I woke up as I heard The Ramones being played loudly from somewhere in the apartment. I heard an annoyed growl beside me as an arm flung onto me, making my shoulder and elbow pop, "Owww, fuck."

I don't know why I said ow since it didn't really hurt at all. I guess it's what I'm used to saying. The arm jerked itself off of me, almost as if the person was in shock I was there. I rubbed my eyes. Why was my dad listening to The Ramones? Who did I bring home? Wait. Vampire. Never mind. I rolled onto my back to glance at Laz only to see Silas sitting up. He was mumbling under his breath but I could hear what he was saying almost perfectly.

"Lazzareth and his god damn music always being too fucking loud."

I gave a shrug as I looked around the dark room, being able to see the outlines and colors of everything, "Do you not like music?"

"LAZZARETH MALAKAI GET IN HERE!" Silas yelled. My eyes moved over to a bookcase that had piles of papers on it along with old looking books and several picture frames. I got out of the bed and headed to the bookcase. The pictures were of a girl, clearly from a different time period. How old was Silas, anyways. "Get away from there."

Silas grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me away from the bookcase. I raised my eyebrows at him, "Sorry, I wanted to look at the pictures."

"They aren't for you to see. LAZZARETH!" Silas said before yelling for Laz again. I rolled my eyes. Why does he have to be so rude? I only wanted to see the pictures. Who was the girl? Why did Silas not want me to see her pictures? "LAZZAR-"

Before Silas could finish saying 'Lazzareth', Laz opened the door, letting light from the living room flood into the bedroom. He looked so hot without a shirt and his wet hair all over the place. I looked over at Silas, wondering why he was yelling for Lazzareth, anyways. Did he not like The Ramones? Outsider by The Ramones was louder now and I bopped my head to the beat as Silas let my arm go. I loved this song. Then again, I loved everything by The Ramones.

"I heard you the first time. Oh, Veronica, come here and let me make you normal again." Lazzareth said as he looked at me and gave me a little smile. I didn't know what he meant by normal; I wasn't a normal person and I never would be. I walked over to him, trying my best to contain myself at his cuteness.

Silas gave a sigh, "Really? I like her like this."

What am I like? What's different about me? Lazzareth shook his head as he pulled me into his bare chest, wrapping his arms around me. I was forced to look to the side and stare at Silas. The longer parts of his hair were ruffled about and sticking up in places, making him look like a teenager. He looked pretty cute. Why didn't he have a girlfriend?

"It's not who she is and I can't leave her like this. If she's able to deal with your jerkiness then she could fall for you." Laz said as he leaned his head down on mine. I felt a tingling on my forehead before my mind went blank. What are we talking about? I know Laz didn't just say something about me falling for Silas. I shoved Laz off of me, "Eww. How could I ever fall for that ass?"

I punched Lazzareth as hard as I could in his right shoulder. It made him lean backwards a little bit as I sent him a glare, "Did you use that mind control shit on me to make me deal with Silas all night?"

"No. I used it to make you deal with him all day. He was going to tie you up and sew your mouth shut if I didn't. I told you this morning I was doing it for your own good." Laz said as he looked at me. I could see the sincerity in his eyes. I looked back at Silas, "You wouldn't have tied me up and sewn my mouth shut."

Silas gave a smirk before turning the lamp on his dresser on and opening a drawer. He pulled out some thick rope, leaving the rest in the drawer, "You don't know me, princess."

"Don't call me princess."

Silas shrugged before dropping the rope back into the drawer and shutting it. I rolled my eyes before pushing past Lazzareth and heading into the living room. I was absolutely dying of thirst and I went into the kitchen that was lit up from the lamps in the living room and started searching through the cabinets for a cup to put water in.

"Why did you call me?" Laz asked Silas.

"To tell you to turn your damn music down. Stop waking me up with it." Silas replied before he appeared in the kitchen beside me, "What the hell are you doing?"

I rolled my eyes and glanced at him before opening another cabinet, "It's none of your damn business."

Why was he so concerned with me? He's already made it clear that he doesn't really like me. I could hear Laz chuckle, "She's thirsty and she's looking for a glass."

"Are you going to take dead blood from the body in my bathtub? That will make you sick, Ronnie. I told you that last night, but you weren't listening." Silas said in an annoyed tone. I turned to look at him, anger running through my veins. I hated being called Ronnie. My dad calls me Ronnie and I hate it more than anything. I could care less that he has a dead body in his bathtub. "Don't. Ever. Call. Me. Ronnie. Again."

Silas held his hands up, "Okay, fine. You need to feed. Put on some pants and brush your hair."

I wasn't going to listen to him. He can't tell me what to do. I continued to look through the cabinets. Laz gently grabbed my hand, "Come on. Your body is thirsty for blood, not water. Trust us on this."

I sighed, giving up, and letting Laz lead me to his bedroom. I bit my bottom lip as I looked at his bed, "We don't have to get dressed."

