Hana sat on a hay bale that the boys had dragged over painstakingly, sharpening a wooden stake with one of the knives she kept from Ethan's kitchen as the boys tried to pull bits of fence out of the ground. It was anyone's guess as to whose fence that was, but no one else seemed to care so she brushed it off. To her amusement, Benny gave up as soon as Sarah started to pluck them like flowers and wandered over to her before doing a double take.

"Where did you get that?" he asked, gesturing to the stake in her hands. There was still a bit of work to do until it would actually be easy to stab things, but she had gotten pretty far in the ten minutes they had been working. Enough to make him wary of the point that was directed in his general vicinity.

She just gave him a toothy grin that was just a bit too wide for him to feel safe, and he shook it off, plopping next to her on the bale and resting his head on her lap. They both turned their heads to face the others, Hana automatically moving the stake from over Benny to the side so she could continue to shave away. In the distance, they watched Ethan talk to Sarah with his arms full of planks.

At this, Hana took a break from sharpening. "Do you think he actually likes her?" she asked quietly.

Benny took a second to look, really look, at how his friend wasn't looking anywhere but her eyes, body subtly leaning forwards and completely unaware of his shoe close enough to an anthill that normally he would be up in arms screeching about.

"Yeah," he said softly.

A leaf from a nearby tree fluttered down, landing on her head and she brushed it off absentmindedly. "I'm worried for him," she admitted with a frown. "He's a great guy and all, but..."

He pat her arm in understanding. "Not everyone can see that in him," he finished for her.

"Ugh," she said suddenly, tossing the knife to the side. He eyed its trajectory warily, trying to remember where it landed so he wouldn't step on it. "This is too sappy. Let's just duel with sticks like they're lightsabers."

Before she even finished, he had already popped up instantly, bouncing in place like an excited puppy. "Now see this is why we're friends," he grinned.

And for the next hour, they proceeded to chase each other around and smack themselves silly with poorly shaped stakes.

The quartet walked up to the dining table where Jane was doodling with crayons masterfully - or so she believed. A rather extensive color scheme covered different papers to create various sketches of trees and bunnies in an eclectic gallery. "Hey," Ethan called to his sister, gripping the strap of the duffel bag he carried. "We'll be back soon."

"If we don't get sucked dry," Benny muttered under his breath and Jane promptly looked up in alarm. Her crayon clattered to the table in shock as Hana smacked him upside the head. It hadn't even been five seconds and already there was a wrench in their plans. He went to smack her back pettily, but Sarah quickly stepped between the two to prevent them from turning it into a ridiculous cat fight as she addressed the little girl casually.

"It's nothing," she reassured her, the other two reluctantly settling down. "He's just worried he's gonna cry himself dry during the movie 'cuz he's a wuss." With her last words, Sarah sent him a pointed glare.

"Nice," he shot back a sarcastic smile before turning to his grandma who had just entered. "Anyways Gran, see ya." They turned to leave, dull clangs rustling in their bags suspiciously.

"Oh wait," Granny Weir stopped them quickly, reaching into her purse. "I got something for you kids!" Hana grinned, eyeing the bag with sudden interest. Evelyn comin' in clutch, hell yeah.

On the other hand, Benny tried to brush her off hurriedly, his gaze darting to his watch subtly. "We're good, I already ate. I don't think we need any..." As Granny Weir pulled out some rather ostentatious blades, he trailed off. "Decorative knives?" It was a bit of a disappointment that there was now a dearth of good grandmotherly food, but it was almost made up for in Hana's mind by the fact that Benny's gran was kickass.

"If you're gonna be battling those bloodsuckers, you're gonna need these," she continued, distributing the knives out to the teens.

Hana couldn't fight her smile. "Evelyn, you really are a diamond in the rough."

Ethan was stuttering so much in shock, he could barely get out his question about their origins. Granny Weir simply sent him a wink. "Spend almost a century in this whack town and you pick up a few things," she said matter-of-fact-ly.

