Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Kisses, nor any product that has come from it.

Chapter 7

Raven's Point of View

We were parked somewhere... Anywhere in the middle of nowhere. I guess you could call it a rest stop area where all nighter truckers would go for food and rest. Trevor and I just sat in the car, his fuel meter passed E. I didn't get a wink of sleep and neither did he, and as I quickly glanced over at him through the corner of my eyes I noticed how haggard he looked.

He shifted to turn the radio on and fiddled with the tuner buttons until he found a station that actually had reception. With a sigh he leaned his seat back a little and just looked up at the hood of his car. Awkward enough, the only station that we were able to listen to was a local rock station. Surprisingly I didn't know that band but Trevor started to hum to the music. Shocked I looked at him.

"Shockwave is a good band. You should listen to them sometime." He said as he met my gaze. Usually I would have thoroughly questioned him on what his definition of a "good band" was, but we had had a run in with something I'd rather not explain... So I'll just not start anything right now.

"Raven... Do you know about anything that happened last night...?"

Great-Batsby... So much for just not explaining anything...

"Uh... Your guess is as great as mine." I opted for ignorance; it's the best card to play. Cause saying "Oh, hey soccer snob, you know all those rumors about vampires? Well, you were right! Alexander's a vampire and it seems there are others too! Even more Bat-tastic is that they are more powerful and villainous than Alexander and we just met one last night!!!" didn't seem like the right thing to say at this moment... Better yet, at all.

Trevor sat up in his seat faster than I you could say soccer scholarship and looked me in the eyes. "Come on Raven, you expect me to believe that the one and only girl in our town who dresses like some horror movie heroine, lives in the cemetery, hates the sun, and believes in every horror creature known to man does not have any explanation or idea of what insane events took place last night?" He exhaled loudly and threw himself back in his seat and shot back up again. "I'm trying to wrack my brain of everything or anything I could think of as to what the hell happened! And so far all I've come up with are stuff you see on movies!" He threw his arms into the air and rested his head on the steering wheel and just breathed deeply.

Stunned and speechless all I could do was sit there. How could I explain to someone who has slandered everything I have ever loved all my life, that everything he saw in movies is almost 45% correct? How on earth do you do that? Easy. You just don't. At any cost, I have to protect Alexander and every other friendly Nosferatu that I have met.

"He was just some crazy loon. Maybe he escaped from a psyche ward somewhere. Who knows. But it's over and done with now." I lied through my teeth wishing to the goth gods that he would just leave it at that.

Trevor looked at me sideways and just sighed. "I know we've never been nice to each other, but after last night... I don't know, it was just too creepy and insane; like something directly from a movie... But... Raven. I want you to be careful. That guy... Something tells me he's the real deal and if he's somehow made his way to our town... What if he decides not to leave? And if so, I want you to be safe. I want everyone to be safe."

And then he raised his head from the steering wheel. With one last glance at me he unlocked the doors. "Come on, let's get something to eat." And he got out and to the other side to open my door for me.

Oh... My... Goth. Is Trevor really saying everything I think he's saying? Is he really doing what I think he's doing? Quick! Locate the hidden cameras! But it was no joke and it wasn't a prank he had somehow ingeniously schemed. He was being vulnerably honest. And if I was going to be be honest too, I'd say that I was really grateful and secretly happy that he cared. But I won't. I'll just think it for now.

Trevor's Point of View

After everything that happened last night and the somewhat one-sided conversation in the car, it seemed that everything was actually okay.

Raven and I sat at a booth across from each other in some diner at a rest stop. All that adrenaline and fear made us really hungry; one step in the diner and we were both drooling.

"I think maybe we should start heading back now." Raven said to me as we sat at a booth.

"I know we should, but we have to think of what we're going to say first. We can't just go back and have no story for why we were gone all night." I explained.

"Never thought I'd say this, but, you're right." she admitted. Then her eyes widened. "Great-Batsby! Everyone's going to think that we spent the night together!" and she started banging her head on the table lightly.

"Wow, do you hate me that much?" was all I said before I could stop myself.

Her head lifted up a notch, then two and she sighed. "Um... I didn't mean for it to sound like that..." She hesitated.

I put my hand up to stop her. "You don't have to explain or even take it back. I know I deserve it. Raven... I'm so-"

"Here ya'lls menus." A fire-red haired woman, with a name tag that read Gertrude, said as she handed us typed up laminated menus. "Would ya'll like sumthin' ta drink while ya order?" She smiled with at me and turned to Raven and her smile twitched a bit at the corners. Raven didn't notice at all and if she did she didn't even care.

"Give us a minute." I told her.

"Sure thing!" She said and sauntered away looking back every other second or so to stare at Raven.

"Do you get that everywhere you go?" I asked her as she was already rolling her eyes over every inch of the menu.

"Get what?" She looked up at me.

"The looks?"

"Oh." She laughed. "All the time." She then turned to glare at Gertrude who was staring at her still. Gertrude turned around. Raven laughed. "Works every time."

"I think she's developing a phobia. I can see it now! Ravaphobia, the fear of goth-girl, Raven's, stare." I teased.

"Yeah, and it can only be cured by eating bat gummy candies and watching Bela Lugosi's Dracula at 3:27 a.m. exactly!" She added.

We both laughed And for the third time in my life, I was content. I could tell she was too.