"WAAAAAAGH!" he screamed, careening rapidly around the corners, the humongous backpack on his back strangely not hindering him at all. "Sorry, dude, sorry, dude, sorry, dude, sorry, dude!" he rambled, stumbling into another corridor, and finally the noises went away. He waited for a moment, inhaled, and then let out a sigh that ended in a shriek as bright silver-blue eyes blinked open at him in the dark. "Sorry." a girl's voice spoke up, and he immediately relaxed, grinning, "Oh, hey, naw, it's cool!" She giggled slightly, shifting her feet on the ceiling, "You okay? That sounded like something back there."

"Huh? Oh, ha-ha, yeah..." he admitted, glancing around the corner again, "I think I found one of mummy-dude's relatives, but lemme tell ya, the guy so didn't get up on the right side of the sarcopha-thing." "Woah, really?" Mavis asked, head right over Johnny's as they scanned the corridor together, "Uncle Murray told me about them. Murray's actually not that old for a mummy, he said. So I guess some guys around here are really, really old. Maybe the guy's just cranky?"

"I get that," Johnny nodded sagely, not bothering to question what counted as 'old' for monsters, "There was this one neighborhood I visited, this one old dude was like 'Quit camping on my lawn!' and I could totally respect that and he had the coolest shotgun so I kept to the sidewalk instead?" he leaned against the ancient stone wall, reminiscing, "But it was a really cool old house that some two little dudes told me was haunted and, I mean, who would pass up on checking that out, right? Anyway, I got a small yard-work job/hobby at the time so I thought maybe the old guy would want his yard raked or something while I was there, free community service thing, y'know? And then the freakiest stuff happened—"


. . .


"—and then I got my backpack from the junk, took some pics with the little dudes and my homie Skull, and the old man was all cool with everybody, and that was how that Hallowe'en went!" he finished nostalgically. Mavis clapped, giggling, genuinely meaning it when she did. Johnny always had some cool new story to tell.

"Anyway, I think old-mummy-dude was totally trying to eat my eyes," he got back on track worriedly, "I'm all for those alternate lifestyles, but that was kind of out there for me, y'know? I like my eyes."

"That's okay," she told him, grinning that cute little fangy-smile, suddenly in front of him, "I like your eyes, too."

He blinked as she kissed him on the nose, and he grinned like a goof, "Cool."

They both looked around as something scattered around the torchlight, and Mavis's eyes lit up, "Scarabs?!"

Johnny swallowed, "Oh, yeah, those," he mumbled, "Those tried to eat me, too."

"Holy rabies!" the vampire exclaimed, and Johnny jumped as Mavis pounced at one with a squeal, never minding its snapping pincers as she held it up to the light, very near her face, the thing shrill and clicking as it squirmed in her fingers. "Uh, careful, Mavey," he mentioned uncomfortably, "They kinda try to get under your skin. Like, literally."

She waved a hand at him, grinning fascinatedly as she turned the little carnivorous beetle over in her grasp, "Uncle Murray keeps bringing them over, but he always kept telling me they're best fresh. 'Homegrown'!" she mentioned.

"What's he mean home—GUAAGH?!" he yelped as she popped it into her mouth with a squeaky crunch.

She chewed thoughtfully, as Johnny made a new grimacing face with every crack, squeak, and pop.

"Nnrf... Hm. Aweshome... He washn't kiddin'." she admitted, politely spitting out the legs and swallowing. She grinned at him, "Want one?"

He stared, then grinned nervously, "Ah-ha, thanks, but, uh, but I think I wanna stick to my plain ol' beef jerky."

She looked at the stick of the stuff he held up as an example, then at him, then laughed a little, "Sure thing. Ooh-ooh-ooh, lemme just get some to go!"

Johnny grimaced as she casually tossed a few more of the vicious bugs into her bag, snacking on some while she did, "Cool, Middle Eastern takeout." he joked. She chuckled, a little bit embarrassed by her greediness, and absently shook the bag when its reluctant inhabitants tried to wriggle out. "Uh, they're not gonna chew through that, are they?" he asked, poking at the bag and jerking his finger back when it gave a chittering screech, and she shook her head, "Dad got some good stuff, it looks like," she told him, "We could keep a pork-pine in these things if we find one."

