Hi, sorry for the long wait, but I wanted this chapter to be alittle longer. So enjoy and review and tell me what you think. A little more than update would be nice.

Chapter 7

Mal's Pro

When I came back to my apartment, I was surprised to find that Andria wasn't there and the boy was still unconscious on the couch. Dammit! What does she think she's doing, leaving this boy here with me? She does realize I hate humans, right? She better come back or…

I stopped in mid-thought, a smile coming to my lips. Or maybe she is gone? Like in gone-gone? Cross over to the other side kind of gone. That would be so nice.

But then again, that is a little too much to ask for. She's probably got bored and is floating around somewhere or nowhere.

I watched the boy for a moment and after realizing he wasn't going around where, took a long shower and dressed in some different clothes. Clothes that didn't have dried blood on them and were clean. Though I tried to keep my mind clear, it continually shifted back to Andria. Questions about her actually began popping up in my mind. Questions like where did she learn to fight? And why did she hate vampires so much?

I would always force them away, but she kept on creeping back into the front of my head.

Damn girl.

I stepped out of the bathroom, completely dressed, running my fingers through my wet hair. "If I had just ignored her at the club, I won't be in this mess! I would be free and my life would be…" I trailed off as I found a pair of eyes, staring at me.

I met the eyes. It was the boy. He had woken up and he was staring at me, scared and ready to run. He looked a lot like his older sister that was for sure, but he was also a lot smaller than her. He didn't stop staring at me. "What are you looking at?" I snapped.

He jerked as if snapping out of a spell and then sprinted to the door. I rushed after him, knowing that Andria would kill me if I lost her little brother and I like my life, when I'm not seeing ghosts. "You're not going anywhere," I warned. I went to go grab him, but he was smaller than I realized and slipped right out of my arms. He opened the door and made a run for it. Stupid boy, trying to out run a vampire. I easily caught him, snatching him by the collar of his shirt. I lifted him off the ground as he wildly kicked and hit. He couldn't reach me though. I knew just by his size and his weak strength that something was physically wrong with him.

"Let me go!" he yelled, trying to struggle out of my grasp.

"You're not going anywhere," I said. "So stop struggling."

But he didn't, he actually began to fight even harder and punched me in the face, though it didn't hurt. It was like getting hit with a pillow. "Never!" he screamed.

Just then the door down the hall opened up and out stepped old Miss Wilson. She was short and wrinkly and had ears like a hawk. "Not now," I grumbled under my breath, cursing.

"Malcolm, what are you doing to that poor boy!" she asked, wobbling over to me with her wooden cane in one hand. She wasn't a threat, but she could make a lot of noise if she wanted to and I did not want to draw attention to myself.

"Oh, nothing, Miss Wilson. Just babysitting," I explained with a warm smile. "He just woke up and didn't remember where he was."

"Put me down!" the boy yelled.

I ignored him and continued to speak with Miss Wilson. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of him."

The old lady snorted. She didn't believe a word I said, but then again that's old people for you. They are either slowly losing it or as smart and as crafty as hell.

"Really, he's just a bit upset, because his sister's not here," I said and the boy immediately stopped struggling and fear flashed across his face.

He looked up at me with big eyes. "Andria's here?"

"She's going to be and she'll be very angry if you're not," I hissed through my teeth. The boy didn't say anything else and he didn't struggle anymore. I turned back to Miss Wilson. "See, he's fine. Good day."

Miss Wilson sneered in reply, giving me the stink eye before wobbling back to her apartment and shutting the door. Damn old people. Can't they just die? I silently laughed to myself. Good thing vampires don't age like humans or we would be a lot grumbler and a lot crafter. Humans would have died out a long time ago if we did. I walked backing into my apartment, still holding the kid in mid-air. The moment I shut the door, he started struggling again. "What do you mean Andria's going to be here? How do you know my sister's name? My sister would never ever talk to a guy like you!"

"What do you mean she would never talk to me?" I asked interested. The more I knew about Andria, the better advantage I had over her.

The boy stopped struggling and shrugged, still hanging in the air. "She's never been good with guys. She either can't talk to them or she just yells and threats them. She doesn't let guys touch her either. She's hasn't even been kissed before."

