I tried my best to converse with those that came but the sadness was overwhelming. That night we all sat around a fire outside exchanging stories about grandma from throughout her life. The happy memories are what brought me around from my stupor. By Monday my parents were practically kicking me out of the house. My mom grabbed my hand as dad loaded my things in the Taxi, "You've helped all you can. It's time for you to go back to your home. You have a job and friends that probably miss you. Trust me, we have things handled here."

I was happy to be heading home, but my heart was heavy with the fact that vampires may exist. When my plane landed, I phoned a Taxi up to take me home. If I was right about David and his family, they wouldn't be able to pick me up during the day. As soon as I got home I called Trent, "Sage? How are you? Did everything go okay?" I answered all his questions and then asked if I could come work that evening. He hesitated, "Of course…but only if you're ready to come back to work. I know what it's like to lose someone." I reassured him that I was fine before we hung up and I proceeded to get ready to go in. On my way inside the club I noticed several new missing persons' photos hanging up on the wall. My gut dropped as I walked in and Bradley saw me first. He rushed over to my side embracing me in a crushing hug, "Oh, Sage, how are you honey?" I looked up at him with a small smile, "I'm okay, but it'll take time...you know?" He nodded as Vicky came running down the stairs at me, "I know someone who will be happy to see you!" She giggled and punched my arm playfully.

Bradley rolled his eyes, "He's been in more a weird mood than normal since you've been gone." I smiled widely, "Well, I'll be happy to see him this evening too." I was excited to see him, but now I was also slightly scared…what if he was a vampire. The next few hours were slow, which is normal for a Monday evening. Mitch was asking how things had gone in Portland and if my flight was okay when I heard a familiar voice from behind me, "Well, hello there." I threw aside my nervousness, turning and throwing my arms around his waist, "David!" His low chuckled rumbled through his chest, before he kissed me quickly. The others had gone to their table after waving at me and David followed suit. I turned to Mitch before going to get their orders, "Hey…have you ever seen them come in during the day?" He shook his head as he made a drink for the lonely lady at the end of the bar, "Nope, always after sunset. Why?" I shrugged and walked off to the table. As I approached them Star spoke first, "I'll have some red wine tonight." Smiling I glanced at the others who all ordered their normal. Marko caught my eye as I began to leave, "Hey, mom would like you to come over again for dinner tomorrow." I nodded wondering how she knew I was home already, "Sounds great." David grabbed my hand and kissed it, "When do you get off tonight." I bent down next to his ear, "Same time as always silly. 12." He smirked as I walked away. The night went by much faster than earlier. Most likely because Marko and Paul kept telling jokes and David was constantly kissing my hand.

When closing time came the gang was waiting outside for me, Star looked hopeful as she asked, "Would you like to go for a ride this evening?" I shook my head, her eyes turning sad, "I'm sorry Star. I'm just awfully tired tonight and want to go home and sleep." They nodded and waved goodbye. David pulled me into one last hug, "I sure missed you, babe." I smiled into his chest, "I missed you too." He placed a light kiss on my forehead before raking off towards his family. Small Paws was curled up on the couch when I arrived home. I picked her up and carried her upstairs with me. I changed into pajamas and climbed into bed. Instead of going to sleep like I had planned I pulled out my laptop and did some research. The first few entries brought up the normal vampire mythology. After a few hours, I eventually found a site that seemed to go into more details on their history and mentioned how some lived in modern times. Vegetarianism seemed to be shunned but did take place among some families. Yawning I curled up on my side and let all the information sink in. They did live in a dark house, slept during the day and only came out at night. Except Sam, he did come out during the day…curious. I fell asleep shortly afterwards. My alarm went off at noon waking me up for the day. I immediately began getting ready for a night at their home. I put on jeans and a off the shoulder top. I must have lost a little weight while I was gone because my jeans weren't as tight as before I left.

