The next morning Sarah found her whole body ached. It felt as if she’d taken a pounding physically as much as emotionally. Gradually she remembered the battle and recognized that she wasn’t in her own bed or even her own apartment. She would never know those things again and the tears flooded her eyes.

No! She was not going to give into them again. She had come to a decision for herself in her sleep. She would make this work. At least for awhile. At least until she thought of a way out of this. Or she killed Alex and his group of vamps. That idea brought a lingering smile to her lips.

She went to the bathroom and took a long, hot shower. Unwilling to put her dirty, smelly clothes back on from the day prior, she checked the dresser drawers and came up with an extra large Kentucky Wildcats football jersey and wondered who the sports fan was in the house. It just might be enough to cover everything necessary. It was after sun up anyways. None of the vampires would be in action for a long while yet. Especially after the way they’d partied the night before.

She unlocked her door and padded silently about the first floor in search of the kitchen. She was famished. There had to be something nibble-worthy in the refrigerator or cupboards. She checked both. Not a crumb. However the fridge was lined with dozens upon dozens of plastic bags of blood stamped with a logo Sarah recognized from one of the local donor banks. Time after time Angela had attempted to block the vampire’s supply, but thanks to the greed of some of the truck drivers, Alex and his gang always found a way to obtain all they needed. It was true. Everyone did have a price.

"Yuck!" She made a face turning to close the refrigerator door and jumped back when she was met by a pair of piercing green eyes that seemed to be looking right through her. The guy was good sized, being as tall as Nick was with broader shoulders and more muscles. He was at least five years older as well and incredibly attractive in a "tall, dark and handsome" kind of sense. Either way, Sarah didn’t like the idea that she was alone in the kitchen with him. Liked it even less when she realized how little she was wearing.

"I’m Kevin," he informed casually, extending his hand, his amusement at her reaction still playing upon his lips. She didn’t accept the invitation and the cool look that flashed across his face at that moment made a chill run up her backbone. It probably wasn’t the best idea to be anti-social at this early stage of the game.

"Aren’t you supposed to be snoozing?" she asked warily.

"I’m one of the lighter sleepers. I only need a few hours." He looked her up and down suddenly and Sarah abruptly wished the refrigerator door was between them again. "Hey, you’re wearing my shirt," he pointed out.

"Give me a minute to change and you can have it back," she offered quickly and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. She hadn’t seen his lips completely turn up into a smile, but was certain its affect would be devastating.

"Its okay. I hardly wear that one anymore anyways. Appearances don’t mean much when you’re a vampire. Your victims don’t care if you’re wearing Armani or Levis." Sarah caught herself smiling a little at his being so down to earth. The hints of a slow, southern drawl were present in his voice and for some reason, hearing something she could relate to as a human felt comforting.

"Where are you from, Kevin?"

"Kentucky. The accent gave me away, uh?" He seemed disappointed in the fact.

"Just a little," she smiled. "Long ways from home aren’t you?"

"Yeah, but I don’t mind. I didn’t have all that much going for me there. This is home now." An awkward pause passed between them and Sarah decided to bring things to a close. She was feeling uncomfortable again.

"Well Kevin, I guess I’ve got to go out. I need some grub and B positive just doesn’t do it for me."

"Yet," he continued the thought for her. "But it will once Nick brings you across."

"What?!" her eyes grew wide. Swiftly she remembered and tried to recover. "Oh yeah, right." She didn’t sound convinced and Kevin picked up on it instantly. She had to remember to watch it around these guys. They all had the ability to intercept her thoughts quite effectively.

"You don’t sound very excited about it."

"Oh, I’m excited. Very much so. Can’t begin to tell you how much," she feigned while driving the words into her brain.

"You’ll see, you’ll learn to love it," he confided. "Apart from not being able to enjoy watching another sunrise, there aren’t many other disadvantages."

Yeah, apart from being blood sucking monsters that prey on humans, no disadvantages at all, she mused sarcastically, then hurriedly exorcised the thought.

"What was that?" Kevin asked coming closer, his eyes narrowed, burning her with their emerald green flame.

"I didn’t say anything," she played innocent.

"It wasn’t what you said," he pointed out, growing even closer.

Sarah didn’t trust him and now he knew it. He knew too much. She didn’t wait a moment longer and reached behind her to slide open the knife drawer, searching for something to defend herself with. Empty. Panicking she ran for the front door, but like a giant cat, he seemed to leap across the room and he had planted himself in front of it before she could reach it. She raced toward the living room, but Kevin was there as well. He was always one step ahead of her. Wait! She’d almost forgotten. He was able to anticipate her every move because she was inadvertently broadcasting them to him through her thoughts. She’d have to mentally sidetrack him somehow.

