Sorry it's been so long. I've been very busy, but I'll do my best to post more often.
Please enjoy!
Eden and Betty watched as two pretty, blonde nurses drew blood from their classmates with a very intimidatingly sharp needle.
Today was the school blood drive and plenty of the boys were lined up outside the nurse's office, waiting for their turns with excited smiles. They almost looked like they were in line for tickets to a football game rather than a one way ticket to Pain-Ville. Well, put a couple of beautiful girls in a nurse outfit and the boys will come running.
"My mom wants me to donate. She says my blood is special," Eden told Betty, emphasizing the word her mom had used. "And that's exactly why I'm keeping it where it belongs: in my veins."
"All parents think that way," Betty contended. "You just don't want to give blood because you have a crippling fear of needles."
"No!" Eden quickly protested. "I'm just not the biggest fan of them. There a bit too sharp and pointy for me."
Betty made a face to show that she was not convinced. "Pencils can be pretty sharp and pointy. And you're not scared of them."
"Pencils are not made with the purpose of getting inserted into my skin."
"So you admit you're scared."
"I admit nothing of the sort. They just make me uncomfortable. We've already had this conversation. And you know what? It's not like you're rushing to donate either."
Betty lowered her voice. "They can figure out your entire genetic code with one drop. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to help someone out and give them my blood, but I'm not taking that risk."
"Well, if you do it, you get a free cookie," Eden mentioned, knowing how much her friend loved desserts.
Betty paused her reasoning. "How do you know that?"
Eden pointed to the banner on the wall.
SCHOOL BLOOD DRIVE
FREE COOKIES!
Betty grabbed her chin in serious contemplation. "Well, I could reconsider if it was for the sake of a cookie."
"Nice to know that you value a cookie over helping people in the hospital."
"Okay, when you say it like that, it makes me sound like a bad person."
Eden rolled her eyes.
Then, she suddenly noticed Sam leaning against the wall outside the nurse's office with a family size bag of chips in hand. He seemed. . .off? Worried? Anxious? Something was wrong either way.
"Hey, I'm going to talk to Sam real quick."
"Don't come back unless it's with a boyfriend," Betty joked.
"Then I guess I won't be back for another million years." With that, Eden walked toward Sam. "Hey, Sam. You okay?"
Instead of answering he downed a handful of chips, not bothering to wipe the crumbs away from his mouth. For a brief instant, Eden considered wiping them off for him like the people did in those romances. Then, she realized her life was more of a comedy than a romance. Besides, she always thought those scenes were a cringefest.
"Sam?"
"Why are you asking? Don't I look okay?"
"You're snacking on those chips like you haven't had anything to eat in the past month."
Sam growled under his breath and ate another ten chips.
"Is it the blood? Smelling it must be getting to you, huh?"
"Yes!" he nearly yelled.
Eden turned to see the students around her staring. Sam probably noticed, too, but if so he didn't care. "I'm going crazy!" he continued to rant. "No matter where I go, all I can smell is blood. I even tried the boy's bathroom. That place reeks. Every time I need to use it, I have hold my breath because my senses can't take it. Yet, somehow, I still smell the blood."
"Do you maybe need help? I could be, like, your diet buddy."
"You and I should be more worried about Eric. We both know he doesn't have much self-control."
Just as he said that, Eric walked by wearing a white coat and a tray full of freshly baked cookies. He stopped when he spotted his friend. "Hey, Sam," he smirked. "Cookie?" He flashed his fangs at the two for a second before retracting them again.
Eden raised her eyebrows.
"Why?" was all Sam asked.
"I'm a student volunteer," he answered. "Smart, huh?"
Nope.
Nope, nope, nope, nope.
In no way, shape, or form was this good.
"Smart, devious, risky. I'd go with all of the above," Eden replied.
"It's clever. I'll give you that," said Sam.
Eric smiled wider. "If you want, I can hook you up with a sip."
