Chapter 6

First kiss

Ethan's POV

The alarm woke me up promptly at 6am; I tried and failed to comb my hair into something somewhat normal before I pulled on my clothes and shoes and hurried downstairs. I was extremely tired after last night but relieved we actually all made it out alive. Jane was already sitting at the table eating her usual fruit loop breakfast cereal and mum was busying herself with her usual Saturday morning clean up routine. I knew I would end up getting in trouble for leaving my room in such a mess but with everything else going on right now keeping my room tidy was the last thing on my mind. I poured myself a glass of juice and gulped it down quickly before hurrying out the door. I needed to get over to Benny's house for our usual Saturday line up. Usually we would head over to the supermarket for some snacks and then back to Benny's to play the usual video games before going to the coffee shop which sadly was the hotspot in the whole of Whitechapel, you wouldn't find anything else interesting to do. I hurried down the street, stopping at Benny's door before ringing the doorbell.

"Hey bro! Ready to go get some snacks." Benny greeted at the door.

"Yep! Can't wait." I said. Benny shut the door and we both began walking down towards the store.

"So, what do you think of the whole Amanda thing yesterday?" Benny asked nonchalantly.

"Well, I guess we know why the rogues want her so much."

"Yep! It was awesome! Scary, but awesome." He said

"Yeah, but where did it come from? And the growl? She was like a whole different person!"

"I don't know, maybe she has a dark side, if anything I think it's hot!"

"Seriously?"

"Totally." Benny said as we entered the shop, picking up a basket we headed towards the chocolate section. I grabbed a pack of peanut butter cups and a couple of chocolate bars. Benny on the other hand raided nearly the whole crisp section.

"Do you even have enough money to pay for all of that junk?" I asked, slightly bemused by the amount of crisp packets which now filled our basket.

"Hey, it's Saturday okay and I have needs to!"

"Junk food needs?"

"Yes! I am stressed about the whole rogue thing and do you know how much my parents killed me about the state of our living room! I kept messing up the fix it spells."

"Okay, okay all I'm saying is it won't help you with the zit battle my friend!"

"Whatever, I've pretty much lost that battle anyway." He said sighing. We headed towards the checkout to pay for the food before exiting the shop and heading back to Benny's.

"So, I see you and Sarah are getting shall we say…cosy." Benny said

"Cosy? You've got to be kidding me! Cosy!?" I said slightly annoyed.

"Yes! I've just been picking it up with my super psychic intuition." Benny said

"Psychic intuition? You speak a lot of rubbish sometimes you know that?" I said, we had headed down through the main town but it seemed pretty quiet today. The two guys at the end of the street were looking weirdly suspicious and had a huge crate between them.

"Benny!" I hissed

"What?"

"Those guys, do they look like rogues to you?"

"Rogues? Now look whose speaking rubbish! Why would they be out in broad daylight!"

"Benny, I'm being serious! Look how pale they are and what are they doing with that crate?"

"Your right they are very pale, they look very much like rogues."

"We should follow them then."

"What? Are you kidding, you want to spend the rest of our Saturday following these guys?"

"Yes, we need to see where they are going and what they are doing with that crate!"

"No, they'll probably go back to the tunnels anyway!" Benny snapped

"This is serious Benny, whatever is in that crate could help us figure out more about them! Anyway the tunnels are in the other direction so they must be going somewhere else."

"Fine, we'll follow them but you soooo owe me and you have to carry the shopping bags." He said handing me the plastic bags.

"We wouldn't have so much to carry if you hadn't bought so much zit spurring junk food you know!" I said as Benny glowered at me. We slowly began following the rogues. They seemed to be heading North way out towards the outskirts of town. It was un ordinarily quiet; there was not the usual buzz of people hanging around doing there Saturday shopping or the usual noise of traffic on the streets. Finally we rounded a corner into a smaller area containing a huge warehouse. One of the rogues unlocked the massive door and with a loud noise it rolled upwards showing the large space beyond it. There were masses of wooden crates piled high in rows filling the whole warehouse. The rogues brought in the wooden crate before stacking it and closing the warehouse door behind them.

"Great, it looks like we won't be finding out what's in the crates today." I said sighing heavily.

"Yeah, well on the bright side at least we know where they are keeping them." Benny said.

"I guess so; do we really have to walk back?"

"Well we passed a bus stop a little while back if we can make it there we can probably catch a bus into town and then walk back from there." Benny suggested

"Yep, I think that's the best idea. I really can't walk any further." I said tiredly. We managed to catch a bus up into the main town with Benny snacking on crisps the whole way. I had texted Sarah, Erica, Rory and Amanda telling them to meet us at the coffee shop; we had to tell them about the crates.

Pushing open the door we entered Delia's delicious delights. The scent of freshly brewed coffee hit my nose instantly as I scanned the crowd of people in the shop. I spotted Sarah and the others sitting in the far back stirring coffee and talking quietly. Slowly we both headed towards the table pulling up chairs and settling down.

"So what's this all about? I had an appointment to get my nails done." Erica questioned irritably

"It's about the rogues." Benny said.

"What happened?" Sarah questioned.

"We spotted some on the way back from the store, they were carrying a big wooden crate and we decided to follow them to see what was inside. They went to this big warehouse at the outskirts of town and it was filled completely with crates but we never got a chance to see what was inside them" I said rushing to cram every detail in.