She ran down the hall towards her room and heard Kevin’s footfalls heading straight for her coming from the living room entrance. At the last possible moment, she turned away from him and grasped the knob of the door across the hall praying it was left open and praying more so that it was Nick’s room she was invading in her desperation. She slammed it in Kevin’s face just as she maneuvered herself around it and secured it from within.

Sarah hesitated turning around, unsure of exactly what was going to meet her eyes when she did. A scene out of Interview with the Vampire with a dank chamber lined with coffins had her bet. Instead she discovered it was a room much like her own. Slightly larger but not really much different. Some thin streams of light filtered in around the window casing at the end of it letting her pick out objects in the dimness.

She spotted Nick lying on his back in bed and she ran over without hesitance, grasped his shoulders and shook him violently. In the same moment she did, she heard the door handle being turned one way then the other with measured rotations and knew Kevin was working it. Oh God, he was going to get in! Sarah shook Nick again uncaring how loud her voice was now.

"Nick! Nick! You have to get up! Please, wake up! Kevin is at the door..."

Drowsily he came awake as if it almost pained him. "Sarah?! What are you doing here?"

"Kevin’s after me! He cornered me in the kitchen and I think he read my thoughts. I don’t know how much he knows, but he knows!" Sarah hated that it sounded like she was babbling and for a split second, it concerned her what Nick might think of her, but at the moment, she had bigger worries. Much bigger worries.

Suddenly Kevin was inside the room coming up close to them and it was all Sarah could do not to throw herself on the other side of the bed behind Nick seeking his protection. Cowering from a vampire behind another vampire--she never thought she’d see the day.

"Kev, what’s going on?" Nick asked much too casually for her comfort.

The elder vampire’s vivid green eyes fixed on her briefly, the insinuation and mistrust smoldering in them intensely, but it was well camouflaged by the time he directed his response to the other vampire. "I don’t know what her problem is, Nick. I was just playing with her. We were talking and suddenly she panicked and took off. She would have staked me if she had the chance. There’s something about her that doesn’t feel right for some reason. I don’t think she’s so into the idea of becoming one of us as you think."

Nick pushed his fingers through his sleep-tousled hair tiredly, trying not to appear upset about it. "Would you be? I mean come on, face it. Is this really the life you would have picked for yourself if you’d have had a choice? She’s just scared, Kev. Give her a break. She’s been through a lot. She’ll come around," Nick assured, stroking her hair as if she were some lap dog. Sarah loathed the feeling, but was willing to allow it if it made Kevin leave her alone.

"I hope so. The last thing we need around here is another bitchy female vampire. Sorry to scare her. I didn’t think she’d wake you and half the house up," Kevin responded as he left, shutting the door quietly behind him. He didn’t look back.

A cold chill went up Sarah’s spine when she realized how often he’d talked about her in the third person. As if she wasn’t really there. Or perhaps, as if she really didn’t matter. She realized all the vampires she’d met so far were like that. Well, except for Nick. She released a sigh of relief and his hand reached out to rub slow, comforting circles over her back. She felt embarrassed. As if she’d made a mountain out of a molehill.

"He wasn’t ‘just playing’ Nick," she told him quietly. "For a moment he saw what I really thought of him. What I thought of all of them. He knows."

"Maybe he does, but I explained it. You’re scared. You have every right. You go from being a slayer who’s sacrificed having any sense of a normal life to kill vampires to living with them overnight. You’re not going to lose that hatred that quickly. No one would and I think he accepted that. From now on though, it’s best if you don’t take chances. Don’t let yourself be caught alone in a room with one of them. If there’s more than one, it makes the mind reading process a little harder. Things get muddled. Sort of like being at a loud party where everyone is talking at once. If we’re able to focus in though, there’s not much a person can hide from us."

"Nothing?" she tested, finding the sheer extent of their capabilities already unbelievable.

"Well, almost nothing. There are some things people deny even to themselves or find too hard to accept. Those things, a vampire can’t see. If we could, I’d be making a fortune as a psychiatrist right now." The joke took Sarah completely off guard and it was several seconds before she got it and a small smile broke out across her face. Her heart was still racing over what happened with Kevin in the kitchen. Nick’s touch stilled upon her back. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, sensing that she really wasn’t over it.

