There were two cars parked outside; Sam recognized one of them as being Lucy's. He averted his eyes and hoped they would be taking the other vehicle. In a way, it just felt a little…wrong. To be using his missing (and potentially dead) mother's car while he went to get something to eat. The same car that had been used to transport a bloody and dead Michael, to wherever he had been taken. It was probably still bloody in the backseat.

But Paul did go to that car, and when he opened the door, his nose crinkled in distaste. He proclaimed, "Never mind!" slammed the door shut, and laughed at (Sam presumed) himself. "I hope Max doesn't mind," he said while waltzing over to the other car.

"Where did they go?" Sam asked absent-mindedly, looking around in a full three-sixty at all the parts of the house, its driveway, and the dead-end road he could see.

"What?"

"The…other two." He felt stupid for not knowing their names. Sam, Paul and Marko had stepped outside mere seconds after the two other men, yet they were nowhere in sight. Where did they go? It was like they had flown away.

"They left," came Marko's reply from Sam's left. He started, not expecting the curly-haired boy to be right there. He walked right past Sam, and since he didn't look over his shoulder, he missed the seer's scowl. But he didn't need to look to feel that it was there.

Naturally, Sam sat in the back. And the drive wasn't an entirely unpleasant experience. The front two windows were rolled all the way down, the radio was nonexistent, Paul was speeding (a lot), and from the middle of the backseat, Sam could see Paul's wild hair whipping back and Marko's pinned-back curls dancing around in the wind. Goddamn, having long hair had never looked so good.

I should invest in that…

It was black outside, and they were somewhere far away from the city, that was for sure. The only thing that offered enough light to illuminate the vague contours of their faces was the car, and its headlights. The only noise Sam could make out was the sound of the wind forcing itself into the car through the open windows. It masked the hum of the car, and for a while that's all he focused on; the sound of the wind. It calmed him, soothed his nerves, filled the silence.

It took him some time to realize he was being spoken to. "What?" he so smartly asked, snapping out of his trance.

"What are you hungry for?"

Sam hoped Paul hadn't had to repeat that too many times. Thankfully, the driver didn't sound tried in the least. Sam realized that it was much brighter now; he could make out Paul's features through the rearview mirror.

We're in the city.

Oh. Damn.

"Oh… I don't really care." He looked down at his lap and gave his head a little shake.

You really need to stay focused here. The last thing you need is to revert back to being completely detached and just…fucking weird.

With his gaze cast downward, he didn't see the questioning look Paul sent him through the mirror or the exchanged glance to his right. But even if Sam had seen, whatever was going through the two vampires' minds didn't matter because they didn't say anything.

Evidently, Paul's choice was McDonald's.

The place wasn't very busy; only a few cars were in the parking lot and the drive thru was empty. Sam found that surprising, since it was shortly after six. Maybe this just wasn't the hotspot in Santa Carla tonight.

If Sam was to be entirely honest, he had never been in McDonald's before. Hell, he could count on one hand the number of times he'd been in a fast food chain in his life. But he wasn't going to admit that now—not with Marko here. Sam was too tired to stand being teased or scoffed at by that bastard. Not without snapping.

Sam hesitated at the counter, not sure what to order or how much. Paul had taken the liberty to pay; he was already taking out his wallet and fishing out dollar bills. Sam settled with only a cheeseburger, since he didn't feel comfortable ordering a balls-to-the-wall meal on someone else's tab.

"And a Coke." Sam recoiled when he heard Marko's voice for the first time since they started their trek here.

God, Sam, man up. What's he gonna do to you? Nothing. Nothing that the others aren't capable of, too. And that includes Michael.

He shivered.

When they had received their food and sat down at a booth, Sam automatically sat in the middle of one, expecting Marko and Paul to sit side by side. He didn't need a sixth sense to know that they would. Once they were seated, he self-consciously unwrapped his burger and waited to take his first bite. "This place is great," Paul said with a sigh after inhaling his first few French fries.

Marko pushed his Coke across the table to Sam without a single word. Highly confused, Sam tentatively grabbed the long paper cup and pulled it even closer. Was this seriously meant for him, or was this some kind of trap?

His mind went through everything that could happen if he drank this, some of them including him dying from different poisons Marko had slipped in. Sam chastised himself for being so paranoid. This wasn't a trap. This was just a soda. He took his first sip (and oh god it felt good on his throat), felt the cold liquid slide down to his empty stomach, and nothing happened. "Thanks." He couldn't help but notice that Marko wasn't eating anything, which made him feel even stranger about munching away at a greasy burger in the vampire's presence.

There must have been a questioning look in his eyes, because Marko dismissively replied, "This shit makes me sick."

If it really made Marko sick, that still meant he ordered the Coke specifically for him. His mind reeled with that realization, and he was more confused than flattered.

"This shit is what I dream about every day," Paul said between bites of his Big Mac. "How often do youcome here?"

