Fangs | mlm

Chapter 24 - At the crossroads

William pressed Trevor against the rear door of the van, touching his lips with his. Everyone else was inside the van, thus they didn't have to look around every few seconds as they'd hear the door creak. So by smiling into each other's faces and looking into each other's eyes, they spent their moment of intimacy. They were alone, one-to-one.

Yet if someone didn't interrupt them eventually, it would be too ideal. So the moment they heard the door open, they stopped kissing. Soon Eleonora's calls reached their ears. "William, William," she'd repeat the vampire's name while approaching them.

They couldn't help sighing. "What does she want?" they'd ask themselves, as they stepped away from each other and adopted casual poses so that it wouldn't be suspicious.

William raised his left eyebrow at the sight of her. "What's the matter?"

Eleonora stopped in the spot where the angle of a triangle would lie if they were to make one, then looked between the two of them. "Mike's ready to go."

"So?"

She bit her lip. "I think we should leave."

"Of course you'd say that." He rolled his eyes, taking a step back. "Why did I even ask?"

"What do you say then?" She ignored his previous question.

William grunted. "I mean, if you want to leave, we can leave." Then he shrugged.

"I don't want to pressure you. You're the driver. It's your decision to make." William's look wasn't buying it. "Okay. The truth is that I just think we should go our separate ways. It's high time, don't you think?"

William was silent for a moment, looking first at her and then at Trevor. "You're right. We can't stay here forever."

And they didn't. They set off at night; the engine of the van roared a few times before finally starting, white smoke coming out of the silencer. William then changed the gear to drive backwards, eventually centring the vehicle. The amount of space inside the van seemed to have decreased; Eleonora had to sit on the counter, holding on to its rounded edges. That way they began their journey to return to the ordinary.

Sinking into the backrest, Trevor was at William's right side as he always was. However, he soon was half-asleep, unable to explain what was the reason for his exhaustion. It might have been their conversation that had worn him out, but it also might have been the engine noise that had soothed him to the point where he would fall asleep without even knowing it.

When they had covered quite a distance, Eleonora called the police to inform them about the explosives that she'd discovered in the manufacture. After the call ended, she threw the phone out the window to prevent tracking.

Austin and Mike were the first group members to return to their previous lives. They had earlier informed William where he'd find their family. And the location turned out to be in the mountains, whose tops were covered in sunlit snow. William had to lean over the wheel and watch out not to drive off the narrow road.

The house where the rest of Austin's family—Mike's three brothers and his mother—had fled to was a wooden hut. At first sight, it had a lot in common with their previous settlement, but was less well-kept, as if neglected. The floor creaked loudly every time someone stepped on it, and the windows were no better in that regard. There were spider's webs everywhere, and the owners would sometimes emerge from darkness to scare off the intruders. It wasn't anything someone would call cosy, but it was safe, which was, in fact, the most important duty of such a place.

They talked to Austin's family for a while. Although his grandmother turned out to be a kind and pleasant woman, his uncles weren't less hostile than before. No wonder they didn't want to stay there any longer as the atmosphere couldn't be any other than awkward. To their disappointment, but not surprise, saying goodbyes to them was easy, nothing more than brief hugs and handshakes. Their journey had ended after all—there was nothing holding them together.