Richard knocked on the door of Eve's house. It was large, and looked almost identical to the one I lived in, and the one by Myrnin's house. Except that this house was in need of a good paint job. Eventually someone answered the door.

He was cute. It seemed to me that most of Morganville's male population was attractive. He had shaggy blonde hair, a nice face, and a very well built body. When he noticed Richard on his doorstep his expression changed from smiling to glaring.

"Dick." Was all he said. For a second I thought he was insulting Richard, until I realized that Dick was the short form of the name Richard. Yet I still think he meant it in an insulting way.

"I was supposed to meet Eve here?" I said, trying to break up the tension between the two men.

"Eve!" He called, but didn't take his eyes off Richard. "What do you want?"

"You know what I want, Shane. It's been two months since you've paid your taxes. I thought we had an understanding." Richard said, not breaking eye contact with Shane until Eve entered the doorway.

"Emma!" She said, and smiled brightly at me. "And Richard?"

Suddenly I swayed, feeling the loss of blood again. I needed to sit down. And a big glass of coke.

"Is she okay?" Shane asked Richard.

"Myrnin took her blood." Richard explained. "A lot of it, actually."

Eve grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house. Richard followed, though Shane glared at him the entire time. Eve plopped me down on a large, cumfy sofa. There was three other people in the room, Jason, Claire, and a boy I hadn't met before.

"I'm okay, I promise." I said, but didn't stand up. "I just need a drink, or something."

"That asshole bit her?" Shane said, sounding outraged. He turned to Richard. "And what'd you do, just stand there?"

"What?" Jason said angrily, getting out of his chair and quickly coming to stand beside me. He bent down and put his finger on my chin, moving my head to the side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." I said for the second time. "He didn't bite me. He needed a blood sample. A big one. That's all."

Eve quickly went to the kitchen and brought me back a coke. I took it gratefully and chugged back half of it in one sip.

"What're you doing here, Richard?" Claire asked him. Then she blushed. "Not that we don't love your company, of course."

He smiled at her. " I was just giving Emma here a ride over. And warning Shane that he needs to do his blood taxes."

"You can stay, if you want. We have tons of food." Eve said warmly.

Shane just continued to glare at Richard. "Yeah, invite another unwelcome house guest into our home, Eve." He said angrily. My cheeks flushed. Was I not supposed to be here? "Not you... Emma, right?"

I nodded.

Eve slapped herself gently on the forehead. "I'm so sorry, I'm such a bad hostess. Emma, this is Shane. That's Michael." She said, pointing over to the boy on the couch. "And you know Claire and Jason, of course."

"Can we eat now?" Shane asked. "I'm starving."

Everyone gathered at a big table. Eve and Claire brought in big platefuls of food. There was a giant roast, with onions, carrots, potatoes and gravy.

"This is great." I said after eating a little. "Thanks for inviting me."

"You're welcome." Eve said after swallowing a bite of roast.

I was seated between Jason and Richard, with Shane right across from me. I could feel the tension radiating off all three of the boys. No one else was talking. I was sure I wasn't the only one who felt the tension. Claire was the first one to break it.

"So, Emma, what brings you to Morganville?"

"My mom's having a baby. She decided our flat in New York wasn't suitable to raise a child in. She said it would be better here." I told her.

Shane snorted loudly. "Yeah, much better her in morgue-ville." He said.

It was quite again for a few minutes.

"I'm doing a show tomorrow." Michael said, breaking the silence. It was the first thing he'd said since I'd been here. Suddenly all eyes were on him, except for Jason's.

"Show?" I asked, confused.

"Michael's a musician." Eve said proudly, looking like the mother of a kid who'd just won the big game for their team. "He plays at Common Grounds sometimes."

"Yeah, there's a big open mic night tomorrow." He said.

How had I not heard about that? I was an employee. "Is anyone allowed to join up?" I asked, suddenly very interested.

"Yeah, I don't think Oliver has many people performing. It's more of a go-up-if-you-wanna thing. Not really a sign up sheet." He told me with a smile. "Why, do you sing?"

"A little." I said, looking down and blushing. "Only covers, but I like doing it. I'm kind of scared to get up on stage, though."

"You should. I'm sure the crowd would love you." Richard said, smiling warmly at me. Jason suddenly looked tense again.

During the rest of the dinner there was only small talk. Once it was over, Michael invited all the guys to play video games. I stayed back and helped Claire and Eve clean up dinner.

"Thanks again, you guys. I really enjoyed it." I told them, carrying the big plate that the roast was on into the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it." Eve said. Then she gave me a kind of sad smile. "It's nice to see Jason have an actual friend."

"I don't think he actually considers me a friend." I told her. "I think I mostly just annoy him."

"Oh, that's just Jason. He kind of treats pretty much everyone like that." Eve said quietly. "He's had some issues."

