Hey guys, hope you like this chapter, it's pretty long but enjoy it :)

I took several deep breaths, gulping them in as the reality of my situation hit me. Sebastian squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring look.

"Tell me I'm doing the right thing Sebastian." I always needed his reassurance. I couldn't care less what anyone in the world thought about me but the fifteen year old boy standing with me at John F. Kennedy International Airport. In my opinion, I was a fairly confident person. I had to be, to put up with everything thrown at me. You'll find your confidence grows when you realise that the opinions mean absolutely nothing to your life. But that sort of confidence was not the sort of confidence I required right now. Sebastian had asked me over and over if I wanted him to go with me; I know he would have done it in an instant, had I requested it. Although we were more or less two sides of the same coin, I decided this was something I had to do on my own. I knew no matter what happened I had someone here who loved me. I was facing the desk where I had to buy my ticket. I had already checked the times of flights – the flight was in two hours. Sebastian let go of my hand and pushed me forward lightly.

"I never tell you what to do. I think you need to find this out. I just wish there was an easier way to do it." He said sensibly. I sighed and walked over to the desk, shadowed by Sebastian.

"Hi." I said to the woman behind the counter. She looked over her glasses at me sceptically. I could tell she knew what I was about to ask, and she had set herself up to refuse me. She was an older woman, with a lined face, but make-up on to disguise her ageing. My eyes flickered to her left hand, and saw that she had a thin gold wedding band on. Excellent, I would just appeal to her familial side (assuming she had children).

"What can I do for you?" She asked with a voice full of suspicion.

"Hi ma'am, I was wondering if you could do me a really big favour." The woman nodded her head for me to continue. "You probably get all sorts of stories here, and probably some ridiculously tall tales, but I have to ask you to do something for me that I know isn't strictly allowed. I'm only fifteen, I have my passport and details here with me, and I attend boarding school here in New York, you see. But my uncle lives in Dallas and we've been given a free weekend and I want to go down and surprise him." My eyelashes fluttered just the right amount of times, my voice was the perfect level – not pleading or begging, but cool and pleasant – and I had my "winning" smile on. It was not a stretchy grin or a tight-lipped smile – it showed just the right amount of my pristine white teeth, I didn't overdo a single detail. I've said it before – I'm just charming.

"Well, I don't know… we are not supposed to allow minors to fly unaccompanied." That was better that a straight out no – I knew my charming skills were useful.

"Well, ma'am, I've got some real big news for my uncle, and it's not the sort of thing I can tell him over the phone. I really wouldn't like to get you in trouble, but it's very important I get to Dallas this weekend." I lowered my eyes to the ground slightly, trying to look abashed, and the comprehension lit up on the woman's face – she thought I was pregnant. As if on comical cue, she actually gave Sebastian a dirty look. She then turned her attention back to me, an understanding smile on her face.

"Oh darling, well… of course you should see your uncle. Let me see your passport and I'll try to get you on the Dallas flight that leaves in a couple of hours." The woman fussed over me. I found out a long time ago I had no problem in telling lies to achieve my goal. I probably sound awful, but I get what I want if I tell little white lies that aren't going to hurt anyone. I don't see the harm in it. No harm to me anyway.

"You are such a hustler." Sebastian laughed as he walked me to my departure gate. "She totally thought you were pregnant, and by that death glare I'm assuming she thought I was the father."

"She assumed I meant I was pregnant. Dude if you weren't gay, you know everyone else would assume we were sexing it up anyway. Anyway, I do have some big news for someone who has a possibility of being an uncle… or some other relative. So my hustling was minimal." We both laughed. Sebastian held my small black carry-on bag to me and I took it. I had only packed the essentials for being away for a night or two as I knew I'd have to fly back either tomorrow night or early on Sunday morning, for school.

"Well good luck B. I'll be thinking of you."

