The Loners

I would like to thank everyone for their continuing kind votes and comments. I have to warn you though, this is now going to be quite a long ride since this story has been doing quite well to this point. Anyway, on with the important part. Enjoy, and again, comments are welcome.

*****

How could she have been so stupid? Rachel chastised herself. She forcefully calmed herself as the unknown vampire approached her.

"I must say, this is a surprise. You match the description that's been given." The vampire began. "Hiding out in the open, I would almost say that's...impressive." The vampire was a very plain individual, with short black hair and green eyes. Average height, and average build, he was almost perfect to play the role of just an average, everyday human.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rachel decided to play stupid first, and see what this vampire knew.

"Really now. There's no need for that. You've caught the interest of many, escaping from Lord Caleb's grasp the way you did. My master, Lord Christian, is especially interested in catching you before Lord Caleb does."

So, he's not a part of Caleb's clan. That improves things...slightly. Since Lord Caleb controlled the eastern half of the supernatural world of the United States, she had expected to run into Caleb's clan first. The fact that she ran into one of Lord Christian's clan is a lucky break, for he is in short, Caleb's rival, owning the western half of the United States.

She also had to be careful. If this vampire, or any other for that matter, discover her relationship with Alan, it would lead to a death sentence.

"I see. May I ask who you are?"

"My apologies. I am Christian Victor the second, Greater, at your service." Victor introduced himself with a slight bow.

Rachel's eyes flickered. Damn, he was a Greater Vampire. That meant she couldn't force her way past him or silence him.

"So, Rachel, would you like to accompany me? As I said, Lord Christian would like to speak to you."

"Hey Rachel!" A voice called out, causing Rachel to turn and her eyes went wide.

No Alan! Don't come near me right now!

Alan walked up, seeing Rachel with an unknown individual.

"Rachel, mind helping me for a moment? We've got a major mess at the food isle thanks to some wanna be funny guys."

Rachel, without turning, eyed the vampire to see his reaction, causing Alan to do so, as alarm bells began ringing in his head.

"Ah, sorry, are you a friend of Rachel's or something?"

The vampire smiled. "No, no, we just met."

"Oh, well then, Rachel, if you don't mind? Greg did ask me to come get you to help."

"I'll...be right along."

"You can't say that, you know you're not supposed to converse with customers. Greg will torch you if he finds out."

Dammit Alan! Stop being so stubborn.

"It's okay, I can wait. Of course, it's very important that you get your work done." Victor responded. "Perhaps we can speak later, Rachel?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes, of course."

Victor turned and walked off.

After Alan and Rachel walked a little bit, Alan spoke in a hushed tone. "Who's your friend? I noticed him speaking to you for a little bit and assumed the worst. I made up that story of the mess in order to get you away from him."

"You shouldn't have. It would have been better if I had continued to speak to him. We got lucky though. If he was one of Caleb's, he would most likely have tried to capture me on the spot. However, be belongs to Lord Christian's clan, and he's a Greater."

"Christian is another Lord, right?"

"Yes, though that also makes it dangerous to us. He and Caleb are rivals, competing for the United States. Lord Christian might use this opportunity to bargain with Caleb for power of some form."

"So, what now?"

"Alan...It's best if I leave. If I stay any longer, I'll be putting both of us in grave danger."

"No. We talked about this, and we agreed that we would face this together."

"You don't understand. I was being stupid, we were being stupid! How could I even think that this would work?"

"Because it's as we said, we would face this together."

Rachel shook her head. "That's only because I was being naive, there's no way that we stand a chance, I have to go."

"No! If you leave...then I don't know what I'd do. I...wouldn't even want to live anymore."

"Alan, please don't make this harder for me than it already is! You think I want to leave!?" Rachel was on the verge of tears. "It's just...just..." Rachel was fighting back sobs, and turned away.

"Then take me with you."

Rachel faced Alan's eyes.

"If we can't stay here, then let's run, together."

"Alan..."

"I don't care how we live, or what we go through, as long as we do so together. We'll live on the streets if we have to, hide everyday, fight for scraps, I'm prepared for it."

"Don't be stupid. I can't possibly ask you to..."

