Obie hated driving. Driving with full thoughts was too dangerous. Her head felt too crowded and ached in confusion about her past life and roaring sounds of the outer world as she tried to control these new abilities. It would be a lie if Obie didn't feel like her knees were buckling under the weight of her own problems. But she was still standing and walking so that had to count for something.

She couldn't be the only one who was struggling. Her traveling companion, with the mind of a child and body of young adult male, was born from an experiment devised by her father and associates and was tortured with the promise of defying nature. Yet, he didn't know any of it. But the vampire remembered the feeling. If that's not fucked up, she didn't know what was.

"We've been driving for hours and all we managed to do is practically get out of the city because the roads are so jacked up." Obie folded her arms as they came to another stop. The line of drivers in front of her stuck their heads out to find out why, but fortunately, Obie could hear what they were saying without rolling down her window. If only she could separate the little noises; the harmonizing wind or the growl of the engine or flutters of B's hearts or just everything! "How do you do this shit?"

She groaned, waiting for the vampire's response as she pulled on the rubbery curvature of her ears. When she couldn't find his deep voice, which she heard louder than anything, Obie looked to the passenger seat. The vampire was under the blanket, shifting lightly ever so often. He's been this way ever since they got into the car. Granted, less sun exposure the better. However, his head was usually directed towards Obie, staring through the closure of the cloth. But no...his head was down.

"Hello?" Obie sang.

He didn't respond.

"Hellooooo?"

Nothing.

She forgot to put the car in park. "Vampire?"

Nada.

Obie hesitated, searching for any movements from the waist below. "You're...not like...touching yourself?"

Well, that was not going to get his attention because he didn't know what it meant.

Assuming so.

"Is he dead?" Obie asked Burrito in the backseat. "I bet that would make you happy."

Although, Burrito was calmer than usual around him. Tense, yes. But she was able to get some rest without wondering if this predator was going to kill her. Hell, she understood B's apprehension. Sometimes Obie wondered why she stopped being afraid of him. If anything, Obie felt the need to be near him. The blood was developing an attachment stronger than she thought. He could see through her eyes and all she wanted to do was protect him and protect others from him. She had mixed emotions; guilt of her father, attachment from the blood and sympathy because she understood pain. His pain more than anything.

"Vampire?" She cut her eyes at the road as Logan and the group began exiting their vehicles. Complaints already inhabiting the air, but she attempted to remove her senses from those walking distractions.

Obie unlocked her seatbelt, scrunched up the side of the blanket to make an entry and turned her body on her stomach to push her head through. "What are you doing, mister?"

She locked onto an utmost focused vampire. His glowing blue eyes looked so unreal against his tanned skin like an aquamarine crystal with white highlights surrounded by wet desert sand. They were thrown into a Nicholas Sparks' novel as his platinum blonde bangs balanced messily against his forehead. Surprisingly, the strands curled into lazy spirals as the rest were pushed back into style, but waved as if it was fighting humidity.

She could have sworn his hair was bone straight.

Feeling an odd rush from her head to her toes, she looked up to find him staring at her. The gentle look in his eyes did not match the flush in his cheeks nor the embarrassment in his small smile.

Obie blinked long and hard for some reason. Her stomach, uncomfortably, pressed against the storage compartment. "I've been talking to myself for hours."

"Fun?" The vampire asked curiously, closing his novel, and placing the pen on top.

"No, because I was really talking to you." She rolled her eyes, accidentally bumping her chin against his leg. Immediately, Obie picked her head up as the vampire reached and touched the same spot. "Don't be weird."

The vampire sent a half smile as he pulled back.

"That's a lot of smiles for one day.'' She narrowed her eyes. "You're sus."

His eyebrows raised. "What's sus?"

"Short for suspicious."

"Sus-suspect?"

"Yeah. It's like I feel suspicious if you're doing or saying something that you're intentionally hiding and don't want me to find out."

He paused, his sharp tooth hanging onto his pink bottom lip. "You sus."

She jerked back in shocked. "What?"

He slowly said. "You sus."

"You are." She corrected and got back to the topic at hand. "How am I acting suspicious?"

