"Do you have any threes?" I mumbled to Ruby.

"No, go fish," she said, glaring at me.

"B-but you didn't check-"

"I said go fish," she snarled. I picked up a card. It was a 4. Great.

"Hey, Ruby, got any threes?" Liam asked. I frowned at him. Was he stupid? I'd just asked-

"Why, yes! Two, in fact!" Ruby said sweetly, presenting the pair of cards like a prize. Ugh. I might as well just give up right then.

"Oh, what a coincidence! Blythe, gimme your threes," Liam said, shoving his hand in my face. I reluctantly placed my last two cards in it.

We'd played at least 4 games so far, and every single one went exactly like that. Vampire collusion would ensue that literally every game ended in one of them winning. Even the chance based games, somehow. What's more, Ruby somehow migrated from on top of the bed to right in Liam's lap, wiggling her leather shorts-clad butt. Disgusting.

"Can we do something else now?" I grouched.

"Come on, Blythe, don't be a sore looser," Liam smirked, his face millimeters away from Ruby's neck. I quickly looked away, glaring. I was not, nor would I ever be, in the mood for any more Liam-on-Ruby action.

"When is Helena getting back," I groaned to myself. I could not wait to tell her how much of an utter failure her idea was. 

"I don't know...now that you mention it, they should have been back by now," Liam mused. He sounded a little bit worried. I whipped back around to glare at him. 

"So, what? Where is she?" I asked, a niggling little seed of dread forming in my stomach. Liam didn't respond. I don't even know if he heard me. He just sort of stared into space, mouth in a thin line, eyebrows creased.

My worry bloomed, a mass of thorns poking the inside of my stomach. 

"Well?" I snapped.

"I don't know, Blythe!" Liam snapped back. Ruby frowned. 

"Maybe they're just late?" She asked. For once, she sounded completely serious. Liam ran a hand through his hair.

"Maybe. But it's Helena." Liam gently moved Ruby off his lap and stood. "I'm gonna go look for them. Just in case..."

The room fell into a dark silence.

"I'm coming too," I said, standing. It took me a moment to realize that Ruby had done the same. Liam glared at both of us.

"No. You're too fragile, and you're literally a prisoner. I'm going alone," he growled. Ruby growled back.

"Fragile? Fuck you, I am by no means fragile. I'm literally the fastest healer in this whole-"

"I didn't mean physically. Stay here, watch Blythe," Liam said, voice full of finality. Ruby marched in front of him, her comparatively tiny frame doing nothing to hinder her menace.

"I am not a babysitter, nor am I weak. I survived for years-years-without your help and I sure as hell don't need it now," she snarled. Liam's fangs glinted as he grimaced.

"God, I don't have time for this," Liam groaned, his voice dropping about 10 degrees colder. "You will stay or you are out. Do you understand?" 

"But-" Liam cut her off with a glare. Ruby seemed to wilt a little, her eyes dropping to her feet.

"Fine. I don't care. Go die, whatever," she said, vague snideness barely an ember compared to the flame she'd just had. I felt bad for her, a little.

"I'll be back," Liam said stoically, still looking at Ruby. When she didn't respond, he turned around and slammed the door to his room.

The tension in the room made it hard to breathe. I glanced at Ruby, but her eyes were still glued to her leather boots. I opened my mouth, but I couldn't think of anything to say. Besides, I didn't think she'd want to hear from me, anyway.

Suddenly, Ruby's head popped up and she strode to the far end of Liam's room. To his closet. She grabbed the door handle and tugged.

I gasped, "Wait, wait, are you sure you wanna-" Ruby's crimson eyes were suddenly mere centimeters from my face.

"Either help me open it or help me quench my thirst. The choice is yours." I followed her back to the closet.

Ruby continued to aggressively jiggle the knob up and down, but that didn't seem to be going anywhere. I frowned. "I think it would be easier to...try to find the key?" Ruby glared at me again, and I trailed off. "I-I just meant, cause you know him so well and everything..."

She tilted her head at me. "Fine, lunch meat. Where should I search, oh great and wise human?" She asked, flashing her fangs. I turned away, rolling my eyes. Where would an evil vampire overlord hide his things? A secret evil vampire hideout? Maybe under the floorboards...

"Um, do you know of any secret trap doors...like, a hole in the floor or something?" I asked, frowning slightly. Ruby sighed.

"Your stereotyping offends me," she sniffed. "Liam is not a cartoon villain, dumbass. This was your brilliant idea, you look for it." With that, Ruby threw herself onto Liam's bed and started ripping apart his pillows.

Okay. Sure.

Pulling my eyes away from Ruby's antics, I tried to revise my thinking a little. What did I know about Liam, despite the evil vampire thing? He still acted really juvenile, and probably more like a normal human than any other vampire I'd met. Well, most of the time.

So then, where would a normal teenage boy hide his stuff? Well, I wasn't an expert or anything, but TV told me that under the bed would be a fine place to start. I popped under there to check. Clean down there, save for the pair of pants and-ew-underwear. Underwear with tiny red bats on them.

I snickered, wiggling myself back up to the surface. Ruby was now using her sharp nails to claw her own name into his headboard. Over and over. Sure, yep, okay.

I turned around again, this time to face the dresser. Maybe he'd have them in a sock drawer, or something like that. I pulled them open one by one, finding nothing but black socks, black and red ties, black-gross-underwear, and a mass of black and red pajamas so thick and unfolded that I had trouble pushing the drawer back in. Oh, and an inappropriate magazine, but I erased that discovery as soon as I made it.

"Are you done?" Ruby asked, amused. I glared back at her, only to find her back at the closet door, twirling a key around her index finger.

My mouth popped open. "Y-you found it?"

"Yeah. Liam's got a little hole in the floor under the bedside table," she said, grinning widely. I scowled. 

"You're-" 

"Extremely hungry," she finished, spinning to face the closet. "And now, we show my dearest, darling LiLi what happens when he doesn't fucking listen to me."