Today is nice. The world around me is calm. The homework I have isn't a lot. It's just a paper on the theory of Darwinism. My thesis is practically done when something hits my window. 

My head slides over to wherever the noise came from, but nothing's there. 

It's probably just a bird. Just a bird, and that's that. 

Until the exact same thing happened not a moment later. 

This time, I actually get up from my desk chair, and walk over to see whatever it is. I peak down and see none other than David, holding up a Nerf gun. I shoot him a confused look, and open my window.

"Come down! I'll show you what we're doing!" David shouts from the ground. 

"Not until you tell me what's going on!" 

"Nerf fight."  Emma's voice from behind me calls. I turn to see her holding two guns, and she tosses one to me. "Arm yourself!" 

David fires a shot into the window , barely missing Emma. Emma raises a carefree brow, and fires one back out my window. Then gives me a gesture to get down, and I oblige, and she does the same. David keeps on firing more and more bullets, until they stop coming. 

"Quick, grab as many as you can." Emma picks bullets up by the hand full, shoving them into her backpack. 

"Do you guys do this often?" 

"Oh yeah! All the time!" Emma replies as if she were answering the question 'Do you guys drink water?' 

"Why?" 

"Because we can!" 

Emma gets up, bolting through our front door, looking all around. 

"Where is he?" Emma looks my way. 

"Uhh... Other side of the house." I whisper. 

"Thanks." Emma grins wickedly, and starts running to where I had said, only to find David hiding behind a tree. 

When he realize we're there, he stares at both of us, wide eyed. "You guys wouldn't shoot me? I'm out of amo, that's not morally right, right?" 

"Hm... I don't care." Emma starts rapidly firing at David, who can only just duck behind trees for cover. "Take a few shots, it's fun." 

"Don't have to tell me twice." 

I lock and load my gun for rapid fire. David tries to pick up some stay darts, but for the most part fails. I nail him right in the head, and he. Just. Stares.

I can feel guilt and fear take over my body. Anxiety roams about freely throughout my brain, with no signs of stopping. 

What if the only rule is to not shoot people in the head?

What if he didn't want for things to go this far?

What if he's actually mad at me? 

But he grows a smirk so big it could almost be considered an evil grin on his face, and he rushes over, picking me up from my underarms. He throws me in front of him, using me as a human shield of sorts, and now I know that the look he gave me was all for laughs. 

"David! Put me down!" 

"You shot me in the head!" 

"Will a sorry work to make things better?"

"Maybe you should ask Emma why she still keeps shooting at you." 

"Yeah, Emma, why are you doing that?" 

"I can't not shoot!" 

"Oi! Kids!" Matthias calls out from right near the house, Abigail right next to him. 

David slowly sets me down onto the ground, and I welcome my feet being back on the ground. 

"Were you not going to invite us to shoot at you?" Matthias crosses his arms. 

Emma smiles, sheepishly. "Sorry, we-" 

Rustle. 

We all turn our heads at the same time to look where it came from. My eyes drag me in place to the edge of the property. Two hunters with their guns fully loaded carry back their game. A buck, and a large one at that. My mouth starts watering, just by the scent of it. When the smell hits my nose, I want to drag myself over there. 

I can't, though. I fight the urge. Fight the feeling. I look over to Matthias, who looks like he's feeling the same exact thing, his pupils dilated. I know mine are, then. 

"Let's go inside. Now." Matthias says. You can tell he's holding back, just by the strain in his voice. I turn, as does David and Abigail. Emma stays in her spot. "Emma, please come." Matthias says. 

Emma just stands there, staring in a trance. "Emma, Emma!" Abigail steps in front of Emma, and placing and nurturing hand on her cheek. "Emma, it's me, Abigail, alright? We have to go inside, now." 

Emma looks at Abigail, as if she could kill her, too. She stares at her more, and more. Then, she lunges, and takes off. We all do the same. She's way faster than she should be. Which makes sense, seeing as the full moon is tonight. She probably didn't get enough blood in her last night. We all fall just behind her, when Matthias stops. 