Laddie answered the door before I could knock, "Sage!" He grabbed my hand and lead me through the house and out the back. Max was grilling food, "Dad, Sage is here!" Max looked up at me and smiled, beer in hand he motioned for me to grab one for myself, "We thought we'd grill out tonight; I hope you're okay with that?" I nodded as I opened my beer, "I love to grill out." He smiled, "Have a seat. We also have a game a paint ball planned and then a movie shown on big screen." I laughed as I noticed what he was talking about. There in a tree was a giant movie screen for later, "Sounds fun, Max." Sam walked out of the house carrying a box of blankets and pillows for the movie. He dropped it and ran over to me, "Guess who got a job?" I raised an eyebrow, "Let's see…Laddie?" He rolled his eyes playfully, "No! I did." I gave him a big smile, "That's great Sam. Where?" He said it was at the comic book store and he was being payed ten dollars an hour, "I'm very happy for you." As I opened another beer Lucy and Star came from the wood. Lucy gave me a hug, "Oh how wonderful of you to come. It should be a great evening." She made her way inside the house shouting over her shoulder, "The boys should be home any minute now." Star and I hooked arms as she walked me over to the porch swing, "How was your family?" Sighing I started talking about my grandma and then the family at her funeral, "My uncle was practically wasted in front of everyone." She gave me a sympathetic look, "We all have that one family member. Ours is Paul." We laughed a lot at that. "Did someone say my name?" Paul shouted as they all walked around the corner. All four of them grabbed beers before coming and sitting around us. I was about to ask what they had been out doing when Max shouted, "Foods ready." We all got up and headed towards the table they had set up. David came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, "Mhmm, your hair smells delicious." I chuckled and looked up at him, his chin touching my forehead, "Yeah it's some shampoo that my grandma made, rose and mint. She had a lot of it stocked up so I helped myself." He laughed and let me go so we could get our plates.

I ate my food rather quickly as I hadn't eaten all day and Marko mentioned it. I threw a piece of bread at him, "Shut up. I'm hungry leave me alone." We all laughed. I downed a few more beers as I knew the game of paint ball was coming up and I was dreading it. I rolled my eyes thinking about it, I hated running. In fact, I hated sports in general. I loosely held the paint gun that had been handed to me. We were divided into teams and each team had their own glow in the dark color of paintball. I whispered rather louder than I meant, "It's really not fair." Dwayne heard me and poked me with a stick, "All is fair in love and war. This is war." He laughed as he ran over to his team. Max set a timer and then proceeded to give us the rules, "We'll do a 30-minute game. The team with the least shots of paint wins. Go!"

I didn't even think; I just ran as fast as my chubby little legs would let me. I prayed that I wouldn't be shot; paint balls hurt. I giant bush came into view and I dived behind it. As I sat there waiting for someone to come along I realized that my weight wasn't my biggest problem in this game. My heart was beating tremendously which meant, if they were vampires they could hear me no matter where I hid. I was one of two humans playing, Sam being the other one, and we were going to lose. Would they be able to control themselves…Sam would probably be okay as he was family but me; I was walking dinner. I stopped imagining them rip into my throat when I heard footsteps coming. I took aim in the direction and shot them as soon as they came into view *PHOP*, "Ow!" I grimaced, "Sorry, Sam." He chuckled and found me, "Sage, we are on the same team." I laughed nervously, "it's really hard to tell who's who in the dark." He nodded in agreement. After a few minutes, we decided to head back towards the house. Marko jumped down from a tree, "Got you suckers!" He shot both of us and then ran away. I took aim and shot him back *PHOP*; a twig snapped to our left and I shot that way too *PHOP*. Star came walking out from the darkness, a new green glowing spot on her shirt, "Thanks guys." We laughed and took off towards the house. We heard Paul laughing as he shot Marko, "Yeah!" Sadly, we hadn't been quiet enough, Max and Lucy both took a shot at us. Sam got his mom back and I shot Paul. By the time we heard the timer going off I was splattered with paint and out of breath. I put my hands up to show I was done, "I need a drink." Paul laughed playfully pushing me off to the side, "Me too, sweet thang." As we all came into the back yard I noticed Michael and David hadn't come back yet. Star seemed to notice too, "Probably just got lost in the dark." She laughed it off and opened my beer for me. I smiled back at her as I took a drink.

