i

'you won't remember that i've been back to see you' - av

Olivia Cecilia Byrne was furious and distraught. Two scarily familiar emotions for her over the past month. Thrusted into the supernatural was not something she expected to happen when she went on her date night eight months ago and the heightened emotions had tipped the iceberg today.

"I'm fucking leaving!" she screamed at Gabriel. "This isn't what I signed up for!" The blinds had been permanently closed so she wouldn't burn leaving only a dimly lit candle flickering with her anger, casting shadows across his face. She resisted the urge to throw something at him.

"Liv, where are you going to go? You're a new blood. You can't control yourself; you don't know how to hunt, and you've never drank from a vein," Gabriel tried to reason with her. "Listen, I'll talk to him and get him to come back, just give me a couple of days... please, Liv, it'll destroy him if you leave!" He stood in the doorway awaiting her response.

"Those are future Liv's problems Gabriel. Let's not kid ourselves. If he gave a crap about me, he would be here with me or even better he would never have done this to me." Olivia's nails dug into the skin on her own palms as she clenched her fists trying to hold in her anguish at the whole situation.

He looked down to her palms were blood was beginning to seep from, she didn't even recognise what she was doing to herself, "He loved you, he wouldn't have done this if he wasn't trying to protect you." Gabriel didn't want to excuse Aleksander's behaviour but from his perspective it was true. He didn't condone the abandonment Olivia believed but her turning at least gave her a chance of survival, much like the chance he'd been given.

"I haven't seen the bastard in a month so don't dare say it was for my own good, it's like his brothers are trying to create an army here and meanwhile he's nowhere to be seen." The tears streamed down her face, as anger and sorrow fought for dominance in her head.

"Please just let me go, I can't handle this anymore, I can't do this I'm miserable." She sunk to the floor, leaning against the queen-sized bed in an attempt to collect herself. The sobs however continued to escape her throat.

"I'm not his lapdog Gabe, I can't just wait around anymore."

Without a word, Gabriel stormed out, slamming the door on his way out. He knew what he needed to do but was saddened that this is what it had come to. He couldn't reveal that she had seen him in the last month, several times and she just couldn't remember it. He had tried to convince himself it was for the best but seeing the girls mental state deteriorating made him question it all. Olivia picked herself off the ground and continued packing everything she had, which in reality wasn't much in the first place.

She hadn't wanted this but knew it was the only choice, being betrayed and left alone for explanation to be given by everybody but him. She hadn't seen him since being turned. Only to wake up with an incredible thirst and Gabriel by her side trying to explain vital information.

Aleksandar Vasile, the man who caused this all had disappeared. After being inseparable for eight months he had taken her to his family's cabin out across state for a romantic weekend. Only to have a romantic dinner and smother her to death whilst she slept. Her completely unaware of the existence of vampires and their blood coursing through her system.

Betrayal and anger were radiating through Olivia's body. He had been the one to metaphorically bring her back to life. Before she met him, she'd been a shell just living day to day, unable to cope with events from her past. Alek and Gabe had been the two with the ability to make her see the light again. Make her happy again, but it had all been a façade and now she wasn't sure of anything.

On top of the obvious events, she had no clue what kind of operations Aleksander's three brothers were running. According to Gabriel between the three of him they'd recently turned over hundred people into one of them. He tried to assure her that he and Aleksander played no role in this, but she didn't know what to believe. They were all sequestered in some part of the state, she hoped it was still Florida but wasn't one hundred percent sure.

The others were unquenchable animals, bright red eyes and a vulgar smile on their faces, but for whatever reason Olivia's body hadn't react the same way. And no one knew why.

She thought back to when she realised that she wasn't the same. Inheriting heterochromia from her father was always something she thought made her unique. One blue eye and one green eye, but since the transition the green had slowly developed into a light whiskey brown. Not even Gabriel who had been by her side the last month could explain it. Redness only arriving in them as she fed and whilst she was thirsty for a new taste, had found it easy to control or had up to this point anyway.