"We do, Veronica. Your body needs blood." Laz said as he picked up my ripped skinny jeans and tossed them to me. I slid my pants on as I was hit in the arm by a rolled up pair of black socks. I raised my eyebrow as I looked over at Laz. He wasn't facing me but was moving items around before he pulled my pair of Converse up. I sat on the edge of the bed and put the socks on as Laz came and set my shoes beside me, "Are you ready to drink human blood?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Am I killing someone? Do I have to bite their neck?

"You don't have to kill anyone if you don't want to. I can erase their minds if you don't want to kill anyone." Laz said as he started to brush my hair around with his fingers, "There are main arteries on the neck, but you can easily hit good veins on the arms."

I turned my head to make eye contact with him, "I want to kill my dad. He needs to suffer like he made me suffer."

Laz stopped running his fingers through my hair, his eyes seemed to not hold any emotion, "Veronica, I won't let you kill your father. You only get one in your life and you will regret it later on in your life time."

"No. I'll be happy when he's dead. I want to watch him die." I said. Laz shook his head. He cannot stop me from killing my father. If it comes down to it, Silas said he would help me kill him and I'll tolerate him for as long as I need to until I see that jackass dead.

Silas walked into the bedroom with a glass of dark liquid that had little bubbles of air inside it. Think of the devil and he appears. Laz gave a chuckle as he shook his head again, "We are not letting you kill your father, Veronica. Also, I asked Silas to bring you a soda to see how it would help your thirst. I know you wanted water, but the sugar would be better for your energy."

Silas shoved the glass to me. I didn't trust him so I just raised my eyebrows at him. Silas rolled his eyes, "Lazzareth can read minds. He knows if I did anything to it. Besides, putting poison in it wouldn't do anything to you other than make you feel a little strange."

I looked over at Laz as he got off the bed to grab a hairbrush, "Silas is correct. He poured it out of the bottle in case your body decided to do a flip and give you the idea of breaking the bottle and stabbing us with it."

I gave a little smile as I grabbed the glass. The cup was made out of glass, so how is that any better? I wouldn't stab Laz again, but it would be fun to stab Silas just because. Laz sat beside me again and started brushing my hair with the hairbrush, "I won't let you stab anyone, just drink the soda."

I rolled my eyes and brought the glass to my mouth. I sniffed it. It smelled like regular Cherry Coca-Cola so I sipped it. My body took over and started to chug it before I could act like Silas poisoned me. It was sweeter than any other Cherry Coca-Cola I have ever had. The cherry flavor was strong and sweet. I liked it. I looked up at Silas and handed him the glass. He was making eye contact with Laz as he was giving a little smirk, like they were secretly talking about me with their minds.

"Don't do that. I know you two are talking about me in your heads." I said as I swatted Laz's hand and hairbrush away from my long, bleached blonde hair. "Tell me what he was thinking."

"Well, Silas felt like he had a triumph over you because I told him to mix his blood in with some soda. You just drank a regular Coca-Cola, half of which included his blood." Laz said as he set the hairbrush down.

I couldn't help myself from slamming my fist into the side of Lazzareth's face, hitting his left cheek and jaw as hard as I could. Laz's head moved to the right a little bit from the force. "Why in the hell would you ask him to do a thing like that?!"

Laz righted his head before looking at me with a hint of red in his eyes, "Because you still don't believe you are a vampire and you wouldn't have willingly drank from either of us. You needed blood in your system before you became sick and I knew you would get sick before we could get you out of the house. It was the only option."

I moved my attention to Silas, "And you listened to what he told you to do? Isn't he supposed to obey you, not the other way around with whatever crap you told me about last night."

Silas held his hands up, "I only did what he asked because I wanted to, Princess. Now forget about it and let's go teach you how to actually feed before we find someone to pack up our apartment."

I wanted to punch Silas harder than I punched Laz. I went to stand up but Laz immediately grabbed my arm so I couldn't get up.

"Put your shoes on and brush your hair. We leave in five minutes." Laz growled as he stood up and pushed Silas out of the room. Did he seriously growl words at me? How was that even possible? I shook my head and put my Converse on. After both shoes were tied, I ran the brush through my hair as quick as possible. I know Laz was annoyed with me at the moment. Both of them left me alone in his room to get ready. I turned my head around to look for a window. A thick, black curtain was beside the bed. I gave a smile as I stood up and went to the curtain, quietly pulling it back. I kept my mind clear and tried to focus on how mad I was at both Laz and Silas for getting me to drink blood without telling me I was drinking blood. I unlocked the window and slid it up, letting the cool night air come into the room. I gave a small smile.

Freedom.

I slowly climbed into the window. Even if I made sound, they wouldn't hear me over The Ramones album playing. We were on the third floor of an apartment building. I could jump, but I might break something. That would be better than being stuck here. I closed my eyes and jumped out of the window. I liked the feeling of adrenaline running through my body as I was escaping my two captors. The cool night air seemed to gently breeze past me. I hit the ground, landing on both of my feet like a cat and wobbling a bit until I regained my balance. Easy. And I didn't even break a bone. Now, where exactly am I?

