Faster. Everyone was running, splitting up, doing anything to escape. Because the cops were coming. They were coming. Run faster.

Faster. You can't get caught. If you get caught, you go to jail, you lose your job, you lose it all. Run faster. Faster.

Jake was panting slightly as he staggered through the old hang out, bumping into a body that appeared around a sharp corner. He caught the teen and only had to look him in the eye to explain that there was no need to apologize. Jake was glad that the boy had made it, because the teenager was no more than fifteen years old. He didn't need to start up a rap sheet yet. He needed to stay in school, the look said, and the teen nodded, a bit pale and jittery after the fight. Others were wandering in, like stray cats that would slink off to a corner and begin to lick their wounds, content with resting for now. Groups started to form, though they were not distinctively separate from their neighboring group. The groups formed only because of the layout of the room and its contents. The couch was filled up. The table was occupied, along with any other surface available, until the last boy wandered in. Then voices lifted. Jokes were made. And the spirit of the fight was in them as they found one another, received texts from those who had text messaging, phone calls from those who only had calling on their phone plans. No one was missing, Jake's mouth wore a slim smile, just as content as the others in the hang out, and he watched as some teens began a game of poker while someone else handed around cans of beer, or Coke for some who didn't feel up to it - supplying a group that the others could single out and pick on for the rest of the night. He saw a kid with wild brown hair, tall and twiggy as he gulped down his soda. Reminded him of Hell Dog. Brown eyes scanned the room, and then Jake sipped from his own canned beverage. Alucard was missing, but that was fine. He usually didn't mix well with the others and he purposefully excluded himself from them. But he usually hung out for a while if Jake was there. Especially if Jake was there. But it was fine, Jake told himself again, taking another sip and quickly claiming a seat when someone stood up. Alucard was always fine in the end. He was a damn lucky son-of-a-gun, most of the time. Or he was the damnedest, most misfortunate bastard he'd ever met, the poor kid. …Poor kid.

Poor kid, Jake thought as he watched the boy smile at him from across the back lot and then dash towards him, his face bright with excitement. He had Band-Aids covering one of his eyebrows and a scrape on his cheek. Other little cuts on his hands were left exposed. Maybe he had run out of Band-Aids? He had a new cut about every other day. He said kids pushed him down in the sand at school, and the tiny rocks make red, shallow grooves in his skin, taking on the appearance of a rash rather than actual cuts, most of the time. Vlad didn't mind because the kids said it was just a game…it thrilled the boy when they said he was good at it... Poor kid.

Jake watched the teens in the hangout as he drank, sitting and watching and thinking of nothing. He felt uneasy, thinking about Alucard at the moment. His gut was trying to tell him something, but Jake ignored it and watched the people around him instead.

"No way in hell! You're a lying s.o.b. if I ever saw one!"

Excited voices were raised and heads turned to the couch. The poker game was paused and people gave one ear to their own conversations and the other to the loud voices.

"Hell Dog? No fuckin' way, man. NO WAY!"

They were howling with laughter, taking all ears. They commanded the whole hang out's attention, and Jake had left his seat. As he got closer to the group, any questions he had thought of asking left him, for the boys were still talking. One of them had a bad lisp. He was missing his front teeth. This boy was laughing the hardest and it tampered further with his impaired speech, making one have to concentrate in order to understand what he was saying. This is what Jake heard.

"Yeah! The bastard was caught by the police! I saw him!" He laughed, keeping the lead he had so far maintained. "But, you know what the bastard did? He got right in the front seat with none other than…the fucking Chief Bitch herself!" He howled. "No cuffs! No nothing! What kinda shit is that all about? He friends with Chief Bitch? Why does he get the special treatment? Bet he's got himself doing the old woman some special favors, right, RIGHT? She's old but she's got a killer body!"

The lisping teen choked as his audience became mute. A hand could be felt, with a grip like a metal tourniquet, cutting off the blood flowing through his shoulder. His eyes dilated with fear and his mouth became dry and pasty. The boy could not look up at Jake's hard, black eyes.

"What are you talking about, Squirrel?"

Squirrel stuttered, and couldn't spit out a single intelligible word. The grip tightened, forcing a wince from the boy. "Hell Dog…" His dry throat made his speech a bit raspy as he spoke, so he moved his tongue around in his mouth in an attempt to fix this. It didn't help. "I was saying about how Hell Dog…got picked up by the cops…" Squirrel's voice faltered here as he heard others stand and come closer to the couch. His hands shook as he held the aluminum can between his knees. "But Hell Dog got in the front of the cop car…with Chief Bitch…" His voice declined to nothing with his final statement. "…And it didn't look like he was being taken in…or anything,…Black."

