I'm just gonna leave this here...

I headed to the video store by myself. I'd convinced the guys that I had some serious work for them to handle involving the surf punks that were trying to invade our territory, but really, I just needed to handle things alone.

Maria was behind the counter like always, and she seemed less than pleased to see me. "You know Max is gonna have your ass if he catches you in here after that stunt you pulled last night, David."

"Hey, I didn't mean for that girl to make off with any movies. I was just goofing around." I said with a shrug and leaned on the counter. "Is he here?"

"Yeah, and he brought his dog Thorn to bite your ass if you try anymore crap." Maria said with a half smile. "Honestly, I'd like to see that so maybe you should stick around."

"Nah. I just had a question." I looked to Maria seriously. "Did Tawny come in here last night?"

"I don't know why I would tell you if she did. Ever since you stopped working here, you've caused us nothing but trouble." Maria said with a huff.

"Maria, please. I know I'm a jackass but I really need to find out. I know she was back in town last night. I need to know if she came in here." I looked at my former coworker pleadingly. "Please."

Maria sighed and glanced behind her to make certain that Max wasn't around before she turned her gaze back to me. "She came in here last night, browsed the movies and talked with me for a bit."

"What did she say?" I asked curiously.

"Mostly she had questions about you. Asked if you still worked here, if I ever talked to you, if I knew what you were up to. I told her you were a little shit head that caused a bunch of trouble." Maria shrugged. "She seemed to think it was funny. She didn't talk much about herself, and as soon as Max got here, she left without saying a word."

"What time was that?" I asked.

"I don't know the exact time, but it was a little while before you came in causing all that trouble." Maria replied with another shrug. "And that was it. I haven't seen her today at all."

"Damn." I muttered under my breath. I turned away from Maria and started toward the door at the back of the store. Max was likely back there and I had to confront him. I pulled the door open and stepped in to find Max relaxing and playing with his dog. "Where is she?"

Max looked up at me with a cocked eyebrow and a smile. "Who are we talking about?"

"You know damn well who I'm talking about." I said angrily. I took a step toward Max but his dog growled viciously at me. "Where is she?"

Max's smile turned to a full on grin and he stood up to face me. "Ah, so she did seek you out after all."

"Answer my question, Max." I clenched my fists at my side and glared at him. "Where is she?"

"You know your problem, David? You're always so sentimental. You shouldn't be that way. It's a weakness." Max turned away from me and called Thorn to his side. "Tawny abandoned our family. She left us so why should we worry about her at all?"

"We are not a family, Max. We never were and we're never going to be." I took another step toward him, my anger growing. He was avoiding my question. "Where is Tawny?"

"She's such a foolish child. Did you know she had the audacity to come to my house last night?" Max said, casting a glance over his shoulder at me. "I would've thought that Thorn would be enough to scare her off but she was certainly persistent."

"What did you do to her?" I managed to ask, though I was afraid of the answer.

Max let out a sigh and turned to face me. "I did what I had to do, for all of our sakes."

I rushed forward and grabbed Max by his collar, slamming him against one of the storage shelves. Thorn was growling and biting at my jacket, trying to pull me away from his master, but I wasn't budging. "What did you do?"

"David, don't be stupid. Nothing can be undone. It's time to face facts... Tawny is history." Max smiled and shrugged. "No hard feelings?"

I glared at Max furiously. I knew there was nothing I could do at that point to challenge him so I released my hold on him and stormed away. I walked past Maria without saying a word and jumped on my bike, speeding off toward Max's house.

I parked in front and ran up the walkway. When I reached the front door, I kicked it in and looked around frantically. The first thing I noticed was that Max had remodeled. Nothing looked familiar at all. But the more I looked around, unfamiliar as it was, I could tell things were out of place here and there.

A table had been knocked over and set back up but the grooves from where it had originally sat were still imprinted on the carpet. There was a bit of dirt from a plant that had been overturned still on the carpet. I continued through the house, following the path of the confrontation into the kitchen. That was when I saw something that struck me cold.

Blood. Blood everywhere.

There was blood all over the kitchen floor; more blood than I'd ever seen spilled, and I personally had a habit of making a mess. In the middle of the massive puddle, the stake Tawny meant for Max lay covered in the red, sticky substance. I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't want to see anymore but I knew I had to continue on. There were two sets of bloody footprints leading into the garage. I rushed forward, bursting through the garage door. Inside the garage, the footsteps stopped abruptly so I whirled back around, noticing two sets of bloody hand prints on the wall. The smaller set was low and facing downward. The larger set was higher up and facing upward. Max had pinned Tawny there, but there was no more blood. No more trail to follow. No sign of Tawny anywhere.

I could feel tears burning at the back of my eyes. A sorrow welled up inside of me at the thought of Tawny's last moments being violent and full of fear. I never wanted that for her. Ever. "Tawn..."

"You shouldn't be upset, David." I heard a familiar voice say behind me.

I turned to find the garage door open with Marko standing not far behind me. "Marko?"

"Tawny knew what she was heading into when she came here, David." Marko said as he took a step toward me. "She was prepared for the worst."

"I warned her!" I said, letting out a shuttering breath. "I warned her this would happen."

"I know you did." Marko said, inhaling sharply. "She told me everything you said as I brought her over here."

"You did what!?" I rushed at Marko and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "What were you thinking!?"

"Right as I was getting ready to fly back and get your bike, Tawny approached me." Marko said with a sigh. "She had a lot to say, actually. She was pissed at me for becoming a vampire and pissed at you for turning me into one, at least, until I explained how it happened. She begged me to take her to Max's place and I refused at first, but..." He let out another sigh and looked up at me. "Well, she told me that she was going to go regardless, but without my help would take longer and she might not be able to set everything up in time. She needed to get here and prepare while Max was still at the video store."

I released my grip on Marko and took a deep breath. "Marko..."

"She apologized for getting so mad at us. She said it wasn't fair and that no matter what happened, she wanted you to know she was sorry." Marko looked down at the ground. "David, I couldn't just stop her from going after Max. She had every right to and I wasn't going to stand in the way of that. I mean, I tried to reason with her but she wasn't having any of it. You know she's stubborn. She was ready for the worst to happen but she wasn't going to let that stop her. I figured the least I could do was help her get the advantage by getting here first."

"You're right, Marko." I said with a shrug. "Tawny was going to do what Tawny was going to do and there was no stopping her." I started toward the garage door slowly, a feeling of regret in my gut for the words I was about to say. "And Paul and Dwayne were right too. Tawny was a human. I shouldn't care what happened to her. She left me once by choice and now she's left me again. The choices were feed or be fed upon. She chose the latter. There's nothing we can do about it now."

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Marko asked hesitantly as he followed after me.

"They're only animals, Marko." I replied. "Animals live and die. We just live."

I stepped out of Max's garage that night forcing myself to be okay with the fact that the person I considered my best friend for a long time was dead, but that it was by her own choice, so I shouldn't be bothered.

It was a hard pill to swallow but I kept reminding myself it was her choice. Her choice.