I do not own…
A few days have passed as they continue on the road. Vlad was driving this time with the dog that they named Lucifer while Alice and Chris were asleep in the back. He glanced at the rearview mirror and couldn't help but smile at their peaceful faces. It was kind of cute seeing them like this. Only sleeping in the car while one is driving could they have a sleepful nap without worrying.
He looked back at the road for a moment before looking back at the woman that had caught his interest. She was very different from the women he has been with in the past. From only being with her for a few days he found out that she was quite tomboyish like. She knew everything about hunting, fishing, fighting, and cars. Then again from what she told him she was raised by her brothers and uncle so that would explain it. He found her tomboyish redneck personality very sexy, even since her figure was very womanly on the outside. She had curves in all the right places, long perfect legs, 32C cup breasts and could see the muscles on her.
She was quite beautiful to him.
Beautiful that it made him wonder if he should still stay with them. He knew that the longer he stays near her the more protective he becomes and that's when his inner demon becomes territorial. He knew that was bad because that's how he felt when he was with his late wife when he had turned. It meant that his vampire-self had claimed her.
He was brought out of his thoughts when Lucifer started to whine and pawing at the window. Tell him that he needed to do his business.
"Alright boy, just give me a minute to pull over." He chuckled
Feeling the car stopping Alice woke up from her sleep.
"What's going on?" She asked
"It's alright, love. Lucifer just needs to go to the bathroom." Vlad said
She nodded her head and started to shake Chris to wake him up.
"Chris honey, do you want to stretch your legs?" She asked
The boy stirred from his sleep and rubbed his eyes before nodding his head. Alice got out of the car with Chris following her and opened the door for Lucifer. Poor thing practically ran out of the car and headed for the trees. Needed to stretch his own legs too Vlad got out of the car too and took a look around at their surroundings. With his eyes he saw a few of those things out in the distance but they were very far from them so they were good.
A little growl was heard and he looked down to see that it was Chris. The boy looked down in embarrassment. They were running low with food so they were cutting down. Vlad smiled sadly at him knowing that he was trying to be strong and not whine to his mother but he was only seven years old and needed to eat. He looked ahead and saw a small convenience store that wasn't that far from them. He opened the trunk and grabbed an empty gym bag before closing it.
"There's a convenience store close by. I'm gonna check it out." He said "If you see any walkers nearby head into the woods and climb the threes if there are more than one or two. If you see other people heading this way hide behind a car or near the woods until I come back. You promise?"
"We will." Alice nodded
He gave her an unknown look before opening the trunk again. He took out a Combat Shotgun and loaded up before closing the trunk.
"You know how to use this right?" He asked
"Are you kidding, I was raised by a bunch of rednecks. We're born with guns in our hands." She smirked
He handed it to her and their hands brushed against eachother's. The touch sends shivers down her spine. She looked up into his green eyes and couldn't help but stare at him.
When she first saw him, he was incredibly handsome. Of course she knew it had to be a vampire thing but couldn't help but fall for the stereo-type. He was ten times better looking than Steve, not to mention he was smart, caring and protective. Everything that she always wanted in a man. Sadly, she knew deep down that there was no way that a man like him will ever fall for a woman like her.
"Use it only for emergence, okay." He said
Then he unknowingly placed a hand on her cheek and just kept staring at her. He mentally smirked when he saw her blush and looked down at her lips. A part of him was so tempting to steal a kiss from her but he didn't want to frighten her.
No, scratch that.
He didn't want her to hit him again with that lethal left hook of hers. His jaw still hurts from the last time she punched him and that was only because he wanted to see if she could fight on her own. She was good but still needed some work.
He nodded his head and left. When he was miles away she finally let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding.
No one had ever looked at her like that before. Full with love, care and worries. It actually felt nice for once.
'Could he possibly care for me like that?' She thought
She quickly squashed that idea down when she heard her brother Merles' voice in her head, telling her that he was too good for her. That he's only doing that for one thing and a part of her agreed with him. Besides, she just finally left her cheating husband. She shouldn't be looking for a new guy so soon.
Or should she?
A small hand that grabbed her hand broke her train in thought. She looked down at her beloved son with a smile. He still hasn't said a word yet, but kept a smile on his face.
"Don't worry honey, he'll be back." She said "Let's go check to see if we can scavenge somethings from the cars. And then look in the woods to find some berries."
Chris nodded with a smile before they walked towards one of the empty cars with Lucifer behind them.
Vlad walked in the place quietly and saw only two Walkers in the place. Normally he would just leave them be but he knew that they needed to be set free from this life. With quick speed he took them both down by crushing their skulls. After looking around the place he saw that there were still some things left around. There were some chips, energy bars, cereal packets, water, sodas, few flavor ramen and some pain killers. He smiled when he found some children cough and allergies medicine. He noticed that Chris has been coughing a lot lately and didn't want the poor kid to get worse. He also found some toys for him to play with. After double checking everything, he thought he had enough and left the place. When he got back he saw them sitting by the car eating what looked like berries. Lucifer was the first to notice him and barked happily while wagging his tail.
He actually got along with the dog, since it wasn't an ordinary dog. It was actually a hellhound. His ex-master had told him about them before. They were created by their vampire blood and were created to be their protector for their kind. He wondered how Alice was able to have one after not being a vampire.
Alice looked up when Lucifer barked and saw Vlad coming back. So she and Chris got up and waited for him.
"Were you able to find anything?" She asked
"I was able to find a few things." He said
He placed the bag on the hood and started taking out what he found.
