Eric had not stepped foot in a library since high school. Even then, he usually only went out of test desperation, and with a group of people large enough to ensure he never accomplished much work.

But Eric had changed a lot since high school. Dying would do that to a person. He had dropped the practical jokes and he didn't play many sports anymore, and ever since he stood up to Lilla and gotten a job he enjoyed, he had started to settle down and work sensibly.

Only problem was, he was bored.

His best bud had skipped town for two years, his work friends were just that – work friends, and he was getting lonely. For a kid that had been one of the most popular in his school, this was a big change. So, Eric had decided he'd start reading. And heavier stuff than Maxim or sports magazines.

That was what brought him to the Ellis Winter, but now that he was standing in the lobby of the old building, he looked rather lost. The night librarian sitting behind the counter looked bored to tears, and ignored Eric when he looked pointedly towards her for help. She was just there to make sure the small number of students in the building didn't tare the place down.

Shrugging, Eric ambled off in his pursuit of reading material.

Alexa spent many evenings in the Ellis Library. She loved to read, yet none could call her a bookworm. She simply loved to learn and what better place to learn then from the books that covered all the walls here? She could spend hours here, yet knew that she couldn't. She had a job at the university library and though she loved the books there, this library also had books that was more fictional that actual knowledge. Alexa at this time was actually perusing the fictional section, occasionally brushing her black bangs out of her eyes. She really needed to get them cut.

She didn't know what she was looking for, but she had a feeling that as soon as she saw it she would know. She let out an aggravated sigh. She really needed more of a night life, yet her friend that always managed to drag her out of the house during the school year had headed back home for the summer and she didn't feel quite so confident to go out on her own.

She eyed the book shelf, almost blaming it for her non-partyish ways and continued to the next shelf. Her eyes saw the book and she knew that it was exactly what she was looking for. It was perhaps weird but she found the book on Dracula written by Bram Stoker. She knew it was only a work of fiction, yet since she discovered that vampires actually existed, she had become almost obsessed with the stories about them. She knew how to divide her time, yet she always wanted to know more. She would have to go farther back and perhaps see how far these legends and myths stretched back. It would be interesting to see.

After studying the 'You Are Here!' maps helpfully displayed throughout the library, Eric managed to find his way to the book stacks. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he didn't want any boring text books. He managed to find his way to the fiction section, and stared at the long row of shelves holding books for his selection.

He looked daunted for a second, then shook his head and walked down the aisle marked S/T. He decided on a whim he'd get something by Hunter S. Thompson. He remembered watching the film with Johnny Depp back in '98 but, on suggestion of one of his sketchier friends, he had gotten stoned before hand and neither the movie nor the rest of that night made much sense to Eric.

He noticed a dark haired girl further down the aisle looking at a book in her hand, and seemed a little surprised there was anyone else in this section. From how dead the lobby had been, Eric hadn't been expecting to meet anyone. He kept walking down the aisle towards her until he found the 'Th- ' section and paused to scan the shelves.

Alexa examined the book in her hand. Did she really want to read this or should she head towards the historical section and find books simply in a more historical aspect of vampires? She shook her head out, no this would be fine for now and it would suit her needs perfectly. She looked at th book stacks again and thought that perhaps she would need another book. She was a fast reader and she might need something different, something a little less scary.

She let out an annoyed sigh. What was wrong with her? She was over analyzing everything lately and questioning everything, even doubting herself. Her entire self had changed since she had officially met vampires. She was grateful for their help, but this entire aspect of the world being revealed scared her, well that wasn't the right word. She wasn't scared, but confused. An entire facet of the world being hidden from everyone and suddenly it was revealed to her. It was enough to make anybody worry.

She turned quickly went something caught the corner of her eye. Her black braid flying as she turned. She quickly scanned the person and let out a sigh. It was only another person looking at the shelf. She took deep breaths to calm her racing heart and pressed a hand to it to count the rhythm. She had to stop being jumpy.

Eric had just closed his hand around a hardcover copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when the girl in the aisle turned quickly and sighed. The sudden movement caught his eye, and he glanced down the row of book spines to look at her.

She had her hand on her chest and was breathing heavily. Was she having a heart attack?

"Uh… Are you okay?" He asked, sounding a little confused but concerned. "I… didn't mean to scare you?" He added, although he sounded more confused at this. He hadn't snuck up on her, he'd walked down the aisle in the bright artificial lights of the library.