"Rachel, you don't understand. The pain of you leaving is far worse for me than almost anything I can imagine. You remember what happened to me after you left the first time. If you leave now, I can only imagine that it will be thousands of times worse. I'd rather live on the streets starving then go through that kind of pain again."

"Alan, you have a life, you have friends, family, a future..."

"And you are a part of it now. In fact, you are my life. That's why I can't let you go. If I do, I know I'll die on the inside."

And there it is, Rachel saw. The resolve. He meant every word of it. And the truth for her was, even though she was advocating it, she didn't want to leave him, either. She knew that she would go through almost the same pain that he described. In fact, she'd probably just surrender herself after a brief chase because she'd no longer have the will to live. This was beyond cruel.

However, they were in too deep now, and they would have to see this through to the end, whatever that may be.

"Okay...fine. If we're going to run, we'd better get as much cash as we can and dispose all of your cards. Oh, Alan, are you sure you want to go through with this?"

Alan nodded. "Yes."

"Even though you could never speak to anyone you know ever again?"

"Yes."

"And that you will have to leave everything you know behind? Your computer, your Xbox, your house?"

"To me, it's like trading them all to be with you, which to me, is worth it."

Rachel once more fought back sobs. She was hoping that he would have seen reason and pushed her away so that at least he could go back to a normal life. But instead, he was being stupid and throwing it all away. Rachel couldn't decide whether to be angry, upset, or grateful to him.

Rachel willed herself to be calm, and closed her eyes. She had to find out where the Greater may be. Her eyes then shot open. "He's watching us!"

*****

After watching the girl depart with the human to attend to her 'job', Victor decided to call this in, and began walking to a place where he couldn't be seen.

"This had better be good, Victor, I'm extremely busy." A harsh voice spoke on the phone.

"I've found the girl."

*****

Lord Christian's eyes shot open. "Caleb's renegade!?"

"Yes."

Lord Christian was currently in one of his offices in Los Angeles, and was meeting with two of his Greaters at the moment, both of whom sprung to attention upon hearing about the renegade.

Lord Christian is almost what one would expect to see in a Vampire Lord. Standing at six foot, two inches, he possessed a very serious and stern expression almost constantly, along with his harsh voice. He was almost all pure muscle, and, if someone saw him on the street, would determine almost immediately that he was not a man to cross.

The rumors could not be held back, and the story of the renegade who escaped Caleb had reached the ears of the Vampire Lords. Lord Christian, wanting to take advantage of the situation, had sent several of his Greaters, including Victor the second, to attempt to find the girl and bring her in.

"However, I was forced to approach her. By the time I realized who she was, she had already spotted me. I offered her to bring her in to you, but I don't know how she'll react." Victor explained.

"Why, what happened?"

"Currently, she's holding a job, but I imagine that she will only be here for a short time to make quick cash before she moves on. One of her co-workers asked for her assistance, and to avoid a scene, I allowed them to proceed without incident. I'm currently attempting to infiltrate the store to keep a more proper eye on her."

*****

"Good. Keep a close eye on her. She'll be more valuable if we can bring her in. If not, at least I'll be able to bargain Lord Caleb for the information, since she'll be almost useless if we bring him a corpse."

"Yes my Lord, I'll inform you if she comes in or runs." Victor replied, hanging up the phone. He was out of sight now, and willed himself to be invisible, and re-entered the store. He went to the food area where the boy had said there was a large mess that needed cleaning.

As Victor searched, though, he found no traces of any such incident. The floor hadn't been cleaned or mopped at all. Did the boy lie to separate Rachel and himself? If that was the case, then that meant the boy knew who he might have been. But he was just a human! He wasn't supposed to know!

Victor began searching the store entirely. Who was that boy, and what was his connection to Rachel? Was he simply a bystander that happened upon Rachel while she was on the run, and she was forced to reveal herself? No, that wouldn't make sense. She could have easily just killed him. It was possible that she was using him to some degree, but Victor suspected that it might be more than that.

Finally, Victor spotted them. He kept his distance to avoid being detected by Rachel. Although he, as a Greater, had better skills when it came to concealing his presence, it would be best if he did nothing to possibly spook them. At his current distance, even with his advanced hearing, he could barely make out the words both Rachel and the boy were speaking because they were speaking in low voices.

