Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

“Do you think it’s safe to come out?” I whispered from behind the couch to Andy and Joe who were behind a plant, and behind the tv stand.

“Yes, it’s safe to come out, Avery left already.” Pete said coming into the living room.

“Aw she left already?? I didn’t get to say bye.” I pouted hopping over the back of the couch and sitting down as I turned on the tv.

“We’ll probably see her around soon.” Patrick assured. I just nodded and turned back to the tv. I don’t remember falling asleep, but somehow I did, because Pete was shaking me to wake up.

“Let’s go chickadee, it’s already eleven.” He said tossing me my crossbow.

“Wait, what time did I fall asleep?” I asked rubbing the back of my head.

“Five-thirty.” He answered tossing me my pack of arrows.

“Shit Pete, why did you get me up earlier? I’m in the same clothes as yesterday!” I shouted as I sat up.

“Like anyone will care,” Joe scoffed and I punched him in the shoulder.

“I care!” I said before running up to ‘my room’ in the hideout.

“Anna come on, we don’t have time for this!” Patrick shouted after me.

“I’ll be like two seconds!” I called back entering the bedroom with my stuff. I quickly changed out of my skinny jeans, tube top and knee high boots, and changed into a skirt, a corset-like top, put on a different belt, and my gold buttoned ankle high boots, and got my trench coat with gold buttons, and grabbed a random necklace, and threw it over my head. I put my coat over my arm and walked down the steps.

“You know Ann, I don’t know why you’re always bagging how the Dandies dress, because you really look like one right now,” Pete laughed and I stuck my tongue out at him. I shrugged into my coat and slung my arrows over my back, and picked up my crossbow from the couch.

“Are you guys ready or what? Because if not, I’ll just go home, change into pj’s and watch tv and eat ice-cream all night.” I said and they pushed me out the door towards the car.

“After tonight, we might as well move all of our stuff here,” Patrick said hesitantly.

“Wha- why?” I asked leaning forward from the back seat, with Andy next to me, Joe driving, Patrick in the passenger seat and Pete going on foot, like always.

“Because we’re not safe at home.” Patrick answered softly. I just sighed and slid back into my seat.

“Oh here,” Patrick tossed back a pair of ski goggles.

“How come I have to wear these ski goggles every time we go out? How am I supposed to know who to shoot when I can’t fucking see them because I’m wearing ski goggles?!” I said snapping them onto my head.

“Because I said so” Patrick answered, and I mouthed it at the same time.

“But WHY.” I said. Patrick didn’t answer so I started to pester him.

“Why can’t I see what this William dude looks like?” I said setting my crossbow.

“Because you can’t. He has this certain charm that draws women to him and he kills them then and there. Or turns them and they live with him for all eternity.” Patrick said slowly, making sure I understood him.

“Okay, we’re here. Anna, where do you stay and shoot from?” Patrick asked turning around and raising an eyebrow at me.

“The back of the car” I groaned for the fourth time this week.

“And WHY must you stay in the car?”

“Because last week when I left the car, I was almost caught and captured.” I groaned again.

“That’s right. And since they can’t get you in the car, what are you NOT gonna do?”

“Leave the car,”

“Even…?”

“Even if I have a clear shot of them and no one else does, I keep my ass in the car AT. ALL. TIMES.” I said repeating what I had to repeat for the past week.

“Good. Let’s go guys” Patrick said getting out of the car, Andy and Joe following him, and I saw Pete jump out of nowhere.

“Stay safe kid” he winked before joining with the guys and walking to where the massive amount of vampires where, and luckily they didn’t realize they were coming. I sighed at his sarcasm and sat back, put my feet up, and looked from side to side, holding my crossbow across my chest, waiting for something to happen. I got tired and started to fall asleep till I heard knocks on the window. I jumped and looked to my right, and almost shot Pete in the head out of annoyance. I rolled down my window and glared at him before setting my crossbow next to me.

“Yes?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t fall asleep on the job now, someone could walk right by here and you wouldn’t even know it.” Pete smirked and I just glared at him. He turned to leave but I held onto his arm.

“Can you keep a secret?” I pleaded.

“It depends, what’s in it for me?” He asked raising his eyebrow, and I just sighed knowing that would be his answer.

“I can’t think of anything, what do I have to do and for how long do I have to do it?” I asked and he smiled.

“Tell me what secret you need kept, and I’ll think of its level of difficulty.” Pete said as I rolled my eyes again.

“I can’t see a fucking thing, and I really wanna take off my goggles. Can you not tell Patrick? Because he’ll kill me.” I asked smiling widely before my face dropped back to all seriousness.

“Hmmm… that’s not TOO bad, but yes I’ll keep the secret. Now, what YOU have to do for me,” Pete smiled taping his chin and I just waited. “Clean my room for a week.” He answered and I stared at him.

“That’s all?” I asked happily.

