Barron Manor (Part 1)

Barron Manor

"Got any threes?"

"Go fish" Caleb said as he flashed his witty smile over at Nolan. Caleb was 6 foot 4 and was muscular with big strong shoulders. He had messy short black hair and sparkling blue eyes that seemed to light up his whole face. He was tan and had dimples when he smiled, which he hated. He wore a plain white t-shirt with a brown leather jacket and dark jeans. 

"You suck" Nolan answered as he rolled his eyes drew from the pile in the middle of the glass table. Nolan was 6 foot 2 and was of a medium build his hair was brown and had a wind-tossed look to it. He had cedar green eyes and was pale. He had a strong chin and sharp jawline. He wore a white baseball shirt with a navy blue jacket over it and black jeans.

"I try" Caleb responded with his usual husky voice as he shrugged off the insult and shuffled his cards in between his fingers. "Got any sixes?" Nolan sighed heavily and tossed over his card.

"Let's play something else" Nolan said as he set his cards down on their face and put his hands behind his head.

"Okay quitter, how about blackjack?" Caleb replied as he tossed his cards down.

"What so you can rob me again? Heck no" he stated.

"Fine, then what?" Caleb asked.

"How about something other than cards" Nolan answered.

"What's wrong with cards?" Caleb replied as he began to bring all the cards towards him and then straighten them up. "I like winning."

"How about Sorry or Risk?" Nolan questions.

"How about monopoly?" Caleb asks as he lifts his eyebrows.

"How am I not surprised, you pick the one game where you can win money, even if it's fake money?" Nolan says with a laugh.

"What? Its fun" Caleb chuckles.

"I wish it wasn't five below zero outside and I would go play basketball or something" Nolan said as he goes towards the game closet.

"Outside, are you crazy?" a voice sounded from behind Nolan. He spun around to see Rebecca. Rebecca had straight wavy brown hair and light golden skin; she had green eyes and a skinny figure. She stood five foot nine and wore a black and white striped Abercrombie t-shirt, with a grey over coat. She had on black skinny jeans and brown leather boots. She wore a thin red scarf around her neck and a ring around her ring finger that was silver with tiny diamonds all around it. She had on mascara and light pink lip gloss. "You know not to go out when the gate isn't closed."

"Yeah, and the only person that can close it is Barron" Caleb added in.

"I didn't say I was going outside I said I would if it wasn't so dang cold outside" Nolan said as he rolled his eyes. "Sheesh Beck, stop jumping to conclusions."

"Don't call me that Nolan! You know how I hate that, it sounds like a man's name" Rebecca said annoyed as she stamped her foot.

"Precisely why he said it" Caleb piped in with a wicked smile directed towards Rebecca.

"Shut up!" Rebecca said as she shook her head and entered the room, sitting down on the dark red couch in the room and pulling out her phone.

"So where's your worse half?" Caleb said as he plopped down beside her.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Rebecca answered, her eyes not leaving her phone screen.

"Bout, 5'6", dark brown curly hair, brown eyes, spunky demeanor?" he said with a chuckle at the last two words.

"Oh, you mean Skylar, she's down the hall, in the gym" Rebecca said as she stood abruptly to her feet and peered down at Caleb. "And she's not my worse half, she's my best friend." She then put her phone in her back pocket and stormed off. Nolan shot his head out of the game closet and immediately looked over Caleb.

"How'd you manage to piss her off this time?" he questioned. Caleb rolled his eyes and walked off towards the kitchen to grab some lunch.



Skylar through a left punch then a right then a left over and over again as her boxing gloves connected with the punching bag that hung from the ceiling. She was wearing a sports bra and exercise pants, her dark brown hair was tied back in a tight ponytail. She then threw out her leg and it smacked the bag, sending it sliding halfway across the massive room. She jumped as she heard clapping and spun around to see Caleb standing in the door frame, with his arms crossed.

"What the hell Caleb! You're gonna give someone a heart attack!" she shouted annoyed as she glanced over at him.

"Sorry" he said with a laugh as he put his hands out in front of him in mock surrender. She turned her back on him and walked towards the punching bag. Caleb followed and held the bag as she punched.

"What do you want Caleb?" she questioned as she kept punching.

"Are you really planning on spending all day in here?" Caleb answered as looked at her and lifted a black eyebrow.

"Why do you care?" she responded as she kicked, this time her foot making contact with his side. He was taken off guard by the kick and he gasped and held his side.

