Chapter 36

-Noah's POV-

I felt quite sorry for Crow as we trudged back to his house in the middle of the night, with Sawyer and Aldrich trailing after us. I felt even more sorry for Sawyer, who woke up after becoming a vampire, then was attacked, and then had to deal with at least a dozen humans on their street, looking after other humans who had been attacked.

I didn't know how he was walking to be honest. It might've been the fact that he knew about vampires before he was turned, but I had spent at least four hours being a confused mess after I woke up. I had woken up in the middle of an alleyway with blood surrounding me, alone and very confused. I supposed that was the main difference between the two of us. He had the support of his father as soon as he woke up, or even before he was attacked. I didn't. I found it hard to control the rolling jealousy which settled in my stomach.

"In and out," Crow muttered to himself as we reached his house. "This is an awful, terrible, catastrophic, idea. I'm going to be grounded for the rest of my life, which is going to be pretty long unless my parents find out how to kill vampires." He was facing the ground, and he had one hand in his coat pocket.

I chuckled under my breath and squeezed the hand which I held. "Crow, everything'll be fine. You have the note, and your parents will hopefully be on board. I mean, you don't stay home very often, do you?"

Crow hummed and turned his head from side to side. "I don't really spend a lot of time out of the house either. I usually go to the hotel or my treehouse. I can be out of the house for weeks on end, but I check in with my parents and make sure they know I'm safe."

"But you can still do that," I pointed out. "You can still phone and text them saying you're fine, just take a phone charger." We had been given around ten minutes to pack a bag, which'll be very easy for me, since I'm currently still living off Crow. "Besides, it's not like we're leaving in an hour or something."

"That would've been a good idea," Aldrich said from behind us. I figured that his presence wasn't helping Crow's nerves at all, it certainly wasn't helping mine. There was absolutely no reason why it would give comfort now. We had all been attacked whilst we were together, and we lost that fight. "But we're going hunting first."

Crow turned around and glared in their direction, but they were at the end of the street, whilst we were nearly in the middle. "We'll meet up with you there?" This was the first time we had heard anything about hunting. And I suppose that it would be a very good idea, to go hunting before travelling all the way to Italy. It would be the first time I left the country, and I knew that we would be breaking several laws either way.

"Nope, we're meeting you back here." Aldrich shook his head and pointed to the floor. "Your ten minutes start now."

Crow blinked a few times, probably because he was a drama queen. "Lovely." He turned around and quickened his steps towards his house. "I've got to wake them up and then I've got to tell them that I'm going to Italy for an art project, my mother is going to explode."

I laughed again, as he had been doing this for around half an hour. He started to say it as soon as Aldrich told us about his friend, who was more than just a friend. I didn't have a good radar when it came to romance, and people who liked each other. But even I could see the fact that Aldrich had some sort of harboured feelings for this person, and I was anxious to find out who exactly would be able to get Aldrich's attention like that. I had gathered that he was the person to be all or nothing, if he didn't fall madly and passionately in love, then he would have no interest.

Crow entered the house as silently as he left, and then dashed up the stairs and to his room. He moved his wardrobe out of the way a bit and then went into a cupboard which I didn't know existed. It wasn't just as big as the wardrobe, but it was like a whole other room connected to Crow's.

"How did I not see that?" I asked him with my mouth gaping open, pointing towards the cupboard. "That's a whole other room there." I felt a bit like a lemon as I stood in the middle of the room, my eyes moving from him to the wardrobe. "Need any help?"

Crow nodded his head towards his laptop, which told me all I needed to know. I gathered up his laptop, charger, phone charger, headphones, and the hoodie which was on the desk. I put the hoodie on for ease and put the other objects into the bag he had retrieved.

"I'm going to go and wake them up," Crow told me in a whisper. I didn't know why he was whispering, as I had learned that his parents were rather heavy sleepers.

I nodded silently and gave him a thumbs up. I then figured that I shouldn't just stand there and do nothing, so I continued to pack his bag, and retrieved my own bag from where I had left it on his bed. I emptied it of most of my art supplies, keeping a sketchbook and some pencils in there in case I got a little crazy, and I filled it with the clothes which Crow had declared to be too big.

There was a crash from Crow's parent's room, which caught my attention and maybe made me jump out of my skin. Violet began shouting, but not in a mad way, in a way which only a parent could do. She was annoyed and frustrated, but also tired. It was as though she had completely expected something like this to happen.

I wondered exactly how many parents had to be woken up in the early hours of the morning to find that their son is taking a school trip to Italy without any prior knowledge of the trip, but then I shook my head and shouldered my bag. I walked into the hallway and waited just outside of Crow's doorway, so I wasn't obviously eavesdropping.

"Oh my gosh, they're eloping," Ruby exclaimed excitedly. "You're not allowed to do that; I've got to plan your wedding." I could imagine her pointing an accusing finger at Crow, who would be stuttering and spluttering with embarrassment at the accusation. "It'd be purple and green themed for colours, with a half and half chocolate and vanilla cake."

