Merry had gone upstairs for a minute to grab a balance book and when the bell had rung, Fiona had reflexively hit the floor in order to hide from what might possibly be Darryl. Instead, she heard a girl's voice calling out, hesitant. From upstairs she heard her aunt yell something about 'no hiding from the customers'. Fiona popped up from her bench, not noticing the sprig attatched to her elbow.

"Heya hun, sorry but I thought you were someone I'm hiding from at the moment." She smiled reassuringly at the girl who looked tense and mildly upset. She beckoned her back to the Fey's bench, guesturing to a stool sat there for this purpose.

"So, what's your mother so upset about? Are you moving to Mongolia?" She asked, gently teasing. Fiona kept up the small talk as she started selecting blooms and getting a feel for this girl's personality and what she wanted to say. She was very pretty, a natural beauty. With luck she'd age well too, if she didn't make the mistake of plastic surgery in later life. Her name was Alyssa, but she went by Lyssa mostly. She was 20, same as Fiona. The shyness took a few years off. Her parents evidently loved her a bit too much, mollycoddling her. Ridiculously polite too, when Fiona had fished for notes on her parents to make sure the boquet would be well received, it wasn't possible to get a single condemnation out of her. She simply evaded any negative qualities. As Fiona was putting the final touches on the arrangement, she came to a conclusion on Lyssa. She wanted independance, but wasn't sure she could handle it. A year would make or break her. She'd either realise that she could grow her own spine however much her parents wanted to keep her in sight, or she'd run for the familiar and safe. Only time would tell.

In any case, she was the last customer of the day. After she'd left Fiona flipped the closed sign over, and tidied up while Merry did the week's book-keeping. Fiona herself had retired upstairs. She felt like a homebody that night, given what had happened last night. She'd made a hot chocolate with a teaspoon of sugar in it and proceeded to putter around, doing laundry and hanging it on the rack on the balcony, and then reading a book in bed untill she'd fallen asleep, book across her tummy, head tipped to the side and empty mug on the bedside table with the spoon sticking up.

At that moment things could have gone either way. Fletcher's rant had either made him even more furious than before, or had woken him up from the dazed and vengeful state he was currently in. She didn't want to die here. The girl had hoped that one day maybe she'd be famous and overdose on sleeping pills, or maybe murdered by one of her rivals - something memorable. But dying here, in this moldy old house, as nothing more than a nobody, was horrible to even consider.

Trying hard not to flinch when his gaze flicked back to her, she exhaled through her nose, the most inconspicuous sigh she could imagine at the time. She had to hide a smirk when he breathed her name, that heavy French accent more prominent then when she'd first heard it. He was almost zombie-like when he moves towards her, but that was a fairly poor comparison. They were the undead after all.

Fletcher wasn't sure whether she should remain on her toes or not, he looked to be calm, but the closer he came the harder it was for her to breathe. It was the same as last night. Short breaths, hardly enough for her to stay conscious. But why was he here, if it wasn't to put her into line? He'd disregarded everything she'd said like he didn't even know what she was blathering on about.

Startled when he gripped her shoulder, Fletcher frowned, wondering what on earth he was going on about. "Another one? What do you think I am Léonide, a dirty little fangbanger?" She put more emphasis on the last word, letting her disgust shine through. "I came in here because I thought someone needed help. I'm quite capable of resisting your so-called charms, you know."

Although he'd asked her those questions, she felt like his attention was entirely reserved for someone else. It was frustrating, having to answer him when he couldn't even have the courtesy to listen to what she had to say.

Fletcher met his hand with her own and removed it from her shoulder, wiping her hand across the black satin as if to remove dirt of some sort. He hadn't even noticed what she was wearing. How rude.

He felt Leonides presence immediately. It was like a bullet piercing him through to his very soul. He knew it was only a matter of time before the elder vampire came to fetch his dear Alexis. Leonide would destroy him. Murdoch was almost certain of this. So many elders were so quick to jump to conclusions and their vengeance was swift and brutal. Murdoch only hoped that the human girl would be left alive.

