She

Obie was staring into the vampire's back as if he had four heads instead of four fangs. She understood his apprehension, knowing their surroundings were alien as it was filled by strangers. The incident with Percy surely tried to push the vampire over the edge. Which was the worst thing to do considering the pit below was an endless hole of destruction.

On the other hand, Obie wanted to do her best in collecting information from everyone by being the opposite of herself. She had to be nice, care about people's conversations and possibly make friendships. The only ones who would know she's a pretender were Mister vampire, Burrito and Logan. Yet, she didn't want Logan to know she didn't trust him.

At the end of the day, for Obie to do well in her trickery, the vampire had to learn to conform to his new environment too.  Currently, Zara was guiding Obie and Mister Vampire to their new room. He glared at the young woman whenever she tried to make contact with him.

"What's going on with you?" She whispered to the vampire who was carrying their baggage up the stairs.

He ignored Obie.

"It's right here." Zara stopped in front of a room that was directly at the peak of the staircase.

The vampire walked past the young woman, not saying a decent thank you. He didn't acknowledge her presence after he opened the door either.

Zara moved to the side quickly, afraid to get in his way, but the woman couldn't deny her curiosity. She pretended to look around him, but secretly searched under the hood.

"Thanks." Obie said as she ogled the vampire strangely while he waited by the door with his hand on the doorknob. As Zara pretended to not look at the vampire, Obie mouthed behind her back, "Say 'thank you'."

Zara began to turn around. When Zara finally faced her with a shy smile, Obie saw his lips mouthed, "No."

Obie narrowed his eyes at him.

He narrowed his eyes back at her, tapped his foot and waited for Obie to get in.

"You all set?" Zara asked kindly.

"Yeah. Thanks." Obie nodded. "It's pretty surprising how your leader is giving us our own room. This is what? A four bedroom house with fourteen people in it?"

"Sixteen now that we got you guys," she chuckled.

"Exactly."

She cleared her throat with a fake cough. "Don't worry about it. Cian just needs time and reassurance you're not up to something. Till then, it's best if you and your guy keep a distance while we're rounded up and sleeping."

"I understand. " He probably thought they were going to slit their throats in their sleep. "I guess that means we're going to be guarded too."

She held her hands around her back and twisted anxiously. "Logan will speak to you about it. I already said too much."

But she barely said anything.

The vampire opened the door wider as the loud creak grabbed their attentions. He nodded his head towards inside the room. The subtle movement tipped his hood backwards, revealing his glowing blue eyes that were faintly covered by his slivery blonde hair.

"Oh wow." Immediately, Zara grabbed the ends of her shirt and played with the unfortunate soiled hem. "I should go...oh! Logan said he'd like to speak to you downstairs. He's waiting by the couch."

She knew this was coming.

"Okay, I'll head there now-"

The vampire interrupted. "Me first."

"Of course. You two probably need time." The young woman intervened before Obie could tell him to chill out. "I'm Zara by the way."

"I know." Obie looked at her, struggling to enforce natural sincerity. "I'm Obie."

"Obie?" She smiled gently. "Like-"

"Star Wars? Yes." Obie had to explain her name her whole life. Why couldn't they accept her name, instead of getting stuck in the fascination of a movie reference? "I don't mean to be dismissive, but..."

"Oh no problem." Zara started to walk away. "If you need anything, I'm here."

"Thanks again." Obie said as she waltzed in the room and the vampire slammed the door shut.

The vampire dropped their bags on the floor as Obie tried to get Burrito to crawl out of her backpack. Still, like the vampire, Burrito was too stubborn to adapt to her new surroundings.

"You got something to say?" She sat on the edge of the bed with an expectant look.

The vampire shrugged, yet his face was reading a different emotion. He unpacked some of his books on the brown desk, accidentally breaking some of the hardcovers in his grip.

She stretched her arm and poked him with a random ruler she found on the ground. "So you're not speaking to me either?"

After a couple moments, he muttered, "I don't like it."

"We haven't been here for even an hour."