His eyes glazed over, Gabriel re-entered the room Olivia had secluded herself in since she woke up, "Okay, are you ready?" He asked prompting her to look up from the Nike sports' bag she was stuffing everything into. In one hand he had a half-zipped backpack and in the other Olivia's documents that Aleksander had taken.

Gabriel wasn't happy with this, but Olivia was his friend and he couldn't watch her suffer like this anymore. He knew she couldn't take much more and he wanted to postpone the breakdown he saw coming as much as he could. Even if that meant going against what the Vasiles' wanted. Despite the friendship beginning with false intentions, he did care for the girl, her vulnerability luring him in from the beginning. Her traits reminded him of his human self in the 1400's.

"There's a month's supply of blood bags in there, B-negative just how you like it," Olivia grimaced at the thought of it but let out a small reassuring smile as he sent a wink her way. She had never really questioned where the blood he gave her came from and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"I shouldn't even be doing this, your passport was in his office, and I'll take you to the airport, but you don't have to tell me where you're going to go if you don't want to. But you know you can always contact me if you need me," he paused and engulfed her in a hug. His body temperature as a vampire wasn't high and didn't give her the comfort, she really desired but it was full of good intentions and it meant a lot to her, nevertheless.

Similar to Aleksander, Gabriel easily passed as a 19-year-old and up until Olivia turning, she had no reason to question it. Then afterwards the truth got out and he'd been roaming around for 600 years. The pair has planted themselves into the town Olivia had lived all her life just over two years ago and she quickly developed friendships with the both of them as they'd easily passed themselves over as seniors in her high school. She'd been going through a hard time after the events of that summer and new faces had been the comfort she'd needed even if they hadn't realised.

"We need to get going before the newbies wake up for their nightly feed."

She glanced down at the bedside table where a digital alarm clock lay. 18.45. It was beginning to get dark. Olivia moved over to her chest of drawers and went to the bottom drawer to grab the last few things she needed.

Driving licence, debit card and mobile phone. She slipped them into the top of the backpack Gabriel still held and silently zipped it up avoiding eye contact with him. She blew out the candle with a quick breath and took one last scan around the room before making her way downstairs, Gabriel trailing behind her.

The remaining sunlight outside slightly irritated her skin as she made her way out the front door.

"Here," he pulled something out of his pocket, "He made it for you, it's a daylight ring so you're able to be in the sun." It was a beautiful gold-plated ring with what looked like royal blue specks scattered into the precious metal and a scribe that she couldn't understand lining the inside of it. Gabriel slipped it onto her finger, and with as much courage as she could gather, she muttered, "Thanks."

✧✧✧

Arriving to the airport took way less time than she thought it would. Whether this was due to the location of where she'd been 'living' or because of Gabriel's driving she couldn't be sure.

The blood bags she had been given had been cloaked and wouldn't be detected by anyone not supernatural. She wasn't quite sure what that even meant but she was too exhausted to even bother asking him.

"I really appreciate this Gabriel, I just... I can't do this anymore, I hope you understand, I'm really going to miss you." She tearfully got out of the car and went to walk in through the main doors beside the airport drop-off. Despite the betrayal, she treasured his friendship.

"You know he does love you Liv," he made a last attempt to reason with her.

"It's not enough, it's too late..." Olivia made her way through the entrance, resisting the urge to look back at him fearing she'd change her mind.

She quickly ditched the sim card from her phone in fear of it being traced to find her. From what she'd learnt about the remaining Vasile brothers in the last month, they weren't good guys and would more than likely attempt to track her. Not that she helped herself, by leaving she knew she'd automatically be on the bad side of the other three Vasile brothers; Andreu, Cristian and Matthias. Maybe not Matthias, he had never really done much to her, the two typically had an unspoken agreement of avoiding each other.

