I crack open my eyes, then I quickly shut them back.

. . . Oh, wait!

I open my eyes again, realizing that I'm not going to be disturbed by sunlight shining in my eyes anymore. I stretch my back and legs out a bit before pushing the lid open. A peek out a window shows that the sun has just fallen below the horizon. One of the workers at the front of the plane sees me and walks over to me with a blank face.

"Everyone has stepped out of the plane to have a commoner's dinner." He says.

Dinner? Oh right, it's night. I give a slight nod and make a move to get up, but he puts his hand on my chest and pushes me back down. "However," He continues, "Master Sterling wanted you to stay on the plane."

"What?!" I push him away and jump up to my feet. "He can't tell me what to do! I'm not one of his zombie slaves like you!"

The worker doesn't seem to become intimidated by me at all. In fact, if anything, he looks rather annoyed by me. "Look, the young master just wanted me to tell you to stay in here until everyone got back. If you're going to defy that command, the punishment you'll receive will be yours to face alone." He doesn't wait a single moment to turn around and storm behind the curtain.

What a piece of shit.

I don't hesitate to stomp out of the plane. The terminal is crowded and busy. All of the colors and people and flashing lights make me feel a bit noxious, but it doesn't stop me from spotting my darling lying her head on that monster's shoulder in front of a Chipotle kiosk. I take a moment to suppress my outrage and compose myself, then I form a fake smiles stride right over to them.

Before I can open my mouth, Raven smiles back at me and puts her bowl down. "Vladimir, you're okay! Alexander told me you stayed on the plane because you weren't feeling good."

I steal a quick glance at Sterling - oh yeah, he's pissed - and my smile becomes real. "Well," I start, "I was feeling a bit uneven. But when I stepped out of the plane to take a walk, I started feeling much better." Sterling's glare intensifies, then it's his turn to have a fake smile appear on his face. Wow, I have to admit, he's almost as good as faking it as me. Almost.

"I'm just glad you're okay." He says. "Did you see Matt and Becky?"

The corner of my mouth twitches. That bitch is after my baby brother again?!

"No. . ." I start, "Why? Where did they go? What were they doing?"

"Oh, I don't know what they were doing. . . But they were headed toward the bathrooms the last time we saw them." My right eye twitches and I see him cock his eyebrow knowingly as if he can sense the rage rising in me. "We're gonna take off again no later than 2 hours from now, that should give them enough time to. . . make up for what they've missed."

"I see. . ." Damn! Matt, why do I always have to get you out of harms way when you screw up?! With Sterling, I know that he's not gonna pull anything out in the open, but with that witch-y bitch, I have no idea! I'm gonna have to go save him, AGAIN! I turn sharply on my heel. "I'm gonna go look for them."

"Aw, why? Don't you want to let them have their alone time. . . ?" I stop. A glance over my shoulder reveals his smirk growing wider as he strokes Raven's stomach suggestively.

Cheeky bastard.

I turn back and continue on toward the bathrooms. Not even two steps into the men's room, I hear a loud, girly squeak followed by a choked moan. More noises come after that, all of them sounding like they're trying to be suppressed, yet still managing to grow in passion at the same time. I follow the sounds to the handicapped stall at the far end. The bitch's hand is sticking far out from under the door and her fingers are curling and twitching and scratching at the floor, obviously in pleasure.

"What a whore," I whisper to myself. I bang on the stall door violently. "Matt!" I yell.

Two gasps are heard and the noises stop.

". . . Y-Yeah?"

"Come out here, we need to talk. And no, it can't wait." Without another word, I walk out of the bathroom.

They walk out holding hands a minute later. He kisses her cheek and tells her something, then she walks away. "W-What did you need. . .?"

"I. . ." Aaaand I didn't think of anything, again. But do I really need to? I mean, he's my brother, I should be able to tell him not to see her!. . . But he's my baby brother, so I guess I'll have to ease him down first. "I'm hungry." I say finally.