He turned his head, grinding his teeth because of the pain. Alexis lay on the floor. Still and silent as death itself. She was still alive, at least as much as a vampire can be. But he doubted this would mean anything to Leonide. The fact was, Murdoch had laid his hands on her, fed her his blood, and taken her back to his sanctuary. To many, these were unforgivable offenses. But Murdoch had only done what was right. If the shoe had been on the other foot, he could only hope that some one would have done the same for him.

Well, if this was Murdochs end, he was at least content in knowing that he would be sacrificing himself to save another. He was in no shape for any kind of fight, but instinctively his fangs were bared. He only prayed that Leonide would be merciful and destroy him quickly. Though, vampires have been well known to revel in torture, as Murdoch knew all too well.

Over night Alexis’ body lay still, motionless in that cold, unfamiliar basement Murdoch had brought her to. Only every now and again would she regain consciousness to wake up in just as much pain as when she’d last passed out. Her lips, tongue, and throat were dry with thirst and hunger. Alexis Sanford was not as strong as her attitude let on, and Murdoch’s blood had saved her just barely in time, but she wasn't completely healed. Perhaps if his blood wasn’t older than her own, she would have never made it. And now, her body needed to recover.

Never had she been wounded this badly, and her body and flesh worked damn hard to heal from the blistering sun. Over the time, her eyesight and hearing returned, and at one point she was able to sit up and move on her own. Those crystal eyes were squinted as she looked around the basement, remembering where she was. She could feel the night even in the stuffy basement, so she wasn’t surprised that she was alone. Murdoch not being there was a good sign, it meant he had survived. But her mind wandered to her maker, knowing he had to of wondered where she was. Alexis wasn’t sure how much time she had spent in that basement, but she knew her time healing wasn't as fast as it usually was. Since both her and Léonide had exchanged blood too many times to count, she was sure he knew of her troubles. Well, ‘troubles’ was an understatement.

Small hands clutched onto the wall to help her to her feet, her knees shaking violently until she could gain her balance. She feared Léonide may have discovered that she was with Murdoch when the two encountered the sunrise, and she hoped that Murdoch was given enough time to explain what happened before Léonide let his emotions destroy him. Alexis didn’t blame the new bartender at all, surprisingly. In fact, she blamed herself. It was her that spent too much time at work, like always. Murdoch had only distracted her from leaving. Now all Alexis felt was guilt. Guilt to Murdoch, for being so harsh and cold. And even despite those actions, he still saved her. And then there was her guilt to Léonide, for not being able to be there for him when he seemed to need her the most lately. It crushed her to even imagine what it would have been for him when he awoke from his coffin not knowing what had happened to her.

Alexis knew she should have been resting one more night, but she was much too stubborn for that. She didn’t want to lay a minute longer by herself in that dark corner. And that's when she felt him. Léonide was here. Even despite all the pain she was going through, relief settled in her chest and she was actually calm for a few short moments. At least until she could smell a human. A woman, too. And she smelled fucking delicious, so sweet. Her dry lips curled into a small smile as she thought that maybe Léonide and Murdoch had brought her something to make her feel better. Human blood definitely might do the trick, at least faster than any bottle of TruBlood ever could.

"Léonide," her voice cracked, the usual ring to her tone was faded and she almost didn't recognize it. She could only imagine that she looked like shit, too. What a waste of a good dress! Alexis fought to say more, but instead she let out a groan of discomfort as she struggled to stay standing. She wasn't used to being so weak, and she almost regretting saying anything. How embarrassing to be seen so helpless. Giving in to those trembling legs, she collapsed back onto the hard basement ground again.

Fletcher was absolutely fuming throughout Léonide's quaint little speech. Nothing negative? How could calling a 19 year old a 'human girl' be seen as nothing negative? He had to be daft or extremely naive. And she'd thought that the vampires were meant to be the smart ones.

Her lips were parted just a fraction, ready to retaliate, but she didn't get the chance to speak. It were as if she'd lost all control of her body, like things were completely numb. She was hardly aware of anything around her, the only thing that seemed to matter was him, and what he had to say.