While they talked, Hana took the chance to examine the knife. The sharp blade tapered off into a chilling point that glinted in the low kitchen lights, its silver hue reflecting her entranced eyes right back at her. Not a single spot blemished its surface beyond what she had just touched. Intricate engravings on the handle swirled out in symbols unrecognisable to her that seemed to pulse with each second, matching the shine of the occasional gem and stone embedded into the hilt.

Then, Granny Weir turned around to pick up a book. "Now, I've bookmarked a few spells for you," she passed the leatherbound pages over to Benny of all people, making Hana's eyes blow wide open. Him? Using spells? "But be careful, they don't always work the way you want them to when you haven't practiced."

These abilities were clearly news to him too, his shell-shocked face easy to read as he slowly opened it up to flip through the yellowing pages. She peered around his arm to look down at the worn text as well. "You're a wizard Benny," she whispered to him. He shot her a dirty look that she just grinned back at.

"Are you a witch?" Jane asked in an awe-filled tone.

Granny Weir laughed that idea off lightly. "Oh goodness no," she chuckled. "Not a witch honey; I'm an earth priestess. Very different, and much more fun."

As the elderly woman made a crudely drawn bunny tap dance, Hana shifted slightly in place constantly with the knife bouncing with her. Benny tried to hold onto her shoulders to get her to stop, dodging the pointy object every now and then. "Aren't you supposed to be the tired one?" He pointed out exasperatedly. "Why do you keep fidgeting?"

"I drank three RedBulls earlier to prep for battle."

Ethan, who had been standing next to them without paying much attention to their conversation, promptly whipped his head around to face them. "Oh my god you're gonna die," he fretted.

She scoffed at that. "I'll be fine."

Unaware of the dilemma, Granny Weir spoke up again, catching their attention. "Now I am sorry you haven't had much time to practice," the 'earth priestess' motioned to them apologetically. "I didn't want to tell you before you were ready, but Horace seems to have forced my hand."

Hana choked on her words. "Horace?" She snickered unapologetically. "Well with a name like that, I get why he changed it."

Gran looked at her with an endearing, patient smile. "Yes dear, older names do get a bit strange at times." She turned back to Benny, becoming serious once more. "There's a reason you're drawn to the unexplained. You have the makings of a first-rate spell master, and Ethan here is a seer; that's his path." Her hand gestured to each of them in turn.

"I'm the spell master," Benny whispered to Hana excitedly and she laughed at his goofy grin. The pure exhilaration in his face was radiating happiness at the sheer number of opportunities this new revelation could lead to.

"Wait, what?" Ethan looked at the woman in alarm. "A seer?"

"Well you get visions, don't you? They're supposed to start around puberty." They cringed at her words from the awkward reminder, Ethan groaning when he caught a glimpse of Hana's mischievous expression.

"You're never gonna let that go," he muttered.

Surprisingly, she brushed past that and didn't say much about it. "So then what am I?" she asked in hesitant excitement. However, Granny Weir didn't seem to share her enthusiasm, pausing before speaking her next words.

"Quite frankly dear, I've no clue what you are." They all stopped at that, not expecting such an answer from someone who had recently in their mind begun to look omniscient in regards to the supernatural. "You could just be human, which I find to be unlikely, or you could be the first of your kind."

It was a bit daunting not to know, yet thrilling at the same time. So much potential, so many possibilities in her that she had never known about. Maybe she had secret powers that were waiting to be unlocked, or a grand destiny as the pioneer for a whole species.

"Back long ago," Granny Weir started in a mystical tone, capturing their attention with the same ease that one would breathe with. "When the first creatures of the night rose, the humans of the time gazed upon them and called them the alphas, for the first letter of the Greek alphabet, just as they were the first of their kind."

Okay. Being a non-human in modern times seems quite dangerous, what with all the scientific curiosity that could lead to detainment and subsequent dissection. But being able to call herself an alpha of all things and it being factually correct was beyond hilarious to herself.

"I'm the true alpha male," she cackled to her friends as they rolled their eyes and turned to leave, Sarah snatching the keys out of the air when good ol' Evelyn threw them. They bumped and jostled each other on their way to the car in noisy companionship that came so easily to teens.