He tenses noticeably. "N-Now?! Can't you-"

"Come on!" I say, pleading, "I haven't had anything since before we left. . ."

His jaw tightens and his mouth forms a perfect line. After a few more seconds of becoming irritated by his fearful silence, I dig my nails into his shoulder and pull him back into the men's bathroom. I push him into a stall and he lands on the toilet. A grunt escapes his mouth, but he stays in place. I quickly lock the door and scramble to take his shirt. Shit, am I really this hungry? I force my nails into the flesh of his right shoulder.

"Agh! T-Trevor, you c-cut me too deep!" Blood shoot out of the four holes in his shoulder. The scent of it, mixed with the deafening growls of my suddenly-empty stomach make me ignore him and dive right in. It tastes even sweeter than last time, like the purest honey or molasses. I don't like molasses though, so I'll just stick with honey. My tongue moves sloppily in and out of each of the gaping wounds, practically drowning myself in his blood.

So good! So good!

"T-Trevor. . ." Hm, that was a strange tone to use. Then I hear a moan come out of his mouth.

What the hell?

I'm able to stop my frenzy to back away and get a look at him and his flushed face and his misty and distant eyes. His breathing is erratic and heavy.

. . . What the fuck Matt. . .?

"T-Trevor, i-it won't stop."

"What?" What won't stop? What is he- Oh fuck! I look down at his gushing shoulder, and he's right, the blood is still flowing as fast as it did when I first opened it. "Uh, o-okay, hold your shoulder, try to slow it down as much as you can! I'll be right back!" I bust the stall door open effortlessly and immediately run into someone. I recover instantly and don't even bother turning around to apologize to whoever was in my way as I continue on to the entrance of the bathroom. Just as I expected;there's a med-kit on the wall. I pull it out and zoom back to the stall to my baby brother.

The wounds are easy to stitch up, but Matt doesn't seem to calm down. His skin is pale and a bit colder than before, but he should be fine once he gets something to eat, I think. I help him stand up and hold him close as we walk out of the bathroom. There are a few Brits standing just outside of the entree, looking very concerned. Someone tries to help me hold Matt up, but I quickly remove ourselves from them.

Looking across the gigantic cafeteria, I can see with my ultra-sharpened eyes that my Raven is no longer in the hands of that beast. In fact, she's not even siting at the table anymore. Rather than she, the bitch sits right beside Sterling. She has an expression of concern and fear on her face, and the monster has one of interest. Becky's talking fast and making frantic gestures with her hand. . .

Hmm. . .

Oak and lighter fluid. . . Heat from the fire. . . Wind blowing past me. . . Overwhelming fear. . .

". . . And then I hear a loud noise and then Matt saying something about cutting too deep." I say - that bitch says.

"What happened after that?" Sterling asks her.

"I-I went back in, b-but I didn't say anything because I didn't want them to know I was listening! Anyway, I hear Matt make some other noises, a-and then. . ." She stops. . .

Wait a minute, is she. . .?

"Matt says, 'Trevor, it won't stop!'"

FUCK!

My consciousness returns to my body and I find myself halfway to their table. I stop myself immediately and scowl at them both. So, Bitchy was the one I ran into, huh? You know, it figures that as soon as I make a full commitment to my persona, it's ruined my a fucking whore. Now I'm really gonna be on a short leash of His, if He doesn't just decide to ditch me here, that is.

I continue walking toward them. Just as I'm about twenty feet away from them, the monster snaps his head towards me. He says something, then Becky looks up at me, frightened. Matt pulls away from me and tries to stand up straight, but he stumbles and falls to his knees. Bitchy rushes to his side, visibly weary of having to get near me, then quickly pulls Matt up and away. Me and Sterling are left to stare each other down - anger, suspicion, intimidation and distrust are swirling in both of our eyes.

. . . I'm still hungry.

Breaking our eyes contact, I stride over to the Chipotle kiosk and order a bowl and return to take a seat right across from Sterling. Man, I love Mexican food!. . . Or Spanish food. . . Or Latin food. . . Look, the point is:I like Chipotle. He stares at me while I eat. . . Weirdo.

