Fairfax County, Virginia 2042.

Music blasted throughout the main convention center of Fairfax County. This particular conventional center had held multiple events due to its size and capacity and tonight it was hosting a massive Halloween Party. Halloween decorations were scattered throughout the section where the party was being held. The organizers of the party had even casted a red tinge of light over the place, casting the large area in a red glow, which gave the gathering a more spooky Halloween feel.

The place had been situated in such a fashion, where there was a big dance floor in the middle of the room, and then circular tables bordered the edges of the room, where the party guests could sit down to rest their feet, or to eat or have a drink. Then on the far side of the room, was a line of serving tables set up. One line of serving tables, served up alcoholic drinks to all who were twenty one and over.

The other line of serving tables offered up Non-alcohol beverages and a variety of party style snacks for the party guests. There was even a mini bar with a few barseats, where an hired bartender served up drinks directly to those who wanted to sit at the bar.

Between it being a Friday night, along with Halloween, the place was packed with guests and people nearly wall to wall. With many of the tables taken by those who didn't wish to be on their feet or those who weren't interested in dancing at the moment.

And sitting at one of those tables was Autumn, her eyes scanned the place as the music flitted through her ears. She noticed the variety of costumes and outfits people were dressed in. Some are more interesting or creative than others. She sat at the table alone, tapping her foot to the music.

She had been sitting there with Sidney and Brandon, until they decided that they wanted to dance just a few minutes ago. Therefore going out onto the dance together. The three of them had arrived at the party, just a little more eight, just in time enough for it to start. And it was now going on after eight thirty, with about ten minutes before nine p.m.

The trio of Autumn, Sidney, and Brandon had hung out with each other a ton. They hung out at school together, often having the same classes, and had graduated high school together. They often hung out with each other outside of school, such as they decided to do on this Halloween night.

Another thing which had connected Autumn to Sidney was the fact that much like her, Sidney had been born of supernatural parents. With her Dad, Wells Maddox being a warlock, and her mother Kendra being an enchantress, Sidney much like Autumn had magical powers. Although Sidney's magic was from a different source and category than Autumn's was, the two friends still saw each other as one and the same. Often practicing their magical skills together.

The genes of the Maddox family had also been passed down to Sidney's brother, Markcus, who was a warlock in the same way Wells Maddox was. The fact that each of them had powers of magic made them feel closer to each other and solidified the sisterhood bond in which they had. It was just another reason why Autumn Sidney was the bestest of friends.

And although she wasn't as close with him, Autumn did view and treat Brandon as a good friend as well. Brandon Wilson had been living in Texas, before he moved to Virginia during the time where they all were in fifth grade. At first, Brandon had a difficult time adjusting to a whole new school, in an entirely different state. However, Autumn and Sidney had been the first ones to befriend him. And it didn't take long before the trio started to hang out together all of the time at school.

By the six grade, Brandon had become more adjusted to his new school, thanks in large part to Autumn and Sidney befriending him. However, Autumn and Sidney noticed that one day there appeared to be something wrong with Brandon. There was a period of time where he would miss days out of school. At first, the two best friends thought that Brandon had gotten sick.

Yet, soon discovered how it wasn't the case, since Brandon got caught one time skipping out on school, where he would make his parents believe that he was going to school and then skip out on class. Which of course, ended up with him getting in trouble with both his parents and the school. Causing him to get grounded and have to serve a week of detention.

Autumn and Sidney figured something had to be up with Brandon. So the two best friends asked him what was wrong. It was a distraught Brandon told them how he had to skip school to avoid looking like a freak in front of his school and classmates.

They asked him what he meant, Brandon told him he could do things in which normal people shouldn't be able to do. When they prompted for more details, he displayed to them that he had powers of his own. Powers which specializes in electricity, controlling electronics and therefore all devices related to electricity.

Brandon felt like an outcast, because unlike Autumn and Sidney, his parents weren't supernatural, they didn't have powers of any kind. Leaving Brandon to be the only one in his family who had such abilities and powers. And he said he felt like a freak because no one else could do the things he did. His parents didn't even know he had the skills in which he had developed.

Both girls through wishing to support him, shared with Brandon that he wasn't alone, or isolated as he perceived himself to be. They revealed to him that they too had powers and abilities in which the majority of the population did not. They told him how he was a part of their world of supernatural beings. Autumn then repeated the same words to Brandon, in which her Mom had told her. That he wasn't a freak, but extraordinary.

