Harden.

When the Truck made the abrupt stop in front of the large cabin like a wooden glasshouse, I wondered, 'for how long?'. I hated moving and Ester knew that. But after leaving New Orleans, I couldn't care less how many more times we moved and from or to where. At the front, I could hear Charlie and Ester's festive chatters as they snapped their estate car door shut behind them.

Sighing deeply, I stepped out of the truck, Rodger who's behind the wheel only stopping me for a while to ask "you alright, Harden?"

I nodded, wanting to just get this over with. Rodger goes out the car too, going behind to offload our bags. I stood still, watching the oak house seated in front of us. For what it's worth, it's welcoming. When Charlie had told us nights ago that we'd be moving to Fox, I'd abruptly said no. He'd said that this was nature's call. Only now do I see that he may be right. The house is backed into tall forest trees, surrounded with much greener grasses safe for the lawn's driveway.

Listening, I could hear the waterfall from far into the woods, behind the house, and the sonorous chirping of birds. It's become so easy to distinguish between the cries of the different species of birds. The place seems isolated and surrounded with trees but I could hear the very tender heartbeats of people far away, towards the open street, their walking steps, their low voices. I found myself smiling now. Nature did call this time.

Annette falls beside me on the truck side, her arms folded across her chest.

"I like that smile, Harden," she said, looking up to the house too "I like to think you like it here already"

"Yeah," I nodded "wasn't what I was expecting" I returned the smile on her lips.

Annette was my oldest brother's, Wayne's wife. They've been married for a couple of years and Annette hasn't only proven to be a part of this family but has proven to be the sister we all never had.

"Listen, Harden," she said "don't think about it, okay? Everything will be alright"

Just then, Wayne walked up to us, a travel bag on his one hand. He flings it over his shoulder before reaching for Annette and throwing me a smirk.

"Get your stuff, Harden. It's too early to be whimpering around" he said. Annette hits him playfully on the chest and he laughed before walking them up the doorsteps.

"Hey, Harden! Catch!"I turned superspeed just in time to catch the bag Seth threw my way from the back. Seth was my other brother, the youngest among us all. He jumps off the truck and walks over to me, dumping another bag before my feet.

"I think this place's gonna be fun, Harden, "He said, licking his lips. Seth was always the energetic one, always full of the spirits. "There's this club out of town. Every Friday! Lots of human girls go there. Every Friday night, Hardin"

Shaking my head at him, I picked up the bag and replied "quote that 'human girls' Seth. And you better keep it down in your pants" and turned towards the house.

"Keep what in my pants?"He asks arms spread wide in confusion.

"Your dick, asshole!"Rodger yelled at him from the door as I approached him. He erupted in a fit of laughter, slapping his hand against my back to back him up.

Our parents, Charlie and Ester who are now standing at a corner in the porch are now pointing to something on the porch roof to Wayne and Annette, who watched in awe. This is all so wrong. When Ester turned and her eyes caught mine, I looked away, Seth blocking her view of me as he passed us and pushed the door open.

Truth remains that I'll never get used to this, any of this. And she knew that.

*.

*

*

I was getting really really irritated by the place, hating every bit of it as I walked along the night local streets. The sounds, the voices, the people. They all seem so happy, walking around, not giving care to the dancers of the nights. What had I expected?

To many people, meeting new faces, getting to know new people was exciting but to me, it was a phobia I'd never leave behind. The town was dark but the sight of it was beautiful, from the bright street lights standing along the terraces to the flashing neon, argon, and freon lights flashing from the dashboards and banners hanging off the building fronts.

I continued to walk slowly along the sidewalk, head buried down under my black hood. I take a slow turn as I got to the end of the blocks of shops, and taking the short brick town's bridge towards the other side of the open space where more darker corners and alleys were in view. I must admit the city was captivating and there was just something spectacular about the people here. Something about how they did their things without even minding any trespasser, without giving a care. Secretly, I admired the place as I continued to walk off the bridge and along the sidewalks, barely glancing up.

Growing up, I'd had the opportunities of learning many vampire abilities. Why? My family moved from places to places, all around the continent. Of course, no vampire's senses are always complete. We keep learning and asides the natural abilities a vampire is birthed or made with, we have the abilities to acquire more as we move around. That's just Vampires.

Stepping off the bridge, my hands tucked into my hoodie pockets, I started along a pavement of shops, glancing at the fountain seated and springing water in the middle of the square, I watched the people, mostly young parents seated on the white spiral chairs just before the fountain.

The place reminded me of New Orleans. A lot of things happened in New Orleans, things I've enjoyed over the years of staying there, things I've kept close to my heart. And now, the sight of this magnificent village was one to behold and savor. The people dressed so elegantly, walking and talking festively around the place, the bright porch lights giving the place a bright and dim touch, the fountain, the stalls running just fine regardless of the late-night hour, the slow music playing from a close-by music room, the lovers enjoying the perfect view of the faraway fields from the park. All of these I saw in a blink.

I fought to shut out every conversation the people around were having. I needed to get out of myself tonight, feel free, feel impossible. The slow and fast beating of the hearts surrounding me wasn't helping. It was too loud. Everyone seems so happy.

