1. Drinks & dances

Katie leaned her head in her hand as she looked down upon the paper in front of her. She was not sure what she expected to see, but she felt like the events from the day before would somehow have been noticed. She expected to see a note, somewhere in the paper, telling everyone what had happened. Telling them of the strange and terrible things she had gone through.

But of course, she realised after taking a second round through the paper, there was none. Like she knew it wouldn't be.

Downing the last of her now cold tea, she rose from the table, putting the cup in the dishwasher before leaving. Jenny and her husband, Alex, was still sleeping, and she was to sneak away before they woke.
She had had such troubles falling asleep the night before, due to nightmares and thoughts spinning around her head. And now, this morning, she had woke at 5 am by a crying baby.

She sighed, as she pulled her coat on. However cute the couple's little 3 month old baby was, she knew she would not be able to stand living in the same house as it for long.

She had always been that way. She loved babies, of course, but she had never liked the thought of neither living in the same house as one, nor having one herself. She had a feeling that was also one of the reasons to Tom losing his patience with her. She did not want to settle down and have children.

Not yet. She was still young. She did not want to settle down and get that life everyone else wanted. Not now. She still had nine years until she was 30. She had so much time left.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she picked up her bag and headed out the door. The chilly morning air swept over her face, and she took a few deep breaths as she started down the street.

She knew one good thing with living at Jenny's house, and that was that she could now walk to work. She did not need to take the bus nor train there ever again. She could walk and enjoy the mornings and evenings.

Smiling to herself, she pushed her hands into her coat pockets and sped up her pace, totally unaware of the tall man watching her from a dark car. Not even when he got out and directed his dark, hungry eyes towards her slim body, she noticed him.

And he left her alone, like he was told to do, so she never knew he had been there at all.

"What do you say about going out tonight?" George looked towards Mitchell, where his friend stood, sorting towels for the patients. "It was ages since the last time and it's Friday after all. What do you say?"

"Well..." Mitchell shrugged his shoulders and thought for a moment, leaning against a shelf. "I suppose it couldn't hurt." He really wasn't feeling like it, but he knew that he probably was going to enjoy it when they actually went out. Like George had said, it had been a very long time since the last one.

"Brilliant!" His friend grinned widely. "Let's meet up at home and fresh up a bit, and then head out somewhere. Maybe Annie want to join, too." Mitchell smiled at this.

"I doubt it. She's not much for going out. You know, with the whole 'nobody can see me'-thing." He shrugged his shoulders, trying not to think of the events of the day before. That woman, Katie, was not someone George would have to worry about too. They were probably not even going to see her again, no matter what Annie had to say about it.

"We can at least ask her." George smiled, knowing by the thoughtful look on Mitchell's face that he was hiding something from him.

"Yeah, I suppose." Mitchell nodded, before lifting a pile of towels and preparing to leave. "I'll see you later, then." George nodded and waved towards his friend as he left. He was going to find out whatever secret there was. He knew it.

"Are you done?" Danielle jumped excitedly on the spot, as she watched her friends. Jenny was still seated by her mirror, while Katie was leaning tiredly against the wall, obviously bored.

"One more minute." Jenny pulled the lid off of her lipstick, staring at herself in the mirror while she applied it.

"You have said that for ten minutes now. Just come on." Katie sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. She was thankful for her friends wanting to come out with her, but sometimes they were slower than slugs. Especially Jenny.

She had always been the slowest, ever since they had first met in school, and it seemed marrying and becoming a mother had made her slower than ever.

"Looking good takes time, my dear friend." Jenny smiled, noticing very well how her friends rolled their eyes behind her back. "I'm just making sure I look better than you too, no matter if I'm married or not." She waved her left hand against them, the rings sparkling in the light from the lamp by the mirror.

"Oh shut up." Katie sighed, running a hand through her dark hair as she left the room. She could hear her friends continue chatting inside, while she headed down the stairs to the hall. She needed some air.

The stars sparkled brightly above her head, as she headed down the path from the house to seat herself on the low wall before it.

Autumn rested in the air, and she shivered as she sat down and pulled her coat closer around her. Wearing a dress and thin leggings had turned out not to be the best choice.

Looking over the street and all the silent buildings, her eyes found their way to the house of Annie and Mitchell. She could see people moving inside, their forms creating shadows against the light.

