Fall Into Your Sunlight.

Evangeline wasn't sure how many times she'd had this nightmare anymore. She had lost track of how many times she had woke screaming and sweating bullets, tears filling her eyes. The worst part was what it was about. It was before all of the vampire nonsense, before she became a walking freak of nature. She still bore the scars.

It had been an accident. They were only nine but at that age they had been convinced they were invincible. Racing through the New York streets had meant nothing to them then. They were young and stupid and reckless. And vulnerable. Rikka had been ahead of her as they sprinted up Broadway. Just as they passed one of the infinite number of bodegas, someone masked came running out, gun drawn. She didn't remember the sound of the gun going off, just the muzzle flash. Once. Twice. Three times. The man was a crap shot. He missed the shop owner, who he'd been aiming for, and ended up hitting Rikka in the head. Eve distinctly remembered the sight of her brain matter splashing across the oranges.

The second bullet struck her in her right arm and traveled through the flesh and out the other side, lodging in her ribcage. The third ricocheted off of the newspaper box and through her stomach, miraculously missing any vital organs. But Eve didn't care that she was bleeding; Rikka's face was gone.

And almost every night since, in one form or another, she had dreamed of Rikka and her non-face, horror struck. Sometimes, Rikka was a vampire. Sometimes she was nine again and sweet but the back of her skull was dripping blood. Sometimes Rikka wanted to kill her. Sometimes she served as an omen.

Tonight, Rikka was nowhere to be found. Until about ten minutes before she woke up. It was the bodega all over again, only this time it wasn't Rikka who died. It wasn't herself either. She couldn't quite make out the face before it was gone, but the eyes were blue. Something in her stomach gave and she started to call their name just as the Colt .357 jerked in the killer's hands.

The scream that escaped her throat was what woke her, and she jerked into a seated position, eyes wide with terror. In fourteen years, the dream hadn't changed that dramatically and in fourteen years, Evie had never been more terrified after waking.

Curling her knees to her chest in the darkness, Evie realized that Garrett was gone, and it was nearly dawn. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she tried to slow her breathing, to calm herself down even as her heartbeat stuttered erratically. Distantly, she heard a door slam and then the gate slide down and she waited for whoever it was to cross in front of her door.

She hadn't realized that she was whimpering until John walked in, his eyes wide with concern. "Eve, are you alright?" He didn't even think. He just climbed onto the bed next to her and waited. When she leaned into him, he put his arms around her and let her shake. "What's wrong?"

"Nightmare." She mumbled as her quivering slowed and her heartbeat began to even out. "I'll be fine. I get them all the time." She said, her voice trembling just a little.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Not particularly." She replied. She hadn't even written a blog entry about the incident, about why she was gun shy and wouldn't touch a crossbow with a ten foot pole. They were fired using basically the same mechanism, and aside from that, with a bow, she was more afraid she would end up shooting herself in the foot.

"Alright." He could accept that. He also knew he would get an answer out of her eventually. He was just going to have to dig. "What are your plans tonight?"

Eve snorted. "Dinner, book then bed. Or something. Possibly more exposures. Why? Are you going to attempt to seduce me?" She teased.

"Maybe." He drew the word out, grinning ear to ear. "What if I said I was going to make you dinner?"

"I would say, 'please don't eat me'?" She replied, innocently. That got a laugh out of him. "And also, do you even know how to cook?"

"Hey, don't underestimate me. I might be rusty, but there's a possibility that I am not a bad cook at all." He replied.

"Then the pantry is yours." She said. "It's a date."

What the hell was she doing?

---
John had long since crashed when Eve stepped outside, her red-blond hair tied back into a sloppy bun, dressed in jean shorts and a tank top and a pair of sandals. She had in her right hand a camcorder. She had no idea what she planned to do with it, but it was noon and she figured she might as well get out and do something.

Pressing record, she sighed. "Hey guys. I guess this is video diary entry number two. Number one was posted like, three years ago, I think? Anyway. It's June in Tempe and the heat is brutal." She paused. "I guess the whole point of this is to remind you guys of what I see daily, what you're missing. And to remind myself of what I'm missing. I think it's somewhere around noon, so I feel really stupid for doing this, but all things considered, I'll take the possibility of baking to death over dying of vitamin D deficiency." She paused. Where would she start?

She started with the sky. It was endless. Blue from horizon to horizon without a cloud in sight. Perched on her hill she laid back and let it record a few seconds. "It's kind of funny how small it makes you feel staring at the sky. Like a pinhead only tinier. A bacterium or something. It's a big world, and I'm not just talking about the planet. I mean everything. There's so much we don't know about what's out there. And, well, considering the state of the globe, it's safe to say we've ditched space travel." She paused, a wry grin on her features. Sometimes she surprised herself. "Personally, I've always preferred looking at the stars than at the sky during the day. The mysteries of space are far more gratifying to ponder than what I had for breakfast or why I happen to have a deformed left toe. Don't get me wrong, I love my toes, but it's gross."