"Yeah, like stabbing people. Or shooting Michael." Shane said, coming into the kitchen and grabbing a can of coke. Claire glared at him, but kissed him back when he leaned over and planted one on her lips.

When Shane was gone, I questioned Eve. "What's up with that, by the way? I asked him about it last night but he doesn't really talk about personal things."

Eve bit her lip, looking as if she was debating whether or not to tell me. I guess she decided to.

"I'll tell you the public stuff, but some things you have to have him tell you, okay?" She said. When I nodded, she continued. "Jason had trouble at home. After I moved out, things for him got worse. Eventually he got a reputation as a bad kid. When I saw him last with a girl who went missing and was later found dead, I went to the police and told them I had seen Jason with her, and he went to jail."

Eve looked ashamed. "When he got out, he got blamed for a lot worse. Eventually he joined up with this bad group of people. He figured that no one believed that he wasn't a terrible person, so he might as well act like one. He stabbed shane, but in his defense Shane did come at him with a bat. And then the Michael thing happened, and something with Claire." She said. She noticed the horrified look on my face. "No, no, Emma. Listen. He's not bad. He's done some bad things, I know that, but I know him better than anyone. He was just a confused kid with no one to care for him."

"Yeah." I said, staring out the open kitchen door at the boys. Jason wasn't playing video games with them. Instead he sat awkwardly on the chair, looking left out. I thought of the way he had let me stay at his house because of my problems with Darrel, and the way that he'd saved me, more than once. "I know."

Eve smiled at me. " I know he's not always the easiest person to get along with, but deep down he just needed someone to believe in him." She said with a sigh.

Looking at Eve, I could tell she blamed herself for a lot of what had happened to Jason. Though I didn't know the whole story, I knew that Eve really loved her brother.

I gave Eve one last smile then headed out into the living room. I plopped onto the couch next to Richard.

"Can I play next?" I asked. Everyone looked up at my words. "What?"

"You actually want to play Call of Duty?" Shane asked me.

"Yeah?" I said, confused. "Oh, I get it. You guys are scared that a girl is going to kick your asses."

They all laughed, looking at me like I was crazy. Except Jason. He just sat there, an angry look on his face. Yet despite the anger in his expression, I thought he looked sad.

Once the round was over, Richard gave up his controller to me.

"I have to get going anyways." He said. He gave me a big smile. "I'll see you soon, Emma."

I nodded at him. He called goodbye to everyone else as he left.

"Okay, let's get this tarted." Shane said. There was three of us against each other, Michael and Shane on one team, me on the other. I could see another controller peaking out of a cushion and grabbed it.

"Jason, you're on my team." I told him, tossing the controller to him.

He looked confused, but caught the controller and turned it on.

By the end of the game, Jason and I had won. I had the most kills, even more than Shane. Michael shook his head in defeat. Shane stared blankly at the screen.

"No way. There's no way that I lost to a girl." He said, looking baffled. "It's just not possible."

"Believe it." I said, and smiled at Jason. "We make a good team."

Eve and Claire came out and sat on the floor in front of Shane and Michael.

"So, Emma, why were you getting your blood taken my Myrnin?" She asked.

I hesitated. Jason spoke up before I could make up a lie. "You can tell them. If there's anyone in Morganville you can trust with something like that, it's them." He said.

I nodded. "Amelie wanted Mrynin to run some tests because, as far as I know, she's technically my sister." I said. "Until proven wrong."

Shane, Claire, and Michael all stared at me.

"What I mean is that Bishop was my father. Apparently. Amelie wants tests done to see if it's possible, because he was, you know, a vampire." I said awkwardly.

"Holy shit." Was the only response I got, which was from Shane.

"That's got to be one of the weirdest things I've ever head." Michael said, looking confused. "Is that even possible? I thought we weren't able to procreate. Other than turning people into vampires like us."

"Like us?" I asked, suddenly being the one confused for a change.

"Oh, you didn't know." He said. "I'm the youngest vampire alive, I think. Amelie changed me less than a year ago."

"I don't know if you're the youngest. I think Bishop made a few vampires during his little take over." Claire corrected.

" 'Bishop's little take over?"

"Yeah. He came here and demanded that everyone obey him. Most people didn't really have a choice." Eve said. "Lots of people were killed. In the end, Bishop was killed, though."

"He's dead?"

Everyone exchanged looks for a second. "I thought you knew." Eve said quietly.

Everyone looked at me as if they expected me to be upset. "I didn't know him at all, so that doesn't really bother me. Especially when you say he was a terrible person. It's better that he's dead."

It was quiet for a few moments, until Claire announced, "I'm going to get to bed. I have an important test tomorrow."

"My little genius." Shane said, smiling at her. "Always worrying about school."

"I've got to go too. I have school, then work tomorrow. I need the rest." I said, standing up. I stretched, then looked over at Jason. He stood up too.

"I'm assuming you need a ride." He said, and walked with me to the door.

"You know it." I said with a smile.