"You meant to do that" he stated as he rubbed at it.

"I have no control over where my foot wants to hit" she answered.

"So Skylar, if you are so good at this stuff, why not fight me?" he questioned as he punched the bag and it ricocheted, hitting Skylar in the gut.

"Caleb!" she snapped as she punched the bag and Caleb dodged it.

"What? It was payback" he said innocently.

"You're such a jerk" she said as she took off her gloves and chucked them at Caleb. They smacked him in the chest and fell to the ground. She walked out the door and Caleb sighed.

"Skylar wait!" he shouted, but it was too late, she was gone.



Skylar stepped out of the shower and changed into a t-shirt and long pajama pants. She dried her hair and it bounced into its normal beautiful curls. There was a knock on her bedroom door and Rebecca stood at the door. Skylar looked angrily at her.

"What'd I do?" Rebecca asked as she looked confusedly at Skylar. She sighed and pulled Rebecca inside by her arm.

"You told Caleb where I was didn't you!" Skylar demanded.

"Someone needed to get you out of that stinky gym; you'd been in there for five hours!" Rebecca retorted.   

"So you send Caleb, ridiculous" Skylar said as she shook her head.

"Why do you hate him so much? Sure he's a jerk, but he never did anything to you" Rebecca explained.

"Well..... You just said the reason why, he's a jerk and I don't want anything to do with that" Skylar explained.

"I need to find you someone" Rebecca said as she sat down on the bed and began to tap her phone on her chin as she thought.

"Rebecca I don't need...." Skylar began.

"I know! It's perfect, how about Zeke?" Rebecca questioned.

"Zeke, the kid from the last benefit Barron held?" Skylar asked. "He was a total weirdo."

"How was he weird?" Rebecca demanded.

"He was a pyromaniac, he burnt down his parents' house last year, everyone knows that" Skylar answered.

"Well, he's better now" Rebecca began.

"Don't even start Rebecca, it's not happening" Skylar stated.

"Fine, be unhappy for the rest of your life, see if I care" Rebecca said as she crossed her arms and looked away from Skylar.

"What about you little miss perfect? Where's your boyfriend?" Skylar demanded.

"We.....we're taking a break" Rebecca answered.

"You and Max are taking a break? Rebecca, I haven't seen him here in at least three weeks" Skylar said as she sat down beside Rebecca.

"Fine, we broke up okay!" Rebecca said as she clenched her fists.

"Why?" Skylar asked.

"He said he just.... Didn't feel anything for me anymore" Rebecca replied.

"Figures, they're all the same" Skylar said as she rolled her eyes and cast her eyes towards the door. She looked back at Rebecca and noticed she was crying silently. "I'm sorry Rebecca" she said as she hugged her and Rebecca let her tears fall into her friend's shirt. "All they ever do is cause pain."



"Nolan heads up!" Caleb yelled as he threw a football towards his friend. Nolan dodged it and it crashed into a one of the statues in the living room. The boys both looked at each with panic as they heard a crash. They ran into the room and Nolan filled with dread.

"Caleb, you idiot!" Nolan shouted as he picked up the 100,00 dollar sculpture.

"What! It's fine" Caleb said as he looked down at it.

"It's fine? It's missing an arm!" Nolan said angrily. Caleb shrugged and fell backwards flipping onto the couch and grabbing the remote off the cushion.

"No, no, no" Nolan began as he kept touching the arm to the place it was missing. "I'm so dead."

"Oh, what'd you do?" Rebecca asked as she walked down the stairs and peered down the hallway. Rebecca walked towards him, Skylar following close behind her.

"I didn't do anything, Caleb through the ball at it" he said with clenched teeth.

"Well, if Caleb broke it, it's his fault" Skylar pointed out. "Don't worry about it" she said with a smile.

"You don't understand! I told Barron, I would watch the house while he was gone to San Francisco on business" Nolan explained.

"Plus, it wasn't my fault" Caleb piped in, "He dodged it like a wuss instead of catching it."

"So, he left on business and didn't close the gate? Real smart" Rebecca added.

"I already closed the gate" Nolan added as he picked up the sculpture.

"You closed the gate? Are you insane?" Rebecca demanded as she followed Caleb into the kitchen. "Those things could've ripped you apart."

"Well, they didn't, I was lucky" Nolan replied as he rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a bottle of glue.

"That gate is way too far away to walk to, that was too risky" Rebecca scolded.

