Chapter 6- A Morning Walk

Murph had a shower and quickly got changed in Annie's room. She wrestled her hair into a rough ponytail and slipped into a pair of jeans. One of the- not so many- upsides to being a vampire was that she didn't put on weight and since she was turned at a time when there was never exactly and excess of food- no canned food or processed meat- she had a surprisingly good figure. She pulled a white vest top over her head and shrugged on a button-up shirt before grabbing her loosely laced combat boots from the gym bag and running down the stairs.

She turned into the front room to see Mitchell stood next to the fireplace staring at something in his wallet. "Y'alright?" she asked as she lean on the wall to steady herself as she pulled on her left boot.

Mitchell jumped and his head shot up, sending stray strands of dark hair flying against his face. He looked to her innocently. "Er, not'ing'." he slowly slopped his wallet into his back pocket. "We need some milk and George wants some bread."

Murph nodded. "Ok," she managed to pull on her shoe and quickly pulled on the other one as she hopped slightly and lost her balance but managed to stay upright. She straightened up and stomped her foot to push the boot on properly. She looked to Mitchell who was frozen, seeming to wonder if she was going to say anything about what he was doing with the wallet.

He was trying to hide something; she could see it in his eyes.

"We going then?" she asked and he seemed to relax.

"Yeah, sure." He walked forward and the pair walked out of the door.

The rain that had soaked Murph and Mitchell the day before had passed and had been replaced by the horribly strong sun. Both vampires had readily armed themselves with sunglasses and hats and walked briskly to the shop.

When they got there, there was a very bored looking woman at the checkout. She saw hem enter and stood up quickly. "Morning!" she greeted. She wasn't from Bristol; she didn't have the accent. She was young- possibly nineteen and probably covering for her father- and clearly hadn't had much business that morning.

"Mornin'" Murph said as she walked towards the woman. Mitchell simply nodded and went to get some bread and milk. "Do you sell SIM cards?" she asked and the woman beamed, glad that someone was actually interacting with her.

"Yes we do." She pulled up a rack from beneath the counter and Murph picked a simple Orange SIM which was even a change of network from her last one. "How much is that?" she asked.

"1 pound." She said.

Murph shrugged. "Then I'll take a lighter and a pack of 10 Marlboro too." She smiled and the woman opened the case to take out what she wanted and placed them on the counter next to the SIM card. "That's . . ." the woman put the prices into the checkout. "6 pound 45."

Murph pulled the money out of her wallet and waited for the change. She took the coins back and grabbed her items before leaning on the counter to wait for Mitchell. "Is he your boy friend?" the young woman's voice was suddenly in her ear and Murph practically jumped out of her skin.

She leapt away from the sound and held her hand to her chest. "Jaysus," she exclaimed, looking at the woman who was sporting an intrigued smile. "No, no he's not." She said, still regaining her breath from her fright.

"Then how the hell did you get to meet him? And how did you get so close?"

Murph was slightly shocked with the slightly personal questions but decided to answer. "I've known him for ages, he's a big help."

The woman crossed her arms on the desk. "Wow, you did well there."

She nodded with a smile. "I know." The two of them chuckled. For the first time, Murph genuinely looked at the young woman. She had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing an All Time Low tee shirt underneath a green jumper with a white zip. She had thick black eye liner on and earphones were hanging out of her collar. She was actually quite pretty.

"What about you?" Murph asked simply. "Do you have a boy friend?"

She sighed. "Yeah, he's a bit of an arse though."

"Murph?" Mitchell suddenly said. "Did we need any teabags or coffee last time you checked?"

"Yeah, teabags." She said back and looked to the woman. "He might look decent but he's absolutely useless." The two of them laughed.

A moment later Mitchell was behind Murph as he placed milk, bread and teabags on the counter. Murph smiled at him and he smiled back as the woman calculated the cost of Mitchell's items. "That's 4 pound 30 please." Mitchell got out his wallet and paid as his things were placed in a carrier bag.

Mitchell took the bag and the two of them started to leave. "See ya." The woman said.

"Have a nice day." Murph said back.

The two vampires walked out and Mitchell chuckled. Murph stared at him. "What?" she asked genuinely interested in what he was going to say.

"Congratulations." He said with his head held high as he threw his arm over her shoulder.

"What's that s'posed to mean?" she asked as she leant on his chest.

"You officially survived your first proper human encounter since Sarah."

Murph thought about this for a moment before chuckling. "Guess I did." She said with a smile. They kept their heads down to shelter themselves from the attacking sun. Murph hugged Mitchell's torso and smiled as they walked.

That's when she remembered his wallet. She glanced up to Mitchell, who was preoccupied with not setting her hair alight as he sparked his cigarette. She slowly moved her hand to his back pocket and felt the leather of his wallet.

She took a slow breath and quickly pulled the item from his pocket. Mitchell yelped at the feel of someone touching his back pocket and released Murph who looked proudly at her prize. "Ah ha!" she said, pointing at him. "Now let's see what you're hiding in here."

