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Description
At that he briskly walked away, turning a corner to the right. Exza followed, noticing two big doors to the left, which she assumed were the doors to exit.
She walked closer to them, and turned to face the man who had helped her. He stood, at the corner, looking down at the wall, loneliness and solitude settling on his features. He didn't look to her, just continued to stare down at the wall.
Though she wanted to say something, anything, she just couldn't bring up any words. She looked down and then nodded to herself, and pushed the big doors open, walking out back into the night. As she looked back at the closing doors behind her, she saw the man turn and walk away down the corridor.
She sighed, and began walking down the small, wilderness ridden path that seemed to be leading her somewhere. She assumed back to the road.
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"Turps can you drive a little slower? We're trying to find someone here!" Lewis asked Turps, who was sat in the driving seat.
"We'll cover more ground this way dude." Turps answered.
"I feel sick!" Sjin shouted from one of the backseats.
"Can you ninnies stop arguing for one second, I regret coming along now!" Sips added, folding his arms like a grumpy teen.
"I cant see anything... she should be down this road Lewis." Turps stated.
"Wait! Turps stop the car! What's that!" Lewis shouted.
He didn't even give the driver enough time to break fully before he was jumping out of the car and running to the other side of the road, where something large had made a clearing, and metal was shining, reflecting the moonlight. He ran towards it, pulling out his phone and flicking on the flashlight, pointing it towards the object. He placed his hands on the back window. "Exza's truck..." He breathed, worried. "GUYS!" he yelled back. "GUYS IT'S EXZA'S TRUCK!" he shouted louder, hearing the others coming through the clearing and over to him and the truck, each with their flashlights on.
"Holy shit..." Sips said, observing the wreck. "How fast must she have been going... There's a tree sticking through the front of the car!" He looked up to see Lewis trying to pry the passenger seat door open.
"Woah, woah, calm down dude." Turps said, but Tom continued, and finally, managed to rip the door open.
"The driving side was already open..." Sjin stated, slowly opening and closing it, rather sheepishly, causing Sips to chuckle slightly.
"She's not here... where could she be?!" Tom asked, panicking.
"Relax, she wouldn't have been able to get the truck out and..." Turps lifted up his phone. "There's no signal here to call for help, she probably abandoned it and walked to the lodge." He said, looking back at the wreckage. "Has she left anything?"
"Her jacket... She must have her phone because its not here..." Lewis answered, calming down. "That's a bit of a relief... But..."
"Lewis, we'll go back to the lodge, if she's not there, then we can panic." Turps said, turning and walking back out of the clearing and over to his car.
Lewis took another minute to rummage around what he could of the car, get anything Exza would want him to, and then joined the others in Turp's car.
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She turned at the sound of rustling above her, nothing there. Sighing, she continued. Wooded areas freaked her out as it was anyway, let alone in the night time with creepy noises around her. She shivered slightly, remembering that her jacket had been in the truck. She felt her pocket, her phone was with her. Good. She didn't want to think about how much Tom would be worrying right now.
A twig snapped in front of her, making her foxxy ear twitch and stopping her in her tracks. She stared forward into the darkness between the trees, slowly crouching down to pick up a rather large branch that had fallen from a tree as a defence.
A few seconds dragged on, and then, two shining eyes glistened from the darkness. She gripped the wooden branch harder, taking a few steps back. A second later, a wolf emerged from the dark, creeping towards her, his back arched, as if stalking his prey.
She gripped onto the ranch. "I really do not want to hurt you little wolf..." She breathed. "We're practically the same..." She added, her tail ruffling slightly. The wolf snarled, snapping its jaws a few times and edging ever closer. She quickly checked behind her to see that she wasn't walking into a tree or something. The path was there, she made sure to stick to it, the wolf still advancing. She gritted her teeth, not wanting to hurt the animal but knowing she would have to defend herself. She took a deep breathe, and the wolf lunged, she got ready to swing the branch, but a dash flew in front of her, tackling the wolf and knocking it through the trees and away from her field of vision.
