It had been two hours, I figured that was enough time for Jas to hang out with Paul and talk about whatever they needed to. I headed back to the arcade, looking for her.

"Jas! Jazzy!" I yelled, pushing my way past other kids to get to the machine she had been at. She wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere else, either. I had been all around the boardwalk and she wasn't anywhere.

I walked out to the boardwalk and huffed a sigh. "Great. She ran off again. I better not have to cover for her again." I complained to myself about it, but I knew if it came down to it, I'd cover for her every time.

With Jas nowhere in sight, I made my way to the comic shop, leaning against the counter. "Hey, weirdos."

Edgar looked up from what he was doing. "What do ya want?"

I shrugged. "I'm just hangin' out. Jas was supposed to meet up with me, but I haven't seen her."

Alan appeared out of nowhere. He did that a lot, it always freaked me out. "She alright?"

"Well, I guess so. She went off with her brother somewhere. She should've been back by now, though.." I answered. No way Paul would let anything happen to her, right? I mean, he was a vampire and all, but he wouldn't pull her into that. At least, I didn't think he would.

Edgar nodded. "That brother of hers... there's something off about him. I don't trust him. You ever seen him during the day?"

'Off' wasn't the word for it. They didn't know the half of it. "No.. doesn't mean anything, though," I mumbled, "maybe, he lives off somewhere else. Comes here for fun."

Edgar didn't seem to buy into that. In fact, he didn't seem to even listen to me when I said it. He seemed to already be making his own theories.

I glanced at Alan to see what he was making of the situation. He just watched Edgar, seeming to understand. I thought that maybe they had some mind-reading powers with each other, one always seemed to know what the other was thinking.

Sheesh and they thought Paul was weird? These guys were whacko central. But they were my best friends besides Mike and Jas, so I dealt with it.

"Hm.. we should go look for her," Edgar grumbled.

With a sigh, I shook my head. "Nah, I think we should wait. She said she'd hang with me later, I'm sure she's gonna stick to her word and be back as soon as she can. Just wait a little longer."

"She could be in danger, Sam.." Alan added, leaning against the wall.

"You think her brother is gonna purposely throw her into the hands of danger?"

Edgar rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't put it past him.. besides, maybe he lost her. Maybe, just maybe, they somehow got split up and someone else got her."

Those other outcomes were possible, but I didn't wanna believe them. Paul would keep a close eye on her. They'd been split up for years, he wouldn't let her get separated from him that easy.

"You're wrong. She's just fine. Look, I'm gonna go. If she doesn't turn up in a couple hours, I'll let you guys know." I pushed myself off the counter, strolling out.

Behind me, I could hear Alan and Edgar warning me that if she ended up in trouble, it was on my head. I ignored it. Jas was gonna be just fine, so that wouldn't be an issue.

I absentmindedly took a walk around the shops and fair rides, half expecting Jas to run up behind me and scare me or something. I wished she would. Better than worrying about where she was.

After about another hour and a half, I made my big decision. I'd seen that hotel place they were talking about, so I could probably get there no problem. There was no harm in just going to check if she was there.

So, I made my way back to the house, grabbed my bike, and made off on my journey. It was nice, riding out in the fresh night air. Cruising and letting the wind blow through my hair as much as it wanted. For a moment, I got worried that I didn't actually remember the exact location of the hotel and was just riding with no destination. But I saw the cave come up after a while and smiled to myself.

"Man, she's lucky I worry so much. I don't see Mike doing all this for her.." I muttered to myself as I skidded to a stop at the entrance.

I lifted a leg over the bike and kicked out the kickstand. Slowly, I made my way into the cave.. Cave? Hotel? Resort? I dunno. All I know is I went inside.

There were way too many cobwebs for my liking. Place seemed dirty, dusty, musty, and just weird. I'd been in before, but it was still shitty enough to surprise me every time.

As I made my way farther in, I could hear voices get clearer. I heard Jasmine's, which was a relief to hear. But.. it didn't sound too happy. I heard Paul's, too. Sounded like he was trying to calm her down.

I tried to stick close to the walls. Well, sorta close. I didn't want any spiders crawling on me. I finally got to the entrance of the main space and glanced in. Jas definitely didn't look happy, either. Neither did David. That guy never seemed happy, though. Just scary.

"I don't know what kind of sick joke you guys are playing, but I'm not with it. Paul, take me back, I gotta get back to Sammy." came Jas' voice.

"Jas, it's no joke.. Please don't make us prove it to you, sis. Come on, I don't wanna subject you to that." The voice was a little quiet, but I knew it was Paul's.

I also knew these guys were vampires, and it had just occurred to me that she didn't. How could I forget that? Man, I felt like Mike should have told her that. Soften the blow. I thought that this was probably what they were talking about.

After a few more moments of Paul telling her what they really were and Jas refusing to believe it, I heard something that even shocked me.

The first bit came from Paul. "Jas.. you're just gonna have to trust me on all this. And there's a little more to it.. See, there's this, I dunno, gut feeling some of us get when we see a certain person. Our person, I guess you could say."

"Like a soulmate? A lot of people seem to get that, Paul. I dunno if I buy it, but I mean-"

I didn't like the direction this was taking. Paul picked it up again. "Well, you got half of it. And I think you should buy into it because you're-"

"My mate. My soulmate. Mine. Whatever term you wanna use." David finished.

My eyes widened and without a thought, I blurted out the best words for this situation. "Oh, what the FU-"