We Only Come Out at Night

I climbed the dark brown tree seeking solitude form the world below. The leaves welcomed me in their fiery embrace. A cool breeze rustled them and I felt my hair blow in the same direction. I sighed comfortably and leaned against the trunk. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and sighed. I loved my family, don't get me wrong, but I was exhausted with stress and the four hours sleep this morning hadn't done me much good. I lived in fear of seeing him again, for the sake of my family. I felt the branch under me shake and I turned around. I looked into the diamond blue eyes I feared, yet loved at the same time.
“Alyssa, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.”
“Stay away.”
“Alyssa, what's wrong?”
“Stay away from me.”
“What did I do?”
“Just stay away.”
He reached out to me and I shrunk away. His face was pained.
“Lyss, tell me what I did.”
“You threatened my family.”
“What?”
“Stay away from me, stay away from Maddie, stay away from my family.”
“What happened?”
“When I ran away you followed me and threatened my family,” I said uncertainly.
“When you ran away I went back to mine to find you and you weren't there. I went looking everywhere for you and thought about this place.”
“Then who?”
Fear flashed on his face. He held his hand out to me and I shuffled away.
“Please.”
I took his hand and he climbed down the tree giving me support where I needed it. We walked out of the woods and back to his place. The whole time he refused to let go of my hand. He opened the door and led me in. I could hear the guys mumbling from the living room.
“We're right here.”
I raised my eyebrows and he shrugged shyly.
“Something that comes with it?”
“Our senses are heightened, and we're a bit faster than your average human, probably the same as an Olympic athlete.”
I nodded and we walked into the living room to see the guys, all of them, and Maddie.
“Where were you both?” Chris demanded.
“We went to the bar and...things happened.” Ricky gave them a look and a look of understanding crossed their faces.
“What?” Maddie asked.
“TJ was there,” I said, technically I wasn't lying to her. She nodded and hugged me.
“I have to go, Amelia's freaking out. Bye guys.”
“Bye,” the ten of them replied.
The door closed and they all looked at me.
“So...you know,” Balz said.
“Yeah.”
“Do you know about us?” Vic asked.
I raised an eyebrow at Ricky.
“You didn't give me a chance to tell you!” he defended.
“You've gotta chance now.”
The guys chuckled.
“Vic, Mike, Jaime and Tony-”
“Turtle.”
“And Turtle are demons.”
“Demons?”
“Demons. But the nice kind, and trust me, there isn't a lot of us out there,” Jaime said.
I nodded.
“Okay. So there's vampires and demons. Any one else who is supernatural that I don't know about?”
“Yeah, but they have to tell you themselves. You can't force them.” Ghost informed me.
“Can you tell me names at least?”
“We can tell them you know about us but it's really up to them,” Ange said.
“Can you tell them?”
“I'm on it,” Turtle said and took his phone out.
“What about Maddie? When are you gonna tell her?”
I looked at Ricky who was looking in front of him. I followed his gaze to Ange.
“I dunno yet.”
“Why does it have to be Ange?”
Ricky sighed. “I'll tell you later.”
“Okay, why are you the 'leader'.”
“I was picked.”
“By...”
“The people who changed us.”
“Were you there?” I looked at Ghost.
“Yes.”
“Why weren't you picked?”
“I don't know. These are vampire-changers, they're twisted people, they like to make trouble. They probably thought that because Ricky was inexperienced it would be more fun to put him in charge.”
“That's just twisted.”
“Exactly.”
“I got replies from everyone and they've agreed to tell you later.” Turtle said.
“When?”
“When it's a bit later than one in the morning.”
I smiled sheepishly and they all laughed.
“We have loads of time,” Ricky comforted.
“You do, I'm human.”
I saw them all smile warmly at my joke and they looked happy at how casual I was about it.
“I'll take you home,” Ricky said.
“You think I can't go by myself?”
“Well...after you said someone threatened your family-”
“What!” Ryan yelled.
“I was walking and someone said really evilly, and tauntingly almost, that they wanted to see them.”
“I think it might be, you know.”
“What?”
“Sorry, a demon.”
“Not like PTV?” (The four of them were in a band called Pierce The Veil).
“No. The exact opposite.”
“So a demon is stalking me?”
“That's what we were protecting you from,” Ricky whispered, I don't think it made any difference but Vic, Mike, Turtle and Jaime looked like they were straining to hear.
“We should go before dawn comes.”
“Why? You'll sparkle like a fairy princess bitch?”
“Fuck no!”
“You'll burn?”
“A whole month we've been in the sun, Ghost has been a vampire for 200 years, if sun was the problem he would've died a long time ago.”
“It's just the senses and speed then?”
“Pretty much.”
“That fucking sucks man.”
“We do get a craving for blood, ya know,” Balz taunted.
“Bite me.”
They laughed as Balz's face dropped in shock and I smirked at him.
“Nice to know you wouldn't hurt me. Bye guys.”
“Bye,” they all said and Ricky and I walked out of the house and down the street.
“So why does Ange have to tell her?”
He sighed. “If a vampire is to tell a human, it has to be the 'other half', kind of.”
“You mean 'soul mates', you don't really believe in that do you?”
“No, it's not like that, it's more like 'counter-parts'.”
“See, that I can believe.”
He laughed.
“So Maddie is Angelo's counter-part?”
“Yeah, Ange only had one girlfriend, remember, and he wasn't in love. He's found an ideal 'mate', Maddie.”
“Wait, so if Ange only can tell Maddie then why did you tell me, or rather, show me.”
“Well, you don't love any of us more than as brothers, right?”
“Yeah.”
“As the 'leader' of this group, it's my, uh, job to tell you.”
I nodded. It made sense, I guess. Ricky avoided looking at me directly and I smiled at him. He smiled back and we walked in comfortable silence. If he believed that then why was his body language showing doubt? Guys are so confusing.
“Is there anything else you'd like to ask?”
“Why is a demon following me?”
“We're not exactly evil, that goes against what we're meant to be.”
“So, why stalk me?”
“You know. And you're not a creature of the devil.”
“So that's all there is? Demons and vampires? What about werewolves or witches, or creatures of God and other shit?”
“There are creatures, I guess, of God. I think werewolves and witches are just myth.”
“Pity, Maddie would have loved it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, when she's doing creative writing she'll ask for my opinion and vice versa. Last time I was writing something supernatural she kept going on and on about it.”
He laughed loudly and I smiled. It had been a while since he laughed like that, longer than a month. We had arrived outside my house and he smiled.
“Well, I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye Ricky.”
He hugged me and I hugged him back tightly.
“If anything happens, I mean anything, a weird noise, something you see, anything at all, you'll tell me, right?” he whispered.
“Yeah, promise.”
He pulled back and looked at me. He smiled and I smiled back. I took the emergency key from the mat and opened the door.
“Night Ricky.”
“Goodnight, Lyss.”
I walked inside and closed the door. I waited for the ambush.
“ALYSSA WILLIAMS WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!” Mum shouted storming into the hallway.
“I was with the guys.”
“Did you walk here by yourself? That mist is really thick.” She was concerned now, great.
“No, Ricky walked me home.”
She smiled happily.
“You picked good friends. They're such gentlemen.”
“Yeah, that they are,” I mumbled smiling at the ground.
She hugged me and I smiled into her shoulder. If only she knew how much they had protected me without my knowledge. We let go and said goodnight. I went up to my room and turned the light on.
“Not again,” I murmured and lifted the big black feather sitting delicately on my bed. “When is this going to stop.”
I stuffed it in my wardrobe with the growing pile of feathers. I thought that huge crow had left already. I got changed and fell asleep.