Arlo James

See what it's like to be a vulture's lunch

He appreciated Abby's attempts in those few moments. He truly did. Even if he was busy attempting to very near drag her form the room before Addison could say anything else- to either of them. His sister was near poisonous in her continued attempts to assure him he was dead, or in the very least, dead to them. Abigail, by way of unfortunate association with him apparently having been slapped with the same label and yet Arlo was pretty sure his sister hardly cared for the specifics of Abby's species right now. Hell, she might yet end up taking the insistence Abby was an animal worse then she took his own vampire status. No. That was a conversation simply better left unsaid. Maybe it didn't even matter. Addison was hardly listening and Arlo hardly wanted to talk to her anymore as he hurriedly led the way from his bedroom and towards the stairs. The vampire very near taking them two at a time as if every bit of distance he put between his sister and himself might somehow....help. He had known this would happen hadn't he? He had been nothing but utterly fucking stupid to think that, after all this time, maybe they had...softened a little. Hell, maybe they were right to treat him this way, after the things he'd done. Maybe he deserved it and yet that hardly stopped it hurting. He hadn't expected that in the very least. That ache that seemed to sit inside his chest and stomach all at once, his throat suddenly feeling tight as his eyes stung with that sensation so unfamiliar he hardly recognised it at first. The Crusnik hurriedly blinking before Abby could catch sight of him. God, Abby. He should never have let her come. He should have faced this on his own. The vampire near anticipating those words already on her lips as they headed down those stairs into the basement and he turned towards her. Her slender, petite figure standing a step or two above him still, the pair very near the same height in that moment with his own feet on the basement floor.

She deserved more than that apology. He'd driven her hours out to a town she hardly knew to be abused by his sister in the middle of the night. If there was an award for the worst boyfriend of the month he was mostly sure he would have won it. He'd dragged her into the very mess he'd left behind, a mess he was sure she probably didn't even fully understand and god how he'd wanted to keep it that way. That near vehement shake off her head readily seemed to coax that look of surprise to his own features. Arlo unable to stop that faint hint of a simper that found his lips and yet the look hardly reached his eyes all the same. Abby insisting he had nothing to apologise for and yet there was so little she knew. Arlo considering for the upthenth time in his existence that he didn't deserve Abby. Not even a little bit. If he told her that story, the whole story, would she even want to keep going out with him? Probably not. She'd probably side with his parents. Well, maybe not quite that bad. Still, here and now was hardly the time to address....all of that. Arlo attempting for that grin all the same if only to near half-heartedly attempt to assure her he was fine. That grin nowhere near believable and he was mostly sure his Little Bear had hardly fallen for it either. Still, he let his hand find her own once offering, offering that soft squeeze just the way she had done for him in the bedroom before guiding her the rest of the way down those stairs and turning his attention to the mountains of boxes that surrounded them.

The sooner they found what they needed the sooner they could leave right? His own hands reached for that singular box that held his old clothes and- more surprisingly- even a few old school books. Arlo scowling at the cover off his Modern History textbook even now. Most of the images that decorated the front having been scrawled over with images sketched in blue pen of guitars and musical notes and an AC/DC logo. That soft sound of amusement finding him all the same. Some things hadn't changed in the very least. The sound of Abby beside him readily drew his attention then, his bright blue gaze falling onto the CD she held in her hand- that far more genuine grin finding his lips then. She'd found it! That very exclamation left his lips a moment later, even if he was quick to attempt to explain his very early.....style. If it could even be called that. God, how had he ever thought his hair looked good like that? His head nodded eagerly at her query then before that chuckle hummed within his throat.

"Yeeeah, look, it wasn't my best year. I don't think any teenage boy looks his total best at sixteen. See that though, right there, on the side of my very young face? That totally faint shadowing? First facial hair. I was pretty excited about that back then."

He'd almost forgotten that. The guys in the band that year having had a competition to see who could actually grow the most facial hair in a year. Damn he'd been stupid. No wonder girls didn't like sixteen year old boys. Still, he supposed, the only thing that really mattered now was that they'd found it! Arlo searching for the notebooks that went with those early recordings along with multiple sheets off loose leaf paper. Half off his early lyrics scrawled onto, well, anything he could find. Still, this had to be enough right? Most of it was dated. That meant something didn't it? Abby, it seemed, had come across even more of those pages. Arlo nodding readily as he took them from her to put in his own cardboard box- only to pause at the sound of a car outside. His vampiric senses more than capable of picking up on those breaks and rumbling engine. Great. His parents were home. He'd know the sound of those breaks anywhere. That insistence they needed to hurry readily saw his girlfriend pick up speed as Arlo himself begun to all but throw those things into the box. Abby declaring it ready a moment later as he took it from her, the red-haired woman pausing to grasp another box in her arms. One filled with clothes? His head tilting near quizzically then.