I covered my face with my hands for several reasons. I was embarrassed, I actually liked the idea of the wedding, and my boyfriend's mother was talking about us running away to be together like we were in some sort of cheesy movie.

"Keep it down, he can hear you," Crow hissed. "But can you please sign my permission form?" There was a small rustling of plastic and other objects hitting against each other.

"I don't know why you need permission slips at your age," Violet muttered, followed by a loud scribbling sound, she undoubtedly used a biro pen to write out her name. "Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Her voice was tired, which I couldn't blame her for, but she was about to fall back asleep.

"I thought that you would think that I was eloping with my boyfriend," Crow answered smoothly. "Goodnight, love you." When he left the room, he stopped in his tracks and nearly fell backwards against the door. His eyes closed, but not before showing me how mortified he was. He inhaled deeply and pointed a finger at me, like I had imagined Violet doing to him a few moments ago.

I raised my hands before grabbing his bag and handing it to him. It was quite heavy, nearly causing the seams to burst. He didn't seem worried about it as he shouldered the bag and put the slip of paper into his pocket. I wasn't sure why he insisted on keeping it, because there was no need to hand it in to anyone.

"Ready?" He asked and adjusted the straps on his bag. "We have an exhausting, life-threatening, trip ahead of us. We best not forget anything." Sarcasm was thick in his voice, which was beginning to cause me worry.

I think that what we were doing had finally sunken in. We were going to be travelling to go and meet an ancient vampire, leaving behind Crow's family and friends at the potential mercy of a human who is strong enough to fight off four vampires. None of the humans would stand a chance against them, I was certain of that. Crow must be worried out of his mind, and I had been treating the situation lightly because I only had Crow to lose,

"I'm about as ready as I'll ever be," I answered. Before we made our way down the stairs, I placed my hands on his upper arms. "We'll be okay, and so will they. You'll call them all the time, and you'll be able to see if they're safe." I nodded towards the security camera which was facing the stairs.

Crow scowled a bit. "You're not meant to be able to see that." He playfully swatted at my head, and I could telly hat my words had made some sort of difference to his attitude. "Come on, before he breaks down my door." He reached up and kissed me on the cheek, which caused my skin to tingle.

"After you, kind sir." I gestured towards the stairs dramatically, causing Crow to roll his eyes again and begin to walk down the stairs. I turned the light off in his room and closed the door softly before following. "Your key's in your coat pocket." I poked his side, where the pocket would've been if he had been wearing his coat.

He groaned and jogged back upstairs, using his vampire speed when he was up there and appearing back by my side within the next ten seconds. "You couldn't have said that whilst we were up there?" He blew some hair out of his face as he opened the door and held it open for me.

I stepped outside and was greeted by the chilly air. "I prefer to be difficult," I said as I waited for him to lock the door behind himself. "I've got to get all the mischief out before meeting Count Dracula number three."

"And I do hope that I'm not number one," Aldrich's voice came from behind me. I didn't jump as much as I would've when I was human, but I still felt like my heart leaped into my throat. "I'd consider myself to be quite different to Murdoch."

Crow snorted. "At least he knows who number two is." He hopped down the stairs and grabbed my arm, linking it with his as we exited his gate, causing Aldrich to trail after us. Sawyer had been waiting on Crow's wall, sitting with his feet dangling. His head was hung low, and he didn't look up as we approached. I wondered what kind of hunting his father did. I knew that it was a means of survival for us, but I wondered if he had to lure people into the alley, or if they had potentially just saved a life.

"Are we good to go now?" Aldrich asked us in a very serious tone, unlike the one he had used before. It was off putting to hear him like that, but I had a feeling it would continue to be off putting for quite some time.

Crow and I looked at each other before nodding. Sawyer hopped off the wall and started to lead us down the street, in the opposite direction of their house. I didn't even notice when he began to speed up, or when I began to speed up. I focused on the back of his navy-blue denim jacket, and then we were suddenly at the airport.

Aldrich patted my shoulder as he passed, and walked towards the desk which was at the very front of the airport. He had a very hushed conversation with the woman, slid something over to her, and then gave a dazzling smile. He turned and gave us a wink, nodding in the direction of the two security guards who had appeared to the right of us.

"Don't tell me that he's got connections here?" Crow whispered to Sawyer, but it was loud enough for me to be able to hear, and maybe the security guards.

"He has shares in the airline," Sawyer informed in a small and downcast voice. "I don't know why you're surprised."

Crow nodded, as though he was also wondering why he was surprised.

Aldrich walked up behind Crow and me, putting an arm over our shoulders. Crow's hand squeezed mine almost painfully. "Plane leaves in half an hour."

"A private plane?" Crow asked and took a deep breath. "And I thought that my family had connections."

Hello lovelies! I hope that you're all doing well :D

The question of the chapter is: do you have a favourite pillow?

Ever since I was young, I always had 'one pillow' in the living room which was mine. It went from Bratz, to High School Musical, and now it's a Stitch cushion! But mam's currently stealing it.