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  Bobby got up from his meal and waved at them after paying his bill, then left for his room, Brian supposed. Looking over at Heather, he could see that she was still swirling her fry, quite possibly the same one she had been for the last few minutes, just staring at him, frowning. It occurred to him that she, too, was thinking about what she was going to say when they got back to the room.

  "Are you going to finish that?" He asked her.

  Her eyes seemed to snap out of a dream when he asked her, and she dropped the fries and pushed the plate away. "No, I think I'm full now."

  "Okay, I'm assuming you got the bill?"

  She smiled mischievously at him. "What? You're not paying for our first date?"

  Was she serious? About any of what she just said? The thought ran through his head like a freight train. He wasn't sure what hit him harder, the fact that he was supposed to pay when she took the money, or that this had been a date.

  "Um," he said, "You got all the moolah." He smiled

  She smiled right back at him and leaned closer to him. "I do...don't I?" She giggled and slid out of the booth and slowly walked toward the front.

  Crap...She's going to make me suggest that waitress, isn't she?

  Slowly, he slid out of the booth. Pausing, he looked around the place to see how many people were there. He counted four. A young couple and what looked like two other truckers. None of them were by the cashier. Well that's good news. He didn't want to have to tell the whole place to forget them. Walking to the cash register, he ran his fingers through his black hair. He immediately felt it drop back down in front of his face once again, partially obscuring one side of his face.

  "Was everything alright?" The waitress asked, as she took the check from him.

  "Yeah...it was good."

  She smiled at him. "Okay, your total comes up to six-ninety-five," she said.

  Brian leaned forward and locked eyes with her.

  "Here." Heather spoke up. "Take it out of this," and handed the waitress a twenty. She quickly counted out the change and handed it back to Heather, the entire time Brian felt his heart rushing. It was hard to calm himself down, usually his adrenalin would spike right before he suggested someone, he wasn't sure what the reasons for it were, but it did, and after it would just drop to normal, Now it rushed through his body like a trapped tiger, looking for an escape. He literally had to lean against the building's wall outside to catch his breath.

  "Silly, I wasn't going to leave you hanging." She laughed. He supposed she thought it was just one big joke, and he might have thought it was funny too if he could just calm himself a bit.

  "Hey...Don't have a panic attack on me Brian...I was only joking." She started patting his back when he leaned forward and grabbed his thighs trying to catch his breath.

  "Breathe." She said to him, squatting down and trying to look into his face. "Take deep breaths. Come on, you can do it."

  After a few more moments, he was able to get it under control. It took some effort, as he never had that happen before. It was a new experience, and one he hoped to never have again.

  "Alright, I'm good." He said, as he took a few steps away from the cafe.

  "Brian, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it would upset you this much."

  "I'm fine.” He said, as he started looking for their room number. "Come on, let's get to our room."

  "I hope this doesn't mean you're not going to tell me." She said, as she followed after him.

  The room was lackluster, just like the last one. A dresser that a small TV sat on, a small table with one padded chair, a closet, one door that most likely went to the bathroom, and one queen-sized bed. He had no idea what they charged for their rooms, but he was guessing it wasn't worth it, whatever it was.

  "I'm going to take a shower first, if you don't mind.” She said. heading for the bathroom. "I feel like I've got layers of filth on me after staying in that awful jail cell."

  Brian switched on the TV and flipped through the channels. The late night news was on one of the three channels that the TV got. Ridiculous that the place didn't have cable, and from the reception he bet they didn't even have local satellite.

  "Brian, there's only one real towel in here." Heather called out.

  "That's okay, go ahead and use it." He sat down on the beds edge and watched as the news rattled off the top story's for the night. Surprisingly, there was no mention of the shoot-out they had been in, or the escaped prisoner. Whoever was involved in covering this up most have had high connections.

  "Are you sure? How are you going to shower?" She peeked out. Brian could see that her shoulders were bare, and from all appearances she had nothing on.

  "Um." He felt a tightening in his chest, and he could feel heat rising to his face. "I can always just use yours." She gave him a weird look, then pulled her head back in and shut the door. He heard the shower turn on, and the sounds of curtain rings sliding on the shower rod. He really couldn't get her out of his mind, the thought that she had been naked just out of sight did not make the wait for the shower any easier. He felt like his heart was beating almost as hard now as it had been just moments before, outside the cafe. Except now his heart was beating for other reasons. He heard her start to hum, then to sing while she showered.

  The temptation to open the door and see if she needed help, or just to look was almost overwhelming, even maybe, if it were possible to relax, he could travel in and be with her. But he knew that wouldn't be the same, as he had seen her that way before when he had traveled to her. It didn't make him feel the way he was feeling now.

  "Brian!" She hollered from the shower.

  He walked to the door and hollered back, "yeah?"

