Shea LaCroix

Then again, it was almost Valentine’s Day. She couldn’t stay gone all of February if it meant missing that one special day of love. Sam’s day might have gotten all jumbled into one big long year that he couldn’t keep track of, but he assumed that it wasn’t Valentine’s Day just yet. He was usually smothered with kisses all over his face, much to his chagrin. "You had me worried," he mocked as he reached up to squeeze her hand. "I wasn’t expecting you so early. I would have gotten you something if I had known." That was probably a lie. In the art of gift giving, nobody could compete with Shea and it was usually best to not even try. He snuck a cookie, popping one into his mouth before handing one up to her and wheeling around in his desk chair to face her with a small, lopsided grin. “How was hibernation? You feel better?”

"So, since I know you won't actually make out with me," she rolled her eyes with these words and looked to him, "What are we going to get into tonight? Think I could get you to go to Oxford Barr with me and have a few drinks and maybe even dance?!"

It wasn’t until Shea reached forward and then hugged her that Sonia was snapped out of her fear induced stupor. She grabbed onto Shea as if holding on for dear life. She hugged her sister, almost forgetting that she could, in fact, squeeze her sister to death, for several minutes before finally letting her go. But as soon as they let go, Sonia placed her hands to Shea’s face, just looking at her baby sister, rememorizing her face. Finally, she glanced around them, to see if anyone was nearby. “We can’t talk about it here.” she said quietly, taking Shea’s hand in her own and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I promise I’ll explain everything, but we just can’t talk here.” 

The longer that she stood there and watched Sonia's face, the more the weight of it came down on her shoulders. Her keys slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground as she stared at her sister. A hand came up to cover her mouth and she almost burst into tears again before she forced herself to get a grip. She placed her hand back by her side and cleared her throat. It was all to no avail, though. "Won't you come in?" she finally forced out, but it was weaker than she'd wanted it to be.

He’d found a small motel on the outskirts of town and reserved two rooms for them. It was shoddy at best, but the rooms would be a good enough place for them to go to ground during the days until he had a more permanent plan for them. The girls wouldn’t be thrilled by it, but it would serve its purpose just fine. Dante still couldn’t understand why they had come to Oxford of all places. Sure, he knew why. They were here for Eva and Sonia’s sake. Both of their families had settled in this small Mississippi town after Eva and Sonia had each ‘died.’ But that was what Dante couldn’t quite wrap his mind around. How was it that two families who had absolutely no connection to each other, had managed to both settle in such a small, middle of nowhere town like Oxford? What was so remarkable about it that it had managed to draw both families to its city limits? Dante was pondering this very question as he had taken to Oxford’s streets, as if just by walking around, he could discover the answer to his question. He was just entering the town square when a voice interrupted his thoughts. It was coming from the other side of the square and it was a beautiful voice singing some song that ironically reminded Dante of his cold, dead heart. With a chuckle, he paused to listen to the song as the voice wafted across the square, only heard because of Dante’s superhuman senses. As it grew closer, Dante located the source of the voice, the female was just about to round the corner of a street on the other side of the square. Just as she was about to do so, Dante spotted a sheet of ice on the sidewalk in front of her. In mere seconds, before she had the chance to really slip, Dante had crossed the square and was at her side. Gingerly, he grabbed her hand and then her waist, pulling her safely away from the ice. Dante chuckled at her words, the girl had clearly been taken by surprise by he whole encounter because she spoke without inhibition. “I can assure you, madam. I am very much real.” The real question she should be asking, was if he was human or not. But before he could point that out, making it very clear from the get go what he was, something Dante always made a point of doing whenever interacting with unsuspecting humans, she stepped in and wrapped her tiny arms around him. Dante was immediately caught off guard. In all near 800 years of his existence as a vampire, Dante couldn’t remember ever having been hugged by a human like this. It was an innocent hug, a hug out of gratitude and friendliness. It took longer than it probably should have, but finally Dante remembered the proper response to an action like this. Hesitatingly, as if he might break her, Dante wrapped his own arms around her as well. As his body wrapped around her, practically swallowing her whole, he was overcome by the scent of her. She smelled of evergreen trees and hot cocoa and everything that came with the Christmas season and so much more. Something smelling remarkably like joy emanated from the girl he was still holding, and he quickly released her for the fear of becoming utterly intoxicated by her scent. “It was absolutely my pleasure, my lady.” He replied, a brilliant grin emanating from his lips as he looked down at her, an inner battle raging on inside of him as he tried to fight off the urge to have her in his arms again. Dante couldn’t have explained it if he had been asked, but something about her drew him towards her in a way no one else ever had. “I wouldn’t want the ice to lay claim over another victim, let alone such a pretty one.” he added with a wink.

There was another pause before she looked back to him and chuckled, "Which I wouldn't want, because discrimination of any kind is terrible and I just won't stand for it!" She pursed her lips for a moment before letting out a small laugh, "But I promise I don't freak out like this all the time. I'm normally the happiest person to the point where people think I'm weird because I like... Don't know how to be unhappy. And maybe a little because I stick Santa hats on people... And do this!" She leaned up on her toes, placing her hands to his face and her thumbs on the corners of his lips, pulling them upwards so he was smiling, "See! It's fun to be happy!"