RAMI

***

"If you get stab, or shot, or whatever, one more time, I'm going to kill you myself."

"How thoughtful of you."

I ignored the sarcastic vampire in the backseat while digging through my backpack. I threw him a shirt, hitting him in the face. His red eyes studied the clothing before giving me a confused, slightly disgusted expression. "What is this?"

"Your shirt is covered with blood and it's gross. You need to change."

"You expect me to wear this?" He pinched the shirt, grimacing. "It's horrible. Yellow is not my color."

Holy matter of galaxies, this man is unbelievable. I pulled out another shirt from my backpack and tossed it to him. The picky boy dropped the plain yellow shirt and tilted his head while eyeing the black shirt. "I suppose this will do." He swiftly removed his shirt and put on the black tee shirt that looked slightly too tight on him. We have similar, slim figure, although the vampire had a little more muscles than me. Just a little. "But, I refuse to be undressed." He wore his blazer over the black shirt. He then jumped back to the passenger side and gave me a smile.

It's hot as hell in The Great Basin desert, and this man wants to wear nothing but black, underneath more black.

"I just can't with you." I sigh, starting the viper car. I let the fresh air of the car cool us off for a few seconds before driving back on the road. "So, where do we go now?"

The vampire stuck his head out the window, despite the strong sunlight hitting his face. He still haven't taken his vampire skin medicine. "The desert is quite massive" He began, running a hand through his hair. "And they could be miles away and it's hard to catch their scent if they are really far."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So, you don't know."

"I didn't say that."

"So you know where to go?"

"I didn't say that, either."

This is going to be a long, long afternoon.

***

ANDROMEDA

***

I have come to a decision that I am going to get the hell out of here. Instead of the werewolf taking me away, I am going to be the one dragging his ass back home. How am I going to do that? I don't know. Though, the sleeping pills I found in the medicine cabinet of the kitchen is a start. Maybe he could fall asleep and I will run to find a car, then come back and pick him up then we drive back to California.

After crushing the sleeping drugs into powder, I mixed it with water on glass. I hope this works. I returned to the other room to find the werewolf sitting by the lounge. I paused on entering the room when I caught him clutching on his forehead and hissing as if in pain. I am only seeing his side profile, but I could clearly see how much pain he's feeling. I could almost feel it. I wanted to pull him in my arms and hold him and tell him that he's going to be okay, but I had to remind myself. This man in front of me is not Lysander. This is 17, the experimented man who killed a vampire.

Yet, I can't help but feel worried for him.

"Are you okay?" I asked hesitantly, coming closer to him. I almost dropped the glass of water I'm holding when he slammed his fists on the table in front of him, almost breaking it in the process. The werewolf shook his head in response, which only makes me want to cry. Those assholes really did a number on him. I sat on the other seat, set the glass of water on the table and picked up the food he brought for me earlier. My eyes ran over him and saw that he had put on military pants to cover up half of his nakedness. "What did they do to you?" Words spilled from my mouth before I could stop them.

"Nothing." His sharp nails had returned to normal, as well as his ears, but grey eyes are still absent. Red eyes watched me while I began eating whatever was on the plate. It isn't the most delicious meal in the universe, but I haven't eaten for hours so it's the least I could consume to satisfy my stomach.

"What about you? Shouldn't you be eating also?"

His gaze hardened before looking away. "Your food will not do anything to me. I will eat once we go out and see a wild animal on the way."

"Must be nice." I murmured, thinking of a way to get him drink the water mixed with sleeping drugs. Improvise is what I do best. "So, 17..."

"Don't call me that." The werewolf cut off harshly while clenching his jaw.

"But that's what you are." He flinched as his red eyes tore away from my stare. I continued taunting him. "You are 17. Not my Lysander." I noticed his breathing became heavy, and I had to scoot away just in case he explodes. "Anyway, what do you think you're planning to do? Run away and take me with you and live happily ever after? What kind of fantasy world do you live in?" My chest tightened at my own words. "You and I, we are not characters in a novel. We don't get a happy ending."