"Disgusting Burrito doesn't like it too." He pointed towards Burrito who was lying at the bedhead uncomfortably. Her ears perked up every time she heard someone walk by.

"She's usually like that around you," She thought, but truly, B wasn't as nervous anymore. "Don't call her disgusting. She's just somewhat tinted."

"We leave." The vampire pleaded while brushing his platinum hair back and it fell naturally on his tanned face.

"No we can't." Obie sighed. 

"I want to leave." The vampire paced the room.

She challenged, knowing his little banter was going nowhere. "Then, go."

"You come?" he stopped.

"No."

He groaned in frustration.

"I thought so." Obie climbed off the bed. "Help me change the sheets.  Smells like someone died on it."

Someone did.

The room was a ghost zone. The blue satin curtains were packed with brown streaks, which used to be blood that probably squirted out of someone's artery. From the looks of her settings, it was most likely a teenage girl with an addiction to anime. Obie assumed as she spotted the displays of cartoon Japanese girls pasted on the walls. Or it could be an older perverted gentlemen who masturbated to high school anime girls with unnatural large eyes and breasts and bangs covering their foreheads 24/7.

But she could have been right the first time.

The bed sheet was stained with old blood that previously leaked and created stains on the wooden floors. In the middle of the bed was a bracelet carved "Christa's charm" on a silvery heart.

Respectfully, she gently picked up the charm and hung it on the bedpost before making alterations to the bed sheets.

"This room smells horrible. I could gag and choke at the same time." Obie murmured. "I wonder if this is why vampires stay away from dead blood. Except you of course. Always the exception."

The vampire leaned on the desk and sat his head back to stare into the peeling red paint on the ceiling. He grabbed his shoulders as if to hug himself and twisted his lips to the side. "It's not safe."

Obie found a focus elsewhere as her arm hairs erected the more stared and smelled his sweet fruity scent. She removed Burrito, snatched the sheet off the bed, and threw it in the corner. "It's not safe anywhere."

"Safe with me and you."

That's what this was about? His infatuation was talking for him.

"Some of these people don't look too bad." Obie tried to reel him in. "The only one I'm concerned about is Percy. He's not reasonable."

That dumb hillbilly motherfucker.

Obie subsided her anger under a neutral expression. "Stay away from him and his girlfriend. I don't want to give him the chance to antagonize you. Then I'll have to explain to Logan that somehow a bear broke into the house and ripped his head off."

"But-"

"We can talk about this when I get back." She tried to sway the vampire from the conversation to help ease his worry. Obie had to get used to describing the vampire as one with emotions. She couldn't keep looking at him as a "thing" when it was her father who created him. Apparently, the sins of the father passes on as the burdens of the daughter. "I have to explain to Logan about you without messing up a single thing. He's a pretentious asshole, but he has a sixth sense like those people who tend to be unsatisfied with everything even facts"

"I'll come." The vampire hopped off the desk.

"Nope. It's gotta be just me." She stopped before he could argue again. "I'm only a staircase away. I doubt they would try anything now."

He grimaced like he was pain.

"I'll be right up as soon as I'm done. I promise." Obie placed Burrito on her shoulder. "You should read some books. Try to talk to these guys. Get some info for me. You got all the tools to converse, but don't want to do it."

He casted his eyes to the side. "You trust me?"

"I trust you don't want to disappoint me." Obie said truthfully. "If I doubted you, we wouldn't be here."

He cocked his leg up on the chair and spread his leg to the side as he tried to cope with the idea. "Okay, regular Obie."

Obie turned her eyes away from his crotch. What the hell was he doing? It was innocent, but very boyish for a vampire. "I'm going to try to get use to that name."

Mister vampire gazed at Obie as if she was leaving him forever. She immediately thought about the documents she read. When he was a boy, the scientists placed him in an Amazon imitated habit with wild animals and harsh weather conditions to test his endurance. While the man before her was a killing machine, she pictured a boy crying under a blanket of tall trees in the monstrous life of the wild. Obie's stomach turned. "After I finish talking to him, how about we continue our writing lessons?"