"You hiding. Meeting EwLogan. Thinkin. Not saying words." He breathed out in a struggled. "Just sus."

It felt like a ball was in her throat with purpose to gag on her words. But she couldn't let her nervousness pull the reigns on her decisions. "You wouldn't want to know."

"I want know everything."

"Speak English. Do you really?" She challenged.

"Do you?" He answered back. "My blood gives image. I see. You see truth. Why not drink?"

"Because I don't want to be like you." She said bluntly. "You think I like having the ability to hear shit from miles away. You think I like punching through walls. There's so much shit I don't know I can do, but if I can burst a light bulb without touching it that means there is more. And that means there is more room for me to be reckless. I don't like reckless. Reckless is how you die. Or how I die. If I have to find out the truth by chasing down documents and having you around, then I will. Not by drinking your blood."

He moped.

"You don't understand."

"I don't want to be me either." He said in a small voice.

Obie was silent in surprise.

"I want to be regular."

She looked away. "Regulars are prey. You're at the top of the food chain."

"You want to be at the bottom." He said smartly. "You no understand."

Obie sighed. "You right. I never will. You won't either. But we can learn from each other."

"Learn from me?" He said precipitously. "How?"

Oh shit.

She shook her head. "You told me you don't want to know. It all...connects."

The vampire looked away.

"What are you writing?" Obie asked suddenly. The conversation gave her jitters in her lower stomach, but this was what Obie wanted. His curiosity could lead to discoveries of his own life.

He tightened his hold on his notebook swiftly too. "No."

Intrigued by the eighteen-year-old vampire, she said. "Show me."

"No." He held his book tighter, and cheeks flushed. "No. Privacy. Mine."

"I just want to-" She reached for the book.

He grabbed her hand, stopping her.

She narrowed her eyes distrustfully but jerked her hand back from the heat surge that flowed from his skin into hers. The harsh pull caused her whole body to jerk, and she yet again hit her head on the glove department and back on his lap. She rubbed the back of her head, though it did not hurt at all. "Fine. Don't show me."

"Regular Obie okay?" He patted her head.

"I'm not a dog." Obie gave him a look. "Yeah, I'm okay...Hey, I think we're stopping for a bit. I have a feeling we might be settling in for the night, so we have to talk about some things."

"Things?"

"Yeah. One safety. There's a lot of things going around in the area. I just can't tell what it is. It's a lot of scrambling. So if anything goes down, just make sure you're not seen doing something regulars can't do. They find out what you are and we're all in trouble. Okay?"

He nodded slowly, but his eyes were blank.

"Not okay. You don't understand." She frowned. "You have to kill in silence. Disappear before anyone can know it's you. Or if you can avoid it, then do it. The minute you stop being regular is the minute this group will treat us like the enemy. That's bad."

"Why bad? They not friends." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"They are not enemies either. For now." Obie said. "Regular Obie needs to find out truth. I need them for that truth we talked about, remember?"

He nodded again. "Kill, but no killing like me."

"Only when they are around. But when they are not, do what you gotta do."

"How I kill like regular?" Mister vampire asked curiously.

"Knife."

"Knife?" He showed her his ten fingers. "I have hands."

"And you can use them too. Difference is regulars can't take someone heads off with one pull. But I'm going to show you how. Okay?" The best she could. She wasn't a pro. Just a pro at survival.

"Okay?" The vampire agreed in anticipation.

"Two...you and Little Monster."

He froze and she took note.

She brushed it off as his normal discontent for the child vampire.

Obie said. "I need you to go feed. The less ravenous you are, the more in control. I'll cover for you while you leave. But I also need you to feed Little Monster. He's been quiet for some time now."

He shrugged. "Weak."

"You're right. He was just tortured, but I thought the blood will at least give him some energy." She twisted her lips. "Something was off like they gave him something in his body. It didn't smell right...He needs another round. My question is how can we do that without you killing someone?"

"I go to bridge again." He said flatly.

"But we're out of the city now."

"I fast."

"Okay" She agreed. "Maybe you should take him with you."

He scoffed.

