I'm doing my best with this story to actually give myself checkpoints and goals to reach so that I actually complete it within this century... heh.


Chapter 2

So long, I've been looking too hard,

I've been waiting too long

Sometimes I don't know what I will find,

I only know it's a matter of time

- 'Waiting for a Girl Like You', Foreigner

Dwayne wiped the viscous blood from his face on the back of his hand haphazardly; he could feel his vampiric form itching to tear into more meat, go on a full fledged rampage tonight, but he had to resist and save the rest of their meal for their brothers. The man he had drank from still had a bit left to give, but Dwayne couldn't resist kicking him again for good measure. David approached him slowly, something curious alighting his eyes.

"What was all that?" he questioned, a layer of sincerity under the amusement. Dwayne took a deep breath, cracking his neck before answering.

"Not really sure. Probably just irritable from hunger," he replied gruffly. David knew he was holding back, of course. In truth, Dwayne had no idea why he had ripped into those creeps as viciously as he had, but even now he could tell that something was off with him. He had never felt rage like this, almost as if seeing them about to take advantage of those two girls in the alley spurred on his anger. Sure they were lowlives and about to do something unspeakable to the girls, but it wasn't like Dwayne was an innocent angel. Hell, that was a laugh to even consider.

"Whatever, let's get the blood bags home. Don't want them expiring before we get there," David chose to leave it alone, which was something Dwayne appreciated. As David had created him first amongst the boys, he had been around the longest and was given a modicum more trust than the rest as a result. Dwayne reached over and grabbed two of the guys who lay moaning on the ground and hefted one over his shoulder. He caught a whiff of that girl on the thugs' clothing, the one with the fire in her eyes. His breath became shallow as he basked in her sweet scent, and if David noticed anything he said nothing about it.

As they flew, carrying their prey back to the cave, Dwayne couldn't get her image out of his mind. She looked so fragile, a pitiful human with blood singing through her veins just asking him to drink from her. Her creamy exposed flesh with labyrinths of veins running under the surface beckoned him from her torn blouse, and the thought of those men trying to mar it caused a white hot rage to blaze through him. He wanted to run his tongue across her angled, sharp features and twist his hands into her long soft hair the color of goldenrods. He sank his teeth into his bottom lip to suppress a groan, feeling both aroused and starved, as if the meal he had just gorged himself on had been nothing. He had almost forgotten what these true feelings of desperation were like. They touched down at the mouth of the cave, and immediately Paul was there with Marko in tow, grinning at the sight of three limp humans still gushing with fresh blood.

"Share with the others," David growled, as Paul had already grabbed onto one's arm and sank his teeth into him. Marko wasted no time in grabbing one from Dwayne and dragging him into the cave, his whimpers and grunts of protest completely ignored. Dwayne swatted Paul's greedy hands away as he stepped over him.

"You have one already," he snapped, following Marko into the cave to give the last one to Laddie and Star. They hadn't made their first kill yet, but they could drink from humans in small amounts now without fully turning as it helped their transition. Max wanted Laddie to age a bit more before taking him on a hunt, and Dwayne agreed with him. The youngster was a handful as it is, and having an eternal child on hand was not something the pack wanted to deal with as it would raise many questions.

Marko had taken his human straight over to where Sam was sitting, and the two of them were sharing a meal as lovingly as a pair of soul bonded bloodthirsty killers could. Disgusting, Dwayne thought fondly. He had a soft spot for Sam and Marko, but he would never show it openly. He tossed the last human over to Michael and Star, who latched onto the body with groans of delight. Laddie came running over and timidly took a bite out of the man's left arm, letting out a little squeak of happiness as the blood rushed over his lips.

"Can't wait until winter's over, man," Paul said, having returned from his meal with a surprisingly non-messy face. Normally Paul was the most ferocious eater of them all, but David must have kept him in check tonight. Hence the complaints. Dwayne said nothing, thoughts of the beautiful girl with fire in her eyes coming back into his mind unbidden.

o.o.o.o.o

Needless to say, as soon as Shay and Alexis returned home that night, Liz was frantic at their appearance and had half a mind to rush back out there and pummel those guys for touching her friends. Shay had a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn't be seeing those men ever again, however. The two men, the blonde and the one called Dwayne, they seemed to have taken care of it... which terrified her. She hated feeling like she owed any debts to others, and now she felt beholden to them in a small way. Rather than dwell on it, however, she immediately went to her room after making sure Alexis was okay. Her friend was tough, but internalized her feelings much too carefully.

Before sleeping that night, Shay set to work on consecrating her altar space and then eventually the house as a whole. Liz and Alexis had gone to bed thankfully by the time she really got to work, setting up protection spells at the windows and doors. She would finalize everything in her two friend's rooms once they were not at home, but for now she felt marginally safer with wards over the building and all the negative energy in the home banished. She spent a good twenty minutes after this in deep meditation in front of her altar, breathing in the herbs and incense she had burning as it mixed with the fragrance of her spell candles.