"Not…not a whole lot," Sam admitted with a shrug.

Paul swallowed a few more mouthfuls. "So what can you do?"

Sam nearly choked on his soda. "What?" he asked on instinct, even though he was pretty sure he knew exactly what Paul was wondering.

"Your superpower or whatever. I was just wondering." Since that's what everything involving you and Michael ties back to.

Sam had never explained it to anyone—not even Michael. He's sure his big brother always wondered what exactly was up with him, but he had never directly asked outright. God bless him. For the last five years, Michael had never asked, and that was great, because Sam always thought he wouldn't be able to explain it. But now, he had to put it into words somehow, without stating the obvious fact that he could see the future. Because it was much more complicated than that. "I can…see things." He began with that, since he felt like he needed to say something before Paul thought he wasn't going to respond.

"Dead people?"

Sam shook his head. "No, not that. Events." I guess…

Usually they were events…

"Like what?"

"Like…things that might happen." Or happened already, or were currently happening. Or things that could happen based on someone's decisions and thoughts, but usually never did.

"Oh." Paul's apprehensive expression lifted, and he smiled. Marko did not. "That's cool. You can see the future?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." Because I really don't feel like getting technical.

"Max is gonna like that. Right, Marko." He flashed his scowling friend a knowing grin.

"Why is that?" Sam asked, and took another sip of his soda. "I thought he already knew about it."

"Unless you told him, I don't think any of us know." At Sam's befuddled look, he explained, "I mean, we knew you could do something, but we didn't know what."

"Do I…smell different?" Jesus, what an awkward thing to ask. Could they smell it? They were vampires, after all…

"Uh…" Paul thought about it for a few moments, and when it became obvious he didn't know, Marko decided to cut in.

"Only when you actually used your power. Had a vision or whatever. Any vampire can sense it. David knew what it meant because he'd been around the scent before. But to Neil and his mate, you were just an extra juicy snack." It might be Sam's biased viewpoint, but Marko's voice was sharp, wearing thin of patience. If that was true, Paul didn't notice—or at least didn't say anything regarding it.

"Neil?" the tall blonde asked.

"The vampire we were watching. He was on probation." When Paul still looked confused, he sighed with exasperation and added, "You killed him. Last night."

"Ooooh, yeah. I remember now." When Marko rolled his eyes, Paul put up his best faux defense. "Hey, I didn't kill him! I was trying to catch that redhead."

"Wait." Sam remembered Max saying that the vampire who had attacked him—his "companion" had gotten away. The full weight of that began to settle on Sam's shoulders. Especially now that he knew the "companion" was actually a mate. "He got away?"

"Yeah…
He was too fast." Paul gave Sam a crooked, apologetic smile. "He might not come back, though, with all the people watching for him."

"He will." And Marko sounded so absolutely sure that Sam second guessed who the psychic here was. Even Paul glanced over at him questioningly. But the curly-haired blonde never offered any kind of explanation, and no one pressed him for one.

"I guess it's good we have you, then," Paul told Sam conclusively. Sam smiled weakly in return, because I have no idea how I'm going to help you if I wasn't even coherent until I moved here. Then, Paul's smile abruptly fell into a frown. "Those guys are staring at you."

Sam snapped his head to the side, where Paul was looking. Sure enough, there was a table of three guys who were staring intently in their direction. Sam looked back at Paul, anxious and not sure what that meant or what he should do. But then he realized that Paul wasn't talking to him—he was talking to Marko.

"I know."

"Are those guys vampires?" Sam whispered across the table.

"Yes."

"Let's go," Paul said slowly, and rose to leave.

As they left the fast food joint, Sam stole a glance over his shoulder to see that the men hadn't moved an inch and were, indeed, still staring creepily after them.

"What was their problem?" Sam asked once they were in the parking lot.

"It's none of your business, Sam." Guess who said that.

"Where did I park?" Paul wondered aloud, scanning the lot for their car.

There were a couple similar models, but after a few minutes to checking the interiors, and Paul emptying his pockets, Marko clenched his teeth hard and tightly ground out, "Please tell me you didn't leave the keys in the damn car."

"I…" He spun around in a circle. No sign of their car. "Shit."

"Goddammit, Paul…"

"So…do we walk?" Sam asked meekly. He hoped not… It was damn dark outside, the air was brisk, and it was a ten minute drive. It would take forever to walk that.

"Do you need a ride?" came an amused, silky voice from behind him. Sam jumped out of his skin and whirled around to see the man that seemed to have condensed out of the shadows, because there was no way he was there a second ago.

Dear God, not another vampire…

"Fuck off," Marko growled. He grabbed Sam's arm and roughly hauled the blonde away from the creepy guy. "Jesus Christ, Sam, you're attracting everything with a dick within a five mile radius."

"So do you," Paul quipped, trailing behind them. "I think it's the combination."

"Shut up."