"Porcupine." he corrected, still eyeing the bag nervously.

She frowned, "Porky pie?"

"Porcu—y'know what, yours sounds better," he decided, grinning, "But we won't find any around here."

She pouted, but then shrugged, slinging the bag next to her own backpack with a contented smile, "Come on. Let's go see if the guy feels like saying hi, now."

Jonathan's face fell.


. . .


"We should've just left him at cranky!" he protested as they ran, angry-sounding screeches and groans echoing behind them.

"Maybe he's not a day person?" little bat Mavis suggested, seeming only slightly worried.

"Sorry, man!" Johnny shouted over his shoulder, as Mavis found them an alcove higher up, dragging him up the wall. The mummy grumbled up at them irritatedly, shaking a fist at them before stalking off, one bandage trailing awkwardly from his ankle. Johnathan watched, now interested once there was no immediate danger, "Maybe we should leave a gift basket or something?" he wondered, "What do sort-of dead guys like to eat, anyway?"

"I'm not sure, it depends on the guy," Mavis admitted, "Maybe we should just leave him alone, since we're kind of on his lawn."

"Maybe it's organs," he continued, even as they started to wander around with the intent to get out, "Yeah, I think it's gut stuff. Again, not hating on the alternate lifestyle, but I'm kind of attached to mine. Maybe we could find some donor place, but... Hey, how would he eat the stuff anyway? I mean, does he just chew it up, use his hands, like, Indian-style, or is there some sort of Egyptian silverware? Maybe we should put in some silverware, too, just in case, right? I don't think the plastic stuff we have would work okay on organs, though. Pshh, the plastic stuff barely works on people food!"

Mavis rolled her eyes, smiling at him, "What time is it?"

He squinted, then blinked, "Uh...wrist. Hang on a—..."

He started spinning around to reach into his own backpack, dexterous from experience, grunting as he finally found the watch he'd stashed in there, "Hey, hey, yeah!" He looked at its slightly grimy surface properly, and then grinned at her, "It should be good out there by now. Ya ready?"

She nodded, "Mmhm."

He offered an arm to her, smiling, "Milady!"

She took it, slightly blushing with a silly grin as they sauntered their way back towards where they thought the exit was. They had to ask directions from a few bats along the way, regardless, but she had to admit: the guy really knew how to show a girl a good time.


. . .


They shared Johnny's iPod while they waited, waiting at the corner of the shady sides of the old pyramid while the sun was slowly setting.

Mavis had come to like jazz, hop, and old rock while Johnny prefered a lot of the new rock with some old stuff thrown in, so they'd managed to make a playlist with a mix of their favorites. Johnny loved to air-guitar for 'Crazy Train'. The empty blue-fading-to-peach sky was broken with his slightly off-key lyrics, him dancing wildly enough to nearly yank the earbud from her ear, so she leaned in tandem, laughing as they nearly tangled the cords.

He sat down when the song finished, laughing as well, "Woo! . . . It's some kind of good luck that we found this place, huh?" he asked her, glancing at where the pyramid's old door had crumbled in enough for them to slip in. She couldn't help a snort, "Yeah, our camel ran off, we got lost in a sandstorm, then got swarmed by locusts, which was pretty tasty, and then fell down a bunch of sand dunes until you literally ran into this pyramid thing here. . ." she paused, looking up at the structure, and grinned, "Which is pretty awesome! So, yeah, I guess that was lucky."

"I try!" he said, smirking while leaning back on the steps of the pyramid, patting his backpack, "Got some food in here to keep a few days, plenty of water, the tents, maps, iPod's on full juice, so we can hang for a day. I think there might be a town around that we can try finding tomorrow night. Sound good?"

"Yup!"

Mavis was bouncing on the toes of her boots, glancing at the edge of the shadow as it—slowly, torturously slowly—moved, "Can we do it yet?"

He peeked around into the setting sunlight, squinting, "Almo-ost... Give it a second."

After a few moments they were both eagerly watching that shadow. Jonathan finally glanced from its edge to Mavis before moving forward, "Okay, okay, let's do this!"

He judged his angle carefully with the shadow of the pyramid, and then smiled over his shoulder at his girlfriend, "Here, try it out."

