Vampires in Space

The scorching Texas sun beat down on the rooftop patio, a familiar warmth on Adrian Sagan’s skin. He’d just finished a refreshing dip in the pool, the cool water still clinging to his skin, and now stood beside Rachel, his wife, who was in the process of applying a generous layer of UV reflectant to her own fair skin. Their eldest daughter, Nakoma, an Astral with skin the color of burnished copper, lay stretched out on a lounger nearby, seemingly oblivious to the world as she scrolled through something on a screen on the pavement.

“Don’t get a sunburn on your butt,” Adrian called out to Nakoma, a casual warning laced with affection.

Nakoma, without looking up, grumbled, “Why I am laying out here like this. Getting rid of the damn tan lines.”

Rachel, ever the pragmatist, pointed out, “You don’t have very deep tan lines.”

Adrian chuckled, beginning to massage the lotion onto Rachel’s arm. “Hell being beautiful, honey,” Rachel purred, clearly enjoying the attention.

The air was thick with the comfortable banter of a family at ease, a coven of Vampires enjoying a rare, peaceful moment. Then, as if conjured from the very heat haze above the city, a woman Adrian had never seen before simply faded into view. She was not there, and then she was. Floating. Seven or eight meters up in the air, high above their private sanctuary, her form shimmering slightly as she drifted gently down to the pool deck.

The casual hum of conversation died. Adrian’s senses, sharpened by centuries, detected no wires, no visible support, no trickery. Just a woman, suspended impossibly in the air, then landing with a feather-light touch.

She looked at Nakoma, then back at Adrian and Rachel, a small, apologetic smile on her face. “Hello. Sorry to barge in like this. I feel a bit overdressed: I can take off my clothes if that would make you more comfortable.”