Why am I back here?

I was lost in the desert again, hot, tired, and very thirsty.

There was nothing but the same in every direction. Sand. My legs were aching, begging me to stop, but I forced myself to keep on walking.

Water. Get some water.

Eventually, I saw something in the distance, so I began to walk towards whatever it was. As I got closer, I realised it was an oasis, complete with a tiny lake and a handful of palm trees. Sweet Salvation.

Saved. Your saved.

I hurried to the lake. I was so relieved about finding it that I jumped in.

It wasn't until I was completely soaked that I realised I wasn't swimming in water. Instead it was a dark, thick liquid.

Blood.

I woke up with a start.

A dream.

It had all been a dream. I took a few moments to orient myself, and then sat up.

I felt a little nauseated, remembering the bloodbath. This vampire thing was really getting to me.

"Morning Bedhead." I looked up to see Teivel. He was sitting on top of a wooden packaging box, book in hand.

Bedhead. No kidding. He should have seen me while I still had my long hair.

"Morning." I yawned and stretched, "Have you been up a long time? Where's the coffin?"

He snorted.

"Yea, I've been up for a while. I don't really need much sleep." He informed me.

"Ah. Is that all part of the vampire thing? Being nocturnal and such?" I teased.

"Yea. It's part of the package." He said rolling his eyes.

"Really?"

He nodded.

This was strange. I looked at him for a moment. I hadn't realised there was more to being a vampire than just drinking blood.

"Is the superspeed part of the package to?" I asked. I shouldn't have. He was expressionless for a moment. The he grinned wickedly and disapeared, before reapearing right infront of me. This shoked me a little (I think it would shock most people), and his smile just got wider.

"Yup." He answered, amused .

"Huh." Was all I managed to say.

He laughed, and went back to sit on his box.

I rubbed some of the sleep out of my eyes. To say the least, adventures where exhausting, and I hadn't even gotten to the part where I had to spare some of my plasma. Yuck.

I got up and stuffed my quilt into my bag. I took a seat on another wooden box, not to sure what to do.

"So..." I tried to make some conversation. I didn't know what vampires chatted about. "Where are you from?"

What a boring thing to ask, but Teivel smiled anyway.

"No where, really. I've travelled around all my life... You're awfully talkative, compared to yesterday, that is."

This made me self concious.

"I'll shut up then." Jeez. I was just trying to be polite.

"Don't be so defensive. I'm was pointing it out, that's all..."

There was a brief silence.

"Did you, um..." He began. He didn't have to continue. I knew what he was referring to.

I had been dreading this. It embarrased me to talk about the whole "blood" thing. Mostly because it obviously scared me, and also because it was, well... weird.

"Yes, I did." I said, barely audible, playing with the lace of my shoe, "I've decided stick around."

Stick around? That's the best I could come up with? Where had my confidence gone? If I was going to be giving this guy some of my own blood, I'd better show him who's boss.

I took a breath, and then looked him straight in the eye. Very confident.

"What I mean to say is, I don't have anywhere to go. I want to see the world, before I become old and crippled, so you better be up to the task. In exchange, I'll be a donor." I said this with a just hint of attitude. Perfect.

"Cool"

Cool. That was all he had to say. I was thinking more along the lines of 'yes master'.

For a while, he continued to read his book. I stared at the air infront of me, feeling as though I'd just made a pact with the devil. A very kind, goodlooking devil, but that wasn't the point.

There was one last thing I needed to know, though.

"Umm..." He peered up from his book once again, "About the whole blood thing..."

Gosh, this was awkward.

"When do you need me to, uh-"

He seemed to catch my drift.

"How about every second evening?" he said asked nicely. I think he realised it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. "I don't need any today, because I got some from Haydn last night."

"Every second evening sounds fine." I mumbled.

I couldn't believe I was going through with this.

"When do we get to Napolis?" I asked, to change the subject.

"In a few hours, actually." He said cheerfully.

I smiled. I couldn't wait to get there. I'd never been in a big city before.

The rest of the ride went by quietly. Teivel continued to read various books, and I just sat around, wondering what to do when we got there.

For a while, I walked alongside the moving ox-cart, to pass time. We were climbing over a fairly steep sand dune, and I was finding it a little difficult.

I felt bad for Tom, the ox. He had to do this all the time, while pulling about twice his own weight.

We got to the top of the dune, and I sucked in a breath of amazement. The whole city had appeared before us. It was incredible. Even Tom seemed excited.

"We're here!" I couldn't help but call out.

Teivel appeared from the cart, smiling.

"Yea, it would look like it."

I scanned the landscape. It really was huge. I couldn't believe the whole place had managed to hide behind a pile of sand.

Teivel found a shady place to park the Ox, right on the outskirts of town.

"Allrite, I'll see in a few hours." I told him before going off to see the city.

Now this is what you call an adventure.