She put on her best face.
Red lips pouting ever so slightly, slender fingers brushing long hair slowly over the nape of her neck.
She could feel his eyes upon her, up and down, stopping at her killer ‘fuck me’ heels which effortlessly accentuated the stockings which teasingly stopped just below her skirt.
This is always too easy she thought, and smiled inwardly while flashing her radiant false one.
His expression changed.
A split-second of annoyance, then embarrassment, followed by apologetically winding up the window then speeding off into the night.
And yet, it wasn’t as if he’d been scared off by her.
It was something behind her.
She turned – and almost jumped out of her skin.
He was huddled in the corner of the bus shelter, eyes fixed on the litter-strewn floor, long greasy hair masking his face. Trenchcoated, black leather boots. And hugging to his chest the biggest canvas bag she’d probably ever seen.
Where the hell had he come from?
She nervously scanned her little empire – an industrial estate of derelict buildings and office blocks. All wrapped with an unruly ribbon of unkempt wild grass and debris. Not a place to be out alone.
But she wasn’t alone now.
Another car cruised by. Slowing, its lights dipped. She made a point of licking her lips in anticipation. Again, the car sped off.
Furious, she rounded on him.
“Well?!”
No response. Not even a flicker of understanding. Yet she could see his whole body was jerking, ever so slightly, like he was struggling to hold things together.
Great… another junkie.
He slowly raised his head, the contents of the bag clanking as he faced her. He couldn’t have been more than 16. The face pallid, eyes sunken. A meanness there. She’d seen that look before. She slipped a hand into her jacket pocket.
Then: “Have you ever seen a vampire?”
Guys had asked her a lot of things out here. But this was a first.
He nodded towards her open-toed stilettoes.
“I watched a girl die there.” A pause. “So much blood.”
She followed his gaze. She’d always assumed that dark stain was dirt.
She shuddered. It was cold, it was dark, and so far tonight nobody had been biting. And they weren’t likely to with this weirdo present.
“Listen, I don’t normally ‘do’ kids. Move it.”
