Two more days had passed and we spent every minute of it working on the cure for vampires. Unfortunately, I cannot say I have been successful. I am at a point where I don't know what else to do. Just when I think I've got something, I would test it with the vampire's blood and it would not work.

"Holy shit, Drew!" Rami screamed as the vampire's blood caught on fire. I held it up to the sun after mixing it with another chemical mixture and it burst into flames.

"Damn it." I threw the transparent tube on the ground out of frustration. "I'm tired, Rami. We've done everything we could. Nothing we do is working and we are running out of chemicals. We're going to have to come back to the hospital and get some more." I felt a headache growing as I thought about returning to the hospital.

Lysander is sitting on the swing by a tree, which we made yesterday, and swinging back and forth, watching me while Rami joins me on the ground and smiles. "It's okay. Don't stress over it. The vampire dude never said anything about a due date. Maybe when we're older and know more, and actually have jobs, that's when we'll make the cure. He won't go anywhere. He's not getting any older, so. No worries."

I laid my back down on the grass, moving away from the mixtures of chemicals in front of me. "You're absolutely right. I have all the time in the world. What if I never make the cure though? Like, what if I'm old and I still haven't made the cure. Would Idris kill me?"

"No." Lysander said coldly, his eyes focused on the ground.

Sighing, I put my attention back on the chemical mixtures on glassed containers. I have three mixtures that all failed, in front of me. One is white, one is red, the other is blue. One caught on fire, one did nothing and the other froze the blood. Each mixture is dangerous. Not a good idea to mix these compounds. I should just get rid of them.

I picked up the three mixtures and stood up.

"HOLY MATTER OF GALAXIES!" Rami jumped at the same time I stood, causing him to bump into me. I was caught off guard and almost fell to the ground, but Lysander caught me halfway through the fall.

"Dude, what the fuck." I gritted my teeth at the spilled chemicals. They didn't spill on me, thankfully. That would have burned. The blue chemical all went to the ground. All gone. Some of the white mixture spilled on the grass while over half of it had gone to the container with red chemicals, which now turned pink.

"What the fuck? Dude. Lysander's birthday is fucking up!"

I suddenly forgot about everything. I faced the man who caught my fall and punched him slightly. "Your birthday! What?!"

"Yeah! I just remembered. He told me when we were in the forest, when you were knocked out by a Sleeper. I was thinking about when we made the Sleepers. June first. He didn't tell me what year, but I remembered it mainly because he has the same birthday as Morgan Freeman." The boy with the glasses smiled sheepishly. "Happy birthday, man!"

I punched Lysander again. "I cannot believe you didn't tell me!" He just shrugs his shoulder, picking up the now empty container from the ground. "I feel so betrayed. What other secrets have you been telling Rami? Hmm? Hmm?"

"You don't want to know." Rami smirked at Lysander, who once again shrugged his shoulders. "This calls for a celebration! We need a cake and drinks! How many candles do we need? Five hundred?" Lysander opened his mouth to reply but Rami caught his arm and dragged him away. "Come on! We have to get cake! Drew, change into something nice. We have to party when we get back! Come on, old man!"

Wow.

***

While the boys left to buy some food, I cleaned up the chemical wastes I've created. The pink mixture in one container and two empty ones. June 1st is Lysander's birthday. June 1st. Every year at this day, I make a call to a woman named Alana Rojas. The good sibling. The favorite. The successful lawyer. I would call her and greet her a happy birthday, and we would have a five minute conversation about our lives. We aren't close at all. We weren't the closest siblings, but she's the only family I have left and I need to keep in touch. After the accident, we only have each other and I don't want to ruin that. I need to know if she's okay, even if it's just for five minutes. She is a busy woman, after all. But, due to certain circumstances, that five minute phone call will be delayed this year.

Wiping my tear pooled eyes, I concentrated on the pink chemical mixture. I used a metal spoon to stir the liquid and noticed the thickness of it. Not too thick that it felt like solid, but not too thin like vampire's blood. It's like human blood.

Once again, I used the dropper I bought from a cheap drug store and mixed one drop of the pink liquid with vampire's blood that is on a transparent tube. I waited ten seconds to see if the blood would react with the liquid: it did not. The red blood mixed with the pink liquid, but not disappeared. Next, I held the tube up to the sun and let it warm up. I counted from one to sixty seconds and nothing happened. The blood did not dry up.

For the second time, I added more of the pink liquid with the same amount of blood and counted. It did not dry up.

For the third time, I kept the same amount of pink liquid and blood, but changed the intensity of the sun. For the first two times, the sun was not too strong. For the third time, I placed the tube on a spot that receives more sunlight. I set up three other tubes and placed them in different spots that differs sunlight intensity. Same amount of blood and chemical, different sun intensity.

I set up a timer and waited.

***

Tube 1 and 2: no blood

Tube 3 and 4: blood did not dry up

Tube 5: blood did not dry up

Tube 6: blood did not dry up

Tube 1 and 2 are the only ones that had no blood when I checked back after thirty minutes. Every other tubes did not change. The blood is still there. This may be because I started the first two tubes earlier than the others, so they dissolved quicker.

But so far, it's working.

I've decided to leave the last four tubes under the sun for a while, just to see how long it lasts. Meanwhile, I went inside the wolf cave and took a shower. The one thing I hate about this house is the lack of hot water in the bathroom. They only have cold water. It's horrible. I'm starting to understand why Lysander hates taking showers.

