After were done eating we immediately got back on the road and off to our destination, which I'm not sure exactly where in south.

My fever was not getting any better either, and I was desperately hugging myself trying my hardest to generate heat, it sure feels so damn cold. Tristan noticed my attempt on manually heating my body.

"Hey you okay?" He asked, and I just nodded. He touched my forehead again. "You're burning up. We need to get you some medicine."

"I'm fine. All I need is rest. Maybe a year of sleep." I tried to joke even on my condition. I slumped on my seat and curled my body.

Tristan made a loud ugh. I couldn't see his reaction though, for I was closing my eyes the entire time, trying to sleep. But I knew by the sound of that, he's pissed.

"Were almost out of gas." He said and smacked the stirring wheel. "And Fuck. It's going to rain."

How is that even possible? The weather was nice when we departed. Heck, everything sure is unpredictable today.

I tried to straighten up my aching body, trying to get a peek on the window to where we are, and also wanting to make sure that he's not joking about the weather. As did I, I realized that fate surely is playing a game on us. We are in the middle of nowhere! And to add more spice into that, the sky was grim, dark clouds were hanging in the sky.

This is so cliché.

I can already guess what's going to happen, I've seen it in movies tons of times. The car will obviously come to a stop, then will get stuck here in the middle of nowhere, with the rain as our cold companion and probably without connection. Plus, my fever that is a total bitch, would either get worse or magically disappear.

"We are so doomed." I said as I curled into a ball again.

And the car did stop. We both sighed, we have already expected this to happen. On cue, the rain started to pour, adding more chills to my cold body.

"Is there a signal?" I asked him, when I saw him tinkering with his phone.

"Barely a bar, but will do." He paused and extended his arm to a higher ground. "All I need, is this message to send." He said with a calm composure. It's good that were not on panic mode, yet.

I smiled, even though he didn't see it and said okay in a voice so low. I'm literally shivering right now, probably because of the cold and my thin clothing.

I heard him sigh again, and I waited for another bad news, say like-- I couldn't find a signal, and were dead. But instead, I heard him unbuckle his seatbelt and reached to do the same on mine. I didn't budge though, I feel so limp. He then closed the distance and hugged me, while rubbing the side of my arm.

Uhm. Is this for real?

"Everything will be fine soon." His words were soft like a whisper, comforting me with warmth and adding more butterflies in my stomach. Oh dear. Hope this butterflies won't escape my body and evolve into farts, again.

"I'm fine. No need to do this." I said, as my voice muffled on his chest. With a weak push, I attempted to escape his warm cage.

"Victoria. For once, don't be stubborn." He said with a voice filled with authority and concern. I nodded and eased myself under his warmth.

"This is better than medicine." My thoughts came out my mouth without even realizing it. He laughed, and it was only then I realized what I just said.

"You're pretty honest." He paused, hesitating his next words. "And I'm such an asshole to wish that your fever won't go away."

"Why?" My tone was a bit mean than it's supposed to be. My situation right now, shouldn't be used as a joke.

"So that I'll be your medicine, for the longest time possible." With his reply, my anger faded instantly, and is now replaced with flattery and confusion.

Holy shit. What's wrong with us? I think the situation were in, and the whole ambiance itself has a big role with all this mushy stuff.

I coughed the awkward cough. "I think you also have fever, and it's messing your mind. I mean our minds." I tried to get away from his hold again, because this is getting way awkward. But he tightened his hug even more. "Tristan."

"Hobbit. Please. Let me make up for what I did. Even with this small act of being your blanket." He said as he rested his chin on my head. I realized he hasn't moved on yet with that time when he showed his true self, the vampire in him.

I nodded. I can feel his tension fading. "Uhm. I want to lay there." My head was looking at the back seat. He said okay and helped me get there.

"This is better." I said as I relaxed and laid comfortably.

He laughed. "Even better than my chest?"

"Yeah. You need to grow some tits. It would have been a perfect pillow." I joked, even with a headache.

"You should sleep." He suggested, which is a bit impossible for my part. The cold continues to send shocks of chills through my body, and the headache is banging my skull like Thor's hammer.

"Later. I'm not sleepy yet." He nodded, and shifted his attention back to his cellphone. "So, were you able send it?"

"Yes. But no response yet." He paused and answered the question I was about to ask, which is, who's the person he contacted. "Mom is probably busy with the preparations."

"Is there a celebration?" I asked.

"A ritual of some sort. She wants to be the one who'll explain it to you though."

I laughed. "Okay. I won't interrogate you further." I paused and looked at him. "But you do owe me that long story. It's pretty boring, I'd like to hear some fairytale. Starting with Will's hulk-like actions."

He sighed, he knows he has no way out of this. One way or another I will find out about the truth, and this is it.

"Will is mentally unstable. You obviously can see that. He's always at his peak, it's either when his feeling happy or mad, it's always at an exaggerated extent." He paused and cleared his throat. "This is confidential, but I guess even if I don't tell you now, one way or another you'll find out." I cut him, for the first time.

"I promise I won't tell." He laughed.

"Don't interrupt me, unless you want me to stop telling the story." I shook my head. "Okay good. Now where was I..."

"It all started when grandmother died, that mom was feeling lonely and growing more depressed over time. She needed a companion, well aside from grandfather who suddenly disappears and appears without notice. Mom wanted a full time friend, a sister. That's when she met Victoria."

He paused, knowing that that would give me a reaction. But I didn't say a word, so he continued.

"She was a human intern in one of our race's firms in New York, and she became her best friend. Later on, mom knew about Victoria's sickness, she had cancer and she's dying. And mom can't afford to lose another loved one. So she turned Victoria to one of us. And by the rules, the newly turned should be under her wing in a minimum of a decade. The both of them went to Rome to live a new life. There they met my father Augustus and his brother Arthur, they were humans, Filipinos."

He stopped again to look at me, waiting for a reaction, which I didn't do. So I only gestured for him to continue.

"So obviously mom and dad got together, and so did Victoria and Arthur, but the brothers wanted to remain humans. And mom respected that but Victoria I guess didn't, she wanted to be together with Arthur forever. After some time of living in Rome. Something terrible happened. That was when Victoria accidentally killed Arthur, which I don't know the details about." He paused and shook his head. His impression had hints of curiosity and remorse.

"Mom won't tell me anything about it. So that's when Will was adopted to our family, he was four years old when that happened. They say Will had seen what happened to his father, but won't say a word about it. He was the only witness. That incident left him a permanent mental scar, which is probably incurable."

Tristan stopped and is now looking for something in his car, and it was water. He gulped half of it down, replenishing the lost saliva.

"So that's the end?" He nodded. "Now that's what I call a long story. Should've started with a once-upon-a-time though." I paused thinking of Will. "Damn. I can't imagine what he has been through. What happened to his mother?"

"Unknown. Our government has been searching for her in years. She's a criminal in our world."

"Why? Isn't it normal that vampires kill humans? You know predator and prey?" I asked and that earned me a glare from Tristan.

"It's considered a crime to kill humans. A crime punishable by death. A life for a life. I told you before that those vampire stories you've read, are nonsense." He said with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

He then combed his hair with his long fingers and took off his glasses, as he massaged his temples. He looked really stressed.

Okay I'm confused.

The things he says about them, doesn't quite match with the things I know. Might as well reformat my knowledge of vampires and start from scratch.

Now, I have a million questions in mind.