"Take him and let him drink from the source." Obie said with a bad taste in her mouth. "He can drink from their bodies as long as they are not old, or he will poison himself."

"Why?" He groaned.

"Because I said so. Simple as that." She spoke indefinitely.

"Hmmph."

She opened her mouth until she heard a sharp noise pierce her ear. Obie shrugged back and grabbed onto her auricles with anxiety.

"Someone knocking." The vampire said delicately.

In frustration, Obie lifted the covers till she had a view of her driver's window. There was Logan. He was bent down with his arm on the hood of her car and his eyes wondering like a nosey next-door neighbor. When he finally caught her glare, he widened those dark eyes of his and lifted his eyebrow with an annoying smirk. He said through the window with a hint of mischievous teasing. "Is he finished, because we got a group meeting?"

What the hell was he smirking about-

Oh no.

Obie and the vampire were both under a blanket with his hand still on the back of her head and her face near his lap.

In a rush, she ripped her head from out of the blanket, sitting up straight on her knees and yelled in embarrassment. "Coming!"

Logan smirked, tapping the sides of his lip and mouthed. "Wipe."

"Your mother." Obie bit out as he walked away with a laugh. "Fucking asshole."

"Fucking asshole." The vampire repeated after her.

"Now you choose to respond when I'm out the blanket" Obie hung her head forward, because Logan had something to hang over her head. He better not come at her with bullshit because Obie can hurt his feelings really quick. "Stay in the car. I'm going to find out what's going on. Got it?"

She heard a couple pages flipping, and silence followed afterwards.

"Now you don't respond." She rolled her eyes. "C'mon Burrito. I won't leave you with him this time."

Obie stepped out with red cheeks. She swung Burrito on her shoulder, scratching her back with care and nuzzling her neck. Burrito did her little noise, responding to Obie instantly and without hesitation. She probably missed the time between the two of them. There was never three or four. Just two. Burrito had a harder time adjusting more than anyone with her animal instincts, though there was effort.

"I miss us too." She whispered into her neck before one last nose kiss.

"Hi Burrito!" Piper yelled from the window of the truck.

Amora, the girl's whose mouth cannot shout, scrunched up her face. "Girl, why are you yelling?"

"Why are you asking?" Piper stuck her tongue out.

Amora looked like she changed. Her ripped clothes were replaced by regular blue jeans and a white turtleneck T-shirt with no sleeves. Subconsciously, she pulled the neck upwards every five seconds on cue when Yahil glanced at her repeatedly. The hickeys looked like black and blue bruises on her dark skin, but no one could be that dumb to fail to recognize love bites.

Then, again, there was Yahil's girlfriend. Anna was attached to his arm, oblivious to the exchange that everyone else pretended not to notice.

It was better off that way.

Obie preferred this trip to go on smoothly.

Drama tends to slow life down.

"Hi regular Obie!" She heard the high-pitched voice call out to her.

Piper changed too. Her damaged hair wasn't free and large in its afro. In its place, she had a long cornrow braided down the center of her hair. The hairdo framed her scrawny face, however had another effect on those large brown eyes of hers. Her dirty pink dress was replaced with a cute blue jean jumpsuit with an embedded flower belt around her waist. Her newly hot pink fingernails were drenched in ammonia as Obie smelled the fresh scent of nail polish.

She looked like a malnourished doll as she smiled vibrantly.

Despite her tantrum, it seemed Cian and Logan managed to sway the little girl back to normal. Or happier than normal.

Pampering can change any girl's mood.

Obie waved at Piper slightly as she caught on to the tension between the group. The entire team was surrounding Cian's and Logan's big ass car as they argued back and forth about their adventure. Her eye twitched, listening to the jumbled voices. They sounded like multiple people shouting in her ear as if she was getting yelled at by multiple personalities.

"Where's your guy?" She heard a voice ask. The question was abnormal to the jumbled conversation as it held no relation to the heated words. She realized Cian was talking to her.

Obie stopped short. His intense eyes observing her as much as he was intimidating her to tell the truth. Lying was not an option on his watch. "He's making sure we don't get robbed. Humans can be worse than vampires."