  "Don't forget, you're supposed to tell me afterward." She laughed inside. He wasn't sure what she was laughing about. What had he said or done that was funny? He was really starting to realize he didn't know anything about girls. If anything, he was more in the dark than he ever was before.

  "I won't," he said, and tried walking back to the bed, adjusting his pants in a way that allowed him to walk comfortably. He sat back down and tried to concentrate on what the news stories were about, but he never could seem to recall what they were saying. All his mind kept going back to was her, just beyond that door, naked as a jay bird. It was like a dream come true. The shower turned off and he could hear the curtain sliding open. The door opened and her arm stuck out with her clothes all wadded up in them.

  "Here," she said. "Go see if they have a washing machine and wash these..."

  "I have no change." He said, swallowing.

  "Okay, just a sec." She said, as he took the clothes from her hand. A second later, she walked out with a towel wrapped around her and her hair. "Here's some quarters. She dropped a handful into his hands, with a few bills mixed in. "Hopefully they've got a change machine and some detergent they're selling there." She stopped and looked at him as he stood there staring at her. "Go on, we haven't got all night."

  "Yeah...Okay." He paused one more time to stare at her long, shapely legs. She was tan all over apparently, at least her face arms and legs were. "I'll get right on this,” he backed up, lifting her clothes then backed into the door, smacking it hard.

  "Go, silly!" She laughed, as he struggled to find the doorknob behind him, and slipped out. The cool air felt good to him, as he rushed toward a sign that said 'laundry'.

  He wasn't sure what kind of night it was going to be, but there was one thing it was not going to be, and that was boring.

  Chapter 11

  By the time he got back to the room, it had been at least twenty minutes, he figured. The first sign of trouble was when he found the door locked at the room marked 'laundry'. He had to find the motel clerk to get him to unlock it. Then there was no detergent. When he asked the clerk where he could get some, he produced a small box from under the motel's counter. If that wasn't bad enough, he then had to run back to get change once he realized there was no change machine with the laundry machines. In the end, he
was almost surprised he managed to get the machine running, and hoped he had enough change for the dry. Of course, the idea of Heather walking around all night in just a towel may well be worth not having enough for the dryer. The very idea, started to make his jeans a bit uncomfortable. Given how long he'd been already, he decided it was safe to wait outside for the cool air to calm him down, before heading in.

  The television was still on as he entered the little room, as was the light in the bathroom. Heather, unfortunately, was sleeping, wrapped in the bed's blankets. A sense of disappointment filled him, as whatever hopes he had were dashed for the night. Well, the good news was that he had until morning before he was going to have to tell her anything. He walked to the TV and turned it off. Standing there, he watched as the blankets rose and fell with her breathing. She was always quite striking as she slept. It was one of his favorite things to do at night, to simply watch her sleep. He wasn't sure if he would ever get over the excitement he felt of actually being with her. He grabbed the one chair the room had and slid it up to the end of the bed where he could watch her. He was really tempted to enter her dreams tonight and share an adventure with her, but if he did that, then he would most likely not get out in time to put the wash in the dryer. He did want to make sure that was taken care of so they could leave tomorrow.

  The question was, where were they going to go? Jamaica had been one option he had been toying with. Not that he knew anyone there, but he always heard in television shows of people running from government types going there, or Argentina. Personally, he would choose Jamaica. Yet, something in him said that he wouldn't get to pick that option. The entire idea, even though it seemed like a dream come true, also felt like a child's fantasy. He really doubted Heather would run away for long. She did love her family and unlike him, she really did have a family to go home to. Or at least she had before all this.

  The other question was, what did Chuck stumble upon? Who was after her, and now him by default? Would they just keep coming, always looking for her, and why did their agents seem to resist his suggestion power? He really did need a plan, something tangible. If this was really the government they were fighting, how were they ever going to win? After all, the government had thousands of people working for them. Technically, every police officer and soldier was a potential enemy, and unlike the Matrix, he couldn't just jack out. He could, however, take a page from that and go on the offensive. Without them having any real knowledge of him, he would have somewhat of an advantage. Yet, what would he do with Heather? She was no Trinity. Even if she were, Trinity died.

  His mind spun in confusion as he went over scenario after scenario, each one wilder and more fantastic than the last. If he had been a real vampire, he would have a family or a coven that could help him in this attack. Even if he just had a wild brother that didn't approve of the way he lived his life, that would be one more person with some power to help him. Instead, all he had was himself and one normal girl. Beautiful, yes, but still only normal. If he were just by himself, he could head in commando-style, but then what would be the point? They were after Heather, not him. If she wasn't in the picture, then this whole situation wouldn't exist.

