Okay, sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I've been on vacation with the fam for Thanksgiving, so I haven't had time to write. Hope you like it!

Alliance

"Hey, guys, I packed all our stuff- WHOA! AHH!" Allan screamed. Edgar and I jumped apart and I glared at Allan. "Could you knock?" I growled. "Uh, it's my room too, ya know," he grumbled, shielding his eyes. "You can uncover your eyes now," Edgar called to him and Allan peeked through his fingers first, as if not totally trusting his brother.

"Ugh, you guys really should get a motel room or something. I don't want to have to sleep in a room where you guys did it," he said with a disgusted grimace. "Oh, can it, you immature beast," I retorted as I sprung lightly up from the bed. Edgar followed more slowly.

"Shouldn't you call your friends to make sure its okay with them if we train together?" Allan asked after a slightly awkward moment of silence. "Uh, well I'm hoping that they'll just deal with it," I replied, thinking nervously of how angry David (and Paul) would most likely be. "That's reassuring. What if they try to eat us?" Allan demanded, clenching his fists as if he imagined they were lined up to eat him at that very moment.

"Calm down, Al. Megan's around here all the time and she doesn't try to eat you!" Edgar retorted. "I have better taste than that," I added, grinning. "Yeah, well maybe she wouldn't try to eat me, but she was certainly just trying to eat you," Allan said, grimacing in disgust. "That is not funny," I growled at him, remembering at that moment exactly why I had left them. The old panic returned, but it wasn't as strong. Hell, I'd just managed to make out big time with the one person I was most attracted to and I hadn't once thought of biting him.

"And anyway, I told you, the guys are cool. I'll convince them, just trust me," I went on, hoping to God that I was right about being able to convince them.

After that, the three of us waited around the comic book store, trying to pass the time before the sun started to go down. Around seven o' clock, Edgar and Allan tried fervently to wake their parents from their weed-induced stupor, and once they were sure they were alert enough to see properly, we all hopped on our bikes (well, I got on the back of Edgar's) and sped off.

I barely had to lead the way- we'd gone over the route before, and the brothers vaguely knew the area anyway. When we got there, the sun was barely peeking above the western horizon, turning the ocean to liquid flames. I could smell the fear-scent on my friends' skin, but they trudged down into the cave dutifully.

"David! Dwayne! Marko!" I called, knowing that my brothers would be awake by now and that they would hear me. After a few moments, the muffled sound of wind reached my ears as the flew down from their sleeping cave.

"Megan, what are you doing up so early?" Marko asked companionably the moment they floated into the main cave. When his eyes fell on the Frog brothers, though, he clamped his jaw shut, eyes wide with shock.

"Megan. What is this?" David demanded, landing a few feet from us. I steeled myself, lifting my chin and meeting David's flaming gaze. "I've brought friends who are prepared to fight with us against Damien's coven," I told him evenly. For a moment, he was silent, taking in my words.

"Do you realize what you've done to these kids?" Paul hissed from behind our leader. I had been right to assume he'd be angry- he was pissed. "Not if they keep their mouths shut. Which they will," I added quickly, throwing stern glances at Edgar and Allan.

"This is a very good idea, Megan," David began, surprising me. A good idea? "But what can they do? They're just kids." "Human kids," Paul said with a disgusted snort. Edgar and Allan stiffened at my side, but I twitched my hand out to hold them back. No way could they win a fight against my coven.

"They're more than just humans- they're vampire hunters." My words were met with the snarls and hisses of enraged, but fearful, vamps. I couldn't blame them. "But…they're just kids. How can they be vampire hunters?" Star asked, walking over with Laddie tucked under her arm. Edgar stepped forward, eyes flicking from side to side.

"We started hunting vampires when we were thirteen," he told her. Only I saw that he touched the scar on his hand, the one his own mother- turned vampire- had given him.

"So, you've been hunting for two years?" David murmured. I was immensely relieved to hear the thoughtfulness in his voice. Edgar and Allan nodded once in unison. After a long moment spent in silence, David finally lifted his head, a welcoming, if not slightly menacing smile stretched across his face. "Okay, then. You're welcome to help us."

Paul's jaw dropped like a lead weight and his eyes bulged from their sockets. "What?" he hissed. "Calm down, Paul," David said, turning to him. "No, I won't be calm. They're fuckin vampire hunters, man, and what's worse is they're annoying humans!" I rolled my eyes at Paul's list of priorities- he cared that they were annoying more than the fact that they were vampire hunters? Nice.

"Relax. We need all the help we can get," David assured him, his eyes growing grim. And suddenly I realized why he had accepted help so easily. He was scared. An icy chill shivered through my veins at the thought. How could our fierce leader be scared of another coven? I mean, sure, we were all a little nervous at the thought of fighting. But there were seven in our coven, and then two more including Edgar and Allan. Nine of us. But you don't know how many are in the other coven, a sinister voice whispered in my head. Shut up! I yelled back, instantly terrified by what the voice had pointed out.

Thankfully, Star's voice interrupted my terrified mental mumbling. "Will me and Laddie have to train too?" David turned to her and there was regret in his eyes. I knew he still loved her, and wished her nothing but happiness. But he would have to train her to make sure she was strong and skilled enough to fight if she had to.

"Yes. I'm afraid you do," he answered solemnly. Star nodded, just as serious, and crouched down to tell Laddie what was going on. I turned to David. "Should we start training now?" I asked him quietly and he nodded.

"We'll divide into two groups- the first group will learn basic physical attacks and battle moves, and the second will learn weaponry. You guys have vampire hunting weapons, I assume?" David asked, turning to the Frog brothers. I was amazed at how calm he sounded, even though he was talking about weapons that would kill him instantly. Which reminded me of something…

"Hey, David, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked and he dipped his head. "Dwayne, take Paul, Star, and Laddie to learn the physical moves. After I'm done talking with Megan, I'll take the vamp hunters," he called over his shoulder. Dwayne dipped his head and gathered his group together while David and I headed to a corner of the cave.

"Okay, earlier today, something happened that I can't explain-'' "Wait a minute. You went out in the daytime?" David interrupted in an incredulous voice. "Yeah…that's what I wanted to talk to you about. When I was at the Boardwalk, I was exposed to sunlight and nothing happened to me. It didn't even hurt me at all," I explained slowly, watching as David's eyes got bigger and rounder with every word.

"You didn't burn up?" he whispered after a long pause. "Really, does it look like I was burned up?" I replied irritably. "Well…this is…" "Strange?" I offered and David grinned wryly. "Yeah. I would say that we could experiment with this…but I don't think that would be wise, seeing as me, Dwayne, Paul, and Marko are full vampires."

Confusion lit David's eyes. "I don't get it. You've drank blood before…" "Many times," I added, thinking of how skilled I'd become at hunting animals. And that gave me an idea.

"But I've only been drinking animal blood. Do you think that might have something to do with it?" David's eyes widened. "You know, you may have a point." We both fell silent, lost in thought for a moment.

"Well, I guess we'd better get to training your friends," David announced after a moment. "But, what about this-'' I protested but David interrupted me. "Don't worry. We'll experiment a little. But for now, we have work to do." I nodded- he was right. If we were going to stand any chance of defeating this angry coven, we'd have a lot of training and preparing to do.

Okay, R+R please! (but no flames)