She was quick, darting to his back, but then she was careful, slowly edging to the limit of the shadow to see the view. Johnny smiled as he saw her eyes widen over that little kitten grin she had, pupils nearly overtaking the irises as she watched. Mavis liked to see most aspects of the sun, but she loved sunsets. While sunrises were softer, cheerier, sunsets were richer in color, and the contrast in the sky was beautiful. Plus, she could watch sunsets longer, more safely. Sometimes her preference changed, she'd like to see the sunrises, or sometimes there just wasn't time to see either. Their sleep cycles were random along this trip. Sometimes both would sleep during the day, or one during the dusk and one during the dawn, or during the night if the weather permitted. Mavis was used to the nighttime, but desert nights were so much more different than the ones back at home. The air was colder, the stars were sharper, and Johnny swore he'd get a harmonica and learn to play one.

The couple slowly relaxed as the sun sank over the horizon, Mavis's head on Johnny's shoulder as the stars came out, and they both sighed. "Awesome?" Johnny asked, and she affectionately shoved into him, "Awesome." she agreed. The sand was still warm, even if the air was taking on a chill. Johnny ate beef jerky and canned fruit for a meal, sharing the can with Mavis while she snacked on her scarabs. Eventually he yawned, and by the rules of contagious yawns it caused Mavis to yawn as well. Tonight was a sleeping night, so they began to set up camp.


. . .


Johnny stood back, hands proudly on his hips as he glanced at their tents. Mavis's, of course, had cute little subtle lines of pink on the arches with the rest of it being charcoal gray or black. His was much more beat up and had faded to some sort of gray-green, but it was still good.

"Hotel Johnster is open!" he decided, grinning at Mavis as she staked in her last anchor line. She got up, brushing sand from her knees, and then went over to hug him. He hugged her back, and then backed up a little to smile at her, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." she said back, and then they kissed, Johnny leaning down slightly. Mavis felt her face warm a little bit as she leaned into it. Johnny felt his face was warm too as he felt her small hands on his shoulders. He gently broke it off, breath slightly quicker, adding another kiss to her forehead, his smile quirking a bit as she stared at him, a small, vague smile on her face, "Y-yeah, um, sleep good." he managed, and then dove into his tent.

Mavis stared thoughtfully at his tent door as the rustling inside died down, her eyes bright and slightly glowing in the dusk.


. . .


It took a while for him to get comfortable, sometimes shoving the sleeping bag off, sometimes wriggling back in, rolling onto his stomach or his back or his sides, trying to get his crazy human brain back on the idea of sleep. Still, even he knew he wasn't very good on focusing on things. Or at least, controlling that focus. Was it weird to think that she was creepily attractively adorable when she munched on bugs?! Well, he knew people who ate bugs, even live ones, like locusts or grasshoppers or things like that. He'd be sure to take her to certain places in China, or somewhere in Asia. Japan, too, he had a feeling she'd love sushi. She could eat regular food, right? If she could eat bugs and fruit and stuff like scream cheese he was sure she could eat other things. Hopefully. Anyway, then they'd go to Hawaii, they were both looking forward to that. And then later on they'd make it to the Americas. He wondered if she'd like spicy food. Maybe he could even show her his home town. And of course they'd have to go around again to see more of the European countries, because they'd mostly been focused on going South East at the time. How many months would that take, total, not counting job stops? Maybe they'd take ships, stretch the trip a little longer. Would she be okay at airports, anyway? He hadn't had to pay for two before. He snorted, imagining smuggling a little bat Mavis onboard, wondering how customs would take it if he got caught. 'Hello, sir, don't mind me, this little bat here is just my girlfriend! Say hi, Mavey!' He'd be asked for straitjacket sizes again. Okay, he'd only been in the bin once, and that had been an honest misunderstanding, and he'd made some awesome pen pals from the whole experience. Still, saying he had a little bat/vampire girlfriend would be a first.

He was quietly laughing as he rolled over again, but the laugh caught in his throat as a short yelp as two bright blue eyes stared down at him from the admittedly low tent ceiling, jolting him out of the half-sleep he'd been stewing in. Right, said girlfriend has a misty teleportation thing.

