Chapter 4

Sauli sipped a cookie dough flavored latte as he sat down in the window of a Sunset Boulevard Starbucks, looking down at the local newspaper. The headline read, "Two Teenage Lovers Declared Missing After A Night of Partying; Family Refuses To Give Up Search." Sauli sighed as he flipped through the pages.

"Reppana," he said, shaking his head, "they had just started living their lives...mikä vahinko..." As Sauli looked up from his newspaper, he spied Adam sitting in the opposite corner of the Starbucks, staring him down with his deep, liquid eyes. Sauli groaned quietly in frustration and rested his face against his fist. "Jumalanäiti, why won't he just leave me alone?" Sauli wanted to confront Adam so badly, just telling him to go jump in a river or something like that, but he felt it would be best to just ignore him and not risk making a scene.

"He's persistent," thought Sauli with a small smile on his face, "I'll give him that. I should have pretend that I didn't know English so he'd leave me alone. That always worked before." Sauli's eyes found themselves eyeing Adam's neck all the way down to his thighs. "He's quite nice to look at, like, really nice actually." Sauli chuckled at his own thoughts and shook his head, trying to bring himself back to sanity. "Herää, Sauli," He mumbled to himself in Finnish, "Hän ei ole sinua varten..."

"Hey?" Sauli looked up to see Adam standing in front of him, a smoking coffee in his hand. "Mind if I join you?"

"Kyllä."

"Great!" Sauli put his face in his hands as Adam sat down in the seat across from him. "Listen Sauli," said Adam, "you were really quick to judge me earlier and, I gotta say, that really bothered me. Granted, I didn't make the best first impression, but I wanna make it up to you." Sauli gave Adam a skeptical look.

"Make it up to me?" Adam nodded and took a sip of his coffee.

"Mmhmm," he replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin, "I wanna have a do over. Get a chance to show you what I'm really like." Sauli raised his right eyebrow at Adam, still uncertain. Sauli knew in the back of his mind that he shouldn't be so quick to trust Adam, but he still believed that everyone deserved a second chance.

"Alright," he said, "you get one more shot. No more after this, ymmärtää?" Adam grinned and nodded.

"Thank you, Sauli," he rested his hand on Sauli's, "I'm so glad." Suddenly, a chilling sensation ran up Adam's and Sauli's spine. They looked at each other in the eyes for a moment, lost in each other, then they both gasped and moved their hands away.

"You are...so cold," said Sauli, rubbing his hand gently. Adam looked down at his hands, then looked up at Sauli, confused and a little concerned as to what just happened.

"I-I'm sorry," said Adam, "I don't what happened to me...I felt like..." Adam looked up at Sauli and squinted a little to get a closer look at Sauli's face.

"Like what?" Adam shook himself out of his thoughts and chuckled to lighten the mood.

"Nothing, it's not important. Come on, I know this great spot not too far from here where we can go to just talk." Sauli smiled, showing off his crystal white teeth.

"That sound very lovely." Adam smirked and opened the door for Sauli.

"After you?" Sauli blushed lightly and rolled his eyes, shoving Adam out of his way playfully, making Adam chuckle.

"Excellent," thought Adam to himself, "one step closer. This should be finished by the end of the night. Yet, I can't help but wonder, what was that feeling? It was so strange, yet familiar..."

"Are a you coming or we going to stand here all day?" Adam followed Sauli out of the Starbucks, then led him to a small park outside of the city. The sun reflected perfectly over the small lake in front of them, making it shine a perfect shade of blue. The grass was surprisingly green for being so close to the city and the air smelt rather refreshing. "Where did you find this place?" Said Sauli, sitting down on the green grass, running his fingers across the grass, feeling the blades caresses his fingers.

"It's been here for a long long time," said Adam, taking a seat next to Sauli. "It's one of the very first parks established in California. Most people don't remember it's here because of the glamorous appeal of the city, but I come and go a lot. Probably just the groundskeeper and I that still visit it." Sauli laid back on the soft ground, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he did so.

"Kaunis," he said, "Is beautiful, very beautiful." Adam laid down and turned so he would face Sauli.

"I'm so glad you like it," he said, fluttering his eyelashes flirtatiously to Sauli, who was too busy looking at the sky to notice. Adam growled as he noticed Sauli was too focused on nature to focus on him.

"That's it," snarled Adam to himself, "I'm through waiting. Sauli?" He said, making Sauli turn around and face him.

"I'm sorry," said Sauli, "I just haven't seen real green nature in so long. The city is so dirty sometimes." Sauli laughed and Adam pretended to laugh with him, hiding his impatience.

"Sauli," he said, "can I have your opinion on something?" Sauli shrugged.

