Michael was pacing the living room when Sam found him. As soon as the blonde entered the room, Michael paused and locked eyes with him. In one swift movement, Michael strode towards his little brother and pulled him into a bear hug.

Michael's hug was constricting and affected Sam's ability to breathe, but he didn't pull away; instead, Sam squeezed him back as tightly as he could. His chin rested on Michael's shoulder and he fought back silly tears.

He's cold. Sam's stomach dropped at that realization. Cold and stiff. He thought back to all those times he had woke up trembling in the middle of the night after countless nightmares and terrifying visions, and the only thing that had calmed him was Michael's presence—his big brother's steady heartbeat and warmth. And Sam never imagined things would change, yet here he was, being held by his transformed brother in a crushing, unnaturally solid hug.

But Sam wanted to think Michael was the same, despite the physical changes. He's still my brother, he told himself. He's the same inside.

God, he hoped so.

Sam felt Michael cringe and pull away, and he looked at the brunette quizzically. "Sorry," Michael muttered, lowing his arms to his sides and clenching his fists. "Are you okay?" Michael asked him quietly. But he was suppressing something; as his brother, Sam could see that. It took him a moment to pinpoint it, but Sam quickly knew that Michael was concealing anger.

Sam fleetingly wondered what Michael was referring to. It felt like there were so many things that had happened the last day.

Day? Has it really only been a day?

"Physically or mentally?" Sam spared a small laugh in an attempt to lighten the heavy atmosphere. The edge of Michael's drained lips curved upward and he chuffed. "What about you?" You're the one that's a freakin' vampire now.

"I don't know."

Sam cast his gaze downward and nodded once in a combination of acknowledgement and understanding. He couldn't really say he understand what Michael was going through, since he had never exactly been turned into a creature of the night that was destined to live forever while feeding off the lives of the innocent. He didn't want to compare vampirism to his "extra sense," but he had gone through a rather traumatizing turning point five years ago.

"We're not sticking around, are we?"

"What?"

"I don't think I could stand being here longer than a few more days." Sam sighed. "Please tell me we're leaving soon."

"Sam, I—we can't leave."

Sam gaped and stared at his brother incredulously. "What? Why not?"

"Because…" Michael sighed and ran his fingers through his curls. "Just…because."

"Just because," he deadpanned. "Mike, why would you want to stay with these people? They're…they're…" His voice dropped to a hissed whisper. He didn't even know how to finish that sentence; there was no way to describe these guys in a way that would get his point across.

"I don't want to, I have to.

"What are you talking about? You'll be fine without them. Let's just go—"

"Sam." Michael latched onto Sam's shoulders tightly and resisted the urge to shake him. "I can't leave," he said slowly and deliberately, stressing each word. His eyes were wide, desperate for Sam to understand why he couldn't go anywhere.

Sam stared into Michael's eyes for a long, tense moment. His eyes narrowed suddenly. "They're making you stay." It wasn't posed as a question.

"Sam, you don't understand." It felt like his heart would rip out of his chest if he left Max's vicinity—like he would literally die if he dared to go anywhere. Max's words from earlier echoed in his head.

"I am your creator, and as your Sire, everything I command will bind you closer to me."

And then there was a list that seemed to be in order from least to utmost importance.

"You won't try to contact any of your past relatives. You will not kill humans conspicuously. If you kill another vampire, it will be clearly justified and never outside of our territory. You won't invite anyone into this house without my approval. This coven is your family, and you will never betray them – or me. And you won't leave us until I dismiss you. You must do everything I tell you. You mustn't disobey. You won't try to disobey, or the consequences will be unpleasant."

They sounded like just words, but much to Michael's horror, Max had literally bound him to those "orders." Max had insurmountable power over him, and Michael prayed that he would never truly display that power. It seemed like the only way to make sure that never happened was to not fight it.

After all, Max could order Michael to kill Sam, and he would have to do it.

Sam pursued his lips and avoided Michael's gaze. "Please, Sam," his brother begged in a whisper. "You have no idea what they're all capable of – what Max is capable of. If we try to leave…"

"Okay." Sam sighed and locked eyes with Michael again.

"Okay?"

"I get it." No he didn't. Not fully. "But I don't like it."

Michael sighed with relief. Sam wasn't going to make this any more difficult for him. "Neither do I."