The moniker was synonymous with Jake's name, used among those that didn't know him well. He had acquired it in his late teens, on account of his eyes which darkened with his mood. They were black now as he let his gaze torture the teen called Squirrel. Others whispered amongst each other without any form of authority commanding their silence. Jake was in the leading position over these members, at the moment, and when he decided to look at the boys that were whispering, they were instantly silenced. Squirrel gasped when the tourniquet was removed from his shoulder and he covered it protectively with his hand, leaning away from Jake until the man was far enough away that Squirrel was no longer intimidated by his presence. Jake went outside, and a few figures followed him.

The night was dark and clouds had arrived to knit a barrier between Man and the sky. The blanket of cloud was preserving more of the day's heat, so the night was not cold enough to bother Jake as he stood on the steps, moving his arms through his sleeves. His hands were cupped by his face for a moment, and when they left, the ember of a cigarette reflected as a glowing pearl in his eyes.

"You think Hell Dog's betraying us?" The question came and the light of the cigarette burned brighter as Jake inhaled. Then it dimmed as the others continued to speak.

"Hell Dog might be the Angel of Death's nephew…but…you know…that doesn't mean anything…especially now that he's…gonna... He's the past..."

Angel of Death was W.C.D.'s official moniker, his nickname. Jake only heard a few of the Senior members, including his father, ever refer to him as anything else. But everyone knew that W.C.D. was the Angel of Death, though they might not know what his initials stood for. Everyone knew Alucard as Alucard and Hell Dog. And Jake…he was called Black…

…by some of them.

Jake's thoughts were drawn back to their topic when a stout pillar of ash tumbled from his lips. The guys who had followed him were talking heatedly now.

"That bastard doesn't know anything! Damn it! He's got this name behind him and he thinks he can go out there and do whatever the hell he wants!"

"He's telling the cops stuff…that freaks squealing on us, I know it! He wants out, doesn't he? Yah know what he fucking does? He looks down on everyone! He thinks he's better than everyone! You all seen Squirrel, right? Hell Dog knocked out his fuckin' teeth for no goddamned reason! That fucker is crazy…. I'm gonna kill him, I swear, if this is true, I'll fucking murder that little freak. Teach him a lesson…"

"If you touch him, I'll killyou." Rigid bodies shot wide eyes at Jake as he glared down at them, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest while his jacket sleeves hung emptily from his shoulders. His muscled forearms were still visible in the darkness; they only seemed bigger than they actually were, in the absence of light. Teeth chewed on several lips as they waited with fluctuating apprehension. Jake looked away, over and across the backstreet. "I don't think Hell Dog's giving them anything…but if he is…" The cigarette moved and then was stilled. "Then I'll deal with him. Just me. No body touches him, and I don't want word of this gettin' around to the wrong ears… You know what I mean. And tell the others that as well." He looked at the darkened faces. The white cigarette dipped as Jake turned, moving down the steps as he pulled his arms through his jacket sleeves, and then zipped up his jacket as he strolled down the empty backstreet, disappearing into the shadows and out of sight.

Jake didn't give himself the luxury of sleeping that night. He had too much stuff to take care of and only a limited amount of time in which to do all of it. This was established as his merciless reality when he knocked on the pale teen's door, and no one answered…regardless of how many times he asked Alucard if he was there.

God he wished Alucard had answered the door. That brat was the unluckiest, most unfortunate bastard he'd ever known.

Alucard… He was like a dog…if you gave him scraps, scratched him behind the ear, he'd be loyal and faithful to you, until the end… He was just the wrong type of dog, or something…for this life.

Poor kid.

*~*~::..+..::~*~*

Vlad was tying the white laces of his converse, sitting on the stairs as he tightened the looping knot. Anderson was off somewhere, in the kitchen, talking to Seras. He couldn't hear them, but Anderson had said that he just needed to talk to her about tonight. Apparently Heinkel and Yumie were friends of hers as well, and the blue eyed girl would probably want to go to the movie with them tonight. Vlad tied his other shoe, eyeing the hole that allowed him to see his sock.

Seras and Anderson weren't in the kitchen when Vlad walked in, wandering the perimeter of the granite counters. Where were they, then? Red glanced at the time on the microwave and then moved about the kitchen again. There was plenty of time left before the movie. They couldn't be getting ready…they definitely couldn't have left. But the siblings seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Vlad sat on a stool and then left it, slowly strolling down the hall that led to Integra's office. If they were going to leave him at the mercy of boredom again, he would just have to entertain himself. So he jumped, clearing the three steps, and walked towards the two sliding glass doors.

