Ivan watched all this happen in slack jawed silence, hardly believing this new turn of events. So much had changed in the last few days...his entire life was drastically altered. And it didn't seem like he'd be going back. Ever.

Sheila came to mind again, but he pushed her away just as quickly. He couldn't afford to think about her. Not now. Not yet. His throat felt tight, and he swallowed hard. He turned his attention back to the present. Isabelle Brisson. Hm. And she had asked his name, though he had been interrupted before he could say it. And now he was to be shown the house.

Felix, standing next to him, started talking, "I assume you are the most dangerous to my health at the moment. I did not catch your name, mine is Felix." Felix raises his hand, but then lowered it again quickly. "Looks like we are going to be bunk-mates." Saying it a bit jokingly. Back to a serious voice, but this had a little worried tone to it. "Hope I don't smell good to you." Felix glanced at Bella, then looked back at Ivan, "Anyways, I assume you are stuck here for a while. Do you need me to help you with anything? Like lock up something, take care of a pet, tell a love one your okay? I do not know of your standing situation."

Sheila immediately came to mind. Maybe he could...

No.

If he was going to tell her anything, it would be personally. Even in grade school, asking another girl to be his "girlfriend", he had done it himself, instead of sending a messenger like most kids. That was his way. And he didn't even know if he wanted her to know yet. It was...difficult. How would she react? And more importantly, what could he do about it? Nothing right now. No, he couldn't tell her yet.

He realized he had been silent for several moments, and he gave a little half-smile of apology, "Ah, no thanks. But I appreciate the offer." He turned then, back to the vampiress.

He gave Bella his best attempt at a smile, and followed her out of the room. His lips parted, and he spoke as he followed, "Um, my name...I'm Ivan. Hurstwell." He gestured around vaguely, in an attempt to jump-start his idling brain, "N-nice house. I like it." He bit his lip, feeling incredibly childish, and fell silent.

Ana felt herself sinking into too heavy thoughts as she sat staring over the neighborhood. Blinking several times, she realized that she had fallen asleep again. "No." she told herself and stood up. She had no idea how long she had dozed off for, but the sun was still struggling near the horizon, and she knew she had a little time before she had to leave. Gathering up her courage, she approached her alter, said a few words to banish negative energy and began to clean up the mess she had left from the night before. Once it was in order, she spoke her morning ritual and went onto her back porch.

Her apron was hanging on a nail and she slipped it over her head and tied it in the back. The morning air caused her to shiver, but she ignored it as she pulled on working gloves and stepped into her garden. A good portion of the food she ate came from her back yard, which was rather large. The neighbors thought her to be rather queer, since no one else in the area had a chicken coop, and a goat, besides the large garden. Weeding, feeding, and watering done, she sat on a box next to her goat, Millie, scratching her coarse fur, drawing comfort from the animal. The chickens were inside the same fence as the goat, and pecked around happily, scratching up the dirt.

Anabelle stood and went back inside, hanging her apron up and pulling off her gloves. There were dishes she hadn't gotten to yesterday and trash to be taken out, both of which she decided would have to wait. The clock read 6:57 and she was now running late. Quickly, she moved through her house collecting her things and then shoved them all into her side bag. She checked her various pouches to make sure she had everything and head out the door, not bothering to lock the door. The door to the balcony was left open so that Isis could return as she pleased. Grabbing her bike out from the side of the house, she took off down the street.

Within five minutes she had arrived at her family's shop. The morning worker was standing outside, a distant cousin of hers, tapping her toe as Anabelle rode up. She took out the keys and unlocked the door, and her and the cousin burst into the room and set things up in record time, the cousin motivated by Anabelle's speed and energy. What was usually an hour and a half long process took about half an hour that day, Ana got the safe open, set up a till, reviewed the previous nights paperwork along with various other set up tasks, thanked her cousin and was out the door before the girl could say two words to her. Back on the bike, she went on down the street. It was 7:30 and she was supposed to be at the school already to be introduced to a student she would be assisting this year. Pedaling as fast as she could, she headed for the High School.