"Interesting. I won't picture her like that," I said. "Though, I agree she does love to yell and threaten."

The boy looked at me with a confused expression. "Wait, how long have you known my sister?"

"Oh, about a day." There was no point in lying to the kid, he would just know I was lying anyways.

He just seemed even more confused by this, going deep into thought. He hung there for a few long moments, in silence and then looked up me with a small smile. "Uh, can you put me down now?"

"Are you going to run?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Alright there, but behave." I slowly put him down and he is collapsed to the floor, his weak legs giving out from underneath his weight. He was a small boy. He slowly stood up and brushed himself off when his stomach grumbled. He clenched it, his cheeks blushing red.

"You hungry?" I guessed.

He nodded.

"Follow me. Hopefully I have some food." I walked into the kitchen and the kid followed me, not even glancing back at the door.

"What do you mean hopefully? You need to eat, don't you?" he questioned. He seemed have had trust in me to not to try to run again.

I glared back at him. "Do you want to eat or not?"

"No, I do." He took a seat on a stool at the bar and watched me go through the cumbers. With each cumber I opened, I found it empty. No food. Dammit, I needed to go shopping. It's not like vampires needs food, but we can still eat it and taste it. It's good if you want to act human or just pass the time. After a few long moments, the boy started to talk again. "So…where did you meet Andria?"

"Behind a night club," I answered, still searching through my cumbers, but still all I found with nothing, expect some wine but I was not about to waste my hundred year old bottles on wine on this boy, even if he was drinking age.

"What was she going there?"

"Being a hooker."

An expression of panic and horror crossed his face and I smirked, looking up at him. "That was a joke."

"Oh," he replied slowly. "Right."

"Dammit," I hissed under my breath. I slammed the last cumber and marched over to the living room, grabbing my jacket and wallet.

"What are you doing?" the kid asked, following me.

"What does it look like? I'm out of food, so we're going to Subway," I explained. "Well…are you going to just stand there or are you coming?"

"No, I'm coming, but what about Andria? Shouldn't we wait for her?" he said, concerned.

I shrugged, reaching the door. "She'll find us if she needs to. She's good at that."

The boy hesitated and then followed me out the door and out of the apartment building. Subway was only a block away and while we walked there, either of us spoke. The kid seemed too distracted with trying to figure out where he was at. He quickly fell behind and I have to stop for him to catch up. "Keep up. No need to be slow," I said, looking down at him.

He only nodded, but he was out of breath, his chest shaking. He was a sickly kid. I could smell it on him. No need to kill the boy by walking too fast. I slowed my pace for him and when we got to the subway, we quickly ordered and took a seat in the back of the place. I slowly began to unwrap my sandwich when I asked, "So, your sister, Andria? Tell me more about her?"

The kid shook his head. "Names first. Or should I just call you kidnapper because I don't know you and I don't have the slightest clue who you are."

I laughed. Smart kid. "Malcolm."

"Tommy," he replied.

A strange thought suddenly accrued to me. His mother died last night; shouldn't he be mourning or something? "Do you remember anything from last night, Tommy?"

Tommy blinked, thinking and then slowly shook his head. "No why?"

I shrugged, taking a bit of my sandwich. "No reason."

"Liar."

"What?"

"I said you're a liar as in your lying," he said, calmly, unwrapping his sandwich.

I place my sandwich down. "And how would you know that? Mindreader, are we?"

"No," he said. "You made the same expressions when you're lying as my sister does…I mean use to," he explained.

"What do you mean use to?" I asked, even though I knew that there was someone else controlling Andria' body. I wanted to find out more about Andria. She was interesting, when she wasn't yelling and I couldn't get her out oh my head.

"I mean she came home from summer camp different. She came home, knowing how to lie better, but she was also nicer but more secretive than ever. She started dressing funny, having boys over, no more late nights, no more strange blood on her clothes," Tommy explained. "I may be young but I'm not stupid. She's not my sister…well not the sister, I grow up with. She's different and…I don't know. She's not Andria."

"That's for sure, the real Andria is as annoying as hell," I added.

"Wait, I thought you said you only meet my sister a day ago?"

"Are you going to eat or not?" I snapped, avoiding the question. Tommy looked at his sandwich and then slowly took a bite. A smile grew on his face and within thirty second, the sandwich was gone. "You were really hungry?" I said, surprised a kid his size could down that sandwich that fast.