Unknown to them, Evelyn watched the teens leave, losing her smile as she did. "The time is approaching," she whispered to herself solemnly. "But why isn't she entirely human?"

The girl in question seemed happy, surrounded by wonderful friends that supported on each other and it killed her inside to know what might be coming. Yet still, the better question insistently pushed itself to the front of her mind.

"What has been done to that hollow girl?"

Hana sat in the dark theater, hood up inconspicuously and hands twiddling with one of the ornate knives in her sweatshirt's pocket. The seats weren't the most comfortable, the cushion beneath her worn out from years of use. Small marks marred the armrests, which didn't have any cup holders for some reason, despite the snack bar that was in the lobby. A large screen was pulled down at the front above a stage that was kind of pitiful. Long story short, the theater could use a fixer-upper.

She turned her gaze to the group that shuffled onstage just then, the newly fashioned Erica coming forward with a sharp, dangerous smile that didn't match the darkness in her eyes. Hana tensed, but didn't move a muscle, simply observing for now. Timing was everything.

"Thank you so much for coming," the vampiric blonde cooed. "The show will be to die for." At the pun, Hana wrinkled her nose. Again with the shitty jokes, how tasteless.

Her gaze wandered over to the people near her instead. They all were so excited and eager, fidgeting with energy like kids at Disney. Despite the poor quality of the setting, they were still happy just to be there. It was endearing in a way, to see this kind of passion for something. She spotted one girl nudging her friend and motioning to one of the guys on stage slyly as the other blushed, and she got a sinking in her gut at seeing them so cheerful and oblivious to what was to come next.

"Time for the seat prize!" Her attention snapped back to the front. What? "And... lucky number 205!" Hana glanced around furtively, noticing the girl sitting next to her had it a split second before she did and slapping a hand quickly over her mouth.

The girl struggled for a second, and she whispered in her ear. "Let me go in your place," she tried to suggest, but the girl gave her a furious look. "I'll give you a hundred bucks and whatever the prize is."

The girl settled down instantly.

Hana grimaced internally, trying to remember how much money she had in her wallet as she got up and strolled towards the vampires at a leisurely pace. Each step seemed confident and she slowly came to a halt just before Jesse, looking up into his eyes. "Lucky me," she drawled. The look in both of their eyes was indecipherable to onlookers, like a silent battle between titans. "What's the prize, Horace?"

They stared each other down, lightning shooting between them. It was a battle of unbreakable nerves that had the air in the room shifting and the audience on the edges of their seats, though they didn't quite know why. The silence dragged on, neither batting an eye.

Then finally, Jesse spoke first. "What every Dusker wants."

He lunged for her neck and she leaned to the side, letting her fist match his speed and crash into his nose. In the back of her mind, she barely registered Ethan crying out 'fire!' into the crowd and the consequential stampede of panic. She was too preoccupied trying to avoid attacks empowered by super strength raining down on her.

They traded blows in a powerful exchange that no one else seemed to want to come anywhere near, until he finally landed a punch on her eye. Her head snapped back, the lens over it cracking.

An inexplicable anger filled her as she slowly brought her head back to face him with promises of murder in her gaze.

Hana spit in his face, slamming her knee into his groin right after. He doubled over with a wheeze and she raised the knife up, ready to stab him. But one of his lackeys interfered and snatched her up from behind around the waist, lifting her into the air. Strong arms kept one of her arms pressed painfully against her side as they struggled to get her other arm with the blade down.

Well, if they wanted the knife to come down.

She let her arm swing down harshly in a long arc and lodged it into their torso. They screeched in pain, releasing her with a dramatic stumble. Their combustion was just as loud, but she paid it no mind, looking around wildly for Jesse instead.

The room was in total discord, civilians running out screaming in a panic and vampires flitting this way and that. Nowhere amongst the chaos seemed to be the one she was looking for, but she did find Ethan with Sarah and a clump on the ground that looked like a passed out Benny.

