Claude stared at my eyes, stunned. I shrugged, already uncomfortable with the attention, and looked away.

"Did you bring the sunglasses? The light's giving me a headache."

I didn't even realize it was true until I opened my mouth and said it. But there it was, and true, every word of it. The lights from the diner, from the street lights, from everywhere, lights that we depend on every night, they were suddenly way too bright and sending piercing spears of pain through my head.

Claude brought out a pair of very expensive looking sunglasses and I took them gratefully, noting how much they cut the light down to something bearable that felt normal again. It was really weird being to see in the dark like that. I felt a little light headed at the thought, and found myself fighting back what could only be described as an oncoming episode of me freaking the fuck out. I somehow managed to focus on the painful light that was serving as an overly annoying reminder that I might be a vampire.

"Thanks dude. You're a life saver."

"Yeah, and you're a vampire. Three words for you: What the fuck?"

Tell me about it.

"Believe me man: I feel the same way. It's as much a surprise to me as it is to you. Three nights ago, vampires did not exist, not in my world."

"At least you had time to get used to the idea. I only had an hour. Now, are you going to fill me in on this shit or not?"

"Buy me something to eat first. I haven't eaten in three days and just puked up my snickers bar."

It had been surprising and disgusting and left my mouth tasting of chocolate and bile. My mouth tasted like something had died in it.

"Why did you puke? Some kind of vampire thing?"

That hadn't occurred to me and I shook my head.

"No. I'm sure it's just because I haven't had anything to eat in three days and I ate that Snickers hella fast."

"Did you eat them both?"

I was confused and Claude read my confusion perfectly.

"Dude, I've never known you to just buy one Snickers bar."

I nodded and then shook my head.

We made our way into the diner, which was way too brightly lit in my personal opinion. Everything just seemed so bright, and so harsh... My headache had returned in full force by the time we were seated, and by the way, my head throbbed, it was a headache that was promising to stick around for a good while, put its feet up and break some shit just for the hell of it.

"Hey, you want some coffee?"

I had already sunk my head onto the table and motioned for him to bring on the coffee. Coffee sounded like a really good idea at the time. Just the thought of it brought the strong aroma to mind and made me even hungrier.

"Can I just order right now?" I said to the waitress. "I'm really fricking hungry."

"Same here," Claude said.

The waitress shrugged and whipped out her notepad. "What'll it be then?"

A wave of nausea, probably from the hunger, hit me and I belched audibly. I could smell and taste the bile from my vomit with a few traces peanuts and chocolate. Claude jumped in to order for me.

"Scrambled eggs, lots of bacon, stack of pancakes, coffee. Same thing for my friend over here." Something occurred to him. "Or did you want a bloody steak instead?"

"You wanna make me puke? Pancakes. Please."

The waitress left and Claude just stared at me for a bit. Me? I just wanted to lay down and die. The stench from my belch was just hanging around in the air even with my feeble attempts to wave it away.

Claude slid some gum across the table to me and I tore into the packet, feeling the cool burn of peppermint all along my tastebuds, appreciating the blast of sugar in my mouth.

"That should hold you for a couple of minutes," Claude said.

"Plus it will make my mouth not taste like ass," I moaned.

Wait a second. Something was wrong. I coughed and the gum flew out of my mouth, but the burn of the peppermint remained, hot and overwhelming in my mouth.

"What the fuck dude?"

I grabbed a glass of water and almost drowned myself by drinking it so fast. Some of it spilled but I didn't care, just chugged it down, feeling the stinging burn of the peppermint on my tastebuds and in my sinuses, finally begin to dissipate.

"What the hell was that about?" Claude asked when I could speak again.

"I can smell everything. That was way too much."

Claude pulled looked at the pack of gum and then at me.

"Fill me in," Claude said. "Try not to skip anything important."

I took a deep breath to steady myself and began to talk.

You know how in the movies how telling a story seems to take forever, and then hours will pass because the story is so long and involved? You know the reality of it. You know that unless it is some epic tale, that people just don't have that many words in them. It's different when you're telling the facts or even a story, than when you're writing it. When you write, it tends to take on a life of its own and you're able to think back and make clever statements and proper assessments. There is absolutely no relation to real life. In real life, you don't embellish and describe everything. You simply tell your story and five minutes later, you're done.

The pancakes had arrived while I was talking, the waitress giving me a smile as she dropped off the plate, and I had dug in. The sound of me chewing and the clank of my fork on the plate was the soundtrack for the rest of my story, but I was damned if I wasn't going to get some of those delicious smelling pancakes into my stomach.

"When that guy answered her phone, I was sure that it was Louise I heard screaming. Then I called you."

Claude paused at this and pulled out his phone. I don't think I've ever seen him look so serious before. It even made me pause from licking the syrup from my fork.

"You sure you heard screaming," he said and I nodded miserably. Claude continued. "Do you have any idea where she could be? I've got a couple of heavy hitters on speed dial who could be useful in a situation like this. All it takes is one phone call and they can get over there and get her out right now."

As much as I wanted Claude to call his heavy hitters, that wasn't going to be possible. I shook my head, 'no'.

"They took her from the motel so I don't think they went back to her house. I've been beating myself up thinking about it and I have no idea how to find her."

*******************

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