"I'm alive aren't I? Now can you just drop it so I can fix this stupid thing?" Nolan said as he poured glue on the arm.

"Fine, but next time just leave it open instead or risking your neck okay?" Rebecca said her voice full of concern.

"Yeah okay" he answered as he kept his eyes fixed on the statue. Rebecca walked into the living room and sat down, Skylar followed and sat beside her.

"Real smooth Caleb, you were gonna let him take the fall for that weren't you?" Rebecca questioned.

"It was his fault" Caleb answered disinterested.

"Are you trying to lose the one person who actually likes you?" Rebecca questioned.

"What do you mean? I got lots of friends" Caleb answered.

"Like?" Rebecca questioned.

"Jacob, Joshua, Chris, Ashley, Elizabeth" Caleb answered easily.

"Hmm..... That's funny last I checked, you threatened Jacob to, you caught Joshua's mom buying drugs and threatened him to be friends with you or you would expose it to his dad, you met Chris at one of our parties and offered to pay for his drinks so he followed you around like a puppy, and Ashley and Elizabeth are sisters and you were sleeping with both of them" Rebecca answered.

"Oh come on, Nolan and me are like brothers, it would take a lot more than a stupid broken piece of marble to make him hate me" Caleb explained ignoring her comments.

"First off, it wasn't a stupid piece of marble it was a $100,000 dollar sculpture from Italy! Second of all, don't push it too far Caleb, Nolan's a good guy, but there is only so much he will be willing to forgive" Rebecca explained. She stood to her feet and looked down at Skylar. "Let's go play ping pong" and then she turned to Caleb, "Face it you are alone and always will be" and the two headed off. Caleb sat up and he shook his head, "She's wrong, Nolan isn't the only one who likes me."



Nolan came out of his room and froze as he saw people he didn't know walk down the stairs. He heard music start up from downstairs and people cheering.

"Oh no" Nolan said as he ran down the stairs and spotted Caleb, sitting on the couch, a glass of red wine in his hand. He walked towards him as he pushed through the crowd and reached Caleb.

"Caleb what the hell are you doing!" Nolan demanded as he ignored the two girls sitting beside Caleb. "And why are you drinking Barron's red-eye?"

"What's it looking like I'm doing? I'm being a normal teenager and throwing a party with my friends" Caleb stated.

"You aren't a normal teenager Caleb! You're a seventeen year old billionaire and these people aren't your friends, they are strangers who want to hang out with you because you're Elias Barron's son!" Nolan snapped.

"Wrong, I'm not Barron's son, you must be confused Nolan, my parents left me on the streets" Caleb explained with a stupid smile on his face. "They left me on my own, digging through the trash, they left me to be killed by the blood-suckers, isn't that great!" Caleb exclaimed as he threw his hands up, letting wine spill out of his cup. "My parents loved me so much!"

"You just started this party and you're already drunk!" Nolan stated. "Give me the glass before you end up with a massive hangover the day Barron gets home."

"Fine, here ya go!" Caleb said as he splashed the red wine all over Nolan's white shirt making him jump back. The girls were getting freaked out now and they stood and ran off together in a panic.

"What is wrong with you man!" Nolan demanded as he clenched his fists. Caleb laughed as he saw Nolan's clenched fists and he stood up shakily to his feet.

"Did I make you mad Nolan, come on, hit me if you hate me so much" he said now, anger rising in his voice. The party music had stopped and everyone was looking over at the two boys.

"Caleb, I don't hate you" Nolan explained calmly.

"Say what you really feel Nolan! Stop pretending that you like me, I know you hang around me just because you feel bad for me losing my parents" Caleb stated.

"Don't even start that crap Caleb! You aren't the only one who lost your parents" Nolan said. 

"Don't act like you liked your parents, you hated them, you said so yourself, you probably lured those vampires to kill them" Caleb said.

"Caleb you better shut up" Nolan interrupted.

"You wanted them dead, you probably watched them die and didn't feel an ounce of guilt" Caleb went on. Nolan suddenly leapt and he tackled Caleb to the ground, landing a blow to his nose, making it spurt out blood. Caleb knocked Nolan off of him and pinned him to the ground as he punched him in the cheek.

"Caleb get off of him!" Rebecca yelled as she ran forward and pulled Caleb off of Nolan. Skylar watched on and Nolan stood to his feet, his fists still clenched and a dark purple bruise forming under his eye.

