Chapter Eighteen:_

Note: I'm ahead of schedule in my chapters. I always have at least 2 chapters completed before I post a new one, but now I have a couple more completed, soooooooo...I will be generous.

These new chapters are starting to develop some tangy flavor. Yummy :)

(P.S. This story is meant to be developed as a novella. It is how I have planned it and I hope it puts it into perspective for my lovely readers.)

Larten scraped the eggs he had made onto a plate. It was past midnight and he was just making his breakfast. Erin was gone and Brigid must have been asleep. The house was quiet as he sat at the dining room table by himself. It felt odd to him. He looked up at the empty chair across from him. He knew what was missing. Larten looked back down and finished his eggs as quickly as possible. He didn't want to look at that empty chair.

He walked out into the garden and sat on the edge of the concrete patio near where he had landed. His feet were bare in the grass as he wrapped his arms around his long legs, bringing his knees to his chest. He stared into the darkness thinking. Nothing specific just...everything that had happened to him and the current situation he was in; Larten heard footsteps behind him and the shuffling of pushing the tarp aside that covered the door.

Brigid sat down beside him. They both sat in silence looking into the garden.

Larten finally broke the silence.

"I don't think Erin would approve of you being awake at this hour."

They didn't look at each other, just gazed into the night.

"I had some sequences pop into my head and then I needed a midnight snack." Brigid responded matter-of-factly.

They both fell silent again.

"Erin's birthday is next week. She turns 30 on Friday. We've always kept it simple. We get a small cake, watch her pick of movies, and I buy her a small something even though she always says not to. She never wants or asks for more. Anyway, I should get back to bed. Erin texted me. She wont be home until around 8:00 A.M. She has to stay overtime. So she won't see you until tomorrow night." Brigid waved her hands in confusion. "You know what I mean. Goodnight, Larten." Brigid said, looking directly into Larten's eyes.

Larten watched her leave and stared back into the garden, somewhat confused, then it suddenly clicked. His golden opportunity had come. The deal he had made with her about taking her to dinner had just fallen perfectly into place. Larten breathed in the night air deeply and let it out. The luck of the vampires was once again on his side.

Erin walked into the house completely exhausted. The stress of her job was the usual but it seemed like every patient she attended or had admitted in emergency she had consuming flashes and blips from them. The majority were souls in pain and screamed in fear at the eternity they were about to face. It had frayed her nerves and she had to hide it throughout her shift. She cried in her car as she drove home. Those experiences, those flashes, the reality of mortality that eventually everyone must face were either accepted by people or terrified them and if it was a sudden trauma they had just experienced and died almost instantly in ICU, they had no chances left, no time to process, and that left them a dizzy and confused spirit.

Erin started to cry again. It was such a heavy weight like their personal demons had followed her home. Erin went out onto the the broken patio and sat on the patio swing. She held her head in her hands and cried. She had to get it out or all that darkness would consume her and that was a very, very dangerous thing to happen she had found out once before.

Those frightful feelings had stirred Erin into thinking about the dream she had had about Murlough and Brigid and Larten and that was what finally sent her spiralling down.

Once she had nothing left in her and she was completely numb and empty, she stared unseeingly in a total stupor. She didn't even notice when Brigid sat down beside her and was shaking her shoulder. Erin slowly turned her head towards Brigid but she wasn't seeing her, Erin's face completely blank. She noticed Brigid's lips moving.

"Erin. Erin, hey, see me. Come on. Focus for me." Brigid put her hands on either side of Erin's head giving it a small shake. "Focus now. Focus on me."

Erin's eyes finally lost their glazed look.

"Hey. You're okay. Rough day at work? I saw a lot of black." Brigid said gently.

Erin opened her mouth but nothing came out as she started crying again. Brigid held her older sister close, whispering that she was okay, and home. Erin finally moved herself out of her sister's embrace. She had terrible dark circles under her eyes and it looked like she would faint at any minute.

"I'm so tired and they wouldn't stop...the flashes just kept coming and I'm so worried..." Erin closed her eyes, more tears squeezing through.

"Come on. Let's get you to bed." Brigid stood up, taking Erin's arm.

Erin didn't argue or say anything as Brigid led her upstairs. She threw comfy clothes at Erin and rolled up Erin's scrubs to wash. Erin laid down on the bed. Brigid moved a couple of notebooks she had fallen asleep with last night. She pulled the blankets over Erin who immediately fell into a fitful sleep.