She caught her breathe, confused as to what had happened, and then quickly ran through to the darkness beyond the tree.
The vampire was there, kneeling next to the unconscious wolf. He slowly stood. "Are you ok...?" He asked, before turning to her. She nodded. "He is only sleeping..." He stated. "You should be more careful..."
"Were you following me...?" She asked.
"I... yes... I know you are not in full health and I know of the dangers in this woods... I just... wanted to make sure you were ok..." He answered. "You may continue..." And with that, he jumped up into one of the trees, disappearing from vision. Exza blinked a few times, shook her head slightly and continued walking, past the unconscious wolf, and continuing towards the lodge, the lights of which she was starting to see on the horizon.
After another five minutes of walking, she came to the pathway up to the lodge, the trees dispersing and turning to a gravely, Stoney floor. She smiled to herself, happy to be there, and started walking forward. But something stopped her, tugged in her mind. She turned around, seeing the man stood in one of the trees on the edge. She looked to him, and walked a little towards him. "Thank you Xephos..." She said.
He nodded.
"Would you... maybe... like to stay with us? We're all friendly... and... I doubt any of them would notice that you are... you know... a vampire." She rambled. She watched him look up, to the sky, to the moon. The full moon.
"I should not be outside... full moons are dangerous to my kind..."
"So come in! Meet my friends! It must be better than being out here..." She stated. "I know you're lonely..."
He seemed to be contemplating, and after a few seconds, jumped from the tree, and disappeared. She sighed, and turned. Coming face to face with him.
"I believe it is rude to refuse an invitation." He said quietly, almost shyly.
She smiled, and took his hand in hers. "Come on!" She said happily, pulling his towards the lodge.
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"Shouldn't they be back by now?" Kim asked Honeydew.
"Probably... But they're fine I'm sure. Lewis' probably got them looking all over the place for her that's all." He answered, standing up and walking over.
"Yeah, you know how he is." Lalna added, walking in and sitting down with a glass of Exza's hot chocolate. "Ow hot..." He exclaimed, burning his tongue.
Just then, they heard the door click open and in walked Exza, she was talking to someone, and then turned to them. "Hey guys!" She said. "Um, Honeydew, Lalna, Kim, this is Xeph-"
"EXZA GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Honeydew demanded, gripping her arm and pulling her away from the man. "He's dangerous..." He added calmer.
"No he's not..." She answered.
"I have to agree with Honeydew here Exza... 'Xephos' is dangerous..." Lalna said, standing and walking over.
"My name is still Xephos Lalna... no need to be so... arrogant..." Xephos hissed.
After a second, the door clicked open again, and Turps, Lewis, Sips and Sjin walked in. "Exza!" Lewis exclaimed, barging past Xephos and walking over, holding her in a hug. "Oh my god... I was so worried... are you ok? Are you hurt?" He asked, checking her for marks or bruises. She giggled slightly, pushing him away.
"I'm fine Lewis..." she said. He hugged her once again. Xephos hissed. "It's fine Xephos... He's fine.. he's alright..."
"Who is this?" Lewis asked.
"Dangerous." Honeydew answered. "I think you should go..." He added. Lalna, Sips and Sjin seemed to be backing him up.
"I haven't hurt anybody!" Xephos attempted to defend himself.
"You need to go buddy." Sips said. "Or do I need to take you out myself?" He stood forward, clicking his knuckles.
"You'd be dead before you could lay a finger on me!" Xephos hissed back in defence.
"And by ME, I meant SJIN." Sips stated, pushing Sjin forward.
"WHAT?! No way!" Sjin said, trying to back away from the vampire. Xephos appeared to be getting annoyed, he grabbed Honeydew by the sash, lifting him up to his height.
"This is all your fault! You take me mining with you, take me everywhere, say I'm your best friend, and then abandon me when I get turned into this! You run away, run away from your so called best friend!" He hissed, tears welling in his eyes. He dropped the dwarf, gritting his teeth before turning and rushing out.
"Xephos wait!" Exza shouted after him. Lewis gripped her arm, trying to stop her. She shrugged him off, running out after the man. "Wait!"
