Bonnie was awake when Bridget came into her room the next day. She noticed that a cross had been placed on the door and on the wall above her bed. Bonnie lay propped up with a swollen lump on her forehead. She stared into space glumly until Bridget peeked her head in. They both looked red faced and had puffy eyes.

"Hey," Bridget said, closing the door behind her.

"Hi. You're not at school?" Bonnie glanced at the clock beside her bed. The clock did say eleven o'clock and she was sure it was a Friday today. She groaned, eyes closing and she shook her head. She still felt her movements were sluggish. "I'm so confused. What day is it?"

"It's Friday," Bridget said, pulling up a chair to sit next to her. "Only Friday."

Only Friday, she repeated in her head. She was exhausted, mentally and physically. She felt all this vampire business had been going on for months yet Alan had only been turned on Monday. Four days later and they were on the verge of losing Alan for good, Bonnie had been attacked and seen her mother die, and Bernice and Leon had been taken by the vampires. Everything was happening so fast and on top of each other yet moving slowly. At the least the solutions were taking their time to appear while their dilemmas spiralled out of control.

What's going to happen tonight? Bridget thought, unable to help dreading that. After all, the vampires were serious now. They had stopped playing games and watching and were ready for the kill. The gang themselves were down to three now. Bridget, Edgar and Sam. It wasn't set in stone that Alan would remain on their side, even though she wanted to stay positive on that.

But staying positive was a challenge right now. She realised that. Whether they admitted it or not, the vampires were winning at the moment.

"You skipping again?"

Bridget shook her head slowly, fresh tears appearing. She rubbed them away, her eyes feeling sore from all the crying and wiping she had been doing since last night.

"Mom and dad are keeping me at home today."

"Why?"

Bridget's eyes settled on the floor. "Bernice is missing."

There was a brief moment of silence and Bridget glanced up at her friend. Bonnie already looked pale but now she looked even more drained of colour. Her lips quivered, her head sinking further into her pillow.

"Do you know if she's…?"

"No-one's found a body," Bridget said. "I dunno if they've taken her as hostage, killed her or turned her. But I think if they had taken her hostage they would have come to us last night. She's either undead or dead. They took Leon as well."

Bonnie reached out with her good hand, stroking her friend's hair. "Are you okay?"

Tears rolled down Bridget's cheeks, dripping off her chin. "No. I hate this. I hate what they're doing to us." She grabbed Bonnie's hand, squeezing it. "I'm so sorry about your mom."

Bonnie was crying too. Both of them sniffling with little sobs escaping.

"I don't know what we're going to do. With you, Bernice and Alan, there's only three of us left to properly fight. I don't know if that's enough to go up against a pack of vampires," Bridget added. She rubbed at her eyes again. They felt raw and heavy. She had put her glasses on today for better vision. There had been a lot of times in the night when Bridget had woken up to sounds, thinking it was Bernice coming back or a vampire intruding. With the lack of sleep, her sight was a little blurry and a headache pounded in her right temple.

"I'm so tired," Bonnie admitted and her voice sounded weary. "Not just from last night, also from dealing with these vampires in general. Dealing with Marko who should have been out of my life months ago."

Bridget shifted, moving up onto the bed as Bonnie shuffled up. She cringed at little as her body ached from moving about, stiff and bruised from the fight with Marko. Bridget lay by her side on the bed, being careful not to get her shoes on the pale blue sheets and duvet.

"Wish I'd never paid him any freaking attention in the first place," Bonnie said, thinking back to last summer. She remembered how she used to spend her shifts in the comic store making sneaky glances at him as he stood with the other vampires outside Laffing Sal. From the start she was interested, quickly attracted to this blonde biker with a cheeky grin and an air of rebellion. She hadn't been able to believe her luck when, after all her sneaky staring, he suddenly glanced at her and flashed her that mischievous smirk. It was the first time they had made eye contact and she had caught him looking at her. It had taken a lot of willpower to not squeal excitedly in his presence.

Stupid, she thought. She had been so stupid.

"Did he wear a sign saying: warning, vampire. No touchy?" Bridget asked.

"No."

"You weren't to know."

"Edgar and Alan knew."

"Edgar and Alan thought everyone was something supernatural. Didn't they suspect all your ex-boyfriends? As luck would have it, they ended up right this time. It was a total coincidence."