There was a deep energy in Santa Carla that she was unprepared for; unlike the old magic that ran through Salem, which she had tapped into over time and gotten used to, the magic of Santa Carla was wild and fierce, fresher and more dangerous. There was an underlying current of something dark there too, and Shay worried about her friends firstly as they wouldn't be able to pick up on these things as easily as she could. Sighing, she ended her ritual and decided to turn in for the night, hoping that she would have relatively peaceful dreams but not expecting too much.

Shay's dreams consisted of blurred figures and garbled frantic words, and the scent of iron overwhelmed her as she groggily pulled herself out of bed, grimacing. It seemed to be around noon, as the sun hung high in the sky streaming through her window. She needed to unpack her curtains.

"Finally up?" Alexis chirped at her as she emerged into the kitchen. She was like a whole new person as she sat at the kitchen table eating some fruit; Alexis was like that, though. Nothing much could really keep her down for long, and in fact it only made her more sarcastic and snappy in the long run. Shay yawned, but grabbed some yogurt from the fridge and sat across from her.

"What's your plan for the day then?" she asked, spooning some of the yogurt into her mouth and humming in delight.

"Got some modeling shit to take care of, new contracts and such, meeting my agent in town at the studio if you wanna come along." Alexis's career was taking off at an alarming rate, as she had already starred in three major films and had done a significant amount of modeling work. She could let it get to her head sometimes, and that bitchy side of her would come out which Shay tolerated to a point. Liz was really good at snapping her back to reality, which is why the three of them worked so well as friends. Shay finished her yogurt in a few more bites and stood back up.

"Yeah, I'll come with. Liz already left?" Shay wanted to get a feel for the town during the day, as her senses at night had brought up some pretty strange vibes. She wondered if the town was always like this, or if it only really came out with the absence of the sun.

"She went to orientation at her new job. Some diner, I think. Go get dressed, I need to be there by 1," Alexis said, and Shay threw her spoon into the dishwasher and darted back up the stairs.

It was still winter, despite their being in California, so Shay threw on a few layers of clothing just to be safe: black jeans, dark green shirt with a black and white checkered flannel over it, and her worn denim jacket. A light dusting of makeup helped her feel less insecure; Alexis's agent was extremely critical but had often complimented Shay, so she wanted to keep that image in her mind. She threw on some rings and a few necklaces which she had imbued with protective charms and calming magick: one pendant had a rough black tourmaline crystal hanging from a chain, which was an all-around fantastic repellant for negative energy and harmful frequencies. After running a brush through her hair so that it lay flat, she grabbed her bag and her boots and headed back down the stairs.

Alexis locked up, and the two of them headed into town. It was chilly but bearable, and the sun's bright rays had the both of them slipping on sunglasses and feeling much better about the city as compared to last night. In daylight, Santa Carla was a charming little beachside city, with novelty shops as well as traditional style locales, decent looking folk rummaging around the town as they went about their day, and of course a high population of odd looking individuals scattered through the streets. Misfits, but altogether harmless from what Shay was sensing. Yes, this city had an aura that drew all sorts to it, and its energy was thrilling as well as so enticing that most of these people were sure to be unable to resist its pull.

"From what she told me on the phone, it's down this street right here..." Alexis mused, linking arms with Shay and turning down one of the streets that took them off the main boardwalk and onto a sidewalk that held many sorts of establishments on either side of the road. She strode confidently up to one of the doors and pushed it open, dragging Shay inside with her.

"I don't think this is right," Shay muffled a laugh behind her hand as they stared at rows upon rows of comic books and other nerdy memorabilia. Alexis huffed, pushing her sunglasses down off her nose a bit.

"Guess not. Hard to tell the numbers on these places. Well, let's-" she whirled around to run into a tall male figure who was standing by the door. "Can I help you?" she sputtered, hand on her heart.

"Should be asking you that," the guy spoke, arms crossed over his chest. He had short, dark, almost black hair, a tan complexion, and wore army pants with a cutoff grey shirt. His eyes were deep brown and they currently were trained suspiciously on Alexis. She raised her eyebrows, clearly unimpressed.

"Do you work here or something?" she asked with narrowed eyes. "If you do, it's rude to sneak up on potential customers like that, I nearly had a heart attack."

"Too bad you didn't," the guy snorted, and Alexis's moth dropped open into a small 'o' of surprise.

"Hey!" she snapped, but another voice cut off any next quips she had planned to fire off.

"You girls need something, or are you just here to waste our time?" this voice was deep and gravelly, and Shay whipped around to meet another pair of deep brown eyes staring inscrutably straight at her. This guy was tall, with a hard face framed by dirty blonde shaggy hair. He had it pulled back off his face slightly by way of a red bandana, and wore black army pants tucked into heavy boots. His white shirt had a faded image of some sort on it, so faded that Shay couldn't make it out. He sported a worn looking green jacket and was carrying a stack of comic books which he set down heavily on the front counter. Shay couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something that caused her skin to erupt in goosebumps after making eye contact with this guy.