"Did you....want those?"

It had hardly occurred to him, it seemed that he might want them. Arlo evidently of the opinion that Abby must have taken a liking to those old jeans and shirts. The vampire more than willing to let her have them he supposed. Arlo gesturing to those stairs then, his own box tucked under one arm as he reached for the basement door, holding it open long enough for Abby to step out behind him with her own box.

"C'mon, we'll go out the back door and cut through the yard."

That plan, it seemed, was destined to get no further. Arlo no more having taken several steps toward that back door when the front one was pushed open, the vampire near pivoting in place as both his parents stepped through that door. That family staring at one another in silence for several long moments. Arlo almost sure he could feel his heart speeding up. Was that even possible? Did vampire hearts do that? Should he say....something.

"Umm, Abby, this is my Mom and Dad- Arthur and Alice. Mom, Dad, this is-"

Those words were abruptly cut off as his Mother's face all but crumpled. The short, well-dressed woman busting into hysterical tears a moment later. Arlo staring near blankly towards her with a look of confused concern. The Crusnik shifting to take several steps toward her. His Mother suddenly shreking as if she'd been struck, Arlo hurriedly stepping back as his Father wrapped an ar about his wife protectively.

"Don't you take another step closer! Look what you've done to her!"
"I...what? What i've done? You've only been here three bloody seconds. I haven't touched her! Mom!"
"We told you not to come back, god damn it Arlo! For once in your life do something someone tells you and stay out of ours. You are not welcome in this house!"
"Look, I just wanted some of my stuff. I tried to call you to get you to ship it to me but you wouldn't answer the phone, what was I supposed to do?"
"We told you, we told you not to come back when you turned into that.....that thing. You ruined your own life but I will not allow you to ruin mine or my wife and daughters anymore. We allowed you for too long as it is. She isn't welcome here either, whatever she is."

Arthur's hand pointed at Abby then, the man stepping away from his wife as Addison dashed down those stairs to run to her mother and console the sobbing woman. Arthur striding boldy several steps forward then and that....was far more than Arlo was willing to take. Those steps towards Abby trigginer that very protectiveness he tried so hard to hide. That veritable hiss rising within his throat then, his lip curled back from his fangs in the same moment. His Father halted where he stood, the man near going white as his mother only sobbed harder. That rage within Arthur's face had faltered to fear and yet the anger in his voice hadn't lessened even if the volume had.

"I tell people my son died, because he did. He died a long time before you became a vampire- and you know it. Take your things and go or I will call the Hunter Authority in this town. They can shoot you both for all I care."
"Fine."

What else was there to say. Arlo heading for that front door then, his Father stepping out of the way, his sister muttering under her breath and his Mother, barely catching his eyes for a moment before looking away, as Arlo opened that front door. The night air was cold and yet he hardly seemed to notice, the vampire leading the way down the steps and to the car, the doors unlocked and the rear doors opened to rest that box inside. Arlo pausing then to hand Abby the keys the moment she had placed her box in the car as well.

"Here, start the car. I'll be back in one minute, yeah?"

He turned before she could stop him. Arlo heading back up those stairs then and into the house, the front door let ajar in his wake. That house was near eerily silent for several minutes before a near ear-piercing scream broke that silence once more. Several shouts echoing before that front door opened again. Arlo marching back across that front verandah and down those steps then- his arms decidedly full with....something.....as he juggled with that handle before slipping into the passenger seat. That giant bowl in his arms rested on his lap.

"You can go now."

He hardly bothered to look at that house, that yard, that street. Arlo keeping his eyes distinctly straight ahead as Abby drove. The navigation system already beginning to direct them towards that hotel. That heavy silence filling that space in the car now before Arlo reached into that giant bowl on his lap, plucking that singular apple from within it only to hold it toward Abby then. The vampire hardly carrying if the woman took note of that wetness threatening his eyes in that very moment.

"Apple?"

Even that singular word was shaky with the emotion within his voice he was desperately trying to hold back. Arlo gesturing to that one and only thing he had taken from his parents house- the fruit basket. Bowl really. After all, he'd promised Abby one hadn't he? His girlfriend the one person he was not willing to let down tonight.