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  "You do understand 'stay', don't you?"

  "Go to Hell!" The other one yelled.

  "You first." Brian rushed the first agent and snapped his neck with both of his hands. The second one just had time enough to turn and look at him, before he, too, was dead. The thought had crossed his mind as he killed the first one, that there was plenty of blood in either one of these two men to stop his hunger. But the truth was, that he wasn't quite ready to go that far. Killing them yes, as it was necessary for survival. But drinking their blood like in the movies? Well, not yet. he wouldn't. Not when he had a perfectly good supply of the stuff in his home. All he had to do was to drop in and get it, then get out. It couldn't be that hard. The most they would have later tonight would be one car. After all, they couldn't think he was stupid enough to go back to his house could they?

  He had just one minor flaw to his plan that he didn't want to think of, and that was what if they had found his blood supply and taken it into custody. The possibility did exist, as how many people would have that much blood in their fridge? Luckily, he had moved it down to the basement fridge when Heather had stayed the night, but still, how long would it take till they found it?

  It only took a minute for him to get back to the car where Heather waited. He decided to climb in on the passenger side, just in case he needed to give their driver some more incentive.

  "Where to?" The man asked.

  "Just drive."

  "So where did you go?" Heather asked, as the car picked up speed and they headed down the little highway.

  "Oh, my nature called me." He smiled.

  She seemed a bit confused by his answer so he decided to change the subject.

  "What's your name again?" He asked the driver.

  "It's Bob, and you don't have to tell me yours, because I won’t remember it or you." He smiled stupidly at Brian before looking back at the road.

  "What's he mean by that?" Heather leaned forward.

  Looking back at her, he noticed she had slid to his side of the car at some point. He smiled as reassuring as he could, and just shook his head, not sure how he was supposed to answer her. What would he say? 'Oh, don't worry about it, I just screwed with his brain a bit. He'll be fine...I think?'

  "Brian, I'm hungry."

  "Aren't we all?" he smiled painfully at her. "Um, what's your name again?" He turned and asked the driver.

  "He said his name is Bob." Heather volunteered as the man turned to answer, instead, he just nodded as Heather answered for him.

  "And I wont remember you."

  Brian shook his head. This wasn't going to do at all. "Bob, is there anywhere we can stop and get some burgers or something?"

  The man nodded.

  "Could you please buy us some food?" Brian wasn't sure how much money the two of them had.

  Bob began to shake his head no, until Brian leaned forward and looked into his eyes, and the man immediately swapped to yes. That last little trick caused a pounding to begin just behind Brian's eyes. It wasn't too bad, but from past experience he knew this was the start to something he rather not go through right now. He needed to find a place to hole up so he could leave Heather alone while she slept. Then he could recover what he needed as quickly as he could.

  Otherwise he was going to have to go native, and if that happened, he was going to regret not just trying to suck those agents dry. About twenty minutes later, they had found a little truck stop. Bob went in and brought back some food. Brian picked at his, not really eating much, even though it tasted pretty good. He knew that this food wasn't going to do him much good, except maybe keep him alive, and even that wasn't something he knew for sure.

  "So, what are we going to do now?" Heather asked, as she finished her last fries and sucked on her chocolate milk shake. "Are you going to finish that?" She added, when she seen him picking at his burger. He shook his head and offered it to her. She snatched it and his fries, but he decided to keep his strawberry milkshake just in case it would actually help a bit to get something into his stomach.

  "Where are you putting that all?"

  She was halfway done with his burger already. This was pretty surprising, considering her size and how big that cafe burger was.

  "What?" She looked up indignantly. "I haven't eaten in, like, two days?"

  True, he couldn't argue with that. He had offered her some breakfast earlier that day, but instead she had elected to run to her house. That whole thing didn't turn out brilliantly.

  "Bob, do you know of a motel or anything up ahead?" The man nodded. “Good, why don't you drop us off there, then?”

  "And I won't remember you, either." Bob responded. Brian wasn't sure, but he thought what he was saying was either getting shorter, or more disjointed. Either way, he wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Whichever it was, it was definitely time to get off this train before he had to fuddle with this guy's brain again.

  "Well?" Heather asked, as the last of the hamburger disappeared into her mouth.

  "Well, first we need some sleep. Then...we will need to feed you again from the looks of that." He nodded to the two empty hamburger wrappings, "Then, we will have to decide what we wanna do with the rest of our lives."

  "Well, I know what I want." She said. "I want my Mama and Daddy back, and I'm going to go back and get them."

