I found the name of a random town to put in this story; so sorry if the details are inaccurate!
The drive to Visalia had never felt longer, Beth reflected. Driving towards Mick reminded her of that day, months ago, when he drank her blood. The memory didn't bother her – didn't make her flinch or recoil. She saved his life. Or his undeath. Whatever. And it hadn't hurt, well, barely. Only at the moment when his fangs entered her. After that, it was blissful. Like floating.
Beth shook her head and turned up the music, not wanting to drift off on the road at 3 am.
As the town came into view, Beth began to feel nervous. Mick didn't want to see her. He wouldn't have left after that amazing kiss if he did. Taking a deep breath, Beth turned down the side street that led to the derelict old house that Josef had directed her to. She climbed out of the car, pulling her long coat tighter around her. Pushing at the iron gates, she was unsurprised to find them locked. Her eyes cast around for another entrance. It was then that she noticed the creeping vines tangled up the brick wall.
"Oh, this is just way to cliché for me," she muttered, putting her foot into the perfect hold made by the vines. Beth had always been good at climbing – she was up and over the wall within a minute. Pausing for a moment at the foot of the wall, she peered up at the house, shrouded in darkness.
It was enormous – a mansion. At least three stories, it was an old stone building, clearly abandoned some time ago. A storm, or some sort of disturbance had caused the east wing to collapse on itself, giving the whole place a lopsided feel. The garden would have been magnificent, once upon a time. The remains of garden beds were just visible under the tangle of weeds and overgrown hedges. But right now the jungle themed garden was on Beth's side. She pushed her way through the foliage, being as quiet as possible, until she was barely two meters from the front doorstep.
If someone were to ask her why she was hiding, she couldn't say. Somehow, she felt like Mick would only listen to her if she got inside – and something told her he wasn't going to open the door and invite her in for a drink.
A quick survey of the house told her that Mick was no idiot – he locked all doors and windows on the ground floor. Taking one last desperate look around, almost ready to just knock, Beth noticed an open window on the second floor. It was three meters left of a balcony, but she thought she could make it between them on the uneven wall. But how to get to the balcony?
The answer was fairly simple – get the ladder out of the gardening shed, put it up against the wall and climb up. Once on the shaky ladder, Beth realised that it ended a meter below the balcony.
Which was where the rope came in handy.
Throwing it around the railing, she hauled herself up that last metre, and clambered onto the balcony. Collapsed on the floor, she waited for her body to stop trembling and for her breath to return before swinging a leg over the edge and preparing to climb to the window. Loosing her balance, Beth fell against the door leading out to the balcony she was on. Throwing out a hand to stop her fall, she accidentally hit the handle.
To her immense surprise, the door swung open.
Rolling her eyes at her own stupidity, she crept into the house and shut the door behind her. Tiptoeing on the old floorboards, Beth knew it was only a matter of time before Mick climbed out of his freezer to investigate the creaking noises. She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. Illuminated by moonlight, she jumped up and sat on the bench. Mick couldn't sneak up on her this way, and he'd realise it was her before he started with the fast movements and the blood draining. Satisfied, Beth settled down to wait.
