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Logan and Adam had joined Alan near the campus, already diving into getting rid of the bodies. They cleaned and burned away any evidence that could have exposed them and proceeded to fly the bodies out to the Redwoods to bury.
When it came to moving Bernice into one of the graves, Logan had walked away, swearing to himself and now leaned against a tree in silence. Alan had to pause as Adam helped him pick her up, hesitating as he looked between her now charred body and the grave. His lips were tightly pressed together, frown lines creasing in his forehead and he sighed, squeezing his eyes shut as he lowered her in.
"She never called any of us for help," Logan muttered. "I could feel her death. Hear her thoughts."
"Think we all did," Alan said, thinking back to earlier. When he had heard the scream with Bridget, he could hear Bernice shrieking in his head. Scattered, almost incoherent thoughts on the agony of her death and her fears for Bridget.
"I didn't hear anything about her killer," he said to Logan who shook his head.
"Neither did I. All she thought about was her sister. How she wouldn't be able to keep looking out for her."
"She was always like that," Alan said, "Always trying to protect Bridget. Making sure she was safe."
After a brief pause at the memories, he sighed again and straightened. He could still picture the times at school when Bernice had to hold her sister back before she snapped. Something Bridget tended to do if she heard the slightest insult towards her friends. She was always ready to give back and Bernice was always ready to drag her away.
"Bernice would have made a loyal pack member," Adam said with a nod of agreement at Alan's description of their newest recruit, now a deceased one. He looked at Alan with steely blue eyes and his thin lips tugged down into a frown. Even covered in soil from digging a grave, he stood straight and brimmed with authority. The same eerie calmness Max had that night he revealed himself as the Head Vampire. A calmness that he never had as "Doctor Mathias".
"I know you didn't want this life," he said to Alan. "I know you were forced in the end and even if you've adapted to being a vampire, you're still not sure if you want to follow me. But we chose you and Bernice, which meant once you're one of us you were guaranteed our protection. We saw you both as new family. I would have never intended your deaths you can be damn well sure her killer will suffer."
Alan only scowled back, wondering if any of this would have happened if the pack hadn't set out to turn some of them. Simply helped Marko get the revenge he desired by agreeing to help kill everyone. Maybe they could have all survived it again together, especially with more of them hunting. Where would everyone be? Charlotte could still be human. Merely Bridget's ex-best friend, secretly pining for Alan behind that shy curtain of pale blonde hair. Bernice and Leon could still be together, fighting against and working around the time consuming schedule of vampire hunting. Mrs Casey would be alive, continuing to be the constant support for Bonnie as she got to grips with MS.
Without vampirism trying to drive them apart, maybe Alan and Bridget would have still discovered their feelings for each other. He knew before this situation had even started that they had been getting closer and closer. He had felt something stir during the Valentine's Day dance, even if he hadn't been sure of it at that moment. Something had sparked the minute they had begun dancing with each other. They could have ended up in a normal, human relationship. Simple. Just how Bridget expected relationships to be. Just how he would have liked it.
All those maybes and possibilities kept holding him back from truly connecting with the pack, even if he admitted they weren't too bad. They pledged loyalty and they hadn't gone back on their word. They looked out from him. For each other. But could he really be one of them?
There were so many paths that he could have been on. But this was the road he was unwillingly going down. He could understand the vampire's point on thinking too much about the 'what ifs?' and how different he had become, detached from humanity. Dwelling on things would send him stir crazy. Forever was a long time to mope and be miserable.
A new start. That was what he needed. To be a vampire and be in a completely different town. Far away from Santa Carla.
"Any news from Bridget?" Logan asked.
"Nothing," Alan said, running a hand through his hair. "The last time something happened to Bernice, Bridget nearly died and became a half vampire. She acts impulsively and something always happens to her. I hope she's controlling her anger."
Alan?
"Shit," he whispered, followed by a sigh of relief at Bridget's voice. He dropped the shovel and hung onto their link.
Bridget, you scared the shit out of me when you took off, he said to her mentally. He noted how easier it seemed to push through. Their connection seemed to hum and buzz with energy.
Are you okay? he asked. Where did you go?
I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm not in trouble. I just… I guess I finally made that decision.