She headed over to them as the sprinklers set off, dissolving someone that had been right in front of her. Cool, she thought absentmindedly while helping Benny up. It was like watching a sugar cube placed in water, except more deadly and less edible.

"I was so worried I'd lose my lady love," he wailed hysterically once his eyes landed on her, although they couldn't focus. Brown strands of hair flopped around his face, and he tried to huff them out of the way unsuccessfully. Hana shot a confused glance to the other two.

"What's he on about?" she whispered to Ethan out of the corner of his mouth, who nervously chuckled and eyed his friend. Benny practically draped himself over her body like a clingy sloth in need of attention, wrapping his long arms around her waist and pressing his cheek happily into her shoulder.

He dramatically whined, "I've always loved-"

"I think you have a concussion," Ethan cut him off real fast with a strained smile, ushering their group out and sheltering Sarah with his jacket from the holy water. They hurried outside to where the car was parked earlier. "Get Benny in the car while I help Sarah," he ordered her and she nodded seriously, draping Benny's arm over her shoulders as she dragged him into the car's back seats.

She climbed in after him, not bothering to readjust his position. "Oh boy," she muttered to herself, trying to remember what to do in these situations. That one first-aide class she took might as well have been useless since she already forgot everything they tried to teach her. "Is he supposed to sleep it off or am I supposed to keep him awake?"

Just then, Ethan got into the car and they took off immediately. Without Sarah for some reason, though she didn't question it. The older girl was lookin' a bit testy when they got closer to the exit.

"Where are we goin'?" She asked, running a hand through Benny's hair thoughtlessly. It was softer than expected, to her surprise.

"Wherever Jesse took the cubile animus," he rushed to explain, keeping his eyes on the road with a laser focus. "Which is probably where they were buried." The car jolted harshly as he drove over a pothole and her head crashed into the roof of the car. Ow.

"Great, so you found out where they are?"

"Nope, no idea."

Benny pitched in at that moment, to her surprise. She thought he had conked out long ago. "I love snacks." He flopped over to rest his chin on Hana's shoulder, staring up at her with puppy eyes. "And you are one, my dear."

Her eye twitched in irritation as she told herself it was morally wrong to beat an injured person. "I can't tell if this is because he's concussed or stupid," she said, unimpressed. Of all ways to flirt with her, he chose puns. Puns.

Ethan brushed them both off. "Okay," he thought aloud. "So the prophecy said, 'the dead take root, a barren orchard bears the devil's fruit.'"

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "The hell is devil's fruit?" It sounded like the kind of euphemism her grandmother would use to complain about drugs that 'teens these days' were using. Maybe it was talking about opioids?

Benny leaned back up. "You know my address," he winked at her cheekily, tongue in cheek. "53 Orchard Park. I'll wait for you all night, baby."

"Orchard?" she echoed with wide eyes and turned to Ethan. No way. "Is that a coincidence or are we really lucky?"

"I dunno if I would consider it luck," he replied as he swerved around an old lady that promptly started yelling after them with a rather impressively diverse arsenal of swears, waving a handbag. "But the tree from my vision is definitely the one in my backyard. But it doesn't seem possible."

Hana gave him a deadpan look through the rear-view mirror. "You see into the future and your best friend is one scar short of becoming Harry Potter," she pointed out dryly. "Just forget what you think is and isn't possible."

Once they parked messily on the side of the road, Hana popped out of the car with Ethan. When he noticed, he tried to guide her back in. "No, you gotta watch over Benny," he insisted, glancing nervously behind him at the yard in the distance.

"If your scrawny chicken limbs think they can fight against an immortal," she raised a brow at him stubbornly, unmoving despite his efforts to push her. "Then I'm going with you as your only athletic friend."

He couldn't deny that.

Ethan groaned. "C'mon." He gave up and waved her over, the two rushing to his backyard that he shared with Benny. The long grass brushed against their ankles, drenching the bottoms of their pants with dew that sparkled in the moonlight. No one was on the streets, a quiet settling over the neighborhood that was only pierced by the their hushed words.