"Matthias, are you alright?" Abigail says, stopping, and putting her hand on her husband's shoulder. 

"I we can't go past their. We haven't drank blood for too long." Matthias doesn't take his eyes off of Emma.

"I drank some late last night, and I'm the fastest. I'll go." I raise my hand to volunteer.

"It'll be like a crow bar to the back of your knees, Canada. It's going to hurt you." David warns. 

"It'll hurt all of us if she bites." I say. "I'm going." I fill my brain with thoughts of Emma. I find her, and my body runs full speed at her, I finally catch up. "Emma! Emma! It's me, Emma! Please, Emma! Emma!" I shout, I finally catch up with her, so we're neck and neck, she just licks her lips, running further and further towards the two hunters. I come at her from the side, tackling her to the ground. 

"No!" She shrieks, fighting against me, but I pin her on the ground. 

"Emma, remember where you are, Emma. Remember who you are." I'm begging her at this point. 

The hunter's scent is becoming worse and worse as they come closer. I want to run over to them, but I can't. I shouldn't. I look over to the tree, to see if it was like at the training facility. There were blood stashes everywhere, just in case. I look over at the edge of a tree, and find that beautiful silver container. I reach over without taking my weight off of her, unscrew the lid, and put it up to her lips. 

"Emma, drink it, Emma, please, Emma, please." I beg. I can feel a lump growing in the back of my throat. That's how much this hurts right now. She finally takes a few sips of it, and her eyes turn normal. 

"Canada?" She asks, looking at me, her eyes filled with worry. 

"Come on, we have to get you out of here," I say, helping her to her feet. "Think you can make it back to the house?" I ask. She just shakes her head. I don't have to be a thought reader to know she's embarrassed. I pick her up, and run as fast as I can to the house. I open the front door, and take her upstairs, into her bedroom, and set her down on the bed. 

"Thank you, Canada." She says quietly. 

"Don't mention it." I say. "I'll go get Abigail." I walk back downstairs, to find the rest of our clan in the kitchen, all drinking out of mugs. 

"Here. You need it." Matthias forces one into my empty hand, and I accept it.

"Thank you." I say quietly. I feel my body relax when I take a sip. The urge isn't there anymore, and I'm feeling better. "I found an emergency ration in the woods."

"Good." The patriarch nods in between sips. We all drink like we're from the desert, and haven't seen water in a few days. "Don't worry, it isn't human blood, just rabbit and cow." 

"I'll go look at Emma." Abigail says, walking up the stairs. 

"I'm very impressed with what you did today. It took strength, and a lot of it. Most vampire's don't even have the strength to resist the smell from where we were. You had the strength to be right next to them, without having blood in a few hours, and still help someone avoid it. I'm proud of you." Matthias still doesn't take his eyes off of the mug in his hands.  

"Thanks." 

"I'm sorry. The Nerf fight was my idea. I shouldn't have done it right before a full moon." David says. 

"How were you supposed to know that there would be human's?" Matthias says.

"This isn't like New Mexico, there are human's everywhere. I put us all in danger." 

"No, you didn't, David. It's okay." Matthias pats the younger man on the shoulder. 

"Canada?" David asks. 

"Hm?" I ask. Did I zone out again.

"What do you think?" David asks. 

"It'll be fine, don't worry about it." I say, nodding a little bit. 

"Thanks." David says. I look at him, the way he's holding himself. This boy needs a hug, and fast. Matthias isn't going to do anything. I guess I will. I walk towards him, and warp my arms around his torso. It feels like a child hugging an adult, and it's awkward, but he hugs back. "You're the greatest, Maple Leaf."

"Thanks." I say, and we break apart. 

Abigail walks back into the kitchen, bag in hand. "She's fine now, just didn't have enough blood in her."

"The full moon's coming soon, this won't be an easy one." Matthias cautiously looks around the room. He eyes in particular the windows.

"We know what to do, we're practiced." Abigail makes eye contact with every person in the room. 