Everyone ran after her, trying to stop her. "Exza stop! He's a monster!" Sjin stated.
"HE ISN'T!" She turned and shouted to him, causing the architect to whimper and hide behind Sips. "None of you even gave him a chance did you?!" She looked at them all for a few seconds, all looking at her, bewildered on what to say or how to respond. At this point Xephos had stopped walking and stood, half facing them, listening to what the fox tailed girl had to say. "He saved me! He pulled be out of that car wreck, took me to his home and healed me up. He then defended me as I tried to make my way through the forest back to here! He is the reason I am here. Without him..." She looked down. "What did he do to make you all so... pissed at him..." She asked, looking at Honeydew, Lalna, Sips and Sjin.
"H-he was out of control Exza..." Honeydew said.
"He was probably scared to death from being changed into something he wasn't! Wouldn't you be terrified and lash out if you were changed into something that made you want to eat your friends?! And you abandoned him!" She shouted back. Nobody said another word. Honeydew looked to Xephos, and then looked down.
"I know..." He said. "But... we didn't have a choice... our friend... our leader sort of... had been changed into... something we are taught to fear... How would you react to that? We did the wrong thing..." He sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead.
"We had to though! I mean, he tried to bite Honeydew! He got Sjin once, and if we hadn't walked in, who knows what would have happened!" Lalna stuck up for himself. Exza gave a glance to Xephos, who was looking down, shamefully.
"We couldn't control him... And he was stronger than us..." Sjin added. "He killed a lot of the animals... said he didn't want to eat the humans... but, we had to eat as well... we needed the animals, not just for food..."
"He attempted to kill us all at least a few times..." Sips added. "I still have marks on me from where his nails dug into me..."
There was a silence. "So you abandoned him...? You turned your friend away, sent him off to live on his own... to live with others like him, who were horrible to him... and left him alone..." Exza asked.
"Um..." Turps stood forward. "In the rest of ours defence... We didn't know where Xephos had gone... Those four told us he had disappeared..."
"And it was that easy for you all to forget about him..." Exza stated. She turned to Xephos. "He saved me. He didn't kill me." She folded her arms. "I think you all owe him an apology. For not helping when you should... instead of turning your backs."
"Xeph..." Honeydew said. "We're sorry... but..."
Xephos nodded solemnly, his expression not changing, apart from the fact that he turned away slightly, wiping his sleeve across one of his eyes.
Lewis walked towards Exza, putting an arm out to comfort her after all of that, when someone flashed in front of her, stopping him. Xephos stood there, glaring up at the man with the trilby hat. "Please do not touch her..." He spoke quietly. Lewis looked confused.
"Well... she IS my girlfriend..." He stated.
"Xephos..." Exza said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok... he's ok..." She said, smiling slightly. Xephos turned back to Lewis, but stayed where he was. "Xephos...?" She said again, but he still didn't move. Lewis backed up after a few seconds, and looked to the others. "Stay here tonight. Prove to them that you can do it... you don't have to protect me either Xephos... I know they hurt you but..." She whispered to the vampire. He nodded slightly, and jumped. A few seconds later he was stood on the roof, his back to them.
"I shall stay... but... If I get any instincts... or if anyone shows too much hostility towards me... I wont refrain from leaving..." He stated. Exza smiled slightly and looked to the others.
"You have a chance to redeem yourselves... don't waste it." She said, walking past them, and indoors. Taking Lewis' hand as she went and sat down on the sofa.
The ones who did not know about the vampire side of their old friend, nodded and walked back inside. Honeydew and the other three, turned to each other, and looked up at the vampire, who still stood on the roof, looking up at the full moon, and then down to them. They looked at him for a few moments. He opened his mouth to speak, his breathe faltering. "I am no monster..." he managed to breathe, before jumping, and landing in front of them within a split second. He looked down from their looks, their judging eyes. Looking back up, he felt his teeth chattering, as though he was scared, and felt tears welling in his eyes. He did a slight nod. "I am no monster..." he repeated, and turned and walked into the lodge.