"I still feel stupid."

Bridget nudged her arm gently. "Don't. You didn't do anything wrong. You took an interest in a guy but he turned out to be dangerous. Supernaturally dangerous. That's not your fault. Got that, chick?"

Her friend managed a little snort. "When did you begin to start sounding so grown up and reasonable?"

Bridget herself chuckled. It might not have lasted long, feeling it was too much of a chore to even laugh or smile. She gave a tiny shrug. "Guess you can't help feelings. They're not as simple as I used to think they were."

"I'm thinking you have a certain someone in mind."

"You're thinking right. I'm already seeing the risks. Bernice was worried about me and Alan getting close while he's like this and I can see it. He's different and changing so fast. But at the same time he's Alan. I like him too much to properly let go."

"You might have to if he turns," Bonnie warned.

Bridget nodded, more tears spilling down her cheeks. "I know. If that's Bernice and Alan lost to vampires I'm scared I'm going to hesitate. I don't think I can toughen up enough to stake them if they're both vampires."

Bonnie clutched her friend's hand. "We all feel like that. So if that is where everything is leading, we all need to stick together. We can't do it ourselves individually but all of us will get through it if we stay close. They're not taking any more of us. I love you guys, you know."

"I love you too, girl," Bridget said, managing her own smile even though there was still a sadness to it.

Bridget had her bag of weapons at the ready. As the sky darkened, she collected her vampire hunting gear as a growing anger built up inside. All she had on her mind was hunting those vampires down.

Seeing Bonnie in that bruised and battered state, having Bernice taken, Alan being turned… it all made her think: how fucking dare they? They were taking too much action, messing around with too many people.

Let's see how you like it when a hunter takes action, she thought, gripping onto a stake. She didn't know which vampire she desperately wanted to ram a stake through more. Logan, Marko, or Charlotte.

There was a knock on her bedroom door, followed by her mother's voice. "Honey, can I come in?"

Bridget let her bag drop on the floor and she pushed it underneath her bed with her foot. "Yeah, it's fine."

Mrs Teahan greeted her daughter with a small that didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes had dark shadows underneath them and Bridget wondered how much sleep her parents had managed last night.

"Edgar, Alan and Sam are downstairs. They noticed you weren't at school today."

Bridget looked down, chewing the inside of her cheek. She was supposed to have called Alan last night to let him know what had happened. Instead she spent most of the night sobbing and dozing from exhaustion.

"I'll talk to them," she said. "They can come in."

"Door open," her mother said and she frowned.

What the hell would I get up to with three guys? she thought but nodded at her mother's wishes. Sam came in first with Edgar and Alan in tow.

"Has something else happened?" Alan asked and Bridget nodded. She swore under her breath at the tears that made her vision blur and nose prickle. How much more crying was she going to end up doing? It made her eyes dry, her nose stuffy, and a sensitive headache form in her temples.

"Bernice is missing," she said and she bit at her fingernails to stop her lips from quivering too much.

"They've taken her?" Edgar asked.

Bridget shrugged. "She left the restaurant last night with Leon and somebody attacked straight away. They were gone by the time anyone had gone out to look. Fucking police think Leon's done something."

"Like kidnap her or something?" Alan asked. He shook his head, a sneer playing on his lips. "Useless."

"Everyone's going to call bullshit on that theory," Edgar said.

"How's your mom and dad doing?" Sam asked.

"Paranoid something will happen to me now. I'm on curfew and not allowed anywhere by myself." She sank down on her bed, huffing away a strand of hair that had fallen in her face.

"You'll have to sneak out. We need the numbers," Edgar said. "I don't think we could go against them if it was just us three." He gestured to himself, Sam and Alan who quirked an eyebrow up.

"You've got a half vampire right here. Better than three humans," he said. "You could use me."

"Not for much longer," Edgar reminded him. "We're finding that Head Vampire –."

"We have no lead, Edgar," Alan interrupted. "Forget that stupid Head Vampire now!"

Edgar blinked, stunned by his brother's sudden snapping and Sam closed Bridget's door.

"We can't afford to go chasing someone we're not even close to finding. We need to focus on the vampires and get rid of them before they hurt more of us," Alan said. "So use me. I'm stronger than any of you at the moment. I can help take on vampires. Who knows? Maybe killing them will draw the Head Vampire out."