Bella continued through the house, not answering when they spoke at first, as they didn't seem to be finished. She turned on another lamp in the hallway as they went along, light looking somewhat strange again her snow-skin, her steps as silent as a ghost. She was glad in a sense; Felix finally seemed like he was getting a healthy dose of nerves. She wondered if he really comprehended the danger he was in, here. Especially being so close to a newborn. Though, she had to admit, the young vampire (he had called himself Ivan, right?) was displaying an impressive degree of self-control. He'd catch on to the animal-feeding quickly. At least that's the feeling she got.

After they both seemed to be done conversing, she spoke again, her voice as quiet as always. “Felix, I would inform you more on the hunters, but we don't know anything. They've found a way to use our fangs and apply them to their own weaponry, and that means that they can kill us as easily as they could kill a human. That's the only thing we know about them, aside from the obvious fact that they want to kill us off.”

As she spoke, she turned in the hallway up a flight of stairs that turned off to the left. It wasn't incredibly long, but long enough, and when they reached the top, they were standing in a long hallway. Doors lined it on both sides. “The bedrooms are all here.”

She walked past the first set of doors, and opened one on the right after that. “Ivan, for however long you stay, you'll probably be using this room. We have to discuss it with Richard, of course, but I'm fairly sure this will be it.”

It was a spacious room, a soft red carpet on the ground, with a large queen-sized bed against one wall, draped with red comforters and grey sheets, and pillows with red pillowcases. There was a writing desk against one wall, and a large window in the center of the wall opposite them; a wardrobe was pushed against the wall next to it. “This was one of our guest rooms. You can add whatever you like to it to make it feel more homey. Obviously, you won't be sleeping. But the bed is comfortable nonetheless, and it's a nice place to have some privacy.”

With that, she turned and continued down the hallway, going to the next door in the line and opening it. A very similar room met them, however the main colour seemed to be a dark grey, and the desk and bed were pushed against different walls. “Felix, this will be your room for tonight. I trust it'll be comfortable enough for you.” She didn't say anything else. She didn't expect him to stay much longer than one night, anyways.

Wayland nodded to Bella and walked out of the room, back torward the front of the house. He stared at the door as he approached it, taking in a deep breath and sighing. His hand touched the door nob and he paused, staring at the handle. He wasn't sure if he should just leave them there... If a good group of hunters came... It wouldn't be a very good outcome for the group, especially just with a couple of vampires, one being a new born, one chaning, and an irritating human...

He shook his head, 'Since when did I start caring about other people so much...' He turned the nob and walked out, just catching a glimpse of Bella and the others as he shut the door behind him. Wayland slowly walked to the steps and went down them, stopping at the end of them and putting his hands in his pockets. He took in another deep breath and began walking, not really wanting to hurry back to his house at this point.

((Short post, not really sure what else to do at this point >>))

Felix listened to Bella comments on the hunters. Just hunters? No name? No organization? Felix sighs, he did not like her response. She doesn't even realize the obvious. I need to speak with this Richard or Daniel. Maybe they know more. Felix followed up some stairs, thru more long hallways. The place was much bigger than anything he had ever been to that was not a hotel or such.

Bella showed the two the rooms. Ivan's room was a very nice, a well laid out place with expensive furnish. This is a guest room? How do they get such currency? Do I want to even know... Felix smiles. Well of course I do. And then Bella said something interesting, "Obviously, you won't be sleeping." Hm? They do not sleep? Oh, curiosity there. Do they rest at all? Felix continued to follow Bella to the next room. The room had the same layout. “Felix, this will be your room for tonight. I trust it'll be comfortable enough for you.” Felix smiled, it was ironic that he would sleep closely to someone who may want to drink him dead. The irony was he was the one who said it no more than a minute ago.

"Such a nice place, this is a king's suite for me." It was true, he never lived anywhere nice before. His parents were not rich and he was not one to hold large sums of cash. His mattress was on the ground in his two room apartment, this bed was pleasant looking. After taking a quick look at the room, he just simply kept staring at Bella. He kept his eyes on hers, not wandering just staring. He might even be creeping her out, but it did not cross his mind.

