Thank you to everyone who read and/or reviewed the last chapter. :)

Elle: Sadly, yes. :( Alan's still trying to fight though! Thank you for your review.
Guest: Um, nah, you're alright. Not my thing. But whatever rocks your boat, sweetie. I don't judge.

Bonnie had accompanied Sam to the hospital to pick up his mother. They had arrived early, hoping to check the place out and were now wandering through A&E where Bridget and Bernice's father worked, hoping that their investigation would prove successful.

"I hate hospitals," Bonnie said, shuddering. She had somewhat of a grudge against the building since it was the place where she was officially confirmed with MS. Not that it was the building's fault, it was just where her bad memories of being tested and waiting endlessly for the doctor's news happened.

"I had to stay in hospital when I had appendicitis," Sam said. "Back when I lived in Phoenix. The place scared the shit out of me at night. Mike had told me a ghost lived on the children's ward. I swear I actually heard someone walking about in my room but every time I opened my eyes there was nobody there."

Bonnie snorted. "Well, vampires exist…"

"Yeah, I've been wondering what else could be real."

"Edgar and Alan have always been convinced there were werewolves at school. When we were in junior high, me and Edgar has this teacher for homeroom and maths. Seriously, she had a moustache and never shaved her legs and armpits. I've never seen a woman so freaking hairy before! Edgar and Alan were convinced she was a werewolf and at the time I used to laugh at them. Now I'm wondering if they were on to something."

Sam chuckled. "I once had a teacher with a wart on her nose. Maybe she was a witch."

"You never know," Bonnie said, smiling. But then her smile faded and she frowned. "Also makes you wonder which people from school went disappearing because of vampires."

Because of Marko, she added mentally and shuddered again. She felt a hand on her shoulder and a comforting squeeze.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked. "Knowing he's back, I mean."

"Marko?" Even saying his name made her queasy. "I'd honestly thought that part of my life was over. But he's been alive all this time. Watching us all. Watching me…"

She nibbled at her thumbnail. She had been a bit braver after she thought Marko had been staked. Leaving her window open again, walking about at night to hang out with her friends. How often had she been carrying on as normal and he had been around, lurking and watching her? Planning an attack?

"I can't believe he's stayed silent for eight months," Bonnie said.

"I think Edgar really weakened him," Sam said. "He got staked even if it did miss the heart and hadn't you been fighting him just before?"

"Yeah, I guess. I ripped a chunk of his neck out, that's for sure."

"That Logan has been taking his time. He doesn't seem as impulsive as David's pack had been. He's studied us. Figured us all out so he knows what he's going to do with each one of us." Sam scratched at the back of his neck nervously. "Last summer I was shit scared when we made David and the others angry and knew they were coming after us that very night. But looking back, at least we knew what was coming. We could prepare. This time, the vampires are hiding away and it's taken us a while to figure stuff out and there are still things we don't know. We don't know when they're planning on attacking. I don't like that."

Bonnie sighed, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "We'll do it. We have to. I'm not planning on dying."

Sam smiled weakly, nodding at her words. "Yeah. Just gotta keep going." He spotted Bridget's father and pointed to him. "There's Mr Teahan."

Bridget and Bernice's father looked stunned as Bonnie and Sam dashed over to him, greeting him merrily. He frowned, staring down at them both and raised an eyebrow.

"Um, hi, guys. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm just waiting for my mom to finish her shift," Sam said. "I'm picking her up."

"Oh, right. Well, you really shouldn't be wandering the wards like this."

"Sorry, we've been waiting a long time," Bonnie said. She smiled brightly. "So, how's work?"

Again, he frowned and poked his glasses back up onto his nose. "Work is… fine?"

"Anyone new to the hospital?" Sam asked.

Mr Teahan shook his head. He had slowly come to realise that his daughters' friends were all very strange. They always hung about the Boardwalk at night and stayed close together, not really bothering to make any other friends. A very close knit group. Now and again when they were all gathered in either one of his daughters' bedrooms, they kept everything private. The door would always be closed and he could hear their hushed whispers. Like they were always plotting something. Then there were those Frog boys who dressed like they were ready for war and claimed they believed in vampires and other supernatural stuff. They were all very lovely teenagers. Polite and caused no trouble. But still... very peculiar.