"Thanks Seb. You know I love ya, right?" I punched his shoulder light-heartedly so he knew I wasn't getting too soppy. Soppy was certainly not my style.

"I love you too, wench." He put one arm around me and rested his chin on my head. I felt so tiny next to him. Scrap that, I felt tiny next to anyone. I was barely 5'1" (more like 5'0" and a half an inch, but I claimed that as inch) and my small features totally befitted being an elf. I could totally walk into a Tolkien novel and look the part. I wasn't ridiculously skinny, but I wore like a US size 6 (trousers were always without fail too long in the leg). I had a bit of bust, but if I wore a top to fit them in, it'd be too baggy. I did that for comfort sometimes, but usually I wore tank tops & shirts that made my bust look much bigger than it actually was as the garments were so tight.

"Okay, well I better get going. Wish me luck."

"Good luck B. Call me as soon as you hear anything."

"I will, thanks Seb." I gave him a quick hug and turned to walk up to the desk where I had to show my ticket and passport. The woman quickly scanned my ticket uninterestedly and nodded towards the door I had to go through to get on the plane. I looked back and waved to Sebastian. He gave me two thumbs up – his way of indicating that everything was going to be okay. I swallowed, smiled and continued towards the plane. It was a large commercial flight, but due to my rather nice savings (courtesy of Mr G. Northman) I had booked a first class seat. I stretched out in the seat. It was so good compared to when I had to fly coach on school trips. It was a few hours to Dallas so I took out the book I had brought with me – "The Rising" by Brian Keene. I've read it like five times, but zombies ripping people's guts out and eating them just float my boat. Keene's descriptions of gore make me want to vomit and keep reading at the same time – literary genius in my opinion. I got involved in the book so I wouldn't have to concentrate on the time the flight was taking. My interest was only piqued when the pilot announced:

"Ladies & gentlemen we are right on time and will be arriving in Dallas airport in approximately fifteen minutes."

Thank God, my ass was getting numb. I shifted in my seat and continued reading until the air hostess told me we were descending. Whilst we were descending I sort of laughed to myself. Once when we went on a school trip to Philadelphia, we were descending and Sebastian was actually crying with the pain in his ears. I know that's terrible to laugh at that, but I couldn't help myself. The plane landed with a slight bump. I made sure I'd picked everything up. I had to remember I didn't have sensible Seb with me to remind me to pick up after myself, which he usually did as I was quite bad for leaving things behind me and forgetting about them.

---

I decided to call Sebastian while I was waiting for a cab. He'd only worry about me if I didn't. I pressed "one" on my speed dial and it rang.

"Did you get there okay?" Sebastian answered instead of saying hello. It wasn't strange really. When you were so close to someone, why waste seconds with preliminary chit-chat?

"Yeah I got here fine. I just read my book on the plane. It helped to ease the nervousness too."

"How are you nerves?"

"They've been better."

"Listen B, you're going to be fine. I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"I know Seb. I know I could go here and announce myself to this guy and he could still want nothing to do with me. But at least then I'll know instead of wondering."

"I just don't want you to get hurt. If he hurt you I'd kick his ass."

"Thanks Seb, I appreciate the sentiment, but we all know I'm stronger than you."

"Shut up. I just don't show it as much as you do." He laughed. A cab pulled up then so I said my goodbyes to Sebastian, and hung up.

"Hey, where you off to?" The cab driver asked me when I got in the back of his car.

"Uh, what's the nearest motel to this address?" I showed him the piece of paper with G. Northman's address on it.

"There's a little motel about a fifteen minute walk away from that area. You want me to take you there?"

"Please." I flashed a winning smile at him and he looked almost dazed for a second, and then turned around to start the cab. I was too nervous to look at the passing scenery. I actually felt a little sick. I tried to steel myself. Even if this guy told me he wanted nothing to do with me, it was his loss wasn't it? I spent the rest of the cab journey trying to convince myself of that. When we arrived at the small motel I paid the cab driver and gave him a decent tip.