As Vlad's hand pulled on the door, a shadow appeared in his peripheral vision. The boy's heart sunk below his chest, and he stared at the figure that took a few steps before finding him with its dark brown eyes. When they made eye contact, Vlad's skin grew cold and prickling goose bumps ran up his arms and the back of his neck.

He shouldn't be here. Why is he here? Why? He isn't there. He isn't there. Disappear, Jack-bean. Disappear… But the man was approaching the unlocked door. All Vlad could do was stare, stuck in a horrified stupor.

Because Jake shouldn't be here. He shouldn't know where the Chief lives. Nothing good could come from any of this, Vlad thought as he looked up at the dark pair of eyes on the other side of the glass. The teen flinched when the door slid open and Jake's deep voice entered the office.

"Come on."

Jake saw that the teen was too stunned to initiate movement on his own, so an oversized hand pulled the faded black sweatshirt through the doorway, and cut off Vlad's path into the office by closing the door. A soft shove got the teen's feet to move. Beside them, their distorted reflections traveled down the length of the pool. They did not speak, and made quick progress down the sloping land, through the trees, and to the tall barred fence that surrounded the property. The two easily found a divot in the rain softened dirt where Jake had deepened a hole when he had slipped under the fence to trespass onto the Andersons' property. A hand made Vlad go first, and then Jake followed. He covered up the wide, yet shallow, hole, spread a coating of crackling leaves over it, and then took the thin shoulder and directed it forward, down towards the thick black road they could see and the car that was parked to the side of it, obscured by the shadows from a cluster of trees. Trees were numerous in the area. Vegetation was everywhere, clearing the air of the haze of smog that hovers over the horizon, brightening the sky.

Fast. Everything had changed so quickly, Vlad blinked at the colored sky. One minute he was there, the next he was here. What were they going to think? He had disappeared. He didn't take anything with him, he didn't steal from them, so they wouldn't mind if he left without saying anything. Right? Anderson wouldn't have to drive him home now…

Vlad's mind cleared as the car turned onto the road, and, with the return of comprehensible thought, the teen sighed and looked at the passenger window where he could see the ghost of Jake's and his own reflections with the landscape behind it. This was reality, everything else was a dream. But a nervous knot that he could not ignore had tied itself in Vlad's stomach, and the stubborn thing refused to go away, or loosen in any way.

The boy licked his lips and casually shifted his eyes to the driver's seat and then to the glass in front of them. His voice was quiet, but steady. "How did you find me?"

Jake didn't look at him as he took his time answering the question. He could sense the boy's unease. A few extra seconds would tighten the knot and shorten the teen's breaths, so Jake took these seconds and prolonged them. Half a minute passed. "I have my sources." Then he continued as Vlad's jaw tightened and released repetitively. "I didn't get anyone to look them up… It was just me and my computer. Her husband's in biogenetic whatever-you-call-it crap…just a bit of looking up and I found a likely area and went on from there. Helped that her daughter gave out directions for a party on some blog. Stupid girl…" Most of it was a lie. He had found the Anderson family online, discovered who they are, but he went to a different source to find the woman's address. He had his sources…

Vlad's muscles relaxed, allowing his body to slouch and fit the contour of the seat. Jake noticed, and the reaction moved his hands along the curve of the steering wheel, altering his grip, and he cracked his neck as he blew out a short breath.

He inhaled. "You thought I was going to do something to them?"

Vlad blinked at the man, observing the details in his face that showed his weariness, the darkened rings under his eyes that only made their appearance as Vlad continued to stare at him. His tone told the boy that he was insulted by Vlad's anxiety. He was cross, and tired.

Vlad closed his eyes and maneuvered his hands into his sweatshirt as he slipped down in the seat. His chin touched the collar of his sweatshirt.

"I'm sorry." The teen spoke over the collar.

The brown eyes blinked sharply and the tired face hardened. "You should be." The car was turning along a bend in the road. "You're making my life Hell, right now, Alucard. I told you to stop this…" He sighed a growl and glanced bitterly at the boy. "You're a royal pain in the ass. You know that? A pain in the ass."

Red opened and received the look through a shield of dark bangs. He held his gaze as Jake looked away, a low frown pulling down the rest of his features. The dark eyes were narrowed at the road.

"Sorry."

The frown grumbled but eased up a little. Vlad's eyes were running over the distinctive impressions that spelled 'Airbag', in front of him. Hoping to end the discussion there, a pale hand rose and clicked the button to turn on the radio. The antenna could be heard, extending from the back of the car, but it stopped and retracted again when Jake turned it off. Shit. Now he's going to be mad and want to talk again…Vlad leaned towards the door, pretending to be engrossed in the passing view of eucalyptus branches and leaves. The boy grimaced when the man's eyes glared at him in the reflection. Stupid glass…

"What were you doing there?"