"This experience has definitely changed me if I'm willingly doing work," she murmured to him offhandedly as they slowed to a stop near the tree's base. It had never seemed so grand and lonely, like a reaper leaning over them in solitude.

He snorted at that. "Yeah, I don't think I've seen you go this long without trying to take a nap since the goat incident."

"Listen," she rolled her eyes. "I'm telling you; if they just checked the janitors closet-"

"Where did you even get them from?" he asked her in slight incredulity. While their trio tended to get into trouble, she often caused the most, though she rarely ever got caught. And it wasn't that she stirred up chaos more often than them; in fact, it was the opposite. However, the way she sowed discord was grand in an often unbelievable way. "There aren't any farms near here for at least 50 kilometers!"

"That's a really small measurement if you think about it," she dismissed easily.

Jesse butted in at that moment, to both of their annoyance for different reasons. His long legs carried him out from under the shade of the branches in a leisurely strut. "It's fascinating how people name things after what they destroyed," he intoned bitterly, inspecting the tree up and down.

"Okay white boy," she sniped back sarcastically. The sheer audacity he had to try and say something like that was beyond irritating to her, considering his track record. "Why don't you go have a chat with a local Native American? Oh wait."

Ethan intook a breath sharply. "Oooh, zinger."

Jesse scowled at her. "I'm talking about how your great grandparents burned my flock down," he spat, eyes flashing a golden color. His hands formed fists in anger, pale skin stretching tensely across his knuckles that still had a scratch from the glass lens that he had broken.

"Objection," she called out blatantly like a lawyer in a courtroom. "My grandparents were immigrants."

"Would you shut up?" He was visibly trembling with rage and irritation. "I'm not fucking talking to you." He flung a hand out at her, sending her crashing against the side of the house roughly with a dull thud. She winced when she heard a faint cracking sound, praying it wasn't from her.

Each breath after that ached, and she could barely pay any attention to the conversation happening to the side, putting all her concentration on lying as still as she could. Landing in cool grass hadn't helped much, the dew soaking into her shirt and leaving her even more uncomfortable. The rasps as she inhaled grated against her ears and overtaking the sounds of others talking.

Still, through the loud, shaky breaths, she was able to hear Benny shriek something that was probably stupid and was instantly sent flying off to the side. Her mind whirred into a hazed panic at the thought that he might've gotten hurt like her. She tried to drag herself over to him, only to start blacking out half-way.

Fuck him, she gave up quickly, going limp and resting against the ground. He'll be fine.

Everything after that was fuzzy in her memory, but she cleared right back up when a huge bolt of lightning came down from the heavens to strike Jesse down. Hana stared at him as he was impaled with spirits somehow, until he finally disappeared. There was no way she was forgetting that any time soon.

Benny made his way over to her, fretting over her prone body with tears welling up. She tried to place a comforting hand against his cheek, but accidentally slapped him instead as her arm went limp. Oops.

"Snap out of it," she deadpanned. "I'm a tough cookie."

"You're more like a lollipop if anything," he bit back, put off by the slap and a bit grumpy now. If he had expected anything touching, that was his fault.

"Well you have the constitution of wet cotton candy so shut up." He stuck his tongue out at her and she pinched him on the arm pettily.

The door rattled open at that moment, Granny Weir hurrying out of the doorway and down to where they rested. Sarah, who had arrived at some point that Hana hadn't noticed, and Ethan made their way over to them as well. Only Jane remained out of sight, presumably sent off to bed after that little lightning endeavor.

A teacup was thrust in her face, interrupting her thoughts as she went cross-eyed trying to look at it. Inside was a translucent green liquid that let off a strong herbal smell that reminded her of her maternal grandfather's tea shop. "Drink up," Granny Weir urged her gently, helping her sit up and passing another cup to Benny. "It's a healing potion that should have you fixed up by morning."

As she took a sip, she hummed pleasantly. It didn't taste half bad; it was almost like the kind of ginger and herbal tea her mom made all the time at home. The warmth of it flooded through her, giving a small boost of energy in the cold night air.