With her passport in one hand, she looked up to the departures board. The next three flights out were to Georgia, Michigan and Vancouver. She wasn't planning to stick around longer than she needed to.

Georgia was way too close for comfort, and whilst Michigan was an option it still didn't feel far enough away. Something in the back of her head was nagging her towards the third option.

'Vancouver sounds good,' she thought to herself. In her eighteen years on earth she'd only been out of state once and now here she was heading to a completely different country.

✧✧✧

It was after midnight by the time she landed and after grabbing her bags she swiftly found a taxi to take her to the nearest hotel.

Gabriel had tried to give her a crash course of vampirism in the big bad world on their way to the airport but all he had really managed to cover was home invitations and sunlight jewellery.

Getting a room, she headed up in the elevator and tried to relax. She let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. A small part of her panicked at the idea that Aleksander would come find her, but he'd been absent for so long it didn't seem likely.

'He wouldn't even care', she tearfully reassured herself, "He doesn't care.'

Barely feeling re-energised after a 9-hour sleep, she got out of bed and opened the backpack Gabriel had given her. Lifting out the blood bag, her fangs began to protrude at the sight of it. She eagerly ripped the top of it open and began to feed. The energy rushed into her and she let out a gleeful moan at the taste. The sensation of pleasure overriding the guilt of her actions, as they had done the last month.

Sucking the blood bag clean, she quickly realised she needed a plan. What was she going to do now? She hadn't even got to start her senior year due to the 'romantic getaway' happening the week before school was supposed to commence.

'Romantic getaway my ass,' she thought to herself.

High school was already a month into the semester, but she needed to complete it. She was determined to complete it, to allow herself to feel she wasn't completely out of control of her life. Staying in Vancouver however was not an option. It had too many transport links and if she wanted to be discreet, she'd have to leave and reside somewhere else, somewhere smaller.

Fishing the new sim card out of her bag, she inserted it into the back of her phone. Her first thought was to download her banking app and see what money she had. Back in Jacksonville, she'd worked part time for a few years and genuinely worked that much she hadn't had a chance to spend a cent of it. With her wages and birthday money going into the account every year since she was born, she knew have some type of money to work with.

Finished loading up, she almost dropped the phone in shock. The total in her savings account being a lot more than she had anticipated. The top deposit making up the majority of the total, she realised why, 'Look after yourself, G.'

That boy only had good intentions for her, and she didn't think she'd ever be able to repay him for all he'd done the last month for her. After all, it hadn't been him who had been feeding her blood without her knowledge.

Googling property, she quickly found a cosy house for sale about 5 hours away from Vancouver in a much smaller town. With the money Gabe had sent her, there was more than enough to get the house and survive for a while. She quickly contacted the number on the website who were more than happy for her to come view the house despite it being a Sunday.

She wandered over to the full-length mirror on the other side of the hotel room. Taking a good look at herself it was only now she was realising the changes that had occurred to her body in the last month.

Her complexion had definitely paled. Her hair remained a dark ash blonde but had certainly grown a few centimetres and was due a trim. Her eyes held a bloodshot red ring about the iris' showing she'd recently fed. The veins underneath her eyes slowly faded but fangs still protruded down from her gums.

Gathering up her things, she left the hotel to find a car dealership. Stopping at the first place she saw; she picked a run-of-the-mill car that she didn't think would stand out too much.

Leaving the dealership, she made sure to fill the car up at the first gas station just out of the city and began her journey to what she hoped would be a fresh start.

The sign on the side of the road about 4 and a half hours later let her know she had finally arrived in Dalton Point. Shrubbery and trees covered both sides of the road as she neared it and the large motorway merged into a smaller road.

She drove through the town that according to the sign had an approximate population of 5000, very quickly reaching the centre of town. Across from a line of shops there was a large park that was booming with afternoon barbeques.