His intense eyes softened at the gesture. "Yes."

Obie cleared her throat. "Yeah."

He paused and lingered his gaze on Obie weakly. "Just come back."

He

The vampire was sitting on his opinion for now. If that was the correct phrase to use. Regular Obie was convinced they had to join a group of humans to find out a truth. It was the first time he was concerned about the basis of a truth. Because truths were apparently essential enough for regular Obie to risk her life.

He'd do anything to protect her.

He killed for less.

Initially, the vampire was nervous. He felt the feelings Obie described in their little car he missed staying in. Beneath his chest was a race. He suppose that was the speed of his heart due to the stressors in his environment.

He learned.

His skin did not perspire, but the lower area of his abdomen did feel funny. He suspected the feeling would get worse if he attempted to speak to another person. Regular Obie did put him in a position to converse with a regular woman a day ago, but it was different. Here, he had to stay with these regulars for an unknown period time. 

He unpacked his books angrily, wondering what truth was regular Obie looking for.

"Hi." A soft voice said from the doorway.

He turned around, not caring if his expression was hostile.

The voice belonged to a little regular. A child. A female child with fluffy black hair, brown eyes, a scrawny face and a dirty pink dress with a ripped blue jacket. "We're going to eat soon. I thought you should know."

Eat? His lip curled in disgust for regular food. 

The regular girl regarded the room thoroughly with her small hands constantly pushing her hair out of her bitty brown eyes. She was different from Little Monster. She had a large mane of hair, which emerged out of a small cap with a half broken lid.  While Little Monster's face was contoured with a familiar belligerence for blood, the regular girl had the face that belonged to an abused prey who had unrealistic longings for comfort from anyone who'd provide it. Little Monster showed no fear, while the regular girl took time to think about her steps before executing her decisions with hesitating movements. Though, there was the glamour of curiosity the two little ones shared that disturbed the vampire. Little Monster's curiosity led him to regular Obie. He speculated the hazards behind the regular girl's novelty and wondered what troubles would they bring.

The vampire ogled the little girl and  her fretful motions as she stretched her neck for a better angle. He thought about picking her up by the neck and dragging the child out of the room, not necessarily caring if she toppled down the steps.

He couldn't understand regulars. Obie was difficult enough to dissect, because she was different than the regulars he watched.

Although, he found regular Obie and her actions understandable in a place where his kind wanted to drain her. These people traveled in groups and acted as if they were superior with their useless weapons and exaggerated boldness. His kind could break their barriers as easily as they could take down a building. If they ever got close to The Hive, they'd die in a second.

Except his regular Obie.

For what was known to him, Logan and his regulars were walking blood bags for Obie to use. He was satisfied that she lacked the need to create bonds.

"Where is Burrito?" She asked.

He stared at her hard.

The regular girl's eyes widened and stepped back out the door. "I'm sorry for bothering you."

"Leave." He said one word before turning his back on her, but his glance persisted over his bold shoulder.

The regular girl pouted and tapped her grimy fingertips together. "I-I."

The vampire slammed another book on the table and the regular girl jumped.

"I-I just want to see Burrito." She whimpered.

"Don't care."

"I care." She groaned, not giving up.

He asked suspiciously. "How you know disgusting Burrito?"

"She's not disgusting. She's adorable." The child hid behind the threshold and said in a small voice. "We met at the science building. I wanted to keep her and name her Mary but your girlfriend said her name was Burrito. I couldn't keep her or Cian will cook her....I'm sorry again. I go."

The vampire caught the regular girl before she could go. Ironically, his own curiosity kept the child in her place, though he hoped to get away from her. He tilted his head. "What is a girlfriend? Is it the same as a boyfriend?"

Moments ago, the regulars called him Obie's boyfriend. Atfirst, he believed they were describing the genders of friendships. But whygive him in the title in the first place if it had less significance.

The female child popped back up and stared at him in wonder. She took the chance to step forward and answered, "Kind of. One is a boy. One is a girl."