She moved off, down her usual route and into the stand of trees. She laid down here and looked up at the green light that filtered through the leaves. "This has always fascinated me. As a kid, growing up in New York, whenever we'd go upstate, we'd stay in a cabin, and I used to play out in the woods. I'd lay down on the leaves and dirt and just stare above me for a while. My mind inevitably ended up shutting down, but it was only after I had thoroughly convinced myself I lived on another planet. It's so easy to think of the woods as another world and as a kid, it didn't take much to let my mind slip it's leash."

She let it record as she lay there; the sounds of small animals scurrying around all but flooding her ears. A rabbit scurried past, followed by a feral cat. An owl ended up on the branch above her, and Evie nervously slid out of the way of any potential droppings. Birds had shat on her before and it was never pleasant, especially when nailed in the face.

Finally, she meandered back home to upload the video and then do who knew what until John got up.

When she got there, the blinds had been carefully closed in the kitchen and she heard rustling. It was barely past six. "Excuse me, but what the-"

"Out." He said as she started into the kitchen. She stopped, brow raising as if to convey to him that this was her house. "Out." He repeated, a grin plastered across his face. She held up her hands and backed out, moving off to her room to snag her laptop before heading up to the library to work.

She signed onto her webpage while uploading the video to find a message already waiting from Garrett.

Hey, sorry I bailed this morning. I, um, had to take care of something. Evie rolled her eyes, and clicked the reply button.

No worries, handsome. Do you mind telling me why John is in my kitchen attempting to make dinner? I'm scared. She hit send, and then checked to see if the video had finished uploading before she posted the URL into her blog, along with a note.

Just thought I'd give you a taste of some of the things I see or think about. And yes, my toe really is grossly deformed. It's bent and it sticks out funny. Maybe one day I'll post a picture.

Once that was done, she found a reply from Garrett who was quickly becoming one of her favorite people. Yeah, I would be to if I were you. I'm sure he means well, but kick him out of there as soon as possible. He's uncoordinated, so it might not be out of the question for him to accidentally burn down your house. I'll be over shortly, by the way.

Now she was worried. Garrett might have been joking about John burning down her house, but the kitchen was another story. By now, it was dark enough that she needed to turn on a light, so she figured she might as well grab a book and make herself comfortable in the den, which happened to have a line of sight into her kitchen in case anything went wrong.

"I hope you're not putting blood in anything, John." She said, casually as she dropped onto the couch. "Because then your date is spoiled, 'cause I can't eat any of it." There was silence from the kitchen. "Ingesting too much blood will end up making me physically sick."

"How d'you know that?"

"I may or may not have been hit in the face with a baseball bat at the age of six. Swallowed four teeth and quite a bit of blood. Ended up throwing up for a good six hours afterward." She replied, cracking open her book.

"Who the hell hit you with a bat?"

"Danny did, naturally. Neighbor kid. Entirely uncoordinated."

"That had to suck."

Eve shrugged. "Eh, they were baby teeth, thankfully, so no harm done. Speaking of, you're not burning down the kitchen, are you?"

"No, you're safe." He replied, laughing. "Your pantry's empty, dude. And so's your fridge."

"I don't get out much, on account of my disability." She replied, absently as she heard the front door unlock.

"I'll have to fix that." John said, watching her carefully from the other room. She looked very pensive over there on that couch. He would have to see what exactly it was that was making her tick.

"Fix what? Hey Evie." Garrett's voice felt like music to Eve's ears and she looked up towards the entrance, as her friend walked in. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his torn jeans and he wore a smirk on his face as he approached.

"Hey Garrett." She said, quietly. It was funny how her demeanor seemed to change.

"Eve has no food in her kitchen. That needs fixed," John replied, pretending he wasn't just slightly annoyed that Garrett had decided to show up when he did. Damn that kid for making things that much harder. Here he was, trying to make a good impression, and he had to show up.

Evie felt the tension in the room immediately, and it shocked her out of her mind. The only thing she could conceivably think of that would cause that kind of tension between friends was a girl. The only girl she could think of that they knew was her. As the realization sunk in, a cold fist grew in her gut. She didn't want to be cause for dissension among friends. And yet, here she was. This was just great. This was nonsense, that's what this was, and she refused to believe that she was about to get stuck in the middle of two male egos, battling it out for her affection.

This wasn't Twilight; this wasn't The Vampire Diaries. This was not some teen romance novel. This was reality and it was very, very dumb. She only hoped they'd get over themselves in enough time to realize that she wasn't a prize to be won before her time ran dry. After all, she was probably the only human left in Tempe that wasn't in a mill being farmed. What happened when the blood dried up?