Silent Waves

Chapter 1 - Eight O'Clock

 "It's eight o'clock!" Archer yelled to his co-workers as he walked towards the front of the smaller cafe, turning the sign that read 'OPEN' to the side that read 'CLOSED.' All of the people whose shifts had ended there promptly helped clean up and exited the building by a safe 8:30 pm.

"How long do we have before we open back up again?" Abel, Archer's younger brother, asked, checking again to make sure everything was completely clean.

"About half an hour I think, Aunt Marcy should be here soon to make more cakes and I think Alden is actually showing up tonight for his shift too."

"Really? That's a thing? You think that's gonna happen?" Abel and Archer paused, looking at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. They both knew if their cousin Alden actually showed up it would be a miracle, more so if his twin brother Aiden also showed up.

Abel sighed happily, content with how things were cleaned, "Are all of the 'others' gone?"

"Yes Abel," Archer laughed as he tied an apron around his backside, "All of the humans are gone, you don't have to keep saying 'others' all the time."

"I do it just in case someone hears," the younger boy followed this up with a 'hmpf!' sound before pinning back his pale blond bangs, "It is kind of nice to not have them around. They're fun but oh boy I bet this is a feeling similar to when girls take off their bras at the end of the day." Archer looked over, seeing Abel's familiar red eyes and long fangs, skin turning paler with a slight gray tinge and slightly pointed ears. Abel walked over to the sink, washing his hands, and then returning to the counter to give it a good wipe down before working on preparing more of their popular baked treats. Archer relaxed, transforming the same way Abel did. The whole city would freak out if they knew one of the "teen hotspots" was actually a cafe ran by a long lineage of vampires. A long lineage of vampires that all somehow had first names starting with the letter A(excluding their 'mother' and Aunt Marcy). While none of them were biologically related to each other, being turned by one vampire meant being absorbed into their family. The woman who turned both Abel and Archer had taken on the role of their mother. She owned the cafe, giving it to the boys to run for a joint birthday present.

Abel's focus was broken when he turned around and suddenly one of their regulars and sadly someone he called a friend was at the counter.

"Hey there," He winked his right three eyes at the vampire and rested his arms on the counter.

"We're not open Lars," Abel scowled, turning back around to cut one of the cakes into slices.

"I knoooooow, but I figured since I was here early that I would come in and see my sunshine~," Lars tilted his head, trying to see what Abel was doing, "Mmmm that smells good." Abel ignored Lars, even though he so badly wanted to tell Lars just how wrong it was to call a vampire a nickname like "sunshine." Archer looked over at the two, wondering if he should interfere or not. He decided against it knowing that Lars was only just teasing his brother and disappeared into the kitchen momentarily.

"Do you have any plans on Friday?" Lars asked, sitting back up and taking off his black jacket, laying it across the counter.

"Working, then after I'm sure Arabella will have something conjured up for the both of us to do together," Abel finished plating the individual slices of cake and carried them over to the chilled display case for safe keeping.

"How late are you working?"

"I'm only working during the day I think, why?" Abel returned to stand in front of Lars on the other side of the counter.

"Because one of my friends is having a bonfire to celebrate the beginning of summer and ya know Octavian doesn't like that kind of stuff and I wanted at least one of my best friends to come with me!" Lars gave a huge, genuine smile at the vampire. He leaned forward, off of the stool he was sitting on and awaited Abel's answer.