Mitchell realised what was happening and outstretched his hand. "Give it back." He warned.

Murph smirked and opened it. Mitchell pounced but she dodged him and felt the glare he threw at her.

She looked at what was inside.

Credit card. Lottery ticket. A card for the Bristol Irish Society. A few cash notes.

Mitchell tried to grab the wallet but she just put her back to him and he was already too late.

The last item hade her stop.

It was a picture of her. Taken while she was still human and cut from family portrait she had. She had given it to Mitchell the first time they decided to part ways. She just assumed he'd thrown it away.

She looked at him with her mouth agape.

He tried to make excuses but couldn't get the words out.

She just closed the wallet and threw it back to him with her expression still blank.

She wasn't annoyed that he'd kept it, in fact she was quite flattered, she was just shocked and it was the last thing she expected. If anyone else had kept a picture of her she would have ripped it up but it didn't bother her that Mitchell had it.

"I . . . um . . . You can have it back if you want, I mean-" he tried to blurt out words.

She rolled her eyes. "Mitch, shut up." She said with a smile as she turned to face him. He looked at her, confused.

She chuckled to herself as she pulled her own wallet out. She threw it to him and looked down.

When she had given him her picture he had given her his army recruitment picture in return. There were a few times when she thought she was silly keeping hold of it but knowing that he still kept her picture was enough to make her feel fine.

Mitchell looked at her and then back to the picture. Murph sighed. "Do you want your picture back?"

He stared at the wallet for a moment. "No." He said simply and Murph smiled.

"Then I don't want mine back." She held out his wallet and he took it as he passed hers back.

She smiled up at him and he smirked back.

Murph's insides turned to soot.

There was a sudden vibration in her pocket and she stopped her thoughts. Mitchell looked at her with a confused expression. "Are you alright?" he asked, standing in front of her and placing a hand on her shoulder.

She didn't answer but simply pulled out her phone. She unlocked it and pulled up the message. It was from the same unknown number but the message was blank.

She sighed and closed her eyes for a second. She had no idea who the messages were from and they were really freaking her out. As if she wasn't already about to snap, getting messages from somebody who was just plain taunting her were going to make her lose her mind. George was right, she was dangerous- she was going to hurt someone.

"What did it say?" Mitchell's voice pulled her out of her thought process. She opened her eyes and looked up to him.

"Not'in'." He cocked an eyebrow. "No, it literally says nothing. It's a blank feckin' text." Her voice rose and Mitchell's spare hand went to her other shoulder. She felt the pressure of his fingers and calmed slightly. She blinked quickly and took a soothing breath before plunging her hand into her pocket and pulling out the lighter.

She placed the plastic end in her mouth and left the lighter there while she pushed the back off of her phone. She slipped out her old SIM card and placed her phone and the back in her pocket. She gripped onto the card and grabbed her lighter again.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she sparked the flame and held the SIM card to the heat.

"I'm not lettin' them get to the point where they start calling me up." She said as the card began to shrivel and bubble. Eventually, it started burning her fingertips so she had to drop it. She simply stopped the lighter and kicked the remainder of the card into the nearest drain.

She looked up to Mitchell. "Feel better?" he asked.

She sighed and smiled at him. "Yup." She said simply.

She placed her new SIM card into her phone and put it away while it started configuring. She pulled the pack of cigarettes out and sparked one.

"Oh!" Mitchell suddenly exclaimed. "I need your help tonight." He said and Murph cocked her eyebrow as she neck craned away from him. He rolled his eyes. "Not like that. It's . . . uh . . . it's a full moon tonight."

She relaxed. "Ok, well how do you need my help?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Well, George is still a little bit unsure about how safe the unit is and he- for some reason- t'inks it's better if I sit outside. Ya know, to make sure he doesn't get out and that nobody wanders in."

"So you want me to be there so you don't get bored?" she said simply.

He nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I can't guarantee I'll stay awake though." She shot him a smirk and he gave her a relieved smiled back.

"T'ank you." He said honestly as they walked the rest of the way home. Murph with new found sense of security and Mitchell with a sense that Murph could be helping him too.

Ok, honestly, that was a bit of a filler chapter. It took me ages to squeeze this out and it took me ages to write because I had almost no satisfaction in writing it but it had to be done because Murph needed a new SIM. But anyway! Tell me what you think and favourite and follow... please!

PS- happy (extremely late) Saint Patricks Day, hope you all had fun. And (on a slightly more depressing note) goodbye MCR! Been listening to their songs for three days straight. But now I wanna listen to Frank Turner (who I'm seeing in friggin' concert in April (can't wait)) and The Script (who I saw in concert earlier on this month (they were fab!)). So my current playlist is My Chemical Romance, Frank Turner and The Script. My personal favourites at the minute are Teenagers, Welcome To The Black Parade, Sing and Na Na Na (MCR) Rock and Roll Romance, A Decent Cup Of Tea, Back To Sleep and If Ever I Stray (Frank Turner) Nothing, Glowing and You Won't Feel A Thing (The Script). Check them out if you're interested.