Chapter Six

As we walked to the car, we heard someone whistling "In The Hall Of The Mountain King". The headlights flashed.

"Not very helpful, huh? Yeah, I was gonna ask them if they could help us find Lisa. Haven't seen her in a couple of days. Hey, didn't I see her with you last?"

We were walking up to the car. I swear, I couldn't stand this guy.

"Where's my sister, man?" Chris asked.

"Oh, yeah, your sister. Man, I saw her like an hour ago. She looked like she was having a really good time."

"Where the hell is my sister, man?"

"Oh, hey, hey. Relax, little man, okay? Trust me when I tell you this is, right here, a time that you wanna keep your cool, if either of you ever wanna see Nicole again."

"What do you want?"

"It's not what I want, bro, it's what Shane wants. Both of you, get in the car."

Chris and I got in, and the guy drove off. The man began whistling that tune, and then laughed.

```~~~LATER~~~```

The car stopped, and the guy got out. He howled, and then laughed. Chris and I got out of the car and walked forward.

"How is it, ladies?" the guy asked.

"Mr. Vampire Slayer, how you doing? You okay?" Chris asked.

"I'm good." Nicole said. "I'm really good." She was behind Shane, loving all over him.

"Sorry about last night, man."

"You were protecting your sister." Shane said. "I get it. But I'd never do anything to hurt her. In fact, once you understand it a little more, you'll see I've given Nicole a gift. Do you know how much the fear of death has limited you, Chris? The negative impact it's had on your life? You're probably not even aware of it. And I'm not just talking about the fear of your own death, no. Look at what the fear of losing your loved ones has done to you. You've been so worried about losing Nicole, that it's made you paranoid and overprotective. I can take that fear away. I can make you part of a real family, Chris. One that never dies. Kyle's human family wrote him off a long time ago." Shane walked over to the guy who was called Kyle. "They thought he was suicidal. But I saw him for what he truly was. An adrenaline junkie."

Kyle shrugged and the chuckled.

"Erik, well, the less we say about his past, the better." Shane said, walking over to Erik. "We wouldn't wanna make you an accessory after the fact now would we?" Shane walked over to the last guy. "And Jonny boy, well, after you shattered his knee, he was never supposed to surf again. Look at him now."

"Stronger than ever, bro." Jon said.

"But for you to truly understand what we are, Chris, you have to see the world the way we do. You and your aunt both. You, your aunt, and your sister will never grow old, you'll never die, and you'll never know fear again. But you have to take that first step." Shane handed us both skateboards. Everyone was watching us, and then we took the skateboards. Great. I'm fucked.

"And what's that?" Chris asked.

"It's a little something me and the boys came up with." Shane said, as Nicole put his jacket on him.

```~~~LATER~~~```

The majority of the guys were on motorcycles. Chris and I were on the skateboards. The only other person on one was Jon. He went over to the door of the police station, and banged on the glass.

"Warriors." He called. "Come out to play."

We saw the cops run out. Shane did a donut trick on his bike. Jon came back over to us as the cops came out.

"Oh, shit." Chris said.

"Now! Now!" Shane yelled. Chris and I held onto the back of his bike as they took off. The cops were after us. Jon was doing some crazy shit. He grabbed a rope and swung on it, distracting the cops. We got rid of one by making it slam into a trash wall. The remaining two crashed into each other. Chris and I caught up, and we left.

"How do you like that? Hey, on top of the world, Ma." Kyle said. We all walked up to the door. Erik faced us.

"Hold on." He said. "It's a private club, and you two aren't members."

"Not yet, anyway." Shane said.

"Well, what if we say yes?" Chris asked. Shane looked at us.

"Think long and hard about it, you two." He said. "Once you join the tribe, there's no turning back." Then, he left us.

```~~~LATER~~~```

We drove up, with Airbourne's Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast playing in the car. Chris stopped the car, and we got out. Jillian stormed out.

"Your check bounced." She said.

"No, it's um—I switched some money from one account to the other, so—" Chris started.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Save your bull for your buddies. I'm gonna need a new security deposit immediately. And it's gonna need to be in the form of a cashier's check or a money order. You know, maybe this is my fault. Maybe I gave you guys the wrong impression."

"Come on, Aunt Jillian, it's not a big deal. Just wait, like, two days."

"Just let me finish. Just let me finish. Could you please take your sunglasses off? I can't talk to you unless I can see your eyes." Chris took off his glasses. "Look, I didn't want you guys to feel like I was trying to step in and act like your parents, but that doesn't mean you can just go crazy around here. I saw your sister had a guy over last night. How old is she?"

"She's almost, like, 18."

"That means she's 17 years old. And you both coming and going all hours of the day and night... You know, I have a reputation to think of, I—I realize I am not your mother, but—But you—doesn't mean you can behave like this on my property."

"Alright, we're sorry."

"Yeah, me too. Partying all night, sleeping all day. You three need to quit acting like a few vampires."

Chris and I just went into the shitty house.

"This is ridiculous." Chris said. He went into the room, and we fell asleep.