Description
At that he briskly walked away, turning a corner to the right. Exza followed, noticing two big doors to the left, which she assumed were the doors to exit.
She walked closer to them, and turned to face the man who had helped her. He stood, at the corner, looking down at the wall, loneliness and solitude settling on his features. He didn't look to her, just continued to stare down at the wall.
Though she wanted to say something, anything, she just couldn't bring up any words. She looked down and then nodded to herself, and pushed the big doors open, walking out back into the night. As she looked back at the closing doors behind her, she saw the man turn and walk away down the corridor.
She sighed, and began walking down the small, wilderness ridden path that seemed to be leading her somewhere. She assumed back to the road.
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"Turps can you drive a little slower? We're trying to find someone here!" Lewis asked Turps, who was sat in the driving seat.
"We'll cover more ground this way dude." Turps answered.
"I feel sick!" Sjin shouted from one of the backseats.
"Can you ninnies stop arguing for one second, I regret coming along now!" Sips added, folding his arms like a grumpy teen.
"I cant see anything... she should be down this road Lewis." Turps stated.
"Wait! Turps stop the car! What's that!" Lewis shouted.
He didn't even give the driver enough time to break fully before he was jumping out of the car and running to the other side of the road, where something large had made a clearing, and metal was shining, reflecting the moonlight. He ran towards it, pulling out his phone and flicking on the flashlight, pointing it towards the object. He placed his hands on the back window. "Exza's truck..." He breathed, worried. "GUYS!" he yelled back. "GUYS IT'S EXZA'S TRUCK!" he shouted louder, hearing the others coming through the clearing and over to him and the truck, each with their flashlights on.
"Holy shit..." Sips said, observing the wreck. "How fast must she have been going... There's a tree sticking through the front of the car!" He looked up to see Lewis trying to pry the passenger seat door open.
"Woah, woah, calm down dude." Turps said, but Tom continued, and finally, managed to rip the door open.
"The driving side was already open..." Sjin stated, slowly opening and closing it, rather sheepishly, causing Sips to chuckle slightly.
"She's not here... where could she be?!" Tom asked, panicking.
"Relax, she wouldn't have been able to get the truck out and..." Turps lifted up his phone. "There's no signal here to call for help, she probably abandoned it and walked to the lodge." He said, looking back at the wreckage. "Has she left anything?"
"Her jacket... She must have her phone because its not here..." Lewis answered, calming down. "That's a bit of a relief... But..."
"Lewis, we'll go back to the lodge, if she's not there, then we can panic." Turps said, turning and walking back out of the clearing and over to his car.
Lewis took another minute to rummage around what he could of the car, get anything Exza would want him to, and then joined the others in Turp's car.
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She turned at the sound of rustling above her, nothing there. Sighing, she continued. Wooded areas freaked her out as it was anyway, let alone in the night time with creepy noises around her. She shivered slightly, remembering that her jacket had been in the truck. She felt her pocket, her phone was with her. Good. She didn't want to think about how much Tom would be worrying right now.
A twig snapped in front of her, making her foxxy ear twitch and stopping her in her tracks. She stared forward into the darkness between the trees, slowly crouching down to pick up a rather large branch that had fallen from a tree as a defence.
A few seconds dragged on, and then, two shining eyes glistened from the darkness. She gripped the wooden branch harder, taking a few steps back. A second later, a wolf emerged from the dark, creeping towards her, his back arched, as if stalking his prey.
She gripped onto the ranch. "I really do not want to hurt you little wolf..." She breathed. "We're practically the same..." She added, her tail ruffling slightly. The wolf snarled, snapping its jaws a few times and edging ever closer. She quickly checked behind her to see that she wasn't walking into a tree or something. The path was there, she made sure to stick to it, the wolf still advancing. She gritted her teeth, not wanting to hurt the animal but knowing she would have to defend herself. She took a deep breathe, and the wolf lunged, she got ready to swing the branch, but a dash flew in front of her, tackling the wolf and knocking it through the trees and away from her field of vision.
