Author's note: Shit is about to hit some fans next chapter, for now we have more mysterious mysteriousness and sad vampires. May we recommend the tunes "every breath you take" by the police and "I am so sad, so very very sad" by that band in the Scott Pilgrim movie while you read the following chapter. Duck and cover for pancakes flying on a low altitude.

If you feel like singing, sing,

Tra-la-la your cares away,

There's something about giving out with a song,

Makes you belong,

Helps you to find a peace of mindful day.

- Judy Garland

"IF YOU FEEL LIKE SINGING, SING! DADA DEEE DAAH DA DA DUUUMM! WHAT A PEACEFUL DAY!"

I did my best to press my head up against the window of the buss, trying to block out the singing (that was sure to blast out my eardrums) of the energetic driver. It was Monday morning. I really didn't have to be up early this morning since my morning class at the art college had been canceled, but somehow heather had roped me into coming with her sculpture class on their field trip. A field trip that started at 5 am.

We were going to the beach to collect shells and pretty rocks. Like some sort of preschool activity.

The sculpture group consisted mainly of a bunch of kids and 20 somethings with severe cases of ADD and they never slept. Two of them started crying because the bus drove past an ice cream shop without stopping. Case in point, the teacher of the class hadn't stopped juggling oranges since we got on this godforsaken bus. I did my best to try and block it out and go to my happy place. But since that place had turned so very distracting as of late thanks to a certain snow white pale megalomaniac I couldn't last there long.

Oh dear, sweet, gifted, understanding god, let me get off this bus alive.

Finally, we arrived at our destination an hour later.

The sun was just coming up as we arrived. It kind of made up for the horrible ride here. The teacher dispensed flimsy check papers for the assignment to everyone and gave each student an orange for breakfast. I looked down at my own orange little orb of vitamins and sighed wistfully. When Aro still lived with me, he used to make the best breakfast pastries. He didn't even have to use a whisk when he cooked, he just reached down into the mixing bowl with his forefinger and swirled it around at vampire speed. Everybody dispensed to search the seaside. The teacher warned us about the ebb before returning to the bus and her oranges. Since I wasn't officially a student in this class I served as a sidekick to heathers seashell hunt. She gave me very specific instructions.

"No pointy ones!"

"Ok."

"Or too soft ones!"

"Ok."

"but very large ones, but not too large!"

"Ok. Whatever are you going to use them for anyway?"

"for the upcoming midterm project. I'm going to project the symbol of womanhood made out of treasures from the sea!" Heather dramatically exclaimed, small plastic bucket flying in her chubby little arms.

"Basically you're making a labia out of sand and shells then?"

"Pretty much."

"Sounds awesome."

We waded around the shallow waters, searching for the particulary fancy ones for awhile. Being only march, the water was cold as a friggin frick. You could feel the cold through your boots. The cold reminded me of aro (damn, that man was still here even though he wasn't).

You're not making any sense.

"Hey Heady?"

"Yeah?"

"Did something…odd happen last Friday?"

"Well, plenty odd things happened. You have to narrow it down."

"I mean, something that Aro might have seen."

"Hmmm. Well, he did see you with your pants off." I already knew that, and he had seen me half naked plenty of times already.

"Nothing else?"

"Not that I'm aware off.

"Funny. He's been acting so weird since then."

"Why don't you ask Caius? I bet he knows. He's like the regina George of vampires, AND those two are besties and former cult buddies."

"Yeah, you're right. " Suddenly I looked up towards the forest that was beyond the cliffs lining the beach. Something was watching us.

Hey…what was that?"

"what?"

Past the rocks and the grassy hills past the long beach, I could have sworn I saw a lone figure standing there. It kind of freaked me out. But as I looked again I saw nothing.

"Nothing." I muttered. It must have been the early morning light playing tricks on me, or maybe it was just a spooked deer. We kept looking for shells.

Later on when I got home, the first thing I did was to lie down on the couch and bask in the glorious sound of SILENCE. Not even the sound of Dinahs farts. Not to say that I didn't enjoy Heathers company, she was like my daughter and my sister, in you know, not a funny way or anything….

But if you've ever been in an enclosure of parrots for a longer period of time, you get where I'm going with this. I startled when a sudden noise disrupted the quiet. I sat up and saw that it was only my former flatmate. But what was he still doing here?

"Hey, I thought you moved out?" I asked him while rubbing at my eyes, tired after the long morning. He was collecting some fancy shirts from a hidden compartment in the drawer standing in the hallway.

"Not quite, there are still some articles of mine here."

"Hey I never asked, how did you even afford a penthouse apartment? You've only been working for like, four months."

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah."

We took a trip to a very prestigious bank in an upscale part of london that checked my clothes for weapons at the entrance. He had a private vault. He unlocked it with a small key and asked me to look inside. I did not imagine what I would see. Frolocking little sheep? Butchered meat? A family of four plus annoying dog?

Instead there was only this: Gold bricks. Several stacks of gold bricks, that almost touched the ceiling. It was like some revealing scene out of oceans fucking eleven. He knew what I must have been thinking, because as I looked back at him he smiled patronizingly.

"I invested my money in bonds. "

I stared.

"Bonds." I said. I stared at the el dorado inside the vault as if it was almost a frightening vision, half expecting it to melt away like it was made out of chocolate.

"Bonds." He echoed, eyes betraying the sincerity in his voice. I don't know how he had gotten hold of it, but it had certainly nothing to do with bonds.

"Really?" I asked him, my voice practically the embodiment of doubt. But somehow I wasn't surprised. He sniffed and turned up his nose at me.

"It turned out to be a very fortunate decision. The textile market is flourishing." I snorted at that, yeah right. He reacted to the noise in the oddest way. At first he smiled, like he usually did when I was being my unladylike self, but then something in his manner changed. With a stealthy hand he reached out to gently touch my cheek, and he looked at me as if he was in deep sorrow. It was so different from his usual chirpy manner that it unnerved me. t I looked away and stepped into the vault. I gave a slow whistle.

"I guess the time is as good as any to ask you for that new xbox I never got for Christmas? Eh?" I asked quietly, half joking.

Aro said nothing, dark figure in cape and all gliding away from the vault entrance as he pretended not to have heard me.