CHAPTER 3

We were on the fourth floor. I would have liked taking the stairs. It would have been so much quicker but Keana was here so we had to take the slowest elevator on the planet. When we finally got to our room door, I dropped my bag to look for the key. "Back pocket," Bryce said. He put his hand in my back pocket, took out the key, and opened the door. Keana ran into the room, dropped her bag on the first bed, and ran into the bathroom. She almost slammed the door as Bryce and I walked into the room.

"I'm taking my shower first," she yelled from the bathroom.

"Go ahead," I yelled as Bryce and I dropped our stuff on the second bed. I looked at Bryce and smiled.

"What?"

"Nothing… So, you use to work here?"

He giggled a little. "Yeah. It's changed a lot," he said as he looked around the room. "This is the room I turned in." he came and sat next to me. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. He put his arm around me.

"I can go ask for a different room if that's what you want."

"No. I requested this room. The day I changed was the second best day of my life." I looked at him confused. "The day I met you is my first." He looked at me sweetly.

"We're not leaving any sooner just because you're a kiss-ass." His smile faded a little bit.

"You know me too well." He started laughing. He took the remote off the table in-between the beds and turned on the T.V. He leaned back against the pillow and I put my head on his chest. I didn't even know what we were watching, and I really didn't care.

"Happy birthday, baby. I love you." He put his arm around me again and tightened his grip on me.

"I love you, too." After that, it didn't take me long to fall asleep. It felt like as soon as I fell asleep I was hungry. I hated having random urges for blood. I got up to go look in my bag. I lightly took Bryce's arm off of me and got out of the bed. The T.V. was off and the small light coming from the window and the only light was the blinking clock. It read: 12:14. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was right. The clock now said 12:15. I had been asleep for three hours, almost. I walked over to my suitcase to look for a blood bag. I couldn't even smell one. I went to look through Bryce's. Nothing. Of all things I could forget to pack. How do I forget the second most important thing in my life?

"Shit!" I covered my mouth as soon as I said it. I looked at Bryce. He was still sleeping and so was Keana. I quickly put my shoes on since I hadn't changed and walked to the stairs then to the lobby. The clerk at the desk was sleeping. He smelt so good right now. I knocked on the desk. The clerk instantly jumped out of his chair. He looked around the room and then back at me.

"Can I help you?" He yawned and then put his head in his hand and leaned on the desk.

"Yes, actually, you can." He looked up at me. "What's the Bryce Salvatore Legend?"

He face lit up into a smile. "Okay, well, in 1864, there was this big war type of thing going on. Mystic Falls was being controlled by vampires." He sounded very excited to tell me about this. He probably felt so smart that he knew about this. "Well, there was this guy, Bryce Salvatore. His parents didn't want him because they already had two sons and he was born by mistake." My face fell from a smile into a concerned look. Bryce never told me that he had brothers. "So, they gave him up for adoption. He was adopted by the Romero's. He never found out he was adopted or his real last name until he was, like, 18." O.M.G.! That' so sad! Poor Bryce! No wonder he hates it here. "At the time he was having an affair with a girl named Katherine, um, something or other, but anyway, at the same time she was having an affair with the two Salvatore brothers. She was said to be a vampire. Well, he use to work here because his family was poor when really the Salvatore's were one of the founding families so they were extremely wealthy. But anyway, He was celebrating his birthday here with Katherine, in room 413 to be exact. Isn't that the room you're staying in?" He looked at me with confused eyes. We actually were staying in room 413. I nodded my head and the clerk continued. "Okay, well, it is said that Katherine "killed" Bryce in that room on his birthday and when he woke up as a vampire, Katherine told him about his family and everything. Then he killed his parents and vanished. But, it's said that he still visits every once in a while. His picture is somewhere on that wall," he said as he pointed to the wall of employee photos. I looked at the wall and back at the clerk.

"What's your name?"

He smiled at me and held out his hand. "I'm Bravery Woods." I shook his hand and returned his smile.

"It's nice to meet you. I use to have a cousin named Bravery. I haven't seen him in a long time, though. He had four older sisters." I remembered the last time I saw him. It was the day I turned. And my little sister Phoenix was holding him. And Journey, my baby, was kissing him. I felt a tear about to go down my cheek. "I'm Alexis. I'll see you later. Thank you for telling me the story," I said as I walked out the doors to the hotel.