"It is a Vampire alert specific to Xerses bloodline" Anderson said. Darla's expression was unreadable but Anderson could feel her stares on him as he avoided eye contact with her green eyes at all cost, he took another shot trying to clear his head of the who situation, silence reigned between them and it seemed to last for a few minutes even though it felt like forever, this was something that never changed in Darla, her careful analysis of every situation presented towards her, he might have a higher sense than the rest of the pack but when it came to logic and critical thinking, Darla beat everyone in the pack hands down including some of the elders.
"Can you please say something, you have that expressionless look you always have when you are deep in thought," Anderson drawled out, he started to feel a little as the words coming out of his mouth started to overlap each other.
"My closest friend just told me about his vampire hunt for a hobby after since only God knows when Anderson, so spare me some seconds of your royal time to process your secret life!!," Darla snapped, talking in a hushed tone because the bartender was still within ear range of their conversation besides he might probably not take them seriously thinking they were drunk and spewing rubbish. She didn't see anything wrong with going around to hunting vampires even though it was dangerous, they had all been told stories of the apocalypse and how the vampires of Xerses wiped out half of their clan and took their territory and forced them into hiding and leaving like cavemen in the woods and always on the run just so they could recuperate from their loss.
"I'm sorry…" Anderson muttered under his breath.
"Since when has this been going on?," Darla asked, combing her honey hair with gold streaks in between taking some parts behind her ears, she was trying to prepare herself for his reply which she knew will sting.
"Over three years…" Anderson replied, looking down. Just saying it made him realize how much of a messed up friend he has been to Darla, she had always been part of their family and was there for him when his father ignored him and his sister after they got attacked, she was there when he underwent his own transformation two years earlier than his peers if at all he owed her his life. But he couldn't even be open with her.
"Wow…" Darla muttered, she felt her heart tug, she knew it would sting but it didn't occur to her how much it would.
"I'm so sorry Darla, you have to understand, I thought it was something I had to do alone, I didn't want to get anyone I loved involved because I didn't want them to get hurt or hold me back," Anderson pleaded. Darla understood where he was coming from,but it didn't still excuse the fact that he kept it away from her for over three years. She knew why it hurt more, it was way beyond friendship at this point but Anderson was clueless about that fact, besides how could she get angry at him, he wasn't the only one keeping secrets they thought was protecting their loved one, getting pissed at him would be hypocritical even though she knew there was probably nothing she could do about it than let it die out.
"I really hope you can forgive me," Anderson took Darla's hands in his and squeezed gently while looking at her warmly in her eyes searching for hopes of being forgiven. Darla felt once torn heart begin to beat erratically as Anderson's palm brought a beautiful kind of warmth to the depths of her belly. She looked into his grey with slight blades of crimson shades cutting through the liquid metal plate that made his eyes.
"Yes, I have forgiven you, Ander," Darla said, smiling gently at him as his hopeful look turned into a bright smile and his eyes were looking slightly dilated to show the alcohol in his system was starting to take over.
"On one condition though, wait make that two, on two conditions," Darla said, taking her hands out of Anderson's gentle warm grip, this statement paused the growing smile on Anderson's face as he looked at her expectantly waiting for her conditions, they were definitely not going to favor him and he couldn't let her stop him.
"If you want me to stop, I'm sorry but…" Anderson said before he got interrupted by a condition that shocked him.
"I want to join you," Darla deadpanned.
"Wait what?!!" Anderson exclaimed, shocked that Darla would want to join him in fighting the vampires.
"I said, I want to join…"
"I heard you the first time, I mean why?,"
"Like why would you even want to join me?" Anderson asked, puzzled because he could clearly remember her reaction at the hotel and bonfire, he knew since then she was with him.
"Look at it as, I will be able to make those dirty blood-sucking mosquitoes pay for what they have done, and as a way to protect you, besides you can't be a lonely Batman fighting all the bad guys everywhere you find them, I will be your Robin, looking out for you and shit," Darla said, grinning widely. Hopefully the killing spree was going to bring them close enough for her to be able to ask him what he felt about her.
"What about the second condition?" Anderson asked, he wasn't still completely on board with the first condition but if it was going to make her forgive him, he was ready to consider it, he just didn't want to drag her down into the none ending void of Darkness and loneliness he had plunged himself into, he loved her so much as his sister to do that to her, but then, Darla is a smart-ass, she knew what she was getting herself into was no ordinary child's play, even his Dad had not said anything about attacking and planning for the next apocalypse, Anytime the topic was brought up in the council, he always shone it away, he couldn't begin to think of all the scars he had from the last one even though so many years had gone by.
"We have to tell the band members and William at a point," Darla stated carefully...