And now here were two of their friends, wandering about the hospital as if on a casual stroll and querying him about work.

"Um, no. Well, we've got some students in at the moment –."

"Who are stressing me out and not studying for their course at all." He was interrupted by his colleague Adam. He marched past Mr Teahan and the two teenagers, running a hand through his short blonde hair and slammed his clipboard down onto the reception desk.

"I need coffee," he muttered. "I'm on call, I have students to train, and some drunken idiot decided to smash his fist through a window because, and I quote, 'it was hilarious, maaaan'."

Bonnie and Sam snickered at Adam's ranting. Doctor Mathias was known for constantly being stressed out and complaining about most of his cases. In all honestly, being a doctor in Santa Carla meant he had his fair share of drunken accidents and in the nine months that he worked in the hospital, it had not done wonders for his stress levels and tolerance. Whenever Bonnie had gone to the hospital with Bridget and Bernice to meet their father at the end of his shift, they always found Doctor Mathias's ramblings incredibly entertaining.

He sighed, shaking his head and glanced at Bonnie and Sam. "You two kids shouldn't be walking around if you're not visiting anyone."

"We're going," Bonnie said, not wanting to give Doctor Mathias another reason to rant. It was hard to believe how blonde his hair still looked. With how hassled he always was, she thought he'd be completely grey by now. Bonnie and Sam waved and nodded at the two doctors before leaving, cheerfully wandering back down the corridor.

"The Head Vampire must be around somewhere," Sam said as they reached the lift. "But there's nobody new."

"Then they're really keeping in the shadows. Either they're new and made sure they're not as obvious in our families' lives or they don't do the whole job and mingling with human thing to begin with," Bonnie said and followed Sam into the lift.

"I guess Max only did that because he wanted a wife," Sam said and there was a small shudder as he thought back to last summer. "This Head Vampire purely wants revenge on us."

"They have to be watching. This pack observe and find things out. The only way they're going to really find out about us if they get close to us or our families." She sighed, leaning into the wall beside her as the lift doors closed and it started moving downwards. "This is so freaking hard. We had it easy with Max and all we've been doing the past few months is staking random vampires to bring the mortality rate down around here."

"Well, not so easy with Max. We didn't get all of them," Sam said, cringing at Bonnie who shut her eye. "I'm sorry. This is all our fault."

She opened her eyes, frowning and glanced at Sam. "How is this your fault?"

"We shouldn't have rushed in to kill that pack. We acted on impulse and ended up messing everything up. Maybe if we had made a proper plan, Marko would have actually been killed."

"Sam, this isn't your fault. You had to act quickly and it was wise to try in the day when you had the sunlight on your side. You wouldn't have wanted to fight Marko. He was strong." She straightened, moving next to him and swung an arm around his shoulders. "You guys were amazing last summer."

"I can't help feel bad though," Sam said with a tiny shrug.

"Well, don't," she told him. "Anyway, maybe I'll have a chance to stake the bastard now. I was disappointed I didn't get a chance to last time. Didn't even get to give him a female empowering 'you're dumped' speech either."

Sam laughed, following her out of the lift. Lucy waited for them near the entrance and he sighed with relief when they finally left the hospital.

"I'll quickly get my things," Bonnie said, hopping out of Sam's car. "Won't be long."

"How long are you going to be hunting for?" Lucy asked Sam. She glimpsed at her son in the driver's seat, frown lines creasing on her forehead. She was trying to smile; trying to understand that her son had to save his friend because, after all, Alan had played a part in helping to save her family. But it was not going to stop her stomach from flipping up and down.

"Not long tonight. Edgar, Alan, and Bridget wanted to check out the theatre and hotel Bonnie's parents work at. We're just searching for answers," Sam explained.

"How's Alan doing?" Lucy asked.

