Big thank you's to everyone who's staying with my little story and thanks for all your feedback and reviews. Hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Ten

The coach station was busy, the queue for tickets long and the coach to London had just left.

"Next one's cancelled, I'm afraid," the man behind the counter told her. "Cutbacks."

He checked his computer again. "There's room on the seven o'clock service tonight though."

Zoe didn't care. It seemed to her as if nothing mattered anymore. She just nodded and bought the ticket and then went off to sit in a quiet corner with just her rucksack for company. It was only just after four o'clock – nearly three hours to wait until the next coach. She leant against her bags and shut her eyes. A traitorous tear, followed by another, leaked out from under her lashes and slid slowly down her cheeks. Zoe rubbed them away, terrified of breaking down in this hurly-burly, busy open space. She went to the kiosk nearby and bought a magazine to try and distract herself with, but only succeeded in using it to cover her face as she almost constantly wiped away one tear after another and tried not to sob too loudly. Her nose was running too – she briefly lowered the magazine to look for a tissue in her bag and nearly jumped out of her skin. Hal was stood directly in front of her.

Zoe tried to stand but before she could, without saying a word, the vampire had sat down next to her and put his hand gently over her's. The next thing she knew her head went down on her knees, the floodgates opened and she sobbed for England.

Hal just sat still and rubbed her hand gently as she wept. When the storm looked as if it was dying down he gingerly offered her his brown silk handkerchief which she wiped her face with and blew her nose on loudly.

"You keep it," he whispered, when she made to give it back. She gave a small, soggy laugh but had to wipe her eyes again.

She wanted to speak, Hal knew, so he waited while she cleared her thoughts and pulled herself together. He just sat, with her hand resting under his, until eventually Zoe brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked up at him.

"Why did you come after me?" As soon as she spoke fat tears started sliding down her face again, and she covered her face with her free hand.

"Because," he knew that she needed the truth, not just some trite, flowery speech. "because…we care about you now. Tom and Alex, they've become fond of you. You don't have anywhere to go, do you?"

She shook her head.

"So, until you do, you are welcome to stay with us. You came to us for help, remember? Not just help for Danny, I believe."

He was right, she realised. She hadn't even known it herself, but she had needed them all -needed their help and support, needed their wisdom and friendship. She wiped her face again and looked up at Hal. Unusually he returned her gaze, and she noticed for the first time how kind his face was, when he didn't have his usual uptight, stern expression on it.

"Honolulu Heights has been a haven to many different people over the last few years," he said gently. "Werewolves, vampires – even other, stranger creatures. It can be your haven as well, for as long as you require it."

Zoe bowed her head again. The old vampire moved his hand up to touch her hair very briefly and then pulled away, to rest it on his knees.

"What about you though?" she whispered. "Isn't it more difficult for you if I'm there?"

Hal smiled faintly.

"We all have good days and bad days," he said. "If it's a bad day then I'll just stay in my room. I think we are beginning to understand each other a little better of late anyway though, aren't we?"

Zoe nodded.

"So, what do you say?" Hal looked at her, his hands on his knees. Zoe wiped her eyes for the last time and smiled.

"I wonder if they'll give me the money back for my coach ticket?"

The two of them drove slowly home through the rush hour traffic. Hal had gone back to the ticket office, and spoken very politely to the man there, and looked extremely haughty and slightly scary. Zoe now had the unused ticket money back in her purse.

"How did you know where to find me?" she asked eventually, breaking the silence.

"It wasn't that difficult," Hal looked straight ahead, negotiating a tricky manoeuvre between a bus and a taxi. "We realised that we weren't going to make it to Barry station in time, so Alex just rentaghosted between the ticket offices in the coach and train stations at Cardiff until you turned up at one of them. Once she realised that you'd missed the London coach she knew that there was time to come home and fetch me."

Zoe nodded slowly.

"Thank you," she said again, rather shakily and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Hal looked briefly across at her, alarmed.

"You know that I don't have another handkerchief with me don't you?" he said quickly.

She chuckled and sniffed.

"But really. Thank you. For coming after me."

"Don't mention it." Hal pulled away from some traffic lights and headed towards the outskirts of Cardiff. "Seriously, don't mention it. The floor of that coach station was disgusting – I can't actually believe that I sat on it."

It was late evening. True to form Hal had come straight in from the coach station, taken all his clothes off and put them straight in the washing machine on a hot wash.

That'll do his jumper a lot of good, Alex had post-it'd. She'd stuck the note onto the window in the machine door – Hal had ripped it off with a scowl when he'd taken out his clean clothes and discovered that indeed, the hot wash hadn't done his jumper any favours.

"Come on nah," Tom had told him, having just come in from work. "Friendship's worth more than some old woolly cardigan, ain't it?"

"It was not a woolly cardigan, it was a cashmere sweater!" growled Hal, depositing it in the rubbish bin.

"Well, it's not anythin' now," chuckled Tom.

"Not funny," had snapped the old vampire, and stumped off upstairs.

Zoe had felt a pang of guilt, but the young werewolf shook his head at her.

"He don't really mind," he said, smiling. "He's got plenty more clothes up there. It's his routine getting in a mess what winds him up more than 'owt. Let him listen to radio 4 fer a bit and he'll be right as rain."

So the two of them had eaten their dinner – omlette and chips – and Alex had entertained them with her rentaghosting skills. Watching her try to teleport the tea urn had made Zoe laugh harder than she had in a long time – the sight of it appearing in the back garden was the funniest thing that she had seen in ages. Tom was roaring as well.

"You should see her face!" he laughed. "Don't think she meant to tekk it there!"

Now they were all in the large, cosy living room of Honolulu Heights. Tom and Zoe were on one sofa, Hal had come back downstairs and was sat on the other. Alex was in the chair, making it twist left and right. There was a programme on about World War One which they were only half watching, the boys were waiting for Antiques Roadshow at 11 o'clock.

Zoe thought about Danny, out in the world somewhere with his creator. Her heart felt heavy, like a stone sitting in her chest, but she realised now that he needed to do this. He needed to know truly about the man who had made him and the life that he led. Even though he would probably be feeding on human blood. She glanced surreptitiously across at Hal, who was twirling his double one domino over and over in his hand as he watched the television. She couldn't even begin to comprehend the strategies and difficulties that he faced every day, not to run amok through Barry ripping peoples' throats out. Zoe felt a sudden rush of friendship and kindness towards the odd, old vampire, with his young face and fathomless eyes.

She leant across to Tom and hugged him tightly.

"What's that fer?" he asked, surprised but pleased, hugging her back.

"Just saying thank you," she smiled up at him, blowing a kiss to the invisible Alex in her chair. Tom looked over at the ghost and then back at Zoe.

"She says are you somehow drunk?" he chuckled.

"Quiet now," commanded Hal, the domino now placed carefully on the arm of the sofa. "Antiques Roadshow is coming on."

End of Part One!

End of the first adventure!

Part Two coming shortly! You didn't think that I was finished with them yet, did you?