As a hybrid, both her parents had taught her to embrace what she was and to be proud of it. Her Mom's saying was "You aren't a freak, you're extraordinary!." Which had an impact on Autumn, teaching her there was no shame in what she was. It had such an impact to the point of Autumn repeating this saying towards Brandon.

Once Brandon discovered Autumn and Sidney having special abilities and powers like he had, he felt much better about himself and began attending school regularly, no longer skipping classes. Autumn and Sidney had even taught him how to control and harness his powers. Making it possible for Brandon to discreetly keep his abilities hidden from those who weren't aware of the supernatural world existing.

The trio of them had a great friendship, and had stuck together since their fifth grade year. And now Autumn sat at the table, watching Brandon and Sidney dancing with each other on the dance floor. They indeed looked like a fantastic zombie super couple.

Around their junior year, Autumn noticed the dynamic between her two friends change, as in the way dynamics changed when two people were crushing on each other or liked each other as more than just friends. At first, Brandon and Sidney pretended like everything was still the same between them and that they only saw each other as friends. Yet it couldn't be denied how there was something going on between them.

Which was why Autumn wasn't at all surprised during the beginning of their Senior year, when Brandon and Sidney admitted to her how they had decided to start dating each other. Meaning at this current time her two friends had been dating each other for a little over a year, since they all had graduated high school back in the summer.

Autumn thought the two of them made for a cute couple, in her mind they defined high school sweethearts. Sometimes she would joke about how she felt like the third wheel tagging along, since they had started to date. They insisted she wasn't, although they knew she wasn't being serious.

Sidney had wished to become a professional dancer, and from what Autumn saw of her friend's moves on that dancefloor, she definitely believed Sidney had the skill set to succeed once she decided to go after a professional dance career.

The witch-vampire hybrid remained seated at the table, until a song blasted over the speakers, which really made her want to move her feet. This particular song was a favorite of hers, one she just either had to sing to or dance to everytime it came up on the radio, or everything she pulled it up on ITunes.

And since her favorite song was too good to pass up, and since she had come to this party to have some fun after all, Autumn made the decision to get up from the table and made a move towards the dancefloor.

}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Eric Northman loved this time of year, the fall, followed by the winter was the time of year where he looked forward to the most. And it had nothing to do with the cooler weather. Unlike where many humans complained about the fall and winter, Eric was the complete opposite.

Humans complained due to how they enjoyed the sun and the daylight. So, when fall came around, they grumbled about how it got dark too soon, how the sun would go down by five in the evening and how they couldn't wait for Spring to come back, so that the days would get longer again.

Eric Northman however, was thrilled for the fall and the winter. Since he viewed the sunlight as his enemy. He was a vampire, the sun wasn't very kind to vampires, any vampire who stepped out into the sunlight would find themselves either bursting in flames or turning to ashes within minutes or seconds after stepping out into the sun.

Which resulted in Eric having to spend thousands of years on daylight hiding away from the sun. Which he had to do by staying inside away from any windows, or places where sunlight could get through. Or he had to sleep either in a coffin or a hole in the ground during daylight hours. Or some cubby area which shielded him from the sunlight.

The daylight was a threat to his very being, while the night was his friend. And due to the nighttime in the fall being longer, he had grown to appreciate the fall and winter months, much more than he had the spring and summer months of the year.

Lengthy nights meant he had more time to get done what he needed to get done, more time to see to his business, more time to complete any important errands he had, more time to feed, or to satisfy any other personal needs or wants of his.

Over the last few weeks, he had taken advantage of the switch over from summer to fall and therefore the longer nights which came with it. Eric had just moved to the state of Virginia at the end of July, he moved specifically to this part of the state for vampire business related reasons. And the area was still somewhat new to him.

So, the longer nights now allowed him to be able to explore Fairfax county and all of the surrounding counties more. He took this time to better get to know the area, to learn all of its most important details, to explore it, and gather all of the information in which he needed to gather about his new home.

And on this one Friday night, he was bored, in his boredom, he searched for something which would please his interest. He discovered information about a Halloween party being held at the county's convention center. And figured he would check it out to see if there was something interesting that would appeal to him.

Which was where he found himself, amongst the party. Where humans were dressed in a number of costumes for Halloween, he spotted everything: superheroes, mutants, comic book characters, supernatural beings, and spooky looking creatures in the crowded place.

