The years without you, and someone new to come

I drove past it, finally completing my surveillance. I sighed happily, relaxing enough to speed up and drive away from the accursed place.

It hurt every time I went near it.

I flicked the car stereo on and inserted a CD, pressing 'play'. My Chemical Romance came on, and I allowed the music to slowly let me unwind.

Damn council, I thought. They damn well knew that I hated going to that place, and yet they ordered me every year to search it, making sure no one had been inside and damaged the containment cell.

As if I wanted anymore reminders about Theo, all alone in that house.

I tried to forget about the council for now, heading to my favourite cafe, not far away from my own home.

Even being a vampire, we could still eat and drink normal food; we just didn't need it. And I grew tired of the taste of blood every now and then.

And so, coffee became my alternate sustenance source. It provided me with a way to get the taste of blood out of my mouth. I drank blood to survive, that didn't necessarily mean I liked it.

To me, it tasted like death. And that was worse than actually dying.

I settled down on a chair at my usual booth, boredly picking up one of the strange books they call a magazine, while waiting for my drink. Personally, I don't see how children in this century found it interesting. I found it dull and pointless. I would kill for a good romance novel, but no store seemed to sell any decent copies. What was the world coming to these days?

A waiter placed my coffee on the table, and to my annoyance, tried to strike up a conversation. I hadn't been interested in men in the last four hundred years, what made this year anything different? They were too immature and needy for my tastes.

Besides, they would be too dangerous in the long run. Especially if I hadn't eaten in a while.

And by eaten, I meant the kind where I actually had to drink something's blood.

As I drank my coffee, I saw a car pull up outside the cafe and a boy stepped out, followed by two adults who must have been his parents. But it was the boy who caught my attention.

He had dark hair, almost black, and had bright, electric blue striped through it. And in a strange way, it matched his lightly tanned skin and grey eyes. But, unlike his appearance and clothes would suggest, he was bouncing around and smiling like a hyped-up little kid.

To me, he was truly fascinating.

As he and his parents ordered from the counter, I realised why I found him interesting, and looked away from him.

In a way, he reminded me of Theo...

"Heya!" A voice yelled brightly in my ear, and I jumped, almost knocking over my drink. I looked over my shoulder in surprise to see the same boy, smiling at me.

A little weirded out, but being pleasant nonetheless, I smiled slightly back. "Um...hi. Can I help you?"

He laughed and plopped himself onto the seat opposite me, his hands around a large coffee cup.

"Not really, just wanted to say that I like your hair." I blinked at that, and my smile grew.

"Er...thanks?"

My hair was orange-red, with black and platinum streaks, and bound in a long plait over my right shoulder, reaching past my butt, almost to my knees. There was a shorter section, which had come out of the plait, and rested on my left cheek, while a smaller and shorter still lock gently brushed my right. A few locks that were too short to be held together in the plait stuck out around my head. I rather liked my hair. Perhaps a good thing, considering the small problem of not being able to alter our physical appearance.

The boy smiled cheerfully. "You're welcome. But that’s not the only reason I came over here."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow inquiringly. The boy just opened his mouth to elaborate, when his parents called to him.

"Caleb! Time to go!" The boy, Caleb, pouted and pointed at me. "Can't I stay here with my friend a little longer? She said she was going to show me around!" He glanced at me and winked subtly, while his parents smiled and said they were so glad he was already making friends.

"Okay son, you remember where the house is?" Caleb nodded and watched his parents leave, then leant forward conspiratorially.

"My parents are driving me insane, and I needed to get away from them." I stared at him for a moment, and then laughed, much to his confusion.

"I know what you mean. My parents used to drive me nutty as well." Caleb's eyes brightened.

"Used to? How'd you get them to stop?"

Oh damn. I looked down, fingering my cup. "They died."

Caleb looked stricken. "Oh jeez, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's ok, Caleb." I looked back up, smiling softly. "You didn't know." Caleb smiled back, and then frowned.

"Hey you know my name, but I still don't know yours." I laughed.

"Annabelle, but call me Anna." Caleb smiled brightly again, then sprung out of his chair.

"Well, Anna, are you going to show me the town or what?"

Later that day, after I had showed Caleb around the small town where he and I now called home, I accompanied him to his new house. Fortunately, it was a heavily overcast day, so I had no fear of a brief sunny glimmer. Or what came with it, of course.

I found he was very easy to get along with, and he was the just about the only person I could stand to be around since Theo was lcoked up.

It made me a little depressed at first, but then I started noticing the differences which set Caleb apart from my brother.

For one thing, Theo was a lot less shy than Caleb was about his looks. When I commented on his hair and clothes, Caleb blushed and changed the subject. But while Theo was a good deal quieter than Caleb was, he was very forward, particularly if he liked something or someone. He didn't hesitate to show that he liked a person, while when I was walking along with Caleb down the street, both girls and guys watched him as he passed, but he seemed oblivious to their attention. When I pointed it out to him, he blushed furiously and ignored them even more.