For a short moment, she wondered what they were doing. What was happening in their lives? Were they making dinner? Ordering pizza? Making tea? Prepare themselves to head out somewhere?

She didn't know, and her curious mind wanted her to find out. She knew it wouldn't be smart to head over there after what had happened the night before, but this was what she was about to do when the door opened.

Against the light streaming out, she could see three people stepping outside. Their voices came softly towards her where she sat, and she squinted against the dark to make them out.

Annie was easy to spot against the three, as she was the first one to step out and her voice was the first to ring out.

After her came an unfamiliar man, whom she had never seen before and that she raised her eyebrows at. She had had the feeling that Mitchell and Annie had been living alone, but with the way the unfamiliar man closed the door and waved with a set of keys, she quickly realised he must be a resident of the house too.

Next to him, came Mitchell. The tall, strange man she found herself both scared of and strangely attracted to. She knew, as soon as his eyes found their way across the street, that he saw her through the darkness and it made shivers travel down her spine.

"Hiya!" She smiled hesitantly and waved towards them. The two men nodded towards her, but did not show any other sign of seeing her, something she found both odd and rude, but Annie's face shone up with a smile and she quickly came across the street to greet her.

"Hello there." She sat herself down on the wall beside Katie, her eyes meeting those of the other woman. "How's things?" Her honest dark eyes made Katie smile back and her feeling of discomfort about Mitchell and the other man quickly sunk away.

"Everything's sort of fine, I suppose." She shrugged her shoulders, noticing in the corner of her eye how the two men had stopped, their eyes directed towards them. She supposed they were just waiting for Annie, but she could not help but to feel unsettled by it. "How about you?"

"I'm good. We are heading out to take a few drinks. Or, well, George and Mitchell are. I'm just tagging along." Annie's way of speaking, so quickly and happily, made Katie's head spin and she had to look at the other woman closely to be able to keep her focus.

"Ah, well, same here." Katie smiled quickly. "I'm just waiting for my friends. They are very slow today, by some reason." She sighed and leaned her chin in her hand.

"Well, you could always come along with us and they could come when they are done? If you don't mind?" Annie had suddenly jumped to her feet and nodded across the street. "Just send them a text or something." Her bright smile and honest expression, made it hard for Katie to refuse and after thinking for a moment, also she rose and nodded.

"Why not?" She pulled out her phone from her pocket and wrote a quick text to Jenny, telling her what was happening. She was sure they would not mind her heading away earlier.

When she looked up, Annie had already crossed the street and was talking to Mitchell and the other man, George. None of them looked very exited about her news and Katie almost regretted her choice of coming along.

But by the way Annie excitedly pulled her along down the street and spoke happily to her, she knew she was going to enjoy it. If Mitchell and George were going to be grumpy about her joining, then she was not going to pay them any attention. She had Annie until her friends came and she was happy with that. Cause Annie was nice enough.

"What is it really that you don't like about that Katie?" George leaned back in his chair and raised his eyebrows towards Mitchell. "She seems really nice and not to mention that she looks pretty good. I thought you were into that kind of people these days." He grinned towards the vampire, who frowned towards him.

"And what exactly do you want to imply by that? Do you want me to go back to killing again?" Mitchell hugged his glass tightly in his hands, clenching his teeth together at the thought.

"No, not at all. I just meant she seems like the kind of people you usually, you know... like." George was quick at realising that he had said the wrong things, and quickly emptied his glass to get an excuse to leave the table.

Watching his friend leave, Mitchell sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. He knew very well what George meant and knew he was right, but he did not want him to be. Katie seemed like a nice girl, of course, but he knew he could not have himself liking her. It was too risky.

Sighing again, he leaned back in his chair and let his eyes travel over the pub. It was full and dim, making it take a few seconds for him to spot Annie and Katie. They were seated by another table across the room, deep into a conversation. Katie's friends had not yet arrived and he knew that she probably must look weird to the people around her, talking to what to them was thin air.

He knew he had to do something, even though he did not want to.

"So what do you do these days?" Annie leaned her chin in her hands and watched as the other woman took a sip from her drink.