Rami said to wear something nice but I don't really have any cute clothes and I don't want to waste anymore money to go shopping, so I dug through my clothes and find the nicest thing I brought. A long grey and white floral skirt and a plain black top. After braiding my hair up, I checked the tubes outside.

Two hours until the blood dissolved. There were still some red specks on the pink liquid, but the blood is basically gone. So, I'd say this might just work. I just need to test it on an actual vampire. Who would like to be my lab rat?

***

Rami bought a lot of alcohol and only two out of three of us can get drunk. He also bought a massive red velvet cake with candles on them. '22+'. He literally got a candle in that says 22+. The rest of the food are pizza, Chinese food, pasta, cupcakes and chips.

We are in the living room of the wolf cave and we are using the turntable and vinyls to play music. It looked like an actual party, only there's three of us. Rami told me to wear something nice, but the boy himself is wearing khaki pants, a pink shirt and unmatched socks and the birthday man is shirtless for fuck's sake.

Also, we started the party around seven. About half an hour later, Rami's already drinking so much. I'm having flashbacks of that time in Alverton when he was drank and did karaoke. But hey, no one's complaining. This party is both a mess and a beauty. It's hilarious. Basically, Lysander and I are eating while watching Rami turn up.

"This is my werewolf friend! Look how old he is!" Rami screamed to his phone, recording a video. He shoved his phone's camera at Lysander, who tried to get it from Rami but the boy is moving too quickly. Giggling, Rami drank more of his drink before singing to the music. Eventually, I joined in and even drank some of the alcohol. Because I deserved it.

The room slowly started to spin, my mind had gone blank and my shoulders felt lighter as the night went on. Rami and I danced together to the music while Lysander refuses to get up from the couch. Although, it looked like he's having fun just watching us. He's probably laughing at us, on the inside.

"You should dance with us, sour wolf." I sat beside him after a song ended. I leaned on his arm as I catch my breath. "We are celebrating your birthday, Mister 500 year-old-wolf." I squished his cheeks. "You are so old for me. I'm calling the police."

He just snorted and put an arm around me. "Sure, An."

"An." I sigh happily, moving one of my hands to his lips. "It sounds really nice when you say that. It sounds nicer than all the other names in the world."

His hand caught my fingers on were tracing his lips. "Andromeda is a beautiful name."

"No. I like An." I frowned, hiding my face on his naked chest. "Why do you never wear a shirt?"

"It's hot and clothes are irritating."

"I agree. I should do that too."

Just as I began to pull my top off, Lysander pulled them back down. "What are you doing, wolf? I'm hot." The room is hot. My body is hot. My face feels like it's on fire.

"Wait. We're taking our shirts off now? Sick!"

"No, Rami."

"Why not? If you can, why can't we?" I glared.

"I mean, you can, but - "

"Okay."

"No, not you."

Rami removed his shirt and chugged down another bottle before dancing.

"You suck." I huffed, leaving the couch and the bitter wolf. The walk between the living room and the kitchen felt like I was walking on thin wire. Everything feels so weird. Actually, nothing feels like anything. Why can't I feel my face? "Who ate all the spaghetti?"

"You did." The wolf replied, not getting up from the couch.

"Oh."

"So, how old are you really?"

Somehow, I keep finding myself back in Lysander's arms. I don't know how the hell I ended up in the middle of the room with him holding my waist and us swaying back and forth slowly. "Doesn't matter." He chuckles. "You've drank so much already, you light weight. You should probably stop. I can assure you, you will not like how you feel in the morning."

"You're just jealous because I can get drunk and you can't." I scoff. "So, how old are you?"

"130."

I burst in a giggling fit as I stared at the grey eyed man. "I'm 22. My parents weren't even born yet when you were born."

"Your parents. Where are they?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. What do you think happens to people when they die? I think they they went to space." I felt a pain in my chest as images of a bus on fire blocked my visions. I shook my head vigorously and shut my eyes to erase the picture but it wasn't working.

'Andromeda'

'Andromeda'

'Andromeda'

Voices in my head called my name repeatedly as the image became more vivid. "Stop it." I struggled to breathe as the entire scene flashed back. A bus. my parents. Fire. My parents calling my name.

'Andromeda'

"Andromeda." I suddenly felt like everything had shut off. The images and the voices disappeared and there was nothing else around me but warmth and a sense of belonging and safeness. "An. You're okay. You're safe. Open your eyes."

I slowly opened them but my vision was blocked by tears. I blinked them away and came face to face with Lysander. Looking around the room, I remembered that I'm in an underground house. Not a bus. I breathed in and out, clutching on the hand holding me. I repeated the process a few times before I felt lighter and I got my senses back.

"I'm sorry." Lysander looked down sadly. "I'm sorry An."

I stood up, just now realizing I had been sitting on the ground with my back against the wall. I walked to the living room, next to the couch while scanning the area. "Where's Rami?" My vision is still unstable, but it was enough to allow me to be aware of my surroundings.

"You're standing on him."

"What?!" I looked down and saw my foot almost stepping on Rami's arm. He had fallen asleep on the floor. "Oh, Rami." I got a pillow from the couch and put it under Rami's head. "Good night, buddy."

I then returned to Lysander, who hadn't kept his eyes off me. "Come on." He took my hand and allowed me to take him to his room, since it's closer than mine. He and I laid down on the bed. I put my head on his chest and closed my eyes. "130 years old, huh?"

"Yeah."

"That's crazy." I yawned. "Happy birthday, my old wolf."