He laughed again, a bit more nervously, "Hey, he-ey, Mavis! Uh, you okay?"

"I'm not tired." she said bluntly, teeth shining slightly even in the dark, eyes blinking slowly.

Johnny swallowed, "Er, I have some extra blankets or something if you want—?"

"I kind of wanted to...sleep over..." she mentioned, and he now noticed she was sort of standing over him, easily bent down at the hips to avoid the tent ceiling while her bare feet were delicately planted on each side of the sleeping bag, her hands clasped behind her back while her short hair hung past her face. While her PJs were a perfectly modest lounge-y fleecy number, black with cute little skeleton sheep on them, Johnny felt his mouth go dry, and not because they were in a desert.

He swallowed again, "The tent's really not big enough for the two of us, Mavis." he told her, his voice slightly hoarse with grogginess and something else, trying to sink into the floor as she stepped over him to kneel beside him, slightly pushing at the tent wall. He automatically shifted to the other side to give her room, the sleeping bag twisting awkwardly around his waist as he watched her with wide eyes. She blushed as she saw he wasn't wearing a shirt. He must've taken it off to sleep.

She grinned at him, "Is that a bad thing?" she asked sweetly, leaning closer to his face.

He was glancing rapidly between her eyes and her mouth, "It makes me kind of nervous." he admitted, even as he was leaning in too.

"Is that a bad thing?" she repeated, angling her head slightly as he got up on his elbows, and despite himself he was leaning in too.

"I guess I can deal with it..." he mumbled, and closed the last few spaces of air to kiss her. It started out chaste, as a lot of their kisses were. But any kiss that lasted for more than four or five seconds was bound to head somewhere beyond the cute territory.

Johnny sat up more, tilting his head to deepen it as Mavis sat more on her knees, getting comfortable, getting closer. This was where Mavis's boldness started to flag, as the kiss slowly went into less familiar territory. She supported her weight on her right hand while the other rested on his shoulder, fingertips slightly catching against the smooth, taut skin as her hand moved along the tendon between his shoulder and neck. They broke for a moment for air, breathing quietly, quickly, before he cupped the back of her head, fingers threading gently into her hair to guide her into the kiss again. She felt him shift slightly, sitting up even more, and then she felt the hand that wasn't in her hair feel for and cover the dip of her waist, gently pulling her closer until they were sitting hip to hip, her left to his left, each twisting at the torso to keep lip contact. She inhaled through her nose quickly in surprise as he let the sleeping bag drop, but noticed he still wore pants, and heard-felt him chuckle slightly into the kiss, and she couldn't help a laugh in response.

The tent really was narrow: when one moved they'd feel the edges of the walls gently resist, giving a slightly claustrophobic feeling. She was used to sleeping in small spaces, but had to admit that since she wasn't planning to sleep, this wasn't ideal. Jonathan already seemed to think about this, as she felt him start to rise up, lean over, slipping out of his sleeping bag trying not to break the kiss. She automatically leaned back, moving until she was on her back against his sleeping bag, raised up on an elbow, her hand now moving up the column of his neck to just under his jaw, gently kneading the muscle there. She felt him groan against her mouth as she pushed a particular spot. She focused on that, feeling him shudder over her, the hand in her hair massaging her scalp, gently tugging at her hair, nearly tensing, and it felt strangely good. She could feel his pulse pound under her fingers, his palm moving in slow, steady circles against her waist, her ribs, not moving higher or lower.

She was intensely aware of his knees on either side of her legs, of him crouched over her in this small space. Their movement had caused her pajama shirt to ride up a bit, still within the bounds of modesty, stopped by his hand, but for some reason she was incredibly aware of that slightly exposed skin, feeling the air move against it, the fabric shift as he continued those slow, gentle circles. It wasn't a very comfortable awareness. Should she try to cover it up? Move his hand to it? Did he notice? Where did they go from here? Was she supposed to do something more? She was shot right out of those thoughts as she felt his tongue slightly hook at the upper row of her teeth, scraping gently against the tip of one of her fangs, and she felt something zing through her body when he did that. She hadn't been ready for that. She couldn't help a gasp, nearly flinching, and he noticed.