Vlad muttered back. "I hate interrogations, Jack-bean."

"Jake."

"Jack-bean."

Jake's countenance stiffened as his eyes flickered between black and dark brown. He hissed a vicious verbal assault. "You're not a kid anymore, Alucard! You can't do whatever you want without thinking about the consequences…damn it!" Jake wasn't looking at Vlad and the boy had closed his eyes. The voice made his nerves cringe. "I told you to stop this! To stop adding to the shit that's going around about you! You know who saw you get in that cop car, being familiar as hell and the devil…god…damn…it was that twit! Squirrel! He goes around and tells everyone this kind of…" Aggravation growled through the clenched teeth, as Jake bit down on his frustration. He cursed under his breath for a while, complaining to himself about the 'stupid little mutt' that made his life a 'living nightmare'. His twitching glower darkened and spread from his lips to contort his eyes. But it was a quiet anger and his eyes were brown. "One of these days, I'm going to get enough money to buy you a brain, Hell Dog."

Vlad moved up in his seat, seeing that the storm had passed for now. "I have a brain…and I like my brain, Jack-bean. People would pay good money to have my defective brain. I should rent it out to people, have a sign advertizing…'Be an Idiot for a Day'…" He had moved his hand before the window to visualize the sign, but it dropped back into his sweatshirt's pocket.

Jake wasn't laughing, so Vlad was quiet. Silence was always worse than the yelling. Yelling kinda messed up the guilt you were feeling. But silence…silence only helped the feeling…sharpened the blade. It was quiet for a while, so Vlad pushed the button for the radio. Jake shut it off before the antenna could extend, but he didn't say anything. Vlad stared at the 'Airbag'.

A serious, flat tone filled the car. "I learned that girls don't think rats are cute."

"What?" A low voice grunted, secretly befuddled by the random nonsense.

"Girls don't think rats are cute and they get pissy if you say they're cute like a rat."

There was a pause. Jake was trying to reclaim his anger, but it escaped his grasp and he gave in to a sigh. "You're a complete dumbass, Alucard. It's pathetic."

"At least I'm not half a dumbass…that would be worse."

"At least you're not half a dumbass, that's for sure." The man's mouth twitched into a weak smirk, but it was forced to fade when his thoughts brought up recent events. Vlad drooped when he felt the changing atmosphere. "Just make sure you stay a complete dumbass…you messed up big time, Alucard. Guys are freaking….and I don't think you can weasel out off this one."

*~*~::..+..::~*~*

Green eyes behind translucent lenses stared at the drizzle that peppered the surface of the pool. The shy was blotchy and grey, melting the outline of the leaves that were rustling in the trees. Alexander Anderson leaned against the back of the couch, standing with his arms on the furniture behind him. Seras was roaming about the house, perplexed as she was unable to find the missing boy. Anderson had checked every room, but Vlad was gone. He had disappeared while the two siblings had snuck off to check the rooms he had been in charge of cleaning. It had been awful, going through the rooms, full of negative thoughts, just to find that everywhere they looked, everything was…immaculate, perfect… They had been bitter about the boy earlier, but they had no need to be, or to come to the assumption that Vlad would do a careless job. The guy who had been so distraught when he thought his shoes would break their washing machine… That was a person who was aware of others, of how his laziness could cost them…or at least, it showed Vlad knew how to repay them and show appreciation... Anderson closed his eyes and listened for the soft patter of sprinkling rain, but he could not find the sound.

What if Vlad had seen them inspecting his work? What if Vlad had been offended and left on his own? Was Vlad walking out in the damp and cold? Stupid…stupid! And what in God's name was he supposed to do about any of this? Go out there and hunt him down? At least he knew where the teen lived… But he should have invited Vlad to the movie… Vlad could have declined if he didn't want to go, but he should have at least offered. It would have been a good opportunity for him to make some 'good' friends. Yumie would have been a problem, but Heinkel was more patient and she wasn't as quick to judge by appearance…and she would at least listen to him if he told them Vlad was a good guy. The group he was going with was nice, overall, he liked all of them, for the most part. He should have invited Vlad… And Vlad left the clothes in the white trash bag… And he had never gotten a chance to ask Vlad if he was really giving him the bottled shark, or if his cold was gone. Vlad wasn't coughing today, so that was a good sign. …Should have given him soup to clear out the gunk that had accumulated in his chest… He should have done so many things differently, but it was too late now. Vlad was gone again.