"Bella, I am a little disappointed. Have you not heard of 'Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.' Sun Tzu said this. Even if you don't consider them enemies or just want to live in peace, these modern day witch hunters want you guys dead. I assume Richard or Daniel know more on them? I can even assume something that you did not mention. They are rich, they have money which means they are backed up by a high power. They use experimental technology, means we are talking a rich cult or a government agency. It would be wise to know who they are."

"Anyways, enough of my rambling. What do you plan to do before... school." Felix smiled a bit. Vampire school maybe? Hehe.

Julius pushed the key into it's matching keyhole and opened the door with force. He felt a feeling of worry build up inside of him. Worry for the girl he had followed home. After throwing his shotgun in the wooden chest, throwing his leather jacket ontop of it and stepping out of his boots, he entered the kitchen. His hand reached up to scratch his chin as he leaned on the counter behind him. You need to tell her about the vampire she spoke to. There's no other way, Julius. He told himself and shook his head at his own thoughts. "How did I end up in this situation?" He said out loud and turned his gaze, looking out the window to his left, down on the city below him.

He nodded with a determined look and left the room. Shower now. Save girl later. Once he entered the bright and small bathroom, he opened the glass doors to the shower and let the water run for a while, pulling it to the highest temperature. He pulled off his t-shirt and unbuttoned his jeans, throwing them both in the corner of the room, before stepping into the steaming shower. The water hit his muscular and scarred body, soaking his grey hair and turning it into a slightly darker shade.

Once finished, Julius stepped out into the, what seemed to be, now much colder bathroom. Water hitting the light blue floor underneath him. He grabbed a white towel out of a cabinet that was standing on his right side. He wrapped it around his waist, revealing only the upper part of his figure as well as his calves. He wiped his feet on a smaller towel lying on the floor infront of him and left the room, heading towards his bedroom.

He threw the now soaked towel in a basket filled with laundry and opened his closet. He grabbed yet another grey t-shirt from the pile, which was just as neat and perfectly shaped as earlier that day. He pulled on a couple of black, tight fitting jeans and hurried out into the hallway. He grabbed his shotgun with the left hand and his jacket with the right, slipped on his boots and left the apartment. Deciding to let his hair dry in the wind outside.

The school was already bustling by the time Anabelle got there. Teachers were preparing for their first classes of the year and students were lined up in front of the office with scheduling questions and problems. The activity of so many people in one place, especially focused on education, made Anabelle feel happy just being a cog in the wheel. After locking her bike, she went inside and found the counselors office rather easily, since it was teaming with people.

Politely as possible, she worked herself to the front of the line, getting more than a couple glares from students, since she didn't look like a teacher, and they assumed she was one of them. A few recognized her and smiled or waved, one looked abruptly away. She was glad to be back here.

Once inside the packed office, she made her way to the head councilors office, grabbed some papers off a stack, not bothering the woman with a question she could easily answer herself, and quickly found her list of students and locations she would meet them. The first student, whom she was already twenty minutes late meeting, would be in 305 b on the third floor.

It didn't take her long to get up there, jogging and pushing with just a hint of rudeness (although apologizing all the way), and she burst through the door just as the parents of the student were preparing to leave. When they saw her, they frowned and sat back down.

"Hello," she bobbed her head in greeting, gasping for breath as she composed herself. "I am so sorry, I got held up. I am so glad to meet you, you must be Mr. and Mrs. Trenton. I am very excited to be assisting William this year and I assure you that my tardiness will not happen again." With grim and accusing looks, they mumbled replies and left for other pressing appointments. William was grinning at her from his wheel chair. He had rather enjoyed watching his parents get upset waiting for her. Watching was one of the only things he could do, and he was very good at it. His observational skills lent him a keen intelligence that most people were unaware of, since they assumed that physical disability came also with mental disability. Anabelle immediately flopped down beside him in the desk that she shared with other volunteers.