No one bothered them the rest of the night. Sam had eventually been overcome by fatigue after talking with Michael for an immeasurable amount of time. Ultimately, Sam fell asleep on Michael's shoulder on the couch, but when he awoke, he was bundled up on a bed in a room he didn't recognize.

How many bedrooms did Max's house have? Sam had only been in two so far, and one of them had been Marko's, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was room for all of the vampires separately. He hoped there were extra rooms, because if not, that meant he was sleeping in someone else's bed yet again.

Did they even use the bedrooms? What if they slept in the basement or something? Or a crypt? If that was true, then Michael would sleep there as well. Eugh.

Speaking of Michael…

Sam sat up in the bed and looked around the room, trying to gauge if it was day or night yet and where his brother was. He saw the back of a head at the end of his bed with a nest of dark curls and frowned. Had Michael really taken a seat on the floor while Sam had the whole bed to himself? Come on, Michael.

Sam stretched, climbed out of the bed slowly, and padded his way over to the curtain-clad window. He pulled the end of the curtain back a tiny bit, just enough to see that the sun was peaking over the horizon and lighting up the yard.

Huh. Max had a homey yard. Sam wondered if he did any lawn work himself or if he hired someone to do it. Were vampires in general meticulous about their homes or was it just this one?

No, Sam, that's ridiculous, he told himself. How could all vampires be anal about the appearance of their house?

Anyways.

It was daylight now, so Michael wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. Neither were the others, hopefully, though he had encountered Max and Marko before when it was clearly not their hours of the day. Fingers crossed that didn't happen today.

Sam crept out the room, not wanting to wake Michael, and once he had shut the door behind him, he took in his surroundings. There were stairs going up on one end of the hall, stairs going down on the other, and three other doors.

My God, this is a big fucking house.

Well, his grumbling stomach wanted him to find the kitchen first, and the stairs leading to a lower level looked promising, so he went with option B.

Thankfully the floor below gave him direct sight into the kitchen—it would have been awkward if he had to wander around the house trying to find food.

The kitchen looked very bare, but that was to be expected. It was completely furnished with appliances, but the counters were empty of spices or any miscellaneous items. Sam opened the fridge and sighed in disappointment.

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing. Sam remembered Max saying they didn't get human guests very often and hit himself for thinking that vampires would have a fridge full of food.

But he still tried the freezer, and aside from some mysterious meats and frost-bitten container, he didn't see anything there, either. He went to the cabinets, built in above and below the nice-but-obviously-not-used countertop. Some pots and pans, cleaning supplies, napkins, some canned foods that were probably as old as Sam…

He really had poor luck. He leaned against a counter in defeat and his stomach growled angrily. What was a hungry damsel in distress supposed to do in this situation?

"We ran out weeks ago."

Sam gasped and jumped away from the counter. What the hell was it with these guys popping up out of nowhere all the time?

It was the guy who had pierced Sam's ears for free—the dark-haired one amongst a ton of blondes. Tanned. Probably not Caucasian. Tall, dark and handsome. That one. It felt like Sam hadn't seen him around in a while, even though technically this guy had shown up for point-two seconds last night, with the platinum blonde. Sam couldn't remember this one's name either.

"What?" he asked smartly.

"We ran out of food weeks ago," he repeated. "If you're hungry, you can make Marko buy you something. He never has anything to do around here all day."

"What?" Sam asked again, and shook himself. "I mean…you're vampires. You can't…" He made a strange gesture with his hands. "The sun…" Yeah.

"He can," the man responded. "Feel free to take advantage of that." He smirked and slowly began to turn around to walk away.

"What are you doing here?" Sam blurted out, causing him to pause and quirk an eyebrow questioningly. "Everyone else is asleep, right? The sun's out. Why are you walking around?" More importantly, was he the only one walking around? "Don't you crash as soon as dawn hits?"

"Normally," he said dismissively. "I was trying to sleep. You're very noisy. I was wondering what you were doing." Sam could feel himself flush and the dark-haired vampire slinked out of the kitchen without another word.

Shit. Was he really supposed to track Marko down and make him buy some damn food? Easier said than done.

He can't do anything to you, Sam reminded himself. Didn't Max say no harm would come to him? That his "boys" would only protect Sam?

