Another perspective

"What do you think you're doing?" A dark sinister voice floated out of the shadows behind Jay. He took a moment from his meal to glance over his shoulder.

"Snacking," he replied with a slight growl.

"You are 'snacking' on one of my flock," the voice stated haughtily. "You will stop immediately and leave my domain."

"Will I?" Jay asked sarcastically as he released his meal and compelled her to move on without remembering. "There's a slight problem with that idea."

"Indeed?" the voice behind him sounded rather amused. Jay sighed, cracked his neck, then was simply in front of the source of this voice in the manner that vampires can move.

"Too slow," the voice mocked, once again behind Jay. Jay growled and turned to regard the source of this voice. A ghostly vampire dressed in a very fine suit and flowing black cape regarded him with dead red eyes. Jay smirked.

"Nice glamour, loser," Jay mocked.

"You will leave my domain," the vampire told him. "You will do so now."

"That's funny I thought you were the protector of this campus," Jay said with a dark edge to his voice.

"I am," the ghostly vampire replied, confused.

"Then I guess you're not a very protector then," Jay mused, leaning against the wall of the building.

"What?" the ghostly vampire demanded, his patience expired.

"Well if you're supposed to protect the students here, you're doing a shitty job as I am a student here," Jay grinned nastily.

"What?" the suddenly less ghostly vampire snapped irritably. Jay laughed.

"Your glamour is slipping," Jay teased. "And yes, I am now a student here. Studying computer science to be precise. So you can't get rid of me that easily."

"You could have said so," the once again ghostly vampire told Jay. "My flock is mostly of the southern campus. You may feed north of campus without concern."

"Er... thanks?" Jay was confused. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be reasonable."

"Your temper is a trifle sharp," the ghostly vampire mocked as he faded into the darkness. "Perhaps you should work on that."

"Yeah," Jay glowered at nothing. Then he sighed and walked away. After walking half a block, he was joined by a friend.

"You didn't have to be so mean," his friend said sadly. Jay sighed.

"I know," Jay admitted. Then he sighed again. "Thanks for sticking around Dave."

"I am still Dayvid; I am still your friend even if I am leaving," Dayvid replied. After a monent's silence he added, "Even if you do scare me sometimes."

"I'm sorry, Dave," Jay shook his head sadly. "I really don't mean to scare anyone." Then he gave his friend a slight smile. "Though scary or not, I still wish you would spell your name like a normal human being."

"Should I remind you, yet again, that I'm not a human being?" his friend replied with a smile.

"I'm sure I'll remember that sometime, Day," Jay laughed. His friend sighed. For all of Jay's levity, Dayvid knew his friend was in pain.

Dayvid and Jay had met one day when Jay had failed to mesmerise his intended victim, Dayvid, and was curious enough to talk. The two had forged an unlikely friendship, vampire and faerie, but eventually their tentative friendship grew strong. Dayvid and Jay supported one another through tough times, but those tough times had been endlessly trying for Jay.

Jay was a long conflicted man. On one hand, Jay had adjusted well to being a vampire; he loved to wander the night experiencing with new senses all which he had experienced before. On the other hand, Jay felt the pain of being a vampire, of no longer being trusted, of friend's fears and betrayals, and felt this pain deeply.

Dayvid had helped that, overcoming his initial distrust, even helping Jay to meet more people who would not cringe in fear from a vampire. Dayvid had supported Jay the best he could for the flighty, distractable creature that he was. But Jay had a problem: Dayvid was leaving.

Dayvid had spent nearly a century away from his family and finally could no longer ignore their calls. Jay was losing one of his only friends, and he was not taking it well. After much discussion, Dayvid had convinced Jay to go to college. Jay had never sought higher education before, and Dayvid was sure that Jay would find friends through the support groups run at colleges. But as the day came closer, Jay's temper had grown as short as it had been before he had met Dayvid.

Though Dayvid had stayed as long as he dared, Dayvid had to leave tonight. After securing the location of the support group, Dayvid had convinced his friend to go to the group. Dayvid only hoped that his friend would find someone that he might get along with that night. Without a friend, Dayvid worried that his friend would slip into despair.

"You will try?" Dayvid asked his friend plaintively. Jay smiled.

"Of course I will," Jay assured his friend. Then the vampire rolled his eyes as his small friend hugged him tightly.

"I will miss you," the faerie assured him.

"I'll miss you too," Jay said softly. "Go already." Dayvid gave his friend one final smile, then walked into the night. One sniff later, Jay turned and walked into the room.

Dayvid walked slowly away, fearing for his friend. Though Jay had promised, his temper had grown so short, Dayvid worried he would make a mistake and lose any chance of friends.