She mumbled out a protest as he broke the kiss to look down at her, the hand in her hair moving to the side of her face, thumb rubbing along her cheekbone as the hand at her waist absently squeezed, "You okay?" he asked, and she nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm...I'm good, it's good..."

She moved up quickly, trying to catch his mouth with her own, "It's good..." she repeated, sounding almost anxious, and kissed him again, and felt him respond, but instead of keeping it there, he went off to kiss her cheek, her ear, her jaw, "J-Johnny...?" she said confusedly, dazed by the sudden closeness and the scent of him, and then her body shuddered as she felt his mouth on her neck, "Oh, holy...!"

He backed off again, glancing her face over before smiling gently, eyes half-lidded as he gave her another quick kiss on the mouth, "It's good..." he replied to her simply, and then shifted to roll on his side, and they both moved awkwardly as he tried to arrange the sleeping bag differently. Her confusion was lost to embarrassment as Jonathan finally managed to use the bag as a sort of blanket for the both of them, resting on his back beside her, nestling her head on his arm, her eyes wide and staring at the ceiling, and he smiled at her, kissing her cheek, "Sleep-overs are cool." he told her, and she flushed, trying to turn to him, "S-sorry, Johnny, I really—!" He watched her as she tried to put it in words, "I-I really can, just let me—it's good, so why can't we, I mean I—?" He cut her off with another kiss, smiling tiredly, "It's cool, Mavis, really. Let's get some sleep. I'm honestly better at thinking after having some. Sort of."

She blushed as he attempted to hold her closer, and sat up, dislodging the bag, "I-I'm sorry," she stammered out.

"I'm—uh, my tent, I'll go to my tent, I'm sorry. Goodnight, Johnny."

"Mavey..." Johnny began, but she'd already misted through the tentflap, and he groaned, flinging himself back onto his back with his arm over his eyes, ". . . Her dad would so kill me..." he mumbled to the tent ceiling, one hand fisted at his side, determined to not give in to his stupid hormones. But she was so warm, small, and those teeth... He could go out there, apologize for being a jerk, get back to the totally awesome make-out session and...and... No, bad thoughts, there.

But what the heck could he do when she looked so nervous? Sleep was so not an option...

What would the eulogy be like? He hoped someone would play his iPod playlist during the service. That'd be pretty cool.

Visions of cute little chibi skeleton sheep, flushed faces, wide blue eyes, and a certain snarling Drac haunted him through the rest of the night.


. . .


Mavis paced the cold sand between their tents, letting the chilly air brush against her hot face, hands clenching at her sides, or hugging her own torso, palms occasionally slapping lightly against her cheeks or forehead, cursing to herself. That had been so stupid!

She'd—what did she do wrong? She started it so, so why couldn't she just finish—?! She growled to herself and turned into a bat, letting simple thoughts like wind patterns and bugs and cold and gravity be her concerns instead of the thoughts of what came after a zing.


. . .


They got ready to travel some time in the early morning, before the sun rose, and it was incredibly awkward.

Flushed faces, dodging glances, dark eyes and bed head for the both of them meant that neither party was quite ready to seriously discuss the events that caused those things. Jonathan quickly charted a route for them, being helped by Mavis's 'vamp sight', which wasn't easy for her with such a big, unknown territory. They actually managed to pinpoint a city called Al Barsha, pretty nearby, which would be about two days' travel on Johnny's feet. From there they could get to the Nile, and it'd be smooth sailing from there. Hah, pun.

Mavis's eyes were a distant, icy blue as she scanned past the horizons to places Johnny couldn't see. He knew it was a vampire power thing, but it still made him uneasy. Then she blinked, her eyes going back to their gentler blue, and grinned, "Camel." she mentioned simply. He brightened up, all awkwardness for the moment forgotten. "Camel?!" She nodded, and he whooped, "Caaameeel!"


. . .