It was the most frustrating few seconds of her life so far. Whether he knew it or not he'd just proven how helpless she was around his kind and how easy it would have been for her to lose her life tonight.

Swallowing before giving him the smallest of nods she could manage, she felt herself sidestep him and soon after head towards the window again. Every inch of her was trying to resist but his words - or better yet, his orders - canceled it out. She could do nothing but this, she had to leave. A part of her knew it was the right thing to do, but her ego simply refused to accept it.

The more distance she put between the house, the more clearer things started to become. She understood his reasoning behind forcing her to leave. It wasn't an animal in the basement. It had to be another one of them. Probably a vampire that couldn't control it's thirst as efficiently as Léonide. But she still didn't understand why her safety meant anything to him. He could have killed the other vampire and moved on to the main course. There had to be another reason why he was interested in her, something other than just her blood.

Fletcher had assumed that once she was far enough away from Léonide that his hold on her would wear off, but she was sorely mistaken. She called for a taxi, was silent the entire ride home and wasn't properly released until she set foot inside of her house. What had he said again? "Go home and you'll forget this night ever happened." Unlikely. Her shoulder would be bruised from where she'd hit the ground, she wasn't going to forget that he still hadn't apologized to her.

The message... damn. She remembered, knowing that he would be met by it when he returned home. Maybe it was best for her to steer clear of him for awhile, or maybe he'd decide that they were even now. Either way, home was - begrudgingly - the best place for her to be tonight.

The gnawing pain of hunger in his gut and the still very real pain of injury throughout his body were almost so intense that he practically didn't notice Leonide rush down the stairs behind him. Murdoch let out a sputtering cough and thick black blood came up from deep inside of him. He spit the stuff out, more than slightly worried when he saw the texture and color of it.

Fuck! Why did Leonide have to glamour that girl away? Her sweet young blood could have been just the thing to save him. He had heard Leonide say her name was Fletcher. It seemed strange to Murdoch that the elder had been so protective of the young human. So protective in fact that he had delayed the rescue of his dear Alexis to glamour Fletcher into forgetting all of this. Why did he give a damn? He could have just killed the girl and been done with it.

He turned his head to face where the two vampires sat in his dreary basement. Strange...Leonide was weeping. Murdoch found that he was almost touched by this scene, until he remembered that Leonide would most likely soon kill him. 'Ah! I was just beginning to enjoy this life of mine!' He lay his head down on his arm and thought for a moment. If he had to fight, should he go out fighting? Hell yes! There was no reason not to.

The leather of the large, regal couch squeaked and whined as Billy sat and waited impatiently for Leonide to return. Usually Billy would attempt to get some sleep during the nights when Leonide was absent from the home, but tonight he had been feeling a bit like an insomniac.

A door creaked open and out crept a fluffy grey cat. Billy swept the feline up into his arms as it hopped up his leg.

"Hello there Finger Sandwiches." Billy said to the cat in an affectionate whisper.

Billy had named all of his cats after what they liked to eat. As this cat was named "Finger Sandwiches", another cat was "Raisenets, and another was "Toblerone", and yet another "Hillshire Turkey Snacks". This naming based off diet went on and on and on all the way to "Roadkill" who, ironically enough, had passed away a few days before when Leonide was pulling away from the house in his truck.

Billy continued to gently stroke the matted and unkempt fur of the cat as it lounged in his arms. It wriggled and twisted in pleasure as Billy continued to pet the beast, becoming more emphatic and passionate with every stroke.

His eyes grew wider and his breathing began to sputter as his petting had erupted into a primal and almost lustfull stroke until, in a split change of composure, Billy hurled the cat across the room.

"GET AWAY FROM ME FINGER SANDWICHES!!! YOU KNOW MY URGES!!!"

As the cat picked itself up and regained composure, so did Billy.

"Calm yourself Billy, you always have "Cat Fancier" for that." he says to himself, quietly, introspectively staring down at his now cat-less arms.
"This is why they don't let you come within 500 meters of a pet-emporium anymore, Billy."

