Chapter Four: Lovebirds

The wind sent a chilly breeze throughout the old house. But Natalie was perfectly warm next to Alan. His muscular arms were wrapped around her waist in a side hug. The two were right next to each other on the floor.

Edgar stared in envy.

He liked this girl, but his brother had her. The two lovebirds on the floor felt like holy water to a vampire. The pain was stinging his heart. This was one of the only times he really ever liked someone this much. That should be him next to her. Him making her warm through the night. But no, it was Alan. His own brother.

Remembering the TV a few days ago, he tried to not like her.

'Stick together through everything,' The voice seemed to repeat itself in his head. 'Let nothing tear you apart...not love, not courage, not fangs. Nothing. Stand together and achieve what you have to, get rid of any threat...'

Natalie couldn't come between he and his brother. Right now, they needed to find out what they needed her for.

'Tomorrow,' He promised himself. 'Tomorrow, we will find out everything.'

In the morning, Natalie and Alan were the first to awake. Before Sam or Edgar had woken up, Natalie ran back to her house and grabbed some food for everyone. When she returned, she made do with the stove and made breakfast.

Sam sniffed the air. "Pancakes!" He said excitedly.

"Yeah, I made pancakes for you guys," Natalie said from the kitchen.

She trotted over to the stove, removed two pancakes from the pan, and put them on a plate. She had now made four platefuls of pancakes, each with two on them. That would be enough to feed them all. Natalie placed some syrup on the counter top next to the pancakes and sat down on one of the four stools. Alan sat across from her next to Edgar, while she sat next to Sam.

Sam cut his pancake and put a slice on his fork.

"These taste really good," He said, putting the food in his mouth.

Natalie cut some of her own and dipped it in the syrup she had on her plate.

"Thanks Sam," She said happily.

She went to talk to Alan, waving her fork towards him. But the slice of pancake she had on it flung off and hit him in the face. Edgar bursted out laughing, followed by Sam and Natalie.

"You think that's funny?" Alan laughed, throwing some of his food at his brother, who playfully threw it back.

"I think this is funny," Natalie giggled, putting some pancake on Sam's shoulder.

Everyone started a food fight, flinging pieces of pancakes through the air, aiming for anyone else. Some pancake stuck to the walls, even a little piece on the ceiling. It all ended in a fit of laughter.

Everyone picked the pancake bits off the floor, from the ceiling, off the walls, everywhere they could find some.

"I'm going to feed it to the seagulls!" Natalie said, walking outside on the beach. Alan followed, more slices of pancakes in is hands.

Edgar watched from the window.

Natalie lightly tossed some bits at the birds. The white birds ate it up hungrily, snatching it in their beaks. Alan threw some next.

Natalie put some on Alan's shoulder and laughed as a seagull perched on his shoulder, nibbling at the food. Alan looked at the bird, then lightly pushed it off his shoulder.

The two laughed some more and walked towards the water. As they looked over the ocean, Natalie leaned her head on Alan's shoulder. In return, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. Natalie looked up at him, and they both leaned in...

Edgar looked away. The more he watched them, the worse he felt. That reminded him, he needed to find out more about what they needed her for.

Sam spoke, interrupting his thoughts. "I think it's nice Alan got a girl, don't ya think?"

"Guess so..." Edgar grumpily replied, a clearly noticeable failed attempt at hiding the envy.

"Ease up, will ya Edgar? He's your brother, you have to be happy for him."

"It's not like I'm not happy for him, it's just...there's something going on. Remember the creepy voice? We need to find out what's going on, and what we need her for."

Sam thought a moment. They did need to find out what was going on, and fast. What if another vampire clan was after them? They would have no time to prepare, no time to react...

"Ok," Sam replied quickly. "We'll find out what's going on...but how?"

"Remember yesterday when the vampires came around the shop? Natalie was saying something, but they cut her off. And even after that, she was completely calm about them. Maybe she has something to do with this, Sam. What if she's one of them?"

"She can't be, Edgar. She's walking in the daylight." Sam pointed out.

"Human spy, maybe? Isn't it a little odd that a girl just happens to walk into a comic shop where two of the best monster hunters are, and just happens to like on of them? What if her whole plan was to get us all along?"

"Ok, maybe now that you say that, it is a little creepy...but what about the part where we need her to finish something?"

"What if the voice was telling us not to lose her because whatever it was needs her? And it was just trying to act like it was on our side?"

As Sam and Edgar continued on pointing out more evidence that Natalie was evil, she and Alan walked in.

"Whatcha talking about?" Natalie asked.

"Oh, hi Natalie, umm, we were just talking about..." Sam trailed off, unable to think of a quick enough excuse. Luckily, Edgar spoke.

"Comics. And if Superman is really evil and we just don't know it yet."

"Yeah," Sam said. "That's what we were saying."

Natalie nodded. Even though she didn't believe them, what could they have been talking about? Maybe it was comics...who knew? She brushed the subject off and went back into the living room. Then, she remembered what they had to do if they were going to stay here- and safe.

"Guys, we need to go back on the boardwalk tonight. We have to get clothes and stuff if we're going to stay here." She said.

"We'll go back now, actually." Edgar said, contradicting what she was saying. "Night is when the vampires are out, and if we want to get caught, that would be an excellent idea. Now, it's day, and much safer to leave. So, let's go."

He eyed her carefully, searching for some look in her eyes, even just a hint, that would say she needed to go at night.

"Unless, that's a problem, of course." He added.

Natalie showed no emotion at all.

"That's not a problem. That's actually very smart. What was I thinking, going at night? Normally, I would hang out in the night because I-"

Edgar cut her off. "Because you're a vampire!" He accused.

Natalie laughed. "No, I sneak out of my house that's why. My parent's don't really care what happens at night because they're mostly at clubs or something."

"Yeah, I thought we were over the whole 'Alan's girlfriend is a vampire' thing anyways." Sam tried to cover up Edgar's distrust of her.

Alan came into the conversation, then. "She's not my girlfriend, we're just friends. That's all."

"Which is why you were kissing outside, right?" Edgar said.

"We didn't-" Natalie started.

"Yeah you did." Sam teased. "And we saw it...and I'm pretty sure Michael would want to know-"

"No way! You can not tell you're brother!" Alan said. If Michael knew, that just meant ten times the teasing then of just Sam and Edgar.

Natalie's face was turning red now. Alan's brother and Sam, two people she barely knew, had caught her kissing Alan. Well, she didn't entirely know him yet either, but it was like they were meant to be together.

"I guess you're just going to have to stop me then, right?" Sam quickly dashed out the door, heading for his house so he could tell his brother.

Alan ran out after him, leaving Natalie alone with the one person who didn't trust her.