He could sense a tingling of excitement from her. That and their clear link, clearer than it had ever been, sent his mind putting pieces of a puzzle together until the answer was obvious.
Bridget, did you…?
He smiled at the sound of her laugh. It shook, still full of nerves but for the first time in two weeks she sounded strong. Happy.
I guess you're stuck with me forever, she said. If you don't mind?
He laughed, slumping against a tree. There's no-one else I'd rather spend forever with. Just you.
He heard another laugh from her and he beamed, enjoying that bright sound. If he was human it would have made his heart skip a beat.
I want to find Bernice's killer and make him pay, she said.
It'll be dawn in a few hours. We need to get together and shelter before there's any more trouble. Plan what we're going to do next. Go straight to the house and stay there. I'm with Logan and Adam. We'll come back. I'm just going to pay a quick visit.
I can't believe I'm the one saying this. Don't get into trouble.
I just need to talk to Edgar. He cut himself off, tearing away from their mental link and turned to Logan and Adam who stared silently and expectantly from him. Judging by the smirk on Logan's face, he seemed to already know the news Alan had but he gestured for the seventeen year old to reveal all.
"Bridget's turned," Alan said.
Logan laughed, clapping his hands together and marched up to him. "'Bout time that bearcat gave in." He gave another chuckle, slapping Alan on the back before grabbing hold of his shoulders. "At least there's one happy ending, kid. You and the doll you're stuck on finally together."
"Excellent news," Adam said with a small smile. "Bernice would have been delighted."
"She's gone back to the house. I'll meet everyone there."
"I'd rather we all get together. I don't want to see another death," Adam advised him but he only received a scoff from Alan in response.
"I was a vampire hunter before I was a vampire. I know how to look after myself," he said and flew up to the sky before Logan or Adam could argue back. Logan watched Alan disappear before he looked down at Bernice's grave again and felt his shoulders slump. He closed his eyes, mentally apologising as if she could still be able to hear him somehow. He only opened them when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a gentle squeeze.
"You liked her, son," Adam whispered.
"She was interesting. Quite the skirt." He sighed. "I changed her to separate those kids. Cause an argument between Bridget and her friends. But… yeah. Guess I was getting a bit goofy for her."
Adam nodded, patting Logan on the shoulder. "It's done. We can't change what's happened so we need to look forward. Always do otherwise the past haunts us. In our case, that would be forever."
Logan continued to stare down at the grave as he listened to his father's footsteps walk away. Adam0 had taken quite a few steps away before Logan turned, calling out for his dad.
"Do you though? Sometimes think of the past? Do you think of Mom and…" He frowned, trying to rack his brain for his younger sister's name. "Ida?"
"I try not to. I have a new family to look out for now. I still have you and we have Ruby, Alan and Bridget under our wing. That's all I need to look forward. That was always the difference between myself and your Uncle Max. I knew the wise thing to do was keep on going. Max never could quite grasp that. He was desperate for a family, even if that meant risking those boys' lives."
"Guess it ran in the family. Being obsessively desperate for something," Logan muttered, following his father and he thought of Marko. Marko and his obsessive need for revenge and his idea of revenge only. "If Bernice's death was Marko's fault, I'm gonna rip him –."
Adam stopped in his tracks and scowled at his son. "Israel Logan-Mathias, you're going to keep a level head and we'll solve this problem through careful planning. I confronted Marko without any assistance and got my arm broken. If anything happened to you…"
"Dad, okay. Okay. I won't get into a lather about it. Promise." He gave a solemn nod, not daring to flash his usual cocky smirk. His father's scowl and use of his full name meant he was being incredibly serious and did not expect any joking around. And Logan wouldn't.
When his father was serious about something, Logan was too.
Alan landed on the gravelled path to Sam's house, moving to the shadows of a large tree in Mr Burke's garden. The gravel crunched under his feet and he stared at the house before him. There were a couple of lights on and he heard voices inside. Familiar ones that belonged to three familiar people. Bonnie's low and slightly husky voice. Sam's higher pitched tone that contrasted against Edgar's gruff, puberty-gone-crazy voice. There was no sign of Blake though. Alan couldn't hear him or catch his scent. If he had been present he would have picked up on the older vampire hunter's sardonic, impassive tone and fresh deodorant.