Sam sighed. "Not great. Remember how distant Michael got? He's… he's definitely not himself anymore."

"Oh, that poor boy. I do hope he'll be alright," Lucy said, shaking her head. How had one divorce caused so much trouble? If her marriage hadn't broken up, she wouldn't have had to move back to Santa Carla. If she hadn't moved back to Santa Carla, she wouldn't have been targeted by that awful Max and her boys wouldn't have gotten mixed up with vampires…

The list went on as did her regrets and Sam could see the guilt in her face.

"Mom?" Sam took her hand.

"Sometimes I wish –."

He interrupted her. "Mom, we've talked about this. Dad screwed us all up. It's not your fault. He wrecked the marriage, not you. There was no other choice but to come to Santa Carla."

Lucy smiled at her son. Almost a year ago, Sam had been a fifteen year old boy watching his parents split up and seeing his mother arrange to move his whole life away from Phoenix to a small coastal town. She knew he hadn't liked it one bit, struggling to keep his grades up and she remembered his disdain when they first arrived in Santa Carla.

And now here he was, a year older and maturing at a rapid rate. It was hard to tell when Sam had become so grown up and being the one to reason with her instead of the other way around.

"You make me so proud," she said and squeezed his hand.

Inside Bonnie's house, everything was quiet. She closed the door behind, calling out for her parents but there was no answer. As far as she knew, her mother should be in at this time because she had taken the early shift today.

"Mom?" she called again and held her breath.

Nothing.

She turned, ready to run out of the house and get Sam but the floorboards creaked in the living room. When she looked back, Marko emerged. There was a smirk on his demonic face as he dragged her mother with him. He had her in his grip, one hand around her mouth and another around her neck and Bonnie cried out.

"Don't you dare," she choked out.

"My family was killed," he hissed back, moving into the hallway. Mrs Casey gave a muffled scream, staring at her daughter wide eyed. Her chest moved up and down rapidly. "I think I got the right."

With a sharp jerk of his hands, there was a sickening crack and her mother's cries ended abruptly. Bonnie's own scream was caught in her throat, watching with her mouth parted as Marko released her mother and she fell to the floor, down into a crumpled, lifeless heap.

Bonnie couldn't speak. Her hands flew to her mouth, her breathing heavy and shaking. She felt numb, something in her stomach threatened to come lurching up. All she could do was stare at the dead body of her mother, barely dodging Marko when he came running at her.

She quickly stumbled to the side, eyes darting to her open bedroom door. Her weapons were in a bag underneath her bed. She began to run for her room but felt a strong hand grab her wrist.

His voice snarled at her. "Hurts, doesn't it? Seeing your family murdered?"

Without saying anything she turned, lifting her leg up and shoved her foot right into his stomach. He grunted, grip loosening. There was a rosary in her pocket that she always kept and she took it out, reaching out to slip it around his neck. Steam rose from where it came into contact with his skin and his mouth stretched open into a roar. He let go, her wrist free and she bolted for her bedroom.

Her heart raced against her chest, thudding in her ears. She wanted to go straight to her mother, cradling her dead body in her arms and give up that very moment but there was also anger. She had spent the beginning of her summer fighting vampirism and fearing for her life. After thinking it was over, Marko had crept back into her life like a ghost, haunting her and plaguing her with memories of last summer. The fears had been brought back and she was tired of it.

She gritted her teeth, reaching for her box under her bed.

I am not dying, she thought, tears stinging at her eyes. Her breathing shook and when she gripped the stake in her hand she saw it trembling, out of her control.

Just do it.

She stood up, staked raised and turned to the doorway where she had left Marko.

He was nowhere to be seen. The rosary lay on the floor.

She glanced around her first. Up at the ceiling. Behind her door. He wasn't in her bedroom. She took careful steps out into the corridor. If she could have mustered up the ability to speak she would have screamed for him to come out. She was fed up of his games. Fed up of him playing with her. If he wanted her dead he should have got on with it. She wouldn't waste any time.

