Fred woke up with a grin on his face. The ongoing murmur in his head let him know that everything was alright and there weren't any immediate dangers. He had almost half an hour before his shift as danger queen's body guard began and took a moment to look out of the big window besides his bed.
Dante's surely wasn't his favourite location, but he had to admit that the view was nice. The sun had already vanished, but the last reflections of orange and red highlighted the few clouds that covered the horizon.
Beautiful, he thought and on his way to the bathroom he whistled happily.
The warm water on his skin felt nice and refreshing. While he washed his hair, his mind started to wander. It was New Year's eve, which meant another year had passed. Fred tried to remember how he had felt when he had still been human and it always intrigued him, how many years had come and gone in the meantime.
When he had been human, everytime a new year began, showed him that the time was ticking. Ever since Fred he became a vampire the pass of another year had become almost meaningless. Almost, because every year around new year's eve a strange nostalgic feeling spread through his heart and he still tried to come up with good intentions for the upcoming new year, like it had been tradition, since he was a child.
The memory of last year and of what had happened in the meantime made him smile. He remembered vividly when he'd opened a bottle of prosecco, attending one of his master's parties and jolted with the people around him, most of whom he hadn't talked to for longer than ten minutes within the whole year.
A little more action, he'd wished for.
Check.
Hell, triple check.
Fred was done with his hair, decided that a pair of black slacks in combination with a light blue button-down shirt would do and left on his way upstairs to Cassie's. As far as he knew, they hadn't planned on doing something big, but when he entered the suite, he just took in the scene for a moment.
The room was packed with people who laughed and girls who giggled and vamps who tried to fit in and look casual, but failed miserably in their expensive armani suites. Cassie and the girls were playing some game, where one of the group had to draw something and the others had to guess what it was and considering the reddened cheeks and relaxed atmosphere they seemed to have a lot of fun. They must have talked the mage into it, because apparently it was his turn to draw. Was that a troll? Maybe? Fred couldn't quite tell yet.
He looked around, but the one person he had secretly hoped to meet, was nowhere in sight.
A little disappointed he wondered, what their good intentions for the new year would be.
To do something special, he had thought last year, something interesting, to have a good story to tell.
Helping the Pythia to survive an attack from a freaking dragon - minus the part with his panic attack of course - definitely covered that.
So, check.
He went over to the recently repaired stainless steel double-door fridge and fetched himself a coke, before he paid his attention to the mouth watering buffet. There were rips and fries, shrimps, different sorts of mini-pizza, different variations of grilled vegetables and a selection of finger food with different sorts of cheese. Yes, this was more like it.
~
About an hour later he sat on the couch next to Rico, who was busy flirting with Rhea, his stomach filled with a rather useless but nonetheless tasty meal. He let his thoughts drift off a little, when she finally joined the party. Her hair was pulled back in a stylish braid and her red neckholder dress fit like a second skin and highlighted all the right curves in all the right places. She easily balanced a huge tablet of freshly baked brownies, while greeting Cassie and a few of the girls, who'd immediately crowded her. He honestly couldn't blame them, the brownies smelled heavenly. He decided to make some use of his vampire power and made a run for the plate.
Two seconds later he stood vis-à-vis from her and took a huge bite out off his stolen brownie, while he waited for her reaction. It didn't take long. She glared at him over her plate with overdramatic fury in her gaze, paired with a good hint of humor in her eyes. When he grinned like a fool and mouthed a "mhm, delicious", she obviously couldn't help herself and smiled, a smile so beautiful, that his heart would have skipped a beat, if it were actually beating.
As he kept watching her and enjoying the rest of his brownie, his thoughts swam back to his good intentions for the upcoming year. Another one from last New Year's eve was the ever returning classic, his tradition for decades: find a woman you really like and the bravery to ask her out for a date.
Well, there was still time to achieve this. But what if she didn't want to go out with him? Dammit Fred, he told himself, then she'd say so and it would be okay, you've certainly been through worse! But wouldn't it be embarrassing as hell, that little voice in his head whispered. Of course, sure, but what if… what if he didn't ask and she'd have said yes, if he had? She didn't strike him a very traditional type, but what if she was traditional in such matters? Or would she have asked him out?
Probably.
Wouldn't it be worse not to know?
Okay, certainly.
God, Fred, man up, he told himself. After all he was badass. Badass.
At least in Cassie's opinion and considering the guys she was used to, this really meant something to him.
And then there was the fact, that she wasn't exactly known to be very vampire-friendly in general. Like really not. And of course she already knew what he was. But maybe she wouldn't think about it too much, if he behaved as human as possible, which wasn't too hard for him. He shouldn't have run for that brownie like a hummingbird on speed, though.
Fred took a breath, he could do this. There was a little more than one hour left. Plenty of time. Usually he was a very straight forward person, as in 'in-your-face-direct', but this mission needed preparation. It was best, if he could talk to her alone, he thought. To give her at least the feeling of privacy. She was a very communicative person, which oddly didn't make this any easier for him.
To get her alone, he needed a plan. Or better, a wing-man. Someone he could trust, someone she would listen to, hopefully someone who wouldn't laugh at him.
Okay, make that a wing-woman then.
Fred started to type a secret text for his soon-to-be partner-in-crime.