I helped Sam set up the blankets and pillows for the movie, we were going to watch the old silent film of Dracula. I laughed on the inside. The smell of popcorn filled the air as Lucy and Max came out of the house with a few bowls and set them around the blankets for us. A few minutes into the movie I saw Michael and David coming out of the woods, they didn't sit down with us though. They went straight inside, I thought to myself, "I wonder what happened?" I settled back down into my spot and focused on the movie. Halfway through I felt someone sitting down next to me. Looking over I saw David. He gave me a small smirk and put his arm around me; pulling me into his side. I snuggled in but something wasn't quite right, he never relaxed. It was as if he was a statue. I whispered to him, "Is everything okay?" He nodded and kissed the top of my head. I sighed and snuggled further into him. A gentle shaking woke me up, "Sage, babe. Let's get inside and go to bed. The movie is over." I nodded standing up, "I guess I can spend the night." He smirked at me and lead the way upstairs. I snuggled into the blankets fell asleep quickly

Almost a mistake with David-

Max set a timer and then proceeded to give them the rules, "We'll do a 30-minute game. The team with the least shots of paint wins. Go!" David watched as Sage and Sam took off into the direction. Immediately he took a shot at Michael and then flew up into a tree. He followed him, ~David, you should be careful about doing that. What if she saw? ~ He grunted in response, ~She didn't, she was already too far into the woods. ~ Michael took a shot David and then ran off to find Star. Marko spoke up ~ haha this is the best, she shot Sam.~ Everyone chuckled, David started to head toward her to take a shot. As he neared her and Sam, Laddie sent out a thought, ~Paul you just can't stand there and shoot me. Go shoot someone else. ~ David smirked and helped Laddie out, ~Paul, Marko is up by the house. ~ David was about to jump out and scare Sage when her scent hit him. It seemed so much stronger than normal and that most have been because she ran in fear of being hit. He heard them agree to head back to the house and her heart began to beat faster than before, the sound of her blood rushing through her veins grew louder as the scent grow stronger. David couldn't control himself, his vampire form protruded and he lunged for her. Before he reached her Michael came from the right and tackled him to the ground. They fought for a few minutes but in the end David was pinned down and couldn't get up. Slowly he regained control of himself and Michael got up, "David that was really close. What the hell happened?" David stood up, dusting his shirt and pants off. He sighed, "I almost killed her. Michael, her blood smelled even better than it normally does. It was rushing so fast…I lunged." They didn't say a word for a few moments and then Michael grabbed David by the shoulder, "Well, we should probably avoid sports while Sage is over." David nodded and they made their way back to the house.

When they arrived, the movie had been on for a few minutes. David glanced over at Sage, she was watching them walk out of the woods. He walked into the house, ashamed of what almost happened. It took another 40 minutes before he summoned the courage to go out and sit next to her. She looked over him and smiled. He gave her a small smirk and put his arm around her shoulders; pulling her into his side. Sage snuggled in but he couldn't relax. Her blood had calmed and wasn't so prominent but the faint scent reminded him of the whole thing. He didn't move as he was afraid that he would lose control again. Sage whispered, "Is everything okay?" He nodded and kissed the top of her head. She sighed and snuggled further into him. After the movie ended he gently shook her awake, "Sage, babe. Let's get inside and go to bed. The movie is over." She nodded standing up, "I guess I can spend the night." He smirked at her and lead the way upstairs. He watched as she snuggled into the blankets fell asleep. Once he was sure she wouldn't be waking up he took off to feed.

His victim was a lone man swimming in a lake, he didn't take his time and taunt him. David dived into the water and grabbed the man by his hair, lifting him out of the water high into air. The man's screams filled the air around him as did the sound of his rushing blood. He flew into the nearest tree and bit down into his victim's shoulder, ripping into the flesh; blood spewing out into the night. David bit into him again and again, the feeling of fleshing tearing away igniting his animal instincts. He drank deeply trying to erase the scent of Sage's blood from his head. It worked but David knew he couldn't ever risk that again, so what Michael said would happen, no more sports while she was around the house. After he finished draining the man he lit a fire and disposed of the body. Once he arrived back home he shed the blood-stained clothes and washed himself off. Quietly he slipped under the covers, wrapping Sage in his arms, pulling her close and falling into the day's slumber.