Integra came home. Anderson heard her find Seras. His sister's voice had a higher pitch so it was easier to hear what she said, but he had to listen carefully in order to pick up his mom's responses.

Seras said the chores were all done. Mom said that was good.

There was a pause.

Vlad did a good job. That's good.

Pause.

Integra asked her what was wrong.

Seras finally told her that they had inspected the rooms to see if Vlad had done an adequate job, because he had finished so quickly, and the siblings thought Vlad had found out what they were doing, and left. So Vlad had basically disappeared.

Quiet.

Did he take anything?

Anderson opened his eyes and threw them to the side with a groan when his mother asked this question. Seras said she didn't know, but she didn't think so. Anderson pushed off the couch and made his way through the house and found the two females near the dining room. "He didn't steal anything." The blue eyes turned to him as he came to join the discussion. "He wouldn't steal from us."

Integra watched her son's resolute expression while Seras moved her feet nervously, staring at them. The woman waited for Anderson to fidget, but he didn't as time passed. She was the first to look away. Integra was staring at the wall as she spoke. "When did he leave?"

"We noticed he was gone…" Anderson looked to his sister when he realized he didn't know how much time had passed.

"About half an hour ago, but he could have left before then. It took about ten minutes to check the rooms…" They were quiet until Seras mumbled. "I feel bad. I was rude at lunch…he wanted to help out more and I told him that I was fine…didn't need help…"

I did the same thing…but I also had a reason, Mom would have gotten mad… Anderson looked at his feet.

Nothing. They could do nothing about it, so they broke up and went their separate ways. The siblings would waste some time and then go to pick up Yumie and Heinkel. That much had been true. Seras did know the two girls and she did want to go to the movies with all the others. Integra was going through the house, checking on the work her children had done, and she entered Anderson's room. He was reading on his bed, sitting with a white trash bag by his feet at the end of the mattress. Green watched her stare at it.

"Are those the clothes you want to donate?" She looked at her son. He was reading again, or at least pretending to read. He turned a page slowly.

"I wanted to give them to Vlad."

She watched him pretend to read. His eyes weren't moving over the pages, they were stationary. The woman frowned at what he had said. "Don't give him used clothes. If you want to get him something, buy him a new sweatshirt, or a scarf. …Something for Christmas."

The teen's face deadened, and his eyes closed, wincing when he failed to keep his face still. "Yeah…" He heard the bag leave his bed, and his eyes cracked open to watch the woman leave with it. She turned at the stairs and descended them. Anderson's eyes dully rotated down towards his book. He stared at the words and read nothing for a few minutes. "…but I don't buy my other friends Christmas presents…" The mutter drifted through the room. Vlad should be a normal friend. He shouldn't be treated differently. Forget he's…how he is…and let him be normal. The 'giving your clothes to friends thing' was easier to believe than, 'I buy all my guy friends jackets for Christmas'. Maybe he'd give them an old or new video game or a hat for someone who gave him something…but not a jacket or clothes. Girls didn't even buy each other stuff like that. It would be too expensive at thirty or so bucks apiece. His Mom just didn't get it.

*~*~::..+..::~*~*

Integra went through the guest room, a finger running down and parting the individual blinds. They were clean and the dark wood picked up the light nicely, as was the case with the bed frame and the armoire and the dresser. It was clean. She felt like she had stepped into a well kept inn as she stood in the room, turning slowly to view everything it contained. The woman regretted the boy's disappearance, more so when she gave her children a twenty, each, for their allowance, and saw how reluctant the receiving hands were. Twenty dollars would have been a lot of money for Vlad. It was money he needed, money he deserved for this work.

He had done a thorough job. A better job than her own children… The boy knew how to work hard and how to take pride in what he did.

Nothing was missing from any of the shelves. Vlad hadn't stolen anything, just as Integra had hoped.

Thank God nothing was gone. She wouldn't have to arrest him for a petty crime, now.

*~*~::..+..::~*~*

Word had slipped through the gaps in Squirrel's teeth…so they knew. Almost everyone knew Vlad was mixing with the cops. Even Jake's father had received the news. It was unacceptable. The Senior leaders were unsettled, some were furious, and the few that were in attendance just glared at the pale, red eyed boy, or stared. Jake had taken Vlad to his father's place. Four men watched the teen sit on a couch placed behind a counter that was part of the kitchen. Jake was leaning on the counter, watching Vlad on the other side as he ate a sandwich that constituted as his lunch and dinner. He had grabbed something quick for breakfast. He couldn't even remember what it was, but all he knew was that he was hungry now, so he was eating something.