"Can't see why you're still hungry after that 'meal' you just had." He says. Hm, somebody sounds passive-aggressive. When he realizes that I'm not going to say anything back to him, he starts tapping his fingers on the table. He looks around, sighs, taps his fingers harder, bites his lip - anything that, I'm assuming, will contain his anger for me. Then, with a slow forming smirk, he opens his mouth again, "You know, it's a shame that you're stuck in the night life - all those years of practicing and winning soccer tournaments gone to waste in a matter of seconds. . ."

. . . This fucking asshole.

I close up my bowl and set it to the side. "I've already agreed to shape up, alright? Finding out about this shouldn't oblige me to give anything extra." I say.

"I know." He replies, "But it does oblige you to start telling some truths, like why the hell did you tried to kill me? Trying to kill me is one thing, but you trying to kill me is definitely curious."

"I-Isn't it obvious?" Dammit, why did I stammer just now? "I was convinced that you killed, uh, Claire."

"You don't give a fuck about that girl." His tone is dry and cruel, like. . . well, like mine. "Tell me the truth, Trevor. And you should be careful if you're gonna lie again, because I've got you. Right now, I have a mental hold on you subconscious, and if I sense you lying, it will be quite painful! So please, try again."

Dammit, the bastard has me cornered! My throat goes dry and a thin layer of sweat forms all over my body. Okay, I have to be smart about this, I have to make sure I don't give complete answers, I have to. . .

"Please try again." He repeats.

"I. . . I tried to kill you because I hate what you are!" 'That's part of it.' I mentally comment.

He glares at me for a few seconds. ". . . Fair enough. Now, why did you hide your identity?"

I bite my lip and almost draw blood. "I. . . I didn't want to be found out."

"Of course you didn't, but the question is; why? If you were so sure of what I am, why would you feel like you'd need to hide from whomever may have found out you killed me? If anything, you should have been proud, considering the type of guy you are."

"Why the fuck are you doing this now?!" I yell. A few people stop to look at me, and I lower my voice, "Why didn't you just do this to me while you were questioning me the other day?"

"I didn't know who you were the other day. Since I thought I only knew you for barely two weeks, I thought I'd wait before I get your answers out by force. Why would I do that? Well, I simply gave you the benefit of assuming you're the type of guy that would come clean, given some time. But, now that I know you're. . . you, I can see that that's not gonna happen. . . So let me ask you again, why-"

"Excuse me, master Sterling." One of his family workers interrupts him.

Thank fucking-goodness.

"The plane that was supposed to take our spot in a few hours has contacted us and informed us that it will be arriving early, we must prepare for take-off right now."

Sterling mutters a 'thank you' and gets up from his chair. He gives me a gesture to follow him - accompanied by a painful stinging in my head - and I do so.

The Monster pulls my beloved into the seat beside him the second we return. Matt is sitting a row in front of Bitchy - at least he's starting to figure it out. I sit down beside him, and he leans over to me. "I-I told her I'm not g-going to talk to her until she p-promises not to tell Raven." He whispers.

A smile crosses my lips. I wrap my right arm around his shoulders and give him a half-hug. "Such a good baby brother." I whisper back to him.

The plane takes off again a while later. Nobody gets out of their seat immediately this time though, probably because of the obvious tension floating around. Eventually, however, Sterling unbuckles his seat belt and meanders behind the curtain at the back.

And then it's quiet for a while. . .

"SON OF A BITCH!"

We all jump in surprise. Sterling stomps back out into the front. My darling stands up and asks him what's wrong, but he calms down for just a second to tell her to sit back down. It's that very moment that the son-of-a-bitch bastard that tried to terrorize my dearest and It walk out from behind the curtain.

Jagger and Luna Maxwell.