  He stood up, frustrated with being unable to come up with a simple solution, He was sure it had to exist. I had to be right there, and so obvious he was just missing it. He shut the door quietly, so as not to wake her, and headed back to the laundry room, sure that it must be done by now. Perhaps he needed a watch, so he could keep time better, as he had no idea how long he had sat there. The wash turned off just as he entered. Well, his timing wasn't that off. Hadn't he read somewhere before that vampires were meticulous at counting? Time was a form of counting if you thought about it. He had just enough change to start the dryer, he hoped it would be enough, otherwise Heather was going to be getting into damp, cold clothes tomorrow morning.

  As he was closing the door, he noticed movement just above his motel room door where Heather was sleeping. He stopped to let his eyes adjust. Whatever it was, it definitely moved. It appeared to be a little black blob of some sort.

  "Hey!" He yelled, as he started to jog across the parking lot trying to get the thing's attention.

  Two red orbs turned toward him. He paused for a second, surprised that it really was something there and not an optical illusion. The thing didn't wait to see what he was going to do. Instead, it quickly pulled off of the top of the door and whipped itself over the roof's edge, fleeing out of sight.

  "Damn it." Shaking off his surprise, Brian ran for where he last saw the 'thing', not stopping, he jumped to the roof from the parking lot. He didn't pause to think about the single-story leap he'd just accomplished, instead, he continued full board in the direction he last saw the blob head into. As he reached the peak of the roof, he saw a large raven leap into the air and fly up at an impossible speed. Brian stopped, and watched it rise up. He wasn't sure, but it looked as if it had turned a red eye to look back at him as it climbed.

  "Now would be a good time to be able to fly..." he mumbled to himself. He stood there for a few moments, and looked for any other movement that might have been the blob thing. He didn't expect to see anything else once the raven flew away, but he did hold on to the hope for a short time. In the end, he headed back down to the room and walked in, locking the door as he did so.

  Rubbing his eyes, he surveyed the room. Nothing was out of place, and Heather was still asleep. Well, that was just strange, and as far as he knew, it was also impossible. He suppressed the urge to laugh at that. The irony of a vampire saying something was impossible in the real world was ridiculous. Okay, assuming what I just witnessed was real, and I can't see why it wasn't, it seems we have some sort of a problem. That thing was definitely hanging out over their door, and to make matters worse, it didn't want to be seen. Was it some sort of predator looking for someone to eat? Or was it a spy? He actually hoped it was the first. That, he could deal with. But if it were a spy for whoever was looking for her, what had they gotten themselves into?

  He had long ago accepted the fact that because of his existence, there had to be others like him. He even toyed with the possibilities of other things existing that were not normal. Yet, to actually come face to face with something that was clearly not normal was a bit disturbing.

  He could wake up Bobby, get Heather, and they could run. Or he could sit and wait for the arrival of the whomever that thing worked for. He had been considering going on the offensive, maybe this was it. He walked to his chair, considering his options. Heather's clothes weren't dry yet...and he hadn't really spent any time with her, so. He climbed onto the bed with her and laid down next to her. He fluffed up the pillows that were on his side and propped himself up. He decided to wait. He really didn't like running. It was fun and all, when it was like a fantasy with no real danger. But to truly be chased? The fact that these actually weren't normal government agents, and they were making him run brought up a feeling of intense rage in him. No, he didn't like that. His kind were meant to be the predators, not the prey. So if they wanted to play, he would be willing to accommodate them.

  Hours passed as he sat in the room, waiting for the cars to arrive. Once or twice he thought he saw movement on the ceiling, only to find it had been his imagination. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but it was long enough for his indignation of being chased and hunted to seep away. He began to have second thoughts about staying there. Perhaps he was being hasty. He really didn't know if he could be killed by normal bullets. He did have a half sneaking suspicion that if he died, he would come back to life as undead. Of course if he were wrong, then the alternative wasn't a pleasant thought to him. After all, he was just seventeen, and he really hadn't done anything with his life yet. Heather rolled over and kicked her bare leg from under the blanket, throwing her bare leg over his two, and draping an arm over his chest. From all appearances she was still asleep, but she buried her face into his side before her breathing returned to a quiet rhythm.

  Bria
n sat there in shock. He could feel the pulse running through her leg. The heat of her body seeped through his clothes, warming him in more than one way. He wasn't sure if he were in heaven or hell as a conflict of thoughts and emotions ran through him. He could see that her hip was bare, and the edge of her rear was partially exposed. He wanted to lay his hand on her leg and slowly caress it's perfection. All thought of the intruder left his mind as he slowly began to put his desire into motion. The softness of her leg was incredible, and yet he could feel the strength and firmness of that leg as he slowly began to trace its path back to it's source, enjoying the curves and silkiness of it. His heart felt like a jackhammer in his chest as he reached the curves of her hip. They too felt silky soft, but he could feel her bones just underneath. He never realized how sensual a woman could feel. He had held her and done all sorts of things with her that were fantastic in her dreams, yet never had her body felt this way before. He could never have expected it to be so wonderful.