Lost & Found

May We Meet Again

[]Points to you if you know what the chapter title is referencing[] 

Adelaide was missing when I came back home. I found her things still in her drawers though, so I didn't worry too much about it. I left the house within minutes of showing up, not sure why I felt like I had to be back at three if there was nothing going on.

This however, left my mind as soon as I saw Gabriel Coleman dancing at the third bar I visited. I saw him as soon as I stepped through the low hanging doorway. He was radiant. His hair was different than I remembered, but then again the same. It suited him. Most of it was brown, but it faded up to a blonde color near the ends of the strands. Like a printer that had run out of toner.

I was halfway across the bar before I caught myself. I couldn't just approach him. There was only one supernatural creature in the whole town, and she was protecting me from the bad ones. The boys were hunters, and they wouldn't understand why I was protecting a vampire.

As much as I missed them, I was loyal to Adelaide in a way I couldn't possibly explain. She'd saved me, held me, kept me safe, and gave me a home. She had acted in the place of a mother, a best friend, and a sister, when I'd had nothing.

She did her best.

I swallowed back my conflicted feelings and managed to veer towards the bar counter as naturally as I could. This bar wasn't my first choice, in fact, it was one of my last ones. But after going to both of my usual spots, I realized that the boys would probably go somewhere where more unsavory characters hung out, which had led me to this one.

I tried to watch him without being noticed, but it soon became hard as I recognized not one, but two others from the boys I grew up with. Owen Blackbourne himself sat at the bar, at first I didn't realize who he was because of how he dressed, but you couldn't hide with those eyes. He was watching everyone critically, and chatting with the bartender, Eddie. The other boy was Silas Korba, who even when we were younger, had always been larger than myself.

But now, years later, his presence made me want to run the other direction. If I hadn't known what a teddy bear he could be, I probably would have peed myself. He was currently flirting with every girl in the bar, and none of them seemed to mind.

Seeing these three had my heart going in over drive. Something told me that with them, I would be safe. But I also knew that was a crazy thought, because they would try to hurt Adelaide, and I couldn't allow that.

I wanted to go to them, to ask how they were and why they'd left me all those years ago. I swallowed back to urges, and waved Eddie over.

"Why hello Darlin', I haven't seen you 'round these parts in a while. Come for some sugar?" He raised a bushy eyebrow and grinned.

Goosebumps rolled over my arms, and I knew that if he had actually done something about his perverted nature, I'd have brought him home to Adelaide a while ago. But Eddie had some standards- he didn't take unwilling girls back to his trailer.

"Nah, I just came to visit. Can I get a beer?"

He narrowed his eyes at me, and looked me up and down. I was dressed in some jean shorts and a graphic t-shirt. I hadn't wanted to stand out, but I was starting to rethink my descision. The only reason Eddie let me in his bar is because I would dress the part, which wasn't the deal tonight.

"Sure thing sugar, but I'm giving it to you in a soda cup so I don't get arrested for giving your young ass alcohol."

I blushed, hoping no one around him had heard, and nodded my understanding: I wouldn't be welcome back if I continued to dress like this.