"I've been thinking about how to tell you this. I thought I had more time. But I never decided… O well, Here it goes." He stood up and rubbed his temples while he paced.

The stranger sat back down. "Andrew has been my best friend for as long as I can remember." He paused. "That's a really long time. We grew up together in a small British town. " For the first time Nicole noticed his accent. "My name is Damien. I am two hundred and twenty three years old. "

Nicole seemed dazed. Damien didn't look a day over seventeen to her. She stared at him somberly, and realized he wasn't joking. If he was that old and he grew up with Andrew, then…

Nicole fainted in her chair. She woke up in a beautiful old Victorian bed with a handsome man seated by her pillow. Her memory began to rush back. That was Damien. He wasn't human, and neither was Andrew.

"I'm a vampires. Don't worry I don't kill anyone." Damien paused, giving Nicole a moment to process everything.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Lucky guess?"

"No seriously." Nicole said suspiciously.

"Being a vampire comes with some cool traits. In two hundred years, I got a ton of practice at reading minds." Damien had an apologetic look on his face. But even that couldn't calm Nicole. She was steamed. Under another circumstance, she would have slapped Damien and walked away. Maybe if she hadn't wanted so badly to know about Andrew. Maybe if she wasn't so confused. Maybe if Damien wasn't so compassionately sexy…

Nicole sat up slowly. She needed to know more. "Is Andrew a vampire too? " Stupid question. Of course he was. "So, he's a vampire. Why did he fake his death?"

"We were almost caught. You see, Andrew has always been the social one. Ladies man if you will." Nicole thought of all the girls that were jealous of her and Andrew. He was a flirt. It had upset her, but Damien was still talking.

"Well, this one girl became infatuated with him ten years ago. When he wouldn't go out with her, she stalked him. We moved and she tracked him for years. I thought she would give it up, but she never did. This year, she moved here to New York, and told her cousin, a vampire hunter, about us. When he found Andrew, Andrew had to fake his death to throw the guy off our trail. He's hiding for now, but when this all blows over and the hunter gives up he'll be back."

Nicole sat still. The story was sinking in. Now she knew the truth. She almost didn't believe it. But it did explain everything. Then, there were those alluring eyes. How could you not believe those eyes. Nicole leaned towards Damien. She felt as if a string was pulling her and she had no choice.

What the fuck was she doing?! She couldn't do this to Andrew. But she really, really wanted to…….

Nicole heard the five o clock chime of Damien's grandfather clock. "I have to go," she mumbled as she hurried down the stairs to the living room, grabbed her coat, and started out the door.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" Damien called appearing at the top of the stairs. Nicole thought he was very arrogant. How dare he say that? She wasn't his girlfriend.

Yet. A part of her said. It was quickly snuffed out by her guilt over Andrew. He has to go into hiding and she lusts for his best friend. But Damien was so hot…..