"We need to know! It could give us so many answers about why they are stronger than us or what they want!" Sarah said curiously

"Do you nerds remember how to get there?" Erica asked

"Yes, we'll need to go and check the place out." I said

"Tonight, two of us can go to the warehouse and two of us to the tunnels." Sarah said.

"Why to the tunnels and what about the last two, there are six of us you know!" Rory said

"We can go to the tunnels just to see if anything happens down there, the last two will be Amanda and someone to stay with her, we can't afford for her to get in danger again."

"Hey!" Amanda began to protest.

"Amanda it's important all of us have risked too much trying to save you now, clearly your important to the rogues so just stay put. Rory will stay with you!" Sarah stated whilst Rory began beaming from ear to ear.

"Well, I know the way to the warehouse so I'll go there with someone." I said, glancing at Sarah and hoping she would volunteer.

"I'll go with you then to the warehouse." Sarah said, smiling to herself.

"This only leaves me and the wizard nerd to go to the tunnels. Great! I missed getting my nails done for this!" Erica grumbled before we all dispersed to go home and get ourselves together before tonight.

I shut the door behind me as quietly as I possibly could and stepped out into the dark road shivering as the cold night air engulfed me. Slipping my hands into my pocket I fished out my phone and began texting Sarah.

I'm out of the house now, meet u at the bus stop in 5mins

Ethan x

I sent the message before pocketing my phone and hurriedly walking down the street. The shadows cast by the streetlights began creeping me out and the rustling trees were the only noise to accompany my footsteps this late at night. The thought that I was nearly at the bus stop was comforting. I pulled my jacket tightly around myself as the cold wind whipped viciously around me.

"Sarah?" I said walking up to her, she turned around and began smiling.

"Are you ready?" She asked

"Yes, did you bring your weapons?"

"There concealed in my jacket pocket." She said clutching my hand and pulling me towards the bus which had just pulled up. We climbed on board and went to sit down, scanning the bus there were not many people on it, just us and another couple. The journey to the outskirts was a long one and I was feeling extremely tired, I could barely see anything outside of the window as it was just too dark too see.

We sat in silence contemplating the enormity of what we were about to do. All I could hear was Sarah's steady breathing next to me. Finally the bus jerked to a stop and we stood to get off, the other couple had already left at a stop earlier on so we were the only ones left apart from the bus driver who bid us a farewell. We stepped into the bitingly cold road.

"How far now?" Sarah asked.

"Not far, we just need to walk to the end of the street and round the corner." I said squeezing her hand to comfort her as we began walking. It was not long before I was pointing out the large building filled with crates as we turned around the corner. Sarah was unusually quiet as we stared at the building looming ahead of us.

"Sarah, what's wrong." I asked gazing into her large brown eyes.

"Ethan." She said turning to face me. "On the bus I had plenty of time to think and I feel that I can't let you come in with me." She said almost in tears.

"Are you crazy? I will absolutely not let you go in there on your own!"

"Ethan please," she begged

"I'm not leaving you to handle this by yourself!"

"I wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to you though!" she pleaded.

"Yes, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let you go in there on your own and something happened to you. I just can't do it Sarah I'm sorry." I said practically begging her to understand. Fresh wet tears streamed down her face, I could see the pain in her eyes and knew that this would be all too difficult for her. She was battling within herself as to what to do and I couldn't bear to see her in this turmoil. I lifted my hands and cupped her warm cheeks within them, tilting her tear stained face up to me so I could look into her deep brown eyes, for me she tried to manage a smile but it failed miserably and turned into a limp sob.

"It will be fine." I said whilst wiping the tears off her face, but it all made her cry harder, her eyes had become puffy and red now.

"Ethan!"

"What, what!?"

"Don't look at me, I look terrible right now." She panicked turning away. I chuckled deep within.

"Sarah I don't care what you look like! And anyway I think you look pretty amazing right now, you always do!" I said reaching out, finding her warm hands and gently pulling her so she faced me again. I gazed at her my heart aching with love for this quirky but beautiful babysitting vampire. Our faces drifted closer, I could feel her sweet breath upon my face as she wound her arms around me and within seconds her soft tender lips were pressing gently against mine, her body pushing closer upon me, our hands entangled as I embraced her, our hearts beating faster all the while as I took in her beautiful scent. She pulled back gently, sheepishly looking at the ground. I could tell she was blushing, I beamed from ear to ear and even though we might be going into our deaths right now I couldn't be happier that I actually finally kissed Sarah! I started coughing, I seriously needed to catch my breath, I was too overwhelmed.

"Ethan! Are you okay?" Sarah panicked.

"Yep, yep, okay just let me catch my breath." I smiled

"You are such a dork," she joked, playfully punching my arm, her face happy and uplifting until slowly it sunk back into sadness.

"I really can't bear to lose you now especially!" she whispered bursting into a fresh flood of tears. I pulled into my arms for a warm reassuring hug, her resting on my shoulders she cried harder. Slowly she pulled away scanning our surroundings, the wind whipped our faces viciously as we stood in the dark abandoned street I was terrified of what we might have to face but tried to stay strong and reassuring for Sarah.

"It will be okay, just have some faith." I said, clasping her warm hand firmly in mine and with one more reassuring smile we turned towards the dark warehouse ahead of us, ready to face whatever was inside.