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He was older than she thought he would be.

 She knew he was an undead abomination er- a vampire. She had started completely avoiding him at all costs after he had told her, her necrophobia getting in the way of interacting with him normally anymore.

Unfortunately, this professor’s random pairing for this project had forced her to be with him. Naturally, she sat as far away from him as she could while still technically being at the table. 

“Jess…” 

Her blood ran cold when he addressed her, but he sounded so utterly defeated that she couldn’t help but feel bad for him. She decided to let him talk.

“I… I’m really sorry I scared you. You talked a lot about your love for paranormal romance novels, and how your favorite trope in them was the vampire that feels displaced in time, so I wrongly assumed that you would be excited to learn about who I am, forgetting that Who I Am is, well, a monster to most people. 

“I should have waited to tell you until we were in a more public area. I know you must have been so terrified, feeling like you were alone with something that could kill you faster than you would even be able to realize what was happening… 

“I’m so sorry I hurt you like that.”

The genuine emotion in his voice led Jess to believe he was being sincere.

Unfortunately, her necrophobia could not be cured by sincere sadness. She was still sympathetic to his plight.

“Adin, I- uh-...” She didn’t really know how to say her peace, but she tried, nonetheless. “I wasn’t-... I wasn’t scared of you because of your innate ability to kill me… I- this is embarrassing, but I have a fear of dead bodies, and apparently that rolls over to undead bodies, too.” A nervous chuckle overtakes her. “Uh- It’s easier to see vampires in media, and be distanced enough from it that it’s not scary, but… when someone you’re close to in your actual life turns out to be undead, it’s way harder to accept, you know?

“And Adin? I’m also sorry I made you feel bad for being who you are.”

She kept her gaze averted for as long as she could, but the silence stretched on with no sign of breaking for way too long, so she sneaked a quick peek at him, wondering if she’d managed to make him mad somehow.

His dark brown eyes showed concern, his mouth pressed into a thin line.

“Let me get this straight. You weren’t scared of being alone with someone who could kill you on a whim as easily as he could pluck a flower, but you were afraid of that same person being undead. And the undead part was the only scary part?”

“Well…” Jess thinks, assessing her feelings on the matter. “Yeah, basically.”

Adin’s face is entirely painted in worry as he sits in silence for several moments. “You need to work on your self-preservation skills.”

“Do I? Or do you need to work on who you find attractive?” Jess feels herself starting to loosen up as she talks more with him. It’s always been effortless to talk with him as if she instinctually knew how to. 

Adin cracks a smile, rolling his eyes. “I’ve loved you since we first crossed paths in 1023 BCE, and I’ve worked my ass off to find your soul again after every time you’ve died. Do me a favor and give me a bit of a break this time. At least pretend you’re trying to live past 40?”

“What if I die the day after my 40th birthday?”

“I’d count it as a win.”
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