He didn't know about the other two occupants of the truck, but Jerry felt absolutely fantastic! It had been a great day [night] for him thus far. He had gotten the chance to indulge in a little fast food, courtesy of an unfortunate jogger, and his meal even came with a free iPod! Afterwards, Jerry got to go on a little run of his own, chasing after Ed's little girlfriend, filling him with all the pride and smugness found in the average casual runner. He was even tempted to get a FitBit, but even he could see that it was a pointless and overpriced piece of junk. That aside, in contrast to Ed's current less-than-pleasant attitude, Jerry was an absolute ray of sunshine this evening.
Ed, however, sat solemnly in the passenger seat, pouting, but Jerry paid no mind to his childe's woes; after all, he'd feel much better as soon as they got back to Vegas. Really, young Edward had no reason to be upset, in fact, Jerry was almost surprised the kid wasn't elated. After all, they had gotten the girl; so their little adventure hadn't proved fruitless, a factor which only served to brighten Jerry's mood, however, during her capture she had gotten a chance to share a few choice words before Jerry got around to gagging her, and while they had no effect on the elder vampire, having already heard it all before, Ed appeared to be hanging off of every word.
The "angelic being" Ed had been ranting about for what felt like ages had turned out to just be an average girl, not that Jerry minded all that much. He didn't honestly believe that Ed had scored some kind of gorgeous supermodel, the way he'd made her seem, but he could already tell that she must have a great personality because she was already doing one of his favorite things, which was being compliant during this god forsaken drive. Of course he had cautioned her already that she had no hope of escaping him, as demonstrated during their pleasant game of cat and mouse in the woods not too long ago, and she had been relatively understanding when he explained that if she even tried, after all the effort it took to get to California and subsequently kidnap her, he was going to break several of her bones and personally use her as a portable blood supply for the next year. She hadn't said a word since. Smart girl. Not that she really could, considering that he had taped her mouth shut, but she hadn't made an attempt to talk or complain so that was still worth some praise… or perhaps concern.
Ed was a mixture of anger and sorrow. He had finally gotten to meet the girl of his dreams irl, and now she hated him. After all that they had been through, after all of their shared virtual adventures, how could everything have gone so wrong? This was Jerry's fault; all of it. Hell, his entire short vampiric existence was Jerry's fault too. That was the root of the problem right there, but that was something that Ed could forgive. What he couldn't forgive was that the man had the worst possible timing. If Jerry had given him some time to explain the situation to Melanie, then she wouldn't have freaked out the way she did when he showed right the fuck up out of nowhere covered in blood. That way, she wouldn't have run screaming into the woods, which, Ed had to admit, was a perfectly rational human response to the situation. Of course, despite his protests, Jerry gave chase. Because that would definitely make the situation so much better. That was sarcasm. It didn't. In fact, as if things were enough of a disaster, during her panicked sprint through the woods, Melanie had found the leftovers of Jerry's "meal", and quickly extrapolated that she would be next. Did he forget to mention that the only reason she even saw the body in the first place was because she had tripped over it while Jerry was chasing her? It's all about the details.
Ed was afraid to look behind his seat at the girl he had worked so hard to retrieve. He didn't want to see the hurt and betrayal in her eyes. She deserved better. Much better than him., and certainly better than this. He almost wanted to cry, but not in front of Jerry; not in front of her. He just wanted to crawl into a little ball and hide somewhere. Bury himself deep underground where no one would ever find him, or perhaps it would be more fitting if he tied himself to a cactus and waited for the sun to rise? They didn't have much rope left over, and in order to get more he'd have to touch her.
Eventually the silence in the car became too much for even the master vampire and he switched on the radio, alternating between rock and roll and pop music with his mood. There weren't many stops once they hit the desert, but there was one lonely motel along the way that would provide adequate shelter throughout the day. One could say that Jerry was "friends" with the owner.
Theirs was the only car parked in the dusty parking lot. To the naked, or human, eye, there were no signs of life for miles around. Jerry tasked Ed with prepping the girl while he went inside and got them a room. Fucking sadist. Ed sat silently in the passenger seat, not daring to move. He could feel her eyes on him, an impossible feat from her position, but he could still feel them. She hated him. He knew it. How could she not, considering everything that had occurred in the last nine hours? He had deceived her; betrayed her trust and hurt her, or rather Jerry did. Jerry hurt them both. He desperately wanted to say something to her. But he couldn't bring himself to speak. What would he even say? Nothing could make up for what had been done. Jerry would be coming out any minute to see what was taking so long, Ed knew, but he was honestly considering sitting there until the sun came up. Death was more than what he deserved, but he figured that Jerry would stop him before it came to that, and whatever punishment came after would hurt far worse than burning to death in the light.
It was ages before he finally moved, getting out of the truck, but instead of grabbing Melanie he got their luggage out of the back and trudged inside, bag in each hand.
"Your girlfriend still in the truck?" Jerry asked, unconcerned.
"Yeah, she's 'sleeping'. I, uh, just didn't want to wake her." Jerry shrugged and handed Ed a room key.
"I'll carry her in then. Sorry for waking ya, Saul." The motel owner yawned and gave a tired grunt before retiring once more to his own room. Jerry watched him go, a friendly grin plastered on his face. The second he was out of sight, his gaze turned to Ed.
"What, she put up too much of a fight for ya?" He teased. When the kid didn't respond he shrugged and made his way out the door.
"By the way, there's only two beds."
If he ran fast enough, he could make it halfway to the middle of nowhere to die in peace and Jerry would never have the chance to catch him.
Jerry whistled a little tune as he went outside. He knew why Ed was in such a mood, but it wasn't his fault. They had a schedule to keep after all. It would have been no good had they been forced to race the sun to safety. It was unfortunate for Ed, and by extension the girl, that the series of events had unfolded the way that they had, and Jerry did have to admit that he had gotten a little too excited when it came down to it, but there was room for improvement on all sides. For example, Ed's little girlfriend could have done her best to look less like an adorable little morsel scampering through the woods while she was running for her life.
Ed hadn't locked the truck when he had gotten out, which Jerry noted, so he was reasonably pleased when he opened the door and found the girl still in the car, albeit, not exactly where they had left her. Little Melanie had somehow made her way into the driver's seat, and with her hands still tied behind her back, was rooting around, most likely for something sharp to unbind herself with. She was facing him when he opened the door, but that didn't stop her. She looked him right in the eyes and continued with what she was doing. Jerry raised an eyebrow and grabbed her by the forearm, yanking her out of the truck.
"Good morning, Sunshine," he purred, bending down just enough to grab her by the waist and haul her over his shoulder. The cry of alarm his sudden movements elicited from her earned her a heavy handed pat on the rear. A warning. Jerry made sure to lock the car this time as he headed back inside, cargo in tow. The stink of dread washed over him and grew with every step. He was getting excited again.