Thank you to Silverheels12 and Elle for your reviews. Elle, glad you enjoyed the last chapter. :) And thank you to new followers and favourites.

After the drama of Friday night and the Valentine's Day Dance, everyone was hoping Saturday would be a rare normality. The last of the balloons for Alan and Bonnie's birthday celebration had been blown up and left to float around. While Bernice and Bridget placed the last plates of buffet food on the dining table, Bonne marched around to check that everything was in order. Presents for Alan and Bonnie was on a pile in the corner of the living room as was his cards. Depeche Mode was blasting out from the record player. Everyone was here, including all the adults. Lucy was in the kitchen, taking out the cake she had baked for Bonnie and Alan along with five different desserts. When she had arrived with the Emerson clan and Star in tow she had cheerfully explained she couldn't choose which dessert to make and thought it would be nice to have a choice.

About half an hour in from everyone arriving and setting the party up, there was a knock at the door and Bonnie turned down the music. She skipped over to the door, opening it up and beaming at Edgar and Alan.

"Are we late?" Edgar asked.

"No," she said, unable to stop beaming. She suddenly grabbed Alan by the hand and dragged him in, straight to the living room where he was greeted by loud cheering and shouts of 'happy birthday'. Party poppers exploded near him and then there was laughter as he stood in the doorway to the room, gawping and standing tense like a frightened rabbit. Bonnie was giggling as if Christmas had come early and she wrapped her arms around him, kissing his cheek which earned a cry of protest and he wriggled out of her grip.

"I knew you were up to something," he said.

"You deserve a special seventeenth," she told him and he sighed, looking around at everyone.

"And everyone knew?" He shook his head, smiling.

"Everyone except Edgar," Bonnie said. "We knew he'd blab and try to warn you."

"Hey!" Edgar objected.

She ignored him and grabbed Alan again, clutching onto his hand. "Come on! Presents!"

His stomach flipped at the sight of presents in the corner. There was a large pile, a mixture of wrapping paper that was girly or had patterns on and ones that were plain.

"You haven't opened presents?" he asked.

"I opened my mom and dad's yesterday. I left any others so you wouldn't feel like all eyes were on you." She bent down, picking two of presents up. One with pink wrapping and one plain green and shiny that she passed to Alan. "Happy Birthday."

He smiled, taking it with a mumbled 'thanks' and sat down on the couch next to his brother and Aunt Pam while Bonnie practically jumped onto the armchair opposite. She took the card of the neatly wrapped present, ripping apart the envelope and smiling straight at Sam when she opened up the card.

Alan shuffled back onto the couch, hiding himself between Edgar and his aunt as he tore at the wrapping paper. His first present was from Lucy; a large watch with a dark green wrist strap and he stared at it with wide eyes. After the t-shirts he had gotten from his aunt and uncle and a voucher for the army surplus store from his parents this watch was too grand. Too expensive.

"Wow," he muttered and looked up, scanning the room to find her. She stood smiling cheerfully near the doorway to the living room. "This watch…"

"Sam mentioned you broke your last one," Lucy said with a smile on her face.

Sam beamed at him from behind his mother. Alan had to laugh, looking down at it again. He had broken his last one on a vampire hunt. The vampire they had been chasing knocked him aside in the fight and he had smashed against the ground, breaking his watch in the process. The situation could have been much worse, of course. He could have broken something, died, or been turned in the process but that old watch had come from his savings so he couldn't help being slightly pissed off by it.

"Thank you," he said, turning to Lucy. "This is great. But it must have –."

She interrupted him by waving a hand. "No, no. You're not going to think about money. It's your birthday. Enjoy it."

"Thank you," he said again, his voice earnest. "Really."

"I'm kinda surprised. I thought you would have escaped sooner," Bridget said. She stepped outside into the garden, rubbing her hands up and down her cold arms. Alan smiled at her from the chair he sat on, one arm propped up on the table and the hand cradling his head.

"It hasn't been too bad," he said.

She sat in the chair opposite him. "Nice time?"

He nodded. "It has been nice. It's been different. Last year for my birthday I ended up sleeping through it because me and Edgar had been on a hunt the night before and then I'd been at school all day." He grinned at her, gesturing to the house behind them. "How're you managing?"

"Alright until Sam and Bonnie tried getting me to dance. So I'm hiding out here for a bit. Like, they were actually taking hold of my arms and hands and moving them." She shook her head, knocking his leg with her foot when he snorted in amusement. "I thought you'd be on my side for this. Especially after your bizarre take on dancing last night."