"We came into the wrong building. Honest mistake. Sorry," she cut across what she was sure was going to be a real zinger from Alexis. Red bandanna guy stared at her for a beat, then huffed.

"Where do you need to go?" he asked gruffly. Shay blinked, surprised by his complacency.

"Um, not sure of the building number or anything... We're looking for her agency."

"Oh, the modeling place? Yeah, it's across the street," the other male replied, much less intimidating now as he came around to stand next to the other. Despite seeming close in age, Shay could tell that he was older perhaps by a few years. The one with the bandanna, however... his aura pulsed and vibrated with something Shay had never felt before. The gooseflesh persisted, and she was thankful for her jacket.

"Right. Thanks, I guess. Come on, Shay," Alexis snapped, turning on her heel and heading for the door. The tanned one smirked a bit, watching her leave with an amused expression. Shay cast one more glance at the guy with the red bandanna before following after Alexis, her heart pounding. Santa Carla was going to be rough on her, that's for sure. As they crossed the street and found Alexis's agency, Shay paused at the inside of the doorway for a breather, to gather herself. All these energies swirling around were a lot to take in at once, and she would need to find the closest supplier of herbal tea blends in order to calm herself every night. Maybe she'd recharge her crystals while she was at it.

"Shay, I'm gonna be in this room with Pam, okay? Come on in whenever," Alexis called out to her before heading into one of the doors down the hallway. Shay took the crystal pendant around her neck in her hand, muttering a small calming spell as she twisted it between her fingers. Why was her heart still racing? Forcing herself to take in her surroundings a bit, she darted into the bathroom and used spatial orientation to find her north and center. Holding the crystal in her hand, Shay rummaged around in her bag and found a small pouch which contained a few essentials in case she might need them, including a small white spell candle. Placing it on the counter in front of her, she waved her hand over it and lit it, keeping the crystal warm in her other hand. Those keen brown eyes kept floating unbidden into her mind, and her arms erupted into goosebumps again. Get it together, Shay! She began to murmur a soft chant.

"The Light of protection I carry is strong;

No ill wishes, or trouble can come along.

You cannot harm me, or weaken my soul,

My light is my weapon and peace is my goal."

Shay repeated this chant three times, ending her spell with "So mote it be." Opening her eyes, she stared into her own reflection in the mirror. Shay felt herself very unremarkable, though her friends had often told her she was quite pretty in her own way. An oval face framed by warm brown straight hair, sunkissed by some faded blonde highlights; worried green eyes with a smattering of freckles across a nose she felt was too large and 'witchy' at times for her own liking. Her lips were plump, and she had a decent complexion, though much too pale for sunny California. Shay was jealous of Liz and her beautiful caramel-cocoa skin at times, since her own pallor reminded her of a corpse. Fitting for a witch, she supposed.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, she let the crystal pendant fall back against her clothes and extinguished the candle. She meandered back over to the hallway, sticking her head into the room where Alexis sat poring over contracts with her agent.

"Almost done, Shay, just gotta check over this last one..." she mumbled, and Shay waved her hand.

"No rush, take your time. We can get lunch after you're through or something." Her stomach whined in protest at that very moment, and Alexis let out a small laugh. She nodded over a few more pages with Pam, and then signed her name with a flourish across the final paper and pushed it over to the agent. Standing up, she pulled her overlarge sunglasses over her eyes before strutting over to Shay.

"Let's go visit Liz at work, shall we?"

They headed back towards the boardwalk, as the diner was on the main strip facing the ocean. They passed a few groups of excitable teens still on winter break, some who seemed to recognize Alexis but were too intimidated to approach. Finally arriving at the diner, they pushed the door open and immediately spotted Liz seated at one of the barstools talking with another girl in a server's uniform. She noticed them and waved, but stayed focused in her conversation. Shay led Alexis towards an open booth and they slid in, facing each other. A few moments later, Liz and the other server (whose name-tag read Janet) approached and Liz slid into the booth next to Alexis as Janet handed them menus.

"Decided to finally join the world of the living, Shay?" Liz joked, and Shay made a face at her.

"Listen, we had a rough night, and I drove all day. Cut a girl some slack!" she cut back, and Liz burst into laughter.

"I'm teasing, girl, I know! My treat for lunch then, I suggest the All-American burger or the Pancake combo from what I've tried..." Liz began to point out options from the menu as Alexis squinted at it looking for vegetarian options. The door to the diner opened with a jingle of the bell, and Shay paid it no mind as she salivated over the thought of a pile of fluffy pancakes and crispy bacon. She felt a presence tingling at her left, however, and before she could look up, a gruff voice spoke at the end of the table.

"Room for two more?"