After a brief moment catching his breath, Billy looks up and abruptly bellows "I am so sorry for touching you like that Finger Sandwiches. I would never want to hurt you..."

Billy looks down again and pauses for a moment, with thoughts of secret wolfy wisdom shining in his eyes. He grabs the remote control for the television and asks himself:
"I wonder if they're showing 'Who's the Boss' reruns on Tv-Land tonight..."

Heaven walked through the mall ignoring all the humans around her making a straight bee line for the book store. She had just gotten off of work Since she started her new job at the vet's clinic he had recommended a book on recent animal studies to her along with a book called 'Socializing People and Dealing in Customer Service' he had noticed her lack of respect towards pet owners but because she was so well educated on injured animals and she worked very well with animals he couldn't afford to let her go based on her lack of customer service.

As she entered the store a worker greeted her kindly and asked if there was anything she could do for her and Heaven walked right by her as if she didn't see nor hear her. The employee then followed Heaven to the vet books and approached her again there," Excuse me ma'am, is there anything I can help you with?"

Heaven turned to her and gave the woman a look of amusement and thought pf what her boss said about her being rather unkind to people so she held her tongue and simple said," No...thank you." Heaven turned away from the girl and went back to looking at the titles still wanting to say much more the the employee but decided she would at lease try to be nicer to humans.She quickly found the vet book and tucked it under her arm and started to walk around the book store til she found the customer service book recommended.

Alexis could hear his voice, but it sounded far away. Muffled, even. She had no idea that her maker was just right beyond the heavy door to the basement, close to Murdoch. When the scent of the human girl began to fade, Alexis let out a low little growl of rage and disappointment. He may as well just let her rot and die, she needed the fucking blood! And that scent that still lingered close was just teasing her hunger as her hands tightened into fists.

The relief she felt when Léonide had come for her seemed to have faded into confusion. She felt his presence not too long ago, what was taking him so fucking long? Another deep growl escaped her throat as Alexis curled up into a ball on that cold, hard floor. Just when she was about to give standing up another try, she finally heard Léonide's voice, right next to her this time.

If she weren't so weak to talk, she would have guilted him about taking his sweet ass time. But he was there, so she should be grateful. They'd have time for that later, if she survived. When the wound on his wrist was opened, just as Murdoch had done for her earlier in the day, Alexis became alert. Vampire blood was not even close to as satisfying as human blood, but Léonide was older than any other vampire she knew. His blood would make her stronger, in every sense.

One of her hands came up to curl around his wrist while her other palm came under his elbow to hold the wound in front of her. That blonde head struggled to lift up from the ground as she met her mouth with his flesh. Her eyes slowly fluttered closed as she took in Léonide's blood which was just all too familiar to her by now. She often wondered if there was danger for such a young vampire as herself to take blood from an elder vampire like Léonide on more than a few accounts, but she never asked. Not if it would save her.

The flesh on her body wouldn't completely heal immediately, but slowly the pain began to fade away and a bit of color began to return to her pale face. Forcing herself to pull back, Alexis clenched her hands around Léonide's arm and she looked up at him. Red tears streamed from those blue eyes down to her own cheeks until she finally found the strength to speak again. "Murdoch," she said finally, her eyes glaring up at her maker to signal he needed to focus. "He needs your blood." She knew better than anyone that Murdoch was the last person, aside from a shifter, that he wanted to give his blood to. But he saved her, and she at least owed Blood Mary's new bartender that much.