“That’s all. It’s not that big a deal to me, but I understand it’s big for you, so you don’t have to do as much.” Pete said and I shoved him.

“Thank you, you’re a life saver.” I chuckled pulling the goggles off.

“See you in a bit.” He said, and with that he was gone. I sighed and kept the window down, and I looked around. I saw Avery and waved. She smiled and within a flash she was right by the car.

“Hey you, why are you sitting in the car?” She asked kneeling down and I sighed.

“MY brother wants to make sure I don’t catch a glimpse of YOUR brother, because of some magic charm from some old wives’ tale or whatever,” I said widening my eyes and shaking my hands and Avery just laughed.

“It may be an old wives’ tale, but it’s kinda true.” Avery said and I just nodded.

“I never said I didn’t believe it, I just don’t understand why I can’t even look at him, I mean I have to know what he looks like if I wanna be able to shoot him, no offense” I chuckled and so did Avery.

“It’s fine.” She said tapping my arm.

“Well I gotta go, I promised a friend I’d show up.” Avery said standing up and wiping off her pants.

“A friend?” I raised my eyebrow and she chuckled.

“Tell you later.” She said turning around.

“Wait! Before you speed off, just at least tell me what you’re brother’s wearing so I know who I’m shooting.” I laughed towards the end. Avery laughed too.

“He’s wearing a grey bowler hat, has one white glove on, some sort of animal fur, and he’s probably holding a teacup, sitting on the roof of a car.” Avery said like this has rolled off the tip of her tongue a million times before.

“Have you said this a lot?” I chuckled and she nodded, chuckling also.

“And why ONE white glove?” I asked and she just stared. “Hey, my brother only tells me half the shit I’m supposed to know,” I said putting my hands up in defense. And Avery just laughed.

“When he drops one glove, that’s when the frenzy starts.”

“Ohhh, I knew that!” I said and she laughed.

“See you later Anna,” she chuckled, but zoomed off before I could respond. I sighed and sat back, lazily picking up my crossbow and lying it against my chest. I sat there for at least two hours and nothing happened. Well, nothing happened to me. Or around me. And I pissed me off, cause Patrick always said ‘they’ll come your way next time’ and he’s been saying that for two months, and nothing has come my way. I started nodding off again, until I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked to my right, and saw who I think was Avery’s brother. I slowly set down my crossbow and continued looking out of the corner of my eye.

‘Grey bowler hat, check. One white glove, check. Animal fur, check. Teacup, check. And sitting on the roof of a car… check.’ I thought I slowly leaned forward and looked out at him, and slowly breathed. No wonder Patrick didn’t want me looking at him, he was gorgeous. I was about to almost open my door and get out of the car, but I had to remember he was practically lethal. I slowly grabbed my crossbow again and slowly laid across the seats, aiming the arrows out the window, and I looked through the eyepiece. I tried to focus in on his heart, knowing it wouldn’t kill him but only temporarily paralyze him. Everything was going well so far, and he hadn’t noticed me, and I wanted it to stay that way. I was just about to pull the trigger until his eye caught mine just as I looked up from the eyepiece. For a second I thought he just looked up, but then I knew he was looking at me when he smiled and winked, making me jump a bit, and in the process I pulled the trigger, so I missed my target and shot him in the shoulder. He shouted and dropped his cup, and it fell to the ground and broke. Within seconds there was almost twenty guys surrounded him. I reached for one of the extra walkie talkies in the front of the car and hit the button.

“Guys! Hurry up and get back here, we have a HUGEEE problem!” I said quickly as I reached for the button to roll up my window. In the midst of it I saw Avery flip someone over her shoulder, and he fell to the ground. Then she took him by the ankle and did the same thing about fifteen more times, and he tried to fight back she just caught his fist or foot and twisted it around, then flipped him again, and she did it all the while with a smile on her face, and I think he was even laughing too. I laughed at them, but then realized everyone over by William were now looking at me. I quickly rolled the window the rest of the way up and picked up the walkie talkie again.

“GUYS! GET BACK HERE, NOW!” I shouted into the receiver and they all buzzed back at once.

“We’re in the middle of a fight right now, why do we need to get back there so quickly?” Patrick asked, and I heard a grunt and I looked up, seeing he jabbed one of the vampires in the shoulder.

“…I shot William in the shoulder,” I said and I saw the guys running back to the car. Pete hopped up on the hood, and once everyone was in he banged the hood and Andy sped off. I looked back and stared at the scene, William not shouting anymore, but telling the others not to touch him, and he just looked back at me, and I couldn’t look away, until I was being shouted at.

“YOU WHAT?!” Patrick hollered fully turning around in his seat.

“I saw him from the corner of my eye and-“

“How? You were wearing- YOU TOOK OFF THE GOGGLES!?” Patrick roared picking them up off the floor. I bit my lip and sunk in my seat, attempting to cover my ears as he shouted, but he reached around the seat and pulled my arms down and continued to yell at me. God dammit, for a seventeen year old, I was being treated, and feeling like a seven year old.