Continuing through, she passed the high school, wordlessly reminding herself to enrol herself come Monday and shortly on the other side, the houses became more scattered. She gasped in awe as she looked to the right and up a large lane saw a glorious mansion in an old-style brick surrounded by vast amounts of forestry.

After driving for a few more minutes, she headed up a lane as instructed by her sat nav and arrived at the house she'd viewed online. It was definitely larger and more remote than she originally thought which reflecting back realised that probably wasn't a bad thing.

Whilst it definitely looked suspicious to the realtor, why a barely of age girl was out buying a house, she didn't question it, more than happy to get the house finally off the market. After a contract was

signed, she handed over the keys and smugly left.

Olivia inhaled a deep breath. 'This is it Liv, a new start.' Walking over the threshold and into the hallway, she made her way round the house investigating the rooms a bit further than she had in the brief tour. The house had come fully furnished which saved a lot of time and was a pleasant mixture between modern and traditional with several features clearly original in the house remaining intact.

Deciding to have a roam around the town, she headed in the direction she had drove from, this time by foot. Quickly encountering the mansion again, Olivia stopped in the road and glanced up.

Something about it called to her, looking up at the second-floor windows she could have sworn she'd seen a figure but once she blinked it was gone. 'It's been a long few weeks Liv, you're probably delusional by this point,' she thought to herself.

✧✧✧

Back in the centre of the town, the square had fairly cleared up of families and only a few remained. She supposed that on a Sunday evening, people were getting ready for the incoming week of work and school.

One corner street had an illuminated sign, Einstein's Bar and Grill, Olivia guessed that's where she'd attempt to get a drink. Walking in, she headed straight for the bar where she had noticed a few vacant stools. People of all ages were scattered around the building. Some teens stood at a pool table and glanced at her before continuing their conversation. She hadn't noticed that one continued staring at her for a moment longer than the rest as if he'd sensed something.

Taking an empty barstool, the bartender quickly made his way over to her end of the bar.

"Vodka cranberry please," she politely asked trying not to draw attention to herself. The drinking age was 19 rather than 21 that she'd had to find a way around in Florida. But still she had a few months to go before reaching the legal age. She'd really love a drink right now.

"Sorry I have to ask can I see some ID," he gave her a half-smile, clearly feeling bad he had to ask but at least he was doing his job properly.

"Yes of course sorry," she replied and began looking through her purse knowing full well she wouldn't find anything that would allow him to legally serve her,

"Ah I'm so sorry, I've just moved into town today, I must've left it sitting on the dining table," she exasperated, silently praying he'd let her away with it.

"Sorry Miss, we've a strict policy, I'm afraid I can't serve you tonight." With a small smile she nodded in understanding and turned to get up when she felt a hand push her down gently.

"Give the lady a drink and act as if you've seen her ID," a voice that came from behind he spoke to the bartender, "Get me my usual as well whilst you're at it." Looking up, the bartender seemed entranced by the voice, his pupils dilated and soon enough a drink was in front of her. The bartender shook his head as he made his way to the other end of the bar where two older men were hollering for him.

Olivia felt the stool beside her move and the stranger sat down. She looked over to see his face for the first time, a sharp jawline, high cheekbones and whiskey brown eyes gazed back at her. If she had to guess, she'd assume he was around 22. There was something familiar about the face, but Olivia couldn't place it.

"Uh, thanks for convincing him to give me a drink, I left my ID sitting in my house," she gracefully lied through her teeth.

"No problem, it's not too often, an unfamiliar pretty lady walks in here," he reached his hand out to her, whilst he stared into her eyes as if he was searching for something, "Levi, Levi Becker." Something flickered in him without him even realising as he looked at her.

Flattered by the compliment, she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear as she introduced herself, "Olivia, nice to meet you." He couldn't help but notice one of her eyes almost matching his in colour.

"So, what's a thing like you doing in this dead town?" he sent a slight smirk her way. He knew her from somewhere but in his years, it was hard to pinpoint where. Her heartbeat didn't give anything way and