"Tell me about yourself," she said, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hand.
Connor's immediate response was Maybe dating is not such a good idea. They were all of twenty minutes into their first date, and already he had to lie to her. On the other hand, this was no different than any other part of his life.
"I just finished my freshman year at Stanford," he said. Okay, Reilly, all true so far. "And Rome seemed like the place to be, so..." He grinned at her and she smiled back, waiting for him to go on. It looked like he had no choice. So he took a deep breath and went on, trying to stick to topics that were true and easy to talk about, things that had no connection to infant kidnappings and alternate dimensions and vampires and memory spells. That'd be an easy way to make sure there was no second date -- this girl would think he was insane.
It was sad but true that there was not a lot that happened in his life that was unrelated to the insane, so he mostly stuck to Stanford, and his impressions of Rome to this point. But despite his worry, he soon found his concerns fading away. Dawn was easy to talk to, and she seemed to know a lot about Rome. Of course she would, she was a tour guide.
Italian restaurants were not known for their prompt and efficient service, and Dawn and Connor lingered at the sidewalk table outside the little bistro for hours, first over dinner and then with dessert and little cups of incredibly strong coffee. Their conversation ranged from favorite cheesy movies and sugary breakfast cereals to plans for the future and the expatriate experience, but Connor was relieved that Dawn didn't seem inclined to talk about the past. He had all the memories of a normal happy childhood, but it still pained him to talk about them. Every once in a while, he'd be in the middle of a conversation about He-Man or little league and the realization would hit him like a ton of bricks that all of his experiences were completely fake.
With Dawn, though, none of that seemed to matter. Even though it had initially been her brilliant smile and tall, curvy body that had caught his attention, he found himself drawn in by the sparkle of wit in her eyes and the obvious intelligence behind them.
At long last, their table littered with empty plates and tiny coffee cups, they rose to go. "Can I walk you home?" Connor asked.
"Well sure, but then who will walk you home?" Dawn retorted. It was sort of a joke, he thought. Mostly a joke. But a shadow crossed her face and Connor thought it was also true. But he could handle himself.
"I'll be fine," he said, but she didn't seem reassured. "How about this: next time you can walk me home." It wasn't really good enough, because then she'd be out on the city streets all alone, with creepies and crawlies lurking in every alleyway. But at least it put off the discussion until next time.
"It's a deal," she said, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She extended a hand to shake on their 'deal,' and Connor took it, feeling once again the shiver that seemed to always run through him at her touch. There was something about this girl that was just so right; he'd never experienced anything like it.
"My apartment is this way," she said, pointing up the hill. They turned in that direction and walked along slowly. As they walked, Connor let his hand brush against hers and feeling that same thrill run through him each time. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Dawn: her long brown hair shone in the glow of the streetlights, and her soft perfume drifted on the breeze. She was filling up his senses, distracting him in every possible way. Stupid. He was so distracted that he never even noticed the vampires until they were practically within biting distance. Really, really stupid.
..o0O0o..
There were two of them: guys in black jeans and silk shirts. In any other place, Dawn would have picked them out as vampires right away, but Italian men had a strange idea of what was fashionable and what was way out of date. That's what she told herself, anyway. She was confused because of weird Italian fashions, not because she was distracted by Connor and the way his hand kept brushing against hers. Right. That was a good story.
The two guys were almost on top of them before they broke out in full vamp-face and Dawn realized they were in trouble. "Where's a slayer when you need one?" she muttered under her breath, fumbling around in her purse for a stake.
The taller, more Italian-looking vamp grabbed her by the left arm, and started dragging her toward a nearby alley. The other vampire, who looked vaguely American, went for Connor, just as Connor was diving for the first vampire and trying to pull him off of Dawn. Dawn's hand closed around the rough-hewn wood of a stake, just as Connor got a grip on the vampire and sent him flying into the alley.
"What the--?" Dawn looked at Connor for a moment. A normal person could never have -- did he actually throw that vampire into the alley? What on earth was going on here? But just as she was looking at Connor, and Connor was looking back at her with a very strange expression on his face, they were interrupted by the second vampire, who grabbed Connor by the shoulders and pinned him in place, descending toward his neck with fangs out. Connor was struggling against the vampire, but was held pretty firmly in place. Dawn fingered the stake in her hand, still hidden inside of her purse, and made a split second decision.
"Aaaaah!" she screamed, trying to fake the effect of a naive tourist seeing a vampire for the first time. It sounded pretty fake to her ears, but the vampire seemed to buy it when she turned and ran past him into the night.
Or about five yards into the night.
After a short distance, Dawn stopped and turned back, raising the stake in one hand. Connor had managed to pull away from the vampire a little bit, and they were now wrestling face-to-face. Over the vamp's shoulder, she caught Connor's eyes. A surprised look crossed his face quickly, and was gone. The vampire's shoulders shifted, and Dawn realized that Connor was positioning him for her stake. She pulled her arm back and tried not to think about missing the heart, just drove the stake home as hard as she could. Dawn felt the soft resistance of flesh and the scraping of bone as her stake pushed through the vampire's back... and then a sudden release of tension as he disappeared into dust.
All resistance gone, Dawn tumbled forward into Connor's arms. They were warm and strong around her, and for a moment she just closed her eyes and breathed in the warm boy-smell of him and listened to his heart beat. Heartbeat was a good thing in a boy, Dawn thought. Especially one who could throw vampires like Connor just had.
The memory brought her back to her senses after a moment, and she looked up, meeting his brown eyes with her own. They were both silent for a moment, as if each waiting for the other to speak.
"What was--" Dawn started.
"How did you know--" Connor said at once.
"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else," Dawn suggested.
Connor laughed awkwardly, but agreed, and they turned and continued up the street toward Dawn's apartment.