He nodded as he opened up his some bag of chips.

"So, tell me about your family? Any other siblings, mom, dad?" I asked, even though I knew his mom was already dead. I wanted to know what had caused Andria to become a vampire hunter in the first place.

"No other siblings. Just my mom, Andria and me."

"What? Your dad walked out on you?"

Tommy leaped out of seat, his face red and his fists tight. "No, he was murdered."

"Didn't mean to offend you, I just wouldn't think that he would be murdered," I said, calmly. "It's not something that happens a lot." Lie.

The kid relaxed, sitting back down. "Sorry, for snapping."

"No, it's okay. So he was murdered, how?" I was now using my vampire powers to make him talk to me. It wasn't a hard trick, and most vampires had. It was like charm speaking. You just ask nicely and they'll tell you.

He shrugged, sadly. "I don't remember. I was there, but I was only four. We were at the fair and mom wasn't with us, she had to work or something, I don't remember. We were having a good time and then we went into this tent. It was dark and something about it wasn't right. I saw three men but not their faces and suddenly I was flying through the air and I hit a metal pole. I was in a wheel chair for four years after that. I don't know what exactly happened to my dad, but Andria does. She wouldn't even tell the police after. She still hasn't told anyone. You try to talk to her about, she just shut down." He stopped, sighing.

So that's it. Her father got killed by some vampire thugs and she watched it. There have been lesser causes for becoming a vampire hunter, but what exactly happened to her? What did she do to survive against not just one vampire, but possibly three, if this kid remembers it right?

I guess I am just going to have to ask her.

Andria's pro

I had three days and then I would be gone, like for real. No more living. No more breathing…well I wasn't doing that not, but still; I'm not even going to be a ghost anymore. I'll just be gone. Another person disappearing into the billions that have died before me.

It took me a few minutes to completely come to the reality of this before I slowly stood up. Pain shot through my spin, but it quickly vanished. Wow, Inarau knew her magic, meaning she was an either some evil spirit or a witch. I'm leaning towards the witch.

Dammit, I have no idea how to fight against magic.

I glanced at the couch and fond Tommy gone. I panicked. I had only be gone for maybe an hour, right? I glanced up at the clock. SIX HOURS! I had been gone for six hours. It was 1:00 pm. That's not possible…unless…I sighed…you're a ghost.

Damn, I hate being a ghost.

Just then the door opened and laughter filled the room. Mal and my brother walked in with smiles on their faces and bags of food in their arms. "Then what happened?" Mal asked, laughing hard.

"The table collapsed and the cake went fighting. Landed right on top of her, dying her hair pink and blue for a month and…oh, that was also the last time she wore a bikini," Tommy explained.

"Why?" the vampire asked, a grin spreading further and further across his face.

"Tommy!" I screamed, forgetting he couldn't hear me or see me. How dare he tell that story to this creep!

My brother continued with the story. "Let's just say, her top didn't exactly stay on with a thirty pound cake falling on her head and chest."

Malcolm rolled in laughter. "I would pay good money to see that."

My face grew red with anger and embarrassment. That pool party is not something I like to relive in my head. I picked up one of the pillows on the couch and threw it at Mal, hitting him right in the jaw. He jerked up, looking at me with a long smirk. Tommy didn't seem to notice, still laughing. "What are you doing with my brother?" I asked almost shouting.

Mal didn't answer me, instead he turned to Tommy, handing him the brown bag. "Here. Take this to the kitchen. I've got a problem I have to take care of in my room."

"I am not a problem," I shouted.

Mal ignored me, still talking to my brother. "You can watch some TV if you want. I've got all kinds of movies and shows recorded."

Tommy smiled, taking the bag. "Can I have some ice-cream?"

"Yeah, just don't make yourself sick," Mal warned, before throwing a glare at me and walking towards his room. I followed, walking right through the door even as it was slammed in my face.

Mal was the first to speak, his mood changing from laughter to serious. "So, where did you pop of to?"

"Why do you care? And I am not a problem." I wasn't about to tell him, that I had only three days left. He would never help me if I did. He would just wait it out.