I sat back and pursed my lips while my vision hazed with tears. That is the truth. There are so many things that's preventing me and Lysander from getting a happy life together. Even if we get away from these soldiers, the government will always try hunting him down, with or without hunters' help. Not only that, but there's the fact that he gets to live long while I don't. Eventually, I'd have to go. Either he gets taken from me, or I get taken from him. Life isn't fair.

I shook my head to block the thoughts, for now at least. I felt 17's deep gaze on me, and I only scoffed at him before going back to eat the food. I waited for two uncomfortable minutes, eating while the werewolf watches me, until I stopped to complain.

"I think there's something in the food that you gave me." I coughed, putting the plate down on the table.

"No there isn't."

"How would you know?" I crossed my arms. "Have you tried it, Mister I'm-too-amazing-for-human-food-even-though-I'm-basically-half-human?"

He shot me a look of annoyance before picking up the plate. I tried not to laugh as he ate some of the canned ham and cringed with disgust. He immediately set the plate down and glared at me. "It's safe. And disgusting." He drank half of the water on the glass, then turned back to me with no emotion. "We will leave now."

Shit.

"Well, I haven't finished eating."

"Then you should have eaten when you had the chance." He replied exasperatedly, crossing his arms. I bit my lip, observing his arms, then his chest and abs, shoulders, and finally his face. We stared at each other for a good minute before he snapped again. "What!"

I cracked a small smile. "You know, Lysander, my mate, he also hates a lot of food." I had a brief flashback of when he would be disgusted with chocolate. That face that he would make. "I miss him." I confessed sadly. "Maybe you could, I don't know, switch off your evilness for a little bit and let me talk to him? If he's in there, tell him I love him."

He froze for a second. His eyes flashed with a sea of emotion but disappeared so fast. I received no verbal response: just a werewolf storming out and slamming the door. Well, that went well.

***

Stars. Lots of bright stars surrounded me and I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. As soon as I got out of the hideout, which I just learned was underground, I was starstruck at the night sky of the desert. I don't know what time it is, but I was in the hideout for a while, and now it's dark. The sun is gone and the crescent moon is shining bright along with the stars.

"Look at this!" I exclaimed happily, unable to tear my eyes from the night sky. "I've never seen the stars so bright!" I was spinning around like a child. "When we were in the forest and woods, I could see the stars and it was pretty but nothing beats this view! We could see everything, no trees or little lights around, just pure desert land." My neck was already starting to hurt from looking up for so long but I can't myself. "Look! You could see the Milky Way from here!" I jumped at the werewolf's side to shake his arm. "See that! That line there?!" I pointed a finger on the line of stars that appear brighter than the rest. "That's a disk of the galaxy that we're in! That's so fucking cool!"

I suddenly had the biggest urge to lay down on the ground and just stare at the stars. It's cold as ice and I cannot feel my face. If only I had some blankets, Rami, Idris, and a non-evil Lysander, everything would be so perfect. And speaking of, the man himself is just watching me while I blow my top off about stars. For a moment, I was able to see my Lysander, the same way he was watching me in the forest that one night, with his eyes full of passion, but everything disappeared as soon as he realized I was looking back at him. I raised a brow and put my hands on my hips.

"What are you looking at, punk."

He reverted his eyes on the trail ahead, not saying a word. I observed the surrounding as we walked forward: nothing but barren wasteland. No cars, no house, just the two of us and nature. We could only hear our own footsteps and breathing, nothing else. I tucked my arms to my chest, underneath my jacket, to give myself a little more heat. It's so cold that I could see my breath. Crazy. I knew deserts are extremely hot during the day and extremely cold during the night, but I wasn't expecting the temperature change to go from Venus to Neptune.

"How are you not cold?" I asked, shivering. He is not wearing a shirt, for goodness sake. "Oh wait. Don't tell me. Werewolf power."

The werewolf glanced at me and let out a sigh. Since he was walking ahead of me, he had to step back to be at my side. Then, he caressed my cheek and I immediately backed away. He put an arm around me, and I felt his warmness radiate around me. It's like standing next to a heater, except it barely works.

