Change or Die

Alexa's PoV

I spent the remainder of the daylight talking to Brent. He was actually really nice, almost the polar opposite of his brother. We didn't really talk about anything that important, but it was fun to have a normal conversation with somebody for once. Of course, normal can never last long in a house full of vampires.

The others had gone upstairs hours ago and we were left alone. When the sun started to go down, Brent decided to ask me how much, exactly, I knew about vampires.

"Not much, really," I conceded. "Just that they're like, impossibly fast, strong, and have issues with the sun."

He laughed. "There's a lot more to us than that, Lexie." And there was. It turns out that I was right on speed and strength, but I was almost completely in the dark with how they react to the sun. According to Brent, anything brighter than a dim incandescent light bulb was like a giant spotlight for them, which explained why Zacky had freaked out so much when his sunglasses had come off outside.

Hovering over me for close to a minute, the sunglasses fell off of Zacky's face, revealing his now perfectly black eyes for less than a second before he screamed and jumped back.

Instantly, his arms flew in front of his face, shielding his eyes from the sun. I lay on the thorns for another minute or so as we both struggled, Zacky with the light and me with the trauma of being thrown down onto my battered rib cage.

Brent also told me that the sun allergy was a lot more serious than Indy had made it out to be. Apparently, being exposed to sunlight sent the vampires into a frenzy and could even kill them. It did something to their brains that basically shut down all logical reasoning and left them operating on sheer instinct. Hunting instinct, to be exact.

I jerked back around to run the last stretch when I heard an ominous thud behind me, followed by labored breathing. Both annoyed and terrified, I slowly turned to face my pursuer. Earlier, Zacky had seemed nice. Now I was scared. His eyes were hidden by oversized sunglasses, his skin concealed by a dark hoodie. He stood there panting, fangs out, no more than five feet away from my spot almost in the hedges.

I glanced back over my shoulder quickly, not wanting to put him behind me. However, those few seconds were all the invitation he needed to tackle me to the ground.

While this definitely explained why the normally quiet and kindly Zacky had attacked me like that, I really didn't understand how the sun could kill them. Brent elaborated that after a certain amount of time, the sun would start shutting down the rest of their brain until they were left utterly helpless and ended up killed or dying when the brain shut down completely. The heat also scorched their unnaturally pale skin, accounting for the lovely toasted appearances of the vampires I had seen more than once.

Zacky looked like he had been thoroughly sunburned all over, even though I knew damn well he was covered the enter time.

Zacky wasn't as burnt looking anymore. His skin had returned to a normal color, but he looked tired and weak.

When I followed it, I found a bright red Charlie seated on the railing of the bridge, staring into the water.

"So if you ever want to run away," Brent said. "Do it at like noon, in the middle of summer."

Then I laughed. I laughed until I cried.

---

That night, everyone came downstairs and did something that surprised me. They all gathered around the TV and turned on the 10:00 news. Brent and I ignored it for a while as he explained to me about food, trying to calm me down.

"So basically, all we really need is blood since it already has all of the.. like, nutrients and whatever other shit in it, and food is just like really tasty vitamins or something. Did you know that a pint of blood has like 2,000 calories in it?" he asked randomly.

This, naturally just made me laugh harder. "So why aren't you all fat?" I choked out.

"What, are you crazy?! Matt and Brian are totally cows, and don't even get me started on Zacky," he joked. Matt and Bran turned around simultaneously and shot him death glares. "Woah, are you trying to be like the twins in The Shining or something?"

Zacky's head drooped pathetically, making my laughter quiet down. "Awh, Brent, I think you hurt his feelings.." I whispered.

Brent shrugged. "Just watch." In moments, Indy materialized out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around Zacky, appearing to be talking to him, but I couldn't hear what she said. Soon enough, she was seated on his lap with her typical smile plastered across her face as he calmly played with the ends of her hair, watching the screen almost apathetically.

I was impressed. Then they moved on to the next story.

"..In other news, a local bartender has gone missing. Miss Alexa Emerson of the Huntington Beach area disappeared a week ago. Reportedly, she never returned to her apartment after work and did not contact anyone during her four-day hospital stay. If anyone has news of her whereabouts, please contact..." the reporter droned, a picture of me from work floating beside his head. The entire room turned their heads creepily to stare at me.

"Okay, I get that that's weird and probably not good and all, but it would really be awesome if you guys didn't, y'know, all turn to creep on me in unison. It's kind of weird," I rambled. Bran Flakes looked annoyed; Brent was chuckling quietly. Which one would you rather be with?

Charlie hopped to her feet and switched the TV off. "WE'RE HARBORING A FUGITIVE!" she screamed, pointing at me so dramatically, her arm was straight.

Bran Flakes snorted. "So how about we throw her out to be caught?"

I stared at him. Weirdly enough, that.. sounded bad to me. I wanted to stay here now. What was I really losing? My job? Sure, I made good tips, but I also got constantly harassed by random drunks. The regulars? They're nice, yeah, but it's not like I know them that well. My friends? None of them really cared about me anyway. My phone has been with me the whole time. Nobody has even tried to call or text me since I disappeared. My father? Hell, I'm glad to leave him.

But here... I had friends. Indy and Charlie had practically adopted me. Brent was quite probably the nicest person I'd ever met, and he wasn't exactly bad to look at, either. The others were generally nice, even slap-happy Libby. The only problem I really had with this place was Brian, and he really wasn't that big of a deal. So he's an asshole, sure, that just means he' not worth my time. Maybe I hadn't been here long. After all, I'd only been gone for a week, and I spent three days of that in the hospital, but this place almost feels like home.

I snapped out of my thoughts to scan the faces around me. Brian looked smug as always, but the rest looked.. concerned. Scared, almost.

"You don't want to leave us.. do you Lexie?" Indy asked cautiously.

"Really, Indy? You're asking the girl who had Zacky run out and almost die just so she could get away from here if she wants to leave? I knew you're stupid, but I didn't know you're that stupid," Bran challenged.

Charlie said vacantly, "Shut your stupid face, Bran Flakes, Indy's not stupid; she's just dumb."

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter, the point is it's a stupid question."

"It's not, really, because I don't actually want to leave," I interjected. Shrieks of joy from the two weirder girls followed my statement almost instantly. I was quickly tackled to the ground, pinned beneath two writhing bodies as Indy and Charlie competed to see who would more directly hug me to death.

Maybe I was hallucinating from lack of oxygen, but it looked like the rest of the gang was happy. Bran, once again, took off, this time out the front door.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Screw him. It's settled; Alexa's staying with us from now on." Cheers erupted around the room, and I was carried off by many pairs of hands towards the staircase. How can I be their hero when they are mine?