"Yes, you are a problem and I care because you left me with your little brother," he said, keeping his voice low, so Tommy wouldn't hear him talking to himself. "So tell me where you went?"

"I don't have to tell you anything," I growled. "You're not the boss of me."

"No, but you're not getting back into your body without my help, so tell me now," Mal warned, stepping closer to me.

I sighed. I wasn't going to win this argument. "I went to see Inarau."

"Who?"

"Inarau. The stupid prick who's controlling my body along with her mindreader lover, Kaless."

Malcolm flinched at the name, Kaless. "Did you just say Kaless?"

"Yes, you're uncle, right?"

"He's not my uncle by blood," he said through his teeth, his shoulders tight and his eyes dark.

"Oh, right. You're just a Halfling," I sneered and Mal suddenly charged me, touching me again, but this time, it hurt me. A strange pain coursed through my arms as he pinned me against the wall, making me solid. Again, I had no idea how he was doing this, but he was and it hurt. He glared down at me, his eyes dark and his fangs sharp.

"Don't you dare belittle me, little girl!" he threatened. "You're just some little human whose daddy got killed by thugs. Vampire thugs, but still just thugs."

I blinked back, shocked. How did he know about that?

"What nothing to say?" he said with a twist grin.

"I'll tell you about what happened to my father when you tell me what happened to the woman to you loved?" I threatened back.

Mal suddenly let go, stepping back. The pain disappeared as he did. "How do you know about that?"

"It's amazing what you can hear, when no one can see you."

"It's amazing how fast I could snap your brother's neck."

"You won't dare."

He stepped closer to me again, wanting to look down on me. Damn, I hate that he's so tall. "Try me," he hissed.

"I won't let you," I replied.

"What how are you going to stop me? Huh? You're just a ghost who can be scared off by a little salt."

I opened my mouth to say something that would have involved a lot of cussing when I stopped, realizing that doing this, was getting us nowhere. Arguing about things that didn't really matter for the tasks ahead. It was a waste of time and my time was limited. I exhaled, taking a step back. I was calming myself and preparing myself for what I had to say next. This was no going to come out easy.

"What?" Mal said, surprised and still angry. "No comeback or do you just think I'm not worth your time anymore because that would be great…"

"I'm sorry," I said in barely a whisper, but I knew he could hear me.

He froze, staring at me stunned. "What did you just say?"

"You heard what I said and I will not be repeating myself. I shouldn't have brought up the thing about the woman to you loved or called you a Halfling," I said, forcing the words out of me. "I had no right."

"Why? Why say you're sorry?"

"Because though we hate each other and want each other dead, what we want more is each other out of each other's lives. I don't want to be here with you and you don't want me here, but if we don't stop arguing and at least try to work together, we are going to be stuck like this. You'll be stuck that insane hot guy who talks to himself and I'll be…"

"A hell of annoying ghost," he finished, understanding what now needed to happen.

I threw him a glare, but he just brushed it off, calming down. "Something like that."

He slowly nodded, sitting on the end of the bed. "You're right, sadly. So what do we do, beside argue and annoy each other?"

"Find Inarau and either reverse the spell she had over my body or…kill her."

"Killing her would most likely end in your death, you do realize that?" Mal asked, making sure I understood.

"Yeah, but if it will keep her away from trying to kill me brother, I'll do it," I admitted, knowing full-well that he would probably take advantage of me saying that.

"Find by me."

"But first we need to find her," I added.

"Well, you found her once, so just wiggled that cute butt of yours and do your little ghosty thing and get us to her," he said with a smirk.

I scowled at his remark, but he just grinned, eyeing me before laying back on the bed hands behind his hand. He looked nice, stretched out with his long sexy legs in front of him.

"Like what you see?" he asked, throwing me a sly smile. At least he's back to himself, more or less.

I snorted in disgust. "What's there to like?"

"A lot, if I let you," he replied.

Slightly annoyed, I sat on the bed too. "How are you able to touch me?" I asked. It was something that had been on my mind for awhile.

He shrugged, closing his eyes. "It comes with seeing ghosts, I guess."

"Right." Minutes suddenly passed as I thought and then I realized that he was falling asleep. I nudged him, knowing how to touch things and people now. "No sleeping."

"I haven't slept for over twenty-four hours," he complained.