I tear off my seat belt and rush into the isle to block them from getting any closer to my Raven. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

A blinding pain slams into my chest, then I hear a crack. Somebody starts screaming wildly. It sounds faint at first, but as my senses start catching up with me, it gets louder and louder, until I realize that I'm the one who's screaming. I clutch my suddenly-aching and throbbing chest and do my best to choke back my cries of agony. My eyes open and the first thing I see is Sterling and that son of a bitch standing chest to chest. Matt slides into my vision and drops to his knees in front of me, blocking my view of the two monsters. I can see his lips moving, but everything he's saying is drowned out by my own screaming. He starts making gestures and moving his lips slower and more deliberately - obviously trying to convey something very specific to me.

'Come on,' I think, 'This could be important.'

Swallowing hard, I force my screams into choked sobs and blink back the buckets of tears pushing at the backs of my eyes. With a bit more effort, the sobs are nothing but heated huffs and puffs.

". . . A-Are you okay now?" Matt asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"I keep trying to make compromises with you, Jagger!" Sterling's voice resonates throughout the plane. I reach up and scoot Matt out of my way to see two broken seat and Maxwell pinning the monster by his neck. He must have a secure grip around his own neck, because Jagger's attempt at choking him is damn-near disgraceful. "You can never just settle for what I give you! All you ever want is more!"

"I don't want your fucking compromises! I want you to suffer!"

Sterling manages to jam his legs in between him and Maxwell and kicks him off. His body flies into the wall right beside the curtain, breaking all of the isle-side chairs of the left side of the plane. The monster is on him in a flash and he picks that bastard up and pins him up against the wall easily. "You want me to suffer?! Can't you see that I'm already suffering enough from you framing me?!"

At this, Jagger stops struggling and glares at Sterling with a strange look on his face. "What are you talking about?" He asks, "Frame you of what?"

There's a long moment of silence, then the monster drops Jagger back down. "So it wasn't you guys. . ." He mumbles. He takes a few uneven steps backward, dragging a shaky hand through his hair. His face contorts into an expression of. . . pain? Sorrow? Whatever it is, it's not something he's enjoying.

"What do you mean? What happened?" When Sterling doesn't answer him, Sebastian puts his arm around him and walks him back behind the curtain. Maxwell sighs with irritation and folds his arms across his chest. He's obviously annoyed that he's not getting any answers.

"H-Hey, uh, Vladimir? Um, d-do you need help?" Matt asks me.

"No," I say, "I'm fine. Where did Raven go?"

"B-Becky and her went t-to the back when th-they started fighting."

"Okay, good. Get back in-"

"Hey," Son-of-a-Bitch interrupts me. Hm, what a cunt. "Do you know what happened?"

I glare at him. I mean, I really glare at him. This bastard has the nerve to ask me anything? Especially after her nearly threw me through the plane's shell! How dare-

"Do you?!" What a fucking cunt!

"Yeah," I say, "Someone framed him of murdering some girl."

His jaw clenches tightly for a moment, then he whispers something to himself and shakes his head angrily. "Did he really do it?" He asks.

"I'm not sure, but. . ."

"What?"

"Well, he went a while without eating when a couple of cops tried to shoot him. I'm sure you can guess what happened after that."

He sighs and covers his face with his hand. "Fuck. Luna, this thing's gonna have to wait. Here," He tosses her his phone, "Call everyone that's a member of the Crypt and tell them to come home." With one more sigh, he walks back behind the curtain.

Finally, I can have a chance to get up. I wrap an arm around my ribs and use the arm of a seat as a support to stand. "Come on, Matt. Let's just sleep the rest of this trip off."

My brother smiles at me. "Okay."

Matt and I are awoken hours later as we finally land in the Romanian International Airport. Like last time, Matt stays inside my coffin as Sterling's workers unload everything from the plane and into the limo waiting just outside of the maintenance gate. We have to wait a little while for another of his family's limos to come for the Maxwells to ride separately in. As soon as it shows up, that Jameson guy gets in the driver's seat of our limo and we leave quickly. The streets are almost barren, that is, until we get to the stone-paved streets.