"You are invading my personal space." I informed, though I was enjoying the bit of sharing of body heat.

"Would you rather freeze to death then?"

"Yes." The wolf rolled his red eyes before sliding warm hands down my arms to hold my cold ones. We continued walking like that, which isn't too bad. I returned my eyes back to the night sky. "I'll just keep looking up and look for some UFOs. You lead the way. If I trip and fall on my face, it'll be all your fault."

I just heard that familiar grunting of annoyance.

***

RAMI

***

We only managed to drive for about half an hour until something went wrong with the car. When I came to check why it suddenly felt like we're driving on waves, I learned that one of the tires in the front is flat. The sun was coming down along with the temperature. Perfect timing. Fortunately, there is a spare tire in the trunk, along with some tools, extra fuel and battery.

I sulked at the flat tire. "Do you know how to fix a flat tire?" I asked with hope. He's an old vampire that is almost 200 years old. He has to know.

"Me? Fix a car? What do you take me for?" The vampire scoffed with his hands on his pants' pockets.

I groaned. "I knew I should have paid attention when my brother would fix his car." When I was little, instead of watching my older brother fix his car like he told me to, I would always be on my Nintendo Gameboy. It's not my fault Pokemon was much more interesting than my brother get down and dirty with a Volkswagen. I guess, I could try. I remember him asking for my help with the tools, then he would say everything he did and I kind of listened. "I think I can do it, but it will take a while. Do you have anything on Lysander and Drew?"

"Not yet."

I groaned again. "Great." I picked up a tool and sighed, hoping it's the right one. "We're gonna be here for a while. Just sit back and - " I felt a gush of wind blow around me, bringing dirt all over my face. Idris had already jumped back in the passenger seat with his feet on the dashboard of the car. I flipped him off as soon as we made eye contact, before getting back down to the tire. Here goes nothing.

***

"...And then apparently, the man was killed right after that video was leaked on the internet. Everyone who used to work in Area 51 and tried to expose them were killed and no one ever knew what really happened to them. Some said they're hiding aliens, and some said they're working on some creepy shit and some said they're pulling off some Frankenstein experiments, but we don't know what they're really hiding. Like, we've been inside and there's nothing suspicious at first, but then where did all those scientists come from? We were at a dead end and they just appeared out of thin air, so I'm pretty sure there's some X-Files kind of thing going on. I think there's something that we never got to see." I stood up from the ground to look at my terrible company, sitting on the hood of the car with his eyes on the dark starry sky. "Were you even listening to me?"

Idris blinked and looked at me with an innocent smile. "Sorry, have you said something? I was too busy enjoying the song."

"Give me that." I snatched my half charged phone from his hands and paused the music before taking a seat next to him, wiping the sweat on my forehead. Fixing a tire is harder than I thought. But for a first timer, I think I did pretty good. It took me a long time to do it, but I replaced the flat tire with the spare one. While I was fixing it, I was talking to Idris about Area 51 and the conspiracy theories I heard they're involved with. But, apparently, the vampire heard nothing. I'll try not to get stranded on a desert with him again.

"It's fucking freezing." I wrapped my arms around me, feeling the cold breeze.

Idris gave me a smirk. "You should have brought a jacket."

"You should have brought a jacket." I repeated, mocking his tone with a high pitched voice. I laid my back down on the hood of the vehicle and used my hands behind my head as a pillow. I stared at the stars over me and my mind immediately went to Drew. No doubt, she is freaking out about this, being the space nerd she is.

I felt the vampire's gaze on me for a while before they were diverted to the stars. "So, human hobbit scientist, what are we seeing in the night sky tonight? I'm not very familiar with constellations, myself. Perhaps you could teach me."

"Alright." I smiled slyly. "There's a cluster of stars on the right, south east. If you look really hard, you can see a man." The vampire's eyes shined brightly as he looked at where I'm pointing. "And if you look a little towards the north, you'll see something small with wings. If you look at them together, you'll see a very good looking man that is close to squishing a mosquito. It's us. I'm the man and you're the mosquito."

