(VPOV)

Henry and I were on our way to my house after school and I could tell something was bothering him. For almost two whole weeks he seems to be distancing himself from me, and he has been quiet all day. He won't even look me in the eye. I figured he was stressed out from school and since it was Friday we could just relax and hang out over the weekend, then Henry would be back to normal.

Man, was I way off.

We made it to my house and I was about to walk up the porch steps Henry called me back. "Vlad I have to tell you something"

He sounded.......nervous? But why would Henry be nervous with me, we're best friends. Something must really be bothering him.

"What's wrong Henry?" But he just stared at his feet. "Whatever it is you can tell me."

He looked up and met my gaze, then blurred out, "I don't want to be your drudge anymore."

I stood there a moment, shocked. What I saw in Henry's eyes scared me, he didn't just not want to be my drudge anymore. He didn't want to be friends anymore.

All of a sudden my insides felt twisted and my chest ached. I felt like I was slowly been torn apart from the inside, here I am about to lose my best friend and he just stands there with a bored, blank expression. Like I'm not worth his time. I swallowed the lump in my throat before replying and forced myself to smile.

"It's ok Henry you know I never thought of you that way, it was always your choice. You're no ones slave."

Henry breathed out a sigh of relief and a small smile touched his lips. "Thanks, well I better get home. Bye."

I watched until Henry was completely out of sight before I turned around and dragged my feet up the steps of the porch to the front door. I fished the keys out of my pocket and unlocked the door. As I stepped inside I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, threatening to spill over. I clenched my eyes shut, refusing to cry and took long deep breaths till I felt myself calm down. When I opened my eyes all traces of tears were gone.

I sat on the couch with my head hung low. No more Henry. No more losing at video games or sleepovers or pulling Halloween pranks or constant rambling about how good a kisser Stephanie's sister was, yep no more Henry. I'm all alone. The ach in my chest was making an upcoming return.

Then my head shout strait up. I'm not alone, I have Aunt Nelly and Meredith and Uncle O....well no not Otis. He's on the run again and I haven't heard from him in over a month. But yes Meredith will help me survive school and Nelly will always be there when I come home. I smiled softly as I lay down on the couch, feeling my heart swell with hope.

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"Vlad I'm home." Nelly called sounding happy and excited. I sat up from the couch still feeling drowsy and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I guess I dozed off .

"Vlad there's this new nurse at the Hospital named Amy and she is just soooo nice and funny. Not to mention smart, she just moved into town and ........." Yeah so Nelly just continued to talk about her new friend and I tried to listen but I was too distracted with this Henry problem I had, I don't mean to sound selfish or rude or anything but at the moment I could care less about Amy what's her face.

"So what do you think ?" Nelly asked as she came to stand beside me while swinging her purse onto her shoulder. Oh crap what did she just say?

"I'm sorry Nelly I didn't hear that last part. I'm still a little tired." Nelly smiled sweetly before repeating herself. "I said that Amy asked if I wanted to see a movie tonight and I said yes. That's alright with you isn't it?"

I stared at her, of course it wasn't alright with me. I really needed Nelly right now, but when I looked into her eyes I couldn't bear burdening her with my problems and ruining her happy-go-lucky attitude. Besides Nelly was always doing things for me and hardly got to do anything or go anywhere for herself. And I guess when you think about it my problem wasn't really that important. I smiled at my aunt.

"Of course, go have fun. I'll be alright."

"Thanks, I probably won't be home till late so get in bed on time and do your homework." Nelly said as she walked out the door. "I will, have fun." But Nelly was already gone I was once again alone in this dark, lonely house.

I couldn't talk to Henry and I couldn't talk to Nelly, so I decided to go see the only two people I knew who would never leave me, even in death, Mom and Dad.

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As I started to approach the belfry I could feel all my tension melting away. Every time I come here I always feel safe. I looked around to make sure no one was there to see me before floating up the four stories to my sanctuary.

I took the candles from my bag and placed them in the old candle sticks I kept there before taking my lighter from beside the window and lit them. Bringing life to this dark space.

