My mom and I pulled into the 7-11. She had gotten off late again and it was already dark and cold. I don't move as she steps out of the car.

"Come on, honey, we don't have all night," she says.

"...Is Carmilla in there?" I ask, fidgeting with my hoodie strings. I hated going in when she was there. She scared me. My mom shrugged, "Probably. Come on! She's not going to bite. She's such a sweetheart."

Knowing I can't argue with her, I get out and head to the door with her.

"Remember, don't-"

"Point anything out. I knooow." I whine.

"Welcome! Annie! Little Joanna! How are you two doing?" Carmilla asked, her smile far too big and her wave too fast. I notice red on her top lip. I squeeze my mom's hand. She pretends not to notice.

"Hi Carmilla. We're doing good! How's the night treating you?"

"Very, very well. Another late shift for you? You must be starving! I know the hospital doesn't serve anything as delicious as the junk here. I have some things coming out fresh for you." Carmilla comes out from behind the counter, teleporting 7 feet away. My mom and I flinch and I hide behind her. My mom yawns to cover up noticing the slip up then says something about needing to take a vacation. I peek out behind her. Carmilla comes back with a cardboard tray with hot dogs, a small pizza, my favorite chips, and two fountain drinks, this time taking care to move slowly.

"Ah, a vacation sounds nice. I'm too old to go anywhere that's full of sun though. I burn easily now." Carmilla says, as she rings up our food. She doesn't look much older than my 30 year old mom despite the curly white wig she wore. Her skin is pale, without any hint of a blush, and flawless except for around her eyes. They're dark like she hadn't slept and somewhat sunk in.

I also saw her fangs once last year. I had seen her drinking blood from the goat at the Harvest Festival. I had bounced my pumpkin patterned ball a little too hard against a rock and had to chase it all the way to the petting zoo area. It had landed near the pen. And she looked up as I fell on my bottom from surprise. Her arms were around the goat like she had been hugging his neck, but blood had collected on her bottom lip. She said she loved animals and had come to pet them so they wouldn't get lonely while everyone was preoccupied with the other festivities. I ran away without my ball and found parents and their friends. I told them Carmilla was a monster. They looked at each other uncomfortably until my mom said, "I saw her eating a red candy apple. The syrup was probably on her lip." But I knew what I saw, even with the adults nodding to one another and talking about how nice she was. Carmilla had given me back my ball the next time we saw her at the gas station.

My mom continues to make conversation with her. She is very nice for a monster. She always remembers what I like to eat and will sometimes give me new snacks to try for free. But she still scares me. I wish she didn't.

"Mom!" I whisper impatiently. They giggle and say goodnight. We turn to leave when the entry bell chimes and Gus walks in, almost ramming into my mom. We step back. He glowers at us and says, "You're in the way."

"Ah, Gus! How nice to see you!" Carmilla says cheerfully. Her eyes however, turn dark and scary, with no light in them at all. Gus waves her off and says, "Pack of Camels." Carmilla already has it and holds it out.

"And a Pepsi?" She asks pleasantly, her fully black eyes boring into him and her fangs pointing out. Even though I'm frozen with terror, a part of me finds it kind of funny to me to see rude old Gus go from acting like a jerk to fidgeting like me. He nods and she rings him up. He grabs his drink out of the fridge and leaves. The air is freezing and I can't move. Carmilla breaks the spell by asking if we need help.

"Oh, no thank you. We're just trying to avoid Gus. You know how he is."

"After all these years, yes, I do. He's always been an ass. Even when we were little," Carmilla says. This time, the goodbye is real and we leave.

"Mom?"

"I know." She shushed and we get in the car. I look down at the tray in my lap and see Carmilla had included a lollipop for me.

"Why do you pretend she's not a monster when she does stuff like that?" I ask. My mom stays quiet.