It was demanded that Vlad explain himself. He was W.C.D.'s nephew. He knew more than the other teens. He was more influential and important than the other teens. If Walter died, Jake's father or one of the other Senior leaders, would take over. But Vlad was seen as the individual that would take over when the one who inherited Walter's position died, or fell out of favor because of their age. Hell Dog was as famous as his uncle, to the extent that his name and face were well-known. But he wasn't Walter. He wasn't even close to being Walter. No one could replace the Angel of Death…but maybe someone who shared his blood…could come close. If the boy had ambition, he had a hell of a start going for him.

But he wasn't doing himself any favors right now. He was refusing to tell them anything. Jake told him to say something, but the boy refused. Nothing else could be done, so the teen was taken out into the damp night and his punishment was doled out…with some interest thrown in as well. Jake had avoided the whole ordeal and turned in early. He woke up in bed, while Vlad woke up in a parking garage. The overweight night security officer had received his pay and gave the group that took the pale teen along with them, the place for the night.

It was the early hours, when the light of an approaching dawn casts a spell of quiet on the world and dusts it with gray. The sky held clouds while the pot-holed street contained small pools of water that danced with rings when a car drove over them. The driver did not see the hooded black figure that slowly walked down the length of a sidewalk. The grass was wet and the leaves of the tree were dripping when Vlad passed them to reach the stairs that would take him to his bed. As soon as his sore and battered body curled up on his mat, he fell asleep.

It was Christmas Eve.

*~*~::..+..::~*~*

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. Everything was sore and dead, but more than anything, the teen was exhausted. So Vlad threw himself into the sanctuary of sleep and would have liked to remain there, but the rest of the world crashed into his fragile haven and tore him out with its ruthless fists, pounding on his door when the wind had cleared the sky of clouds for a moment to let the sun shine. Red eyes opened dully, surrounded by the pillow-like mass of his comforter that was piled on top of him. They stared at nothing as the knocks came, again and again, blinking when a voice accompanied them.

"Vlad. Vlad, answer the door."

Vlad had no intention of letting the boy in, so he closed his eyes and attempted to incorporate the knocks into a dream, trying to go back to sleep.

"Open the door or else I'll have to file a missing person's report."

The eyes remained closed. "Fine by me, fat ass. Go away."

A stunned pause came and was knocked aside by Anderson's frustration. "Open the door, Vlad. Look, we're sorry about yesterday, okay? Open the door…"

Red returned to the room when Vlad lost interest in sleeping. He sighed a breath when he spoke. "What are you sorry about, dumbass? Yesterday you were being an ass, right now you're being a dumbass. You're always an ass, Anderson. Accept it already and go home."

"I wanted to apologize…"

"Don't care about it."

"I'm sorry we checked the rooms, Vlad. We didn't mean to…it was stupid…"

"…What do you mean you're sorry you checked the rooms?" Anderson didn't say anything and Vlad sighed and turned to face the wall. "Look, I don't care right now, Anderson. I'm trying to sleep. I was up late last night."

"…Why'd you leave all of a sudden like that? We thought you were mad at us or something."

"I left…" The teen growled, moving his head back to make sure the wall wouldn't cut off his voice. "…because I was bored. I wanted to leave…now let me go back to sleep already."

Anderson stared at the door, his mind as blank as his face. His Mom and Seras…all of them had been worried about Vlad, and now he says he left just because he was bored? He made them go through all that guilt and anxiety…JUST because he was BORED? Anderson's rage boiled as he suddenly struck out at the door, making Vlad start and then wince when his body protested against such abrupt movement. "You're so selfish, you're just…just unbelievable, Vlad! You left because you were bored? Do you know how beat up Seras was about you when you disappeared? It ruined everything for her last night! And it was ruining our Christmas Eve! My sister couldn't come here herself because she felt so bad about how she had acted towards you yesterday!" Vlad's head had turned on his comforter and pillow, to watch the door. Unfocused eyes rarely blinked while Anderson yelled at him through the door. The boy knew his neighbors would be listening, but he wasn't thinking about that right now. "You're oblivious of everyone around you, Vlad! Think about how you hurt other people through the choices you make…you…you…!" Anderson scowled and cut himself off here to turn and stride away from the door and go down the stars. That idiot! That idiot had put his mom and his sister through all of that, just because he was bored! Vlad deserved to be yelled at! This was just unbelievable!