"Oh, crap you're bleeding on the carpet" Rebecca muttered as she grabbed his arm and led him off the carpet and into the bathroom. She heard Skylar's voice in the living room telling everyone the party was over and it was time to go.

"Tilt your head up Caleb" Rebecca said as she pulled some tissues out of the box and held them to his nose. "Ugh, you reek of booze" she stated as she coughed a little. Caleb was unresponsive and she threw away the bloody tissues and grabbed some more from the box. "How hard did he hit you, the blood won't stop coming."

"Trust me, I think I hit him harder" Caleb snickered.

"It's not funny Caleb, what were you thinking?" Rebecca demanded now that she had his attention.

"I proved it to you, a lot of people like me" Caleb said with a smile.

"Tell me this isn't what all this is about" Rebecca said as she threw away another wad of bloody tissues and looked at him.

"I would, but you know me Beck, I don't lie" Caleb said.

"You are unbelievable you know that? Nolan was put in charge and now he is gonna get blamed for this mess" Rebecca stated angrily. "Do you understand how important this was to him? Proving to Barron that he was responsible?"

"What do I care?" Caleb said as he leaned back and looked up at the sky.

"Go ahead and destroy your relationships, you're going to end up alone" Rebecca stated as she slammed the bathroom door and left Caleb sitting alone.



"Thanks for helping me Rebecca" Nolan stated as he carried a trash bag behind him and Rebecca cleared the contents of the table into the bag.

"No problem, Caleb made the mess, you shouldn't have to clean this up by yourself" Rebecca explained.

"Maybe we can have it clean before Barron gets home tomorrow, but I don't know what I'm gonna do about this" Nolan said as he pulled his shirt away from his stomach and looked down at the red wine stain on it.

"Or this" Rebecca added as she touched the bright bruise under his eye.

"Yeah, guess it was pretty dumb that I went after him huh?" he laughed, his beautiful green eyes dancing. In spite of everything that had happened, the look of his eyes never changed. They say the eyes are a window to the soul, you can tell what I person has been through by looking into their eyes, but with Nolan, it was impossible to tell. He wore the same good natured look that he always had.

"Don't blame yourself Nolan; he frustrates a lot of people just by looking at him. You have controlled yourself a lot longer than any other person would have" Rebecca explained.

"Thanks Rebecca" Nolan said as he bent down and picked up a bag of half eaten chips and tossed them into the trash.

"So where's Skylar, she never seems to be around when me or Caleb are" Nolan asked.

"Oh, she..... I don't know she's really weird about guys. She never really wants to be in the same room with them" Rebecca explained.

"Yeah that is weird" Nolan agreed. "Hey can I ask you something" Nolan began.

"Sure, fire away" Rebecca answered.

"You know how I got to Barron Manor but, what about you? How did Barron convince you to come?" he asked.

"Oh....well it's kind of a long story" Rebecca said.

"Come on, not the whole 'its kinda a long story' excuse, tell me" Nolan pressed. Rebecca wiped her hands on her pants and sat down on the couch, she patted the spot beside her. Nolan walked over to her and sat down, ready to hear.

"Well, I used to live in Iowa, a small town called Red Oak; it was one of the largest breakout states when the vampires started appearing. My dad had gone hunting and had ended up being killed by them. The police came to our door to explain and my mom, well, she just lost it. She started going out every night and getting drunk, soon we ran out of money and she had nothing to buy any more alcohol with. She started going through withdraw and she got sick. I had to take care of her, along with my little sister, Maya who no longer had a mother to take care of her. With no money to help my mom get better, she passed away. Then Maya was all I had. I spent every moment with her, making sure she had everything she needed to live life normally. But soon enough the electric company shut off our power." Rebecca glanced up for a second and sniffed, "That's when Maya started getting sick, it was winter and she caught pneumonia, I tried everything to make her better but it was no use, she ended up dying after a few days." Rebecca sniffed louder this time and she swallowed hard.

"Rebecca, you don't have to tell me anymore" Nolan said as he looked sympathetically over at her.

"You said you wanted to know how I got here, do you want me to finish or not?" Rebecca said as she wiped her eyes and looked into his.

"Okay, keep going" he answered.

"Pretty soon I lost it, I turned into my mom. Barron came along and found me passed out outside the doors of a local teen club. He asked me if I needed somewhere to stay, he told me I could live with him at Barron Manor. As soon as he said that I knew I should go, even in Iowa everyone knew Elias Barron and of the legendary mansion. It would be a dream to live there, I mean me and my sister used to fantasize we were royalty and had been invited to one of his infamous parties. Of course I said yes, he explained the catch and that's how I ended up hear" Rebecca finished.