"And that is exactly the reason I want someone to be with you at all times." Silas said as he grabbed my right upper arm and pulled me into him. I ripped my arm from his grip and started to run in whatever direction seemed quickest to get away from him in. I turned my head to look back at Silas but was met with nothing but an alley. I ran into someone and groaned, knowing who it was as they tightly grabbed my left shoulder. "Look, you're stuck with us. Even if I wanted you gone, I wouldn't want Lazzareth to suffer. He does deserve it, a bit, after killing the sister I made for him."

"Then kill me." I spat as I turned my attention on Silas. He shook his head, "I think not."

Silas dropped his cigarette to the ground and started to drag me into the apartment building before pulling me up the stairs. I tried to fight him but he only picked me up and slung me over his shoulder, "I have years of strength over you, so don't even bother trying to fight."

I rolled my eyes, "Sure thing, grandfather. How old are you, anyways."

"I don't think I'll be answering that question."

"So you're totally ancient. Are you over a thousand years old?"

Silas gave a chuckle as he opened the door to the apartment. I didn't even get to see what number apartment we were in. He dumped me down onto the couch, "No. But I am older than your grandparents."

"Are you over four hundred?" I asked as he gave a soft smile at me before looking behind himself to look at Laz, who was leaning on his door frame with his arms crossed against his chest. Silas looked back at me and gave a shrug, "Sort of close, but not that old."

"Three hundred and fifty?"

Silas shook his head. I bit my bottom lip, making my fang go into my skin and making myself bleed. "Oww, fuck."

I put my finger to my lip to stop the bleeding and looked up at Silas, "Three hundred?"

He shrugged, "If you think I look that young, I'll totally take it."

"Three hundred twenty-five?"

He chuckled, "You're very close so we'll stay with that. For that, I will let you punch your father like you punched Lazzareth."

There was absolutely no way Silas was over three hundred years old. Even so, he wouldn't look as attractive as he does. I hate to admit that last part because he's an ass, but it's true. At least Laz was way better in every way. I gave a sly grin, "So you're letting me see my father?"

"Maybe. We're taking you to your house so you can get any valuables and clothes you want. I'm going to make him think you were murdered if he's there." Laz said.

I rolled my eyes, "He would like that too much. How about something like I'm running off with you?"

Silas clapped his hands together once, making me jump, "There we go. You two are madly in love with each other and I'm moving across the country and my little brother and his girlfriend is coming with me."

"That sounds dumb." I replied. Silas shrugged as he grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, "Who cares? I'm the one in charge here, so lets go."

I did my best to fight Silas and pulled myself from his grip. He wasn't holding me tightly and I fell back onto the couch, "Don't touch me, grandpa."

Silas turned to me, his irises completely black, "I don't trust you to not run off, again, so if you want to stay alive don't fight me."

Just a few minutes ago he said he wouldn't kill me because he didn't have the power to make Laz forget me and he didn't want to see Laz hurt, so there's no way he would kill me. Plus, according to them I am already dead. I rolled my eyes, "Don't tell me what to do."

Silas narrowed his eyes at me before looking at Laz, "I hate to see you in pain, so don't be mad at me for what I do to her."

Laz folded his arms across his chest, "You aren't going to do anything to her, Silas."

Before I could stick my tongue out and taunt Silas, he was sitting on my right side with his arm around my shoulders. I tried to slide out from under his arm but he held me, firmly, in place. I gave an annoyed sigh, "Didn't I just tell you not to touch me?"

"Didn't I tell you to not fight me?"

Laz stepped forward and grabbed Silas' hand before lifting it off of me, "If you break her neck, I will break yours. We don't have time for this. The two of you need to stop fighting. Veronica, let's get your things and figure out where we want to go."

Silas pulled his arm from Lazzareth's grip, "Sometimes I hate that you can read minds."

Laz pulled me to my feet and laced his fingers through mine before pulling my left hand up and placing a kiss on it, "Veronica, can you not fight with Silas until we get out of Los Angeles?"

"It depends on how the jerk treats me." I said as I sent Silas a glare as he stood up. He grabbed my right hand and held it gently, examining my hand, "You just need to learn that I am the one in charge here and we will be fine from there."

I rolled my eyes, "I will only listen to Laz. Even then that's an if I want to deal. No one can control me."

Silas' eyes turned completely black as he bent my right hand backwards. I gasped at the pain as I felt my wrist snap in half. Silas gave a smirk, "That's what you think, princess."

"Go fuck the dead corpse in your bathtub." I said as I spat in his face.

He gave a chuckle, "I already did. She wasn't that great. That's why I killed her."

Laz pulled me into him and gently took my right hand into his. He massaged my wrist carefully as he sent Silas and I both glares, "Stop it! I will call Savannah if you don't pull yourself together."

Savannah? Why is he using a name to threaten me? I don't even know a Savannah. Silas growled, "Call my sister and Veronica will be in pieces."

Ahh. Savannah is Silas' sister. Is she anything like Silas? She must be if Silas doesn't want her around. If that's the case, I don't want her around either. I leaned into Lazzareth as he wrapped his arm around my waist, "You wouldn't hurt Veronica if she was here. Savannah wouldn't allow you to touch her."

Silas growled again, "Let's just go already. I'm hungry and I don't want to waste any more time."

{word count: 3,451 total word count: 13,142/50,000}