Slashing burning pain across her throat and momentary, wild panic. Fiona shot up straight, her eyes wide as her book fell to the floor unheeded. Her feet barely hit the floor when Merry was by her bedside, glowing faintly in alarm. It was early morning, the moon set but before the sun was thinking of rising. A small part of Fiona’s panic eased at the sight of her aunt fine, but not by much. It just told the two Dalways that it wasn’t them.
“Something’s happened to a bloodkin, Rory’s side of the family,” Merry informed her. If both of them had felt it then it wasn’t Philomena’s family as she was only related to Merry by marriage. Being closer, it was Fiona who pinpointed the source.
“It’s Sinead. I think she’s been attacked. Across the throat,” Fiona had named her elder sister and the middle child. She hopped out of the bed, disappearing into the bathroom. The door was left open as she turned the shower on, stripping out of her pjs. Merry appeared in the doorway.
“I’ll pack your bag, passport, wallet, phone, anything else?”
“Nope,” Fiona ducked into the shower as Merry left, throwing her bag together. The shower took two minutes. Brushing her teeth took 45 seconds. Getting the soonest flight was harder. She couldn’t run the whole way to New York herself, it was quicker to fly. That was when the phone call came through. Merry fielded it.
“Yes? It’s Merry, Phil, we’re getting Fiona ready to go, finding a plane ticket now. Is Sinead going to be ok?” Merry listened intently as Fiona got dressed. She didn’t have a problem running across the continent starkers, but the general public would likely protest. “Asshole. Whoever it was, they’ll be dead and gone properly now. Fiona, it was a vamp attack, young idiot probably. Attempted to bite, got her throat open, her blood will have killed him now since the twat won’t know how to treat it. They think she’ll be ok, but your mother wants you there.”
Both of their accents were thick by now, the Irish lilt likely indecipherable to any passers. It only really came out in either of them when upset. Fiona nodded.
“I’ve got you a flight, it’s leaving the local airport at 8, it’s…. 5 now.” Merry hit the print button on the computer to print out Fiona’s e-ticket, while both Feys nearly hopped in impatience. “I’ll be handling the shop just fine, now here’s yer ticket and git gone,” Merry briefly hugged her niece, and then Fiona was gone, not even bothering with the stairs. She’d leapt straight off the balcony and hit the ground running. It took time to hail a taxi, tell them where to go, and wait for them to reach the airport at legal speed. She was going so fast that it would take a supernatural’s eyes to even realise she was there, or a stop motion camera. The humes and any security cams wouldn’t pick her up. Fiona wouldn’t relax in the slightest until she was in that hospital room with her family.

Alexis did hope her maker felt guilty. She could smell the same human woman on him, and it made her hungry and disgusted at the same time. What human could be more important than getting to her and saving her? Selfishly, she thought, no one.

Even if Léonide was a stubborn man, she knew he'd give in to her request to help Murdoch. It seemed she had some sort of power over him as well, even if he was older. While he left her to attend to Murdoch, Alexis slowly sat herself up on her elbows, licking the blood off her lips while she watched intently. There was a look in Léonide's eyes, like he'd rather snap the neck of the other vampire than give him his blood. Alexis wanted to be ready to leap over there if he did anything stupid, but she trusted him. She hadn't gained all of her strength back, anyway. But with Léonide's blood in her she already felt stronger. And that scaly, burnt flesh was already beginning to heal much to her satisfaction. Even if she still needed rest to completely recover, she was already thinking about Bloody Mary, and how the hell it was going to run tonight with no owner, and no bartender. But Léonide's voice interrupted her thoughts when he finally spoke to Murdoch.

"He saved me," Alexis called out, reminding him. Like he needed to be persuaded. And maybe that was just another jab of guilt to shoot his away as well. Murdoch saved her, not him. Léonide may have given her blood to help her heal, but it was Murdoch who had kept her alive, in a sense. She was still in shock from it. He should have been there faster, like he always had. What the fuck changed since yesterday?

Blue eyes stayed fixed on the two across the basement, Alexis finally able to sit up on her own again as she watched. Léonide's own gaze was burning into her, and she just stared back at him for a few moments before breaking away from that stare to look down at Murdoch and his progress. With all the blood taken from him tonight, Léonide would need to feed soon. She'd gladly hunt down that human, if he'd just ask.

Murdochs head hit the hard wood flooring with a thud as Leonide forced his bleeding wrist against his cracked blistered lips. He opened his mouth wide and engulfed the elder vampires gaping wound. He sucked hard on the large open vein that spilled fourth its precious contents down his dried throat. He was thankful that Leonide was saving him, but knew that were it not for Alexis insistence, Murdoch would have been left for dead, or worse.

