There are no drunk people in this alley, actually, although it's definitely the right area of town for them. Instead, there's a teenage girl leaning against a wall playing a Game Boy, and there's a young-looking man in an old bomber jacket. 

     "Hey," says the man. "This isn't a great place to be out after dark, you know."

The teenage girl angles her screen just so, in the light of the nearest streetlight. It takes her half a second to confirm that he has no reflection.

She punches him.

As he turns the corner, he sees the outline of the man in the jacket approaching a teenage girl. Fearing he's going to lose another one, he picks up the pace, hoping to get the jump on the creature before he notices him there.

He comes to a halt in shock and surprise as the girl punches the vampire in the face. He freezes for a moment, unsure of what to do, squeezing the stake in his hand.

She punches the vampire a couple more times, then grabs the jacket and steps around behind the vampire so that she can pull it off and toss it down the alley. She succeeds at this, actually, but the vampire manages to punch her back before she can hit him again.

She's a lot less fazed by this than a normal human ought to be. She knocks the vampire to the ground and pulls out a stake.

He's even more surprised when she lands a few more blows on the vampire. This is not something he's used to seeing. He snaps back to reality when the vampire lands a punch on her and moves forward to help, but she already has him on the ground. He pulls out his stake and makes a move to dust the vamp.

- well this random person is just gonna dust her vamp then that's - fine? Probably? Now there is a dusted vampire. She probably could have done it first, but she moved to pin him before she moved to stake him. That's how it goes, sometimes. She blinks at the random person. 

"Well. I guess I don't have to tell you you didn't see anything."

The blood is pounding in his ears, even though he barely did anything. This... girl did most of the work.

"N-no. And I don't suppose you'd be convinced that he was just a run-of-the-mill criminal type," he says, looking down at the stake in her hand. He hides his own up his sleeve, checking the alley to see if anyone else noticed.

"Can I... walk you home, miss? Though I guess you probably don't need it."

He doesn't know what to do. This wasn't part of his training.

"Nah, I'm good." She heads off to grab the jacket. Since it wasn't in contact with the vampire when it dusted, it's still around, unlike the rest of his clothes. She starts rifling through the pockets.

"So what're you? Independent vampire hunter?"

He watches her grab the jacket. It's cool looking, but too small for him.

"What? No. I um... I wouldn't say 'independent,' really." He pauses. He can't just come out and say who he is and what he's working for. Most people would freak out. He figures she's probably not "most people," but still. "But I do hunt vampires though. And other stuff, probably."

"Probably?"

He isn't the best conversationalist.

"I just meant... I haven't really hunted anything else yet. But will, assuming there are some around." He tries to deflect a little onto her. "And what about you? Who are you? Vampire fighting isn't exactly something most girls spend their time doing."

"Most girls would die."

She puts the jacket on and takes a wallet out of one pocket. She checks how much money she's earned. Looks like maybe a hundred dollars? She can probably stretch that for a while.

"Actually, most anyone would die. You might live longer in a different line of work."

He watches her check the wallet. It's from the way she counts the money that every bill matters to her. He reaches into one of his many pockets and pulls out a hundred dollar bill and holds it out, offering it to her.

"A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever," he mutters to himself. "You might be right, but I didn't exactly chose this line of work. And I don't really intend to change."

She frowns at the hundred dollar bill. She does not take it.

"What chose you, then?"

"For making my job tonight a lot easier and safer," he says, still holding it out and ignoring her question. "Who knows what might have happened if you weren't here?"

It's meant partly as a joke. He really hopes it doesn't sound like he's mocking her.

She thinks about it.

"Fine," she sighs, and takes the money. "Only 'cause I pinned him, though, I don't need help or anything."

"Of course not," he nods. "Anyway, you never answered my question. How'd you end up in the vampire dusting business? It's not exactly a common one. For anyone."

"I didn't choose it either. Just sorta happens to some people."

He nods again. "Yeah... I get that."

He isn't really sure what to say next. "Do you have a name?" he asks after a pause.

"...do you?"

"Paul. And yours?"

"Emily." That might be awkward later, but at least if she decides she doesn't trust him, he won't have any information to go tracking down who she used to be.

"Nice to meet you, Emily. Even if the circumstances were a bit... odd.

He shifts his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other. "Are you local, or just passing through or..."

She makes a noncommittal wobbly hand gesture. "Somewhere in there."

He frowns. He's not really sure what to make of this. Any of it.

"It's a hellmouth, you know. So it's kind of the place to be, if you're a vampire. Or anything else particularly drawn to portals to hell, which I understand is kind of a lot of different things."