Marko left them again. Sam hadn't even realized it until he saw Marko and Paul talking with two other vampires and their (shared?) human. Was that a thing? Sharing a blood source? Sam wasn't judging, but it just seemed…crowded. A neck had multiple bite-able zones, but that had to get uncomfortable at some point. "Hey David," he began, about to ask a potentially awkward question. However, he didn't get the chance.

"Sam. Someone else wants to meet you."

The "someone" turned out to be a very tall, thin gentleman with bags under his eyes that were so dark they nearly matched his black hair color. He stopped an arm's length away from them and swallowed thickly.

For the first time that night, Sam felt David's arm around him securely. Intuition told him that it wasn't because David felt like it.

Actually, never mind intuition. The fact that David was tense told Sam everything he needed to know.

"This is Jerome. He's…well, he's new to Santa Carla. He only just arrived a month ago."

Sam nodded to him in acknowledgment. "Hey."

Jerome's mouth was set in a thin line. With big, round eyes that had the faintest shine of oncoming tears, he stared directly at Sam.

The blond fidgeted.

"I know he smells good. Try to fight the urge," David said lightly.

"I just wanted to see him again," Jerome said finally, his voice thick. "I can tell he's fitting right into Max's group." He said this to David, the corners of his mouth forced into a bitter smile.

David's hold on Sam tightened even further. "Well, you've seen him. Here he is." His tone had an edge to it that made Sam want to shrink away.

He searched the room and saw that Marko was watching from a not-too-far distance. Good.

"I also wanted to see you." The tall vampire that looked like he hadn't slept in years was gaining inflection in his words. "It's oddly invigorating to be near you. I always imagined you as Max's subservient favorite. I half-expected you to be groveling at his feet tonight."

They now had Paul's attention, too, who was still standing next to Marko across the room. Sam couldn't be sure if Paul was hearing their conversation or if he'd noticed where Marko's attention was drawn. That didn't matter. What did matter was the fact that Paul's face dawned with recognition, and Sam saw his lips form the word shit.

"That's what I figured you'd be like, based on the things people say about you in and outside of Santa Carla." He wasn't finished, apparently. David also wasn't attempting to defend himself; he was simply letting Jerome talk. "But you're not like that at all, are you? No, you still would bend over for your creator at the snap of his fingers—but you're so…so fucking cocky about being Max's favorite." His voice had grown in intensity, though he hadn't raised his volume much. Still, others were now listening in curiously.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I really am. But you shouldn't have come here tonight. You know that." Sam applauded David for being so calm. His temperament was incredible…

Jerome's jaw clenched. "You aren't sorry." Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "Not yet." Suddenly his eyes flitted to the left, to the empty spot next to David.

To the not-so-empty-anymore spot.

"I'm sorry, Jerome, but I don't tolerate threats against my boys. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." His hand was on David's shoulder. To Sam, they had never looked more like a father-and-delinquent-son pair.

And just like that, the atmosphere in the room shifted. Sam could no longer focus on anything they were saying. They were still exchanging terse words, but he couldn't hear anything being said. He was focused on a point beyond Jerome, beyond any individual person in the room.

The point was far away and undefined at first. He simply stared into the sea of vampires and waited for something his body knew he was anticipating. The movement around and in front of him was slow and heavy, except for one person, who was working her way through the crowd at a normal pace.

As soon as he saw her, his stomach sunk to the floor.

She was covered in dirt from head to toe. It had stained her flowery dress and caked her hair and smeared across her blue-ish skin. She stared at him—no, stared through him—and she was right there. And oh Jesus, she was parting her grey lips as if she was trying to say something, but not a single sound escaped her. Sam was glad for that; he would just about lose it if she actually spoke. He was already on the verge of screaming… Water began to drip down her legs and arms slowly.

The entire time he stood there, watching her in horror, there was one word stuck in the back of his throat that wouldn't dislodge.

Mom?

Nononono. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. No one else was noticing this? Was he the only one seeing her?

He wanted to turn to David, to pull his attention away from Lucy for only a moment so that he could flag for help—burn an S.O.S. into the floor if he had to. But he couldn't move a single muscle. His eyes watered and his heart pounded, but no matter how hard he fought his paralysis…

Like a taut cord stretched too far, he snapped out of it. A person walked in front of where Lucy had been standing and she was gone. Everything else resumed as normal, as if everyone hadn't been standing at a standstill for those few horrifying moments. He swallowed thickly and tried to calm his stuttering breath.

