Hope you all like this :) Sorry about the editing (I try my best but...)

Chapter One - You Found Me

"Lost and insecure

You found me, you found me

Lyin' on the floor

Surrounded, surrounded..."

- The Fray

"Shit…"

"Are you sure?"

"Laura. I said 'shit'" Ada rarely swore, she widened her eyes at her best friend to convey her seriousness.

"Well, shit" Laura muttered, running a hand back through her brown hair. "What are you gonna do Ada?"

"I don't know." Ada shook her head at the ground, running a tally of what her life had become. Already drowning in student loans that she did not even know how to begin to pay. Check. Working thanklessly at 'reception' at the 'Eager Beaver', the sleaziest strip club in town. Check. Studio apartment, complete with moldy ceiling corners, rotting wallpaper, a leaking fridge and a skeezy redneck landlord. Check. A brother who had stolen their father and mother's life insurance. Check. Almost twenty and left pregnant by a jackass. Check. "Motherfucking shit…" Ada mumbled leaning over the grimy sink of the rarely sanitary bathroom in the Eager Beaver, the positive pregnancy test sat under the faucet taunting her. "I why did I do this before work? Remind me." she tried pulling herself together, in the reflection of her green eyes in the bathroom mirror she tried looking for herself "I have to go out there and pretend to have legs now."

"Hey!" Laura smiled wryly, supportively slapping Ada's shoulder "at least you ain't gotta dance Ada. Just sit your ass on that little stool in your booth and remember to breathe." It was true she was no dancer at 5'4'' and a hapless case on heels Ada was lucky to have a job at the Eager Beaver at all. Bobby, the owner, had given in to her tearful last-hope speech, he said her weeping reminded him uncannily of his little sister, who had disappeared with some vampire boyfriend three years earlier. That did not mean he could pay Ada any more than he did, and it certainly did not make the club any less sleazy but it was a job close enough to her rancid home at the edge of river just before Bossier City , and close enough to the Southern University at Shreveport, the cheapest university she'd been accepted to.

"Breathe…" Ada gasped trying to fill her lungs, nearly choking on the stale taste of balmy Southern air that was being swirled through the crappy ventilation system in the club. "I think I'm gonna vomit" Ada gathered her long light brown hair into a ponytail at her neck as she ran to dry heave into one of the two dirty toilet bowls. Laura rubbed her back trying in vain to ease Ada. The heat was not helping with the spins Ada was getting. Even in November it would not let up, this place was no Portland and Ada would give anything to be back in that cold familiar rain.

'Oh god!'

Now that her mother was gone, all Ada wanted was her advice. "How did I get here?" She finally threw up.

Her shift ended at five in the morning, she waited around until 5:30 to lock up and catch the number 7 to the street that lead back to her apartment. The buses that ran this early would only go along the main roads, and though it was not her favourite thing to do Ada would usually take the convenient back alleys to get back home. She found that if she walked fast enough and kept her eyes fixed on her apartment building it was generally an ok path to take.

But this night something had been off. Whether it was because of her news or just something in the atmosphere she couldn't tell. Ada just knew that something was not quite right.

She could feel cool eyes on the back of her neck. There was no noise behind her, but the feeling of being watched stayed with Ada as she hastened her pace determined not to look back. Mostly because she was scared of what she might see.

There was a sudden clang of falling garbage cans that nearly made Ada jump out of her skin. Instinctively she turned, the sun would not come up for another few hours and the moon still hung shining in the sky. The silver bars of light in the alleyway showed some trash cans being kicked out of a side lane. The unmistakable sound of loud drunken men caused Ada's blood to run faster through her veins. Almost immediately she turned back to her route and tried to move as quietly and quickly as she could down the straight, increasingly long alley.

"Hey honey!" She was not trying to be quiet anymore, breaking out into a full sprint. Ada damned her height, and her relatively small gait as the men's voices got closer "Where you runnin' to baby?" one of them grabbed at the strap of her bag. She immediately let the bag drop from her shoulder to keep moving, but it was no use. These were not the eyes that had been on her before, these new eyes had a burn that hurt her. Some of the faster men were already stopped in front of her, causing Ada to skid to a halt.

She looked frantically behind her, seeing that there were five of them pot-bellied, bearded with mullets. As ridiculous as they should have looked to Ada, as she backed up against the wall of the alley, trapped, she did not find them particularly funny. In fact she was shaking, she could hear herself begin to whimper, she had nothing, no way out, no way to defend her small frame. Her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach, she curled into herself, squeezing her green eyes shut trying to ready herself for whatever would come first.

She was surprised as a swish of wind breezed by her, followed by the sound of screaming, running, splattering and sickening crunching. Ada had not known how it had happened but when she opened her eyes she found herself crouching, not standing, against the wall with her arms around her head. It took her a minute to realize the sounds were not in her head and another minute to match the sounds with what she was seeing.

