I wrote this partly because of a dream. I intend to write more of these characters/this universe; they’ll be tagged OTP: Star and Hero. Since this is a story coming at a point where Estella (the “Star” in the OTP) and Detective Danny H. Marsh (the “H” is for “Hero” and thus the other part of the OTP name) have been a couple for a while, here is a short cheat sheet of details:

+ Estella is a vampire; she lives with several of her vampire family members and the family’s Matriarch in a large Victorian-ish house out in close to the middle of nowhere in some town/small city in a state i haven’t yet decided upon
+ Danny is a police detective who somehow found herself as one of the family’s human helper monkeys (this is because of Estella, somehow, because she met Estella first, then got pulled into helping out before she knew the fam was vamps)
+ Estella is bisexual
+ Danny is an ace lesbian
+ The Matriarch looks like Holland Taylor
+ Rush is human and is a very fit-and-active-and-could-kick-your-ass-in-a-bar-fight 60-something who’s been working for the family for around 40 years
+ There are other human helpers, they just didn’t show up here (partly because they weren’t in my dream much)

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The sun was setting when I heard gunfire. Close. Three shots, three distinct weapons from the sound of it, and the middle one was louder, deeper sounding. There was silence for a moment after that. Then I heard the front door flung open, followed by heavy footsteps and the sound of something being dragged. The smell of blood hit me immediately.

“Essie?!” Rush’s normally calm, gravely voice called out in a frantic-sounding stage-whisper. He knew the rest of the family would still be asleep at this time of day. I had always been an early riser, and my death and rebirth as a vampire had not stopped that.

I came downstairs through the kitchen passageway to avoid whatever sunlight might come through the open front door. Rush’s back was to me as he dragged a bleeding body into the shade of the sitting area. He must have heard my steps, because his turned to face me. Concern and something close to panic showed clearly on his lined, weathered face.

“It’s Marsh,” he said. “She’s hit bad, Essie…”

I dropped to my knees beside the body as Rush gently released his grip on the back collar of Detective Danny H. Marsh’s blazer. She was always so particular about her name, always including the “H.” She’d told me it stood for Hero. I still didn’t know if she was joking or if it really did stand for Hero. I’d never had Rush or anyone else look into her background. Neither I nor the family had ever had any need to doubt her.

And now Danny was bleeding out in front of me, her white shirt a shredded mass of red.

My eyes flashed at Rush. “What happened?”

“That hunter McClellan came ‘round again. Got the drop on her. Shotgun.” Rush’s face was a thundercloud. “She got one shot off at him, but he was rushin’ and she missed. I got him in the head, though. He won’t be a problem now.” Not once Rush disposed of the body, anyway.

Danny drew a labored breath. I eased her head and shoulders onto my lap as gently as I could, and she raised an unsteady, bloodied hand to my cheek. I felt the sting of tears in my eyes as she tried to smile at me.

“Stella–”

“Shh, don’t try to talk.” I took her bloody hand in one of mine and stroked her cheek with the other. “I’m here.”

She reached for me again with her other hand, breath hitching and wheezing, and brushed bloody fingertips against my lips. Hooking a finger to pull aside my lower lip, she brushed a fingertip against my undescended canine.

“…please…” There were tears in Danny’s eyes. Her pulse was weakening, and I knew what she was asking me to do. We’d discussed the topic once, briefly, but we hadn’t made a decision. Not really. I didn’t think fate would force our hands this soon.

I stroked her cheek. “Are you sure? You know what will happen.”

“Please.” She was more forceful this time, so close to begging. And I couldn’t tell her no. From the moment I began to care about her, I knew I’d never be able to refuse her if she asked for this.

I brought her wrist to my lips and kissed it, then sank my fangs into the faint pulse beneath my lips. She didn’t cry out, though she did make a strained, wet, wheezing sound that pained my heart to hear. When she was nearly gone, I bit my own wrist and held it to her mouth. At first she barely had the strength to lap at the blood. Then, gradually, she strengthened, though it still hardly took any effort on my part to pry her away when she’d had enough.

I gathered Danny into my arms and held her close as my blood began to work it’s transformation on her. Rush stroked my hair as he slipped passed me and out the front door, closing it behind him. The rest of the family would be up soon, and I expect he wanted to get started on cleaning up whatever mess remained on the porch. While we’d never have to worry about McClellan again, he wasn’t likely to be the last vampire hunter to come after us, even if there were far fewer now than there had been in centuries past.

Danny had finally relaxed against me when I glanced up to find the twins eying us curiously, if understandingly. “Ask Rush,” I said. “And he could use your help disposing of McClellan’s body.” Hiram grinned slowly, and Jeremiah clapped him gently on the back before they both made their way out the door to help Rush.

Alone again, I hummed a little, then began softly singing to Danny as she rested and the transformation worked to completion. It was an old song I heard as a child. So long ago. Long, long before Danny was born. I’d sung it for her once before, when she’d had a nightmare. That was the first night we’d said we loved each other. It seemed fitting to sing it again now.

“So she’s joined the family, then.”

I turned my head back toward the kitchen to find the Matriarch leaning on her cane. She made her way into the sitting area and eased herself into the overstuffed chair she often treated as a throne.

“Well,” she said. “I knew it would happen sooner or later. A pity it means we lose her ability to be active during the day. But better to part with that than have you lose her entirely.”

My cheeks burned slightly, which made the Matriarch chuckle. “She’s a rare one, your Danny, loving you for you and not because of the magnetic hold we so often have over mortals.” The Matriarch chuckled again before standing. “I’ll leave you two for now. I’d best have someone down to the cellar to fetch something for when she wakes up hungry enough to drain a herd of cattle.” Her chuckle faded as she walked away. “Good thing we live in the middle of nowhere with no juicy villagers to tempt her.”

I shook my head. The Matriarch always made the same joke whenever the family gained a member. Even if some years we had lived closer to humans. She meant well enough, and she’d never guided us wrong.

Danny shifted in my arms, groaning softly. I brushed my lips against her forehead and she settled again. “Rest, my love,” I murmured. “We have all the time in the world now.”