The vampire hesitated before answering. Regular Obie said he needed to converse with these people. He could develop his own understanding of regular behavior and interaction. He couldn't do it by watching his regular Obie and disgusting Burrito. She was an animal. "I tried to understand in books, but I confuse."

"I have to read to stay smart too." Shyly, the female child stepped inside the room. "A girlfriend and boyfriend are in a relationship."

"A relationship?"

"She's yours. You're hers." She formed a shape with her hands. "This is a heart."

"I have a heart." He rubbed his chest.

"But it's a different heart. It's red and made of patience!" She grinned, missing a couple of teeth in the front. "That's what Zara tells me."

"Don't make sense."

"Look." The little girl stopped low on her ankles and drew a shape that looked like a broken "B" with diagonal lines touching at the tip. He fought the need to lean forward. "You guys share this. I don't know much about it. I tried to ask Amora. Amora would just shoo me off and say 'mind your business little girl'. But it's hard to ignore when her and Mickey always kissing! It's annoying."

"Kissing?" He read that word countless times.

"Mhmm." She made a 'yuck' sound. "Boyfriend and girlfriend kiss."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It looks like this." The regular girl stuck her tongue out and shook her head vigorously like a wet animal wanting to be dry.

He scoffed. "They do not do that in books."

"This is real life." She said confidently. "It looks nasty."

The vampire raised his eyebrow in disapproval. Kissing Obie did sound nasty now, but it's magical in the stories. He had hope for it.

"You and Obie don't kiss?"

"You know regular Obie's name too?" He asked in surprise. 

She nodded, hoping to impress him. "Logan called her a crackhead. I think she's pretty."

He blinked. "Regular Obie's pretty?"

"She's your girlfriend. You're supposed to think so!" She snickered, but then looked behind her nervously.

"Why look back?"

"No one knows I'm up here." The female child walked in the room and sat on the bed.

He frowned. "Too comfortable-"

She continued. "They don't like me, so anything I do makes them mad."

"Why?"

She mumbled. "I'm not wanted."

He thought about a response Obie would say. "That sucks."

She looked at him with confidence. "But can we be friends? We can tell each other our names, then we can become best friends."

He said flatly. "No."

She groaned. "Why not?"

"Only regular Obie and disgusting Burrito."

"Why do you call her regular?" The little girl pulled at her frizzy ends. "Sounds mean. I don't call my friends regular."

"You don't have friends."

She exclaimed and hit her foot against the bed. "You don't know that!"

He articulated his thoughts into words, so it came out slower than he liked. "You are not wanted. You are asking a stranger to be your friend. Therefore, you have no friends."

"Isn't that how all friendships begin?" She pouted.

He thought. "Regular Obie was a stranger, but she never f-felt like a stranger."

She teased. "Oooooooo"

"Huh?"

She repeated, "Oooooooo."

"Yes?" he answered in confusion.

"Don't you know what that means?"

He shook his head.

She blew out. "You don't know a lot of things."

"I'm retar-" He stopped because he could feel regular Obie scowl from afar. "I have disorder."

"What's disorder?" She said in perplexity.

"A disorder is...like melted ice cream. The essence is same, but different than what regulars are used to." He paused and nodded as if it made sense. "Yes. That's it."

"I think I have a disorder." She murmured sadly.

"Why?"

"People treat me like I'm different." She mumbled. "Percy and the others are mean to me. It wasn't my fault what happened at the mall. I didn't want them to die. But Percy says since I'm type O+, he says I'm a disease. He said I can be cured with a bullet."

The vampire couldn't understand the little girl. He didn't know what she was talking about, however he had the feeling the little girl wanted him to probe into her life. He didn't want to. She was going to have to deal with it on her own, because he was waiting for his regular Obie.

He was about to turn away, but he saw clear liquid crawling down her cheeks like Obie's had before. "Those are called tears. Yes? Why do you have them?"

"What?" She touched her face and showed him her glistening finger. "This?"

He nodded.

"I'm crying, silly." She laughed in disbelief. "I cry a lot."

"You feel bad?" He had tears long ago.

"Not bad.