I swear, the vampire almost pushed me off the hood. He looked so betrayed and annoyed, I couldn't help laugh. I laughed so hard, my stomach began to hurt. "You are cruel."

"That makes two of us." I grinned, holding my stomach. "But jokes aside, I don't know much about space. Drew is your girl for that. To be honest, I don't understand how anyone can see Hercules up there. Drew can see a bear and a wolf just by looking up and all I see are dots, so. Lysander said he sees them too, but I think he's just lying so Drew could like him more. One does not look up and simply say they see a wolf."

"I see a wolf."

"Liar."

"You're right." The vampire flashed his fangs as he laughs, laying down beside me. "I lack the imagination for constellations as well. But this view is absolutely wonderful." I watched him from my peripheral vision as he talked. "Years ago, we used to be able to see this view anywhere. Before humans began building their buildings and strong lights and pollute the atmosphere. Everything was much better then."

"I gotta ask. Your attitude towards humans confuses me sometimes." I admitted. "Do you like humans or do you not like humans?"

"I like you, if that's what you're getting around." Idris says teasingly, making me roll my eyes, ignoring the brief of warmness on my face. "You're quite a silly, hot-tempered, witty little human, but I can tolerate a Rami Nazari."

"Yeah well, I don't like you."

He chuckled before answering, "If I'm being honest, humans aren't my favorite. They were the cause of destruction of many good things, including a few witch friends of mine, but on the bright side, humans also created several amazing things, such as this car," He patted the hood we are laying on. "And muffins. And music. Although I must say, there is room for improvement on their clothing. Too easy to be punctured with stakes."

"What do you suggest, stake-proof fashion?" I mocked.

"That is exactly what I want." He nodded vigorously. "Also, a little more black and a little less yellow."

I glanced at my yellow shirt before glaring at him playfully. "You just can't pull off yellow like I can." I defended. "Anyway. Another question. You were human before, weren't you? Before you got turned into a vampire or whatever?"

He shook his head. "Never human, fortunately. I was born a vampire. Pure vampire blood." Draco Malfoy much? Based on my research, vampires can either be born a vampire or get bitten and turned into one.

"There's not too many that are turned. Some do not survive, some are too insane, some are stuck in bloodlust. I've only known one who was turned. The process of her body changing was too unbearable and she killed herself."

"Oh."

I didn't know what else to say then. Supernaturals are much more complicated than I thought. I've only met two. Imagine if witches still exist. Imagine how cool the world would be with magic, like Hermione Granger kind of magic. Imagine if mermaids still exist. If they did, I would love to be best friends with one.

"You should see the Northern lights." Idris broke the silence, the light in his eyes returning. "The best thing to see. I should take you. I think you would like it. Europe is a great continent especially for hobbits." I caught the joy and happiness in his eyes for a moment before I pushed him off the hood of the car.

He fell to the ground while I snickered. As the vampire sat up, he gasped. "Oh, look!" He brought up his hands over the hood to show me a brown little scorpion. Just as I backed away from it, Idris dumped the arachnid inside his mouth. I watched with wide eyes as he chewed it like an every day snack. My mouth dropped, hearing the crunching noises. What the fuck. What am I watching. The vampire, after a couple of minutes, opened his mouth to give me a grin. "That was absolutely delicious. You should try it. It's perfectly healthy."

I stared at him with horror and disgust. "Don't talk to me ever again."

***

ANDROMEDA

***

"We've been walking forever!"

"We have been walking for roughly forty minutes."

"Like I said, forever!" I cried, forcing my legs to keep going. Now that I've walked a lot and my body is moving, I didn't feel as cold as before. However, I'm already starting to get tired. The werewolf doesn't give a shit though. His grumpy ass just walks ahead with a hand still on mine. "At least be a gentleman and shift so I can ride you."

I caught the corner of his lips curved up with amusement. "Is that so, mate?"