Tiny sounds of water droplets tap-tapping the lid of his coffin...

Annoyance flared.

Someone waited outside his coffin. It didn't matter who nor that the intruder didn't know that he slept within. It just rankled that some poor fool would come so far into the catacomb to cry over the dead.

Dead was dead.

No use crying over the immutable.

He knew that well.

The weeper didn't seem inclined to move away, so giving a soft, soft sigh, he slid back into the realm of the dead.

tap...tap...

Second night, and the weeper still let drop water on his coffin lid!

He could smell the brine threatening to dampen the inside of his coffin. Worse, his hunger heightened senses screamed at him to feed on the weeper whose sweetest smelling blood he could almost taste on his lips...

tap.......tap...

Longer pauses between the droplets.

Good.

The weeper must be running out of tears...

hic...

Huh?

hic...hic...

Incredulous, he opened his eyes, glaring at the velvet lined lid as if he could stare through to the now hiccupping weeper.

hic...tap...hic...hic...

He woke to the now habitual sounds of the hiccupping weeper.

Hunger, however, he could not get used to...

tap...hic...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Had she stopped?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Silence is golden, some fool had quoted once, and he believed it now. Devoutly.

Even as he was about to give a prayer of thanks (not that God would have welcomed a prayer from such as he) his all too keen ears caught the faintest soughing of a breath...

...Then -

tap......tap...hic...

He snapped.

He was not going to put up with this anymore!

With all his superhuman strength, he slammed open the coffin lid and snarling like some mad beast, leapt to his feet. He thought he heard a tiny scream but when he glared around, no living thing met his eyes. Just damp walls and neighboring coffins...

Some ghost...?

An uncharacteristic chill ran up his spine, but he immediately shook off the fantastic notion.

Of course, it couldn't be a ghost.

He could smell her, the sweet blood now tainted with fear, hear the too rapid heartbeats.... Faintly though, as if the girl were far away, but that could not be, since she had been crying on his coffin just seconds ago.

So where did she hide herself?

He stared at the overturned coffin lid.

Was it just his imagination or did a corner of it appeared raised several inches off the ground? Even if it did, a human could not possibly fit under the coffin nor bear the weight without it crushing her...

As he frowned at the uplifted corner, he heard the heartbeat speeing up so that it seemed that the heart must burst.

It couldn't be, but the interloper must be hidden there...

Slowly, he inserted a metal booted foot beneath the coffin cover and flung it aside. Light flooded his eyes and he almost missed the small lamplike thing dart into the air to escape, but he easily caught it in his hand.

A tiny scream bounced off the walls, and he stared at the dimming figure struggling within his grip.

He beheld a tiny replica of a slender human girl except she had long ears like a rabbit and had wings growing from her back. One of them was caught in an impossible angle between his fingers, and with a shock, he realized why she had screamed.

Remorse flooded him at hurting such a tiny and beautiful creature, and he gently opened his hand, careful not to drop her.

Swimming leaf green eyes rose to meet his, and guilt squeezed his heart at the bewildered anguish in the perfectly curved face. Abundance of hair the color of rich mahogany clouded her in a deep halo, and she wore a pink robe of the palest hue.

Tiny feet and hands tickled the palm of his hand as she struggled to her feet. Her right lower wing trailed limply so that he winced to think of the pain she must feel.

"I'm sorry," he spoke ever so softly, afraid of blowing away the tiny creature. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Big tears welled into the already wet eyes and her tiny lips trembled.

"Th-they told me..." the purest voice he ever heard floated up to him, so sweet that it would have brought tears to his eyes if he could shed tears...

In that moment he fell in love with her, she finished her sentence,

"That..that you would gobble me up whole because I'm so small!"

The tiniest tear drop splashed his palm, and he stared, unable to reply.

Hiccupping, she continued,

"V-vampires drink blood, human blood by biting the neck, but fairies are so small so you-you'd eat us!"

Terrified eyes stared up into stricken orbs.

"So... You know what I am...?" he breathed, grief threatening to overwhelm him at the thought that this little fairy would reject him because of what he was.

"Y-yes, b-but I had to come," she defiantly raised her small chin. "I-I had t-to try."

She still stuttered in fear and tears, but went valiantly on, fixing her frightened but deteremined gaze on him.

Under that gaze, he felt peace stealing into his constricted heart. He saw terror warring with bravery, but not the disgust nor rejection, both of which he had expected. If only he could take away the fear...

"Was there something you wanted from me?" he asked gently as he could.

The leaf green eyes blinked at him, and two more tears fell hot on his palm.

"I-It's...my friend's birthday," she started and fell silent, looking worried all of a sudden. "B-but maybe it's past her birthday... I don't know how long I've been here, and I don't know how long it took me to get here...and I still have to go back!" she wailed, tears starting anew.

"What does your friend's birthday have to do with me?" he asked when the tears abated somewhat.

"Everything!" so crying, she huddled down, tiny hands covering her tiny face. "Minmei...she's a big fan of yours, and I thought I could perhaps persuade you to come visit her on her birthday as a surprise guest, but when I got here it was damp and dark, and I didn't know where you slept, and I was beginning to think that perhaps you didn't live here after all, except you do, only it's too late!"

Puffing from her tirade, the fairy looked about to burst into tears again.

"It's always better late than never," he cliched quickly to forestall the torrent.

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course, I do!"

"Oh..." Pensively she cast her gaze down. In the next moment, she flung up her head, staring earnestly into his eyes. "Then will you please come with me, Vincent?"

Shocked at hearing his own name uttered by another, he could not reply for a moment.

"You see, everyone else is talented and they had gifts ready for my friend, but I...I can't do anything. All I could think of was you."

'All I could think of was you' . . .

The words echoed in his mind, and he gazed helplessly back at her.

"But...what could she want with me?" he demanded, feeling that he fought in his last ditch.

"Well she's an artist, and she always said she wanted to meet the person whom she drew a lot."

The hopeful eyes captured him and would not let go, and he heard himself say,

"If you really want me to..."

And so the vampire and the fairy made their way to web-fanartist Minmei's house... (dun worry, they don't carry bombs with them! XD)

"Well, here we are!" Aeris exclaimed happily as she pushed at the door bell with both her hands.

"I hope she's not sleeping yet..." the fairy darted about nervously, the light from her fairy dust flickering.

A few moments later, the door opened cautiously.

Immediately brightening, Aeris darted in and announced in that bright sweet voice of hers,

"Happy belated birthday, Minmei!"