"You can walk down that street there." He pointed across the road from the motel. "And you'll see the street signs you need. You won't get a bus going to an area that fancy, so if you don't want to walk it'll probably be a cab you're needing."

"Okay, thank you sir." I smiled at him again and got out of the cab. I went into the office of the motel, and looking at the clock there I saw that it was half past six in the evening here. I used my debit card to pay for the room for just the night and then took my key up to room thirteen. I hope that unlucky number wasn't some kind of sign. The room had a double bed, a small refrigerator, a small chest of drawers and a television. I scanned this all quickly then went to the bathroom to check the state of my appearance. I quickly reapplied some mascara. I tried to tame my hair, which I had left down, but there was certainly no taming it. Sebastian had kind of straightened the fringe which looked a bit better. My hair was the bane of my life. Sebastian always told me he was entirely jealous of my hair, and he said he'd overheard several girls at school being very envious of my hair too. They could have it as far as I was concerned! I sprayed some of my tiny can of hairspray I brought with me (you can't take big ones on planes) and plumped the curls up a little bit. That was all I felt I needed to do in preparation. I had perfectly smooth white skin, especially on my face, so I saw no need to put face make-up on. When I went out, I'd sometimes put heavy eye make-up on, but today the light brush of mascara would do. I wanted to look… what was the word? Wholesome? I think that was it. I checked my clothes, making sure they were still intact. I was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, which of course had to be rolled up at the bottom. I teamed those with a plain olive green tank top and a pair of flat shoes the same colour.

"You're as ready as you'll ever be." I told my reflection. I realised I was actually pretty hungry. You'd think by my size that I wouldn't eat too much, but I actually ate like a horse (I've never understood that saying, do horses eat a lot?). Sebastian often told me I should weigh around 350lb the way I ate. I stuffed my face a lot because I always seemed to be hungry and yet I never felt quite satisfied, it was weird. I picked up my light grey hooded top to carry with me. The Dallas evening was pretty cool, but not cold enough to really wear a jacket. I stopped at the office asking the man if he knew somewhere I could get something to eat. He suggested a small diner about a block away from the motel. I walked quickly, as brave as I was, I was in a strange town and was therefore doubly alert for any trouble. I got to the diner minus any trouble and sat myself at a window booth. A waitress gave me about three or four minutes of poring over the menu before she came to ask what my order was. I decided to go with your standard cheeseburger and fries, that'd fill me enough for the moment. There was a newspaper on the seat across from me so I decided to read while I was waiting for my food. There was no real difference in Texas news from New York news. News was the same everywhere in America – not good. My food came and it smelled delicious. I wolfed it down in the least feminine way you could possibly imagine. Hey, Sebastian was effeminate enough for the two of us, I didn't need to be.

"Can I get you anything else?" The waitress came back over when I had finished (polished the plate more like).

"I'm good thanks, could I have the bill please?"

"Of course, I'll just get it for you." She came back in a couple of minutes and handed me the bill, turned over so you couldn't see it as was customary. I flipped it over, saw that it was fourteen dollars, and handed the waitress a twenty dollar bill immediately.

"Keep the change." I told her and she thanked me. I went to the bathroom quickly to recheck my appearance, which is what I do when I'm really nervous about something. I figure as long as you look good, you win in at least one way no matter what else happens. I left the diner and walked back towards the motel to get my bearings. After arriving at the motel I started down the street towards the address I was heading to. I walk pretty quickly usually, but I made a determined effort to walk slowly. I was still running over little scenarios in my head.

"Hey Mr Northman… it's me… Briar."