All in all, I thought Caleb was absolutely adorable, even more so maybe than my dearest brother.
Something else about my new friend; he asked a lot of questions.

When we got on the subject of my family, I was stumped for a moment, and then came up with a story on the spot, which was a half-truth.

My real parents died when I was very young, and a nice man took me in. A little later, he also adopted my younger brother. But not long ago, our adoptive father died as well and my brother was adopted by another family, who had recently moved away. At the moment, I was living on my own. This was where my imaginative story ended.

Luckily, I was saved from answering about my own adoption. I actually looked a little older than my actual physical age was. People had often commented that I looked about 19 or 20, whereas my physical age was only 17. My actual age was about 500-600 years, I'm not exactly sure. I hadn't really kept track of my exact age since father died. Kyreson had always remembered how old we were, Theo and I...

Caleb was an attentive audience, and aww 'ed and pouted at exactly the right moments during the narration of my life story.

Not long after I had completed the half-fabricated narration, he stopped.

"Well, this is me!" he announced. I looked at his new house and froze.

Oh-no...

"Anna? Are you okay?" asked Caleb, concern in his voice. I blinked out of my shock and smiled nervously at him.

"Mmyea?"

"Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." I laughed and shook my head, trying to cover my slip.

"No, its okay, I just, knew someone who used to live in there. He...was a good friend."

"Oh?" Caleb glanced at the house, and then frowned back at me. "The Real Estate agent said that no one's lived here house since the early 1700's. That's why my parents bought it; they renovate old houses, buying the rickety, dilapidated ones and fixing them up, then selling it for an improved price. We have quite a nest egg..."

I gazed ingenuously at him. "Really? How cool. Anyway, I'd better be going. See ya later, Caleb!" I walked off, leaving him standing in confusion.

Caleb's new house was the Prison House, where Theo was being held.

Oh shit, oh crap, oh shit, oh crap! I thought as I walked down the pathway, my inner turmoil not even touching the surface, but no less chaotic.

That's it! I have to call them. I dug into my pocket for my cell and pressed my number #1 speed dial.

They answered on the second ring.

"State your name and reason for contact" came the monotone voice.

"Annabelle Kyreson," I answered coldly. "I am calling about the Prison House."

"What about it? The only occupant is Theodore Kyreson, you know that, and he is not eligible for release for over two more years."

"A mortal family of three has moved into the house."

"Impossible. The Prison house has never been on the market, we would have known. Besides, the house is unfit for inhabitants."

"I have learnt that the family intends to renovate the house. It is possible that they may discover the cell. Should I extract the occupant and find somewhere else to put him until his remaining years are up?"

There was a short silence, and then the voice spoke again. "Not yet. Keep an eye on what the mortals do in the house, and if they do show signs of finding the cell blocks, only then may you extract the prisoner. If you do this, then contact the council as soon as you are able."

"Understood." I ended the call and tucked my phone back into my pocket. I turned on my heel and entered the forest that surrounded the house.

I intended to protect my brother from this new threat.

Not to mention, that if those humans were to find Theo, then in all likelihood, they'll all die and Theo will be imprisoned again, with me as a companion probably for my failure in preventing the exposure.

For the next few days, I watched the Caleb and his family diligently, and learned that though they searched through a large portion of the house, the basement and even lower levels remained uncompromised.

Eventually, I relaxed my watch, instead making myself a frequent visitor at the house, posing as a friend, even though I actually was.

I learned that Caleb's parents were Karla and Steven, and though they clearly loved their son, they didn't understand him all that well. Heck, they didn't even know that he was gay.

Caleb was surprised at how easy it was for me to figure out his homosexuality, but when I explained that my brother was bisexual, he understood. I knew all the signs and could clearly spot them.

Not really a point in my investigation of the family, but I became quite jealous of Caleb's good looks. His adorably huge eyes and young, clear complexion made me nostalgic for the days were I didn't have to worry about bursting into flame at the touch of sunlight.

It was through Caleb, however, that I learned of the wonders of makeup. When those strange paints had first come out, I was still a mortal and never interested in them. Throughout the years, when the paints become more common and widely used, I was usually off on a mission with Kyreson, and Theo when he arrived. After Theo was put in prison, I'd lost interest in practically everything. How I looked was the last thing on my mind.

But after Caleb started giving me lessons on how on how to use eyeliner, eye shadow and lipstick, foundation and concealer, I started using it more often, though mostly just eyeliner and shadow, as my fair, unmarked skin hardly needed concealer.

And then he got me into shopping. Oh god, the shopping. I had heard that women could become addicted to shopping, but I had never believed it.

Then I met Caleb. After one glance at my wardrobe, he had begun taking me shopping, and slowly I started to adopt his style of clothes. I even began to think I looked somewhat fashionable.

All in all, it was the best couple of months I'd had in a long time. Over three hundred years in fact.

But, even as Caleb and I hung out more and more, I knew it couldn't last. Eventually something would happen, and almost three months after Caleb moved in, something did...

He found the basement. And my vampire brother's cell.