"Wow, you've been through a lot" Nolan finally said.

"We all have" Rebecca answered. "I didn't wanna end up like my mom you know."

"Yeah, I know" Nolan answered to both questions.

"Hey, now I have some questions" Rebecca said as she grabbed Nolan's arm to keep him from standing up.

"Shoot" he replied.

"Tonight when I was taking care of Caleb in the bathroom, I noticed he has scars all over his knuckles, what was that from?" Rebecca questioned.

"He was a troubled kid, like you I guess" Nolan said with a sigh. Rebecca smiled and Nolan went on, "Well, his parents abandoned him the day he turned 11, he was put in a foster home, that is until two years later he was walking home from school one day and he was jumped. He fought pretty hard from what he told me, and the leader of the group was impressed, he thought he could use him. Turns out the leader was a gang member, and he ran with one of the toughest gangs in New York. He brought Caleb in, promised he would be happy with him and Caleb listened, he didn't wanna go back to a foster home. Well he was forced to fight, he was trained by the older kids harshly and then he would face other gang members in small matches were the leaders could make money on the better fighter. At first Caleb wasn't happy but once he received a portion of the prize money he was. He could finally get whatever he needed, mostly food that he usually had to fight for in his foster home. One day though he was cheated out of his share and when he tried to fight for it, he ended up being beat by his leader. He was left in a junkyard where the fight had been held, he was so angry for being cheated that he took both his fists and slammed them into the window of one of the old Junker trucks there. The glass sliced up his fists pretty bad. He ended up staying there, scavenging for food. Barron found him, explained the catch, offered him a stay at Barron Manor with all the food you could eat, and protection from enemies and he accepted. That's what got me here too, Barron promising I would be safe from those filthy parasites that killed my parents" Nolan explained.

"He found you in Indiana right?" Rebecca asked.

"Yep right in little old Bedford" Nolan stated. "It's funny that we all came from such different places and somehow we got to know each other like family."

"I'm glad we did" Rebecca said with a smile. "Thanks for telling me Nolan."

"You too Rebecca" Nolan responded.



"Rebecca, its Barron, he's home" Skylar said quickly as she ran into the room.

"Crap!" Nolan exclaimed as he looked down at his shirt.

"Rebecca can you..." Nolan began.

"I got it" Rebecca answered as she grabbed the trash bags and headed out the back door. Nolan took off his shirt and looked around the room. He didn't know any place he could hide it without Barron seeing. He ran out the back door and smacked into Rebecca.

"Nolan!" Rebecca exclaimed before he covered her mouth and moved to the side of the stone house, pressing his back against it. Barron came around the corner and looked out the window to the back door. The two remained pressed against the outside wall and Barron left. Rebecca pushed Nolan's hand off her mouth and spun towards Nolan.

"Way to be subtle Nolan!" she snapped as she fixed her hair and fixed her clothes. "Why didn't you toss the shirt?"

"Yes thank you Rebecca, let me throw the shirt down on the ground or stuff it down the crack of the couch and just hope that Barron doesn't see it" Nolan said smartly.

"Yeah very funny" she turned and walked towards the door, "And if you ever pull something like that again, I'll kill you" she added as she walked inside.



"Come on Caleb, Barron is holding a meeting down....." Rebecca begins. She stops short as she sees Caleb lying on his stomach in his bed, his arm hanging over the side with a half empty bottle of whiskey in it. 

"Caleb!" Rebecca gasped as she grabbed the bottle. Caleb remained asleep and she shook the bed. "This is ridiculous" she stated as she got up, went to the upstairs kitchen, grabbed a bucket and filled it with ice cold water. She walked into his room and dumped the bucket on him. He jumped up with a start and faced Rebecca.

"What is wrong with you!" he demanded.

"What is this?" Rebecca retorted angrily as she swooshed the bottle.

"Oh please don't start your ranting now, my head hurts" he complained.

"Good, serves you right! Now get in that shower, Barron's home and we're meeting downstairs, he has to talk to us about something important" she started. Caleb remained where he was and Rebecca stood their scowling at him.

"What? Sorry I zoned out after Barron" Caleb said through misty eyes.

"Ugh! I swear you are such an idiot sometimes" Rebecca snapped.

"At least not all the time" he said with another witty smile.