"I thought I was good," he joked, flashing a brighter smile at her. When she pulled a face, scrunching her nose up so it wrinkled he laughed, groaning slightly. "Yeah, that was… embarrassing. I thought it was a good idea but then I realised it did require me to actually move about. Didn't really think it through."

"Thanks though," she said, smiling. "For trying to make sure no-one else pestered me." She held up her own present for him, crinkled and stuck together with a ridiculous amount of tape. He took it, fingertips indenting the wrapping paper where he held it and turned it around, picking at the tape.

"It's from me," she said. "I thought you might like one less present to open without loads of eyes on you."

When he continued to struggle curling up more tape, she laughed.

"Sorry. I can't wrap presents," she said and reached over. She ripped a bit of the paper, creating a small hole but it was enough for Alan to be able to continue and he tore it open, letting the torn pieces of paper float down to the ground. The present had been thin, flexible even because when he accidentally bent it Bridget quickly tried to flatten it out.

"It's a comic," he said, grinning when she had stepped in so abruptly. She bit her lip, refusing to answer and watched him as he shredded the paper apart…

And froze. He sucked in a breath, eyes widening at the comic in his hands. Bridget's smile widened as she watched his reaction and continued to chew on her lower lip.

"This…" He brought it up closer, reading the title and issue number over and over again as if any minute it was going to disappear and the real title would appear. "No way."

In his hands he carefully held Amazing Fantasy issue fifteen, taking in every single detail of the cover. The bold yellow writing against black. The drawing of Spider Man swinging from one of his webs, clutching at it tightly while he carried a man in his other hand. The yellow speech bubbles that arrogantly introduced the wonder that was Spider Man himself.

"This is Amazing Fantasy issue fifteen," he said, holding it up to Bridget.

She grinned at him. "I know."

"This is the first ever time we meet Spider Man."

Her grin widened. "I know."

"This is… this is one of the most sought after comic book issues. They don't come cheap. Where did you find this?"

"I got it in a comic book store up in San Francisco."

"You went all the way to San Francisco?"

"I'd found the store by accident. When I went up at Christmas to visit my grandparents I had a look in the comic shop and they were selling it. It was all wrapped and kept inside the glass counter. So when I came back and asked Sam about it, I knew it would be the perfect present, went back for it, and… voila!" She extended her hands, gesturing to the comic. "It's mint condition. Happy birthday."

"I can't accept it. It's too much."

"Don't be silly."

"You must have paid a lot."

"Remember what Lucy said? Don't be thinking about the money," she said, winking at him.

He took in another deep breath, fingers gently tracing the front cover before moving his eyes back to her again. "Thank you."

He placed the comic onto the table, moving fast as he then went to reach for her. She laughed at the arms that wrapped around her, one hand resting on her upper back and the other in her hair and she let her cheek rest on his shoulder as her hands rested lightly around him. He didn't even move, happy to sit there in silence with his arms around her, not really noticing that his fingers were moving slightly against her hair, stroking the strands.

"Why?" he asked after a minute of silence but he didn't let go.

She tightened her grip once, a quick squeeze. "You're my best friend. And I wanted to make your birthday special."

He suddenly let go, raising a finger and stood up. "I have something."

He raced back into the house, going to the corridor where he kept his bag and she peered in from outside as he rummaged around in it. He took out a plastic bag and jogged back to her, holding the plastic bag out to her and she took it, grinning up at him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A present," he said, sitting back down. "Open it."

She quirking an eyebrow up at him. "You do know you're not supposed to get other people presents on your birthday, right? It's not quite how it works."

He rolled his eyes. "I know. I'm not quite as socially inept as people make me out to be. I saw this in the shop and thought you might like it."

She carefully slid the comic out, examining the cover. "The Dark Knight Returns," she read and beamed immediately. "These are all the issues."

There was a small, satisfied smile on Alan's face as he watched Bridget gaze in wonder at the front cover and flick through the pages carefully so she didn't wrinkle anything immediately.

"What do you think?" he asked after she had been silent too long. He didn't even realise he had leaned forward in his seat, impatient for a verbal reaction.

"Alan, you don't have to buy me comics," she said.

"I know but Bonnie said you were getting into Batman and this is a really good storyline. I thought you might like it." He grinned at her. "I'm your comic book tutor remember? And I say these are pretty cool issues." He tapped the cover with his finger.

"Aye, aye," she said, saluting him and slipped the comic back into the plastic bag. "Seriously, thanks."