  Brian had to contain a sigh. He really wished she would get over that. He had to hear that time and again the entire day. Even the two agents that had recently woken up, had begun to complain about the incessant demands to go back after her parents. He had tried to tell her that they had no idea where the agents took them. That, in fact, these men in black may very well have taken them out of the country in one of those unmarked planes to a secret prison in some other country by now. One of the agents chuckled at his suggestion, but Heather would have none of that. Her entire plan was to go to the state police, or another town's police, where they wouldn't have been corrupted, and seek their help. Brian tried to persuade her against it, but she was adamant. He had tried to suggest the two agents right before he left them in an attempt to get some useful information about their situation, but like the first two, they seemed immune to his power of suggestion. Even after he had taken their sunglasses off, so apparently they didn't affect his power after all.

  That in itself told him he didn't want to mess with these people unless he had to. The way he saw it, they should just write them off as casualties, and if his ability to make suggestions continued to work, the two of them could move to Jamaica and live quite comfortably. Any of those thoughts and plans were being dashed with her pigheadedness. The only reason they were free now was because of him.

  If he had been just a normal teen like Chuck, they would both be locked up somewhere right now, most likely sharing a cell with some big, disgusting rapist. Well, maybe not him. In fact if he had just been normal, he would be at home right now oblivious of any of these goings-on. So, in a sense, he was the victim here, and yet she was the one going on about her parents, and her loss.

  "Alright, Heather. Suppose we do it like you want, but we do it in a way I want, just to make sure the whole country isn't compromised."

  "What do you mean?"

  "These agents are US agents. That means government types."

  She looked at him uncomprehendingly. He shook his head. "As in federal government."

  "Just because they said they were, doesn't mean they weren't lying." She said matter of factually.

  "I agree, but please, let's be careful."

  "I will be, Brian. But you know you don't have to go with me when we get to a new town. I won't tell them you were involved, I owe you that much."

  "I think you already did back at your home, in case you didn't remember."

  She smiled at him for the second time. "That's okay, silly, once I clear this up, you're going to be a hero, and not a criminal." She leaned forward quickly and kissed his cheek. All argument went out of him at that moment. He remembered who he was traveling with. He
had just been kissed by the most important girl in his life. The one he had thought about endlessly for the last couple of years. Here he was, practically alone with her, and she thought he was her hero, and kissed him.

  It was times like this that he remembered how young he really was, and not some impossibly old vampire from TV.

  The car pulled off the road and drove into a parking lot.

  "Bob?"

  "Here's a motel." The driver responded. Sure enough, there was one. It was one of those single level, beat up ones he'd seen on the side of highways all the time. The misty pine name was mostly burnt out, with only a few letters still lit, not to mention the vacancy sign.

  "Okay, Heather. First we get some sleep, and then when the sun comes up we'll try it your way."

  She smiled and clapped her hands excitedly. "You won’t regret it, Brian, I'm sure this is going to work.”

  He nodded and climbed out of the car, and waited for her to do the same.

  Bending down to talk face level with Bob, he told him to go home and forget.

  The driver just nodded and put the car in reverse, and began saying over and over as he pulled out of hearing. "I forget you. I forget you. I forg..."

  Brian sighed and scratched his head, and wondered if staying here was such a good idea.

  Well, if worst came to worst, he would just have to save them again. Right now he needed a room to put her to bed, and a chance to go eat. It only took a few minutes to suggest the motel clerk into giving them a room for the night, but by the time he sat down in it he felt exhausted and the pain behind his eyes was almost unbearable.

  He wondered if he had the strength for what he needed to do tonight. Only time would tell.

  Chapter 8

  The white ice-cream truck was almost within Brian's reach. He had been wanting that ice cream all day, as he listened to the army of trucks that seemed to be covering the neighborhood. From the sounds of their music, they must have been one on every street but his. Now, finally, it was his turn. The truck had passed right by him as he stood in front of his mothers home, waiting for it. He thought for a moment that he wasn't going to get any, but 'lucky' Heather had been coming home from the park with her friends, and had waved the little truck down. That gave Brian all the chance he needed to run to it and present his fifty cents for his favorite flavored ice cream. The line in front of it had gotten unusually long by the time he had reached it, but thankfully he was finally going to get his ice cream. It seemed to take forever, but eventually he found himself looking at the creepiest looking clown he had ever seen.

  "There you are." The clown said. "I've got your favorite popsicle right here."

  "I don't want a popsicle." Little Brian cried, "I want ice cream."

  "Nonsense." The clown turned and reached in to the truck, pulling out a heart shaped red popsicle, dripping blood everywhere as he tried to hand it to Brian. "Here you go, nice and fresh."

  "Nooo...!" Brian cried.

