Serafina sat out overlooking the pond, nursing a thermos of warm blood in her right hand, while her left carelessly twisted strands of her around her fingers. A slight change in the wind alerted her to the fact that she was not alone, and whatever was hard to pinpoint exactly. She felt a mix, unsure whether to be on guard or not.
~*~*~*~
Luke regarded the young girl carefully, he could smell the blood, although could not find a body, so his guess was that she had either fed just before coming here, or her thermos contained blood. As a rule, he tended to avoid Vampires and Slayers, as he was not keen on drawing attention to himself, but something drew him to this girl. And after many years of solitude, he longed for someone to talk to.
~*~*~*~
"I can smell you," Serafina said out loud, not turning around, although she knew he was behind her.
"I was about to say the same thing to you," Luke countered, appearing from the shadows so smoothly, almost like he had hidden himself magically.
She stood and turned around, gently setting her thermos on the bench she had been perched on. With slow steps, barely leaving a print in the dirt, she approached him, looking up at him slightly, a small smile on her face.
"You're him, aren't you? I won't tell if you are."
"Who?" Luke asked, brows knitting and eyes clouding behind his glasses.
"The fabled hybrid," Sera replied.
All at once, Luke felt as if the blood had been drained from his body, how did she know about him? She was too young. Not human, no, but certainly too young to know of his kind.
"I'm also the product of a vampire, but with a Cat Goddess," Serafina revealed. "My mother was Nyx, my father - "
"Angelus," Luke finished. He remembered hearing about that a few years ago... but surely, she was too old to really be the daughter.
"Alternate dimension," she said, as if she could read his mind. "And your secret is safe with me."
"How did you know?" he questioned.
"The smell," Sera told him. "You smell like a vampire, but I also felt like I should have my guard up. That's the Slayer part of you. And I've read about you several times in the texts at Wolfram and Hart. I never believed in you though... not until I caught your scent tonight."
"I knew you were different too," Luke said. "Same sort of thing... the smell, you smell like a part of me, but you also smell completely foreign. It threw me off."
They stood in silence for a few moments before Serafina spoke again. "Why do you hide?"
Luke shrugged. "At first I was hidden by my parents, because I was not meant to exist, and they tried to keep me protected, and over time, I have just stayed hidden. I would rather the world not know I was real, too many questions, too much pressure. So I live masked, and after awhile..."
"You forget what it's like to talk to someone about your life," Serafina finished. "I had some human friends, back in LA, and it was hard to keep my life from them. Lonely too."
They fell back into silence.
"I should go," Serafina spoke up. "People will wonder where I am."
Luke nodded. "Maybe I'll see you around."
"Maybe." Serafina turned and collected her things, then headed back towards the school.
"I'm Luke, by the way," he called after her.
She turned around and smiled. "Serafina."
And then she was gone.