"Becks..." Archie was stood right next to me. I jumped.

"Out." The man at the tills voice rose, almost to a snarl. It was if all the boys flinched at once. I felt Devon's hand on the small of my back. The boys were moving away from the shop, disappearing into the darkness along the boardwalk. David had already gone. He must have left straight away. Big bad vampire scared of the shop keeper.

"Freaks." I looked behind me at Devon and his friends. It all felt so stupid. These were the kind of people I loathed at school, so why was I clinging to them so much now?

I knew the answer to that...because the alternative was so much worse.

Conversation began to flow again as Devon's friends went back to choosing their dvds. I took a last look into the darkness of the night outside. A fleeting glance. It was all I dared to do. But it wasn't enough. I still couldn't work out if the real danger was lurking out in the shadows or raiding the shops shelves.

O O ----- O O

We'd stayed there for another half hour or so. The girl had left, and the man who had seen off the boys previously stood by the counter. I could have sworn he was watching me but I knew I was just being daft. I had worked myself up into paranoid frenzy clearly. Devon's car was still with the police after the whole dead body incident. He did offer to walk me back to Clarissa's though. I didn't take him up on it and then regretted it the entire way back. Nothing happened but there was the constant, nagging feeling that it might. The night seemed so still. I knew deep down that I wished it had been interrupted.

Once I got back I sat with Clarissa for a while. She was in the living room, reading. One of the weird books Archie and I had mocked before. I had one of my own resting in my lap, but my mind was too busy to concentrate on character's lives on the page. The room was suffocating. I was surrounded by the huge windows that led out into the garden but they were barred by those bloody great big wooden shutters. I knew what was out there now, and I knew that those wooden barriers would not stop them.

I waited until Clarissa put her book down and went to bed. I sat in the gloom of the living room. I still couldn't get over the events of the past few weeks. I had known coming over wasn't going to be any fun. I went up to my own room. It was pitch dark in the room as I opened the door. The light from the landing spilled in through the door. It made a path way, cutting across the floor to the window at the far side. I carefully shut the door, pausing by my bed to turn on the lamp. I had nearly had all my blood drained by a vampire and yet I was still afraid of the monsters in the dark. I moved around the bed, picking up one of the pillows on the way. I carried on across the room until I reached the window. I undid the latch keeping the two wooden doors shut and carefully push them both back against the wall. The whole of the window seat was now exposed. I sat down on it. It seemed like hours as I just sat staring out into the darkness.

O O ----- O O

Archie knew the man in the shop. He knew who he was and how much power he had under his control. Which was why he had been so puzzled to see him at the boardwalk in such a position. Even though he was still new to all of this undead stuff he knew the reaction of the other guys meant trouble. David has left them on the boardwalk. After a quick bite to eat...bite...they went looking for him. Marco led the way along with Paul. Dwayne pulled Archie close as the moved through the thinning crowd on the boardwalk. Each of their bodies pulsating with their life's essence that Archie was now so much more aware of. The heat.

"We're off to see Daddy." Dwayne hissed in his ear. And Archie knew that Daddy would not be happy. It had surprised him when he first found out David was not the leader of the pack, as much as it appeared so. The older man, the owner of the video store, the one who had first turned the blond vampire, he was who they answered to now. Max. The remaining boys mounted their bikes and began the journey from the sea front.

As they neared their destination the wind picked up. The speed they were travelling was death defying, but so were they. Fang's howls mixed with the wind as did the taunting growls from their missing brother. They were near enough to see him now. Stood by the fence surrounding the house, he stood looking down on the albino hell beast, his mouth open slightly, teeth bared at the animal that was mirroring him from the other side of the gate. Archie began to get off the bike but was pushed back by Paul, a smirk playing on his face, moving his glance from Archie back to where David was.

The howling stopped. On the other side of the fence stood Max. He beckoned David to join him. David kept his insolent air as he jumped the wooden fence, ignoring the gate. He kicked out at the dog who whimpered and scurried off back into the house ahead of his master. Neither of the men said anything. They both walked into the house. An unsuitable setting for what was to come next.

Dwayne moved closer to the fenced borders of the house. There was a gleam in his eye that Archie recognised from the hunt.