"I will be as soon as my pulse settles again. You know, my first instinct was to stake him and it shocked me when I realized I couldn’t. I’ve always had that skill to fall back on. Without it I’m just...just..."

"Human?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she realized growing enlightened. "I haven’t been ‘just human’ in a long time. Ever since I first found out my fate was to be a slayer. That was at around the age of ten or so. From then on, my life was filled with training, weapons practice and nights spent on patrol when I should have been at school sporting events or dances or just hanging out with my friends like teenagers do. I missed out on so much."

"I know what you mean. Alex brought me across about three years back, when I was nineteen. I had never been that big on school but suddenly it became very important to me that last year and I begged him to wait until I’d graduated before he brought me over completely. He honored that wish, but my grades had slipped so much by then, I didn’t make it and Alex couldn’t wait any longer so… I didn’t even get to finish high school. Kind of hard to attend classes when you can’t go out in sunlight and would end up sleeping through them even if you could," he joked, trying not to make it appear as if it was all that important, but it was obvious it had been and still was to him. The look on his face alone let Sarah know that. "I got a GED but its not the same," Nick continued. "Alex and the others don’t understand why I even felt the need for it. Its not as if a high school diploma is going to do me much good now. I’ll never need to work a day in my life if I don’t want to. I can’t imagine what kind of job I’d get if I did. Maybe night watchman? Pretty boring work. I guess there’s always the hope that someday, things will change." Nick seemed so preoccupied by it, so lost in the possibility that Sarah almost hated breaking the silence. She’d never have believed she’d find such vulnerability in him.

"You were brought across so young. You’re my age and yet, you look nineteen. You’ll always look nineteen. Do you wish sometimes that it hadn’t happened?" She couldn’t believe she’d asked that. It was a loaded question for a vampire. She wasn’t sure what Nick’s reaction would be. He was the last person she wanted to turn against her here.

He studied her for several moments as the wall went back up around him, the impenetrable gaze shadowing his eyes once more. He was shutting her out again, but he did give her an answer. One that sounded as contrived as if Alex himself had written it. "I loved life then. I love it now. Alex never would have considered giving me this gift if he thought for one second I wouldn’t appreciate it. I’ll never get old. I’ll live forever. What is there not to like about that idea?"

"That you have to take that right away from others to do it," Sarah objected bluntly. She was playing devils advocate. She knew she shouldn’t have said the words but there was no use hiding them from Nick. The vampire would see it in her thoughts regardless.

"I won’t lie to you and say that I am regretful for every life I take. I’m not. I’ve seen how cruel people can be to one another. Often more cruel than vampires are themselves. Where we hunt to live, humans hunt for the thrill of the kill. Whether it be animals or each other. When you’re able to read into people’s thoughts, sometimes you find out things you don’t necessarily want to know. There are some very sick, demented minds at work out there. Serial killers, murderers, people with ideas so twisted, I would stake them myself if they were ever brought across because they are the kind that could do us the most harm."

"And you don’t think that Alex is one of them?" she questioned, her voice giving away how strongly she felt about this. "Look at the people he’s hurt. Look at the slayers he murdered yesterday. He didn’t fight fairly."

"He’s only trying to protect us. Just as Angela fought to protect all of you. As great as you may believe our numbers are, it’s more likely that only half of that actually exists. Vampires are killed off everyday by slayers, by natural means, by each other. And not just anyone can be brought across. You must be special. Like Alex said, you must have an inner strength. That is why the others are looking at you with such scrutiny now. They want to know they can trust you. They want to know that you are going into this willingly and that I am not coercing you. You have to prove that to them."

This meant the world to him, perhaps their lives and Sarah recognized it. "I’ll try Nick. I’ll try to be more careful. But what happens when it finally comes time to bring me over?"

"Let me worry about that," he assured. She looked at the man before her unconvinced with apprehension clearly etched in her features and he continued. "I won’t let it come to that. You need to be bitten three more times before it can happen. We can make it a very slow process. Depending on what happens with us, by that time it may not even be that important any longer and you and I would be able to go our separate ways once more."

For some reason, that idea wasn’t intriguing her as much as it should have been, but the thought was fleeting and she didn’t think he’d picked up on it.

Nick playfully pushed her off the edge of the bed. "Now go buy some food and some new clothes. It’s freaking me out seeing you in Kevin’s stuff!"