"Well, I'm a teacher. I have always been interested by writing, though and I would love to give out a book, so I'm doing a lot of writing on the side." Katie shrugged her shoulders and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"That's amazing! I've never really had the time to actually sit down and do a lot of writing myself." Annie bit her lip in thought, as if she was thinking about if she was thinking of what she could say and not. "It's a bit of a long and complicated story."

Katie raised her eyebrows and took another sip from her drink, nodding encouragingly.

"Well, as Danielle and Jenny hasn't arrived, I have all the time in the world. So go on." She watched as Annie opened her mouth in surprise, apparently not prepared for that kind of question.

"Well... I... um." Her eyes darted quickly from side to side, as if she was looking for a way out. "I think... um..." She was about to continue, when a hand gripping Katie around the wrist and pulling her up from the table, cut her short.

"Come dance with me." Mitchell's voice was quick and harsh in her ear, as he pulled her along to the dance floor and spun her around to make her face him.

"I don't want to dance." Katie tried to pull her hands out of his grip, but he would not let her go. Instead, he pulled her close and bent down to speak in her ear.

"You should at least try to dance a little. Remember what I told you about Annie yesterday? You can't speak with her in public alone either." His dark eyes met hers and she frowned, still fighting his tight grip.

"I don't understand", she murmured, ceasing her fight as a nearby couple shot them wondering looks. She did not want to make a scene with a guy she did not even know. "Why can't I do that?"

"I can't explain and I won't do it, either. You are better off not knowing." A hint of a smile came to his lips and she stared at him in shock for a moment, trying to understand what he was actually doing. Was he trying to save her or threat her even further? She was not sure and it confused her.

"Fine." She pressed her lips together and turned her eyes away from his face. He annoyed her too much for her taste.

"I believe your friend is here." He sudden voice in her ear again and his hands loosing their grip, caused her to look up and turn around. Feeling him still behind her, her eyes searched the crowd until she found Danielle's familiar face. It only took seconds for her to realise something was wrong.

Danielle's face carried a scared expression, her eyes wide as she searched for Katie. Her hair, having been brushed to silk only an hour earlier, was now a tangled heap upon her head, as if someone had pulled at it harshly.

Her pale arms and legs was covered in bruises and smaller cuts, something Katie knew had not been there when she left her friends. She would have known it.

A feeling of nausea welled through her stomach, and she found herself gripping Mitchell's shoulder for comfort. He was stiff under her fingers, obviously uncomfortable about the turn of events, but he did not pull away. Instead, he placed a careful hand on her back to give her a light push towards her friend.

"Danielle, what has happened? Where is Jenny?" Rushing towards her friend, not noticing that Mitchell followed her closely, suddenly worried, and gripped her hands. "What's going on?"

Danielle took a shaky breath, tears rising in her eyes.

"Katie... I..." Her voice broke and she shook her head slowly. "Katie, she's dead. Jenny, Alex, the baby. They are all dead."

Katie stared at her, refusing to accept what she was hearing. How could they have died? She had left not long ago.

"How?" Her voice was no more than a whisper and tears started to fall down her cheeks, slowly and silently.

"Someone attacked us. He just came and he... he killed us. All of us." Danielle dried tears of her cheeks, a sob escaping her lips.

Her friend stared at her, not understanding. How could Danielle be dead if she was standing right before her?

"You're not dead", she whispered, hugging her friend's hands tightly. It felt almost as if she was slipping. Slipping out of her hands.

"Yes, yes I am. I'm dead, Katie and they are pulling me away. I only just had the time to get to you. They are taking me away." Before her eyes, it was as if Danielle was fading and slowly, without a noise, being pulled backwards.

"Who? Who are taking you away? What's going on?" Katie felt her voice shake and crack as she spoke, but she did not care. "Danielle?" Her lips voiced the name, but no reply came. Danielle was gone. She had vanished before her eyes.

Without actually thinking, to shocked to do anything of the sort, she felt herself bury her head in Mitchell's chest, sobs escaping her lips as she cried. She was not even sure what was happening or why she was crying into a strange guy's chest, but she was. She was and there was no stopping it.

Author's note: Well, here's another part of a fanfic that didn't go as planned. I don't know what got to me, but I felt like this was the right thing to do. I hope you don't mind and that you still like it :) Right, so I hope you will give me some reviews and things like that. Cause I'm totally overwhelmed by the response on the first part and I'm so happy you liked it! I really hope I won't disappoint you with the rest :) x