"Oh God, my precious Briar"

Then after that, my faceless relative/other would envelope me in the sort of hug I'd always wanted from a relative and we'd live happily ever after. But unfortunately I was nothing but a realist. They would probably be mad at me for being here, but I could be one stroppy little madam when I wanted to be, so they could bring it on. The signals for the street were getting closer and my feet moved like they were made of ton weights. I was almost literally dragging them along the street. Before I could stall any longer I double checked the paper with the address on it and looked up at the house in front of me… I was here. Oh shit. The house was HUGE. The windows were floor to ceiling and the house seemed to be made of more glass than walls, although, there were some type of light curtains over them so you couldn't see right in. I sort of shuffled slowly over to the couple of steps leading up the front door. Sooner than I'd wanted, I was at the door. I stood and listened for a second. I heard a lot of voices and laughing inside, as well as music. I'd say there were about thirty people here. I nervously reached my hand out to knock the door, and then snatched it back.

"Come on Briar, get a grip." I said out loud. I knocked the door quickly then pulled my hand back. No one answered. I was torn. Did I knock again or try to open the door? I knocked again, and after no answer I turned the handle and the door opened. Perhaps this wasn't a great idea since everyone in Texas owns a gun, I might be lining myself up for a gunshot wound. That was just silly. I stepped into the dark hallway and saw there was a door further along. Nervously I poked my head in to find several people, separated into couples in the room. Some were chatting and some were kissing. Some of these people were absolutely beautiful. Like better than any model in a magazine good looking. Their skin was pale and smooth looking, like mine. I gaped at them, and one couple were standing near the door, the woman nuzzling the man's neck and when she pulled away I thought she had seriously smeared her lipstick… but wait a minute… wait a fricking minute… did she have FANGS? Was that blood? Oh my God! The man had two holes in his neck. I breathed rapidly, looking over the rest of the room. The living room was large, and had a huge plasma screen TV on the wall, but it wasn't on. The large corner sofa facing the television had two couples on it, one male and female, and two males together. One of the males really caught my attention. He looked a little older than me and he was very handsome. There was a man slightly older than him sitting next to him… and those two had no preliminary kiss. The older man bent his head slightly to the side and the handsome young man ran a finger along his neck and suddenly fangs sprouted and he bit into the man's neck, blood spilling on the white sofa and onto the floor. I couldn't help it… it was against all sense of survival but I'd been biting it back since I realised the woman had bit the man… I screamed. Every single person in the room turned to look at me and I stepped back, bumping into the wall. Only it wasn't a wall.

"What are you doing here?" I heard a deep, southern voice ask. I turned to see a tall man with black hair and facial hair. He grabbed my shoulders. "Are you trespassing?"

"Get off of me." I pushed with all my might, and to my surprise the force was actually enough to make him stumble backwards. I ran for the front door, threw it open and back onto the street. I fled up that street like the wind. If people looked out of their windows, they wouldn't even be able to see me, I moved so ridiculously quickly. I was back at the motel before I could even think. I burst into the room, locking it behind me. I leaned against the door breathing heavily, not from the exertion of running, but from what I had just seen. Had I really just seen people with fangs biting other people and drinking their blood? Oh my actual God! This was insane.

"Briar?" I heard a voice in the dark room and my blood ran cold in my veins. I turned around to see darkness, even with my great eyesight all I could see was the outline of a figure. I quickly tried to open the door but the figure was by my side and put their hand on the door, their strength making it impossible for the door to budge even an inch.

"Who are you?" I backed away from the figure… and I realised he was the young guy from the sofa who was one of the "biters".

"I am Godric." He hadn't quite gotten all of the blood off of his face, and I felt like I was just about to faint from fear as he approached me. I looked around, panicking, and picked up a pen from the bedside table. It was pitiful as weapons went but I had nothing else.

"Dude, if you come any closer I'm going to stick this in your eye, I swear to God." He moved quicker than I could have anticipated, grabbing my wrist and twisting the pen out of it then pinning me to the wall. "Let me go! Please."

"I'm afraid I cannot let you leave now."

Cliffhanger... well not a good one haha. If anyone is wondering, this is how I picture Briar's hair: .com/albums/v461/bikini_fiend/?action=view¤t= :)