"How did you know?" she blurted unthinking. He simply tapped his forefinger to his temple and Sarah felt a laugh fill her throat. She would have to watch that. "But I’ll need some money. Last time I went to a store, they didn’t just hand me the merchandise," she explained uncomfortably.

"My coat’s over there. There’s some money in the pocket. Take whatever you need," he smirked watching her cross the room and dig for what she was looking for. She got the feeling if she could read minds right now, she probably wouldn’t appreciate how appreciatively Nick was thinking about her and she self consciously pulled the jersey lower over her bare legs in lieu of it. She couldn’t help but give a long look to the wad of bills she’d taken from the pocket before turning away. "It isn’t what you’re thinking," he insisted. "I’ve not dropped down low enough to start stealing from my victims just yet. My parents passed away last year. This is from a little nest egg they had set up for me. Alex showed me how to invest it more wisely and it’s doing really well. I’m set now for at least a few more years."

"He really does watch out for you guys, doesn’t he?"

"The relationship goes much deeper. Most of us that live here, he brought across into this existence. We owe him everything. He gives us shelter, safety and guidance and we give him our loyalty. I’m sure it was much the same with yourself and Angela."

Sarah didn’t think so. The bond Alex shared with these vampires was almost paternal. She couldn’t say the same about the leader of the slayers. Angela had kept to herself most days and you were never sure whether she was in the mood to build you up or tear you down. Sarah constantly found herself walking on eggshells in her presence and she’d come to barely tolerate that part of it. She was one of people closest to Angela, yet she never could really say she knew her. That appeared to be one advantage Nick had over her.

She strode to the door then turned back once more. "Umm Nick, I hate to be such a pain in the ass, but..."

"Car keys are near the back door. Third set from the right is mine. It’s the green Durango in back. Don’t scratch it," he added, settling down under the covers once more. "And let me get some sleep!" She couldn’t help but grin hugely on that. Men, whether mortal or vampire, were really all the same, weren’t they?

Sarah went out and after spending a good amount of time at McDonalds ordering just about everything off their breakfast menu to fill her aching stomach, she traveled to one of the local department stores to look for some things to wear. Twenty minutes of unsatisfying searching made her come to the conclusion that this was ridiculous. She had a full closet of usable clothes back at her place. Why was she making this harder on herself than it had to be? Alex had never said anything about her going back to her apartment to pick up some things. She debated it a moment more then turned the SUV in the direction of downtown. She’d make a quick stop there for some stuff then to the grocery store then back home. They’d never even know. Home...oh God, she was already calling Alex’s house, home? It seemed blasphemous in a way and she felt a great need to spit the word out.

As she pulled into her drive, Sarah immediately sensed something wasn’t right. She never left her windows open when she left the apartment, yet the curtains from her bedroom were being sucked outside and violently buffeted by the wind. What the hell...? she wondered as she bolted up the stairs two at a time. What met her eyes she never would have believed.

The front door was broken in. Not only twisted from the hinges but splintered irreparably and her tiny apartment wasn’t just ransacked--it had been torched! Black smoke and filth and soot stained the ceiling and floor. Most of her possessions were unrecognizable. As she moved through the rubble trying to pick out what had once been things she so cherished, she came to realize more and more that she shouldn’t expect her bedroom to be any different. The bed itself still smoldered and when she opened the closet, most of her clothes were gone, probably making up the pile of still burning embers that decorated the mattress. She couldn’t bring herself to even touch the few items that were left. There was no doubt in her mind who had done this. A vampire. Perhaps one of Alex’s own. Perhaps not. Some vampires had a strange way of celebrating.

Sarah shivered when she let her gaze fall on the mattress again and realized the result would have been no different if her body had been sleeping in that bed. She’d have gone up in flames right along with it. Nick was right. Her living beneath Alex’s roof was the only thing protecting her at the moment. She had to make it work.

She took notice of what time it was and knew she had to hurry. If she wasn’t back soon, some of the other vamps would be waking up and might get suspicious. She assumed they already were. It wasn’t as if she could fight them on her own. As if she could simply call the police to arrest Alex and his gang. Vampires with power like Alex knew how to get around the police. They were above the law. Had been for centuries. That wasn’t about to change now.

She knew she’d have little time to try on clothes so she forced herself to take the few remaining pieces from the closet, grabbed some changes of underwear from her drawer, a hairbrush, toothpaste, a few little necessities that had been sitting on the bathroom counter and threw them into a shopping bag and left. She didn’t once look back as she tossed the stuff into the Durango and sped from the drive. She wouldn’t ever be coming back here again.