Wonderfully Wandering Alone

"What's your problem? Huh?! Everytime I find a decent meal, you come around and take it right out of my hands! That girl was practically jumping to go anywhere with me, and then you just sweep in and suck her dry?"

"You were too slow! You should learn to do it fast and unnoticeable! You were in a dark alley, how cliche is that? Anyone could have walked down there and saw you feeding! Are you stupid? If Pete were here you would have been reduced to ashes as soon as you stepped through the front door of this place!"

"Well, Pete isn't here anymore, and William doesn't care where we feed, just as long as no one sees us! And if anyone would have saw me, then I would have just erased their memory. It's not that hard."

"I don't care! It was a really stupid thing for you to do and if-"

I groaned and held my head as I sat up, wanting all of the yelling to stop. I looked around me quickly, seeing that I was in a familiar-looking bedroom. The fireplace roared from across the room with the memory-laced loveseat placed in front of it. The door to the hallway still had the same strange doorknob that had entranced me the first moment I had seen it. I was in Pete's room. It seemed that the only thing that had changed were the sheets on the bed, because they were now a menacing black instead of blood red.

As my feet touched the floor, and I was standing next to the bed, my head pounded heavily as the yelling that had woken me continued. I opened the door, expecting to see two men yelling and screaming at each other right outside my door, there was nothing in the hallway. As I wandered down the hallway, the voices seemed to get louder, and soon enough after I had ventured quite aways I found the two young vampires.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why are you yelling so fucking loud?! I could hear you all the way in my room!" I shrieked at the two men, whose faces showed extreme surprise.

"We weren't yelling." One of them muttered, looking shocked.

"We weren't even talking at a normal level, we were just whispering because we didn't want to wake anyone." The other spoke, looking sincere.

"What?" I muttered to myself as I made my way back to Pete's room.

Instead of wandering off to find someone that I knew, I wandered into the closet in search of some fresh clothes. I looked down at myself and felt embarassed that I hadn't checked my clothing before walking out of the room. Apparently someone had changed me, because my body was adorned with a lacey red slip. As I looked, to my surprise, all of the clothing that Pete had once planned for me to wear was still hanging in the closet, as well as some of his clothing. I quickly shrugged on one of his hoodies that was gray with a black heart bat on it, and a pair of jeans that looked small enough. I closed my eyes and smelled the hoodie, relishing in the smell of coffee and fresh laundry.

What am I doing? Why am I smelling Pete's old clothes?

Ugh... Whatever.

I quickly ventured through a few hallways before finding a set of stairs that seemed to lead to the large foyer of the house (or mansion). My feet carried me towards the smell of food, which made me extremely hungry. As I walked, I recognized the smell of eggs, pancakes, sausage, and toast. I shook my head, wondering why my sense of smell seemed to be heightened. Soon enough, I stepped into a huge kitchen filled with a few people (or vampires).

It seemed as though I took my first step on the tile flooring that everyone in the room turned to look at me. At this moment, a familiar voice broke through the sounds of sizzling food.

"Ver? Oh my gosh! Ver! You're finally awake!" Before I could realize what was going on, I was sweeped up into the arms of Brendon. Instead of setting me down, he rested his hands underneath my rear-end and forced my legs to wrap around his torso. I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck, staring into his eyes.

I hugged him tightly, burying my face into his neck and sighing.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you." I spoke, my lips hitting Brendon's neck causing him to chuckle lightly. He pulled me back to look in my eyes.

"I'm extremely glad to see you too, Ver." He smiled brightly at me before leaning in and kissing me passionately on the lips. We pulled away at the same time, causing me to giggle and Brendon set me down.

"Some of us are making breakfast, so we can sit down and eat, and then I can fill you in on everything that's happened, okay?" I nodded and soon, Brendon and I were seated at an extremely large dining table, shoving various breakfast foods into our mouths.

After we had both finished eating, one of the vampires that had been cooking in the kitchen came over and cleaned up our dishes, bowing as he left the room. My eyebrows came together in confusion, looking to Brendon for an answer.

"I guess I should start from the beginning, huh?" He questioned, sounding a little nervous. I nodded, wanting him to answer all of my unasked questions.

"Well, Ryan, William, and I ended up speaking to all of Pete's followers and we somehow convinced them to overthrow Pete. He left in a flash, without a scratch on him. We have no idea where he went or what he's doing now, but after he left, all of his followers didn't really know what to do. They ended up trying to make William, Ry, and I leaders. After a while, Ry and I realized that we're just not cut out for leading all of these vampires. Now William is running everything, and I'm his right-hand man. Ry is basically William's left-hand man." He chuckled slightly. "As for you, the night that Ry and I had traveled to speak to some of our allies, William... well... I don't know exactly what happened, William explained something about him biting you to heal you from something. Do you remember?" Brendon asked.

"I..." I searched through my mind over and over again, trying to remember that night, but the only thing that I could remember was William telling me that I was a fallen angel, and then... nothing.

I couldn't remember getting bitten by William, or even wandering through the cold forest.

"I can't really remember... But... I do remember him saying that I'm a fallen angel." I muttered to Brendon, who nodded his head.

"William told us that he had to bite you because you were slowly turning into a cold, heartless, evil, fallen angel. If he hadn't have bitten you, then you could have ended up killing every single vampire on earth. I'm guessing you're probably experiencing weird symptoms right now aren't you?" Brendon explained to me.

I nodded my head, thinking about what William had told Brendon, and what William had told me.

Something doesn't seem right here...

William said I was strong, not evil. And I just don't understand why biting me would have stopped anything unless he fully turned me.

And obviously he didn't turn me, because I don't feel any strong cravings for human flesh, and there aren't any pointy fangs in my mouth right now.

"Sometimes after you've been bitten, your senses will intensify for a few days afterwards. But in your case, it's more of a permanent thing." He mumbled.

"Permanent? What do you mean?" My eyes narrowed at him.

"It means that you've gained some vampire qualities from the bite. It's extremely rare, but apparently it's not rare for you. We would have known if it was temporary because even after a week of you laying in bed, we couldn't touch you without getting out wrist practically broken with your death grip." He chuckled.

"I don't understand what you're talking about... I was laying in bed for a week?" I asked, extremely confused.

"Well, more than a week. You were in a 'coma' of sorts for about... two months?" Brendon answered sheepishly.

"Two months?! I was asleep for two months! Why?!" I shrieked at him.

"The bite caused some type of reaction!" He cringed away from me, shielding himself with his hands.

"So, during that time, William gained control? How do all of the vampires act now?" I asked, curious as to what had happened since Pete left.

"When Pete left, some of his followers left too and created their own clans. Most of them don't have any specific leaders, unlike our clan. There's the Goths, the Punks, the Hood, and then there's us, the Dandies."

"The Dandies?" I giggled.

"Yes. It's not funny. I think it has something to do with our clothing. Once William became the leader, now we all have to wear old fashioned suits and derby hats. William usually wears some type of fur, and gloves. He always has to have his gloves with him." Brendon elaborated.

This sounds ridiculous... I think William has probably gone a little power crazy...

"William... Well, he does a good job at being a leader. I'm not sure if he's doing everything that you think would work the best, but it's working." Brendon spoke quietly, looking around as if William might be listening to his every word.

I'm not sure if putting William in charge was a good idea.