People mingling about doing everything from drinking to dancing, to chatting with others who donned their Halloween costumes. His eyes scanned the crowd, one of the missions he went out on during nights was to feed. And this place was packed, he had hundreds of humans or meals to pick from. Decided that he would choose one to feed from before the night was over with. One he would take to a more private area, away from onlookers of course.

For now, however, he wanted some alcohol to please his pallet. So, he headed over to the mini bar, then proceeded to take a seat in one of the barstools. He then ordered a glass of Scotch from the bartender.

One served his drink, he turned to face the dancefloor, wishing to spot the unwitting human who would end up being his meal for the night.

Several people were gathered on the floor, prancing and bouncing to the music. Most are in the form of couples, others in groups of three or more. He took a sip of his drink as he studied them more.

Then his eyes landed on her, she was all alone, among those who danced around her. Immediately Eric found his attention, his focus shifted fully on this woman and it had nothing at all to do with his desire to feed off of her or from her.

She was in a costume, a costume of the character he recognized as Storm from the XMEN movies and comics. She had on a white-gray wig and what obviously were contacts of some kind, as her eyes were white. Yet her wig, her contacts didn't hide the obvious natural beauty of this woman. He had seen thousands of women in his total lifetime as a vampire. And yet to Eric, this woman easily was the most stunning he had ever laid his eyes on.

Yet it wasn't just her beauty which now had the attention of the blonde vampire, there was something about her presence which commanded recognition of the room, something which made him want to give her all of his attentiveness. This woman, she was alluring to him, more than just in the physical sense.

There was an aura about her, one which made her stand out, as she stood out now. She could be in a gathering of millions of people, yet Eric was sure that she would stand out, like a blazing star in the middle of deep, dark space. Eric found this to be intriguing, because he never spotted a woman, who had stirred up such in him, within a short period of time. And yet he spotted this woman, instantly finding himself drawn in by her incredible presence.

She was a couple of inches below five foot five, yet still commanded outshined those around her. Eric was so fixated on this woman to the point where he was completely ignoring the woman next to him, who was currently making googly eyes at him trying to gain his attention.

He kept watching her, as she swayed, moved her body to the music, having the time of her life without a care in the world. And once the song was over with, she stopped dancing, then proceeded over to the snack bar, where she grabbed some chips, some pretzels and a soda. Then took them over to a table to sit at, his eyes following her the entire time as she did so.

He ordered another glass of Scotch, then got to his feet.

He couldn't resist the urge to have a talk with this woman who was dressed in the Storm X-Men costume, he truly was interested in getting to know what she was about.

This was when the woman who was making googly eyes at him, sauntered her way over to him, in her scantily clad cheetah outfit. "I've been having my eye on you all night."

Eric merely gave the woman the expression he gave people in which he was bored or uninterested in. "Really, I hadn't noticed."

"Really?" The woman in her cheetah outfit fluttered her eyelashes in her efforts to flirt with him. "I have been watching you all night since you arrived here"

"Then perhaps you should keep watching." Eric disregarded her interest in him through his tone of voice.

"Maybe you could get me a drink, so the two of us can talk or do a little more than talking if you know what I mean."

"Or maybe you could get yourself your own drink."

The woman in her cheetah outfit, played it off with a laugh. "No need to be like that, handsome, just saw you and figured you'd be the perfect man for me to have some fun with for tonight."

Eric attempted to step around her. "No Thank you, please excuse me."

The woman in her cheetah outfit, blinked her eyes, tried to add a seductive tone to her voice. "But, we could.."

"Look around, lady. This place is packed with many men." Eric cut her off with dismissal. "Search enough and I'm sure you'll find a man who will be more than willing to fuck you, but I'm not that man. It won't be me, so if you would just move out of my way."

"Asshole." The woman snipped at him before stomping off in her cheetah outfit.

Returning his attention towards the table, Eric saw the woman who had caught his eye was still sitting there. And found himself being drawn to her look a moth to a flame, as he strolled his way towards her table.

Autumn remained seated at the table she sat in before, Brandon and Sidney were still dancing. And she had to hand it to them, they had stamina when it related to being able to dance song after song.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Asked a male voice who she hadn't heard before.

Autumn moved her focus over to the man, whom she hadn't realized had approached her table until now. "Huh?"

He gestured. "Mind if I keep you company?"