"That is it!" Rebecca said as she lost her temper. She walked over to Caleb and pulled him to his feet. She pushed him into the shower and turned it on.

"Hey, I'm still wearing clothes here!" he said as he regained some of his sense.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Rebecca demanded. Caleb lifted his eyebrows and smiled as he looked over at her.

"You're disgusting, hurry up" she said as she walked out the door. Rebecca walked down the stairs and sat on the couch beside Skylar where she sat opposite from Nolan. Barron stood before them; he was about 30 years old and was six foot tall exactly. He wore a black business suit as usual and had short sandy blonde hair; he had hazel colored eyes and was fit.

"Now that you're all here" he began. "Wait a minute, where's Caleb?" he questioned.

"He wanted to shower first, he'll be right down" Rebecca answered quickly.

"Alright" he responded. Just then Caleb walked into the room and everyone turned and stared. He had changed into a black t-shirt and dark jeans, his usual attire. He felt like Barron could see right through him. He took a seat beside Nolan and Barron started.

"Now that we're all here, I'd like to begin. You all remember the deal that I mentioned to you?" he questioned. Everyone nodded but Caleb looked confused. Barron sighed and started again. "Apparently not everyone remembers very well, you all have agreed that if I allowed you to live here you would allow yourselves to be tested with the new formulas developed by our friends at Alpha. Alpha is government funded and they are trying to come up with something that can protect humans against vampires. Well at my meeting in San Francisco, I was given the first batches of various formulas. Testing will begin after dinner tonight." Everyone nodded and begin to break up.

"Nolan, I would like to talk to you in private" Barron said. Nolan froze and sat back down. Rebecca looked over at him and filled with worry. She left, pulling Caleb behind her.

"Now Nolan, when I came in this morning a found that my bottle of Red Moon 54' was missing, you don't happen to know what happened to that would you?" Barron questioned, his eyes searching over Nolan.

"No sir, I didn't even go near that cabinet while you were gone" Nolan answered.

"Is that the truth? You promise to me?" Barron questioned.

"Yes sir, I promise" Nolan answered nervously. Barron sighed and shook his head.

"I found this in your room when I went in to get laundry, it was crumpled up behind your door" Barron stated as he pulled out the wine stained shirt. Nolan filled with embarrassment and put his head in his hands as he rubbed his forehead. "I'm very disappointed in you Nolan" he said simply. "I should have known better than leaving a seventeen year old boy in charge of things around here" he sighed again.

"But Barron, I didn't do anything, it's not like I destroyed the house or anything" Nolan tried to explain.

"I wish that was the case, but then I noticed one of the statues was out of place. I managed to spot some dried glue around the arm of it. "Are you going to tell me that you didn't do that either?"

"No sir, I did it" Nolan replied.

"Very well Nolan, after testing you'll go straight to bed and we'll repeat that throughout the week. For the next week, you get up, go to your tutors, eat dinner and then straight to your room, is that understood?" he questioned.

"Yes sir" Nolan answered.

"You may go" Barron said. Nolan nodded and headed off towards dinner. The scent of honey bread rolls and honey smoked ham filled the house. Nolan's mouth watered and he sat down beside Rebecca. Caleb fell in beside him and Skylar sat across from Rebecca. Barron came and sat at the end of the table; he folded his hands on the table and waited for the rest of the foods to come out brought by his own personal chefs. They brought out garlic bread and creamy chicken fettuccini next; there was macaroni, sausages, and an old family dessert recipe. It was light, fluffy angel caramel cake with icing going over the top. Barron blessed the food and then everyone began to eat as they passed around the different dishes. They all ate with the polite manners they were taught and kept napkins sitting on their laps. Nolan sipped his cider and kept his hands in his lap as he stared down at his food, no longer hungry.

"Nolan, you okay?" Rebecca asked as she elbowed him.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Nolan responded as he picked up his fork and poked at his food.

"Ham's your favorite, is there something wrong with it?" Rebecca asked.

"No, I guess I'm just not hungry" Nolan stated.

"I don't ever think I have heard a guy say that before" Rebecca said with a small smile to try and lighten him up. Nolan ignored her remark and dinner went by with lots of conversation that usually was passed around the table. There was even more tonight as everyone was eager to hear about Barron's visit to San Francisco. Finally it ended.

