Change or Die

Unknown's PoV

"Wait, pause that," I ordered my subordinate, indicating the news. It was times like this that made me glad I paid the extra cash for TiVo.

Grumbling, he complied. The image on the screen was that of an attractive, twenty-something woman. She had a fair complexion and platinum blonde hair complimented by shining blue eyes, but that wasn't at all what I was interested in. Oh no, all I was interested in was the dark mark hidden in the crook of her neck. It probably wouldn't even show if her hair had been down, but luckily for me, the picture the local news had displayed was one of her with her pale, no doubt flaxen locks tied behind her head as she smiled brightly at the camera.

"Oh, check it out! I think I've seen that before!" gaped the bumbling idiot holding the remote. "It's a bat, innit?"

"No, dude, it's totally a tent with wings!" another called.

"I THINK IT'S A CHEESEWHEEL!" screamed a voice just beside my ear. The owner got a punch in the face for his troubles.

"You think everything is a cheesewheel, dumbfuck.."

"THAT IS NOT TRUE! I don't think you're a cheesewheel, Boss... Boss is not a cheesewheel, guys!" he whined.

"I appreciate that, I really do," I commented dryly.

The male next to me grinned. My face went into my hands. Why in the hell can't I stay mad at that dipshit?

"Whatever tent and cheesewheel," started one of the smarter idiots. "It's a bat. And look, you can see the letters on it: S Y N."

"So....... I think I've seen something like that before, Boss," the first moron repeated.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Yes. Yes you have, genius. That, my dears, is none other than the mark of a certain Mr. Brian Haner."

A collective gasp rang out among the many followers in the room, accompanied by a smirk and eye rolling by the one other person in the room with an IQ above 60. "So, Boss, are we...?"

"Of course we're taking her," I snapped. "My God, I swear you all get more idiotic by the day..." Shaking my head again, I unpaused the television and stalked out of the room. After all, I had planning to do.

----

Alexa's PoV

The next day, Libby woke me up bright and early. I got up at 5PM sharp.

"Come on," she said conspiratorially. "I want to take you shopping before Indy and Charlie get up, because seriously, you can only wear other people's clothes for so long."

I nodded and hurried to get ready. Since I didn't really have many choices with anything other than soap, it took me about half an hour total to go from dirty in pajamas to clean in yet another one of some other girl's outfits. I went downstairs and Libby tossed me a granola bar as she grabbed sunglasses and car keys before heading for the front door. I followed obediently.

Outside, we clambered into the front seats of yet another large black Escalade. I wondered if it was Zacky's, apparently out loud. Libby laughed before telling me that it was Matt's and that, "They're such freaks, they have matching cars. Seriously, what's with that?!"

On the highway, she cranked up the local alternative station and we both shouted out the lyrics to every song that came on with the volume so loud, we got dirty looks for shaking other people's cars with the bass. Of course, this only prompted us to jack up the bass even higher, fuck the headaches we'd have later. Eventually, we pulled up next to a sports car full of "gangster" guys blasting rap almost as loud as we were blasting our rock. "Tch, morons. Their sound system is like a shoddy AM radio compared to this monster, check it," Libby half-shouted before changing the station to classical and maxing out the volume.

The sports car next to us was shaking even three times as hard as it had been before she changed the station. The looks we got were priceless as Libby had rolled down our windows and was headbanging to what I later found out was Glinka's Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla. The phrase "I wish I had a camera" doesn't even begin to cover it.

My face was almost purple from lack of oxygen, I was laughing so hard.

---

We hit the mall. Apparently, it was a Friday, and since our local mall had the unique feature of staying open 24 hours on the weekend, Libby and I were not at all out of place among the nocturnal shoppers heading in.

We first hit the bath and drug stores where I quickly selected my usual toiletries while Libby wandered off momentarily, her mind far away in Libbyland. However, she immediately snapped to attention when I finished with the "boring" shopping and headed for clothing. We spent hours just getting clothes. Libby had me in and out of every clothing store in the mall at least three times, hitting Hot Topic and Hollister about five or six times each. She was out to the car more than five times to deposit bags, and had me through the food court for some kind of weirdly timed lunch before we ended up in front of an familiar yet somehow unholy pink gateway.

"Oh, hell no," I said, staring up at the gold lettering. Don't get me wrong, I love pretty underwear as much as the next girl, but there was no way I was going into Victoria's Secret with someone like Libby. She was a sweet girl, not doubt about it, but she was absolutely manic when it came to shopping. I really didn't need her trying to get into the dressing rooms there with me like she had in almost every other store.

"Oh hell yes, " she countered. "You're going in there. Unless.. you like wearing other girl's underwear?" Damn. She definitely had me there.

Exactly forty-seven very long minutes later, I escaped from the store carrying another four bags. Libby had another three. All of our combined seven bags were mine. For some reason, there was a male cashier on duty that night. He looked... interested, to say the least, when I had approached the counter accompanied by the vampire, the two of us toting enough lingerie of various kinds to dress.. well, me for at least two or three years. Unable to stop myself, I gave him a wink when I collected my last bag before sauntering away from his station and out of the store, swishing my hips more than I ever had and walking unnecessarily close to Libby. She appreciated my humor.

It was enough to make me finally feel like I found my new best friend.