Autumn eyed this man, he was tall, with a lean body, had blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. She normally would turn down the offer of any man, in which she didn't know, who asked to sit at the same table she was seated at. Yet, for some reason she spotted this tall, blond, blue eyed man and thought 'Why not?'

"Sure." Autumn responded. "At least until my friends return from the floor."

Eric took the seat which was across from her, eyed her for a moment.

Autumn arched a brow at him in return.

"Pleasant Halloween get together they're having here." Eric spoke.

"Yeah, it's cool." Autumn agreed.

Eric took a sip from his glass. "Your ensemble, it's from a character who belongs to a group of mutants referred to as X-Men."

She patted at her wig. "Correct, her name is Storm. Are you a fan of X-Men or something?"

"I've seen it mostly in passing."

"Oh."

"Your costume however is magnificent. You would make a great stand in for the character in the movies." Eric added conversationally.

"Uh, Thanks." Autumn remarked. "Speaking of costumes, where's yours? Why come to a Halloween costume party if you're not going to dress up for Halloween?"

Indeed the majority of the party guests did have Halloween outfits or costumes of some kind on. Yet, Eric wasn't part of that crowd who had come to the party dressed exactly for Halloween.

"This is my Halloween disguise." He said dryly.

"Seriously?" Autumn gave him a look over.

He wore what seemed to be regular clothes. He was adorned in black from head to toe. Black shoes, black jeans, a black buttoned shirt, and a black leather jacket around his lean, yet muscular frame.

"Seriously." He eyed her over the rim of his glass as he took another sip from it.

"Well, if that's your disguise, then what are you supposed to be?" Autumn questioned playing along with him.

"Dark and mysterious." Eric muttered, tilting his head with gaiety.

This blond haired, blue eyed man had a demeanor about him, which Autumn caught onto. The way he carried himself told her that he was a man full of confidence, which showed outwardly and yet not in a manner the over the top arrogance a lot of men had. She found this to be appealing about him, even though she just first laid her eyes on him a few moments ago.

"Sure, if you say so." Autumn snorted with mirth.

Her reaction made him want to smile. "I was drawn to this gathering because I wished to get a feel for its atmosphere." He put in.

Autumn casted a gaze towards the red lights. "Certainly has the spooky Halloween feel to it."

"Also I came here to be entertained."

"Same."

Eric shifted in his seat. ""I happen to be new to this area, so I've been seeing the time searching for everything interesting to do."

Autumn was curious. "So, you've moved here just recently?"

"Correct, at the end of July." Eric stated in a matter of fact way.

"Where from? If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't mind, Louisanna."

She munched on some of her chips and pretzels. "I've been to Louisanna once."

Eric found himself really focused on her now. "When was this?"

Autumn gestured. "A while back, I went there on a family vacation with my Dad and Mom, we spent about a week there. One of the best cities I've vacationed at in the states."

Eric commented. "The part of Louisanna I moved from isn't New Orleans, which is indeed a great city by the way."

"What part then?"

"Bon Temps."

She searched through her memory banks. "Never heard of it."

He explained. "Bon Temps is one of this typical deep south, small towns with a hick sort of vibe to it. Not for everyone, yet it has its charms, I suppose."

"And how does this part of VIrginia compare to Bon Temps?"

"Very different.."

She gave him a nod.

"How long have you lived here?" Eric inquired, because the more she talked, the more interested he grew in her.

"All my life actually." Autumn replied.

"And how do you like it?"

"Here in Fairfax, I love it here. There's so many options for entertainment since we live so close to D.C, Many places to eat and shop at. And the education system is one of the best in this state."

For about a half minute, there was a comfortable silence between them.

Autumn took a drink from her soda.

"Not interested in something stronger?" He signaled towards her soda.

"Stronger as in alcohol?" She guessed.

"Yes as in alcohol."

Autumn leaned back in her chair. "Well, I couldn't get alcohol even if I wanted to, since I'm eighteen."

Eric understood. "Under the legal age limit."

"Preciously." Said Autumn.

"I can guarantee there's more than a few people in here, under twenty one, with fake IDs, drinking to their heart's content."

"There's no doubt about that." Autumn could recall some of the chatter in High School, about one student who had an older sibling who sold fake IDs, for the very purpose of those who wished to underage drink.

She didn't parttake because she wasn't stupid enough to risk getting caught in a place of business with a fake ID, plus her parents had taught her better.

Eric pointed out. "Although in some countries there's no need for fake IDs, since their legal drinking age limit starts at eighteen."

