The start of it all

[Firestar]

OOC: I wanna see what Will and Alicia were like before she got jacked from the house. It'll give me a good idea of how to react when they eventually find each other again. Hehehe...I'm so evil.

Alicia left the campus of UoP, her cute little dark blue Mustang revving loudly. As she turned up the radio, she glanced at the clock. Ten after three. Will was expecting her home by three thirty, but she couldn't make it by then. It was only a fifteen minute drive, but she had to hunt before she got home. She'd kept control through her last class, when it had really started to get to her, but now the scent of all the human blood around her was about to drive her crazy. If she didn't catch anything soon, she might unintentionally attack her brother, the thought of which made her shudder. She practically had to walk on eggshells around home, hoping he wouldn't do something clumsy like get a papercut.
She gripped the steering wheel tighter. She couldn't imagine hurting anyone, especially Will. But when her new instincts kicked in, there was no thinking about it. She hated this new part of her, this thing that caused her to want to drink blood. She didn't ask to be a vampire. She'd had nightmares about them when she was little, and Mom and Dad had always assured her that they weren't real.
Well guess again, she thought spitefully as she pulled over about halfway home. There was a fairly dense forest there, and she knew, though it didn't look like much, there were plenty of wild animal hiding in there to quench her thirst. She shut off the engine of her car and got out, hearing the locks on the doors a few seconds later. Looking either way quickly, she dashed into the forest to find her meal.
***
The better part of an hour later, she trudged into the house. She'd found a fox and two large eagles that satisfied her, but when she'd gone back to her car, she'd found she had locked her keys inside. The entire walk home she'd been running over in her mind what to tell Will about why she'd pulled over at that point of the road and gotten out. She obviously couldn't tell him the truth, because she would never let him know she'd become a bloodsucking freak at the same time she started predicting the future. She considered a flat tire story, but there were no tire shreds anywhere to be seen. She settled on engine trouble, though she wasn't sure if he would buy that. The car was still pretty new and had been running like a dream. But that would be her story and she would stick to it.

[trinn]

Tapping his finger's against the kitchen counter, Will tried not to start panicing over Alicia's tardiness. This was the first time she had been late home, and he didn't like to think of the implications. "Where are you, sis." he muttered, staring out the window unblinkingly. He had put on his shoulder holster, pistol tucked in securely, just incase he had to move quickly. He glanced away from the window, checking the time. 4:40. When he returned to staring out the window, he noticed Alicia walking down the sidewalk. What had happened to her car? Cursing under his breath, he marched over to the front door and flung it open. "What happened?" he asked when she was closer, his voice irate but worried. "Why didn't you call me?"

[Firestar]

Alicia made a face as Will burst through the door and demanded to know why she was late.
"I couldn't call you because my phone's locked in my car with my keys," she said. She steeled herself for the barrage about being more careful and how could she be so stupid and always make sure she had her keys before she got out of the car. She wasn't looking forward to it, but she hoped it would distract him from asking where the car was and proceeding to why she had pulled over halfway home.

[trinn]

Sighing, Will rubbed his face with a hand. His thumping heart was beginning to calm down, now that Alicia was home. "You need to be more careful than that, Ali. It's not safe for a girl like you to walk all the way home." The mere thought sent a shiver down his spine. There were a lot of creeps in the world looking for vulnerable girls like Alicia, particularly those Exodus agents... "Come on. I'll drive you down to the school and we can get your keys back." he said, assuming she had locked her cars in at the university.

[Firestar]

Alicia wanted to burst out in hysterical laughter. Not safe? She was the most unsafe things out there. Not that Will would know that. She'd been very careful to hide her dangerous side from him. She settled for a giggle.
"Oh, Will, you worry to much. It's not like I'm going to get taken from the street." She frowned a little when he said he'd take her to the school.
"Well, see, it's not at the school. It's about halfway. The car just died on me there, and I got out to check it out and realized I'd locked the keys inside." She hoped that lie would work.

[trinn]

If only Alicia knew how wrong she was. Sometimes, Will thought it might be beneficial to inform her of the Exodus movement. After all, then she would know of the impending danger, be able to take precautions. But, he didn't want to cause her unnecsary wory. After all, Alicia didn't have any life-threatning abilities. "What!" he exclaimed when Alicia gave her explanation. "That car is in mint condition. There's no way it should have died." Will shook his head in disgust. "Well, let's go get it before something happens to it." Grabbing her shoulder, Will steered Alicia over to the garage, where his own truck was parked in front. His expression as he slid into the driver's seat was severe, and he tried to make himself lighten up. Ali was safe. Nothing had happened.

[Firestar]

Alicia shook her head as she got into the truck.
"You can't trust new cars these days," she said. "Remember that date I went on with Reggie?" Oh boy, here came another lie. At least she wasn't changing her story at all. After the initial shock she'd come up with a simple explanation. "He was just bragging to me about how new the car was, when the steering locked up and he crashed into that tree." Well, he had been bragging about the stupid car, and it did crash into a tree. But the only reason it did was because she was too busy attacking him to notice that no one was steering.

[trinn]

Starting up the truck, Will back out of the driveway and started down the road. "Yeah, yeah. I remember Reggie." As much as he wished he didn't. Alicia was too good for that kid, and he was glad their brief relationship was over. In some ways he viewed that accident as a blessing. For some odd reason the accident seemed to kill the romance between Ali and Reggie. "How was school today?" he asked after a few minutes of contemplative silence.

[Firestar]

The silence after Alicia mentioned the accident made her almost petrified. She was afraid he was pondering the accident and wondering if that was what really happened.
She felt a certain measure of relief when Will changed the subject. "It was fine," she said. "Mostly boring. Ninety percent lectures. Half the classes seemed to be sleeping through them."

[trinn]

Raising an eyebrow, Will glanced over at Alicia. "Sleeping, eh?" He said, not exactly happy to hear that. Still, he couldn't help but smirk. "Good for you. If it were me in those classes, I can guarantee I'd be snoring every minute." Will laughed to himself, glad that he had decided not to go to college. All the homework Alicia brought home didn't seem like fun. And some of those classes were hours long. He couldn't even imagine sitting still for any extended amount of time. Finished with his brief laugh, Will cleared his throat and tried to put on a stern expression. "You should really not be sleeping through those classes, Ali. How are you gonna learn anything when you're dreaming?"

[Firestar]

Alicia laughed with Will for a moment.
"I didn't say I was sleeping, did I?" Truth was, she didn't sleep as much since her change either, though she still rested. "I just said half the class did. Though I suppose for some of them I coulda looked ahead to see what it was going to be about. It's hard to concertrate after the profs have been droning on and on and on..." She smiled at him, but discreetly leaned away. She wasn't thirsty anymore, but her brother still smelled appetizing to her. Every time she hugged him or got close to him in any way she had to exercise an extreme about of self-control.