Alexa assessed the rickety old barn they used for a garage. D's car was in it's proper place next to her little black moped, but from the reminder of exhaust fumes in the air and temperature of the bonnet, it hadn't been off for long. It also held a faint metallic smell, similar to but thankfully not human blood. Inside there was a fresh faintly blue spillage over the back of the passenger seat…. But he could clean his own car, when she found him alive. She would follow his trail back to the village and see where it lead. She was pretty sure adopting her was his midlife crisis, so while she breathed he wasn't allowed to have another one, their lives were too dangerous.

Uncle Ali's was closed other than that, the whole village and surrounding areas, were exactly as they should be. She felt the worry bleeding into her usually logical mind. If the was ever a time she needed a friend it was this moment, but when she tried to call Sarah and Edmund, instant voicemail.

Breathe. There was a faint smell of the same metallic liquid that was in D's car at Uncle Ali's, but blood of the sales assistant Joe and ambulance supplies had overpowered it. When she thought about it D very rarely bled. And he had 100% been there, but he had taken a trip there every day for the last three years. It may be worth questioning Joe if he had survived, but D could handle himself and he was amazing at first aid, she concluded D would have patched Joe up on site if he had been in the vicinity.

She ventured into the pub, a "Ginger beer gurl?" and the ever present stares of all the regular patrons greeted her. As she surveyed and dismissed the idea of anything more interesting than her having occurred that evening. The community hall was empty. Same as the post office, grocer, and butcher which she expected at this time. A small village was the worst place to find someone. If no one had seen anything, then nothing had happened. A mystic void of information, perfect home for her and D but full of dead ends. She concluded it best to regroup.

His presence lingered all round their lightless country lane, he couldn't be dead could he? She had to have time to save him right? Maybe he did deserve a holiday, but without her? She was a good and dutiful daughter, never a burden. So why leave her alone? Could he have left her here because it was almost exam season…? He could have so many reasons for wanting to be on his own that she didn't want to actually think about, but…

What if the vampire in her house that had taken him, or done worse? She had to keep reminding herself of his well, un-vampirly non death, in her world vampires once dusted, stayed that way. She pressed the accelerator flat, begging her little moped not to explode, then to a god that she didn't believe existed. 'What do I do?' She expected the worst, a macabre picture of the vampire covered in D and Diana's blood welcoming her to a house of death.

Instead the two she'd left were having tea and last of the strawberry sablé tarts she had baked yesterday.
"Diana get away from him!" Diana and Paul watched her daughter appear sweating in the doorway, "Alexa honey you look parched, why don't you join us? Paul here was telling me the story of how he learnt the english language." She took another dainty sip of her earl grey tea, her femininity was creeping out, and she had discovered she had gained elegant manors and she liked it.
"No thank you." Alexa curtly replied as she drew her gun at Paul. "I though I told you to go."
"Turns out I'm actually staying, this chick knows marvey stuff, and you were always going to die of old age anyway. I'm patient." He took a slurp of his own tea. Leaving the flustered Alexa no choice but to remove herself from the situation.

Alexa stalked down the hallway. He was an evil bloodsucker but everything in her being told her that shooting someone without provocation whilst they were having a tea in your house, was wrong, especially if it hadn't worked the first time.

She had searched the entire house for any signs of D or his body, still nothing. He hadn't packed anything either, but that wasn't too odd. Whenever they traveled they traveled light, sometimes only taking the clothes on their back, he was a spontaneous and fun father like that.

She searched his study next, there were so many monitors blaring, he had left them searching for possible threats to humanity. It used a lot of power but it was doing more for the planet than it took, since he had engineered a very efficient generator and hooked it up in the basement. Everything was in the right place, there was an extra half empty bottle of Mr Muscle on the floor, but he could be using the chemical for some experiment somewhere. There was that large upturned chest in the back corner, but it was locked, she knew without even trying it always was. Sometimes she thought it had come with the house, then she'd have a vague memory of the empty space behind it, and it already being with them thorough her childhood. Turning back to the monitors Alexa cursed her shortcomings, she had never been very adept at working with technology, and D had worked with it so easily so she'd never had to give them a second thought. When he ever came back she'd ask him to teach her more than the basics. But that wouldn't help her find him right now.

She had struggled all night, coming up with dead-ends, whether she left the house and searched for leads on foot, or through D's insane computer system. According to Ali's CCTV D had splashed a cleaning product on himself then wondered out, but that was all. If the vampire had tried to kill him he would had been helpless, but there was no body to be found, or even a trail of blood. The vampire hadn't even smelt of fresh blood, and he's a bloodsucker. That was just under 8 hours ago, what could she even do at this point? Should she involve the police, they would ask uncomfortable questions? And Diana, she seemed trustworthy and had said D had left of his own fruition, deep down she wanted to believe her… But what really ate at Alexa the most, was that he hadn't even said goodbye. Everything in the study reminded her of him, and her failure to find and possibly save his life. If she couldn't save those closest to her what was the point of her?

