Chapter Two

Sometime past the afternoon, I awoke from a fitful sleep and took a few deep breaths to myself. My little hide out in the Cave was dark, so I grabbed the torch beside my bed and shone it around. My dream had been a familiar one. I dreamed of my Parents. A melody came into my head, an old lullaby from a film about a British Nanny. My Mom always used to sing it to me when I was younger. In the dream, I had dreamt of one Christmas, in our old house, all the way up in Boston. The snow had been thick that year.

I hadn't seen snow in almost 4 years now. I was about 11 last time I saw snow.. I shone the torch upwards and fumbled around, before finding an old seashell. I had found it ages ago and it was one of the few things I had from my past life with me. I held it up to my ear and heard the soft sound, similar to the sea. It calmed me down immediately.

From what I could see from the watch by my bed, it was a little after 4:00 in the afternoon. I suppose hanging with vampires takes a toll on your sleep pattern. Yawning and running a hand through my hair, I slipped out of bed and changed out of my pajamas.

As I was lacing up my boots, I wondered what I should do to kill the time. Normally if I was awake in the daytime, I would take a long walk around the outside of the cave. But I did not feel like that. So instead, I thought I could probably go to the Board Walk and see if that small bookshop has any more books in there.

Seeing that everyone was asleep, I scribbled a quick note and left. I had to go the long way around, due to the other way being too dangerous. It was probably a 20 minute walk to the Board walk, but the sun was shining beautifully so it did not really bother me. I suppose Paul was right, I probably could not live without the sun. But still, the idea of never growing old seemed appealing.

Walking along the board walk, I saw a variety of characters. The usual lot. Bikers, Punks, Hookers, Wanna-be Rockstars. You name it, the board walk has them. I decided to pay a visit to the video shop. We all knew the owner. Something about David knowing him, I was not sure. All I knew was that the owner was a friend. Max, the owner, was never present in the day time. He worked the night shift. I did not know much about him. Tina, his assistant greeted me.

"Hello Love. How are you?" She smiled. Tina had awesome pink hair and this amazing tattoo of a pin up girl down her arm.

"I'm alright. Hows business?"

"As good as it can get. What are you plans for today then?"

We chatted for a few minutes, and she gave me one of the lollipops that Max kept on the counter. I bid her goodbye, as I could see that there were customers waiting.

Walking up the north of the Board walk, I sucked the lollipop and contemplated on what I should do for the remainder of the day. I knew that later on, I had convinced Paul to take me for a ride, after he had fed. I just had to wait around until then.

"Hey sugar." A rough hand grabbed a hold of my arm. "What is a pretty young thing doing here alone?" I wiggled out of his grip and leered at the person who had grabbed me. "C'mon Princess. Pretty girls smile."

"And pretty girls fight. Dirty" I said, aiming a kick in his shins. The man fell and I used that moment to run and hide. I decided to hide in the same shop, I'd chosen last night. I slipped in and his behind a display, as I heard the man cursing and stumbling past me. I sighed and let myself relax. I decided that I would mention it to Paul later. Paul always loved a free meal.

"Well you gonna stare? Or are you gonna buy anything?"

"Cause if you are not, then get out."

I turned to the source of the voices who were shouting at me. Two boys were staring at me from behind a rack of magazines. They were similar in height. One had dark hair and dog tags, and another one had long hair with a bandanna.

I smiled at them and held my hands up. "Whoa. OK. Excuse me for hiding in here so I don't end up on the next missing persons poster." The two boys just looked at me. OK. Guess humor was not their thing. I scanned around the shop and my gaze stopped on a stack of comic books. The cover of one had this awful picture of a stereotypical vampire on the front. I tried to imagine the boys wearing the high collar capes and the suits. It brought a chuckle up from my throat.

"So, you find Vampires, amusing do you?" Bandanna boy asked.

"Not really, ever seen a pissed off Vampire?" I shrugged "Because they are not amusing then." I smiled as I remembered a beautiful incident that involved David, Dwayne and fire. To this day, I cherish the memory.

The boy with dog tags did not looked impressed.

"Vampires are not something to be laughed about little girl" He handed over the comic. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm pretty sure I'm probably older than you." I challenged him.

"Whatever. Take it, who knows, it might save your life..." He passed the magazine onto me. I eyed them both. Strange boys. Cute, yet very strange.

"You'd better go little girl, Vampires love prey like you.."

I shook my head. "You guys, you're really strange. But I'll take the comic. Not everyday I get handed free things." I looked down at the comic. I'd pass it over to Laddie. He loved comic books. I nodded to both boys and walked out of the shop. I heard them mumbling behind me, but it was too low to hear.

"What weird boys." I mused to myself, flicking through the comic book. I pursed my lips as I thought about them. "Oh well. Maybe if they keep giving me free comics, I'll happily go back."


"Lena. There you are. We were worried."

"I left a note though!" I called as I entered the cave, comic book clutched in hand.

"Next time, tell someone in person." Marco called from his usual perch. "You said you would be back before sunset."

"Sorry. Got held up by some supposed vampire hunters or whatever." I threw the book over to Laddie. "Here. Free comic from that store. Apparently, show an interest or humor vampires and you get a free comic book." I sat on the couch and crossed my legs. "So what are the plans for tonight? I have not eaten yet."

"You." David pointed. "Are on babysitting duties. We need Star."

"But Paul promised me I could go for a ride with him!" I whined to David. I had been looking forward to this for months.

"I'm sorry. But this is important. It is not every day tourists come to Santa Carla." Paul smiled.

"They come every damn day!" I complained.

"But these are special ones. Royalty." David's eyes lit up. "So we need Star for this. And that means, we can not keep an eye on Laddie either. So get babysitting."

I grumbled to myself. "Fine. But can I have 50$? I wanna get us something that probably will not give me heart failure by the time I am 25 years old!"


Updated: 15/07/2015