She caught her breathe, confused as to what had happened, and then quickly ran through to the darkness beyond the tree.
The vampire was there, kneeling next to the unconscious wolf. He slowly stood. "Are you ok...?" He asked, before turning to her. She nodded. "He is only sleeping..." He stated. "You should be more careful..."
"Were you following me...?" She asked.
"I... yes... I know you are not in full health and I know of the dangers in this woods... I just... wanted to make sure you were ok..." He answered. "You may continue..." And with that, he jumped up into one of the trees, disappearing from vision. Exza blinked a few times, shook her head slightly and continued walking, past the unconscious wolf, and continuing towards the lodge, the lights of which she was starting to see on the horizon.
After another five minutes of walking, she came to the pathway up to the lodge, the trees dispersing and turning to a gravely, Stoney floor. She smiled to herself, happy to be there, and started walking forward. But something stopped her, tugged in her mind. She turned around, seeing the man stood in one of the trees on the edge. She looked to him, and walked a little towards him. "Thank you Xephos..." She said.
He nodded.
"Would you... maybe... like to stay with us? We're all friendly... and... I doubt any of them would notice that you are... you know... a vampire." She rambled. She watched him look up, to the sky, to the moon. The full moon.
"I should not be outside... full moons are dangerous to my kind..."
"So come in! Meet my friends! It must be better than being out here..." She stated. "I know you're lonely..."
He seemed to be contemplating, and after a few seconds, jumped from the tree, and disappeared. She sighed, and turned. Coming face to face with him.
"I believe it is rude to refuse an invitation." He said quietly, almost shyly.
She smiled, and took his hand in hers. "Come on!" She said happily, pulling his towards the lodge.
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"Shouldn't they be back by now?" Kim asked Honeydew.
"Probably... But they're fine I'm sure. Lewis' probably got them looking all over the place for her that's all." He answered, standing up and walking over.
"Yeah, you know how he is." Lalna added, walking in and sitting down with a glass of Exza's hot chocolate. "Ow hot..." He exclaimed, burning his tongue.
Just then, they heard the door click open and in walked Exza, she was talking to someone, and then turned to them. "Hey guys!" She said. "Um, Honeydew, Lalna, Kim, this is Xeph-"
"EXZA GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Honeydew demanded, gripping her arm and pulling her away from the man. "He's dangerous..." He added calmer.
"No he's not..." She answered.
"I have to agree with Honeydew here Exza... 'Xephos' is dangerous..." Lalna said, standing and walking over.
"My name is still Xephos Lalna... no need to be so... arrogant..." Xephos hissed.
After a second, the door clicked open again, and Turps, Lewis, Sips and Sjin walked in. "Exza!" Lewis exclaimed, barging past Xephos and walking over, holding her in a hug. "Oh my god... I was so worried... are you ok? Are you hurt?" He asked, checking her for marks or bruises. She giggled slightly, pushing him away.
"I'm fine Lewis..." she said. He hugged her once again. Xephos hissed. "It's fine Xephos... He's fine.. he's alright..."
"Who is this?" Lewis asked.
"Dangerous." Honeydew answered. "I think you should go..." He added. Lalna, Sips and Sjin seemed to be backing him up.
"I haven't hurt anybody!" Xephos attempted to defend himself.
"You need to go buddy." Sips said. "Or do I need to take you out myself?" He stood forward, clicking his knuckles.
"You'd be dead before you could lay a finger on me!" Xephos hissed back in defence.
"And by ME, I meant SJIN." Sips stated, pushing Sjin forward.
"WHAT?! No way!" Sjin said, trying to back away from the vampire. Xephos appeared to be getting annoyed, he grabbed Honeydew by the sash, lifting him up to his height.
"This is all your fault! You take me mining with you, take me everywhere, say I'm your best friend, and then abandon me when I get turned into this! You run away, run away from your so called best friend!" He hissed, tears welling in his eyes. He dropped the dwarf, gritting his teeth before turning and rushing out.
"Xephos wait!" Exza shouted after him. Lewis gripped her arm, trying to stop her. She shrugged him off, running out after the man. "Wait!"
