Serena arrived back from her shopping excursion with many bags in hand. So many in fact that she had to in list the help of Peter to carry them all in, and even with his help they had to make many trips. Serena didn't care though, shopping was one of the things in life that still gave her pleasure, and as uneaten as she was able to do it she was lucky she was ever happy. "Thanks again Peter, you have no idea how glad I am you helped me with all these bags. I don't know how I would have managed without you." Serena sweetly replied while looking at a somewhat ruffled Peter. The friendly man from the front desk who looked as if he thought she was the devil incarnate. "You're welcome. Next time though you might want to buy less at once, or take some of your friends with you, I'm not one of those guys who thinks lifting weights is the best sport ever." With that said Peter turned out of Serena's spacious apartment and headed back for the front desk. Only slightly ruffled by the once nice man's harsh tone, Serena decided to put all of her new clothes away, as well as try some of them on. After all, how could you really be happy when all you did was buy beautiful things, you had to use them. Not like she'd be wearing the glamorous outfits out to clubs with her friends, no that life wasn't meant for her. No she had stopped going to places with them right after the incident. No one could really blame her at first, but after a while it was as if she was purposefully holding them distant. After all she was, she couldn't handle what happened to her parents ever happening to them. Her parents had been out looking for her the night it happened. They had previously been unaware of her late night hunts and were worried as to where she had gone. They had set out to search for her in the park, thinking she had been kidnapped or was sneaking around with an older boy, what they had found they would never recover from. They were greeted at the park entrance by a vampire with a gun. Serena had been trailing him all night and he was panicking. He shot both of Serena's parents without a thought and then had run of when she was distracted. Serena's world had fallen apart in that instant. She was alone. She watched there bodies fall in slow motion, saw the range of emotions that passed their faces, shock, anger, fear, and confusion. Serena had fallen apart on the spot. She wasn't prepared for this. She'd seen many people, all vampire victims, die, but never could she imagine the death of someone close to her. She still couldn't remember the details. When the police had got there, what she had said to their questions, what the questions were exactly, it was all a blur. Most things that she did remember were after the funeral. Her friends asking if she wanted to stay with them, trying to get her back into a normal routine, and the visits with the lawyer saying that she was 18 and was allowed to stay alone, and she was well provided for. All of that she could remember, that and the pain. It was too immense now to think back though. The mere thought still made her eyes sting with unreleased tears. Her shopping trip pick me up hadn't worked out as she had planned maybe she'd try- Tap tap. Serena dropped what she was doing immediately. What was that noise? Tap tap. There it was again. It was coming from her balcony? She picked up a large paperweight from the desk in her bedroom. Slowly she walked out of her room and down the hall, toward the balcony. She switched on the light and then jumped back in surprise. There was a man standing on her balcony! She couldn't quiet make out his face, but she could see that he was holding something in his hand, it looked to thin to be a knife, but Serena didn't really know much about knives. Instead she slowly opened the door and tried to peer out into the shadow he was standing in. "Who are you, and WHAT are you doing standing out on MY balcony. If you're trying to break in you picked the wrong day to mess with me buddy. I've already paged the front desk so they'll be up here any minute." "Aw now that's no way to speak to an old friend now is it?" "Excuse me? Do I know you? Come out from the shadows and let me see you!" He stepped out from his hiding place and Serena recognized him at once. It was the creepy, yet handsome, guy from the other night. What had he promised? That'd we'd meet again? Way to spooky. She had to stay calm, keep talking to him until. until what she figured out a way to kill him? This was going to be a long night. "I'm sorry if I alarmed you," he said in his velvety voice, " I just wanted to give you this." He handed her a single red rose that he had been holding in his hand. 'So that's what he was holding. And to think I thought that he could be dangerous, what is wrong with me, yea the guys is creepy, but I've had guys from school sort of stalk me before. That must be where I met him.' "I'm sorry, but do I know you? Other then from the other night?" Serena felt really stupid for asking, kind of rude too. Oh well, creepy guy on her balcony deserved it. Why was he on her balcony again? "I guess not, no we've never really spoken. I use to go to your school, but I don't anymore. I never really had the courage to talk to you. When I saw you alone the other night I wanted to talk to you, kind of tell you I knew what you had gone threw, and that I'd watch out for you, but I realize it come out totally wrong and I may seem somewhat creepy." "Yea just a little. Why are you on my balcony by the way?" "Oh, um actually I got locked out of my apartment, on my balcony, so I climbed over till I found an apartment where someone was still up. Its just a coincident that its yours I guess." "You live in this building?" "Yea, I just moved in." "What's your name anyway? So far I've been referring to you mentally as the creepy nighttime guy." Darien laughed at this. "My name is Darien Shields. Just call me Darien though." "Well Darien my names Serena, but you already knew that." They both laughed then. Then Serena continued, "Well Darien, would you like to come inside for some coffee?" Darien smiled wickedly, "I'd love to."