Alexa shook her head. "It isn't you, as of late I've been jumpy. I feel like my whole world has been turned upside down. So it has put me on edge. I feel fine really, just really nervous and unsure." That was the understatement of the century, was there any way that she could be more wrong. Her five senses were on high alert and they were going to stay that way, until she got home with some sort of book. She eyed the book in her hand, perhaps this book was not the right one.

She took a few steps towards the man that had asked if she was ok. "I'm sorry to bother you, but you wouldn't happen to know any good books that could whisk my mind away for a few hours would you?" She needed something to distract her and usually a book was more than enough, she hoped that this would be the same.

Eric listened to her explanation and nodded; jumpy, nervous, on edge? Whole world turned upside down? Sounded like him a few years ago, after the change. The thought flicked across his mind that maybe she was a vampire too, but he dismissed it. With his hearing, he could hear her heartbeat from where he stood. She was definitely alive.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." He said as she glanced down at the book in her hand. He did too, and noticed the title. She stepped closer to him, and asked about books. He laughed, and looked at the rows and rows of shelves in front of them both.

"I don't think I could help you," He said apologetically. "I'm here for the same reason, and I think I'm as lost as you are." He motioned to the book already in her hand. "I can tell you one thing, though, Dracula? Boring as hell… I had to read it in high school, I could barely finish it."

Besides the fact that it was stupid, outdated, and untrue. But he kept that thought to himself.

He reached into the stack of books and pulled out Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. "I was going to brush up on a little gonzo literature, myself. Haven't read it before, though I think I watched most of the movie."

Well at least someone knew how she felt, though she wasn't sure if he felt the way she did. How many people knew about vampires? Hell, how many of them were vampires? Wait, maybe he was a vampire... She looked at him and shook away that thought. If he was, he seemed to be a decent one at least.

She returned to look at her book and let out a smile. "Well I suppose that you would know. I've never had the chance to read it, but if you say that it's boring, you are most likely right. I simply need something to take my mind off my world for now." She looked at the books lined carefully before replacing Dracula back where she had found it. she smiled at him again. "I'm Alexa and it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hey, you could like it… I can't say I was a star student in school, maybe I would have like it if I had paid attention in class." He had never done much work in senior English because Claire sat in front of him. He had liked to sit behind her and mentally play connect-the-dotes with the freckles on her shoulders and neck.

The thought made him a little sad; he hadn't really thought about anything that far back in awhile. He exhaled slightly in a silent 'huh', caught up in his thoughts while Alexa studied the books and returned Dracula.

He snapped out of it when she turned back to him and smiled, offering her name and pleasantries.

"My name's Eric." He introduced himself, returning her smile with a charming, tooth flashing one of his own. "So, Alexa, do you want to get out of the stacks and maybe go for some coffee or something? I could distract you for awhile, if you want…" He paused, and then laughed good-naturedly. "I promise I didn't mean for that to sound as much like a pick-up line as it did."

He was cute, he was friendly, and he liked reading. Stoker had his vampire dead wrong.

Pun intended.

Alexa beamed at him brightly, as much as she hated to prove it to herself, she was a little lonely and company would be more than welcome. Most of her friends were gone for the summer and besides work she had nothing to do. So this distraction was more than welcome, despite the fact that she barely knew him.

She laughed along with him. "Don't worry, I'm not the type of girl who gets picked up. I don't spend enough time having fun, well that's according to my best friend. She says I need to get out more and experience life, though I think that I like to experience life the way I do. Everyone has to find their own way, right?" She had her own way of doing things and some people might have found her odd, yet she thought herself as simply unique.

"Well I would love to grab a cup of coffee with you, as you said, you could keep me distracted and I would welcome it."

"Aw, c'mon, everybody has a line that works on them. You just haven't heard your's yet." He joked, tucking Fear and Loathing underneath his arm.

"Great, do you just want to come with me while I check this out or will I meet you at the door? I think I passed a coffee shop down the street on my way here, it should still be open."

This was a good night for him, he had a book to read and he was making a new friend. He had to try this getting out of the house thing more often.

Alexa laughed. "Perhaps, but I can assure you that no guy has ever tried to pick me up, and those that have find me too stubborn and independent. Then again I think I prefer being on my own, I have all the freedom that I want and need." She was a truly solitary person. She often knew what to do to keep herself busy and so far it was working to her advantage.