Eden expected Sam to immediately reject his offer, but was disappointed to see the temptation in his eyes. She supposed the smell of blood was more alluring than she thought.
Sam reached for more chips only to discover he had emptied the bag. He threw the useless thing on the ground in frustration before sending Eric a glare and stomping off.
"You know he doesn't want to be a vampire," Eden whispered to Eric. "So why do bother?"
"Our friendship isn't any of your business."
"Some friend you are," she scoffed. "If Sam did become a vampire, you know how devastated he would be? Do you really want that?"
"He'd be upset at first, sure. But he'll get over it once he realizes all the fun he can have. Anyway, I have more volunteer work to get to," he grinned slyly.
Once Eric left, Betty went to her friend and asked, "What's up?"
"The smell of blood is getting to Sam. He's eating junk food to dull the craving."
"That won't satisfy the hunger. That's Vampire 101," she said, sounding sympathetic towards Sam's predicament.
"We better keep an eye on him, then. Him and our other special friends."
"Annie!" one of the nurses called, lifting a container filled with blood bags. "Keep the line moving. I'm off to the truck."
Eric couldn't help smiling at the sound of that. A truck? Full of blood? He didn't realize his birthday was today.
One problem: the risk factor.
While Eric wasn't often careful, he wasn't stupid either. He needed someone to do the dirty work for him, so in the event that Eric's plans went haywire, his pawn could take the blame.
But who would be gullible enough to steal the blood?
"It's like a blood vending machine!" Rosy exclaimed to Eric, essentially popping out of nowhere.
"Shhh!" he hissed at her. She really was an idiot.
Wait! An idiot, huh? What a coincidence. . .
Because an idiot is exactly what I need.
Eden searched the hallways and classrooms for Sam. She had told Betty she would watch him. Meanwhile, Betty would watch Eric.
"Oh! Sam!"
Eden hurried to Sam's side. She soon caught sight of the school vending machine lying on the floor, the glass shattered and springs broken. Dozens of empty chips bags and crumbs littered the area near their feet. The janitor would not appreciate this mess.
Eden turned her head up to see that Sam was holding yet another bag of chips, eating it as though his life depended on it. Well, really, their classmates lives depended on it.
"Um. . .Sam—"
Still chewing, he cut her off. "Don't say it."
So Eden didn't.
But she was definitely thinking it.
"Eden, you should stay away from me for now."
"Stay away?"
"I might not be able to fight this craving, and if it turns out I can't, you shouldn't be around me."
"Come on, Sam—"
"I mean it, Eden!" he insisted, mind made up. "Leave me alone."
It didn't seem like Sam would budge, and though Eden wanted to help, there was nothing for her to do anyway. "Okay," she relented.
It wasn't long after Eden left Sam with his chips when she ran into Rosy who was acting more than a little suspicious.
"Hey, Rosy," she greeted casually.
Rosy jumped ten feet. Not really, but then again, she probably could manage that with her newfound vampire strength. "I can't tell you anything!" she said firmly even though Eden hadn't asked for any information. "Eric would kill me. And I've already said too much."
She turned only to run into Betty eating a cookie. She must have decided to donate blood after all.
"Not cool," she gasped, having been startled by her sudden appearance. She hurried away from her friends.
Betty gestured to Rosy's retreating back with her cookie. "What's her deal?"
"Sounds to me like Eric's pulling her strings."
"Ah! So he's the puppet master."
"And it's not hard to figure out what their after."
"That sweet crimson nectar. Let's call in the big guns."
"If by 'big guns' you mean Sam, forget it. He's got enough on his plate. It's about time we get our hands dirty."
"Then it's a good thing I brought hand sanitizer," Betty stated, triumphantly pulling out a bottle of the germ-ridder from her pocket.
Eden only stared.
"You were speaking metaphorically, weren't you?"
"Let's just go."
"Hey, Rosy," Eden smiled at her friend as she dug through her locker. She tried to appear innocent and harmless.