She fell into her room, it was smaller than the study, mostly wooden, with very few things littered about, spartan. She was so used to surviving in the moment she didn't collect things the same way D did. She like everything to be perfectly organised. Especially the array of specific weapons D had regularly created to help her fulfil her destiny. It was her space, it didn't need to remind her of her violent life or any other part of her life, when she was there, she was there.

Usually that was amazing, she could finally rest, no-one and nothing bothered her but now she realised the truth. No-one bothered her because she was alone. There was nothing out on display in her room because she had nothing of her own. She was just a shell with strength, a weapon, and when she thought about it a weapon that didn't even work. She crawled onto the bed, and sat, she couldn't sleep, what if D returned, what if someone needed her, contrary to that what if no-one ever came or needed her again?

Paul's disbelief had subsided, he'd had tea with an alien by Zeus! The alien was so uncanny, she was like a human in almost every way, except she approached things differently, with age and knowledge, almost like a vampire. She did this thing where she didn't even break her sentences, when changing language she was talkin in. She switched between English, German, French, Japanese, and Greek, so easily. He was sure she could speak more, but he realised she had somehow worked out he could understand those few, and had adapted to him. Obviously translating some of her phrases from entirely different languages aswell. Were all aliens so smart, because this planet must have already been over run with them. She did mention that she was likely the last of her kind, so he put the fear of an invasion to the back of his mind.

Just how much had her body explosion thing changed, how much had it adapted to his and her daughter's ideal person? Because that was it, even just her face, she was everything he wanted in a woman, maybe minus some glasses. Then she dressed as a boy and was the smartest person in the room. He knew he shouldn't have agreed to give up on killing the hunter, but she'd asked. After spending all the night taking about, well everything, he probably did need some time away from her. Should he go back to the hotel? That way he would have to admit to his first failure as a top vampire assassin. She had left to do something and said he could stay if he fancied. And the more he thought about it the more he like the idea of hanging around here and her for a long time. Paul could explore the old farm house, that was away from her and still finding more out about her. Why would an immortal alien choose this place?

It was the sort of place Paul avoided like a cat avoids a cucumber, old, rickety, and haunted looking. He grimaced, it was the sort of place everyone assumes a vampire live in, but it just wasn't his style, from the littering of expensive antiques down to the mismatched furniture. That's how he'd sum it up, an old wooden museum. Then you turn a corner and see some form of a flashing futuristic gadget placed on a 18th Century end table. Some of the things scattered about could even be older than him.

Paul gave up exploring for the day and tried to find something that resembled a bedroom, possibly upstairs. The staircases were old dark stained oak, and creaked loudly underfoot. The upper corridors expanded dramatically, they were much darker, gloomy, and expansive, with less stuff in general. Up here he could smell the hunter, maybe just a quick bite, she'd be defenceless, he didn't have to kill her.

He pushed the door open a little soundlessly, and crept into the dark room. His night vision was flawless but it hadn't prepared him for what he found. Alexa was sitting on the bed in the pitch darkness curled up with her hands clinging round her knees, puffy pitch black eyes open, staring into him, and piercing into his soul. She looked like a ghoul, a doll, and a gargoyle mixed together to create the creepiest warped girl imaginable. This Alexa was something else, probably an alien too. She didn't blink her eyes just continued to bore into him. "Have. You. Come. To. Kill. Me. Now?" She asked in under a whisper, he could hear it well, but it was scratchy and without fear. "That's why you're here isn't it, to finish taking everything from me?" She still didn't blink, following him with her head so slowly even he couldn't tell she was moving. "An angel of death. Well I think I'm ready." Tears flooded her eyes as she offer up her wrists and life blood for him to take. Now, those tears showed her species, she was what he'd first thought, a teenage human there ready for him to kill.

He strode up to her and grabbed her wrists, preparing to take a bite, thinking about which one looked juicier, she didn't smell exactly like other teenagers. He pulled her left wrist to him, and it flopped in his grasp. He chanced a look at her, and she wasn't even looking at him. She was all limp and jelly like… Oh man that's so boring! She had such fire and power before, a decent chick to jump through. Paul took supper her chin, forcing her to look back at him. "You really want me to kill you?"
"I don't want anything." She whispered again, looking at him, but not seeing him really. "What do you mean?"
"I've finally realised my truth."
"What does that mean?"
And that was it, try as he might he couldn't get another word out of her, and so dam annoying! So he caught her uncaring stare within his glowing red one and told her to "Sleep. You will feel more yourself tomorrow." She drooped instantly. He could have left her like she was but he decided to draw back the covers and slide them over her. She looked so small and child like, curling herself up in a ball and completely disappearing under the covers. And he left as soundlessly as he had entered, finding another bedroom to sleep the rest of the day away.