them were going to place their explanation for summoning me and then tackling me to the ground into my hand.

Austin looks at Nikki again, his bright blue eyes brimming with determination, Nikki's chocolate brown eyes drowning in terror and anxiety. "Maybe we shouldn't-" She whispers, looking up at her fiancé.

"No, we have to."

I thrust my arms forward and shake my hands a bit, my eyes widening to saucer size. "Have to what?"

Nikki takes a deep breath and sighs, looking at the ground, wringing her heavily ringed hands, her face two shades paler than her normal warm peach tone. Her light brown eyes darted around the room, looking at anything and everything besides my face - the bar, Austin, my shoes, the broken glass littering the floor like seashells at the beach.

"This is going to sound crazy-" Nikki starts, her voice shaking as she visibly struggles to get a grip of herself.

I press my lips together and inhale sharply through my nose. "Nikki, dear, if you knew even half of what I've seen or heard in the last twenty-four hours..." Okay, let's be real, the last twenty-five years, I think to myself as I ball up my fists momentarily and awkwardly shift my weight back and forth between my right and left leg. "Look, I don't think there's anything that's going to sound all that crazy to me right now."

Austin eyes me warily, pulling Nikki closer to him. "I don't know about that, Sabs." He says gravely. Strangely, Austin's pallor is showing as well, and he too looks like a ghost of himself. "It's uh, it's a lot to take in."

Awkwardly forcing out a huffed laugh, I shake my head once to the right. "You have no clue." I blink hard as my mind wanders back to Dean and Sam admitting to be hunters of, well, whatever the hell it is that they hunt. "Just go for it."

Nikki steps away from Austin and sits down on a stool and grabs the underside of the seat with a white-knuckled grip. "Well, Sabby, we're not exactly who you think we are."

Neither am I, I think to myself as I raise my eyebrows and look at Nikki, then Austin. "What do you mean?" My voice takes on a tone of wariness as I lean against the edge of the bar, crossing my arms and resting on my elbow.

"I, uh, we, uh-" Nikki sputters, sweat beading on her forehead. She pushes her hair back, running her hands through her hair anxiously. "Austin and I-"

"We're vampires." Austin finishes in a flat voice. "Blood sucking, sun disliking, daytime sleeping, the whole nine." I simply raise my eyebrows. "Well, actually, not the whole nine. A lot of that is bullshit. Sunlight's annoying, yeah, it just gives us a nasty sunburn but it won't kill us. Neither will garlic. Or a wooden stake. Or crosses. And yes, like in Twilight, we pair for life." He and Nikki share a look. Austin is stone-faced, but Nikki appears as if she might vomit.