"I already told you that my lips are sealed!"
"It's not that. If you could be anyone for a day, who you would be? Black Widow or Wonder Woman?"
As she enthusiastically began to answer the question, Betty stealthy tip-toed toward her from behind. "Black Widow has no powers to speak of. She can look pretty and fight. That's it. Wonder Woman can arguably beat Superman in a fight."
When Betty had crept close enough to Rosy, she swiftly tucked a small GPS into the side pocket of the book sack she was carrying on her back. Betty and Eden gave each other a knowing glance before Betty quietly ran off.
Unaware, Rosy continued to rambling on. "She has super strength, speed, agility, flight, healing. . .I could go on. So my answer is one hundred percent Wonder Woman."
"Got it." Eden nodded. Seeing that Rosy had finished, she turned the corner of the halls to meet up with Betty.
"GPS in place," her friend announced to her in a whispered voice. "Now we can track Rosy's location at all times."
"Wow," Eden grinned. She felt like a true spy, and it was exciting. "Never thought I'd say this, but let's spend the day following Rosy around."
When he was relieved from volunteer work, Eric met with Rosy at her locker. "Do you have a plan for the truck?" he asked her.
Both were unaware of the two girls spying on them.
"Yes!" Rosy replied excitedly. She pulled out a sheet of cardboard with a few random items resting atop of it. She explained that the toy spaceship represented the truck, the mini marshmallow was her, the nerdy pencil bag with aliens on it was the school dumpster, and the red cinnamon candy was him. Because he was "red hot." Her words, not his.
She's not lying, though, he thought.
"The plan is simple," Rosy said.
Of course, it was simple. She had devised it after all.
"You'll wait by the dumpster" —She illustrated this by moving the red candy behind the pencil bag — "while I attack the truck and get rid of anyone crazy enough to get in my way." Rosy started hitting the mini marshmallow against the board, making punching noises as she pretended it was her fighting.
"Yeah, yeah. Move on," Eric instructed, growing annoyed with Rosy's antics.
"Oh. Then, we get inside and drive off with the blood."
"Sounds fine. Did you finish my math homework?"
Rosy grabbed the paper from her locker. "Yeah. But I think you'd get more out of the class if you—"
Eric snatched his homework from her hand. "I asked for the homework. Not your opinion."
"Betty, would you stop singing Mission Impossible?"
"But spying is fun! Besides, it looks like she was just doing his homework for him," Betty commented. "We should talk to her about that. Either Eric does his own work or he takes the F."
"I wish we could hear them. Why was she showing him that model spaceship?"
"How many times has she showed you her toys?"
"Good point. Well, the clinic's closing anyway. So I guess our mission is done."
"Oh!" Betty gasped in excitement. "Do you want to come over and play Robo Zombie? I used a cheat code to unlock a new brain grade!"
That was tempting, but could they really trust Rosy and Eric not to do anything while there was still blood in the area?
Betty discerned her friend's uncertainty. "We can still monitor the GPS signal from there."
"Deal."
Just as they were about to leave, Eden suddenly spotted Sam walking down the hallway. "Uh. . .you go ahead," she said to Betty.
Noticing Sam, too, Betty took the hint.
"Hey, Sam."
"Hi, Eden."
"You'll be happy to know that Betty and I held down the fort while you were. . .indisposed. The blood is safe."
"Sure, but at what cost? Maybe we should have just let Eric have it. More blood bags means less body bags, right?"
Eden hadn't thought of that. "Then again, people need that blood. Otherwise, they'll be the ones in the body bags."
"I guess not everybody can win in this situation."
"Anyway, are you okay?"
"Kind of. Two dozen powdered donuts, and hopefully I'll be cured. You heading out?"
Eden almost nodded before seeing a banner for the blood drive was still hung up on the walls. Was she really not going to give blood because she was afraid of a needle? Someone out there might seriously need it. Thinking more on it, Eden realized she had faced witches, vampires, and weredogs. Yet, a little needle scared her. It was stupid. If Sam ever knew, he'd definitely think she was lame.