"I'm aware of those who have laws different from the United States."

"Many would consider them lucky." Eric thought of all of the eighteen to twenty year old American citizens eagerly awaiting the day they turned twenty one so they would be able to legally consume alcohol.

"Eh, even when I turn twenty one, I don't think I'll be interested in drinking." Autumn shrugged. "Alcohol is something I doubt I'll ever develop the taste for."

"To each their own, I'll drink enough for the both of us then." Eric respectfully toasted her before finishing off his scotch.

Autumn smirked. "Yeah, you do that."

Their conversation went on for about ten minutes more, easily flowing as if they had known each other for quite a while. Autumn noticed how at comfort and at ease she was with this tall, blond haired, pale skin stranger. She usually only could get to such a comfort or ease level with her closest family and friends.

Eric took notice as well, with the vast majority of people he came across, he was either cold, aloof, off putting, or simply either wasn't interested or didn't care. Which had many people believing he was an asshole Yet there was an aura about this woman, whom he had just met, he discovered himself having the ability to warm up to.

Autumn spotted Sidney and Brandon approaching the table. "My friends are coming back."

"Then I'll be going." Eric rose to his feet.

"Okay." Autumn remarked.

"Nice to meet you." Eric directed at her with a bow of his head.

"You too." Autumn returned. "Appreciated your company."

Eric said nothing else, he just turned and walked away.

Autumn watched his retreated back, there was something in which she liked the man, something she couldn't place her finger on, but she still liked him.

}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

As the party continued, Autumn spent a good portion of the remainder of it chatting with Brandon and Sidney, finishing off her snacks and soda as she did so. Then around midnight, she decided she could use some fresh air, after being in the convention center crowd for a few hours in a row.

So, she left Sidney and Brandon sitting at the table with each other, and headed outside. The front of the convention center had some groups of people mingling about. As others headed towards the parking lot deciding to call it a night.

Deciding to talk a little walk around, Autumn strolled over to the side of the convention center, she walked down an alleyway which was between the convention center and a pizza place which had closed about an hour ago.

She then made her way towards the back where there weren;'t any people around. Here she could get some quiet, which was a reprieve from the music and all of the bustling voices of people inside where the party still went on.

Closing her eyes, Autumn breathed in the cool night air into her lungs. Her eyes popped back open when she believed she heard something. It was something she almost missed out on hearing. Then she wondered whether or not she was hearing things. Training her ear, she listened to see if the sound would repeat itself.

A minute later it did, it was so faint, so slight in a way where normal human hearing wouldn't be able to pick it up, due to the sound coming a little distance away from where she stood. At this distance a normal human would have never even been aware of the sound being made. Yet her vampire hearing picked it up.

The sound was of someone groaning faintly, softly. As if they were in pain or discomfort. And from what Autumn could hear, the source of the sound was a man. She stood there for a minute, thinking about what could have happened to make this man groan in either pain or discomfort.

One of the possibilities she thought about, is how she had witnessed more than a few people drink rather heavily for hours on it. To the point where they stumbled or had trouble keeping their balance. Could it be that one of those drunk people stumbled their way to the back of the convention center in their stupor?

She pictured some dumbass, who was too drunk to see straight or know where they were, finding their way back to this area and falling down flat on their face or ass, winding up hurting themselves.

Autumn sighed, figuring she should check on this person, just to see if he was alright, and didn't end up outside all night long nearly passing out on this cool October night. Or at least see whether or not this potentially drunk person planned on driving. She couldn't stand drunk drivers, and saw them as selfish. So, if this person was too drunk, she could at least offer them to call for a cab or uber to wherever they lived.

Deciding to test her theory, to see if her hunch was true, she headed in the direction in which she heard the noise with her vampire hearing. Which was over by a tree line that was quite a bit aways from the back of the convention center.

At first she could see nothing, until she stepped closer, then her vampire senses picked up movement. So, she moved even closer to the treeline, preparing to call out to ask this person whether or not they were okay.

This was when she spotted something which had her completely taken away. Leaning with his back pressed against a tree, was a man who was dressed in a vampire costume, which had a cape that reminded her of Dracula. On this man's face was some powdered white makeup, and red lines of makeup, in which she assumed was supposed to represent blood.

The guy in his vampire costume, stood as still as a statue, while there was another man who currently had his mouth around the neck area, in which a person's big artery was located. She spotted the trickle of blood running down the guy's neck. And heard him groan slightly every now and then in pain. Which would explain the noise she had picked up.