His eyes slitted as he stared up at Leonide, angry that he had not come sooner to save his child. That he had left the club that night without making sure she was safe and well. He simply could not understand makers who relied upon their children to keep them happy and safe. By all rights, it seemed to Murdoch, it should be the other way around. Granted, he was not a maker, so he couldn't really make an informed opinion. 'This is way I could never be a maker.' He thought to himself. Far too much responsibility there.

His eyes shifted slightly, looking down the stairs toward where Alexis now stood. He was thankful that she was safe and slowly recovering. Murdoch could feel his own body begin to heal itself from deep within. His vision was clear now, and his broken flesh was beginning to mend. His body had ceased the palsey like shaking it had been uncontrollably doing all night.

But what would happen to him now? He was older than Alexis, so there was a chance that he would be able to walk shortly, though not well, he was certain of that. The three vampires need for living human blood was palpable in the air. Leonide would surely take his dear Alexis home and bring her a fresh meal. Murdoch hoped (though highly doubted) that once left to his own devices a stupid human, curious from all the commotion would wander his way. But in his condition there would be no way for him to dispose of the body.

He lapped up the last of the elder vampires blood as the wound on his wrist slowly closed. He looked up at his saviours pale face, blood tears still running from his eyes as he stared at his beloved Alexis. "Thank you Leonide," he whispered in a somber tone. He propped himself up on his elbows and bowed his head respectfully to his elder.

Murdoch managed to stand up and watch as the black car drove away into the night. He wrapped his arms gently around his thin pale form as a cold wind blew through the gaping hole in his wall that once was a large window. He knew the dawn was approaching. He knew that, even weakened as he was, he might be able to last the day without blood. But there was no question...he needed it. He gently massaged his shoulders with his finger tips. They ached from the extreme pressure he had been forced to put on them when he'd clawed his way up the basement stairs. He looked around the room briefly. The place was a mess. Shards of dirty broken glass littering the floor. Blood strewn about everything. His precious books covered in a layer of awful. The sun seared flesh that had been ripped from he and Alexis bodies as they had so violently broken into the old house.

The wind blew slightly stronger now and whipped his raven locks about his face lightly. He wrapped his arms tighter about himself. He felt suddenly alone. In a way he had not in many years. He could not control the thick blood tears that fell now from his pale blue eyes. He was surprised and almost sickened by the fact that his emotions had boiled over into an actual physical reaction. He was usually always so good at holding such feelings at bey.

He began his slow and trudging walk down the steps into the pitch black basement.Shutting the door behind him was a bit of a trial, as his body was still rather damaged. He stumbled down the old steps, still holding his naked torso, wishing secretly that his arms were not his own, but belonged to those of another. But there were no others. Well, not really. He'd met several people who struck him as interesting, the young Lycan from the bookstore for example, but none were really his friends.

He reached an empty corner at the back of the basement. He slowly pulled his shoes and pants off. His skin was not fully healed, and sluffed off in dried sheets and he removed the tight black leather pants. He was able to reach a shovel near by and he began to dig. Thankfully the basement floor was not entirely covered in concrete. Large pieces of the morter had been removed years ago and so he was able to dig a large enough hole for him to climb into. As he lay his cold naked form into the deep hole he reached up and touched his face. Had he really been crying this entire time? He licked the salty blood tears from his thin moustache as he began to pull the dirt in on top of himself. Sleep now. No more more suffering tonight. Just...sleep.

As Heaven left the book store she took the long way home by walking. The night air filled her lungs as she glanced up at the sky. She had to resist herself from changing to her wolf form even though the female wolf inside of her called out to the moon. Heaven knew she couldn't take the risk of someone seeing her and since she moved into the city she had to adapt by not turning to her wolf form as much anymore.