I take a turn towards a corner, falling in line towards a block of shops. This side of the square is a lot quieter. Just then, my mind zoomed in on the conversation transpiring between a group of teenagers far away at the other side of the sidewalk.

"Stop that, Patrick!" A feminine voice protests and I'm forced to look up, just to see the owner of that voice.

She sat on a parked motorbike, a grin on her face with such loveliness in her eyes. She's clad in a brown leather jacket over a yellow mini gown with wine-colored flowers printed all over it. Her cowboy boots run up her calf. She's laughing and I'd be damned if that wasn't the sweetest laughter I'd ever seen. I continued to watch, her spiraling dark hairs cascading her shoulders and face. Her laughter was beautiful, that's far from doubt.

"Come on, babe!"

That's when my eyes moved besides her, that's when I noticed the other male beside her. My eyes lingered on him.

"Let's have some fun!" he exclaimed again.

He continues to laugh as his hands moved towards her and grabbed her waist. I find my fists clenching unintentionally. I quickly released them and scoffed internally. What do I care?

"Hands off pat!"Angelic voice protests again and she jumped off the parked bike. The other guys, three in number who stood around them laughs.

"Sometimes I wonder what's gotten into you babe" Said Patrick retorts, laughing in between.

"I told you, Pat, this isn't school, Okay?" she replies"and I told you to stop calling me that"

"What? 'Babe'?"

He begins to laugh again and I felt disgusted at this guy. I didn't know if my irritation towards him was because he was a complete scumbag to women or because of the stupid look on his face which gave his idiotic personality away at a first glance. Or because of how he kept trying to grab that lady without her consent.

He was a jerk. His type are never hard to read. The way his heart kept pondering gave him away. His heart is clad with bad intentions, mostly towards the young woman with him. He was notorious and a dangerous kind of young guy for the woman to be around. I avert my gaze away from them and towards the other end of my direction. They are not my business.

As I got to the end of the sidewalk, I felt the girl's eyes glance at me. I don't look back and instead, walked past them and stepped on the next step leading to the dark alley, my eyes meeting with the arrogant jerks for a split second as I walked past him before facing forward again.

'look at him man' I hear the boy say to his friend, followed by the friend's laughter.

'he looks suspicious' the other friend added but I continued walking anyway.

"Hey!" the douchebag calls out and I stopped abruptly. A part of me wanna just keep going but the other part wanted to stop and not get into any trouble tonight. I bet that's the last thing Ester wants.

"Turn around," he said but I stood firmly, only raising my head.

'who the hell is he, man?' his third friend whisper-asks.

I listened and the douchebag's heartbeats started to increase by the second.

"I said turn around!" He yelled, fear coating his voice. He's just trying to look tough. I bet he'd piss his pants if I turned into a vampire or a grim reaper in front of him.

Slowly, I turned around. The first set of face I held belonged to the lady who stood wide-eyed at the back, waiting to see whom I'd turn out to be too. I moved my eyes from hers to the scumbag's.

A smirk settled on his lips before he said "What is your problem, man? Why didn't you just turn around when I asked you to instead of walking like a complete creep?

I saw no need in replying and instead, stared at him.

"Answer me creep!"

"Leave him alone, Patrick"Angelic voice says and my eyes quickly sought her out again. It was something I did unintentionally. There was something strangely comfortable about her voice.

She meets my eyes and I could feel her calm immediately. Scumbag looks from her to me and exclaimed "you're looking at her, huh?!"

He's gonna push me. Like I'd sensed, his hands pushed my shoulders and I staggered backwards a bit.

"I'm asking you a question and you're freaking looking at her?!"

"Patrick!" She yells and I find my eyes averting to her again. There was just something about that voice.

"What?" scumbag says again before pulling his hand back.

For something that never happens, I never foresaw his fist pushing towards me until I felt it connect to my face and I stumble to the floor, face down.

Anger. I felt the urge to retaliate, to split his whole body into two. But just then, I remembered that would be the dumbest thing to do right here in the open. Charlie says not to ever get noticed. He'd said "not everybody loves to have vampires lurking around the neighborhood"

"Patrick! What is wrong with you?!"

I heard boots urgently skating towards me and a second later, she's kneeling before me and grabbing my arm. I'm forced to look up at her but all I see is her hairs as she's turning towards scumbag and saying "do you always have to do this Patrick?"

"Get away from there, kitty" he yelled.

"No! You get away from me, okay?" She snapped. She pulled at my arm and I let her lift me off the floor.

She starts pulling at my arm and dragging me towards a store.

The moment we stepped into the dimly lit room, I smelled the reeking odor of native medicines all over the room. Even though I wasn't hurt at all, I let her lead me to a booth around the corner of the packed room.

Heads snapped towards us the moment we walked in, the bell tied to the door jingling to announce our presence.

"I'll be back," she said after helping me sit on the chair. She turns around immediately, hurrying away and I watched her. She was impossible not to watch. I watched as she walked towards the counter up front and as she went and I watched, everything suddenly seemed to be happening in slow motion.

My eyes moved to her brown boots as her legs moved in slow motion, up to the long and moderately slim exposed legs which shone under the room's dim lighting. My eyes continued its journey up her legs and up her lower thighs which were on full display, running down her mini yellow dress. Her hair flew around her as she went, stopping just before the counter, the lady behind it smiling at her.

'