Alexa shrugged. "I can come with you, it's not like I need anything and I don't mind waiting a bit. After all it doesn't take that long to take a book out. I can hang around you until we head to the coffee shop. Besides I haven't found a single book that strikes my interest." She was truly ready to leave the library.

"Aw, c'mon, it takes a lot of courage for a guy to try to pick up a pretty girl, you know. I hope you're not too mean when you refuse." He said as they walked out of the stacks and down to the checkout counter.

He went up to the bored librarian and handed her his book, then spent a few minutes filling out a form for a library card. Once the transaction was complete, Eric slipped the thin novel into an inner pocket of his leather jacket and turned to Alexa.

"Shall we?" He asked as he led her to the door and opened it for her. "It was just down the street, in that direction I think." He said, nodding to the right.

OOC| Sorry for the slight god molding, but I figured it was best to move them along quickly. =) |

Alexa tilted her head as she followed him. "Does that mean that I'm pretty?" she had never considered herself pretty. Granted she wasn't homely, but she didn't think that she was pretty. She found herself to be somewhere in between both. Her gray eyes weren't spectacular and neither was her raven colored hair. To her it seemed plain, like she lacked color.

"They leave me, I'm not the one that pushes them away. I have responsibilities to attend to, you can't expect me to leave everything simply because I'm seeing someone." She was a busy girl and perhaps eventually she would give up on some of her duties, but she wasn't ready to do that quite yet. Maybe she simply needed to find a guy who understood her, but then again none of those seemed to exist.

"Lead the way. You seem to know where you are going." She was going to let him lead, she didn't come in this area often enough to know where she was going.

"Oh, man, you're one of those girls?" Eric said with a laugh. "Don't tell me you're one of the straight-A overachievers who jump to volunteer for every little committee." He was teasing her, but he didn't sound mean.

He walked beside her on the sidewalk, but he led the way down a few storefronts until they reached the corner coffee shop that still displayed the 'Open' sign in the window. Looking in, there were a few customers scattered about the shop, but the two baristas looked bored.

Eric pulled open the glass door and held it for Alexa. "Honestly, now, do you know how exhausting it is to date a girl like that?" Eric knew. His second last girlfriend had been a model student, active on the student council, had a part-time job and volunteered at the old folk's home. And most nights, Eric had waited around his bedroom, waiting for her to finish whatever it was she had on the go and call him. "It just sucks to come in second, you know?" He tried to explain.

Alexa frowned at him and seemed slightly insulted. "No. I'm not one that volunteers for every committee. There's is simply one that I hold close to heart and it happens to be that I'm the president of the said committee. I simply want to protect the environment, I'm very vocal about that." She felt insulted, it had somewhat stung. She didn't have her parents helping her and everything that she did and accomplished was done on her own, without anyone helping her. Despite the fact that he had been teasing her, it still hurt. she knew that he didn't mean it to hurt her, yet it didn't stop her from feeling the way she felt.

She wasn't a total idiot. She knew what it was to date someone and not have time for them. "She was doing too much. Even I find that a lot. Besides I think that she needed to understand that if she wanted a boyfriend she should have managed her time better or differently. I'm busy, but not that way. That's pushing it. If I did all that I would be too tired to study." She knew her limits, it had come right after she ended her first year and realized that she was taking too much stuff on, especially when they elected her president of her club.

Eric listened to her staunch denials, her firm belief in herself and her role. He threw up his hands, as if defending from an attack. "Okay, okay…" He laughed. "I take it back. You have wonderful time management skills and would never act like Abby." He paused for a moment, before he shrugged. "Of course, Abby's on the fast track to becoming a high-powered environmental attorney and is engaged to some medical researcher, so maybe you'd like to reconsider that."

He moved towards the counter, looking up at the menu. "What are you having? It's on the house. Or, rather, the House. I got paid today."

Alexa shrugged. "I don't care about power or riches, I do what I do, because I believe in them. It is that simple, after all their is a saying that powers corrupt absolutely. If that ever happened to me, I would be who I am and would be sorely disappointed in myself. I need to be in full control of my life, but then again I also need to remember to loosen up a bit. That is one thing that I still need to work on." She was working on it, yet with the way that her life had been lately it was no surprise that it was so difficult.