"Nolan, you first, everyone else go ahead and go spend your evening however. The gate's closed so feel free to go outside just don't go beyond the gate. I will post schedules every night of everyone's testing times. You're excused. Rebecca went off with Skylar who wanted to go into the movie theatre and watch one of the new movies that was still in theatres that Barron had managed to get a hold of. Caleb went off by himself and Nolan followed Barron as he led him down into the basement. He had never been here before. It was cold and the room was completely empty, it had grey concrete floors and the atmosphere of the poorly lit room gave Nolan goose bumps.

"Sit right here Nolan" Barron said as he patted a cushioned grey seat. It looked like the seats the kids sat on when they had gone to the dentist. The only other thing in the basement was a tall medal shelf that held dozens of silver briefcases. There were other objects on the shelf that Nolan couldn't make out. Barron opened one of the briefcases and sat it on the swing out table that came out of the side of the seat of Nolan's chair. There were about seven vials of different colored liquids inside.

"I know this is uncomfortable Nolan, and I can assure you this won't be pleasant but keep in mind, this will help people become safe from the vampires" Barron explained. Nolan nodded and Barron pulled out a syringe.

"Whoa wait a minute Barron" Nolan said suddenly.

"What is it?" Barron answered.

"I....I can't do needles" he explained.

"How else did you think this was going to work?" Barron questioned.

"Can't I drink it?" Nolan asked.

"Some of these aren't drinkable" Barron answered. "Come on Nolan, it's okay, let's just get it over with."

"O...Okay" Nolan answered. Barron pulled out a vial with a clear blue liquid in it, there was a piece of small silver tape around it that read Version 1. He sucked the liquid into the needle and took Nolan's arm. Nolan tensed up immediately and Barron sighed. "Work with me here Nolan; straining yourself will just make it worse." Nolan calmed himself Barron injected the needle into Nolan's main vein and he winced. "Okay, the needle's in, alright, I'm gonna inject the serum ready?" Barron questioned.

"Ready" Nolan answered. Barron shot the liquid into Nolan's arm and he began to feel a burning sensation spread through his veins.

"Nolan are you okay?" Barron questioned.

"No, it's burning" he managed to get out as he squeezed his eyes shut. "It's getting worse" he added. Barron pulled out a clipboard and wrote down notes beside a space labeled Version 1. "Make it stop Barron!" he shouted finally. Barron held onto his arm and gasped as he saw an angry red outline begin to form on Nolan's skin, tracing each vein. He pulled out another needle with a clear yellow liquid and injected it into the same hole that had just been made with the first syringe. Nolan screamed louder and his body began shaking. "What......was.....that" Nolan pushed out. "It's the vampire venom, I need to see if Version 1 works to protect you from the venom, apparently it didn't or you wouldn't have felt it go in" Barron stated. "V...venom? Am I gonna turn?" Nolan gasped.

"No, it takes more than I injected into you to turn you" Barron stated.

"How..... Long until.....t...this wears off?" Nolan said shakily. His body wouldn't stop shaking and a dark red outline tracing his veins was still seen.

"Usually they wear off by the same time the next day" Barron explained.

"I have to go....a....w...whole day like this?" Nolan asked.

"That's how it works, go on to bed Nolan, you're finished" Barron stated.

"H....how am I gonna go t....to classes tomorrow?" he asked.

"You'll just have to endure it, now go on I have work to do" Barron said as he led Nolan out. Nolan walked shakily up the stairs and towards his room. He collapsed on his bed and sleep instantly came over him.

"Hey, it's Elias Barron" Version 1 has been tested, the result was negative, the patient experienced a burning sensation followed by a red outline tracing the vein, and quivering voice and shaking.

Nolan awoke to shaking hands and his gasped as he saw deep bruises going up his arms. He pulled on a plaid shirt and a jacket to cover his arms and ran downstairs, bursting into his first class.

"Mr. Collins you're late" a woman with short blond hair said as Nolan entered.

"Sorry Mrs...... M...Monroe" Nolan stuttered.

"Take your seat" she said with a sigh as she turned back to the white board and continued the quadratic equation she had been working on. Nolan felt Caleb elbow him and he turned to the side to look over at him.

"What's wrong with your voice man?" he asked. Nolan didn't reply and looked back at the board, "And why are your hands shaking?" Nolan sighed and turned to Caleb.

"What is this t....twenty questions?" Nolan demanded.

"Nolan you better tell me what the hell is going on with you Caleb" said now with anger in his voice.

"Mr. Aldaine, no talking during my teaching!" Mrs. Monroe said loudly as she spun around and stared over at Caleb.