He waved his hand, giving a casual shrug and mumbled something about it being no big deal before standing up to return into the house with his new comic clutched in his hand. Bridget stayed in her seat, peeking back into the bag to see her present again and she felt another silly grin creep up onto her face before looking back in the direction Alan had left and watched him as he joined Edgar in the corridor who had been standing by himself poker-faced and eating a slice of birthday cake.

She hadn't noticed how much of a rapid heartbeat she had until she was suddenly aware of the pounding in her ears. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, not entirely sure when it started drumming frantically and why. But there was definitely something wrong. Her stomach had flipped and flopped as she had watched Alan open his present but maybe that was all to do with his possible reaction. That must have been it. She was nervous that he would say he already had it. But then Sam had insisted he didn't. Well, maybe she was worried that he would say that he didn't like it. Although that was also a silly thing to panic about because if there was anything Alan was passionate about apart from vampire hunting, it was certainly Spider Man.

So she was back to being confused about her sudden skittish feelings.

"I thought you'd come to hide," Bonnie said, stepping out into the garden. "I've just put on that new Cyndi Lauper record you bought me. It's freaking amazing." She collapsed in the chair Alan had been sitting in and pointed to the bag. "What's that?"

"Um, a present," Bridget said, holding it up. "From Alan."

Her friend's eyes glistened with interest. "Really? Lemme see." She peered in when Bridget handed her the bag and her eyes widened, that interest disappearing and she laughed in disbelief.

"Okay, seriously, what have you done with that boy?"

Bridget shrugged wordlessly.

"He does act differently around you, you know," Bonnie said. "Right from the start."

"I guess we clicked."

"Brid, I've been one of his best friends for years and if I was to hug him or hold his hand the way you do he would be wriggling away as if I had the plague."

Her friend was picking at a loose hem on her sleeve. She kept her head down but now and again she glanced up. Although when she did it was to look into the hallway in the house where Alan still stood talking with his brother.

"I dunno," Bridget mumbled. "We've always been like that. I don't know how to explain it."

Bonnie gave her a knowing smile. "I think you do."

"I've never had a crush on a guy in my life."

"That's because you've never come across a guy who you could probably be interested in."

Bridget sighed, leaning back in her chair as she folded her arms and pulled a face at Bonnie. Her friend was acting worse than Charlotte. Maybe not psychotically jealous but Bridget did not like that her best female friend was now starting all this shit about her and Alan being more than close friends.

"Now you think I'm interested in Alan?"

"Maybe you're not," Bonnie said but jerked a thumb in Alan's direction. "But I've never seen Alan act the way he does with you around any other girl."

"I'm pretty sure Alan would with Imogen if they were friends and he wasn't scared of Bobby shoving his head down the toilet and flushing it. There's only one girl he likes and it's not me."

"Okay."

"Stop grinning like that."

"I'm just smiling."

"You're grinning."

Bonnie raised her hands in defence, pressing her lips together to hold back her laughter while Bridget scowled in her direction. Their silent staring match was quickly interrupted by a loud knock on the door and the music was immediately turned off. The girls cast a wary glance at each other before hurrying in, making sure the kitchen door was shut and locked behind them. Everyone was crowding around in the hallway, the vampire hunters cautiously edging away from the front door as Mr Casey opened it. Two police officers, a male and a female, with polite smiles and dressed in their dark uniform stood on the porch.

"Can I help you?" Mr Casey asked.

Apart from Leon, Michael and Star, the teenagers in the house suddenly froze. They avoided trying to cast panicked expressions at each other but each of them had the same troubled thoughts running through their head. Had they been caught vampire hunting? Did a dead body have their fingerprints? Had somebody seen them near the scene of a murder on a hunt and pointed the police in their direction?

"Sorry to disturb you. I'm Officer Peyton and this is Officer Santiago. We were looking for Bridget Teahan and Alan Frog?"

Uncle Gerry stepped forward. "What is this about?"

The female officer raised her hands. "It's nothing to worry about. We just wanted to ask them a few questions. It's about a missing girl. Bridget's parents said they would be at this address tonight."

"What missing girl?" Bridget asked, stepping forward. While she kept mentally telling herself no-one she knew was missing there was a part of her subconscious that might have already suspected the answer but she ignored it, along with the chills that rang through her body.

"Are you Bridget?" the female police officer asked.

"Yes."

"Would there be a place we could talk to you and Alan more privately?"