The red eyes stayed with the door as the shadow swept over the curtains on his window. When all evidence of Anderson's presence was gone, the boy turned his head to face the wall as his eyes closed. He lay there in silence, his eyes opening occasionally to see the comforter. Jack-bean, and now the Chief, Anderson, and Female Anderson… Jake was right. He needed to grow up and realize there were consequences for everything. Ignoring them…didn't work for very long. It was impossible for him to mix with the Anderson family and still be a part of his normal, everyday life. It didn't work out that way…

He was such a dumbass, it was disgusting.

*~*~::..+..::~*~*

It was sunny, but the air was freezing with a biting wind picking up any heat it could steal from a living body. If one stood still and allowed the sun's rays to build up around you, then it wasn't too cold. But Jake wasn't standing still, and the sun was lowering in the sky, so he had to hide his hands in his pockets to preserve some of their warmth. He took them out when he ascended a few concrete steps to reach the front door of his apartment. A key was revealed and then inserted into the keyhole, unlocking the door so Jake could seek refuge from the cold inside. The wind helped close the door as he shut it and turned the latch to lock and bolt the door, like he always did. His lumbering, giant steps brought him to the end of the narrow, green-tiled hall. To his right was his green-tiled kitchen, the first thing most noticed when they entered his house. Flipping on the lights illuminated the tan carpet area that constituted as his living room, with a desk and an old computer against the wall that built his second narrow hallway leading to a bathroom and, at the end, his bedroom. He laid his ring of keys on the green countertop, and passed the kitchen to walk into his living room, going beyond the outcropping wall that kept his computer company. He stopped by the desk with a lurching halt and his eyes widened, staring at his couch and the black shape that was sitting in the dead middle of it. Slowly, the sound of munching registered in his ears as the figure stuffed a few pieces of popped popcorn into its mouth, watching Jake's entrance as if it were part of a movie and then lifted a piece of popcorn to its dark clad shoulder. A brown and white rat emerged from the hood of the sweatshirt and it's slightly yellowed fangs bit down on the carb-puff and dragged it back into the hood where additional crunching sounds soon came to fill Jake's ears.

Vlad ate another handful of popcorn and felt the rat come to his shoulder, expecting more food. The rat was ignored while an amused grin came to the pale teen as he chuckled at Jake's dumb look. "I popped some popcorn. If you want some, you'll have to get your own, though. Esmeralda doesn't want to share." He smiled and threw a puff into his mouth as Jake frowned. A giant's arm leaned on the wall by the computer while Jake assessed the situation.

"How did you get in?" He frowned at the hooded boy and then shifted the expression to the popcorn-eating rat. He pointed at Esmeralda. "And don't feed the rats popcorn. It's not good for them."

Vlad chewed while he looked at the rat that sniffed his mouth. "Poor, deprived rat… Jack-bean won't let you eat popcorn?"

Jake sighed and dropped his hand to his pocket, doing the same with the other as his shoulder now leaned against the corner of the wall instead. "I asked you how you got in."

"Picked the lock." Chew. Crunch. Shrug. "The usual."

Jake watched the teen, gradually beginning to pick up on the white features that were obscured by the shadow given off by the hood. A large bruise that bled up into the eye, giving the illusion of a black eye, and a bottom lip that was busted up pretty bad... Jake noticed when Vlad looked down at the rat, his head moving without shifting the hood, that there was a series of cuts on the left side of his brow that looked like the work of gravel or loose concrete. He was as filthy as ever again. Brown eyes blinked at the image, saying nothing when more popcorn was offered to the rat that greedily devoured the puffed snack. The bag of popcorn lay on the teen's lap, and the popcorn and kernels inside the paper bag rolled noisily when it was lifted by the pale hands. Red observed the glasses wearing old man on the bag.

"Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn." The rat came out to look at the delicious smelling bag, full of curiosity and wonder. Vlad was frowning. "Why the hell can't they just call it popcorn? Gourmet Popping Corn sounds so snobby. Jack-bean…" He looked up at the man with a hint of a scowl. "You have snobby, rich-ass popcorn. Why do you buy this stuff? Get the generic kind…like the Safeway Popcorn. Safeway is not snobby."

The red eyes were looking at the old man and his polka-dotted bow-tie. Jake didn't say anything, and then he bit his lip, sighing while he chewed on it. A moment expired and Vlad turned the bag around to read the instructions that seemed to be in Spanish. "How come they don't have the instructions in English? I'm telling you, Orville Redenbacher is a racist, snobby bastard. They don't put the instructions in English because they assume that all the English speaking people have the fancy-ass microwaves that have the popcorn button on them, and that all of the Spanish speaking people will have the poor-ass microwaves so they have to put in the time themselves in order to cook their popcorn…pop their popcorn…or whatever. EVEN his damn bow-tie is racist!"