Everyone ran after her, trying to stop her. "Exza stop! He's a monster!" Sjin stated.
"HE ISN'T!" She turned and shouted to him, causing the architect to whimper and hide behind Sips. "None of you even gave him a chance did you?!" She looked at them all for a few seconds, all looking at her, bewildered on what to say or how to respond. At this point Xephos had stopped walking and stood, half facing them, listening to what the fox tailed girl had to say. "He saved me! He pulled be out of that car wreck, took me to his home and healed me up. He then defended me as I tried to make my way through the forest back to here! He is the reason I am here. Without him..." She looked down. "What did he do to make you all so... pissed at him..." She asked, looking at Honeydew, Lalna, Sips and Sjin.
"H-he was out of control Exza..." Honeydew said.
"He was probably scared to death from being changed into something he wasn't! Wouldn't you be terrified and lash out if you were changed into something that made you want to eat your friends?! And you abandoned him!" She shouted back. Nobody said another word. Honeydew looked to Xephos, and then looked down.
"I know..." He said. "But... we didn't have a choice... our friend... our leader sort of... had been changed into... something we are taught to fear... How would you react to that? We did the wrong thing..." He sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead.
"We had to though! I mean, he tried to bite Honeydew! He got Sjin once, and if we hadn't walked in, who knows what would have happened!" Lalna stuck up for himself. Exza gave a glance to Xephos, who was looking down, shamefully.
"We couldn't control him... And he was stronger than us..." Sjin added. "He killed a lot of the animals... said he didn't want to eat the humans... but, we had to eat as well... we needed the animals, not just for food..."
"He attempted to kill us all at least a few times..." Sips added. "I still have marks on me from where his nails dug into me..."
There was a silence. "So you abandoned him...? You turned your friend away, sent him off to live on his own... to live with others like him, who were horrible to him... and left him alone..." Exza asked.
"Um..." Turps stood forward. "In the rest of ours defence... We didn't know where Xephos had gone... Those four told us he had disappeared..."
"And it was that easy for you all to forget about him..." Exza stated. She turned to Xephos. "He saved me. He didn't kill me." She folded her arms. "I think you all owe him an apology. For not helping when you should... instead of turning your backs."
"Xeph..." Honeydew said. "We're sorry... but..."
Xephos nodded solemnly, his expression not changing, apart from the fact that he turned away slightly, wiping his sleeve across one of his eyes.
Lewis walked towards Exza, putting an arm out to comfort her after all of that, when someone flashed in front of her, stopping him. Xephos stood there, glaring up at the man with the trilby hat. "Please do not touch her..." He spoke quietly. Lewis looked confused.
"Well... she IS my girlfriend..." He stated.
"Xephos..." Exza said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok... he's ok..." She said, smiling slightly. Xephos turned back to Lewis, but stayed where he was. "Xephos...?" She said again, but he still didn't move. Lewis backed up after a few seconds, and looked to the others. "Stay here tonight. Prove to them that you can do it... you don't have to protect me either Xephos... I know they hurt you but..." She whispered to the vampire. He nodded slightly, and jumped. A few seconds later he was stood on the roof, his back to them.
"I shall stay... but... If I get any instincts... or if anyone shows too much hostility towards me... I wont refrain from leaving..." He stated. Exza smiled slightly and looked to the others.
"You have a chance to redeem yourselves... don't waste it." She said, walking past them, and indoors. Taking Lewis' hand as she went and sat down on the sofa.
The ones who did not know about the vampire side of their old friend, nodded and walked back inside. Honeydew and the other three, turned to each other, and looked up at the vampire, who still stood on the roof, looking up at the full moon, and then down to them. They looked at him for a few moments. He opened his mouth to speak, his breathe faltering. "I am no monster..." he managed to breathe, before jumping, and landing in front of them within a split second. He looked down from their looks, their judging eyes. Looking back up, he felt his teeth chattering, as though he was scared, and felt tears welling in his eyes. He did a slight nod. "I am no monster..." he repeated, and turned and walked into the lodge.