On the house? Hmmmm? "I think that I'll have a medium soy latte." Her drink of preference. She wasn't vegan or anything, yet she preferred those drinks, after all they were healthier or so she told herself. "Is that alright?" She might as well spoil herself if she wasn't the one paying right?

"Yeah, no problem." He replied. "One medium soy latte and a large coffee, black, one sugar." He told the barista who stepped up to take the order. When she told him his total, he reached into his back pocket and took out his old, beat up wallet. He slipped a black Centurion Amex card out of the wallet and handed it across to the barista.

"I don't know… You can't always control your own life, though." He said to Alexa. "And sometimes people change, but it's not always bad."

He would have liked to believe that was true, at one time he might even have believed it himself. But then he had met a vampire in an alleyway and everything changed, and he had had no control over the situation. And as for wealth and power… Well, he didn't think that had changed him, but then again, he really had little of his own money. Damn sure he wasn't paying the bill on that black Amex.

Alexa shrugged and sighed. "I know, but I try to control what O can, it gives me at least a sense that I can control everything or almost." She desperately wanted to have her life under her control. She didn't like the times that it had exploded in her face. He fight with her parents, well more like the war, being attacked by a vampire and then meeting friendly vampires that wished to help. She shivered, it was still hard to believe.

Alexa nodded. "Well I know that, because if I didn't accept that I would holed up with my room, huddled under my covers and whimpering. Fortunately I am made of stronger stuff or at least that's what I tell myself, hoping that if I say it enough it will be true. So far it has been working." She wasn't a skittish person at all and yet sometimes her fears got the better of her. Perhaps it was time that she try to reconcile with her parents. At least it would make that part of her life easier and better.

Eric took back his credit card when the barista handed it to him, and placed it back into his wallet, which he then placed in his jacket pocket. He took the drinks that she placed in front of him, and handed Alexa her soy latte.

"I don't know… I just think it's kind of stupid to try to control everything when you know deep down that you can't. No offence or anything." He added, remembering her reaction to his teasing. "I mean, what's the point? It's just easier to go with the flow."

He gestured towards some empty tables. "Wanna sit?"

Alexa shrugged as she took her soy latte. "Well I suppose that that is one thing that we will disagree on. There are some things that I know that I can't control so I don't bother with those, then there are others which I can and those I keep in order as much as I can." Sometimes you had to go with the flow, though at times it led to interesting people and often troublesome consequences.

"Sure." She sat down taking a table where they would be comfortable and able to talk. "see that's the difference between you and me. You simply follow life and take it as it comes, while I see what comes at me, and hope that I can mold it into something that won't bother me. I've had some unhappy experiences and those I wasn't able to control, perhaps why now I want to control everything that I can." She then pondered for a moment and send him a glorious smile. "You know, I think we pretty much exhausted this subject for the time being. Anything you want to talk about."

Eric listened to her politely, but shook his head to show his disagreement. He didn't consider himself the completely laid back, whatever-happens-happens hippie type, but he had a feeling that was the impression Alexa had of him. He pulled out a chair and sat across from her, and laid his coffee on the table in front of him.

He shrugged when she suggested changing the topic, at a lost for their next discussion. "I'm not sure… I'm guessing you go to DU?" He asked, struggling for a topic. "What are you studying?"

Alexa shrugged as he shook his head. Compared to her, he was as laid back as they got. She didn't like having nothing to do, she liked to be busy and unfortunately that left very little time for free time. She somehow managed it all and still had a bit of time to spend with friends and her exuberant roommate.

She nodded emphatically. "Yep, that's right I go to DU and right at this moment I finished my third year in Environmental Sciences with a minor in botany. As you can probably tell by my area of studies, the environment means a lot to me. When people tell me that global warming is a lie, I simply want to wring their neck, but that's neither here or there. It's simply the way I feel." She took a sip of her soy latte and looked up at him. "Do you go to DU?"

Eric nursed his hot coffee as Alexa spoke of her enthusiasm for the environment. He nodded politely to show he was listening and understood what she was saying. When she asked him if he attended Demaitre University, he paused and lowered his paper cup.

"Uh, no." He answered. "I was planning to attend Dalhousie on a hockey scholarship when I graduated from high school, but that fell through." He answered truthfully enough. "I'm a swing shift bartender down at the Ace High for now. My adopted mother owns the place." He explained. "I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to do next."