Heaven found piece walking in silence, her nose took in all the scents of the neighborhood. The other dogs in the backyards never barked as she went by they simply watched her through their fenced yard in silence. Suddenly Heaven caught a scent that was not normal, and that was blood...vampire blood. Blood filled her scenes and she did the only thing she could think of, and that was to follow it.She walked a good few more blocks before actually arriving at the house that poured blood through her senses. She walked up to the house slowly and quietly as to not disturb or be heard by anyone. Just out of pure curiosity she tried to turn the door knob and to her surprise it opened.

She looked around the house only hearing a repeated sound of scrapping. She moved on through out the house in silence making sure that if there was a vampire here she would see them before they saw her. As she looked around the scrapping sound continued, she followed her ears to a door that looked like it would lead to a basement. She turned the knob slowly and found a stair case leading down. Heaven's instincts told her not to go down but she figured she was already in the house so why not?

Taking one step at a time she slowly made her way down the stairs. once she made it half way the stairs creaked giving away her position. She cursed herself in her head and continued until she found the cause of the scrapping sound.Her eyes widened as she saw the vampire burring himself and blood all across the floor if it wasn't so dark she would have seen the trail of blood all down the steps. She stood at the bottom of the steps speechless as she watched him.

The sun was not yet up when Robert awoke from his slumber. The only moving things was some woman quickly walking along the sidewalk opposite, seeming to be in deep thought, and a rat nibbling on some mystery food by the side of the road. Typical of his time in Greenville. At first, Robert was eager to leave Georgia. Although the fellowship of the sun had given him a place to stay, their mindless xenophobic ideology held no appeal to him. As time wore on he felt more and more unwelcome there and the letter he got in the mail was a welcome gift. Staff Sgt. Terance Williams was living in Greenville in a nice little home downtown, running a motor repair shop and was eager for some extra help that he knew. The day the letter arrived he was gone, on a bus up to Illinois.

Then the bad stuff started to happen. First of all, on the Kentucky-Illinois the bus slammed into a car when the idiot driver tried to run a red light, killing the 3 people inside. That was barrells of fun. Then, he decided to hitchhike to Greenville. The first person that picked him up was some crazed junkie that had a trunk full of nearly every drug in the book. That lasted about a mile. The next was some redneck preaching about how the gays, mexicans, and vampires where "ruining" the US. Robert lasted 2 hours before bailing. And the 3rd, by far the worst, was terrifying. He didn't speak for an hour, which set off roberts alarm bells. Then he started talking about how wonderful it was to go out in the woods and hunt and how beautiful a dying animal was. Luckily, he was only a bit out of Greenville when Robert got out. But the fun was just beginning, as apparently Terance had dissapeared a week ago and the guy at the shop didn't feel that they needed any more workers.

So now, he was sitting on a bench in the middle of some boring old midwest town with nothing but his clothes and his money without a job or contacts. He had been in this situation twice before. Neither of the times it had turned out well, once landing him in prison. The other time he didn't like to think about.

He walked over to the rat and shooed it away. Now there was nothing but dark, dusty buildings, the debris of the urban lifestyle, and the sad sack of self-pity that was himself. He didn't think he'd ever find a way to like this town.

Heaven stood in silence watching the vampire. After she was sure he was sleeping she ran up the stairs and out of the house. She saw that the sun was about to come up and wondered if she should come back later to apologize to the vampire about walking into his home, she knew he would be able to smell her when he woke. Deep in thought she continued to walk down the street until she arrived at a bus stop. There sat a man that looked as if he was a lost puppy.

Naturally she was curious and walked up to him and cleared her throat," Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice you sitting here." She looked at her watch and said," And the last time I checked the buses don't run at this hour.Do you not have a place to stay?"

She didn't see a man on that bench but a homeless dog that needed caring for and she instictivly wanted to bring him home. Although she had work in a few hours she knew that she could keep him in her apartment until she got off, with her being a werewolf she didn't fear anything and she didn't think he could harm her if he tried.

Suddenly a stray dog that was of medium height and brown wiry hair walked up and gave her a wine. She smiled down at him and said," You can come too." The dog was clearly a stray by the looks of him and his weight. But the way the dog reacted to her must have tipped the man off because the dog wagged his tail and stood at her side fearless and suddenly didn't look so homeless any more despite the evidence.