This vampire outfit man, was rather calm for the fact of him having an actual real life vampire feeding on him. The thing that had Autumn taken aback wasn't the factor of her discovering a vampire feeding off of a human. As she knew of vampires existing, including the vampires who choose to feed off of humans.

What had her taken aback was the factor of who exactly this vampire was. She observed as the tall, blond, man, who was dressed in all black, who she had just met on the inside, feed on the fake vampire. The fake vampire is standing still as a statue as the real one feeds off of him.

When she thought about it, she did think that the tall, blond man looked rather pale. Yet figured he was just one human who didn't see much sun. Now it all made sense, this man had avoided the sunlight due to being a vampire, which explained his paleness.

She watched him drink the blood from the neck of the fake vampire, until she decided to clear her throat.

A startled Eric pulled his fangs away from the neck of his meal, whirled around to see the woman in the Storm X-Men costume staring him down, he realized she had caught him feeding, therefore revealing to her his vampirism. His vampirism which he tried to keep hidden from humans or those he wasn't close to.

She had completely caught him off guard, his vampire senses normally would have been able to pick up the sounds of footsteps from a human who was approaching him. Yet she was as stealthy as a mouse, he hadn't ever heard her approach.

Eric had become famished by the end of the night, so he had searched the party for a live meal in which he could feed from. He found his meal in a man who was dressed as a fake vampire. Convinced the man to follow him outside.

Then once outside, Eric glamoured the fake vampire into going somewhere private, which would allow him to snack on the man's blood. He thought that this place, back behind the building where there were no people, should have been secluded enough. And for the most part it was, seeing as how no human would have reason to go this far near the treeline. And even if a human was just behind the building, their hearing shouldn't and wouldn't be able to pick up noises or movements from that far.

Not when he had glamoured his meal to stay still and to remain as quiet as possible. Which the guy in the vampire costume had done. As he didn't scream, yell, or make any long verbal sounds which would alert humans to this area.

"Well, this is awkward." Autumn murmured.

Eric could have cursed to himself, certainly this wasn't the impression he wanted to make on the woman, in which he was so drawn to and had gotten along so well with on the inside of the party.

Now he could picture her either wanting to run away or view him disgusted as some blood sucking monster. His eyes explored her face to see her judgement towards the factor of him feasting on a human man.

Autumn returned his gaze with an unreadable expression.

Eric turned his attention back to the man he made a meal out of. The man who was still standing still as a statue as Eric had ordered him to do. So Eric casted a hypnotizing peer into the man's eyes.

"Focus on me." Eric ordered him.

The fake vampire locked onto Eric's stare, like an obedient dog following commands of the person who owned it.

"You will not recall this moment, you won't recall me feeding on you. As a matter of fact, you never saw me in your life and won't remember seeing my face." Eric directed at the man.

"I won't remember seeing your face, never saw you in my life." The fake vampire mindlessly agreed.

Autumn tilted her head as she contemplated the scene playing out before her.

"Good." Eric continued. "You may feel a little weak after tonight, so you should spend the next couple of days taking some Iron and B12. Place a bandage on your neck, until those puncture words heal"

"Iron. B12." This fake vampire repeated, transfixed onto Eric's eyes.

"Get lost." Eric demanded rather rudely to the man. Propping up the man's collar to hide the fang marks.

The man stumbled off, mumbling something underneath his breath.

Autumn followed the guy in the fake vampire costume, until he disappeared around the corner. Then she maneuvered her body to face the tall, blond man, who she now knew was a vampire.

Eric retracted his fangs, wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Not exactly sure of what he should say about this situation.

"Interesting diet you have there." Autumn's tone was filled with wit.

A wit that flew right over Eric's head. He really had enjoyed the conversation with this woman and still felt drawn to her like a moth to a flame. For these reasons, he didn't want her lasting impression of him to be that of fear or disgust, due to her witnessing him making a meal off of a human.

Eric drifted over to her with vamp speed.

Autumn blinked before she noticed him standing right before her.

Because she was rather short compared to him, he had to bend down a little to gaze into her eyes. "You won't remember any of what you just witnessed after you walked back here. You'll only recall our conversation at the table, before you came out here. Understand?"

"Nice try there, bud." Autumn smirked unfazed.