Alexa knew that he was listening and could tell by the way that he moved his head. She knew that not everyone was passionate about the environment but she was and she also knew that everyone was passionate about something. She spoke about it, because it was something that she knew and believed in.

When he answered her question, she looked at him in surprise. "Then why don't you take classes at the university part-time? You can take what you like and not things that you have to take. it would give you something to do, well if you need something to do. You might also be super busy with your job and other events in your life." She didn't want to tell him how to live his life, she no right to tell him. She simply wanted to offer advice, she loved to help people even when they insisted that they needed no help. "Your adopted mom owns the Ace high? Wow, she must be really busy."

Eric paused before he answered Alexa. How could he explain he couldn't take university classes because he couldn't go out in the day? He sipped at his coffee to cover his hesitation.

"I thought about it." He finally said, lowering his cup to the table again. "But it's kind of hard to fit classes in, my schedule is kind of erratic. I work mostly nights, and then I need to sleep in the daytime. And I don't exactly have the willpower to get out of bed when I'm tired." He laughed. "Besides, I'd rather wait until I know what I'm studying towards, and then finish the degree quickly, instead of randomly doing courses that will probably end up not helping me."

He shrugged when she spoke of his mom. "Lil's okay. The Ace High has general managers, and she knows how to delegate. She's there if I need her. Like, no contest. I've seen her drop million-dollar mergers to fly out to one of her kids."

Alexa smiled. "I know that feeling especially when you work really hard, whether it's for school or for a job. I try to sleep enough so that when it comes to getting up I don't find it too difficult, yet it's not always easy to get enough sleep." She nodded as he continued. "I suppose you are right, I mean what would be the point of taking classes if they end up not helping you for a bachelor later on."

Alexa raised both her eyebrows. She had stopped trying to lift only one at a time and had simply resigned to the fact that she would have to lift both to show surprise. "Wow, her children must mean a lot to her." A working woman that was ready to drop everything if her children needed her. Now that was a women that had her priorities straight. Alexa always believed that family came before everything.

"Yeah," Eric agreed. "She lost her biological kids when they were pretty young so her adopted kids mean everything to her." He felt a little guilty talking about Lily like this, he knew the subject was a painful one and he suspected she wouldn't appreciate him talking about it all over town.

"So, what about your parents?" He asked Alexa, to change the topic off of himself and his sire.

Alexa felt sorry for the woman that was his adoptive mother. "Wow that must have been hard for her. I think that it is great that she adopted children though. It shows how much of a difference in the world she wants to make. I think that if someone has the funds they should definitely adopt a child and give them the chance to have a wonderful life." she always thought that perhaps when she was older and married and had her own children she would adopt her a child and give them a good home.

Her face hardened as he mentioned her parents. "My parents are hippies and PETA fanatics. I grew up in that way of life and soon realized that PETA has some ideas that I completely and totally disagree with. They don't care about animal welfare, only animal rights. Yet if you only have the latter then you don't take into consideration the animal's happiness." She shrugged her shoulders as she sipped her latte. "Needless to say my parents and myself don't see eye to eye."

Eric nodded politely as Alexa praised his mother, although he found it hard to believe that Lily collected fledglings because she wanted to make a difference, as Alexa said. More like she wanted more people to control. He felt a stab of guilt as soon as he had registered the thought; his current difficulties with her aside, he loved Lil and felt badly for thinking such slanderous thoughts.

He seemed more interested was Alexa spoke of her own parents, and nodded to show he followed what she was saying. He smiled a little as she complained.

"Honestly, though, does anyone always get along with their parents?" He paused thoughtfully, sipping at his own coffee. "Just the freaky perfect people I was always slightly afraid of in high school, maybe. It's too Stepford."


OOC| Sorry it took forever! |

Alexa shrugged her shoulders. "You are right. Many children that are in my shoes tend to not get along with their parents, especially when they show no interest in their parents fanaticism. I was one of those and my parents simply didn't understand." Well perhaps that was pushing it, she hadn't really spoken to her parents since she had left for University.

Alexa nodded, she agreed with him completely. "I think that between parents and their children, there will always be some disagreements. Time changes and most parents don't see that their children will respond to those changes and become simply different." Her parents had insisted that she become part of PETA and she had refused adamantly, saying that she wanted to choose whatever she was interested in. If in the end, it had been PETA so be it.

(OOC: don't worry about it...)