What really piqued Victor's interest was the fact that Rachel was almost crying, clearly upset, and the boy held a determined look on his face. Victor now began to regret ignoring the name on the boy's nametag, because it looked like that whoever this was, he was important.

Victor decided to move in closer, and see if he could catch the boy's name, along with whatever it was that they were discussing. Rachel looked like she had finally calmed down, and to Victor's surprise, her eyes shot open.

"He's watching us!" Victor heard. Damn!

*****

"Where?" Alan asked, turning.

"You won't be able to see him, but he's behind you, don't turn." Rachel ordered, grabbing Alan's hand, and began walking towards more populated areas of the store.

"Wha-what are we doing?"

"He's invisible right now. He can't afford to make a scene if we're among people, though he can still approach and talk to us."

Victor then appeared before both of them.

"Throwing in your lot with a human, and opposing a Greater? Such ill fated choices." Victor remarked coldly.

"Don't say anything. Keep walking, right now, he can't do anything unless he wants to attract attention."

"There's no need for this game, I'm sure Lord Christian would simply love to hear about you and Alan here." Victor smiled confidentially.

"And the moment you try to pick up the phone and make a move, Alan and I will jump." Rachel replied, smiling.

The smile on Victor's face vanished. "Clever girl. Taking advantage of your renegade status by throwing away all of our known restrictions and threatening to intentionally create a scene. However, that also indicates that you may have already accepted a death sentence. That means you two are lovers, aren't you?"

"Don't answer him."

Victor began to laugh. "Now this is amusing indeed. Abandoning a Vampire Lord and falling in love with a human? Oh, what shall be next? Are you going to start claiming that you're Dracula?"

Rachel continued to lead Alan along, developing an idea.

"All kidding aside, what say we end this little game? Surely you realize that there is nowhere for you to escape to. Even if you jump, I'll be able to follow."

Rachel had led them to the produce area. Thankfully, Stacy was currently here, putting some things away. Especially the perfect items to hatch her plan.

"Stacy? Mind if Alan and I help you?" Rachel asked, catching Stacy's attention.

Stacy turned to them. "Uh, sure." She said, wondering why they were suddenly here.

"Is this your great plan? Ignore me the entire time? How long do you expect this game to last?"

Rachel then smiled. "Actually, my plan is THIS!" She shouted, opening a tray of eggs and tossing the open tray at Victor, causing several eggs to land and break on him.

"R-Rachel, what the hell...? H-holy shit, the eggs are FLOATING!!" Stacy screamed, pointing at the said floating eggs.

Victor's eyes widened, realizing Rachel's intention as Rachel pointed at him and screamed.

"I-i-it's a GHOST!! A REAL LIVE GHOST!!!" Rachel screamed as loud as she could, catching several people's attention, all of whom immediately turned their attention to the supposed flying eggs.

"Holy shit!!!"

"Quick, get a picture!!"

Victor growled. "You bitch!" He hissed, and vanished before anyone could capture the picture on their phones.

After he left, Rachel turned to Stacy. "Stacy, I'm so sorry about this, but I need to ask a few things of you. One, never talk about what you just saw. Two, pretend that you didn't see Alan and I here. And three, don't tell anyone what we're about to do. Can you do that? Trust me when I tell you, you don't want to know what's really going on." Rachel said quickly.

Stacy, open mouthed, dumbly nodded. She had just seen floating eggs that had suddenly vanished before her eyes. Just what could she say?

Rachel turned to Alan. "We don't have much time, he probably doesn't know your car yet. If we hurry, we might be able to get away before he returns." Rachel said, tightening her grip on Alan's hand.

Alan turned back to Stacy. "Yeah, uh...sorry about all of this." He said to her.

"Now Alan, this is going to feel a little weird, you should probably close your eyes."

Alan did so, then, for a few intense moments, he felt like he was flying through some sort of void, then touched solid ground.

Alan opened his eyes, and suddenly, they were in the parking lot, in between Alan's car, and another. He also felt a wave of dizziness, and almost fell before Rachel caught him.

"Sorry, I was like that my first few jumps, here, get in, I'll drive." Rachel said quickly.