Everything was all right—normal. Paul was being very animated in his conversation with a female couple. Star was drinking out of one of those stem-less blood glasses, standing in the midst of a group conversation and looking very uncomfortable. David… Where was David?

Sam turned to the right and flinched. "Jesus!" he hissed. "What the hell…?" What the hell happened? he wanted to ask.

"David and Max left to escort Jerome out. They're probably talking in private now." Marko had his arms crossed over his chest, but his demeanor was surprisingly cool. No, cool wasn't the right word… David was cool. Marko was just…not pissed off, for once. There was still a certain intensity whenever he spoke that didn't fit well with the word "cool."

"I didn't notice…"

"Right. Because you were having a vision." Sam failed to confirm right away. "Didn't you?"

"Yeah…I guess I did." He ran his fingers through his short hair and quickly surveyed his surroundings once more. "It was so fucking weird. I don't even know if it was considered an actual vision." He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Shit." His temple was starting to ache.

"Did David take too much?"

Sam's eyes flew open. Are you fucking kidding me? "Excuse me?" He regretted his tone when he realized that Marko genuinely didn't mean anything by that question. Sam could tell because Marko looked honest-to-God surprised by his outburst.

What's wrong with me? This is the nicest exchange we've ever had and I'm getting sensitive over stupid shit…

He sighed. "I'm sorry. But…David didn't bite me. Can't you tell?" He displayed each side of his puncture-free neck.

"Because a human can be bitten in only one place on their body," came Marko's wry response.

Apparently Sam would need more than an apology to get Marko back into that not-happy-but-also-not-annoyed state.

Jeez, what if that had been his version of being friendly and Sam just totally ruined it?

I'm such an idiot…

He didn't know why he felt so bad, but he did. You would think that after being chewed out by Marko earlier that day, Sam wouldn't give a shit if there was lingering tension between them, but…honestly, he was clinging to the hope that they could at least learn to get along.

Sam thought back to their little conversation from earlier, if you could call it that. Marko had an ability—maybe several—that were constantly hindering his mood. "Are you feeling better?" Marko just looked at him with those creepy black eyes that reminded Sam too much of Neil. "You uh…said you had a headache… I was just wondering if it's gone. Or better. You know."

Marko seemed to let Sam's words sink in before he responded. "It relents during the night."

Sam wanted to ask him why he got headaches. Was it because of his ability? What was his ability? But Sam quickly reminded himself that Marko had proven in the past to be very sensitive about personal questions of any kind, so he reined it in. Still, though, he needed a distraction from that weird and scary vision… "You aren't going to hang with Paul?"

"You need to be watched, lest you do something stupid."

"Ha, yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly. He was too ignorant for his own good, sometimes… It was probably best that somebody keep an eye on him. He didn't know how to behave in a room full of vamps. "Paul could come over here, though. Just saying."

Marko narrowed his eyes. "I don't need to be by his side every waking minute."

Shit. "I didn't mean it like that," Sam quickly assured him. "Of course you don't need to be around him all the time. You obviously function just fine by yourself. I was just… Sorry. I don't know. I thought you guys might be together or something." They didn't act like a couple, but come on. The first night Sam had arrived in their house and Paul slept in the same room as him, Marko had swooped in like a grizzly bear protecting her cubs from some hikers. Like, come on. They even roomed together, Sam was pretty sure—and there were extra rooms in the house, so space wasn't an issue. And in the past, Marko had practically stepped over his own heels to keep Paul away from Sam—or at least prevent them from being alone together. It had all added up eventually.

Marko's frown still didn't go anywhere. "We are."

Oh. Wow. He wasn't expecting such a straightforward answer to that. "Cool." He felt like that was something necessary to say, because the way Marko had so easily offered up that bit of information and the tone in which he had delivered it… He was sinking his claim on Paul in a manner that told Sam touch him and you die. It was as simple as that. Fucking terrifying, really. Hopefully Sam was just being dramatic, though, and reading too far into it. He wouldn't actually die if he decided to hit on Paul, would he?

Not that Sam would do that, even if death was a consequence for such actions.