"I need to talk to the nurses in the blood drive first," Eden told Sam. Not bothering to elaborate, she started for the nurse's office.
Eric and Rosy had begun following through with their scheme.
At this point, both were hiding behind the dumpster. One of the nurses was loading more blood into the truck.
Eric's mouth was practically watering from the smell.
"Now's your chance! Go!" Eric ordered when the nurse walked back into the school building.
"You go it, Hot Stuff!"
Eric rolled his eyes. "Hot Stuff" was the code name Rosy had given him for their mission. "Just go!"
Rosy obeyed, creeping towards the truck and sneakily hopping in. She made sure to shut the door before she was seen.
Her jaw dropped at the sight of all the blood bags. To a vampire, this was like looking at a Thanksgiving feast.
She couldn't help herself. One quick taste wouldn't hurt anyone, especially since she didn't have to bite her way to it.
While Rosy drank her fill, Betty was playing Robo Zombie. She threw up her controller in frustration, having just had her brain bashed in. With her attention no longer centered on the game, she decided to check her phone for Rosy's location.
Weird, she thought. According to the GPS, Rosy was behind the school.
"Let's see what the security camera has to say about that," she muttered to herself, pulling it up on her computer.
There was the answer. On the computer screen was the blood truck parked at the back of the school.
"Not good."
"Excuse me," Eden said to the nurses. "I know I missed last call. The truth is I was a little scared, but if you have time, I'd love to donate my blood. I've got a whole pint of the stuff that I don't particularly need."
The younger of the two nurses smiled kindly. "Come on," she waved. Her hair was curled and fell down to her shoulders with unintended elegance. Eden touched her hair subconsciously. She wondered if Sam liked blondes more than brunettes.
Pushing those thoughts away for the time being, she nervously set her book sack aside and walked a chair. The other nurse, who looked a little older than her partner, had her hair done up in a practical bun. There was a colder, strictly-business vibe to her. She left them once Eden had sat down.
"So. . .could you maybe count to three before you do it. Or five! Five would be great!"
The nurse nodded reassuringly. "Whatever makes you comfortable."
Eden went to thank the nurse for understanding when her phone began to ring. She glanced at her screen and saw Betty was calling. "Betty, I can't talk right now."
"Rosy and Eric are going to rob the donor van behind the school."
"What?" Before she could ask for more details, the nurse grabbed her arm. Eden's heart sped up and her eyes clouded, signs that another vision had been triggered. And in it, the pretty blonde nurse preparing to take her blood had fangs. She hissed viciously, a look of hunger to her. The vision was over in seconds.
Eden tried to calm herself as the same nurse she saw in her vision grabbed a needle. "Relax. I don't bite," she chuckled, mistaking Eden's tension for simple nerves at having her blood drawn.
She forced out a fake chuckle. "Promise?"
"Hey, doofus! Why is it taking so long?" he growled into his walkie talkie.
No response.
"Earth to moron!"
Nothing.
Whatever! He had waited long enough.
Eric hurried over to the blood truck and opened the doors.
Rosy was wiping her mouth of blood. Her teeth were stained red.
"What's the deal? That's my blood!" He jumped into the truck, slamming the doors behind him.
Rosy instinctively backed up. "I was just checking it! Only the best blood is good enough for you!"
Suddenly, the doors were reopened.
"What's going on here?" asked the nurse, perplexed as to why there were two teenagers hiding in the donor van.
Eric didn't have the patience for explanations. "Back off, Sweetie. Or these blood bags won't be the only thing getting drained."
When she narrowed her eyes confusedly, he threatened her with a hiss of his fangs.
Instead of screaming and crying and running away in terror like he was expecting, she laughed in clear amusement.
Not exactly the reaction he was going for.
