Abbey held the pocket watch delicately in one hand and sipped her tea with the other. The scalding liquid doing nothing to calm her nerves. People milled in and out of the café dressed in their best suits and gowns. Women carrying lacey parasols to shield their ivory skin from the sun. Abbey watched as the sun slipped through the lace and cast graceful patterns across their faces. She cast her gaze back down to the book splayed open on the table and fiddled with the cold, brass pocket watch in her hands. She was late, as per usual.

     Growing agitated, Abbey marked her page and shut the book with a thud. She had been waiting for well over an hour and desperately needed to talk to Delia. In her boredom, she decided to people watch. She watched couples through the large glass windows of the café. Watched as the woman’s gloved hand rested softly on her companion’s arm. She watched street peddlers cry their wares and pester those who just wanted to browse. But through all the chaos, glimmered emerald green. Abbey saw her dress before she saw the rest of her. It was the most vivid, deep green, made of satin that shined like a real gemstone. It was rimmed with white lace that brushed her pale arms and kissed the cobblestone streets.

     Delia arrived with a flourish, men arching their necks to catch a lick of her beauty. Abbey just laughed quietly at their ignorance. For they had no idea what slithered beneath her skin. “I am so sorry about making you wait,” Delia sighed and placed her basket on the table, “But there was just the best sale on lace. You should take a look yourself, it’s the booth by the cherry stand.” Abbey’s face twisted into disgust, “You know I can’t stand that stuff. It itches like crazy.” Delia just crossed her arms and moved her basket to the floor by her feet. “What did you want to talk about anyway? Your letter was a little rushed.”

     “Oh yes! Sorry about that, I needed to get something out as soon as possible,” Abbey admitted. She held the pocket watch a little tighter, her expression growing worried. “I found something yesterday, in my Father’s old office.” Delia’s brows rose delicately, “What did you find, you’re starting to worry me.” Delia inched her chair closer to Abbey’s resulting in the scrape of wood on tile. Abbey held the brass pocket watch in front of them, the light glinting off its polished sides. Delia let out an annoyed breath, “Abbey, you called me all the way out here to look at your Father’s pocket watch? You do know I had to walk all the way here right?” Abbey opened the front cover by pressing a delicately carved button, “Just wait a second.”

    As soon as the cover swung out of the way, Delia sucked in a breath. The face of the pocket watch was completely black. As black as the ink the two girls use to write to each other. Abbey smirked at her friend's reaction, “This is what I wanted you to see. This was my Father’s favorite pocket watch. He would use it all the time, but as far as I can remember, he never let me look at it or touch it. But since he left, he just left it on his desk. His most prized possession, he left out in the open for all to see.” Delia reached for the watch, but before she could touch it, a red dot appeared in the upper right section. Both girls looked at each other before Delia spoke, “Has it ever done that before?” She swallowed.

     Abbey slowly shook her head, not daring to take her eyes off the dot in fear it would disappear. The dot seemed to be made of red sand, or little glittering specs that catch the light if you angle the watch just right. Much to the girls’ horror, the red dot began to move. “Abbey its moving!” Delia shouted, jumping from her chair. The sudden outburst caused many people to look to see what the commotion was about. Delia smiled charmingly and softly apologized before grabbing Abbey’s arm and dragging her out of the café.

     The two exploded out of the café doors and immediately returned their attention back to the pocket watch. But the red dot had disappeared as fast as it appeared. Abbey huffed a breath of relief, “What do you think it was?”

“I don’t have any idea, do you know what that thing is your holding? Because it most definitely is not an ordinary pocket watch,” Delia questioned, crossing her arms and glaring at Abbey. 

“I’m being honest with you Delia. I just found the pocket watch on my Father’s desk! I opened it and saw the black face. It freaked me out enough to send you a letter. I don’t know what to do with it, or who to ask for help,” Abbey huffed angrily. She was tired of the weird watch and the thought of her not knowing her Father as much as she thought she did. Her face must’ve showed exactly how she felt, because Delia came to Abbey’s side and out a laced clad arm over her shoulder, “Hey, there’s no need to be sad. I know you have a lot of thoughts fighting around in your head, but we will figure this out okay?” Delia cocked her head to the side and her delicate earrings glimmered in the setting sunlight.

    Before the girls could talk any more, another dot appeared on the watch and slowly moved to the right again before disappearing. “I think it wants us to follow it Delia,” Abbey said apprehensively, “It keeps coming back.” Immediately Delia recoiled at the mention of following the dot, but curiosity nagged at her. What could it be? Delia smoothed down the front of her dress, fixed a couple of crazy curls, and sighed, “if it will help you sleep better at night.” The two started in the direction of the dot. Their thoughts running wild with what the red circle could possibly represent.

   After taking many twists and turns and strolling down dank, smoky alleys the girls came to a dead end. But a scene before them stood against the brick wall as clear as a sunny day. A man was pushing something up against the wall. Actually, now that the two girls take a closer look a someone. A woman all done up in elaborate gown and jewels, her hands covered in black silk gloves grabbed at the man’s sleeves in desperation.  His face was buried in her neck, and every once in a while, the woman would let out a strangled cry.

 “Abbey, I think we should leave. These two are obviously busy and I don’t think they would be happy if they found out they were being watched.” Delia gripped Abbey’s arm starting to pull her away before the woman at the end of the ally dropped to the man’s feet.

“I don’t take kindly to onlookers,” the man’s voice growled down the alley, bouncing off every surface as if there were more of him. He slowly turned around to face Abbey and Delia, the girls’ faces struck with horror. Crimson blood dripped from his mouth and ran down his chin to fall onto the ground in small plops. Abbey’s eyes widened when she looked back at the woman. Two small puncture wounds flared an angry red on her delicate neck where the man’s mouth had been. In that moment, everything clicked for Abbey in a painfully slow way. “Vampire, “she whispered the word as if it were poison.