"Glamouring doesn't work on you?" Eric was befuddled to see his memory wiping tactic obviously hadn't worked on her.

"Glamouring?" Autumn drew her brows together in confusion at the term.

Eric explained. "Hypnotizing, mind control. Which I'm able to do to most, yet not you?"

Autumn connected. "Oh, you mean compelling. Yeah, I'm immune to the vampire brainwashing trick stuff."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Are you not afraid of me?" Eric questioned her.

She gave him the look over. "You know, although I just met you, I have a strong feeling you won't try to hurt or harm me. So, I'm not afraid of you."

She was correct, Eric found himself so warmed up to this woman's aura and her presence, that he knew deep down he wouldn't and couldn't ever try to do her any physical harm.

"So, you know vampires exist then." Said Eric.

"Obviously."

He was amazed by her relaxed, nonchalant reaction. "And you one of those who looks at vampirism as something to scrutinize? You don't view the existence of vampires as appalling?" He asked her these questions, because he knew there were those who were aware of vampires and yet either still feared or hunted beings like him down.

"Being appalled or showing scrutiny towards vampirism, would be like self hatred."

"Pardon me?"

Once again, Autumn wouldn't normally disclose her supernatural identity to most of the people she had ever interacted with. As only a tiny portion knew about her vampire/witch status. She of course never disclosed what she was to people who she just met.

Yet this tall, blond man before her was different. She liked something about him, plus she already made it aware to him of how she knew about the existence of vampires and how she wasn't afraid of vamps.

So, she thought to herself. 'Why not.' As she dropped her own pair of fangs from her gums. Therefore allowing him to see she was a vampire much like him.

Eric actually gasped in shocked delight. "My. my you're a vampire just like me!"

"Yep."

"I never would have guessed."

"Which is suppose to mean?"

Eric hinted in a mannerism that is typical of how he reacted when he was truly awed by a new discovery. "Most vamps I can spot a mile away, they give themselves away by how they act in certain forms. Yet, I thought of you to be entirely human just until a minute ago."

Autumn pursed her lips. "Yeah, well, I have to have a facade of seeming human to the majority of people, since you know there's whole groups of hunters out there wishing to kill people like us just because we have fangs."

"Speaking of which." Eric pointed towards hers. "You have a lovely set of fangs there."

"Uh, Thanks." Autumn found herself to be oddly flattered by his remark. "No one has ever given me such a compliment before."

"So, you're a vampire who likes to feed directly from humans."

"I am."

Autumn shifted on her feet. "Are you one of those who leaves behind a trail of corpses left behind?"

Eric angled his head as he studied her closely. "No, I actually haven't killed my prey in many years. Too inconvenient having to worry about finding places to bury or get rid of dead bodies. Especially when I hunt in public. Far easier just to pick my meal, feed just enough not to take too much blood from them, then glamour them to forget."

"Hmmm, since you aren't going around leaving a pile of bodies around as you feed, then that's cool, I guess."

"Feeding directly from humans isn't considered off limits in your world?"

"All vampires have to eat, correct?"

"Correct."

Autumn mentioned. "What's mostly off limits to me is just mindlessly killing people, when killing them can be avoided. Other than that, I try not to be too judgemental towards other vampires and how they choose to eat. So, I guess your method can be called acceptable in my world of vampirism."

Eric really wished to know. "Since we're on the subject, what is your method of feeding exactly? Do you go at it directly from the vein?"

Autumn reversed her fangs back into her gums. "I haven't made a habit off of feeding directly from humans."

Eric adjusted the lapel on his leather jacket. "Do you drink Tru Blood instead then?"

"You mean the alternative stuff they put in bottles to sell to vampires secret."

"Exactly."

"Nope." Autumn made a face. "I hate that phoney crap, tasted it once, tasted like shit, so I never tried it again."

"We have something in common, Tru Blood does indeed taste like shit as you put it." Eric concurred

Autumn informed. "I drink the real deal. Just not directly from the vein. Yet, still I only eat and consume real human blood from blood bags."

He squinted his blue eyes. "Blood bags? Do you raid local hospitals or health clinics for those?"

She chuckled lightly. "No, actually. I get them from a vampire grocery store, if you could call it such."

"Vampire grocery store?" His tone was curious

"There's this organization of humans, who believes in vampire rights, and who keeps the identity of vampires a secret." Autumn explained. "They have donors, who donate their blood for vampires to be able to get the real thing, without having to raid hospitals or feed directly from humans. They have discreet locations, kept hidden from human society. And mainly only vampires know about it."