Eric stood his ground, keeping up an intimidating appearance. "You're a nurse, so you know what these babies can do to a jugular," he smirked, licking his teeth.
The nurse hissed back at them, revealing her own sharp set of fangs. "Wait until you see what happens when those babies are all grown up."
Rosy gasped.
Eric froze, his confident smile now gone.
"She's one of us?" Rosy voiced in surprise.
Eric mumbled, "Did not see that coming."
"Nope."
The nurse glared at the two younger vampires. "You have broken one of our oldest laws. Trying to steal food from your own kind? The Council will make sure you pay for this."
"What?" Eric sneered. "Like a vampire fine. Tell them to mail it to the idiot behind me."
Rather than answering, the nurse exited the truck and closed the door.
"Hey!" Eric pushed the door, but it wouldn't budged.
They were locked inside.
Eden squirmed in the chair. "Um. . .how much do you want?"
The nurse's grin grew. "How much do you have?"
Eden held her breath, hoping that was a joke. She was relieved when the nurse began laughing.
"Just a pint," she said, seriously.
The older nurse who had left before suddenly walked in. "Annie, we're leaving. Now."
Eden tried not to show how glad she was.
"Maybe next time," said Annie, packing up the equipment. "It's a shame, too. You smell. . ." She grabbed her hand and sniffed the finger she had pricked in order to test the blood type ". . .interesting."
Eden pulled her hand away. She could feel it shaking. "Um. . . thanks?"
"Help yourself to a cookie on the way out."
When the nurses were thankfully gone, Sam casually sauntered into the room. Upon seeing Eden's fearful expression, he hurried to her side. "Hey, you okay?"
Eden quickly stood from the chair. "Those nurses are vampires. I saw it in a vision."
Sam blinked slowly. "What is that smell?" he asked, completely unaffected by the news. It was as though he hadn't even heard her. "It's amazing." He sniffed deeply. "Is that your blood?" he asked, seeing the gauze she was holding against her finger. He moved away from her and pinched his nose.
Sam's behavior was unsettling. He wouldn't bite her, would he? Sam had plenty of self-control.
Eden grabbed a cookie from the tray. "Here. Have a cookie." Better safe than sorry. "Take two," she said, handing him another.
Sam went to take more as he followed Eden out of the room before simply deciding to steal the entire tray. Eden tugged at his arm, urging him to quicken the pace. They needed to catch the nurses. She wasn't sure what they would do, but it seemed irresponsible to let them leave.
Though they ran, the van had already taken off by the time they reached the back doors of the school.
Eden was surprise to see that Betty was there, watching the donor van grow smaller and smaller as the distance between them increased. "What? Seriously? I ran for nothing!" she heard her complain to herself while trying to catch her breath.
"Betty!"
Betty turned at the sound of her friend calling her name. "Eden! You hung up on me!"
"Later," Sam interrupted, eating his fifth cookie. "The nurses who were running the blood drive today are vampires."
"Vampire nurses?" She raised her eyebrows. "That's worth running here for at least. Wait. . ." Betty scanned the area ". . .where are Rosy and Eric?"
"They were here?"
"Yeah, according to the GPS. They must have been planning to rob the blood."
"So are they in the van?"
Betty looked to her phone for the answer. "Yeah. Rosy's on the move. And fast."
"They're in danger!" Sam declared, cookie still in hand. "Vampires are super territorial!"
"Let's grab our gear and go after them," Eden said.
The gang made a quick pit stop at Eden's house.
While Betty gathered their homemade vampire weapons, Eden decided to take the opportunity to conduct some research on these nurses.
It wasn't long before she stumbled across an article about them. BENEVOLENT BEAUTIES' BLOOD DRIVES, it read.
"Betty!" she called to her friend who was packing up their equipment, of which included two Nerf Blasters filled with holy water.
"Look what I found! These nurses have over thirty towns on their route. They've been running this scam for years. But they won't be able to run it much longer if people found out the truth."
