Rae cut off the water. Hot droplets of water rolled down her small shoulders as she stepped out of the shower. Her whole body, which had been so relaxed, suddenly tensed. An annoyance crept up from the depth of her soul as she came face to face with a half asleep Rock's.
He was standing in front of the toilet enjoying an early morning number one. He hadn't even turned his head towards her. The sight of him in his nirvana t-shirt, red flannel boxers around his ankles, eyes closed and sighing as he stained the toilet water yellow.
Rae could have screamed, she could have shouted and cussed him out. Then again, verbal assault wasn't nearly as enjoyable as physical assault
.As she walked past him to grab a towel, she smacked him in the side of the head as hard as she could.
"AHH! FUCK!?" Rock's scream could be heard throughout the house.
Ed turned from his seat at the kitchen counter and lifted his eyebrow in curiosity, watching the empty hallway.
Elle jumped, startled, gulped and went back to flipping pancakes.
In a matter of seconds, Rock's was shoved out into the hallway. He stumbled over the boxers around his feet and fell bare assed onto the hard wood floor.
The bathroom door slammed shut.
"The fuck, man!?" Rocks shouted, clambering to stand and pull up his shorts.
Ed was laughing.
Elle pulled the skillet off of the stove to plate the pancakes. She turned to see the ruckus and froze. Her cheeks turned crimson as she saw a glimpse of Rock's exposed bottom.
"She!" He cried, pointing accusingly at the bathroom door. "She! Is!" His anger subsided, he looked confused, groggy. He threw his hands up into the air. "I was just trying to take a piss, man."
"I told you not to go in there while she was showering." Ed needled.
"Fuck you." Rocks grumbled.
"You can take my place if you want?" King offered. "If you want to get up close and personal with some vampires for a change?"
"Yea, I don't really feel comfortable with that. You can do it." Dex replied smoothly. "I'll stay here and watch some spongebob with the Zoemizer."
"Make sure she does chapter seven in her math book." Abby said. She slid her bow onto her back and looked at Dex with a hard expression. "She's having trouble with long division, and her room is filthy-"
"Yea, yea, don't tell me how to raise the child." Dex countered. "I know how to take care of the kid. We have some arts and craft projects set up."
"I don't want her helping you with the explosives anymore." Abby stated.
"She has such an inventive mind, she's the one who thought of the silver spike ball thing with the twirling blade on it that-- Fine! Okay, chill. Enough with the death glare, I wont let her play with the weapons." Dex stepped out of the room.
"You know, that spinning spike ball is pretty fucking cool." King commented.
"Shut up King." Abby sighed.
Elle plated the pancakes and placed a plate in front of her brother and Rock's.
Rock's took a seat and scratched his nuts, his lovely contribution to the gang's breakfast.
Elle picked up Lucky, who was purring and winding himself around her ankles. She stared at the two men with wide, cautious eyes. They didn't notice, they were too busy stuffing their faces.
A bit of maple syrup stuck to Rock's chin.
"So…" She began softly, scratching at her cat's head. The cat purred lovingly "The world needs saving?"
Ed looked up from his breakfast, mid bite.
Rocks eye's shifted from his friend to Elle.
"No." Ed replied.
"Liar." Elle countered.
Ed scowled and returned to his meal.
"It's nothing you need to worry about." Ed told his sister, cutting his pancake a bit more aggressively than usual.
"Yes it is." She said, rolling the cat over in her arms so she could cradle him like a baby and rub his chest.
"No it isn't." Ed said firmly.
"Just tell me what's going on."
"Can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not even sure what's going on yet!" He snapped, dropping his fork on his plate with a loud clank. "So how about you just cut this twenty questions shit?!"
Elle's chin dropped as she was scolded. She sulked out of the kitchen.
Ed felt a sudden wave of guild hit him
"Harsh." Rock's said, eyeing his buddy.
Elle walked down the hallway, past Rae as emerged from the bathroom.
"Breakfast?" Rae asked, toweling her hair.
"On the counter." Elle replied cheerlessly.
Rae gave the younger woman a second, considering glance before marching into the kitchen to eat.
Elle walked to the window at the end of the hall and nuzzled her chin into Lucky's warm fur. She watched as the sun began to dip behind the other houses on the cul-de-sac.
Outside of the Honeycomb Hideout, the warehouse, dark figures were slinking from shadows. Long pale fingers twitched erratically in moonlight. Cloudy eyes blinked. More than fifty, maybe seventy deformed body's moved slowly forward.
A soft, almost inaudible scratch on the side of the warehouse.
"Shut up." Abby snapped, holding up her hand. Her body has tensed, her eyes narrowed. "Did you hear that?"