"And who's fault is that?"

"Yours," he replied.

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. "Right everything is my fault. So are you going to help? Or are you going to just lay there?"

"I'm just waiting for you to take us to her," he said, "And then I'll help."

"I can't."

He sat up on his elbows. "What?"

"I can't," I repeated.

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I mean when I was just there, she sort of banished me," I said, sheepishly.

"What do you mean banished? How did she ever know you were there?"

"Kaless can hear me when I speak, because he's a mindreader and I speak my mind," I explained, very slowly.

"So if you could shut up, you would have been fine?" Mal laughed. It was a true laugh, not dark or seductive, but real. It was nice, but it shouldn't be. I shouldn't think his laugh is nice! "Well maybe you could learn to shut up, you would have had your first kiss by now."

I looked at him, baffled. "How do you know that?"

"Your brother really likes to talk when he starts going," he said. "He talked my ear off."

"So that's how you knew about my dad?"

Mal nodded. "So what exactly happened?"

I quickly stood up, avoiding the question and changing the subject. "Now I can't go back to where Inarau is at, but I could probably take us to a place near it."

Mal rolled his eyes, standing up in a smooth motion. "Alright. Let's go, so I can get the human out of my house."

"Uh, maybe you should tell him that you're going, so he just doesn't think you disappeared through the window," I said.

"We're only the seven story."

"Exactly."

He sighed, irritated but agreed. He went into the living room where Tommy sat on the couch watching a movie. It was Batman Begins. I laughed at this. He had seen that movie at least 100 times. "I have to go out," Mal explained. "I am going to meet up with your sister. I might be awhile."

"Okay," Tommy said. "Just don't get her angry."

Mal glanced at me and then said with a smile, "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Right, I wouldn't dream of yelling at you," I added. We walked to the door and left. We stood in the hallway for a moment and Mal looked unsure about this. "Don't worry. I should get us close to the house where I found her or we might go to New York," I said, joking, but he didn't lose amused. I slowly grabbed his forearm, focusing on being able to grip him. "Oh, light up."

"That's easy for you to say, you don't weigh anything, you're a ghost," he said.

I laughed at this comment. He was right. He looked confused too and almost happy. "You're right. I don't weight anything." And I smiled. A really smile. Funny. I shouldn't be smiling and laughing with a vampire, not like this. I shook my head. "Ready?" I didn't wait for a reply. I forced all my energy, closed my eyes and felt a jolt go through me.

When I opened my eyes, we were outside on the edge of town where the forest started. We stood on the side of the road, while a car sped by. "Where are we?" I asked.

"Near the forest," Mal stated.

I slapped him upside the head, but not hard. "I know that, idiot. I meant where exactly?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" he said, rubbing his head. "Did you really have to hit me?"

"Do you really have to be annoying?"

"Yeah, and a vampire, and a smooth talker and dropped dead gorgeous…" He trailed off as a car hit him, sending him flying into a tree.

"Malcolm!" I yelled as he hit the ground with a hard thump. The car stopped, turning off and out stepped the last person in the world, I was expecting to see. A guy stepped out the car, 6'2, dark spiky blond hair, summer tanned and dark brown eyes. He had a long dagger in his hand that had dry blood on it. It was dead man's blood. The guy was a vampire hunter and he was a year older than me.

He marched towards Mal who was just starting to stand up, in pain from slamming into a tree. He was going to kill Mal, the only person who could see me, or Mal was going to kill him, my best friend. Before I could do anything, the guy charged Mal, going for his head. Mal leaped back, barely missing the blade. They were quickly in a heated battle, bouncing back and forth.

"No," I yelled rushing towards them. I stepped in between them, hands out to stop them both. "Don't kill each other!" I shouted as they rushed towards the other. But they never made it to, I stopped them. My hands pressed against both of their chests, they stopped and their eyes went to me. I looked up at Malcolm, shaking my head as into not to kill the human. I wasn't going to look at the other, because I knew he couldn't see me until he said my name.

"Andria," he said with shock, his focus completely off Mal.

I stared at him, dumbfound. "You can see me?"

"Ghosts can make themselves seen to the living, it just takes the right motivation," Mal said. "Who the hell is he?"

"This is Rick, my vampire hunter partner."