This must be where the vampires reside.

After some time of driving on the stone streets, the limo carrying the Maxwells behind us turns onto a different street, and not long after that, we stop at a gate with some kind of family crest shaped into the center. This must be it. Jameson holds his arm out the window and does a signal with his hand, and two people come out of seemingly nowhere and unlock the gate, manually pulling it apart. The limo creeps up the twisted driveway up a steep hill. So steep, that we still can't even see so much as a glimpse of the mansion yet. We go higher and higher up the hill, and I start to feel strange. Is their mansion underground or something? Is it invisible? What's going on?

At that moment, we finally reach the top of the hill. . . Perhaps 'mansion' isn't such a fitting term to use for this. In fact, I'd say that 'sunken castle' would be more accurate.

It lies in the center of a foreboding chasm and it had to be at least three times bigger than the mansion on Bensin Hill. Beside it was and old, small, neglected-looking family graveyard with nothing but oily black gates surrounding it. Gargoyles rest here and there on the shingles on each level of the building, looking down on whoever may approach. There are dry, disheveled flower beds stuffed with dead roses, but the long-since-dead grass surrounding the house looks much worse.

It's so perfect. Perhaps, once I've finally staked my claim on my heart-strings, I can take this place over and make it our home?

By the time we stop at the loop in the driveway in front of the grand double-doors, two people, most likely the monster's parents, are standing there. His father looks absolutely livid - gee, I wonder why. I glance over at Sterling to see him in a shaking, green-skinned mess. My Darling tries to comfort him, but he's completely unaffected. My poor darling, her tender kindness doesn't deserve such and ignorant recipient.

"Well," Sterling whispers, "Let's. . . go. . ."

I exit the limo first, immediately going for the trunk to get my little brother and my coffin. From my position behind the car, I can see my Raven, Sebastian, and the Bitch step out of the car, followed by the monster, after a while. I watch the three bystanders keep their distance away from him as he approaches his parents. Their eyes stare coldly at him while he continues holding his head down in shame. His father says something, I can't hear what, but it causes the monster to tense up. He robotically walks over to me and helps me unload my coffin, moving on to his and Sebastian's afterward. Sebastian comes over and grabs his from him while he heads into the castle with his own. The rest of us follow him shortly after his parents.

The entry hall is more grand than I expected it to be. The ceiling has to be over 50 feet above my head! Everything's so eerie, from the countless places that follow you with their eyes, to the dim candles that are the only sources of light in the building. Each step I take results in an unsettling creak that echoes loudly into the darkness.

Suddenly, I can hear muffled yelling from a nearby room. I can't understand what they're saying, so they must be using their native language. Sebastian tenses up at exceptionally harsh sounding yell that, I think, came from the monster's mouth. Then his facial expression takes on a haunted look when another voice - young and feminine - chimes in. "I-I'll just show you guys to the guest rooms. Come on."

He leads us up the grand stair case parallel to the front doors, then down a long, narrow hallway to a spiral staircase, and finally to a round room with several doors circling its edge. "Of course, these aren't the only guest rooms," He says as he opens the center door, "But they're the easiest ones to find." Flashing a nervous smile, he disappears into the room.

Really? These are the easiest guest rooms to find?

I glance over at my darling, and my heart nearly stops. A stream of tears fall silently down her cheeks. The bitch makes an attempted to comfort her, but our poor little- MY poor little beloved just shakes her head and her and whispers something to her. The bitch tries again, but when my beloved rejects her once more, she just sighs and enters one of the rooms.

Oh, how it hurts my soul to see my life's bane under such stress! Such strain!

Without anymore delay, I drop my coffin - ignoring the grunt from inside of it - and hastily make my way over to her. I wrap my arms around her thin, trembling frame. A gasp escapes her lips, but I keep my arms where they are. I pull her closer into my chest and rub the small of her back, gently. In a matter of seconds, her soft arms wrap around me. Quiet, muffled sobs leave her mouth. I can feel her tears soaking through my shirt. Her body starts to tremble harder and her weight shifts onto me as her legs go limp.