"Interesting, I've never heard of these vampire grocery stores."

"There're a few locations here in Virginia, as well as other parts of the country, even the world. Just humans who donate their blood, in similar ways that people donate to the red cross. Except for these volunteers donate theirs exclusively for vampires. And the great thing about this is how these vampire grocery stores have all sorts of blood types, and the blood is always fresh. The next best thing from feeding directly from the vein." Autumn finished her explanation.

Eric was actually astonished. "Even for a vampire, I learn aspects of life in which I never knew before."

Autumn acknowledged. "Don't we all."

Then Eric recalled a sight he had seen her do earlier in the night. "Hold on, you ate human food."

"So, I did." Autumn confirmed.

"Vampires find human food revolting, yet you seem to enjoy your human snacks." Eric eyed her closely.

"Depends on the vampire." Autumn shrugged. "Those human snacks were enjoyable."

"Not sure I understand, the vampire I know including myself consume only blood." He seemed perplexed.

Autumn gestured. "Pure vampires perhaps consume only blood. Yet, I'm not exactly a pure vampire."

He raised both brows. "You're not?"

Autumn hinted. "I'm a hybrid actually. So I actually get nutritional value from human food, as well as blood"

Hearing this made Eric even more intrigued in her. "A hybrid with what?"

"You know it's nice talking with you." Autumn tapped her chin. "Yet I believe I've told you enough already for tonight. Way more than I reveal about myself to most people who I've just met."

"So, you're just going to leave me guessing of what you are a hybrid of?" Eric muttered. "Why would you do such a thing after all you've already told me about yourself?"

She winked at him. "To be dark and mysterious."

Her repeating words he said to her earlier in the night actually made him grin.

Autumn was interrupted when she heard her phone beep. She grabbed it out of her pocket, checked the screen and saw that it was Sidney questioning where she was and letting her know that she and Brandon were ready to go home.

Autumn texted Sidney back, letting her best friend know that she would meet Sidney and Brandon, in the parking lot back at Brandon's car. Then they would be able to drop her off back at her house, before going to their own homes.

And since the night and party was over with, Autumn decided to carefully remove the white contacts from her eyes, since she had them on for hours.

She had her back turned to the tall, blond vampire as she had texted Sidney and then taken out her contacts.

"I've gotta go." Autumn stated. "My friends are waiting to drive me back home."

Eric looked at her back. "Then goodnight."

"Goodnight." She returned.

Autumn began to walk away.

"Wait." Eric held up a hand.

"Yes." Autumn paused peering over her shoulder at him.

With her contacts removed, Eric could see the unique shade of her blue-green eyes, and found them to be mesmerizing.

He spoke. "I don't believe you ever told me your name."

She gave him a friendly smile. "Autumn, my name is Autumn."

"Autumn." Eric said the name, thinking to himself how it was as pretty as the woman before him was. "My name is Eric."

She gave him a nod. "Goodnight, Eric!"

Eric waved a hand in acknowledgment, watching as she strolled away to meet up with her friends. This time a full smile crossing onto his face. Eric Northman was drawn to Autumn like a moth to a flame, and some might even say he was a bit smitten towards her.

}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Author's Note: If you read part 1 of this chapter, you know that I showed how Bonnie and Enzo broke up. As well as showed how Bamon first got together. I wanted to create a break between Bonnie and Enzo breaking up and then Damon and Bonnie becoming an official couple.

So, Bonnie broke up with Enzo at the start of January 2018. And her and Damon finally admitted their feelings for each other, and became romantically official in Mid-October 2018.

I also wanted to include the Bonnie and Enzo break up, because it will factor into the plot of the upcoming chapters. As Eric's arrival in 2017 and him revealing the truth about how relationships in the future, is going to complicate matters between Damon and Bonnie.

And it will put a strain on Bonnie and Enzo's relationship. Including Enzo discovering that he and Bonnie will eventually break up, and of course he won't be happy with that.

To clarify. There's a small portion of the human population who is aware of vampires and the Supernatural world existing. But, for the most part, the majority of the human population aren't aware of the Supernatural world. And vampires, witches, werewolves, etc….still keep their true identities secret or hidden from most humans.

Sidney Maddox is casted as Ryan Destiny in this story and Brandon Wilson is casted as Nadji Jeter.

Thanks for reading and supporting this story so far!