"Now what happens?" He looked across at Marco, who's head had suddenly whipped round to face the window at the front of Max's house. No one answered Archie. He would soon enough see for himself. The wind was now like a gale whipping between the boys and smashing into the walls of the building in front of them. Archie couldn't see properly and the storm stole a lot of the voices from inside. But there was enough left to piece together what was happening. Through the window Archie and the other guys could see the flurry of black leather clad body being flung around the room. They could hear the snarls and growls from the battling males. Numerous choice words were being bounded around, some escaping the winds grasp.

A Family...Some One To Miss Them...Death Wish...Idiotic.

These were accompanied by load crashes, the smashing of glass and every so often a yelp of pain. Archie's body tingled. He felt a sudden pang race through him, making him feel stuck between the two worlds. He felt sick, thinking about his sister. How much he missed her and how whenever he saw her now he could only think of cutting her throat, their same shared throat, and making her part of the family once again. He also felt a deeper urge to carry on watching what was in front of him, the violence and darkness that he was now a part of.

Archie vaguely recognised the noise of a bike engine starting up. Then another one. It wasn't until a power arm smacked him in the chest that he was brought out of his trance.

"We gotta roll Archie boy. He's coming." Archie knew that however much he had enjoyed watching it he would not like to bear witness to the outcome of the fight between father and son. He thrust his foot down on the starter of his bike and followed the others, the sick feeling remaining.

It made it even worse as they passed the drive way to his Aunt's house. Archie looked up as they drove passed, running from the danger behind them. There was a light on in her room. A single light. Archie knew he could climb up there and see her. Explain to her it would be alright. But as he looked at that light something moved above it. A figure swung down from the roof and grasped at the window, blocking the light from the outside world entirely. Archie growled but kept on going, the image of the leather trench coat and platinum blond hair sliding in through her bedroom window clouding his mind.

O O ----- O O

I woke up to a cold draught on my face. My head was sore from resting it on the glass all night. It took a while for me to realise where I was and then I began to curse my stupidity. It took me a little longer than that for it to occur to me that I had not left my window open. The shutters yes, but not the window. I got up from the window seat and looked around my room. Everything seemed to be in place. I shivered and shut the window.

Rummaging through my wardrobe, I pulled on a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt and painted my face with powder. Spending the night pressed against glass clearly did not do much for the dark circles under my eyes. I then ran a brush through my hair and head downstairs, trying to remain as normal and calm as possible, keeping an eye out as I went.

Clarissa was sat with a bowl of cereal at a table in the kitchen. This took me by surprise.

"You're up early dear." Clarissa sounded as surprised as I felt. I looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was only half past seven. "I was about to come and speak to you." She smiled. And yes, I did realise how lucky I had been that she had not seen my window open. "I've just received a call from work and I'm going to have to go out of town for a few days. I did try and reason with them, but you know how these beaurocrats are." She looked incredibly guilty. "I'm sorry to have to leave you like this. I tried to call your brother this morning but the call didn't seem to go through. Just the thought of you here alone...Perhaps you could take my car to where your brother is camping. I'm sure he wouldn't mind coming home a couple of days early, considering the circumstances." I tried my hardest not to snort at this comment. It was a little bit too late for him to come back now. There was a knock on the door. "The taxi already?" she looked panicked, getting up from the table quickly. I moved out of her way as she hurried passed me into the hall way. She picked up two bags as she went. I had been too busy scouting for vampires I had missed the luggage completely. She looked out of the stained glass window of the front door, opened it and then turned to me. "Please be careful." I stood by the open front door and watched the taxi pull out of the drive way. Now I really was alone.

O O ----- O O

I sat in the living room for over an hour, trying to decide what to do next. In this time all I had really achieved was making myself feel a little bit sick. I had only two options,

I could go and see if I could find Archie. Drive back up to that cliff top, hope that all dead bodies had been removed this time and then try and avoid being killed by blood thirsty demons. All the while knowing I was too late.

Or, I could call up Devon and associates and see if they wanted to come over. It would mean making the house feel less like a prison but then I would have to actually endure their presence.

All I knew was that I couldn't spend any longer in this house alone. It was giving me the creeps.