"Sure, I guess. What is it?" Adam leaned in closer and cleared his throat.

"It's a song. I wrote it. You see, I uh, have been trying to be a singer and I figured since no one else is around to hear me but you, it'd be a good time to test it out." Sauli smiled a little.

"Okay, let me hear it. Don't be shy, I promise I will not laugh." Adam smirked.

"Perfect." Adam began to sing softly to Sauli, caressing Sauli's cheek gently with his fingertips.

"Listen, my precious,

one so thoughtful and fair,

Let me hold you, caress you,

kiss your sweet hair.

I hear your heart beat,

it calls to me,

begging me to love you,

and feel your heat.

Let me take all,

your pain away.

In heaven you'll go,

but here, I will stay."

Adam smirked as Sauli's eyes widened in awe.

"Wow, Adam," he said, "you are truly gifted in vocals!" Adam giggled and licked his lips.

"I knew you would agree." Just as Adam prepared to reveal his ghastly features and gain his immortality,

"But," interrupted Sauli, "that song was not very good. Very, like, plain and sort of sound like Edgar Allen Poe. You have so much more potential." Adam's eyes practically bugged out of his head in shock.

"Y-You...you didn't like my song? How could you not like my song?" Sauli patted Adam's back in a friendly way and shrugged.

"Don't take it personally, I am just giving you my honest opinion. It doesn't mean the song is bad, it just means I do not like it." Sauli checked his watch and gasped. "We're going to be late if we don't leave! Come on, I don't want to get fired." Sauli pulled Adam to his feet and started running back to the city. Adam stood petrified in shock.

"Katrina was right," he thought to himself, "h-he isn't affected by my looks or my song...what makes this mortal so special?"

"Adam!" Adam snapped himself out of it and looked at Sauli, who ran back toward him. "Adam, are you coming?" Adam nodded slowly and gulped, then giving a fake smile.

"Mmhmm, I'm coming. Just lead the way." Sauli smiled and took a few steps ahead, but then turned around. "Oh! By the way..." Sauli smiled a little and looked bashfully at the ground, "I think you were right about me misjudging you, but I'm not fully convinced. We will have to hang out some more." Sauli winked and grabbed Adam's hand. "Now let's go!" He pulled Adam, who was still confused and disorientated as to what was protecting Sauli, back to the store and called for Angela as soon as they walked in together.

"Sauli!" Said Angela as she walked over to him. "Where have you been? You're over ten minutes late coming back from your break! You've never been late before."

"I am very sorry, Angela," he said with concern, almost begging, "I promise it will never happen again! I honestly don't know what was going through my brain."

"It better not happen again, Sauli. Now go back to work." Sauli nodded and quickly ran over to a rack of disorganized clothing and began to sort. "And you," Angela pushed Adam over to a coffee spill in the center of the store, "clean this up right now. I want it sparkling!"

"Who put you in charge?" Growled Adam as he got down and started wiping up the mess. Angela turned her head to look at Tommy, who was standing behind the counter and playing with one of the roses that was on display.

"He loves me," said Tommy, plucking off petals, "he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me!" He swooned and held the stub of the rose close to his heart. "I knew it."

"Tommy's acting weird lately," said Angela sadly, looking back at Adam, "so I'm taking over as manager till he feels better."

"Oh," responded Adam, looking down at the spill to hide his smirk, "how unfortunate." Angela crossed her arms and nudged Adam's butt with the toe of her boot.

"Just clean the spill."

"Aye, Aye, captain." Adam scrubbed the spill in slow circles, formulating a new plan to get Sauli on his side.

"He wants to hang out more," he thought, "that's a start. Now I just have to gain his complete trust, make him love me, then take what's mine."

"Speed it up a little, Adam," said Angela, "The customers are gonna see it if you don't." Adam rolled his eyes and sighed angrily.

"I'm perfectly capable of cleaning it without you watching me!" Angela huffed.

"Fine!" Before she walked away, Angela caught a glimpse of the puddle of coffee. She could see Adam's reflection, his expression showing his complete irritation. Suddenly, the skin on his forehead began to move around and two sharp horns popped out. Angela gasped loudly and lost her balance, almost falling over. "Adam!" Adam grunted and turned around.

"What do you want now?" Angela panted in fear as she stared directly at Adam's forehead. Nothing. He looked completely ordinary. "Hello?"

"I-I'm sorry," she said, "S-Something about your face..."

"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer." Adam turned around and continued scrubbing the floor. Angela ran into the back room and rested against the wall.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Angela?" She said to herself. "I think I'm going crazy..." As Angela calmed herself down in the back room, Adam had his ear rested against the door.

"Hmm," he thought to himself, looking down at his hands, "seems like Sauli's not the only one whose trust I need to survive here..."