"You think people will believe they're vampire nurses?" Betty asked, doubting Eden's reasoning here.
"Them not being real nurses is believable enough. And we can use that against them."
"Smart. Anyway, we gotta go."
"Right. Eric and Rosy are in trouble."
"Also, I'm pretty sure Sam is downstairs eating all of your frozen meat."
They had tracked the vampire nurses to an empty warehouse and were discussing their next move from outside.
"Okay. What's the plan?" whispered Betty, holding up a Nerf Blaster.
"You're going to free Rosy and Eric while Sam and I overpower them."
"You?" Sam stared at Eden for a minute. "Really?" It was clear by the tone of his voice he lacked faith in Eden's capabilities.
Eden frowned. "Yeah."
"Just leave it to me."
"You don't think I could help?"
"No offense. But it's not your strong suit."
The three walked in soon after, Eden and Betty wielding Nerf Blasters. Sam had his fangs and supernatural powers to defend him.
"Hands up where we can see them!" Betty yelled.
Sam rolled his eyes. "We're not the police."
The nurses gazed at them in confusion and annoyance, the blood truck parked behind him. The older one crossed her arms while the other placed her hands on her hips. "You," said the younger-looking vampire nurse.
"Yeah," confirmed Betty unnecessarily. "Us!"
"Betty, go! Sam and I will fend them off."
"Mostly me," mumbled Sam.
He's not wrong, Eden thought.
With that, the nurses blocked Betty's path to the truck. Their eyes turned yellow as they hissed at them. Sam hissed back. "Come at me because I've been a bad mood all day."
He was ready for this fight. He threw a punch, and soon, the nurses were throwing their own.
"Let my friends go or you nurses are gonna need a doctor!" The older nurse ran at Sam, but with one kick, he sent her falling on the floor. Eden took the opportunity. She set her foot on the nurse's shoulder and stuck the end of the Nerf Blaster in her face. "Don't move. This gun is filled with holy water. One blast and it's over."
Her eyes widened at Eden's threat, and she stilled.
The other nurse dodged a kick from Sam. He leaned over, gasping for breath. This wasn't good. The fight was wearing him down.
"You're not a real vampire yet." His opponent chuckled, flashing him an amused smile. "And by the way, you smell like junk food."
"Funny. . .You smell. . .like crazy," he retorted through deep breaths.
The nurse smiled again. Then, she grabbed Sam's arm and flipped him onto his stomach. In seconds, she had him pinned to the floor.
Eden wanted to run and help him, but Sam was right. She couldn't fight. She looked around for Betty, but her friend had disappeared.
"What is that smell?" the nurse under Eden's foot suddenly asked. "Is that your blood?"
Eden shivered seeing the appetite in the vampire's eyes. "Yeah." She pulled the bloody gauze out from her pocket and threw it at the nurse. "And that's all your getting!"
The nurse held the gauze up to her nose and inhaled the scent of it deeply. "You don't know what you're full of, do you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Your blood is H-deficient, one in a million. A single pint is worth more than everything in that truck."
Interesting. "Then how about a trade? A pint of my blood in exchange for my friends. And you leave Whitechapel forever."
"No, Eden!" Sam protested. "You can't trust them."
"Why bargain when we can just take it?" the nurse holding down Sam said.
But the other thankfully agreed. "Done!"
Eden held in a sigh of relief.
Her partner in crime scowled. "What?"
"Annie, why must you always do everything the hard way? If you let me up," she said to Eden, "I can get to work."
"Fine, but no funny business."
Sam struggled under the nurse's grip. "No, Eden! Come on, you're smarter than that. You can't trust these two."
"Well, what then?"
Sam looked as though he was pondering the situation. "I'll do it."
"You'll do what?"
"I'll take the blood. It's that or no deal."
The older nurse rolled her eyes. "Fine."
"I am a vampire with super strength. How can I not get this door open?" Eric kicked the barrier between him and the outside.