"I notice that Chris's been coughing a lot lately and I found this. Cherry flavor. I hope he likes it because that's the only flavor they had left." He said, holding up the medicine.
"Thank you." She said
"Aaaand...I found some new toy cars too." Vlad smiled down at Chris. "I heard that they were your favorite."
He took five hot-wheel cars out of the bag and Chris's eyes shined brightly as he smiled. The boy wanted to reach out for them but stopped and looked at his mom for permission. Alice smiled at him as she nodded for him to take it. He took the toy cars and to both their surprises Chris hugged Vlad by the waist.
"Thank you." He whispered
Alice placed a hand over her mouth when she gasped and tried to hold back her tears. He finally talked after all this time. Vlad was surprised at first, not knowing what to do but simply pat the boy's head. He smiled down at the boy and couldn't help but think of how he reminded him of his son when he was Chris's age. He looked back at Alice and saw the small smile on her face. That's when he knew that he couldn't leave them. He cared too much for them.
When night came they found an empty house to spend the night in. Alice and Chris ate the Ramen while Vlad stood watch on the couch while drinking a wine bottle that had human blood in it. When they finished eating, Alice placed Chris in his sleeping bag as she started singing a song softly to him.
'I set out on a narrow way
Many years ago
Hoping I would find true love
Along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushin' through
I couldn't see how every sign
Pointed straight to you
That every long lost dream
Led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way
Into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God bless the broken road
That lead me straight to you.'
Chris smiled.
Out of all the songs she sang to him this was his favorite.
'I think about the years I spent
Just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost
And give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand,
You've been there, you understand
It's all part of a grander plan
That is comin' true.
Every long lost dream
Lead me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way
Into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God bless the broken road
That led me straight to you'
Chris had drifted to sleep in the middle of the song.
'Now I'm just rolling home
Into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God bless the broken road
That led me straight to you
That God bless the broken road
That me straight to you'
Once she knew that he was deep asleep Alice kissed his forehead before covering him with his blankets.
"You have a beautiful voice." Vlad said "But I'm afraid that I don't know the song."
"It's was an old song." She said while brushing her son's hair.
Then she got up and took out a bottle of water before sitting down next to him on the couch.
"So...tell me something about yourself. We hardly talk about what you did before everything that happened." She said
He raised a brow with a smirk.
"Why?" He asked
"All I know about you is that you had many girlfriends in the past, you were in the Marines and a vampire." She said "I hardly know you."
"Okay but if I have to answer your question then you're going to have to answer mine as well." He smiled "Deal?"
"Deal." She said "Okay since I asked first I get to go first. Where are you from before coming to america?"
"My home land is Transylvania, Romina. Has been for the last 500 years." He said "You?"
"State Georgia, born and raised." She said with pride. "What were your parents like?"
"It's hard to remember now. My mother died when I was a boy and my father...he died a year ago before I came back from the Turks. I was seventeen at the time." He said "How about you? What were your parents like?"
"My mama died when I was three years old from a car accident. She was a nurse and a very hard working woman that truly loved me. My Pa...well…he was a true asshole. I never understood why she was with him. He didn't care about anyone but himself and his beers." She sighed "My brothers pretty much raised me after my mama's death. As did my uncle Jesse and aunt Mary. They were my true family. They always protected me when Pa get's too drunk and tried to beat me. From what my brother Daryl told me before the phone cut off he died by those things." Then she asked another question. "So were you ever married?"
Before he answered she saw the pain in his eyes when she asked that.
"Only once, when I was human. Her name was fifteen years. We were young but I loved her so much." He said with a sad smile and then chuckled before continuing on. "I had to ask her three times until she finally agreed to marry me. She said that I was showing off the first two times. We then had a son named Ingeras. He was five years older than Chris. They were my whole life."
"What happened to them? If you don't mind?" She asked
"She died because of me. War was about to walk into our land and it was led by the Sultans' son Mehmed. He was a childhood friend of mine back when we were training. I had hoped with our friendship that he would have backed off but he didn't. He wanted children to join their army, including my son. I couldn't let that happen. I didn't want him to go through what I had to in the past." He said "To save him and the other boy's I offered my service to him but refused. Because of that, it led me to become what I am now. I sacrifice my mortal soul to become this monster to save my family and my people. The creature gave me three days. If I could resist the thirst of human blood for three days I would have become human again. On the third day that is when I lost my wife and our son was taken by Mehmed. She fell from the tower and was near death. She offered her blood to me so I could save our son and finished the war. It was her dying wish that I could not refuse."
"I'm so sorry. What happened to your son?" She asked
"I killed Mehmed and saved him. But...I couldn't be with him after what I became. It was hard to let him go but it was the right choice." He said
"You're not a monster Vlad. You did what a husband and a father is supposed to do. Protecting the ones you love. Your wife and son were very lucky to have you. I wish I was that lucky. The only happy thing my bastard husband had ever given me was Chris." She said before taking a sip of her water. "So, any more questions for me?"
She desperately wanted to change the subject. He did too and was trying to think of anything else. When he looked at her he noticed a few tattoos on her person. That got his attention.
"How many tattoos do you have?" He asked
"Seven. Why?" She asked
He had a flirty smirk that she was familiar with when guys try to hit on her at bars.
"Can I see them?" He asked
She smirked and leaned towards him. Leaving only a few inches of space between them.
"Only if you show me yours, buddy." She whispered huskily.