"It's okay," I whisper into her ear, "This won't last forever. I'll do everything I can do to make this end as quickly as possible, okay? I'll be sure of it." Yes, it's true. Truer than the natural dark of the night. I will do absolutely everything in my power to put her mind at ease, and then some. Don't worry, my love, just leave it up to me.

Hours later, a worker comes up to tell us that the Sterlings have invited us to come down and have dinner with them. We follow him all the way back to the entry hall, past a very lovely, cobweb-covered living room, and into the amazingly creepy dining room. The floorboards creaked, the candles flickered, the curtains blew eerily from the breeze coming in from the windows, the walls carried frightening echos of the screeching bats hanging from the ceiling - it's a complete nightmare.

Why did that monster ever leave this place?!

After we each find our seats, I take look around the table. Someone new is at the table, she's like a small version of my darling. Fun-sized! How cute! You know, as long as she doesn't turn out to be another 'It.' Anyway, I won't doddle on her, not when the dangerous glaring match between the monster and its creator. Everyone else at the table seem to pick up on the silent war as well, and suddenly the room's tense silence becomes painfully clear. . .

. . . So awkward. . .

Eventually, though, the servants begin carting in the food. As they're setting our meals down in front of us, I notice something. Heh, it's actually kinda funny. All of the living-dead at the table receive extra-rare steak dinners while the humans get soup. I'm glad I already finished transforming, I hate soup. Thankfully, my darling doesn't mind, but I have to chuckles at the pout on Matt's face. How adorable!

The dinner passes by in silence. Everyone was almost finished with their meals when Mr. Sterling started speaking.

"Alexander."

The monster freezes just as he was about to pick another piece of his steak off his plate. His hand tightens around the fork and his expression becomes stoic, it's like he knows what he's about to say.

"Out of all of your guests, you've told us of only two of them. Would you kindly introduce the others to us?"

Sounds reasonable enough to me. I mean, it is his house. . . But I can't help sensing ulterior motive. I'm not sure what it is, but something's telling me that I should be intimidated more than that beast. . . Why though?

Sterling clears his throat quietly and drops his fork. "He," He starts, pointing at Matt, "He is Matthew, and he's in a relationship with Becky here. He plays soccer and he-"

"That's enough on Matthew." Mr. Sterling interrupts, "Tell me about the other one."

Oh. . . Oh no, that's it. That's why that feeling came over me. That damn, stupid monster knows who I really am! He's gonna say it in front of my beloved! She's gonna know about my misbehavior!

"His name. . ." His eyes dart over to me, but his head stays downcast.

Don't you do it, you bastard, don't you fucking do it!

"His name is T-. . . V-Vladimir."

I silently release the puff of air that was trapped in my throat. Sterling, you're an idiot for not selling me out just now. . . But thank you.

"I see," Mr. Sterling says, "It's good to know of you, Vladimir. And it's good to have all of you here." His tone lightens up a bit, and I don't feel as intimidated anymore. At least, for now I don't.

Dinner continues and ends in silence. The monster and Sebastian help us find the guest rooms again. Then they leave, saying that they need to make sure the other vampires that lived around the "danger zone" have fled already. My Raven, Matt, that bitch and I now find ourselves sitting together in one of the quest rooms. Raven rests between my legs, leaning into me comfortably and rubbing her swollen belly. My baby brother lies motionless, sleeping right beside me, and Bitch is far on the other side of the room, also sleeping.

I sigh.

It feels like it's been forever since the last time I could relax like this. And I've never been able to relax with both my baby brother and my beloved before! I could stay like this forever. . .

For eternity.

. . . But no. I need to finish this monster off before I can stay like this. I need too. . .

You know what? It can wait. Nothing's happening right now - we've left the country, those Maxwell fuckers are backing off, that monster is too stressed with his family to come between my darling and I. I need to relax. For once, I just need to relax. . .

To be continued.