  The hotel room was silent, except for the heavy breathing of Heather, who was asleep next to him. Sweat covered his entire body, and his clothes reeked of it. Brian wiped his eyes, then slid off the bed and headed for the bathroom. The room was a dull white in the light of the little room. He could barely shut the door behind him, and that still hit him in the hip as he tried to move out of its way. The water looked clean that came out of the faucet, and it felt comfortably cold against his face as he splashed some on it. His head didn't throb as much as it had earlier, but he felt as if he were burning up, and he most likely had a fever. He looked around the room to get his bearings, if you could call it a room. Brian had seen bigger closets than this before. He couldn't believe he had fallen asleep. He couldn't remember the last time he had done that. It wasn't too much later than puberty that he had stopped sleeping. Once his vampiric tendencies had begun to manifest, a lot of what people called normal disappeared from his life. Not that he missed any of them. After all, he could still do most of them if he wanted to. Sleep, eat, love. All those things were still possible once his heritage manifested, it was just that most of that he really had no interest in any longer.

  The fact that he had fallen asleep without meaning to showed how far gone he was at the moment. Now that he really gave it some thought, he didn't feel as hungry as well. That was definitely not a good sign. He bent down and splashed some more water into his face. The cool sensation felt good as it ran down his face. Well, it was time to go. Actually, it'd been time to go when they got there. He had only meant to watch over Heather until she fell asleep, before traveling back to his home. He had given it some thought, and he had decided before his unexpected nap, to keep his blood supply at his house. He didn't want to risk freaking Heather out. He knew eventually he was going to have to share with her what he was, and he hoped, just like in the books he had read, that she would still accept him. Yeah, he knew that was most likely wishful thinking. No one in their right mind would want to be with a blood sucker. Yet, he did hold some hope in his heart.

  There must be some primal instinct inside a woman's heart that would attract her to his sort, otherwise, why would there be so many stories about it? Somewhere deep inside of them, they must have a secret yearning. Her, too.

  The door creaked in protest as he slowly opened it to look upon her as she slept. Once again, he was going to miss the opportunity to spend time with her as she slept. He couldn't help but chuckle at that. Here he was, spending all his free time with her, and what was he worried about? Missing out on her dream time as well. He shook his head at himself, as he crossed the room and sat in the small brown chair that came with the room. It was stiff and without a doubt, the most uncomfortable thing he had ever sat in. Thankfully, he wasn't paying to sit in it. Otherwise he might have more than just words for the clerk before they left tomorrow. Heather stretched, then turned in his direction. He half expected to see her look at him and smile, until he saw that her eyes were still closed. Wishful thinking. Especially the smiling part. He felt a bit responsible for the trouble she was in, until he remembered that it was Chuck who had started the whole thing. Him and his stupid friends. In a way, he did owe that lumbering idiot his thanks. If it hadn't been for him, he wouldn't be sitting in this motel room in the middle of nowhere with the woman of his dreams. He'd have to thank him if he ever got the chance.

  Pain shot through his head, ending at the back of his eyes. It was starting again, and if he didn't get going he was in for even worse. Normal human things could only do so much. The sleep had restored a bit of his power, but it never could do very much for him, and in the end it would actually do nothing. Brian reached over to the curtains hanging from the window and peeled them back just far enough for him to see out the window from his chair. The sky looked a little overcast tonight, and that was a good thing, because based on there current look, dawn wasn't too far away. Great, he had slept the greater part of the night away. He couldn't believe he could be that irresponsible. He looked over at the sleeping form of Heather. Well, he was just going to have to go, there was nothing else he could do. If he didn't, he would be absolutely no help to anyone. Not to mention the mother of all headaches he'd be sporting. No, there wasn't anything to think about. He had to do it. He should be back before she woke, and even if he wasn't, it wouldn't be long after.

  That decided, Brian sat back into the chair and closed his eyes. He concentrated on his home, on the room he slept in his entire life, The dirty old curtain that his mom put up years before, when she was still alive. The bed he had grown up sleeping on. He concentrated on all the things he was so familiar with in his home, until he felt a pop sound in the back of his head, then a rushing sound, and the feeling the whole world was passing by him and if he just opened his eyes he would see it shooting by. Long ago he had learned that lesson, when he first gave into the temptation to look. If the world had been passing by him, Brian never saw it, because the moment he opened his eyes, the image of who or where he was going disappeared from his minds eye, and he
found himself somewhere between the two. It wasn't any trouble to get back on the path, but it was a way to increase the time of getting from one place to another. Brian's forward movement stopped, prompting him to open his eyes and look about. It was his bedroom, and he was glad to see it. He hadn't tried this before without eating for so long, so he hadn't been to sure this was going to work correctly, or for that matter at all. Well, the easy part was done, now he needed to get to the basement.