Alan gave Rachel his keys, and she helped him into the passenger seat. Alan then began to feel a wave of nausea, and before he could try and fight it, opened his door and puked outside next to the car as Rachel started it up.

Rachel kept her eyes out for their pursuer, and was thankful for the crowded and busy parking lot. Without being at the start of the jump, it would be more difficult to pinpoint the exit. That meant that any number of the cars pulling out could be potentials that Victor would have to chase after.

*****

Rachel's analysis proved correct. Victor had sensed the jump, and that it's exit was somewhere in the parking lot. However, from his current location outside, he couldn't pinpoint precisely the location, nor could he tell among the moving cars who was driving what car.

Victor cursed loudly, though no one could hear him. He couldn't go back inside and start questioning about the human either, for that would be very suspicious, considering the supernatural event that just took place.

He knew Lord Christian was not going to be happy, but Victor had no choice but to call this in.

*****

"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" Lord Christian slammed the desk, shattering it. He didn't care. Such items could be replaced.

"You let yourself get humiliated by some silly vampire girl and her human boyfriend by letting her toss EGGS on you!? Not only that, but you let them get away!?"

"I am sorry my Lord."

"Oh, you aren't sorry, not yet. Don't you dare come near me or call me until you find the girl again! If someone else finds her, consider yourself dead, GOT IT?!" Lord Christian slammed the phone, shattering that as well.

Lord Christian impatiently sat down and growled. He was still with his two other Greaters, who were eyeing him with a sense of apprehension and fear. Lord Christian eyed the two of them.

"This humiliation NEVER leaves this room." He told his two Greaters, who silently nodded.

Lord Christian then took a deep breath. "At least it's not all bad. Turns out that not only did the girl ditch Caleb, but she went and fell in love with a human. At least with that, Caleb will be humiliated further if it leaks out that a human was chosen over him." That lightened his mood a little.

"My Lord, if that's true, then couldn't we get the girl through the human?" One of the Greaters, Christian Bruce Troy the first, spoke.

Lord Christian eyed him with irritation and annoyance. "Haven't you been listening, you idiot? An incident just took place. How do you think it will look if we suddenly showed up? Luckily, Victor wasn't a complete fool and didn't give anyone a chance to take a photo to spread to the world, so the incident will die down as an urban legend. But, if we show up and start asking about it, then we'll give the incident more fuel. No, it's best if we lay low."

Lord Christian turned away from them and looked out the window. "It pisses me off, but I also have to give the girl credit. She outmaneuvered one of my Greaters with her little stunt. She's more clever than we had expected. I really want to kill her for that myself, but I still want to use her as a bargaining chip against Caleb if I can. He'll surrender even more to keep the fact that she picked up a human boyfriend quiet."

Lord Christian had a thought, and turned to his two Greaters. "I want you to notify everyone in that area to keep an eye out for a possible missing persons report. If Rachel intends to flee with the human, chances are they'll do so in a hurry to get a head start. That means that they won't notify the human's family, and they'll likely file the report. We'll use that to find out his identity and who the human's connections are. For now, all we have is a name, and that is Alan."

*****

They were on the highway. For now, Rachel was heading west, having no particular destination in mind. Both of them were silent, the reality of their situation now dawning on both of their minds.

Rachel scoured through ideas. It would be best if they could leave the country, but neither she nor Alan had passports. Not only that, but they could be traced if they flew. Even a simple border crossing into either Canada or Mexico could leave a trace for the vampires to follow.

For now, unless they could procure other means of travel, they were stuck in the States, amongst enemies. Lord Christian would not take her defiance of one of his Greaters lightly, so now they were his enemy as well as Caleb's.

They had already stopped and withdrawn a lot of cash from Alan's account, so that could cover them for a little while. However, they could no longer use that, and would need other means to secure funds, since that could be traced as well. She also got Alan to toss his cell phone, since that could be tracked as well.

"Alan?" Rachel broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"We're going to have to ditch the car at some point, probably within the next day or two. I'm sure that soon, the human authorities will start looking for us on behalf of your family and friends. The car and license plate will be a dead give away."

"Yeah." Alan was too busy lost in his own thoughts, and wasn't really paying attention.