Bridget noticed he looked at her first after his brief rant, like he was expecting her to be the first to agree with him and be on his side. To some extent, she was. She wanted all those vampires dead before they attacked again. Who knows who they would go after? It could be one of them or it could be family. It could be easier to get rid of them and then focus on this Head Vampire.

But now she could see the reason for Edgar's reluctance on Alan participating. She didn't want him using anything to do with vampirism because it just wiped another part of his human self away.

She chose not to respond, looking away.

"Ed," Alan continued. "We need to do something."

"I think Alan's right," Sam said when Edgar started to glare at his brother. "Bud, they could come for my family again. Or yours. We'll scope around tomorrow in the day time. Use that weakness against them like we did with Max's pack so if something goes wrong we have sunlight to our advantage."

Bridget nodded but again didn't say anything.

I don't want to wait till tomorrow. I need answers and vampires killed now!

Edgar wasn't responding either, just looking uncertain and Alan sighed at his brother's reaction.

"Edgar, come on. We need those vampires dead before they do anything else. Forget about me right now. We need to look out for all of us."

"Okay," the eldest Frog finally said, closing his eyes briefly and sighing. "I would have rather we use the vampires to find the Head Vampire but… we'll act."

"I think we have no other choice," Sam said. "Not after Mrs Casey, Bernice and Leon."

Edgar cast a solemn look at Bridget whose lips quivered at the mention of her sister's name. He sighed once before frowning. "Brid… do you know what to do if she's been turned?"

Bridget glanced up at him, eyes widening before narrowing and he raised his hands immediately.

"No, don't have a go," he said. "She's either a hostage, dead, or undead. And if she's one of them, she'll be the enemy now."

"She doesn't want to hear this," Alan pointed out but Edgar continued.

"I know it's tough but –."

"Would you want to hear it if it was me?" He caught Edgar's gaze, raising an eyebrow and immediately he saw Edgar's voice stop abruptly and for a second his brother stood there with his mouth hanging open. Of course. It was a sore subject for Edgar as well.

"I think right now it's difficult to think about that scenario," Sam added, recalling last summer with his brother. How many times had Edgar and Alan insisted that Michael had to die while Sam continued to fight for his brother's humanity?

Sam glanced at Bridget and nodded with a small smile and she tried to flash one back but it never reached her eyes and it looked more like a grimace.

"Just don't do anything stupid," Edgar said. "We all need to be careful tonight and tomorrow we'll hunt."

Bridget nodded but her eyes flickered to her bed where her bag of weapons were hidden under it. Quickly, she glanced back up and noticed Alan staring at her.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" he asked, coming nearer to her. She waved a hand at him, shaking her head.

"Nah, it's cool. I'll be okay."

He didn't respond at first, eyes narrowing and she wondered if he was trying to read her. Could he read her? Bonnie had told them how vampires had the ability to communicate with each other but they had never found out if vampires could see into people's heads to read their thoughts or if they were only capable of pulling mind tricks.

Still, just in case, Bridget tried not to think about her urge to go out and hunt without the boys.

"Okay," he finally said before leaning towards her. She always thought his kisses were perfect and she actually felt her heart thud against her chest every time she felt his lips on hers. But this time the moment was only slightly ruined by the disgusted groan from Edgar and Sam's wolf whistling. She pulled away, clearing her throat and smiled weakly at Alan. He stared towards her bed one last time before nodding and giving a little wave as he followed his brother and Sam out.

"Call me if something happens," Alan said and she saluted him. Edgar was the last to leave, still hanging near the door as his lips tightened into a straight line and she sighed.

"Edgar, I know what to do if it's the worst case scenario," she said. "I'll do it if I have to." And she kept her face stern, willing herself not to show any signs of breaking whether it was her voice cracking or her chin trembling.

"And you won't do anything until we come back tomorrow?" Edgar asked.

"Ed, quit it," she heard Alan say and an arm reached out, grabbing at the material of his brother's shirt and tugged to pull him out. Bridget stood up, back straight in determination and she placed her palms on her hips.

Sorry, Ed. Can't promise that, she thought.

Thank you for reading. If you would like to leave a review, please feel free! Next update will be the usual Saturday. :)