There were footsteps coming towards the front door. A new presence that hadn't been with his brother and former friends previously. But he caught the scent of strong musky cologne and cigarette smoke. There was one person from his human memories with that smell and Alan felt his fist curl up, unlocking all the bad memories he had of that person. If he hadn't just fed for the night, he would have been tempted to use this one as his prey.
Bobby walked out, lighting up a cigarette and he closed the door behind him. Back slightly turned to Alan, he took in a deep inhale of the cigarette, held his breath for a few seconds and slowly exhaled the grey smoke out. He was filthy, his usual sports attire covered in blood and goo and a belt was strapped around his waist. The three pockets attached to it held three stakes.
So, vampire hunter Bobby, Alan thought and sneered. He stayed silent, eyes locked on the boy who had tormented him throughout school and waited for Bobby to notice he was there. When he didn't, too wrapped up in his cigarette break, Alan stepped out of the shadows to clear his throat and watched Bobby spin around.
Alan couldn't fight back the smirk forming on his face as Bobby turned. The jock stood there with his mouth open, letting his cigarette drop the ground.
"Alan? The fuck…"
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Alan said.
Bobby couldn't help the grimace at Alan's pale look as he stepped closer to examine his former classmate. Alan dressed the same but there were small differences. The ghostly white skin obviously was the first change. But there was also the way Alan stood. Straight, confident. Still. Too still. Like a lion waiting to pounce at its prey. Alan had always been a standoffish boy but his eyes were hard. Cold and glaring.
"Yeah, well, you were supposed to be dead. But you are though, right? Some kind of dead."
"Undead," Alan said with a nod. "And you're a vampire hunter now?" He pointed to the belt around Bobby's waist, noticing that his former peer's hand had instinctively gone to hold the blunt end.
"I'm just helping Imogen. I got no interest in a fight with you," Bobby said.
"It wouldn't be a fight. I'd rip your head off in seconds," Alan whispered and, for effect, let his eyes glow amber. A dangerous smile crept up on his face, showing off the lengthening fangs. He saw Bobby's Adam's apple shake as he gulped and fear spiced up the scent of his already delicious blood. Like melted chocolate with a new richer kick to it thanks to his terror.
"I'm – I'm sure you would. But look, man, I only care about killing that vampire that turned Imogen. I'm not here to fight you. I know about the alliance and what that would mean. I ain't stupid."
"I know," Alan said and made his teeth and eyes return to normal. He laughed, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm just trying to scare you, Denton. I'm here to talk to Edgar. Something's happened that he needs to know about."
The tension in Bobby's shoulders slowly disappeared and he let out a sigh. "Oh, right. Um, he's inside. Follow me," Bobby said and gestured Alan over. He had come down a few steps, further towards the vampire as they had been talking. A stupid move for Bobby but a perfect opportunity for Alan. He lunged, grabbed Bobby's shoulders and pulled him forwards. With a hiss, his fangs extended once again and those sharp teeth dug into Bobby's skin, just above his collarbone. The jock screeched out, scrambling away when Alan released him after a few seconds of drinking up his blood.
At the sound of footsteps, Alan turned to Sam's house and smiled, not bothering to hide his demonic features.
"I can hear you in there, guys," Alan called out, speaking easily around his fangs. "Why don't you come out and talk? I have some questions I want some fucking answers for."
He glanced down at Bobby who stayed on the ground, clutching at his shoulder and crying out every swear word under the sun.
"You fucking… vampire!" he shouted.
"Toughen up. That was only a scratch. If you want to really see me as a vampire, I can tear your fucking neck apart!"
Bobby sneered, taking out a stake from his belt. "You're not scaring me, Frog!"
Alan began to advance. "Is that a challenge, Denton?"
"Hey!"
Alan looked up at his brother, smirking as he folded his arms. Edgar stormed down the steps with Bonnie and Sam. Imogen had been in tow until she saw Bobby on the ground. She halted immediately, arms stretched out to help him but she abruptly backed away as her nostrils twitched. She clamped a hand around her mouth and retreated back a couple of steps.
"Was that really necessary?" Edgar growled, keeping his stake raised. "Petty revenge?"
"I just wanted to coax you out to talk," Alan said with a casual shrug. "Make sure you'd talk to me. But that did feel pretty good." He gestured to Bobby with a nod of his head and laughed.