The group calmed down as they listened to their conversation. A blessing for Obie.

"Debatable." Yahil said attentively, while wrapping an arm around a shy Anna. His attention to Amora's neck was short lived.

"But also true," Cian side eyed Obie with his agreement before turning away. "What's the vote?"

"What vote?" Obie stepped closer, wanting to be on Logan's side rather Cian's. Cian's shadow engulfed her glistening skin, blocking the sun from pestering her.

"Vote to stay or continue driving through the night." Piper answered for Obie as if the others didn't really consider her input. The little girl got a few glares from Percy and a few others. Once they noticed she noticed, they turned away ashamed. Except for Percy, of course.

Amora blew out a frustrated sigh. "Which is a pretty dumb question considering vampires come out in the night."

Obie curiously asked. "Who disagrees?"

Hesitantly, Amora looked at Obie with prudence and slowly tried to decide if she wanted to answer her. They did have an awkward moment back at the house. Yet, she continued, clearly trying to state she was over it. Obie wasn't, but she didn't have to know that. She didn't trust coniving women. Lying was an ease to them, still anger was their kryptonite which made them more dangerous and unstable.

Amora pointed towards Logan, Cian and Ace. "Exhibit A, B and C."

"I'm guessing since that's only three...we have some neutrals that are getting in the way of the decision." Obie interpreted.

Amora pointed again, dramatically. "Neutrals: Yahil, his Lucky Charms Anna, Jordel and Mickey and the fake lesbians Zara and Elena."

The girls gave her the finger.

"Then, no's are..." Obie simply looked at Amora and her brother Mateo, Percy and his girlfriend Darcy, Piper, and Nadia.

"That's still six against three." Obie shrugged. "There's the vote."

"Hey, we still count?" Mickey frowned.

"Since when neutral votes ever counted. You either swing or be useless. As far as I see it, it's useless." Amora flipped her stiff curls over her shoulder.

"Who died and made you a voting poll?" Anna said under her breath.

"Thankfully, not the same person who made you." Amora glared, prepared to let the girl have it once more if she continued speaking.

"Why do you have to go there?" Yahil glared at Amora.

She, defensively, threw daggers at him. "Don't Yahil, because I would have no problem going there with you."

He gave her a look of silence.

She gave him a look of "fuck you".

Anna leaned on Yahil's arm for physical and mental support. Smiling into his dirty sleeve proudly.

"Why don't you defend me?" Amora stared enviously at the gesture, switching the attitude to her nonchalant brother, Mateo.

Her brother, who looked too high to function, said. "Sis..."

"Enough." Cian said sternly, closing the immature arguments. "We need to decide what to do."

"We're staying." Amora said back. "We got more votes."

Piper pipped. "Obie didn't vote."

"She doesn't count." Logan said.

"Why would you bring me out here if I don't count?" Obie predicted he was actively trying to portray to the group that he didn't like her to gain their trust. Yet, Logan looked pretty serious. Like a vote was a rite of passage that she did not have the right to cross yet.

Cian looked down at her with his hooded, solemn eyes. "I asked him. You may not have a vote, but your input is not going to be ignored. New perspective is needed in this group."

"I guess..."

"So? What do you think?" Yahil said, genuinely appearing interested in her opinion.

"I...I think." What were her thoughts? Something about laying low in an unfamiliar area did not sit well with her. They were around a lot of open space, not like how it was congested in the city. The streets were wide enough for a truck gang to drive through without interruption of an accident. Then, the houses were spread apart to give room to their own fields. A couple blocks down the houses get taller, transforming into the commercial life of consumerism; composed of multiple mainstream stores, because it wasn't enough that independent businesses were attempting to make a living. Though, the houses had a comfortable and neighborly feel as if the kids' neighbors played in the same block and went to the same day care center.

Rural was the word.

Urban metropolis to rural was their recent transition.

She didn't understand why sociology was overcoming her thoughts and turning her contemplations into run-on descriptions of how the world should be. Maybe because she had a strange feeling. Her ears weren't hammering with noises; human noises; human voices. She didn't have strange odors of human flesh or stench overpowering her senses.

It was a quiet place.