"Hey," said a passing young man to whom Dayvid nodded. The faerie continued to walk, thinking to himself for nearly a moment before suddenly stopping dead in his tracks. He turned and stared at the distant young man walking away. He had a palpable air of magic about him, he fairly well glowed with power, and his stern and humorless face had given an impression of a man not easily frightened.

"A wizard..." Dayvid mused. And then the faerie was gone, invisible, flitting after the young man. Wizards were notoriously curious, fearless, and fair creatures, if typically crabby and short tempered. But there was the advantage, or so Dayvid felt. A short tempered wizard might been a good possiblity. Dayvid would have to be very careful to avoid his vampire friend's sharp nose, but the faerie couldn't stand to leave before he saw this through, one way or the other.

After alighting atop the building, Dayvid used his innate abilities to cast a magic eye to look in on the group meeting occuring below. The faerie nearly shook with delight when he saw the wizard had sat next to his friend.

Jay regarded the sour looking young man as he walked into the room with a vaguely irritated look on his face. Then when the guy looked at Jay, his eyebrow raised as an amused smirk spread across his face. Jay nodded to the new arrival, noting that when this new guy smiled, it was one of the most genuine smiles he'd ever seen. The young man nodded back and sat down next to Jay. After a moment or two of no one taking charge, Jay turned to the new guy.

"Dude," Jay said calmly.

"Uh, hi," replied the confused young man. Dayvid cringed. So far not so good. But Jay was smiling, so it could be worse.

"So, uh..." the young man floundered for a bit of small talk. "Why are you here?" Jay replied by pointing to one of his incisors and extending it. Again, Dayvid cringed. But to the faerie's complete surprise, the only response from the young wizard was to widen his eyes, not in fear, but out of curiosity and surprise.

"You?" Jay asked calmly. The wizard grinned a truly evil grin and summoned a small fireball in the palm of his hand. Jay grinned, "Dude! Sweet!" As he wasn't familiar with many wizards, Jay was glad to meet someone competent and potentially dangerous enough to not be frightened by a vampire. Jay glanced quickly into the wizard's mind and found no fear at all. Somehow Jay managed to sublimate his shock.

"Not exactly the response I was expecting," the young man commented calmly as he extinguished the fireball. Jay grinned.

"What you mean since vampires are basically like kindling soaked in lighter fluid?" Jay asked through his grin. Dayvid smiled hopefully at the humor.

"Basically," the wizard nodded.

"Eh, most vampires are afraid of everything that can hurt them," Jay shook his head dericively. Then he thought of a great story. "I actually met one vampire who lived his life like that dude in the Nosferatu movie: no sunlight, drinking the blood of virgin Germanic girls, couldn't get near garlic, and what not."

"Wait, you're not affected by those things?" The wizard's expression took on a very curious flavor. Jay laughed.

"I light up like a roman candle if I get too close to fire sources, and sunlight is even worse! Personally, I think vampires can't stand garlic just because our sense of smell is very intense; doesn't both me that much. However, Germanic virgin girls are highly overrated, what with their very high pitched screams and tendencies to know mobs with pitchforks and flaming torches." Jay winked to which the wizard grinned.

"I'm Kristoph," the young wizard introduced himself as he extended his hand. "Call me K." Jay grinned a very big, pointy-toothed grin, and took the wizard's hand.

"I'm Jay. Call me Jay," he said. "And this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

Davyid watched as the meeting progressed. Jay and his new friend K got along wonderfully, sharing amused glances and grinning at the same times. Dayvid cringed yet again when Jay introduced himself as insultingly as possible, but smiled hopefully as he realized the young wizard was almost helplessly trying not to laugh. Though there was a serious moment or two, Jay managed to irritate a young lady so much that the wizard could no longer hold back and laughed. Jay joined in the laughter, the most genuine laugh the faerie had heard Jay utter in month in months, and Dayvid finally smiled a true smile.

Though Jay was very nearly incinerated by the young lady dragon for his troubles, Dayvid took to the sky no longer concerned for his friend. Vampire and wizard alike shared the same horrible, evil sense of humor. And the wizard K had saved Jay from the fire without a second's hesitation. Dayvid was sure that, indeed, he had witnessed the birth of a beautiful friendship.

After being thrown out of the meeting, Jay sighed happily and waited in the shadows for the wizard to leave. Though he'd walked into the meeting nearly ready to give up on the college thing entirely, now he looked forward to seeing just what this new friendship of his could lead to. The totally casual way that the wizard had treated Jay resonated in him in a way he could not describe but would never forget. Oh what a start to a beautiful friendship...