"How is it racist?" Vlad looked up at Jake and then scowled at the popcorn bag, turning it around in his hands to find Orville.

"Give me a second. I'll figure out how it's racist…" Vlad concentrated on the bag while Jake's lips twitched, giving a fleeting smile that was more of a grimace. The man sighed and dropped his eyes to his shoes and their black, thick laces. He was about to speak, when Vlad suddenly spoke up again.

"Oh! I found the English instructions, the bastards… They have a cartoon for the English ones but only boring numbers for the Spanish ones. Everyone likes cartoons…racist bastards…give the Spanish one a cartoon too, and don't make the guy such a white dumbass looking snob with his big, elephant ear…" The boy grumbled for a while, scowling at the cartoon that informed the consumer to 'listen to the pop to know when to stop'.

When the grumbling died away and it was quiet again, Jake was looking at the teen's swollen, cut lip. "What are you doing here?"

The paper crackled and Vlad tried to quiet it by taking his hands away from the popcorn bag. Not knowing what else to do with them, he put one hand in the pouch of his sweatshirt and the other in his hood to pet the brown and white rat whose whiskers were tickling his ear. A rough tail swung around the back of his neck as the rat tried to keep its balance. "I was feeling down, so I needed an upper. Esmeralda gives you a good, natural high." He rubbed a soft ear and felt the rat lick his knuckles. His eyes were in the direction of the wall across from him, but they did not see it.

Jake waited for something to change. He regretted the wait when he rolled his eyes and looked away in response to Vlad's sudden question.

"How do the girls you bring over react when they find out you have pet rats?"

"At least I get girls to come over, Hell Dog. You don't even have enough room in your place to bring a girl inside." Jake frowned when he realized that the teen had brought him down to his level, and he turned back to go through his kitchen. He opened a cabinet that had a jar of money in it, and then closed it to find the one he was actually looking for. He found the box of popcorn packages, tipped it towards himself to see how many were left, and then pushed it back on the shelf. "Do you expect me to feed you scraps whenever you scratch at the door, Alucard? If I did that, all the strays in the city would come over and eat me out of house and home in minutes…"

Vlad didn't comment as he stared at the red and yellow ink coloring the paper bag in his lap, petting the rat that he had moved to his arm. He could hear Jake rummaging through the kitchen, deliberating on what his 'giant' stomach wanted to eat. "Hey, Jack-bean…"

The rummaging continued as the red eyes wandered up the wall in front of them.

"…can you drive me to the hospital tomorrow?"

The kitchen was quiet and Jake was standing, looking at the couch over the counter and the short dividing wall that was behind it. "What for?" He chewed his lip again when Vlad didn't look in his direction.

The teen was watching the rat now as his hand ran across its back. "I'm planning on visiting my uncle tomorrow, so I was wondering if you could give me a ride."

Brown gazed at the green countertop for a while, and then Jake went back to his cabinets and opened one that creaked loudly. He needed to oil the hinges. "Sure. What time?"

Vlad got to his feet and took the rat into his hands. He started for the rat cage sitting on the carpet that ran into the short wall in front of the kitchen. He stooped down to open the door on top of the cage. "Whenever." The door of the cage closed, and Vlad stood. He headed for the narrow, green-tiled hall.

"I'll drop by."

"Thanks." Vlad was unbolting the front door while he listened to Jake in the kitchen. "You're gonna have to lock the door again."

"Damn you."

Vlad grinned to himself when he caught the humor. "Bye Jake." He called through the door and then shut it, bracing himself against the chilled wind that hit his face. He ducked his head, pulling on his hood to make sure it was covering as much of his face as it could, and walked down the grey paved sidewalk against the traffic of cars beside him, with the sun falling under the horizon somewhere off in the distance where one could see it hit the curve of the Earth. The city always darkened before the rural areas, because the taller buildings raised the horizon closer to the sun. Vlad submersed himself in shadows as he walked down the sidewalk. Here, he had entered the night.

The teen walked amongst the night crowds and passed the snow filled shop widows when he reached them. But he had an uneventful journey home, and was soon in bed, forcing himself to fall asleep. He coughed a few times before he was able to.

...

After all this time I'm sorry to say, that if it was your interpretation, which is entirely reasonable considering how the story began...that this story is yaoi... I'm sorry, but Vlad and Anderson are not going to be romantically involved with one another. I could do another fic continuing the story from a specific point where they can be emotionally attached to one another...in that way. I'm willing to make another version of the story that's yaoi oriented, but this one, which would be the main, original story, will not become yaoi.

I feel that I'm going to get a few unhappy reviews for this…

Sorry.