Hana happened to glance over at Benny and nearly spat out her drink. He was pulling the most ridiculous face of disgust, the corners of his mouth forced down to an extreme extent and his nose wrinkled in distaste. "Ugh," he shuddered, sticking out his tongue. "I hate tea."

She couldn't help but laugh at him, especially when Ethan slyly took a picture of his expression.

The next morning, the four friends walked up to the school with a tired weight to their stride. Just a little up ahead, Principle Hicks could be seen talking into a camera manned by the local news station, his excuses of 3D glasses barely audible from where they were. It didn't seem to sedate the crew, who followed him as he tried to get away.

Hana made a face at that. "That's such B.S.," she said, pulling out some skittles to eat and offering them to the others, though only Benny took her up on it.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed with a slight frown. Someone that passed them recognized the junior and sent her a nod that she returned before turning back to the conversation. "No one's gullible enough to believe that."

They each took a second to consider it. "Well actually," Ethan thought aloud, shifting the strap of his backpack higher. "I guess if the alternative is soul stealing undead creatures of the night, people will take any explanation given to them. Especially Duskers."

"Besides, we saved the town anyways so it doesn't really matter what people believe," Benny pointed out. He snuck a few more skittles from her bag until she smacked his hand, giving him a dry look.

Ethan turned to Sarah at that moment. "You're not gonna die, right?" He asked her, concerned, and looked her up and down. "'Cus you still look fine."

Hana snickered at him. "Smooth," she whispered to Benny who grinned back.

"Thanks, but no yeah," Sarah drawled in reply, sticking her hands in her pockets. "I'm fine now. Benny's grandma makes a mean blood substitute."

"That's Evelyn for ya," Hana commented casually and Benny looked at her, put off.

"Don't call her that."

Just then, Rory called over to them. "Hey guys!" He waved enthusiastically, and Hana waved back. The boy tried to lean into Erica, who had turned around to see who he was talking to, only for her to smoothly move away. That didn't actually seem to affect him though, his smile staying bright.

Seeing their friendly vampire friend cheered her up, but also reminded her of the question that had been nagging at her for a while. Hana turned to them, frowning. "So why was I so... calm all this time?" she asked them, a perplexed feeling starting in her gut.

The two boys, on the other hand, weren't worried. "You're always unfazed," Benny pointed out, Ethan nodding in agreement and thinking back to all her best stoic moments. Sometimes they lead to rather comical situations when authority figures didn't... appreciate her apathy.

"Yeah, but isn't this pushing that too much?" She glanced down at her feet sullenly, kicking a pebble that got in her way. It skittered down the pavement carelessly. "I don't really think it's normal for me to not react at all. We were in life-threatening danger at some points."

Benny finally sighed and turned to her, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Listen H," he started, staring her dead in the eyes. "None of us are qualified to diagnose you on any supernatural or psychological condition that might've made you this way."

"I know," she mumbled tiredly, pressing her face into her hands and exhaling heavily.

Now that wasn't something he could accept easily. While he always thought she was beautiful, he still liked it best when he saw her happy. The kind of soft brilliance she had shone through best in those moments. "Hey," he nudged her softly with a grin, gently grabbing her wrists and pulling them down away from her face. His hands played with her tinier fingers as she looked up at him. "You're pretty kickass like that. It's like you were made for this kinda shit."

She rolled her eyes, but finally dropped the frown to his delight, leaning into his side casually. Sarah eyed the two with a raised brow, fighting off a smile. The way they acted around each other almost reminded her of how she was with Jesse before the whole biting thing.

"You know, the trick with spells," he suddenly piped up, running a hand through his hair, "-is you gotta phrase it like Klingon, but with kind of like a, you know, Romulan twang and just a splash of Cylon-"

"That splash of Cylon is probably why you lost your book," Hana told him, a cheeky glint in her eyes. As Ethan nodded at Sarah as if to tell her 'yeah, they're always like this,' he subtly tried to guide her away to see if the other two would even notice them gone.

"Gran found it anyways," Benny whined with a pout that was way too exaggerated for any of them to believe. "Just let it go!"

Hana cackled at his misery. "No way."