I love the Morganville Vampires (which are, of course, owned by Rachel Caine). This is my first real fanfic, so I hope it's okay. :)

Moving always sucks. Especially for a teenager. Say goodbye to your friends, the ones you've known all your life. Say goodbye to your house, your neighborhood, your school. Say goodbye to all the places where your greatest memories took place, like the time when you T.P'ed your teachers car.

Even worse? Saying hello to your new high school. The one where you don't have built in friends. Where you have to try to fit in with people who already have best friends, who've known each other since they were like, two.

The very worst part of moving, though, is moving to a place like Morganville.

Morganville is... weird. I've only been here for three days but I've seen enough to know that Morganville is not normal. The people are always smiling and happy, yet none of them are friendly. The town itself looks like it was built in the 1800's and was never modernized, or remodeled. Creepiest part? No one is outside after dark.

I'm from New York city. You can't even open your window without hearing people all around you. But in Morganville? Nothing.

My mom sent me out to the store to pick up a jar of pickles. Pregnant people have weird cravings at weird times. Anyways, here I am outside at eleven o'clock at night, and no one is around. The farther I get away from my house, the creepier it gets. No one outside at 11:00 pm on a Friday night? No teenagers, drunks walking home from the bar?

I guess there probably is people out. My neighborhood isn't very large. It's not like I can see the main street from here, anyways. There's so few streetlights. By the time I get to the main street, I'm wishing I was back in New York. Even here, on the main street, there's barely any light. Walking down the street I see no stores open. Not one.

Wait. Finally! It's a coffee shop, Common Grounds. There's a bunch of people inside, most of them looking college age. I open the door and step in. It smells great inside. I could really use a coffee. The guy working the counter looks hippie-ish, and is probably in his early forties.

"What can I get you?" He asks. He smiles, but looks bored.

"Um, just a tripple-tripple, please." I replied, smiling slightly back. I may be from New York, but it didn't make me any less shy.

"Here or to go?" He asks, going to the back and getting a coffee mug.

"Actually, to go please. Also, sorry to bother you, but do you know if there's any stores open around here? My mother sent me to get her pickles..." I said. I blushed, realizing he probably didn't need to know why.

"There's a place open way down the street, but maybe you should wait until tomorrow to get what you need. Why don't you ask someone for a ride home. It's dangerous for a young girl to be walking around this late at night." He said. He passed me my cup and I took it, giving him the two dollars I owed him.

"I'm a city girl. I'm sure I'll be okay." I said, smiling before I turned away from the counter.

When I walked out the door of Common Grounds, someone stepped out behind me. I ignored it, thinking it was probably just someone heading back home, or to the TPU campus. After I got halfway down the block, though, I got a little frightened. They were still following. I didn't have my purse, so I had nothing to protect myself with.

Except for my shoes. My mother always say that a women in heels is a woman who means buisness. I prefer running shoes, but it's something she's forced on me since I was old enough to walk in them. I stopped and bent down, taking off my spiked red stilettos. If whoever was following me was going to hurt me, I had just given them the chance to catch up to me. But if they really were going to hurt me, they would chase me anyways, and I can't run in heels. At least this way I had a weapon.

I held the shoe in a way that would allow me to stab the heel into whoever was following me, if it was necessary. I turned around quickly and faced my stalker. He was tall, taller then me, probably even with both heels on. He had eyes that looked dark, probably brown, and matching dark hair that was cut short and spiked out a little. Overall, he was kind of cute, but a little on the skinny side.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to sound menacing. Kind of hard for a slender 17 year old girl, but I tried. I held the shoe in a threatening way.

"Woah, put down the weapon!" He said, his voice holding laughter.

"Why are you following me?" I asked, not putting the shoe down.

The boy shrugged. "Oliver told me to. He's kind of my boss." He said.

"I don't need someone following me. I can handle myself." I told him. I decided he probably wasn't going to attack me, and slipped my shoe back on.

"Look, this isn't exactly my idea of fun. I'm not the knight in shinning armer type." He said. He followed me down the street when I started walking again, though.

"I told you, I don't need your protection, okay?" I almost shouted. This was getting annoying. Where was that stupid store?

"Well, until you get home safely, I'm staying right here." He said.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I asked, getting really angry now.

"Jason Rosser." He said.

"Oh, you're really funny." I said, rolling my eyes.

"And you're really ungrateful. Is this how you treat every guy who practically saves your life?" Jason asked me.

"Excuse me? I'm fine." I said. I looked around. Still no store. And where the hell was I? I didn't remember going off the main road, yet I had. Common Grounds was nowhere in sight, and I couldn't figure out how to find which street my house was on.

Maybe if I cross the street? I thought. I jogged across the street, leaving Jason a little ways behind me. I looked around, reading the street signs.

"Lost, little girl?" A voice asked from somewhere around me. I turned in a circle, trying to find the source of the voice. Suddenly someone was standing in front of me.

It was another man, probably between 25 and 30. He was dressed weirdly, as if he was lost in time. He had a cruel smile on his face.

"Um, no I was just, uh-"

"Back off, man." Jason yelled, jogging across the street. He stepped infront of me.

"Jason Rosser. Standing up for the lady? Aren't you usually the one in my shoes?" The man growled.