Brigid closed her bedroom door so Erin wouldn't be disturbed. Brigid glanced at the closed door to Erin's room where Larten was sleeping. She had seen some bright street lamps surrounding him. She pursed her lips and wish what a certain configuration of her sequences would just happen already. Bright street lamps around Larten must mean something. Bright lamps, a red blur, rain drizzle, confrontation. Obviously she didn't know how the specific variables would fit in or when they would happen. She gave a dramatic "ugh" to herself as she descended the stairs.

Brigid started a load of laundry and folded the towels that had dried. It was 10:00 in the morning. She grabbed a box of cereal and sat on the loveseat in the living room eating her cereal dry as she watched t.v. She had planned on taking Erin's car to go back to the mall to find one or two more outfits for school but with Erin's condition she would be staying home to take care of her. Brigid was incredibly protective of Erin when she had those particular kinds of days or severe flashes or nightmares. She did not envy Erin's gift when those things happened to her; too close to hell.

Brigid thought about the talk she had had with Larten last night. So help her, if he hadn't grasped what she had hinted at concerning Erin's birthday, she would murder him in his sleep. Forget Murlough or anything else dangerous he might have faced, he would never be able to out run her wrath. She figured he had caught on. He was a good guy, well, vampire, and she knew he wouldn't do something if he wasn't sincere about it. Still though, if he didn't, he would not be waking up to live another night.

The day passed with Brigid only having to go upstairs to Erin a couple of times when she heard her crying out from a nightmare. She had been able to take a nap on the couch so was awake around midnight to make breakfast for Larten. She had heard walking upstairs and knew he was finally awake. He walked into the kitchen with a yawn, scratching his scar. He was grumpy.

"What was all the noise about? I was woken up several times and could not sleep." He grumbled.

Brigid shot him a dark, angry look. Larten took a step back not expecting such a reaction.

"Erin had a few nightmares. Her shift had been psychically harrowing." Brigid slid the eggs sunny-side up onto the plate with the buttered toast and bacon. She pulled out a grapefruit and sliced it in half placing both halves on a separate plate.

"What do you want to drink?" Brigid asked curtly, not even looking at him.

"I-um, water." Larten said still taken aback by Brigid's attitude. He did not think she was even capable of being severe let alone almost viscious.

Brigid quickly filled a glass with water and stuck it by his plate pushing it towards him on the island.

"There. Have a nice night." And with that Brigid walked past him to the stairs without even a glance in his direction.

Larten was left shocked and completely alone in the kitchen. He heard a door open and close upstairs and that was it. He looked down at his breakfast.

"Charna's guts!" He berated himself. How could he act so callous? True, he hadn't known it was Erin but still...the look in Brigid's eyes was enough to make any vampire cower in shame.

He stood at the island and ate his breakfast. Even in his damned ignorance he had been made a warm meal. The feeling of shame grew more and more with every bite he took. Before he knew it he was staring at two empty plates. He placed them in the sink and with determination he walked up the stairs to Brigid's bedroom. He knocked two times on her bedroom door. Brigid peeked her head out.

"What do you want?" She hissed. "She's still sleeping."

Larten straightened himself.

"I would like to offer to look after Erin tonight so that you may sleep as she wishes you to in preparation for your new school term." He said formally.

Brigid narrowed her eyes at him.

"And where will you watch her?"

"I will take her into her bedroom so she may sleep in her own bed and so I may be able to be close by in case she should suffer a nightmare or any other sort of disturbance."

"Why bother?" Brigid said coldly.

"Because I care. And I know she cares about you. So I must do right by her wishes." Larten said gruffly.

Brigid stared into his eyes discerning his intentions. Her eyes of light brown-hazel, pools of innocence and worry, pierced through Larten. Slowly they started to change from fierce protection to child-like fear.

"Don't leave her." She whispered, pleading.

"I won't." He said, staring into her eyes.

Brigid saw truth behind his eyes and opened her bedroom door for him to enter. He immediately went to the bed and eased Erin into his arms. When he entered the hall to Erin's bedroom door, Brigid called after him.

"I'm trusting you." She said in a childlike voice. "So does she."

Larten looked back at Brigid. "I will never give you a reason not to."

Brigid nodded her head and closed her bedroom door.