When the Sun Goes Down

~8~

Then everything goes black.

●

I wake, not knowing where I am. "Where are we?" I ask as I look over at Sondra. Her long brown hair is flying out the truck window as she speeds down an old dirt road.

"Somewhere in Pennsylvania." Sondra says.

"What?!" I scream. Pennsylvania?! What happened to Virginia?

"Yeah, that little attack the council pulled at your house made it unsafe." Sondra says, "With them having wizards and witches on their side makes it even more so."

"Well why can't we have some sort of witch or maybe even a fairy?" I ask sarcastically. She can't be serious.

"Ha ha ha. Funny. It's serious, Kevin. And I know so mean fairies that could kick your ass." She replies.

"Do you know any kick-ass mermaids?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. And they'll prefer kick-tail."

We laugh. Making jokes about stuff makes it easier to accept the fact that I'm in another state, with a vampire that killed my best friend, driving on a road that leads to God knows where.

"Hey, your supposed to be immortal and all that junk right?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says, "So?"

"How old are you?"

"One hundred and seventy-two."

"Shut up." I say. She can't be that old, can she?

"Yep." She says, "I was born in eighteen forty-three."

"What was it like back then?" I ask.

"Well, I lived in New York with my mom, dad, and six other siblings. I was the only girl. My parents were unhappy with New York and wanted to try moving out West with all the others. We hoped on a covered wagon with our neighbors, and started a new life in what's now Oregan. Out there we met a family of eight and my brother fancied their only daughter. They started 'going out' as you say and she turned him. He turned my brother and then he turned my other brother and so on until they came to me. I turned and hated it. All I could think about was human blood. I was hungry all the time and I started to kill for it. I eventually met a friend in Louisiana that helped me control the hunger for blood. So life back then sucked." She replies.

"Oh." I say.