Abby looked out into the hall and suddenly had an edgy gut felling.
King was confused and Abby left the room
Zoe suddenly screamed, a blood curdling cry of terror.
"KING!" Abby bellowed.
King ran out and looked around. The sound of windows breaking. Malformed, gaunt body's began to flood the warehouse. They weren't healthy vampires, they weren't fed well. They were starving and slow, twitchy.
Abby had gathered Zoe in her arms, her pistol aimed at the approaching monster. She fired. The shot rang out, the vampires suddenly moved at a starling pace. They rushed around, breaking whatever they could get their hands on. They weren't so much trying to kill the group as obliterate their home.
Dex ran through, pulling Zoe from Abby.
Abby's arms were free, she loaded her bow and started shooting. Body's exploded into dust.
King was on autopilot, he began circling Dex and Zoe in a protective circle. Shooting whichever creature dare lunge forward next.
From down the hall Kevin's shotgun rang out, he was blasting his way through to them.
Sweat gathered on Abby's neck. Panic began to build in her, they were outnumbered. Something was off, like the vampires in the sewers, these we not as vampire like as they were rabid animals.
"Something's wrong with them…" Abby announced, firing another bow.
"Roast beef sandwiches, sweet potatoes sticks and apple juice." Elle announced, placing a large paper bag into Rock's hands.
"Apple juice?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"It's good for you." She smiled sheepishly, turned and walked past Ed without so much as looking at him.
The group was dressed in their street cloths, silver stakes concealed tastefully. Rae was the only one who didn't seem to care about looking incognito, her sword hung from her belt tactlessly.
Elle sat on the couch in her white cotton nightshirt and tube socks, watching them longingly. Like the little kid that could never play with the big kids.
Ed looked to his sister.
"Lock the door after we leave, call-"
"Call you if something wrong. Remember to keep the lights on and don't let anyone inside." Elle finished, crossing her arms.
"Be safe." Ed told her, pulling the door open.
"Be careful." Elle replied.
The three vampire hunters stepped out and closed the door behind them.
Elle picked up the remote and turned the TV on.
The door opened suddenly. Ed stuck his head inside.
"Lock the door." He stated firmly before shutting the door again.
Elle got up and did as she was told.
Moments later she heard them pull out of the driveway.
Kevin was blasting a path through the creatures, muttering out curse words and complaining about how disrespectful these vampire assholes were.
They had formed a circle, Dex and Zoe in the middle. Kevin leading the front, Abby watching the sides of the group and King bring up the rear as they moved in complete unison towards the garage.
She was making a cheesecake to replace the one she had so tragically lost the night before.
"Okay the it's out of the oven!" Elle announced happily into the seemingly empty apartment. "Lucky?"
She made a small purring sound and walked into the living room, where the large orange and white, three legged wonder cat lay on his back on the sofa. "You want to see it? Huh?"
In response, lucky only flapped his tale a bit and stared at her. When she bent to scoop him up, however he began to purr loudly.
"Cheesecake is just a custard, really. It's delicate, so you want to bake it slowly and evenly without browning the top." Elle explained to the large cat as she placed him onto the counter top, so he could survey her work.
The cheesecake, sat on top of the stove proudly.
"It'll have to sit there to cool for awhile and I don't want you getting into it." She told the cat, scratching him behind the ears. "Then I'll put it in the fridge and it should be ready for tomorrow night."
Lucky stared at her lovingly. He rubbed his head against her wrist.
Elle listened to the sound of her cat put and sighed. Social retardation, mixed with a genuine fear of human contact, a brother and posse who kill vampires and refuse to let you go out after sundown had really put a damper on her potential group activities.
"I really need some human friends…" She admitted, walking to the pantry. "But they aren't as easy to make." She continued, muttering to herself as she retrieved a can of tuna. "Can't bribe them with the chicken of the sea."
The phone rang.
Elle froze.
The phone rang again.
Elle sat the can of tuna, unopened next to Lucky. Who mewed in protest, and licked the top of the tin can.
The phone rang a third time.
Elle picked up the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Hey, its Kevin. I patched you up the other night?"
"Oh, Hello." She paused awkwardly. "How.. Are you?"
"Not so fuckin' great. Is Ed there?"
"He can't come to the phone right now." That was what Elle had been trained to say incase anyone called. Ed never wanted her to let people know she was home alone.
Kevin started talking, and he couldn't stop. Elle was horrified but she listened. She couldn't do much else as he told her about the attack, about the destruction of the warehouse, of how they managed to get out barely. Elle slowly sank to the kitchen floor. Her bare knee's rested on cold tile, he told her how many there were.
"Come here." She said after a long moment. "Come over here, you can all stay here."