"Sorry" Caleb murmured as he slumped down in his seat and crossed his arms, turning his head and staring straight at Nolan. Nolan pulled out his notebook from under the desk and picked up his pencil as he tried to copy down the notes, his hand was shaking to hard and he tried hard to hold it steady but it was no use. He slammed his pencil down in frustration and Mrs. Monroe turned and looked back at him.

"Mr. Collins, if you are going to continue to distract the class you'll need to leave" she stated. Rebecca narrowed her eyes at him and even Skylar looked concernedly over at him. Nolan sat in his seat for the rest of class, not doing anything other than trying to hide his shaking hands from his classmates and rubbing his bruised arms.

"Alright everyone, do problems 1-25 for homework, see you Tuesday" she said as she turned and began to erase the board. Nolan headed straight for the door and Caleb chased him, Rebecca following close behind.

"Nolan, talk to me" Caleb said as he grabbed Nolan's arm, making him wince in pain and causing his eyes to water.

"Nolan, what....." Rebecca began as she pulled the sleeves of his arms up. "What happened?"

"Version 1 of the test serum that's what happened" Nolan finally answered as he knew his friends wouldn't let up until he spoke.

"This is what Barron meant when he said it would be dangerous" Caleb said slowly as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Yeah, and I have to go tonight" Rebecca responded.

"Good luck" Nolan managed to say with a small chuckle.

"How long are you gonna be reacting to that stuff?" Caleb questioned.

"Barron said it usually wears off by the same time the next day, a twenty four hour thing" Nolan responded.

"Usually?" Caleb said as he lifted an eyebrow and shook his head, making shaggy black hair fall into his eyes.

"I'll be fine, see my voice is already back to normal" Nolan said with a simple smile.

"We did agree to it, Barron offered us a deal, and we even signed a paper, there is no going back now" Caleb stated.



It was seven o'clock, time for Rebecca to begin her first night. She knocked on the cherry wood door of Barron's office. "Come in" he responded. Rebecca walked in, and looked around the room; she had never been in the study before. There were large book shelves lining the walls, cathedral ceilings, a polished oak desk in the middle of the room, a lush scarlet carpet and even a balcony and spiral stairs that led up to rows upon rows of more book cases.

"Alright, let me just finish this up" Barron said as he closed a business report file and took off his glasses. Barron stood to his feet and walked over to Rebecca, "Follow me" he said simply as he led her out of the room. Rebecca followed behind him and the two went down the steps and into the basement. The smell of concrete and mildew hit my nostrils and artic air hit me like a bulldozer. It was so different from the rest of the exquisite house, there was no color down there, everything seemed dead, and the silence was deafening. It was completely dark and she tripped once or twice, only to be saved from face planting by a firm arm that caught her. Barron flipped on a light but it didn't seem to do much. It was incredibly dim and the light that illuminated from it seemed to turn my skin blue. Rebecca saw medal shelves though, each with little silver cases resting on them, Barron took out a small vile filled with a red liquid that looked like blood and he walked over to her.

"Sit right over there" he said as he pointed to grey chair, it was worn, and there was paint peeling off the corners. Rebecca sat and fiddled nervously with the end of her flowered blouse, pulling on a loose thread. She saw a small table attached to her chair and Barron sat the vial on it and then sat on a beige colored desk chair as he turned to face her. "Well lucky you Rebecca, this one's consumable" Barron said with a good natured smile.

"Is that good?" Rebecca questioned.

"Better than the syringe if you ask me" Barron said lightly. "Here you go" he said as he handed it to her. "Make sure to take all of it" he added. Rebecca nodded and took it in her hand. She pulled off the cap and drank it. Suddenly she began to cough wildly and she spit up blood into her hand. Barron filled another vial and tipped back her head as the venom ran down. Rebecca gagged and Barron backed up in case she threw up.

"Easy now Rebecca" Barron said as he watched to see if the venom took effect. "How do you feel?"

"Not any better" Rebecca said through a fit of coughs. Barron sighed and took out his clipboard righting down the words "negative" beside Version 2. Rebecca was sent upstairs to bed after she was told it would wear off and to continue to class tomorrow. Rebecca spent all night tossing and turning, spitting blood into tissues she had beside her bed. She got up and managed to get to her seat in time, she slid in next to Skylar. She coughed into her sleeve and blood stained her white shirt.

"You don't look too good" Skylar said.

"It's cause of the serum" Caleb said as he slid in beside her.