"So, William. Will? Bill? Billie?" she asked, raising her brows. Pleased that she asked, he replied softly 'Willie.' his voice coming out a soft rasp from not using it. It's not that he couldn't, it's just that he didn't, and no one ever expected him to. "Alright, well I'm Anabelle, and you can call me that or Ana. I don't care witch." She looked over his grade sheets and records, 4.0 in all of his classes and she mentioned it and noticed a frown on his face when she did. "What's the matter?" she asked carefully.

"I-" he paused, trying to collect his thoughts. "Those g-grades. Not mine. Math. Not good at math. Bad math, good grade." Anabelle nodded, understanding his plight, since she had seen it many times before.

"Well," she said severely, "you're going to have to work very hard to keep up this year. It's your junior year, a very important one and understanding Math is going to be vital when you go to college." His eye widened as she mentioned college. No one ever had before. "Says here that you can't walk, which is obvious with the whole wheel chair getup. So, you have limited mobility in your hands as well and can't sit up. Sort of like an elbows down thing, eh? Heard of waist down or neck down, but not elbows. It's kind of funny, isn't it?" she laughed quietly and Willie just stared at her. He thought he should be offended...but he wasn't.

"So Math is first. That's a good way to start things out. I'm going to be doing some paperwork and then I'll meet you down there, ok?" Willie panicked for a moment when he realized she wasn't coming with him as an escort, before he remembered how annoyed he always was at the usually assistant, who pushed his chair even though he could operate it himself and insisted on doing everything. He left the room, with a determined look in his eye.

Anabelle was pleased, and felt her day was shaping up to be a good one. Her hand went involuntarily to her necklace and her fingertips brushed it, sending a jolt through her that felt like electricity. Passing it off as a static shock, she went back to her list to see who else she had this year.

Ivan followed Bella along the hall, still just taking everything in. The mention about the hunters set him to thinking. Hunters? Was that what that man had been, the one who tried to kill Ivan just a few short hours ago? It seemed likely. Ivan shuddered at the memory. Hopefully, he'd never see that man again.

They stopped, and Bella stated that this was where the bedrooms were. She walked past the first set of doors, and opened one on the right after that. "Ivan, for however long you stay, you'll probably be using this room. We have to discuss it with Richard, of course, but I'm fairly sure this will be it."

Ivan nodded, and peeked into the room. It was larger than he expected, and well furnished, which he did expect. It was really nice. Much more so than he was used to. Bella spoke again, "This was one of our guest rooms. You can add whatever you like to it to make it feel more homey. Obviously, you won't be sleeping. But the bed is comfortable nonetheless, and it's a nice place to have some privacy."

Obviously...what?! Then he realized something he should have realized before. He was not the least bit tired. He was wide awake. Weird. So...he'd never have to sleep...

Bella went a bit farther down the hall, showing Felix his room. Ivan found his eyes following Felix, and his jaw clentched. No. He must not let himself even think of attacking another human. He realized then how dangerous he really was now. It made his throat tighten.

Felix saw his room, and went off on a long tangent about hunters and stuff. Ivan barely registered what he was saying. That guy sure like to hear himself talk.

Ivan stood in the doorway of his room, and waited.

Anabelle felt water hit her face and she hissed in pain from the heat of it and stood up from her desk, knocking the chair backwards. Turning around carefully, she thought she must have dozed into sleep and frowned slightly. Gathering her things, she headed towards her first students Math class. She would be a bit early, but it was better than dozing in the office, she chided herself silently.

As she walked, she looked over some paperwork, trying to get it all memorized. Her vision seemed to blur out of focus, the paper appeared yellow and crinkled, smoothing it out absently, she tried to read, despite the blurring of the letters. Giving it up for a lost cause, she looked ahead, walking at a healthy pace towards the correct room. The brightly lit halls seemed to fade somewhat and the image in front of her seemed to overlap with another...

"A kings suite for me," she muttered absently.

"What?" the voice broke into her heavy thoughts and daydreaming, shattering it into scattered pieces. The voice belonged to the Math teacher. Anabelle blinked rapidly at her, not quite sure what she had asked.