All five of the men had been caught before they could run all the way away. Four sat sniveling on the ground, bleeding from their heads, staring just as wide-eyed as Ada at what was happening. Ada began opening her mouth to speak but no sound came out. The fifth man was being held off of the ground by the single-handed grasp of a vampiric giant with short tousled ash-blonde hair. He may not have exactly been a giant but he was clearly over 6 feet tall and his obvious strength, not to mention the long fangs he had barred, all made him seem impossibly larger.

So many things were not making sense to Ada at that moment. 'Who was this guy? Why was he shirtless? Where were his shoes? Why was he covered in dirt? Will he kill me too?'

The vampire seemed about ready to lunge forward to attack the neck of the man clasped in his right hand.

"Don't kill him!" Ada had suddenly found her voice, she slapped her hands over her mouth, unsure of why she had foolishly drawn attention to herself.

The blonde vampire's eyes slid down to her, Ada felt a sensation of peace wash through her. Her arms fell limp to her side, his cool gaze was like the ocean on her skin, though she had never see the man before she recognized the feel of those blue eyes. Those were the silent eyes that had been watching her earlier.

The vampire dropped the man. His blue eyes snapped to each of the men on the ground all of whom became intently focused on the giant. "You will forget the past thirty minutes, you did not see me, you did not see her, you did not even come to this part of town" he punctuated each stipulation with a nod at the men, though it was harsh, something in his voice made Ada's insides melt. "Understand?" he nodded and the men mimicked "Off you run…" and off they did run, their eyes empty as though nothing had happened.

Ada became hyperaware of her state in the alley with a huge vampire. She tried fading into the wall behind her, avoiding meeting the vampire's gaze. Eventually enough time had passed that she was sure he had left, but when she lifted her green gaze she found him still standing there. She wrapped her arms defensively around her stomach again. Still terrified of him, even though he eyes had changed. They had gone from hard to vulnerable, he looked almost fearful of her, which she found ironic as red blood dripped from his chin.

"Ar-are you going to kill me?"

He shook his blonde head. Something about his lost stare and questioning expression reminded Ada of a helpless little boy. It filled her with an urge to comfort him.

"Do you know me?" He asked. Ada shook her head, his voice was no longer cold, now it was shaky and hesitant. He spoke again is some language she did not understand.

"I don't understand that… wha….who are you?" she practically stammered out.

His expression shifted slightly, he put on the stare that had made the other men so compliant before "Do you know me? Answer truthfully."

Ada's brow furrowed in confusion. "I did answer truthfully. Who are you? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Now his confusion showed "You can't feel my influence?" Ada shrugged, unclear on what he meant. "Touch your head." He commanded in a curious tone, Ada waited unmoving, wondering what on Earth he was doing. "You do not know me…" he muttered more to himself than to her.

"Who are you?" Ada tried again.

"I-" He stared at her for a moment, his blue eyes so open and uncertain "I don't know" the honesty in his voice and countenance made Ada believe him. She thought over what to say to such an assertion, but he continued speaking "It… all I know is I followed the only familiar thing to me. The smell, the scent of you. I was led right to you…."

"But I've never met you. I've never met any vampires" Ada stopped herself, shaking her head "this isn't happening Ada. This whole day has been a nightmare" she closed her eyes opening them to see the lost blonde vampire still staring blankly at her. She took a deep breath trying to force herself to calm down and act rationally. Picking her bag off the ground she asked "Do you remember anything?"

He shook his head, beginning to speak in that other language again.

"English, please" she pressed.

He immediately switched, though his gaze remained distracted as he searched for his past "Maybe the sea, the feeling of being emptied out… your scent…"

As she let the shock of the events ebb out of her, Ada took more of him in. She tentatively moved closer to him, though she made sure to keep a good distance between their bodies. Against his chest she noticed a metal chain with a ring hanging off of it. "Is…" she cleared her throat when her voice caught "is that anything?" she nodded at his bare chest.

He looked down at the chain, lifting the ring contemplatively to his face as though he had just realized it had been hanging around his neck. He read the words he a found on the band aloud in his foreign language.

"Pardon?" Ada asked.

"It's roughly says 'To Eric my son.'…"

"Is that you? Are you Eric?" He shrugged "well does it sound familiar at least?" he shrugged. ''How about your pockets?"

He rustled through the pockets of his dirty black jeans "Nothing" he sighed sounding defeated.

She could feel his blue eyes pierce through her, making her feel bare. She had no other ideas, but decided that she should speak to break the odd quiet "Um, thank you." He frowned "You saved me…" he nodded "I guess…" she sighed, baffled herself by what she was about to say "… I can return the favour. If you promise not hurt me" he nodded slowly, she could see trust building in his eyes it was almost unfairly endearing "Ok. Let's find you a shirt and some shoes and then we can see if anyone's looking for a tall amnesiac vampire…" She couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped her "of all the things I never thought I'd say…"

He raised a blonde eyebrow at her. Silence followed as they began walking down the alley, until he spoke again softly "I am grateful for this…"

"Um, yeah…"

"You should know you smell very, very, very good to me…like a dream."

"Ah…thank you?" Ada wanted to shake herself.

'How did I get here? I'm not meant to be so blindly stupid…' She shook her head in disbelief at her own idiocy as she led what was basically a strange killer off the street back to her home.

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