Hunting a camel was tricky. The beasts were crafty and condescending, pretending to ignore you until they'd step to the side or kick with a hoof when you thought you caught them unawares. Plus, they always smelled funny. Johnny managed to get on one, and rode it like a rodeo bull before little bat Mavis clutched to its face, staring at its eyes. The vampire mind trick typically worked better with humans, since human and vampire brains were pretty much the same, language barriers aside, but Mavis managed. Soon a much more docile camel, who they learned was named Nekonkh, was content to speed the journey along with the obligatory promise to him of wheat and fresh grasses. "Thanks for translating the Arabic, by the way." Mavis mentioned, flying alongside the camel as it galloped with Jonathan and their backpacks on its back. He shrugged, grinning goofily as the ride continuously jostled him. "How many languages do you know?" she asked, curious.

"Let's just say..." Jonathan said thoughtfully, "That I know enough of any of 'em to get me in trouble. I once called this guy 'Mr. Stinky Fish Face' on accident and was banned from Hong Kong for a while. Not quite sure why, well, I knew why, obviously, but I mean, why can't people be cool? I dunno. But anyway, I've learned better since then. Trial and error, that's one of my mah-toes!"

"Hong Kong?" she asked, laughing.

"Oh, you'll dig it! I'm sure they'll let me back in by the time we get there."

That made her laugh again.

They both blinked as they noticed the air was getting lighter, and Mavis rolled to the ground in human form, rubbing her hands against her arms uncomfortably, feeling her skin warm up almost like a rash. "Time's up." she grimaced. "Aw, geez, hold on, I got this!" Jonathan said, vaulting off the camel, who waited patiently as he rummaged through their backpacks. She pouted, even as her shoulder smoked slightly, and she moved into the camel's shadow. Jonathan held up the black bundle triumphantly, fortunately from her backpack, and they worked on sun-proofing Mavis. It was sort of like a burqa, and sort of like a traditional head wrap. When they were done, she was cloaked head-to-toe in the black robe, her pale blue eyes peeking out through the thin slit of the head wrap, and they did not look happy.

"I look ridiculous." she stated flatly, muffled.

"You look cool," Johnny replied, helping her up on the camel, "Like Sheik, Zelda, whoever, meets a ninja and they go all Prince of Persia on the place. Or maybe Assassin's Creed. Anyhow, to anyone around here this thing is totally normal."

"Like who?" she asked as he settled in behind her, and the camel trumped along, "Gah. It's hot in this thing, I can barely move or see. I seriously think I'll go crazy if we keep having to do this."

"We'll be fine once we hit the town, plenty of shadows," he assured her, patting her shoulder through the lumpy cloth, "And don't worry, if you do go crazy, you can share my straitjacket any time." Mavis gave the face-hiding thing credit for at least, well, hiding her face. She was sure she looked super sunburnt, and not from the sun. Jonathan mistook her silence with a laugh, "Yeah, that was pretty corny..."

They trekked for a while more in relative silence before they both agreed they'd have better chances travelling at night. This time Jonathan set up the two tents together, to make a sort of living room to pass the time in or rest, while keeping Mavis out of direct sunlight. The camel parked beside them, content to rest and think...think camel thoughts, who knew. Strangely enough, even when the sun was finely filtered through the tent mesh, Mavis was fine. Johnny still draped a few cloths over the tents to make it more shadowy, just in case. After the awkwardness, it was actually fun. Johnny told her tales about childhood pillow forts and tree forts, pretend rilvalries and battles, and she told him about roosting places and belfries, solo explorations, which led to stories about bell towers, discussion of a mutual fascination for Gothic architecture, the music that went with it, and then everything in-between.

"Notre-Dame de Paris," Jonathan decided at one point, saluting with a ballpoint pen in the air, lying on his back against his backpack as a crude couch, "When we go around again I'm totally taking us to Notre-Dame de Paris."

"Looking forward to it." she chuckled, as she always said when he mentioned a new destination.

"I mean," he glanced at her, "It'd be my second time going there, but a first time's always special, right?" He grinned as she stared, she not saying anything, and he went on, "I look forward to you seeing all this stuff, man, it's...it'll be awesome..."

She flushed slightly, looking away, "Yeah..."


Author's note: An experiment on explicitness that will be finished in the next chapter due to length. Please pardon my deviation from my other works, if those were what you were following. I will be updating soon, I just wanted to play around a little. And who doesn't want to play around a little? Reviews are appreciated, as this was my 'first time' writing intimacy with that much detail. Keep calm and carry coffee!

Sincerely, the hatchling