She looked at her mother on the floor, tears spilling down her cheeks again. Her legs were turning to jelly and she felt a force determined to pull her down to the floor, tempting her to collapse. A whimper escaped her lips and for that brief second she focused on her mother, Marko reached for her. He had her arms tugged back behind her. She cried out. He tugged again. She felt the stake slip from her grasp.

"Shame your dad wasn't here," he snarled, mouth to her ear. "It would have been even better if I could have killed both your parents in front of you."

She kicked, knocking his shin and threw her head back, colliding with his face. He snarled and shoved her towards the bottom of the stairs. Her forehead smacked against the bannister and she turned onto her back, groaning.

Teeth bared, she finally found her voice as she used her arms and hands to push herself up. "And it's a freaking shame you didn't get to see your pack die. I heard Paul melted away in a bathtub –."

She stopped talking when he snarled, arms stretching out for her. She grabbed the bannister, hauling herself up and started running up the stairs. Wind blew straight past her with the echoes of a screech around and suddenly Marko was in her face, yellow eyes burning into hers. His hands grabbed at her shoulders and with one push she felt the steps disappearing and there was a downwards pull. Her hands tried to grasp the bannister but her fingers barely brushed against the wood. The ceiling was in her vision and then everything spun as she tumbled down the steps.

Darkness wanted to consume her. She lay sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. Her head thumped and ached. All she could was groan, staring up as Marko calmly walked down the stairs, smirking at her as he did.

"You know I actually didn't think much of you when I first saw you," he said, kneeling down. He brushed hair away from her neck and bared his fangs. "You were this tiny, dancing, comic book geek and I thought you didn't have what it takes to be a vampire. Don't get me wrong, you can put up one hell of a fight now and you were a feisty little thing when you were half. But you turned out to be an ungrateful little bitch who backstabbed us all. I should have just had my fun with you in one night."

There was a click and something shot past, a blur headed straight to Marko. He howled, falling back and Bonnie could see an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. Another one pierced into his chest, just near his heart and he cried out, snarling as he looked up and lips curled up.

"You stay the hell away from her."

Bonnie recognised Sam's voice, normally cheerful but his tone was threatening and clipped.

Marko looked down at the arrows. "You missed. Again."

He stood up, glaring at Sam who stood in the doorway with his crossbow raised and aimed. The young boy had his eyes narrowed, a disgusted sneer twisted on his mouth. His eyes darted to Mrs Casey on the floor, to Bonnie and back to Marko. He took a daring step forward.

"Maybe I want to give you a slow death," Sam said.

"Tough talk, brat." He suddenly darted forward, his pace quick but just as he reached Sam, grabbing hold onto his throat he was unexpectedly drenched. Water hit him in the face and made his skin burn. He felt his flesh melting away, bubbling into red, angry blisters that stung and he swore out loud. Lucy stood in the doorway and she grabbed Sam, pulling him towards her. She held a bottle in her other hand, jaw set as she glared at Marko.

"Mom, I told you to stay in the car," Sam hissed.

"Nobody touches my boy," she said. "Sam, be a dear and keep that crossbow aimed at him."

Marko gave a snarl, hands hovering over his burnt face and he shoved past Lucy and Sam, running outside and taking off into the night. Lucy breathed out and the hand that held the water gun began to shake. Her eyes went to Bonnie and Mrs Casey.

"Oh my god," she whispered, hands to her mouth. Sam ran straight to Bonnie on the floor.

"Bonnie?"

She whimpered, eyes fluttering shut. "My mom…"

"You're going to be alright," Sam said. "Bon, try to stay awake."

"Sam, I'm calling an ambulance and the police," Lucy said, going straight to the phone.

Bonnie's eyes had shut and Sam placed two fingers against her throat, just under her chin. "She's still got a pulse. Bonnie?" He groaned, ducking his head. Now he was shaking. And all he kept doing, unable to help himself, was look back at the dead body of Mrs Casey behind him.

Thank you for reading! If you would like to leave a review, please feel free to. I'm away for the weekend but I'll be posting Chapter 24 on Monday night. :)