I'd been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar.

Ever since vampires came out of the coffin (as they laughingly put it) two years ago, i hoped one would come to Busan. We had other minorities in our little town - why not the newest, the legally recognized undead? But Korea wasn't too tempting to vampire, apparently; on the other hand, Seoul was the real centre for them - the whole Anne Rice thing, right?

It's not that a long drive from Busan to  Seoul, and everyone who came into the bar said that if you threw a rock on a street corner you'd hit one. Thought you better not.

But i was waiting for my own vampire.

You can tell i don't get out much. And it's not because i'm not pretty. I am. I'm blond and blue-eyed and twenty-five, and my legs are strong and my bosom is substantial, and i have a waspy waisline. I look good in the warm-weather waitress outfit Suho picked for us: black shorts, white T, Black Nikes.

But i have a disability. That's how i try to think of it. The bar patrons just say i'm crazy.

Either way, the result is that i almost never have a date. So little treats count a lot with me.

And he sat at one of my tables - the vampire.

I knew immediately what he was. It amazed me when no one else turned around to stare. They couldn't tell! But to me, his skin had a little glow, and i just knew.

I could have dance with joy, and in fact i did do a little step right there by the bar. Kim Suho, my boss, looked up from the drink he was mixing and gave me a tiny smile. I grabbed my tray and pad and went over to the vampire's table. I hoped that my lipstick was still even and my pony-tail was still neat. I'm kind of tense, and i could feel my smile yanking the corners of my mouth up.

He seemed lost in thought, and i had a chance to give him a good once-over before he looked up. He was a little under six-feet, i estimated. He had thick brown hair, combed straight back and brushing his collar, and his long sideburns seemed curiously old-fashioned. He was pale, of course; hey, he was dead, if you believed the old tales. The politically correct theory, and one of the vamps themselves publicly backed, had it that this guy was the victim of a virus that left him apparently dead for a couple of days and thereafter allergic to sunlight, silver and garlic. The details depended on which newspaper you read. They were all full of vampire stuff these day.

Anyway, his lips were lovely, sharply sculpted, and he had arched dark brows. His nose swooped down right out of that arch, like a prince's in a Byzantine mosaic. When he finally looked up, i saw his eyes were even darker than his hair, and the whites were incredibly white.

'What can i get you?' I asked, happy almost beyond words.

He raised his eyebrows. 'Do you have the bottled synthetic blood?' he asked.

'No, i'm so sorry! Suho's got some on order. Should be in next week.'

'Then red wine, please,' he said, and his voice was cool and clear, like a stream over smooth stones. I laughed out loud. It was too perfect.

'Don't mind Hyemi, mister, she's crazy,' came a familiar voice from the booth against the wall. All my happiness deflated, though i could feel the smile still straining my lips. The vampire was staring at me, watching the life go out my face.

'I'll get your wine right away,' i said, strode off, not even looking at Lee Soo Man's smug face. He was there almost every night, he and his wife Rina. I called them the Smug Couple. They'd done their best to make me miserable since they'd moved into the rent trailer at Four Tracks Corner. I had hoped that they'd blow out of Busan suddenly as they'd blow in.

When they'd first come here, i'd very rudely listened in to their thoughts - I know, pretty low-class of me. But i get bored like everyone else, and though i spend most of my time blocking out the thoughts of other people that try to pass through my brain, sometimes i just give in. So i knew things about the Smuggers that maybe no one else did. For one thing, i knew they'd been in jail, though i didn't know why. For another, i'd read the nasty thoughts Lee Soo Man had entertained about yours truly. And then i'd heard in Rina's thoughts that she'd abandoned a baby she'd had two years before, a baby that wasn't Sooman's. 

And they didn't tip, either.

-To Be Continued-