I sat down in my fathers old office chair and felt the soft leather mold around my body while I pulled out my family album and opened it to the picture of my Dad cupping my mothers swollen, pregnant belly. I smiled to myself knowing that even though all of Elysia hated me and that there was no way for my parents to know how I would turn out when I was born, that they loved me anyway.

"I'm so confused," I said to them, "I always thought Henry and me would be friends forever, that someday... if he wanted, I would turn him into a vampire and we would have the same lasting friendship that Dad and Uncle Otis had. But I guess I was wrong, I wish Otis was here. It still makes me mad that he is always running away because of me. The fact that I ruined his life in Elysia and made him a wanted criminal." I sighed heavily, it felt good to let all of this bottling stress out.

"I wish had been born human like you Mom, but if I was would Otis have ever cared about me at all? Would Henry have been my friend for so long if I hadn't bitten him and made him my drudge? Would D'Ablo still come after me? I will never know. I just....I just really wish you guys were here, you would help me. You would know what to do, you always did. I miss you so much."

I was choking back tears by then as I stroked the picture lovingly before closing the album and carefully setting it on the ground next to me.

I really did blame myself for Otis's problems, whenever he talked about running from Elysia or when he said '"...I broke many laws by helping you. The punishment, should they catch me, would be a most painful death."' I felt quilt twisting my insides. I do wish I could do SOMETHING for my uncle instead of just being dead weight to him.

I leaned back in my fathers chair and closed my eyes. I suddenly wanted to be back home, and I felt to tired to walk all the way back but I knew I would have too. I sighed softly to myself and started to picture myself laying on the soft grass in my back yard. Just lying there looking at the stars with no worries at all. I could see it so clearly and I desperately wanted to be there.

Then I felt like I was falling and I opened my eyes to see little clouds of black smoke before I couldn't see at all, and I continued to fall.

When everything cleared up I looked around and saw...my backyard!

I felt grass beneath me and I turned around to my house, I saw the light I had left on in the kitchen, I saw my bedroom window, the back porch... everything!

I pinched myself on the arm, hard. "Ow" I yelped. I definitely wasn't dreaming. I couldn't have just... could I have? No, it was impossible even for a vampire. But still.......

Then I had an idea, I started picturing myself back in the belfry. Sitting in my father's chair in the four story building. I pictured it until I could almost feel the soft leather under my fingertips, hear the old floorboards squeak under my sneakers, smell its stuffy attic smell.

Then suddenly black smoke started clouding my vision and once again I seemed to be falling into nothing.

Seconds later the smoke began to clear I could see that I was back in my sanctuary, once again sitting in my fathers chair. I took a few deep breaths before slowly sliding out of the chair and placing my feet on the floor. I moved with unnecessary slowness, but I was still unsure weather all this was real, or if my aunt was going to half to put me in a strait jacket and take me to 'the place'.

I picked up my bag, blew out the candles and placed them in my bag. One more time, I thought to myself. Shaking, I clutched my bag to chest and pictured myself in my room. The soft carpet under my toes, the gentle breeze coming in threw my open window, seeing the pile of clothes in corner of my room.

The same terrifying black smoke came back, and I fell....no I literally fell. The black smoke made me nervous and I fell forward. But the smoke clouded all my vision and I didn't feel any impact.

Until a moment later when I fell on the carpet next to my bed with a loud "Uff"

I couldn't believe it, did I just....teleport? Was this some kind of vampire power? What the hell just happened?

I couldn't move till I heard the front door open. Nelly was home. I swore under my breath and immediately kicked off my shoes and jeans before crawling into bed. Only then did I look at my clock and see it was 3:00 in the morning. If it took Nelly this long to come home she MUST have had a good time.

Then I realized that my bedroom light was still on, I groaned. I really didn't want to have to get up. I reached my arm out and extended my index finger, pretending I could turn it off from here, and flipped my finger down.

Just as I did the light switch went down and the lights went out.

That was enough. I yanked the covers over my head, like a small child afraid of the dark, and went to sleep.