*~William’s POV~*

“What happened Will? Get shot for the first time and you don’t know how to cope with the pain?” I heard Avery call as she slowly walked over.

“Oh shut up, it’s not like you haven’t been shot before.” I said trying to maneuver the arrow out of my shoulder without pain, but with no prevail.

“Oh I’ve been shot plenty of times. Well, more like shot AT, but I moved out of the way.” She smiled and I rolled my eyes, tugging on the arrow again, and yelling.

“Dude, are you okay?” Brendon asked coming over, and I just stared at him.

“I HAVE AN ARROW LODGED IN MY SHOULDER! DOES IT LOOK LIKE I’M OKAY?!” I bellowed and Brendon just stared at me.

“Sorry,” He mumbled and I nodded trying to pull the arrow out again.

“FUCK.” I shouted and sighed.

“She got it in there good. Thank god she missed my heart. I’d be lying here motionless right
now.” I said and Avery did a double take as I spoke.

“SHE?” she questioned and I nodded. She looked satisfied and started nodding. “She’s not allowed out of the car, and she’s not allowed to see you, yet she shoots you on her first try. Niceeeee.”

“What the hell are you mumbling over there Ave?”I asked getting frustrated.

“Anna wasn’t even allowed to take one GLANCE at you, and here she shoots her on her first try, I’m impressed.” She smiled again then I looked at her.

“Wait, is she related to one of the hunters? But not Pete obviously,” I asked forgetting about the arrow stuck in me above my heart.

“Yeah, Patrick. She was saying how she was always given ski goggles before they left the old rundown mansion out of town-” She said then her eyes widened realizing she wasn’t supposed to be saying this much to me.

“You’ve been very helpful tonight haven’t you?” I said in a baby voice and Avery’s face puckered up.

“It was a slip of the tongue, shoot me.” She stuck her tongue out and I smiled.

“Only with silver bullets.” I said before realizing we were right outside a mechanic’s shop, so I quickly ran in and got a pair of pliers, and cut the one end of the arrow, and it fell to the floor. I reached behind my back and pulled the other half out, and dropped it on the floor as well, and tossed the pliers over my shoulder and heard them crash. I ran outside the front of the store again but then leaned back.

“Thank you very much baby sister.” I pinched her cheek and started running.

“You’re only older by seven minutes! Stop pulling that damned card!” I heard her shout and I just laughed and kept on running.

*~Anna’s POV~*

“Patrick, I’m sorry, I swear to god, I’ll never do it again, please stop ignoring me” I whined as we finished moving all of our stuff to the hideout. Pete had discovered this place, so it was already like his home, and Joe and Andy moved in a couple months ago. So it’s like the whole family was finally together. If your family consisted of four morons that is.

“You disobey me, you go behind my back, you fire without my permission, and you promise Pete not to tell me so. I’m not forgiving you right away.” Patrick said as I followed him down the steps to the kitchen.

“I asked him not to tell you I took the damned goggles off, and I thought you’d be proud I got who you four have been tracking months, probably years! I know you’ve been doing this long before you told me, I can’t believe you’re not proud of me,” I said stopping at the counter while Patrick continued to the fridge.

“I want to be proud of you, but the disobedience and betrayal masks that by a lot,” Patrick mumbled getting a coke out of the fridge, and twisting the cap off.

“Then just be proud of me, and we can let this whole thing blow over Patrick!” I said raising my arms then slamming them down to my sides.

“How can I?! Now that you saw him, you’re gonna be thinking about him. You’re thinking about him now aren’t you?” Patrick demanded raising an eyebrow at how slow I responded.

“… Not until you said something.” I slumped down at the counter and Patrick shouted ‘fuck’ before stomping into the living room. I walked up the steps and slammed my door shut. I flopped on my bed and plugged my phone in, and looked for my remote, until I heard soft taps on my window. Thinking it was rain, I ignored it and turned on the tv. Then the taps got harder and faster. I quickly flipped to the weather channel, and saw it was supposed to be slight chances rain for the rest of the week, not a fucking hail storm. I finally got annoyed by the tapping, so I got up to close my curtains, but I fell on my ass as I saw William at my window, smiling and his knuckle was resting on the glass.

“You okay up there slick? It sounded like you took a nasty fall.” I heard Pete call.

“Hardy har, har Pete, but yeah I’m fine.” I called back shakily, not looking away from the window.

“You sure? You sound like you just saw a ghost in the window!” Joe hollered.

“I wouldn’t be surprised in this mansion, it’s like two hundred years old!” Andy said and I heard the others laugh.

“Haha, yeah, I’m fine.” I called before looking back to the window.

“Actually I’m looking at a vampire in my window,” I mumbled and William’s smile grew wider, but I just stayed on the floor, staring at William sitting on my window sill.