"I guess we're trapped. Just the two of us. Alone."
Eric glared at Rosy. "Are you seriously enjoying this?"
"Well, let's see. You. Me. A tight space filled with primo plasma. Yeah! I'm enjoying this!"
Realizing he was not escaping any time soon, Eric sat down. He threw his head back in frustration. Of all people to be trapped in a blood truck with, it had to be Rosy?
"You know how in those romantic comedies the guy and the girl at first hate each other. Then, things change and they fall in love and by the end they kiss. Let's skip right to the end."
Eric pounded at the wall. "Can someone get me a wooden stake?!"
"You know, Eric, I think you're really cool."
"Obviously. I am cool."
"But even before you were a vampire, I always thought you were cool."
"Shut up. I was loser."
"No, you weren't. You were really smart and nice."
"And that's what always got me beat up."
"I bet they only beat you up because they were jealous."
"Of what?" he laughed ironically. "My dorky sweater vest or my dumb glasses?"
"I think you looked cute like that."
Eric blinked. "Cute?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
No one had ever called him cute when he was a dork, other than his mom. "Well. . .you were the only one."
"Eric—"
"I'm done talking about this."
"But—"
"Shut up!" he finally yelled. "What would it take to shut you up?! I will literally do anything!"
Rosy smiled. "Anything?"
"Okay. It's fine. It's fine. I'm not scared of needles. Or pain. So you can go ahead and do it," Eden was telling Sam, her eyes closed in fear.
"I already did," he said.
Eden's eyes shot open. "What? Really?" It hadn't even hurt, though.
"Here's your blood. Now get out of here." Sam went to hand the blood bag to the nurse who had agreed to their negotiation but the other hurried to take it from him first. She hungrily watched Eden's blood swirling in the plastic bag.
"You're a walking blood bank kid," she smiled.
Eden clutched the Nerf Blaster nervously.
"What's stopping us from making more withdrawals?"
Eden was prepared for this. She held up her phone. "Well, there's this. One click and I email the details of your scam to every school in a thousand-mile radius. We'll see how much blood you can steal then."
"You think they'll believe you if you say we're vampires?"
"I don't think you'd want to take that risk. And besides, I don't call you vampires in this email. I simply say that your two psychopaths who pretend to be nurses so you can take blood and sell it. Even if they don't believe it, I'll bet it'll make them want to recheck your licenses to nurse. Which I'm sure are fake."
The nurses exchanged a knowing look.
"Behold!" exclaimed Betty, appearing from out of nowhere. She was holding a remote control with a long antenna. "I wired this remote to open the doors of the van! Now watch! The power of technology!"
She aimed the antenna at the van and pressed the button. Nothing happened. She smiled awkwardly at everyone and pressed it again. Still nothing. She gave up on the remote and whipped her spell book out from her book sack. "Doorus Openus."
Absolutely nothing.
The nurses shook their heads at her failed attempts and opened the doors to the van themselves.
Eden's jaw fell when she saw Rosy and Eric's faces were a mere inches apart, lips slightly puckered and eyes closed. Betty and Sam were just as surprised. At the sound of the door opening, Eric quickly pulled away. It was like a driver shifting into reverse and hitting the gas.
"This isn't what it looks like!" Eric asserted. "She wouldn't shut up. It was the only way to get her to stop talking."
"I'm surrounded by vampire noobs!" the older nurse complained, shutting the doors once Eric and Rosy had stepped out. "Let's get out of here," she told the other.
"Well, that was an adventure," Betty said after the two vampire nurses had driven away.
"I'll say," Eden agreed.
"You need a ride home?" Sam asked Eric.
"No, no. It's fine. I'll just fly."
Rosy cheerfully spoke up. "Can I come with you?"
Eric pushed her to the ground and stormed off.
"I guess that's a no," Eden observed, moving to help up Rosy.
Eden couldn't wait to get home. It had been a severely long day.