"Yes." she assured the teacher quickly, before taking her seat at the back of the class. Her student was already there and she began an animated conversation with him about whether Pokemon really was dead or not.

Bella remained silent, allowing Felix to completely finish speaking before giving her head a small shake, pale lips pursed slightly as if the comments bothered her somehow. “Felix, I'm aware of all of this. You've stated the obvious, and we have no choice but to consider them our enemies. However, it's been impossible to gather any useful intel so far; they've caught all of the vampires who have tried before. We know that they can kill us, and we know the have malicious intent. That's plenty enough for the moment.”

Gold eyes flickered back, noting that Ivan had hung back for this part of the conversation; she noticed the way his eyes grazed over Felix, and the subtle strain in his features. She sighed lightly, but wasn't frustrated with him. She knew how these things were. Someone would have to stay with him when Felix was sleeping, at least until he gained some more control.

Then she addressed Felix's question. “I'll probably join Daniel again for a while, or play some music... I've already hunted tonight. I just need to kill time, now.” Her face tightened slightly, as if suspicious. “I certainly hope you're not planning on joining me for school, Felix.”

"Ahahaha!" Felix laughed to Bella's last statement. "My lady, was that an invitation?" Felix had a huge grin on his face as he stared at her golden eyes. She almost seemed worried. "Hehe. I will take you on that offer later." It was obvious she was not offering, but Felix now had his foot in the door, in a matter of speaking. "No, I will be asleep by the time you go to 'vampire school' or wherever. And you do have some prime intelligence in the other room... becoming a vampire."

Suddenly Felix felt something, almost like a sense from the man named Ivan. With intent to Felix and back to an odd boredom. Wait, why do I know how he feels? Either I am making things up or these 'allures' these vampires are stronger than I thought. Felix felt a little uncomfortable, he did not really want to be bitten. Was not on his to do list.

"I see I may be boring Ivan." Felix said, he wasn't even looking at Ivan to indicate how Ivan felt. He just knew. "Music hmm? I would love to hear what you play." Felix was trying to divert the attention of Ivan, maybe even make him not stare at him so.

She sighed and shook her head. Vampire school... What exactly did he think she did with her days? "It's high school, Felix. Just regular high school. For humans." All the extra emphasis was probably unneccessary, but she wanted to make sure her point got across. Her kind were trying to go about their days as descreetly as possible; setting up a big old school in the middle of the city probably wasn't the best way to go about doing that.

Suddenly the changed the subject, switching to music in response to what she'd said. She frowned a bit, eyes glancing away down the hall, towards the other bedrooms. She didn't really like playing for an audience outside of her own family. "I play a few instruments. I don't normally play for others." She hoped that would make him decide to drop the subject. Daniel, really, was more the one who enjoyed playing in front of an audience. Speaking of, she decided, she may as well head back downstairs now that she'd shown them both their rooms.

"I'm heading back down. You two can come along if you like, or Felix, if you'd rather go to sleep, feel free. Ivan, I'd like you to come with me." Obviously. There would be no leaving him alone for a while now; even when Felix left, it would be an easy task for him to leave the house without any of the family noticing, and running off to the town to feed. She didn't think he would, but even so, she'd like to avoid that.

She took the newborn's shoulder and steered him back towards the staircase as she began walking, assuming by this point that Felix would just follow. In a moment or so, she stepped back downstairs and headed back into the little guest room. She peeked inside and offered a smile. "How is he, Daniel?"

The small ear bud headphones had been blasting in Daniel's ears, more or less drowning out all other sounds around him. His eyes were fixed on the hunter laying immobilized on the bed, so he would know if there were any changes he needed to pay attention to; it wasn't necessary to hear unless he spoke, which didn't seem likely to happen any time soon. So he listened, the music a pleasing combination of classical instrumental and rock, hoping that Richard would return home soon; at this rate it was going to be a long night.

