•Loyal• Matt Donovan

||17||

"Hey!" Brooklyn exclaimed, grabbing a seat next to Matt at the bar.

"Hey." Matt said, a little more depressed than usual.

Brooklyn's smile faded instantly at his tone. "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly.

"Oh... you know. Just chillin' at the bar, avoiding all of life's problems for the few minutes I can, before going back to being the sheriff of a town with the most homicides in Virginia." Matt spat.

Brooklyn's brows furrowed. "Something happened between you and Reyna... didn't it?" She asked.

"She says that I don't need friends like them, like you. They only drag me down and mess me up in my career." He slammed his glass on the counter. "And before I could even get a word out, she told me she was going on some hunts. Told me she'd be back in a month or so, told me to figure out what I wanted."

"I'm so sorry Matt. I feel like this is my fault." Brooklyn hung her head and stared at the bar.

"No. Don't feel that way." He mumbled, looking at her. "C'mon." He said, gesturing for her to follow him.

"Where are we going?" She asked curiously. She hopped off the stool and followed after Matt.

"Just... c'mon." He prompted.

Brooklyn followed him out of the grill and to his car. She followed him to his car and watched as he got in and started it. He rolled down the window when she didn't get in the car.

"C'mon. I promise I'm not gonna try to kill you this time." He smiled.

His smile. That's when she knew it was okay for her to get in the car. He wasn't going crazy. He wasn't angry at her. He was going to show her something.

She hopped in the car and Matt drove away from the bar. They sat in silence for a while, until Brooklyn broke it.

"Okay... can you give me a hint or something? It's killing me." She blurted.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure yet." Matt shrugged.

Brooklyn's brows furrowed in confusion. "But you said-"

"Relax, Brooklyn. I know what I said. And I fully intend on showing you something." Matt said, taking a turn down a back road.

"I thought you said you didn't know where you were going?" Brooklyn said curiously.

"Well... that's the beauty of it! I mean... we don't have an agenda. We can park in the middle of a clearing, or on the lake, or in a deserted field and watch the birds. Or just sit. Or tan. Or hike."

"I can't tan." Brooklyn deadpanned. Matt looked at her and rolled his eyes.

"The point is, we don't have an agenda! We don't have anyone to answer to. I mean how often do you get to do that?"

"Quite often. You do remember that I've been alive for over 152 years, right?"

Matt sighed. "Do you ever just tell people what they want to hear?" He asked.

Brooklyn shrugged. "I find it to be a waist of time. Especially with people that want to be my friends."

"True point." Matt agreed. "I still intend on showing you something you've never seen before."

Brooklyn wanted to bring up that her family had founded the town. She knew these woods like the back of her hand, it's one of the reasons why she loved this place so much. But she refrained, Matt looked so excited that she didn't want to spoil it.

They pulled off on the side of the road, and Matt got out. Brooklyn sighed and looked at her outfit. She'd done more in less. She shrugged and got out of the truck.

"I think we should hike for awhile." Matt suggested.

Brooklyn looked at Matt again. "Okay..." Brooklyn replied cautiously.

"This way looks kinda nice." Matt pointed toward a smaller path.

"Lead the way." Brooklyn gestured for him to go in front. "So do you take all your friends on random walks through the woods?" Brooklyn asked as they started their trek.

"No... usually, one of us gets trapped out here somewhere." Matt grunted. "What about you? Have you always been this perfect?" Matt asked.

"Are you trying to ask if I've ever killed anyone?" Brooklyn asked, raising her eyebrow. "Sadly, I have. I'm not proud of it. In fact, those faces haunt me in my nightmares. But I can't go off the rails because of it. It only makes the situation worse." Brooklyn shrugged.

"Sounds terrifying." Matt commented, looking over his shoulder.

"It's... a lot to handle." Brooklyn replied. "Most people think that when you are turned into a vampire, you're automatically a monster. I'm not defending vampires, but when we're turned, everything we feel as a human gets heightened a million times over. We're actually the most emotional people on the inside. But most of us don't have anyone to help us in our transitions, so we focus all of the heightened emotions and feeling into something that doesn't hurt, like anger, revenge, hunger, rage, anything that doesn't make us hurt anymore. Eventually, we realize that the hurt is all there is. And then, one of two things happens; most of the vampires will turn it off and give up. But there are a few, like me, that will go feed from a human, take too much, and watch as the life goes out of our victim's eyes... and we'll immediately snap into our regular self. We realize that shutting it off isn't taking the pain away, it's only holding the pain back until even humanity can feel it." Brooklyn realized thatat some point, she'd stopped walking.

Matt stared back at her. "Wow." Was all he could get out.

Brooklyn looked at her shoes for a minute before looking back up at Matt. "Do we have a specific destination, or are we just walking to walk?" Brooklyn asked.

Matt shrugged. "I have a spot. It's not too much farther."

Brooklyn nodded. "Then lead the way." She suggested.

*when you haven't updated in almost a year.* 

This story is legit crap. But oh well, you guys seem to like it. lol. So some new updates: I'm suffering from some serious writers cramp with this story. I have no motivation for it. It sucks. 

Anyway- let me know what you think about this sucky filler chapter.