But how likely are they to listen?

His stomach grumbled again.

Ugh. He had no choice. He was going to starve to death if he waited any longer. The question was, where was Marko? Should he call for him? Vampires had super good hearing, right? He would hear Sam. But would that wake the others, if Dwayne had had trouble sleeping because of Sam's rummaging in the kitchen?

But if Dwayne had been bothered by that, then the others would have heard their little conversation. That was a little creepy. How was Sam going to do or say anything ever without the whole household listening in on every little noise?

Did Marko hear us?

On cue, the blonde vampire came in through the dining room, striding into the kitchen and purposefully walking around Sam to get to a particular drawer. He was fully dressed and still sprouting sunglasses. Sam was beginning to think that was a habit of his—covering his eyes all the time like a douche.

A moment of silence passed as Marko rummaged through all the junk in the drawer. "What are you looking for?" Sam asked timidly. It was then that Marko found it; he slipped his finger through the chain and jingled the keys for Sam to see. "Why would you keep your keys in a kitchen you don't even use?"

"Exactly." He pushed the drawer back in.

Sam scoffed and a lopsided grin split across his face. "What, are you paranoid someone's gonna steal them?" In a house full of vamps, that didn't seem likely.

Marko frowned. "It sounds less likely than it is." He walked past Sam again, who quickly followed.

"Can I come too?" he asked hopefully. He wanted something to do; he couldn't sit in this house and do nothing all day. "If you don't mind," he added. "I know you kind of have to go buy stuff because of me and—"

"I have to go to the store anyways," Marko cut in as they walked through the dining room and towards the front door.

Sam was relieved he wasn't dragging Marko down by cutting into his daily routine or whatever else he usually did during the day; that would make this much less awkward. "Oh, good. I didn't—"

"You're still wearing that?" Sam furrowed his brows in confusion at first, wondering what Marko was talking about, and then he remembered the leather jacket he was still wearing. Sam padded after Marko down the front porch steps and across the gravel driveway.

"Yeah. I guess I forgot to give it back." It was a good thing Sam still had it, though, because it was pretty chilly outside; the frostbitten ground was proof of that.

"He won't ask for it back," Marko said bluntly. "He's too nice." He seemed to be mildly annoyed by that. He was such a strange little guy.

"So I'll give it to him tonight." Sam shrugged, though Marko couldn't see him do it. "It's not mine." Marko didn't say anything after that; he kept walking right past Lucy's car. Sam looked from the car to Marko and then down the long road in confusion. "Are we walking to the city?"

"Not the whole way. I just don't feel like carrying you all the way to the grocery store."

"Paul said you never get tired."

Marko's pompous composition faltered; even though Sam wasn't facing him and his steps didn't change, Sam could feel it. Something cracked, if only a little. After a long moment of quiet, Marko resumed in the same snide tone as before, "Paul doesn't know what he's talking about."

The silence that followed was uncomfortable, so Sam did what came naturally to him in awkward situations. He changed the subject. "So how can you go out in the sun? You're a vampire, right?"

"You just love asking questions, don't you, Sam?"

And you love not answering them, don't you?

Sam narrowed his eyes. Asking this man questions just took him around in circles. It was pointless.

Despite his original, semi-positive outlook on their time together, the rest of the walk ended up being quiet and tense. Even when they finally reached the city—after the longest walk of Sam's life that left him panting and sweating underneath Paul's jacket—not much was said. So it surprised Sam when Marko wordlessly bought him a shirt before doing their food shopping. It wasn't the most joyful experience, but it passed the time, and that had been the only reason Sam went with Marko to begin with.

"So how many vampires can walk around during the day?" Sam asked as they walked back to Max's house, a hand shoved in a bag of chips. Marko was carrying the various bags of goodies they had bought with little effort—something Sam was jealous of. He could barely carrying a bag of groceries from the car to the front door without tripping over it and dumping the contents everywhere. "I'm just curious. Since a bunch of guys are all attracted to us as a duo or something."

"It's just me and Max." Sam glanced over at Marko in mild surprise; that was the most straight-forward thing he had gotten out of this guy all day.

"Why?"

"Never mind. Just focus on eating; you can't be stuffing your face tonight when Michael's going through his initiation."

"His what?"

"Eat your chips, Sam."

Fair enough.