Before he could get too caught up in his own boredom, a little flicker of motion by the door caught his attention, and gold eyes pulled away from the hunter. Bella was at the door, along with the newborn vampire, a bright smile on her face as she greeted him. In return a smile crossed his own features, a little tingling in his chest, where his heart would beat had it still been alive, lighting at her arrival. He was quite close with all of the members of this coven, and although he certainly held Richard in highest esteem, it was Bella he valued most dearly. In truth, she'd grown to be quite a good friend of his in the time he'd spent here. He didn't want to think of how things would be without her around, because in fact, as he recalled, they had been quite dull.

"No different than when you left, Bella, dear." He responded to her question, eyes flickering back towards the hunter with a tiny sigh through his teeth. "He hasn't screamed once, though. I'm actually rather impressed. I hope I held as much fortitude." His expression twisted slightly, wistfully. He knew that the chances he'd managed to keep himself from screaming, crying, probably begging, was slim. "What about the others? Have you shown them their rooms?"

"Yes, she has." Felix appeared suddenly from the door, as if he was just sitting there. He followed Ivan and Bella down, it was not quite his bedtime, so why would he sleep? He answered Daniel's question and went to Bella's last statement. "Highschool, :: titch :: I was expecting something less... boring." Felix said with no amusement in his voice. Highschool was just a time for him to sleep, that was it. It wasn't even good sleep cause the teachers would always wake him up for crap he already knew.

Felix gave a look over the room. Similar to the other bedrooms, but with more chairs and lounging items. The vampire hunter laid on the bed, Bella and Ivan within arms reach, and Daniel sitting there with a MP3 player. Felix grabbed a chair from the closet spot available and dragged it near Daniel. He sat in the chair backwards, arms crossed on the crest of the chair. He laid on his knees on the chairs cushion. His head plopped in the middle of the arms, resting and peering down at the hunter. His position looked uncomfortable, but Felix seemed to fit snugly into it. "Hmm... looks fun." He said sarcastically. "Have you named it yet?" He was obviously referring to the hunter.

This is what happens when a vampire bites you? Hm... Felix peered to Bella and Ivan, and then rested at Daniel. "So tell me about these hunters, Bella didn't know much. How about you?" Then Felix changed topics quickly, he didn't even pause for his first one. "Actually, let me hear something you do know. May anyone explain what vampires are, these transformations, and why hunters want you dead? I mean a lot of it is obvious, but you sometimes need a clarification from myth and legend to reality." Felix was interested what they had to say about everything on the vampires, the hunters... but he had no idea of anything else.

Ivan just went along with it all, allowing himself to be steered downstairs. Back into the room where the hunter lay in the midst of his painful transformation. Ivan stared at him, feeling suddenly remorseful for his actions, even if they hadn't been under his control. It was still his fault. Everything was his fault.

He'd walked home late. He'd stopped at the jewelry store to pick up the engagement ring. If he had only gone straight home, none of this would have happened. He'd be laying in bed now, Sheila a comforting warmth at his side. And now...now...

He blinked rapidly, and swallowed. Damn his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about the very things he didn't want to think about. They just kept popping up. Felix was chattering away, as usual, and Ivan gratefully used his annoyance at the guy to drive away his other, less welcome emotions.

Ivan glanced at the two vampires, and felt grateful for their kindness. They'd taken him in, though he was smart enough to know that they hadn't much choice in the matter. He was a liability, a danger to both vampires and humans. But at least they didn't act like he was unwelcome.

He was thankful for that. He'd find a way to make it up to them, somehow.

Bella sighed and shook her head, not bothering to continue with the subject of how she spent her days. Boring... what exactly had he been expecting? Coffins, skulls, basement full of bats and withered, dried-up corpses? What part of 'trying to keep a low profile' wasn't working for him exactly?

At that point, he left to address Daniel, and so she turned and headed back to the comfortable seats she and her coven-mate had been occupying during the previous meeting not long ago. She took one for herself and gestured for the newborn vampire to take a seat, as well.

“I know this is unpleasant, but there are a few more things we need to discuss. Such as family, friends, a spouse...you know. If there's anyone who's going to start a police search when you don't come back home after a few days.”