"I'm not interested in stealing your man, just so you know." Just to get that out there. "I mean, he's great." Paul was funny and easygoing and tall, but… "But you're pretty incredible, too, so I wouldn't worry about that." Oh, Sam couldn't imagine living with Marko in a million years—but he couldn't deny that Marko was attractive, honest, strong and probably also very smart. And scary. Sam just couldn't picture anyone daring to give that up. Not only would they be losing someone unique, but they'd also lose a couple limbs in the process, and no one would risk that.

Clearly, Marko hadn't been expecting that to come from Sam. He'd looked downright annoyed when Sam started going on about how he wasn't going to hook up with Paul anytime soon, but that annoyance seemed to ebb away when Sam continued and added all that extra nice stuff. He turned his head to look at Paul from across the room—Paul, who was still as animated as ever, because he seemed to never run out of charisma or energy. His features softened even further.

That's just freaking adorable, Sam internally gushed.

"Hey."

His heart skipped a beat when he heard David's smooth voice. "You're back." Sam smiled and turned around.

"Sorry about that. Jerome wasn't supposed to come."

Aaand Marko was gone again, just like that. Sam expected him to take his place next to Paul's side again, but Marko had actually gone to keep Star company. That poor girl looked immensely relieved.

"Who was that guy, anyways?" Sam asked, refocusing.

"He was Neil's brother."

"Neil?" Neil.

Neil.

Fuck.

"Yeah. I kind of killed him, after he attacked you and Michael. Jerome was there that night, but he escaped. He didn't attack anyone, and Neil failed, so Max decided to let him off the hook." He frowned. "I hope he decides to leave Santa Carla, like Max advised."

Neil. Neil's brother. Sam assumed David meant they were "brothers" in the same sense that Max's boys were all brothers. "You let him go?" Why? "Wasn't he going to attack us? Because I doubt he agreed to wait outside while Neil did his business."

"We have no way of knowing that. We're not going to punish him for something we can't prove." It made perfect sense and Sam really didn't like it. He felt weird wishing that a guy was dead, but it was a vampire, so it didn't mean he was heartless, right? Besides…he really didn't want Neil's mourning and possibly vengeful brother lurking around.

"What if he tries to…you know…get back at you?"

"He won't."

"He threatened you!"

"He was upset," David said, easily dismissing Sam's concerns. "He's not a threat, Sam. I promise."

How can you promise that, though?

Sam pressed his lips together for a moment. "Okay." He was skeptical, but if David said so…

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. He never mentioned his vision to David, and no one asked Sam about it; he was inclined to believe that Marko hadn't said anything to the others, which was good. He didn't want to talk about it—not right now. He wanted to focus on other things, like making it through the night socially unscathed.

Somehow, he managed just that. He didn't know how much time had passed or how many people he had spoken to after that last intermission, but it had to be after midnight. How much longer would the party last? He was already feeling drained from having to speak to so many proper but scary vampires, and he was getting tired of watching his mouth.

Michael hadn't showed yet—something that deeply concerned Sam—but even though the party was being thrown in his honor, the guests were so entertained by one another that they didn't seem to notice or mind. Sam, however, became more and more anxious with each passing conversation.

"They're fine," David tried to assure him. "If they were hurt or in distress, we would know."

"You mean you guys would know. I wouldn't." What if something had happened to Michael or Dwayne and their brothers weren't picking up on their distress signals? The thought of Michael being hurt (or worse) but unable to get help made Sam feel sick. "Why else wouldn't they be here? Don't they know there's a party going on? For my brother?"

David shrugged. "I just know they aren't in trouble." Sam squinted and rubbed his forehead. That budding ache from before had turned into a full headache that came in waves every so often. "Are you okay?"

Yes, David, I'm fine, Sam would have said. Because seriously, he was. And while it was touching that David kept asking him that, it was just a headache. Nothing to be concerned about at all, really. He didn't know why David even bothered asking. A headache was a headache. Of course Sam wasn't feeling okay at the moment, but he'd live.

Before he could say any of those things, Paul's voice filled his ears and a hand was slapped on his shoulders. "Hey, man, how's it goin'?"

"I'm probably going to leave soon," Sam replied honestly. "Getting tired."

"Well, there's just one more person you should meet before you go."

Sam managed to suppress his sigh. All right… He turned around to face Paul.

And nearly shit himself.

"O-oh… Hi…"

It was that four-thousand-year-old vampire Marko had pointed out to him earlier.