"You can use the living room but there are going to be adults there," Mr Casey said and beckoned them to come in. Bridget glanced at Alan who pointed to the hallway mirror. Both the officers had their reflections and she felt the tension in her back and shoulders ease slightly but not completely. Everyone gathered in the living room with the officers taking the couch, Bridget on the chair and Alan perched on the arm of it. He noticed she was picking more at the loose hem on the sleeve of her top and her right leg was tapping up and down frantically, making her knee shake. Slowly, he moved his hand overs hers.

"We're just looking into the case of a missing girl," the male police officer said.

"Yes, you said," Uncle Gerry said. "What has this got to do with my nephew and his friend?"

"We were told Bridget and Alan know her. Her name is Charlotte. Charlotte Dyer."

All the food that Bridget had eaten that night wanted to viciously force its way back up her throat. She put a hand to her mouth and groaned. "Oh my God."

She closed her eyes and the chills came back down her spine.

"You know her?" the woman asked.

Bridget nodded, her eyes still closed. "She's my friend. Sort of. Well, she was my friend."

"We're just trying to get an idea of where and when she went missing. We've been to other sources who said she was at the high school dance last night. There was an argument?"

"Bridget and Alan haven't done anything," Bonnie said sharply and her mother clamped a hand down on her shoulder.

"Honey, no-one is accusing anyone of anything."

"Absolutely not," the female officer said kindly. She flashed a sweet smile at the adults and teenagers in the room. "Like I said, we're just trying to get a good idea of Charlotte's night. Find out when people definitely saw her last. Why she might have gone missing –."

"We just had an argument," Bridget interrupted.

"Can I ask what about?" the woman asked.

Alan averted his eyes while Bridget's face reddened and she cleared her throat, now wishing that Bonnie's father hadn't insisted on such a huge audience. Biting her lip, that soon felt sore and cracked, she began to explain, and avoiding looking at Alan's parents and his aunt and uncle.

"Charlotte has a crush on Alan," she answered. "She's liked him for years and over the last few months she hasn't really been speaking to me because we're really good friends." She pointed between her and Alan. "Charlotte's been getting jealous of how close we are and she flipped at the dance last night."

"Why the dance especially?" the male, Officer Peyton, queried.

Bridget felt her stomach drop. It was a completely ridiculous theory but she felt like they had been purposely put there to make Bridget and Alan open up more about their friendship. It was embarrassing talking about how close they were with adults watching, especially Alan's own family. Like it was a dirty secret which it shouldn't have been but she couldn't help feel that way.

"I was dancing with Bridget and Charlotte got angry about it," Alan said. "She thought I liked Bridget instead."

"We were all there," Bonnie stepped in. "Charlotte had stormed out and Bridget and Alan had followed her to calm her down. We immediately followed and Charlotte yelled some more things at them and suddenly left. We all went straight home afterwards. You can ask any one of us."

There were nods and murmurs of agreements from Edgar, Sam, Bernice and Leon. Officer Santiago was nodded along to every single word, jotting down their statements.

"Uh-huh. Right. Where was Charlotte going?"

"Um, home? I think?" Bridget shrugged. "She doesn't know how to drive so somebody would have had to come pick her up but she was walking away from school grounds."

"So she decided to walk home?"

"She didn't look like she was going to be waiting for anyone."

"Can any of you remember what time that had been?" Officer Peyton asked.

"About nine?" Sam shook his head. "Sorry, we didn't pay attention to the time."

"That's fine." Officer Santiago smiled again. "Some of her other friends said she had been with a guy that night. They didn't recognise him or catch his name. He seemed to have disappeared straight after Charlotte left."

"I'm sorry. I didn't notice she was with anyone," Bridget said. When the two police officers looked around the other teenagers shook their heads as well. Bernice and Leon gave brief shrugs. Bridget's heart was in her mouth. If she was walking alone through the streets and she had met a strange guy that normally meant one thing in Santa Carla.

Vampire.

She closed her eyes again, still feeling cold and all she wanted to do was curl up and cry. It suddenly didn't matter all the horrible things Charlotte had been saying to her in those last eight months. It didn't matter how nasty she had become, treating Bridget like she had backstabbed her and insulting her every chance she got. Charlotte was now another face on the missing poster board in the notorious Murder Capital of the World. She was a young girl who had been targeted and hunted down by those disgusting bloodsuckers. Her old friend's behaviour had been quickly pushed out of Bridget's mind because in the end, nobody deserved to die by the hands of a thirsty member of the undead.

Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a review if you wish to. :) Chapter eight will be up next Saturday.