I Don't Believe In Vampires

V. Plans

Brian’s POV

“Brian, you have visitors.”  I hear Able’s voice echo through the hallways of the house as I study the map of town. It’s a quaint city off the east coast of the United States. Mostly protected by woods and sanctuaries. It has a high tourist number in the summer months and is known for the animals that inhabit it. Not much nightlife here. Guess i’ll have to change that.

I don't want to interact with any humans at all but out of respect for Able and my clan,I will tolerate them. The last thing I need is a problem with the clan.Making my way down the two flights of stairs,stopping behind the wall and peeking over the railing to see who was there.Two girls sitting on the couch whispering to each other. I remember these two faintly. The one on the left I don’t know her name but she’s wearing a pink shirt and burnt looking jeans.She reeks of pure sugar and bad cafeteria food. The girl fidgeting on the right is Ash. She’s wearing a black tank top and jeans with black sneakers. Her scent is sweet.I could sense the veins throbbing and the blood flowing. 

Tempting.

Making my way over to them,I lean against the white pillar adjacent to the couch crossing my arms. I now had their full attention. 

“What brings you to my crib?” I say nonchalantly. 

“Ash and I thought you might want to stay up with the curriculum.We asked Mr. Mountain and he thought it would be a good idea..” 

Of course he did. 

“And you are?”  I say with light sarcasm. 

“Me? My name is Cali. I am Ash’s best friend and also your classmate.”  Narrowing her eyes at me and crossing her arms. 

I could tell from the way they were acting that I intimidated them both and that fueled me even more. Pushing off from the pillar, I made my way towards them locking onto them with my intense gaze. I could hear their hearts begin to beat faster the closer I got. Cali held my gaze narrowing her eyes studying my movements. Ash averted her gaze to the ground. 

“How nice of you.” I say and grabbed the paper from Cali that had the homework written on it. Still holding my gaze,I wanted to intimidate them to the point where I’m not approached by them. In school or otherwise again. 

“I have snicker doodle cookies if anyone is interested.” Able said coming out of the kitchen with a silver patterned tray of those horrible smelling cookies and breaking my gaze on Cali. 

“They were just leaving.” I snarled. Taking a cookie off the tray and biting into it. I hate these weird cookies and whatever ingredients Able added for the humans.

“These cookies are horrible.” I said spitting out the parts of the cookie then looking at Able and back towards Cali and Ash before going back up the stairs and into my room. 

Ash

“I apologize for my grandson’s behavior. He’s very guarded from his past and is defensive when it comes to new people. I thank you again for dropping off the homework. I baked some snicker doodle cookies as a thank you. I hope you like them.” Able said and handed me a red folded up box of freshly baked cookies. 

“Thank you.” I said as Cali and I exited the house and back down the gravel driveway from which we came. 

“What an asshole!” Cali blurted out as we were walking down the street to my house. 

“He’s definitely got some problems,Ash.It’s obvious the way he acted towards us.”

No matter how intimidating he was I couldn’t help but feel a pull towards him.

“I don’t think we should venture out and investigate. We could just make a complaint to the police and have them handle it.” 

“Are you serious Cali? I thought you wanted to be Nancy Drew!” 

“Cali Is backing away from a mission? Nancy Drew has to deal with all kinds of people while investigating crimes! Sorry buttercup that’s the reality.” I say knowing I just dug myself a hole. 

Cali stopping in her tracks turns to me. 

“Well s**t Sherlock if you were into him THAT MUCH should have just told me. We’ll go investigate this but if we end up dead this is YOUR fault.” 

Cali and I arrived at my house. We heated up some cheese pizza that my mom bought us earlier and went into my room to discuss our plans for tonight. 

"So what's the plan,Nancy?"

"You're asking me?  I was the one who said to go to the police station." Cali said taking a bite out of her pizza. 

"Yeah but you were the one who agreed."

"That was before when he seemed normal."

"Okay fine. I was thinking we would head to the park but stay on the designated walkway that everyone uses. When we get to the oak trees we can sit on the table there and just chill. It's hidden but gives a good view of most of the park and field where I saw it happen. If anything comes up we could climb the tree and hide."

"Sounds like some next level Hunger Games vibes. I'm intrigued.So what time are we planning to start this mission?"

"I was thinking 11:30. My mom is usually in bed by 10:30. That would give us enough time to get ready and make sure the house is definitely quiet before we head out." 

"Do you own any garlic?" Cali asked reading from her phone.

"Yeah but why?"

"Just asking."

"What about a lighter?"

"I don't own a lighter." I say.

"Oh. That's unfortunate." Cali says pulling out a cigarette lighter.

"You smoke???"

"I don't. I just keep it because I like watching the flames."

"Anything else in that magic bag that I need to know about?"

Giving me a sly grin, Cali pulls out a black stick.

"What the heck is that?"

"Oh, this is a probe. My mom let's me hold onto it when I'm out alone."

"Pretty sure those are illegal if you're under 18." 

"I won't tell if you won't" she says giving me a wink.

"Cali, you're acting like we're about to go monster hunting or something."

"Is that what it sounds like? I mean it could sound like that. I just want to be prepared."

"Because a lighter, garlic and a probe is totally prepared.I was thinking more along the lines of pepper spray."

"Pepper spray? Ash what planet are you on?"

"I could ask you the same."

"Touché."

Before we knew it, it was 11:00. I kissed my mom goodnight and it was lights out. Cali and I changed into our investigator outfits. Black top and jeans with black boots. We wanted to blend into the night. Quietly opening the window to the one story house, Cali and I hopped out and tip toed through the backyard and onto the pathway leading to the park.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this!" she said in a low voice.

'We need a name for this mission." 

"Operation Park?" I say.

"Something that involves this mission."

"Operation Tree Oak? Oak Tree? Night Oak?"

"Park Bench?" I say giggling and throwing my hands out. 

"OMG! That's it!" Cali says laughing and nodding 

"Operation Park Bench it is." 

Commence Operation Park Bench.