~
Half an hour later he stood on the balcony, the bowl with the home-made caramel-toffee candy-leftovers on the table right beside him. He still wasn't sure why, but strongly suspected that Cassie wanted him to save them, so that she could eat them later by herself. She might have something else in mind - with her, you couldn't be sure - but he couldn't bring himself to care.
To say he was nervous didn't quite cover it. He was NERVOUS, feeling like an inexperienced teenager again, as if he'd be doing this for the first time at all.
And in a way it was true. It had been such a long time, that he'd had truly strong feelings for another woman… and to ask her out for a first date. Phew.
It didn't take long until the balcony door opened, but the words Fred had prepared in his mind didn't come. One look at her face and he swallowed them down. What the-
"You!" An outstretched finger was pointed at him. Uh-oh. Not good.
"I knew it was you!" Followed by a sigh of resignation and a slap against her forehead.
"Gods, I should have known it all along!"
So, this definitely didn't go according to plan. Nope. He had actually no idea, what this was about. And with his most calming, unguilty voice, he told her so.
Aaaaand made it worse.
Suddenly she was in his face, snatched the bowl from the table and shoved it under his nose. More precisely, he'd had to lean back a little or she'd have punched it in his face.
"What this is about, huh? You have no idea, huh? This goes on for weeks now and when I finally, finally catch you, you dare to tell me, you have no idea?!"
Great, he'd managed to get her seriously pissed-off and didn't even know, what he'd done wrong.
"Uhm-" Dammit, he'd never been good at improvising, but he didn't get a chance to say much anyway.
"Oh, very smart. You'll need a little more than 'uhm'! You could have just asked, you know? Did that maybe come to your mind? Or is this a vampire-thing, just to take what you want from the minor human women?"
Oh holy shit, he was so screwed. It seemed like Cassie wasn't his partner-in-crime after all. He was hers.
But he didn't even have time to explain himself, because he was currently getting the rant of the century. Until he did the only thing that came to his mind and shoved a toffee in her mouth.
To his surprise, she didn't spit it out - her manners were better than that - but, if looks could kill...he was probably lucky, that he was already dead. Now he had to use the little window of opportunity the toffee would give him.
"Stop it! I can explain this, please hear me out, before you start bitching at me again, okay?" She nodded, her eyes still glaring at him. Yes, he thought, better come up with a good explanation. Fast.
He decided on being his usual direct self. His plan had been to get her alone, he got her alone.
"I was set up!" She frowned.
"I asked a certain someone, who made me promise not to name her by the way, to do me a favour. She agreed, but in return asked me to put the toffees out here on the table. I honestly didn't think much of it, merely that she might want to save some for herself for tomorrow or whatever. I mean, they're delicious and wouldn't have survived the night, otherwise. I had no idea that this went on for weeks and it was never my intention to steal from you." An eyebrow went north, she still didn't seem entirely convinced, but her gaze had softened a little. Anyways, she stood her ground, her mouth still occupied with the toffee.
"It's just, well, I love the sweets and other meals you do. They're glorious, and mouth-watering and always so beautifully decorated, with all those little flowers and spots and hearts." Well, he was drifting off-topic, which didn't matter anymore, because she was done.
"Okay Fred, let's say for a moment, that I believe you. For curiosity's sake: What favour did 'she-who-might-not-be-named' do for you?"
Well, now or never, Fred.
"She, uhm, promised me to get you outside here, to talk to me."
"You could have talked to me inside."
"I know, but not...alone."
Obviously that caught her by surprise, but the fury and outrage from a moment ago was gone.
"And may I ask, why you'd want that?" She was curious, he could see it all over her face. Had she suspected something? Maybe.
He took another breath he didn't need and lay a hand on her arm. She didn't shy back, which he took for a good sign and then the words blurred out of him.
"It's just, I haven't done this in a while, so I'm out of practice, as in seriously out. To be honest, I'm nervous as hell, but, uhm, I'm not only a fan of the things you bake, but of the baker as well, okay? I like it when you laugh and it makes me feel funny, when I see your smile and I know this is kitschy, but I'm rather bad with words and-"
There, she smiled at him. She smiled at him and..., and..., what did he want to say?
"And?," she asked.
Ah, yes.
"And, Tamika, I'd like to ask, if you'd like to go on a date? With me? Like a date-date?!" Phew. It was out. Time stretched like a rubberband.
"You jerk."
I, what? Now, that was unexpected, but she still smiled and grabbed his hand.
"You jerk, do you have any idea how long I've waited for you to ask?"
"Uhm."
"Oh, back to smart-mode?" Now she grinned, a wicked, devilish grin with sparks of fire in her beautiful eyes. "Let me help you with that!"
Before Fred could process what was happening, he felt her soft lips on his.
~
They hadn't noticed how the time had passed, until the first fireworks interrupted them and simultaneously the first people came out on the balcony to jolt with them and to wish them a happy new year.
It couldn't have started any better, Fred thought, Tami's warm hand still placed in his. He wished her a happy new year and kissed her again, for all he was worth.
This time, he had really achieved all of his last years 'good' intentions. Actually, he had gotten way more than he'd been aiming for and the thought made him smile and his undead heart beat in anticipation.
~the end.