"Were you going to kill him?" his brother asked.
"Nah. I just wanted to scare him. A little payback. Come on, Edgar, chill out. All I've done is give him a small scratch and ruined a pair of trousers."
"Fuck you," Bobby said on the ground, despite his voice cracking and going high pitched.
"What do you want, Alan?" Sam asked.
"Bernice is dead," he snapped and took note of their reactions. Bonnie gasped, hands flying up to her mouth and Sam's arms were around her straight away. It didn't take long before her tears were on show. Edgar was poker-faced as always. Although for a few seconds, his head dipped and his eyes closed.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Holy water. Someone got creative and injected her with it. You don't know anything about it?"
"You accusing us? We were on our own hunt, waiting around for you. Remember the arrangement for tonight?"
"Blake was conveniently there," Alan said. "Maybe you can't do the job yourself so you get someone else with no attachment to do it for you. I know you too well, Edgar. I'm your brother. And I'm not stupid. I've always been smart."
"No, you've always been academically smart. You're an idiot when it comes to common sense. Remember how you ran off alone that night you got turned? Remember when you and Bridget sneaked out and were taken by those vampires? You ended up giving in to the hunger."
"Is Bridget alright?" Bonnie asked.
Alan sneered. "No. She's far from alright. She feels like she's losing everything she cared for."
Bonnie fumbled with her nail polish, scratching at the paint. "Well… could I see her?"
Edgar turned his head. "Are you crazy? She's on their side!"
"She's my friend!" Bonnie argued back.
"She doesn't want to see any of you," Alan said. He resisted the urge to break the news. That Bridget really was on their side now. How he was desperate to see the shock on their faces. But it was Bridget's news, if she wanted them to know. It was down to her to make the entrance and show them what they had pushed her into becoming.
"You make her feel like a monster," he added.
"You turned her into one," Edgar snapped.
"Guys, Bernice is dead and we're standing here arguing?" Sam kept his arms around Bonnie as she shook to keep the sobs quiet. "Look, Alan, we were all hunting. Trying to find more of Marko's pawns. We had no idea what happened tonight."
"And that's the truth? You didn't have anything to do with Bernice's death?"
"No," Edgar answered brusquely. "We're not the only enemies. Remember? We had a run in with one of Marko's pawns."
"Yeah, we did too," Alan said. "Blake said one of them killed Bernice."
"But you think he's lying," Edgar said.
"I don't trust him."
"I don't trust vampires," Blake said, walking up to the house. "Feeling's mutual, leech."
He took Bobby by the hand, hauling him up and keeping him steady before glancing at Alan. "Where's your bloodsucking girlfriend?"
"Safe. Mourning." Alan felt his upper lip twitch in a sneer.
"So it's just you here?"
"I'm sure you had something to do with Bernice's death. I want the truth."
"All you have are accusations. Do you really want to risk starting a war between us and your pack now? When Marko is still out there? Because if you kill us, simply because of an accusation, you'll be down on numbers for Marko. He's attacking you even though you're vampires. He won't stop because you've killed us." He gestured to himself and the other hunters.
Bobby mumbled that he was fine to stand and hobbled over to Edgar. He still clutched his neck, glaring at Alan as he stumbled past. Imogen whispered an apology before she darted inside and slammed the door shut.
"So maybe you need to go," Edgar snapped. "And we can go back to concentrating on Marko."
"And then what?" Alan asked. "Have you given up on saving Bridget?"
"Not exactly," Blake said quietly and raised a cross. He lunged forward, swinging his arm and as Alan was glancing back at him, it bashed against the side of his head. There was a sickening crack of wood against Alan's temple and he fell down, collapsing in a heap. It didn't push him into darkness but it disorientated him and made his movements and thoughts sluggish. Being a cross, it caused sharp pains throbbing through his head and he groaned, rolling onto his back.
A big mistake when he saw Blake hovering over him with a stake.
"Blake!" Bonnie shouted.
"It has to be done," he heard Edgar growl.
"I don't want to see this!" she yelled back.
Blake brought down the stake down. Alan screamed as it pierced through him.
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to leave a review. Chapter 21 will be uploaded next Saturday.