Avalon had looked at all the rooms, hoping she'd find one with a window. She had no such luck. She flipped on the light in the last room at the end of the hallway. Edaniel walked inside with her and closed the door. She sat down on the bed and looked around. It looked like a regular bedroom, except with all artificial lighting to it.

"So do you like it?" Edaniel asked.

"Yeah, it's great! Almost like my old room at my house." Avalon smiled sadly.

"That good, I'll let you sleep then. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." Edaniel had his hand on the door handle before Avalon was across the room holding him from opening the door.

"I want to ask you something. When Kirima was bringing me over here, she told me you could help me. What did she mean by that?" Avalon questioned, dropping the boys hand.

"She meant help you survive. First thing tomorrow we're going to go to your school and clean out your locker, and while we're there, we'll pick your target. Even if they had evidence, you can't arrest someone you can't find. By that I mean you'll only be here and Kirima's café. Both are protect by strong magical barriers. Humans can enter the café, but they won't be able to see you." Edaniel explained.

"So, I have to go to school tomorrow? I mean, wouldn't they have already cleaned out my locker?"

"Probably not, considering your school has more students than any other school in the city, they have more things to do than clean out a locker first thing."

"How are we going to get there?"

"I like walking more than what I like to call 'the cheaters way' by appearing there. So be prepared for a long trek once you wake up! I'll be waiting for you upstairs in the morning." With those parting words, Edaniel left, closing the door silently behind him.

++++++++

Avalon opened her eyes to darkness. She didn't remember turning off the light before she went to sleep, but apparently someone had. It didn't matter though, because soon her eyes adjusted to the lighting, or lack of it. She saw an outfit hanging on a rack across the room. She didn't remember the rack either, but she didn't argue with clean clothes.

After she'd changed into a tight fitting black t-shirt, ripped blue jeans, and knee-high steel-toed boots, she pulled her fingers through her hair and sighed into the silent darkness. She pulled open the door and light flooded her vision. The hallway was bright compared to her pitch black room and it took her a moment of confusion to get her balance and mind back on track. She walked up the stairs leading to the bar, and like the night before it was basically empty. The only soul in the room other than herself was Edaniel drinking a deep red liquid.

"Good morning, Miss Avalon." Edaniel greeted without turning around.

Avalon took the seat next to him and put her head in her hands. She wasn't sure how she looked, but she knew the pain in her stomach was back, and worse than ever. She gritted her teeth and hoped for some miracle. Edaniel slid a drink in her direction. She stared at it for a moment before guzzling the coppery drink. It didn't taste as bad today, and it certainly dulled the pain in her stomach.

Edaniel set two flasks in front of the girl and stood from his barstool, "I'll carry one, but drink as you walk. Your stomach will take that for now."

"Where's Kirima?" Avalon asked, just noticing the woman's absence.

"She runs a café in your city during the day." Edaniel replied pulling Avalon off her seat. "Let us go."

Avalon picked up one of the flasks and put it in the wide back pocket of her jeans. She pulled her shirt down over it and headed for the door, Edaniel not far behind. They headed out into the sunlight and Avalon shielded her eyes from it, her senses again being knocked off kilter.

"Surprised? The sun does shine here. Despite what people think, vampires can stand to be in the sunlight for long periods of time. It's uncomfortable, but it's the same for humans, or so I've been led to believe." Edaniel smiled.

Their walk didn't seem to take long at all. The whole time Avalon sipped from her flask of blood, welcoming the numb the came to her stomach. Before they were even half way to her school, she'd finished the blood. Edaniel strolled merrily beside her, like a little boy wishing his sister would let him run off to play.

"Don't you think they'll be a little freaked out t o see a dead girl and a little boy waltzing into a high school like they own the place? I'd be kind of scared of something like that. They might think we want to shoot them or something. Can you imagine that?" Avalon made a gun with her fingers and pretended to shoot the people they passed.

The walk took them past where Avalon's house had once stood. On the sidewalk in front of the property, Avalon fell to her knees. Nothing was left. It was as if there had never been a house there, only an empty lot. Edaniel didn't get why tears were hitting the ground in front of Avalon.

"They really don't care, do they? I bet they didn't even set up a funeral? I bet they aren't going to! It's my entire fault. Everyone liked us till I dated Jack. I was so stupid." Avalon sobbed, lying on the ground.

"This is where your house used to stand, isn't it." Edaniel realized making a statement instead of a question.

"I was so stupid. I should have never dated Jack!"

"Listen to me Avalon, if Jack meant that little to you, I'll leave now and you can do things on your own."

"You don't understand! He meant everything to me! So did my family; and people hated them because they wouldn't cast me out in Jack's name. I was stupid for not leaving so they could live in peace with everyone else. They wouldn't be dead and they wouldn't have been friendless."

Avalon stood up, wiping the tears from her face. She grabbed Edaniel's hand and pulled him away from the plot of empty land. Edaniel didn't take his hand from hers even after they were far from her house. He knew she needed something to hold on to now that her family was gone, and he'd just have to be it for that moment.

They neared Avalon's school, and she dropped Edaniel's hand. She turned to look at him, "Do I look okay to you?"

"Beautiful as you looked last night." Edaniel grinned.

That grin got Avalon to the door of her school and inside. It was lunch time and students were roaming the halls. Avalon and Edaniel stuck out from the uniform wearing students that walked around them. They heard whispers as they passed everyone. With their hearing, everything was amplified as if the people were talking in normal voices.

"You were popular here, weren't you? Everyone seems to know your name." Edaniel noted.

"Yeah, I didn't have any enemies, and everyone knew who I was. I sort of missed that after I started dating Jack, but he always made it better in the end. I always picked him over them when it came right down to it." Avalon sighed.

She neared her locker. Her friends' lockers all surrounded hers. It had been a ritual to sit at their lockers as they ate lunch, and they carried it on without her. She saw them eating and laughing like they didn't have a care in the world. Avalon clenched her fists at her sides. Edaniel took her hand and smiled up at her.

She walked right through the middle of her old friends and put in the combination to her lock. She smiled when it opened and remains of her happiness stared back at her. Pictures of Jack were tacked to every open space. Edaniel smiled behind her and nodded his approval, even though Avalon wasn't paying him attention.

"You really loved Jack didn't you?" Edaniel asked.

"With all my heart." Avalon smiled, carefully taking down all the pictures.

Her friends just stared at the girl in shock. They didn't know what was going on. They had been told Avalon was dead. There was no way to react to someone you thought was a zombie. They looked at Edaniel with confusion, for they didn't know who he was at all.

"Hurry, we have to get back to Kirima. She wanted us to be there before one. We can take that back to the bar first. Kirima will be happy to know you loved him that much. Before, he was cold and distant. He was like a whole new person after you two were together." Edaniel explained.

Realization clicked in the girl's heads. Their friend was a vampire, and so was the little boy. They all scooted away as slowly as they could manage. Avalon carefully placed the pictures in a small bag and pulled out her favorite jacket. Those and a couple of books that she'd thrown into the bag were all she wanted. She kicked the locker closed and turned to grin at Edaniel.

"Do we really have to walk that long way again? Can't we just...you know?" Avalon begged.

"You want to do it for affect don't you?" Edaniel asked staring at the fear struck girls.

"Yeah, kind of, and I want to know what it's like."

"Fine...."

Edaniel grabbed Avalon's hand and waved at the girls before disappearing in thin air.