Apparently Paul and Marko had brought her over; she stood on the outside of the trio, next to Marko. Up close, she was so short—shorter than Sam, who was…very short. For a male, that is. She still looked no older than thirteen, but her eyes…they carried her real age. She was beautiful, her refined features like those of an old Egyptian sculpture. Her demeanor was easily more composed than any other vampire in this room, with her arms in front of her, pointing towards the floor and crossed at the wrists. Her balance and posture were perfect. She looked… Well, she didn't look real. She could very well have been a lifelike statue, if she hadn't moved just then.

The movement was minute—a mere dip of her head. "Well met, Samuel Emerson." Her voice didn't match her very youthful appearance. It belonged to a fully grown, badass woman, in Sam's opinion, because it was so smooth and low.

Please tell me somebody told her my last name. If not…

What was he supposed to say to her? Uh. Yeah. You too. No, that was pathetic. He couldn't think of anything to respond with, so he just nodded quickly, eyes still wide like saucers.

She smiled. It was close-lipped and transformed her smooth-as-granite features, but her eyes had no shine. It was strange, really. Her smile hadn't been a sad one, but her eyes suggested that it wasn't a pleased smile, either.

Sam immediately began to fret that he'd already done something wrong. "I saw you earlier. Sorry I didn't say hi."

He couldn't begin to explain the tiny, complex change in expression she underwent. Her eyebrows, mouth and eyes all shifted at once by only a mere fraction, and while he didn't know what kind of emotion she was trying to display (or hide), he did know that it wasn't negative. He hoped.

"Sorry…" he apologized again. "But…who are you?"

"I have many names," she said dismissively. "You may call me Alexis."

Alexis? All right… It didn't sound very ancient-Egyptian-y, but at least Sam could pronounce and remember it.

"How long are you going to be in Santa Carla, Alexis?" David asked.

"I plan to leave when the ground thaws. I enjoy your city's cool weather."

Paul smiled. "You should visit the Midwest, then."

David seemed intrigued by her response. "You live in a warmer climate?"

It was then that Sam realized David had never met Alexis before; it was suddenly very obvious. Had Paul met her before? If so…how? How could he be so young and meet this vampire while David somehow had never come across her before?

"Bangkok. I forgot how cool this region is in its winter months. I have not visited for many years."

"Why'd you stop in? Max can't be that important to you. Unless Thailand is boring." David spoke way too playfully for being so close to such an old vampire, Sam thought.

"Actually, I decided to visit for Marko." She steadily brought her hand to his arm. Marko smiled. Honest-to-God smiled.

Okay, Sam was definitely tapping out soon. He was seeing things.

Alexis seemed to notice his fatigue, of course. She probably noticed everything. "Sleep is important," she said. "You should rest. Humans are not meant to be awake during the night."

Well, thank you¸ Alexis. At least somebody understood that.

"Sleep sounds good right now," he admitted. He didn't want to leave the conversation so early, but she'd practically given him permission to leave, so… "Yeah, I think I'll go. It was nice meeting you." He looked between Paul, Marko and David. "See you guys later." Stay, David, he wanted to add. Sam could make it to his room safely, and David seemed like he would probably enjoy speaking more with Alexis.

David must have understood the silent request; he nodded once and didn't move when Sam left.

Sam didn't fall asleep once he was lying in bed, though. The comfy mattress felt good under his back and he allowed his eyes to slip shut, but he continued to fret over Michael. His brother hadn't been behaving normally lately, and now Mike had ditched his own party?

And there was also, of course, that horrible vision of Lucy that Sam couldn't explain. It hadn't been a premonition—not like any of the future-telling visions he was used to, that is. The setting hadn't shifted. He hadn't been witnessing a future event. He'd simple seen something very strange and very disturbing in the midst of his everyday life. It made no sense, and it probably wouldn't be leaving his thoughts for quite a while.

Should he tell someone about it? Who? What would he tell them? That he saw his dead mother, except that she wasn't really dead because she hadn't been real and it also hadn't been a vision? His mind had been so clear lately, and then that just came out of nowhere…

He'd been having several strange dreams lately, too. What did they mean? Was he going crazy, or was there something worth looking further into here?

His headache struck again. He rolled over onto his side and pulled a pillow over his ears to drown out the constant hum of chatter coming from downstairs. He shouldn't think about stuff he had no answers to yet—not right now. He should sleep.

Sadly, sleep didn't claim him until the sun began to peak over the horizon.