Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight

Kind of a shorter chapter, but whatever, more to come.

Revised!

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They pulled up at a nice, little diner to eat. Aubrey felt slightly awkward eating a sandwich while Marek just sat there looking. She couldn't even believe he was sitting there. He looked more like the type of guy who would be off sitting with some celebrity in a high-class hotel or something. She still couldn't believe what he had told her despite the evidence. He had declared himself to be an "indestructible, immortal monster", and it had been made all the more believable by his strange behavior on the upper floor of the deserted house. Not to mention his previous irregularities.

Aubrey just couldn't take her eyes off of him though. A few times she missed her mouth with a french fry, getting ketchup on her face and causing her ears to glow red. Marek didn't tease her for it though. At least he hadn't yet.

They didn't talk in the diner. The silence carried to the drive back to Aubrey's house. Luckily it did not last long, as Marek's desire to drive at breakneck speed delivered her home in a third of the time it would have normally taken. He gave her a little wave before he drove off onto the road once she'd gotten out into the newly falling rain. Aubrey couldn't distill the feeling that she'd done something to upset him though. He hadn't smirked once since they'd left the house.

She unlocked the door and stripped off her soaking clothes like an exoskeleton. She froze when she realized she had still been wearing Marek's coat. It was wet like the rest of her clothes, and it dripped just as much when she hung it on the hook by the door. She hadn't noticed that she had still been wearing it. Aubrey lifted a sleeve and inhaled. The fabric still smelled wonderful, like Marek. She quickly dropped it, blushing at the ears, and walked to the washing machine with the rest of her clothes.

One hot shower later, Aubrey was sitting on a pillow on the floor in Jack's room, dressed in a UCLA shirt and boxer shorts, with the Mac booting up in front of her. After a few agonizing minutes, Aubrey was on her desktop pulling up the Google homepage. She typed a passage into the text box before her memory could fail her as it so often did.

'...mysteries which men can only guess at...age by age...solve only in part'

It had failed her already, but luckily not completely. She clicked the return key.

A few seconds later, the window displayed a list of links ranging from 'Bored' websites to discussions on 'Machines Who Can Think'. She added the word 'quote' to the end of her entry and resent the form. A new list presented itself. Aubrey scrolled down half of the page until she found a promising link. She clicked it and scrolled down until she recognized the quote. Her eyes moved to the source listed.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

With mounting anxiety Aubrey continued to scroll down the page, searching for the other quote. Familiar words caught her eye.

'...nor evil, neither angel nor...'

Her wide eyes flicked to the source.

I, Vampire, by Michael Romkey

Aubrey dragged the scroller to the top of the page and stared at the title.

Various Vampire Quotes

The plug pulled free of the wall and the screen went black. Aubrey dropped it onto the rug and sat back, shaking her head. He had to be kidding. He couldn't be serious. No, it was just a joke. Her mind reviewed the past few days. Strangely...it did fit somewhat. The neck incident, the pallor, the coldness of his skin, why he and the Cullens were so unrealistically beautiful, the abstinence to food; they were all explained. The image of the dented cars rose into her mind. If they were human...or humanoid imprints, that would add superhuman strength to the list of abnormalities. Another one explained by the vampire theory.

Aubrey pondered the vampire theory for nearly two hours. The shock passed in the first fifteen minutes. She found she was entranced, fascinated by the existence of actual supernatural beings. She began to wonder how life was for them: how they drank blood, how they could go out in daylight, if they turned into bats, if they all had a widow's peak.

A lot of the time she sat by the phone with the Forks Directory open on the counter beside it. She stared at it, her eyes raking the name Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Surely it wouldn't hurt to call. She had a reason. She had to tell Marek that she had his jacket. He might need it for the next day. It might rain or snow again.

In the end, she chickened out and didn't call. A few times she ran back to the phone and was halfway through dialing when her fears caught up with her, making her hang up. After three incidents of this, she turned on the TV to distract her from her dilemma. She was watching Pulp Fiction when Jack arrived home from work.

"Ah, it's always a wonderful experience for a father to come home and find his daughter immersed in something beneficial to her education," he said, watching Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta shoot a group of people to death. He turned to hang up his coat. "Whose is this?"

"I borrowed someone's jacket and forgot to give it back," replied Aubrey.

"Ah...well let's hope they forget about it. It's a guy's jacket, it's my size, and it looks damn expensive," said Jack. He laughed. Aubrey looked at him.

"Dad, do we have a cross?" she asked. Jack snorted.

"Aubrey, we're Jewish," he said. "Tell me, why would we have a cross?"

"So we don't?" asked Aubrey.

"Uh...no," said Jack. Aubrey looked back at the TV.

"Just asking..." she muttered.

"So, how was school?" asked Jack.

"Super," said Aubrey in a monotone.

"Liar," Jack called back. Aubrey whirled around, staring at him. He gave a sly grin. "Almost everybody skipped school today, and I know you skipped because it's what I would have done."

"True," said Aubrey. "But how did you find out everyone skipped?"

"Because I saw them skipping as they clogged up the waiting room," said Jack. "Tyler Crowley, Isabella Swan, and Edward Cullen were all brought in from an accident in the student lot."

"I heard. Were they okay?"

"Crowley's head got pretty scraped up, but Swan said she was fine and went home," said Jack.

"What about Cullen?" asked Aubrey.

"Unscathed. He pushed the Swan girl out of the way of Crowley's van, so I hear."

"Must be fast," mused Aubrey. Superspeed. Vampires had that too.

"So...what did you do today if you weren't in school?" asked Jack as he began to construct a quesadilla on a shiny, New Year's-themed plate.

"Not much," said Aubrey vaguely.

"Not much being..."

"Well I went to this deserted house with my husband," said Aubrey.

"What!?" exclaimed Jack.

"In English we've had to pair up as 'married' couples so we can write a short book on it," said Aubrey.

"So, who's my son-in-law?" asked Jack, his composure successfully recovered.

"Marek Rhodes," said Aubrey.

"And he would be..."

"He lives with the Cullens," said Aubrey. "Moved from Maine."

"Oh, I've seen him. He stopped by the hospital once with something for Carlisle," said Jack. He shot a suggestive grin at Aubrey. "Very appealing, aye?"

"Shush," said Aubrey, glaring. "Don't tease me!"

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Jack in a thoroughly unconvincing tone, putting the plate in the microwave. "So...what did you do in the conveniently deserted house?"

"Nothing! We just looked around!" exclaimed Aubrey. "Then he took me to lunch."

"Did he pay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well I like him already," said Jack happily. "So is he like your boyfriend now?"

"I'm not telling you anything ever again," said Aubrey in frustration. She stood up and walked into the hall, smiling in satisfaction as a loud popping sound sent Jack cursing from the kitchen. A new lesson for him, to never put a foil plate in the microwave. Aubrey laughed as she closed the door to her room with a victorious slam.

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