"In case you haven't heard, I don't actually hurt people. Unlike you. Now back off. This one has Oliver's temporary protection, for the night. She doesn't know the rules." Jason told him. I couldn't see his face, but from his tone, I could tell her was probably glaring at the guy.

"She might not know the rules, but you do, and I feel like reenforcing them, just to remind you." They guy said. Then something weird happened.

I'm not sure if I imagined it, which I probably did. It was a weird conversation. But I swear his teeth elongated. Into fangs.

Jason flashed something shiny on his wrist. "You sure you want to do that? Things are different. Oliver made promises, and you don't want to piss Oliver off, now do you?"

The guy hissed. "You're lucky this time, Rosser. It's just a matter of time before you lose that protection. When that time comes, you better pray I don't find you out past dark."

Then the guy disappeared. Jason turned towards me, looking livid.

"You-"

"What the hell was that?" I asked, feeling nauseous.

"Do you realize you just about got us killed? Don't you know anything? No more going outside after dark. Ever. Next time someone won't be there to hold you hand." He said angrily.

"I'm not a little girl. I can go out after dark." I told him. I started to walk away, but slowed down so he could tell I wanted him to walk with me.

No way I was walking alone after what just happened. Who was that guy? And what did Jason mean by 'Oliver's protection'? The most important question I had, though, was one I couldn't keep to myself.

"Did... did that guy, um... I know this sounds crazy but... I thought I saw his- Never mind." I said, deciding I was probably just going crazy.

"Spit it out." He said. He didn't sound friendly anymore. Just angry.

Well, if what he said was true, then I guess he deserves to be angry. I mean, I did just about get us killed.

"I thought I saw... fangs." I said quietly. "Go ahead, take me away to the loony-bin."

"Yeah, they do that sometimes. Flash the fangs. Usually it's just to intimidate. Sometimes it's not." He said casually.

"Wait, what?" I replied, oh so intelligently.

"The vampires. Sometimes they, you know, show off the teeth. Whenever they feel like it. Though usually they stay hidden. Like Oliver's." Jason said. He turned on some street that's name I didn't know. Suddenly we were standing infront of a small store on the main street.

"Apparently I'm not the crazy one." I replied, stepping inside the store and not waiting for crazy Jason to follow.

I looked around the store, found pickles, and brought them up to the counter. When I got there, there was a large man standing there, around Oliver's age, though not hippie-ish and friendly.

"This it? You came all the way out here at night for this?" The guy asked, looking at me as if I was crazy.

"Yes, sir. Um, I was wondering if you had a phone I could use? I just want to call my mother to get her to pick me up. Someone's been following me and I don't feel comfortable walking home." I told him.

I felt a twinge of guilt. I mean, Jason hadn't really done anything wrong. You can't help it if you're crazy and believe in vampires, right? But that didn't mean I wanted him to follow me home, if I could even find home.

The man handed me the phone. "Don't make a habit out of it." He said, looking surely.

"I won't."

Mom answered and said she'd be there in a few minutes. She sounded grumpy too. She didn't want to have to leave the house, but her boyfriend, Darell, was already drunk so it wasn't like he could pick me up. Well, he could, it wouldn't be the first time he's drove me while intoxicated, but after the accident mom put her foot down.

I walked to the door so I could see when my mother pulled up. Jason was still standing there, looking annoyed and bored. I should probably tell him that I don't need him to wait for me, but somehow I can't go out and talk to him. I feel as though I've betrayed him or something. Weird, right? I mean, I don't owe this guy anything. Well, maybe my life, if that guy had a gun or something. Other than that, though, nothing. Yet for some reason I felt bad for thinking he's crazy.

I opened the door and the clerk yelled out to me.

"You sure you want to do that? Isn't it best that you wait for your mom to come pick you up?" He asked. I gave him a small smile.

"I'll be okay." I replied.

"Crazy kids. Getting themselves killed." He muttered as I walked out. What the hell?

"What took you so long?" Jason asked.

"I um... I called my mom. To come pick me up." I replied, not meeting his eyes.

"Good. It's not my job to watch after dumb asses who go outside after dark." He said.

"At least I'm not some crazy freak who believes in vampires!" I yelled, outraged. How dare he insult me? He doesn't even know me.

For a second Jason's eyes darkened. "You're right. I am a freak. And you're on your own." He said, and started to walk away. He got three steps away from me when a car, and old Ford Volkswagen, swerved and almost hit him. "What the fuck?"

Darell. Mom promised she wouldn't let him pick me up anymore.

"Watch where you're driving, asshole." Jason yelled, walking towards the car.

"Why don't you watch your mouth, you little shit, before I watch it for you?" Darell called after him, stepping out of the car. His words slurred and he stumbled a little when he walked.

Still, a drunk Darell wasn't someone you wanted to fight with.

"Where's mom?" I asked, stepping between Darell and Jason. They still glared at each other, though.

"The lazy bitch didn't want to get up. So I get the pleasure of driving your ass home." He said. He stepped forward and grabbed my arm, a little too hard. "Get in the fucking car."

"What's your problem?" Jason asked, stepping towards Darell and I.

"Just ignore him Darell. Let's go home, okay?" I shot Jason a pleading look, hoping he would just drop it. He did, but he kept his eyes on Darell's hold on my arm.

We drove away with Jason staring after the car.