"We do, Matt," I had only heard Abigail call Matthias 'Matt' once before. When I laid in the bed at the academy, in New York. They had just signed the release papers, the papers that put me into their care.

When there's a full moon, we become more thirsty than ever. We're all suddenly newly bitten again. We don't have control, and we have the biggest thirst for blood. Not any blood, human blood. I haven't drank it in a while. It's gotten good enough so I can be with human's, but on full moons, I don't even want to know what I'd be like. We've never done a full moon like this. We've never had to be alone during this. Usually there's other vampire's. We try to keep a watch over each other, and if necessary, restrain each other.

"All of us can do this." Abigail says. 

"I'm going to hang out with Emma." I say, standing up. I walk upstairs, and walk to the room closest to the front. I open the door, and see her on her bed, clutching her knees, blood cup on her bedside table. "Do you need a refill?" I ask, noticing that her cup was empty. 

"No." Emma says quietly, just staring at the blanket on the bed. 

"Talk to me, Emma, please." 

"I forgot what it was like to lust. I got thirsty, but I never lusted like that. Canada, I'm a monster. I almost killed those hunter's. Innocent hunter's." Emma's eyes well up a little bit with tears. 

"You're not a monster. You just lost control. It wasn't you. It was that full moon." 

"But it was me. It was my body that ran towards them. My mind gave it the command. It was my mouth that was going to drink their blood. I should've resisted, but I couldn't."

"We all loose control. I have."  

"But that was different. You were a Newly Bit. You didn't know any better, you had adrenaline coursing through your veins, and a new thirst that you had no idea how to control. And we're both past that phase. I should know control." 

"Even the oldest vampire's have trouble resisting."

"But they aren't held to a high standard like us, Canada. I let Matthias down, I let Abigail down. I let my brother down." 

"You know you didn't. Matthias, and Abigail and David all had to stop because they knew they couldn't get that close." I say. "It's okay. I know you would never do that intentionally. It's not your fault." 

"You sure?" Emma asks, finally looking up at me. 

"I'm positive."

"Thank you." She says, opening her arms wide and wrapping them around my shoulders. I think it's official. I've been hugged more today than I have in months. I hug her, patting her back along the way. "I'm scared I'll do it tonight, and blow our cover." 

"You won't. David and I will keep you safe if Abigail and Matthias can't." I say. 

"Thank you." She says, breaking away from the hug. 

"No problem." 

"Can we talk about something else?" She asks. 

"Yeah."

"What do you think of Clair?" She asks. 

"I like it." I say. "You?" 

"I love it. Being in the wilderness is just so nice, and I like small towns. I also like how we've all got a place to sit at lunch." 

"I do."

"How was volunteering yesterday?" 

"It was good. I hurt my ankle running there, and got caught in the rain." 

"Oof." Emma says. "How was Gayle?" She asks. 

"Gayle was good. I met his mom's." 

"Mom's? As in there was two of them?" 

"Yep. Got an issue with it?" I say, now a little bit defensive. If she so much as says one mean thing about Gayle, I'll-

"No, I'm okay with it. Just wanted to make sure I understood." Emma says. 

"Good." I say, letting out a breath that I had no clue was trapped inside of me. "What about your friends?" 

"Oh, Ella's really sweet, and so is Charlotte, and Mackenzie. They all have been so sweet." 

"That's great." I say. 

"They got me interested in the swim team. I joined when we lived in Colorado?" 

"Remember not to be too good. I like it here." 

"I like it here, too. Besides, I wouldn't dream of revealing the secret." Emma says. "At least, I try not to." 

"Hey, you won't. I promise. We're all here for you." 

"I know. I'll be fine." Emma says. 

"Do y'all want to play a game?" David offers. He stands in the door way, holding up a deck of cards.

"I don't have to worry abut loosing control." Emma smiles sadly to herself. 

"I don't have to worry about wandering too far out." David doesn't bother to hide the disappointment that he has with himself. 

"And we don't have to worry about getting wet." I try and lighten the mood. 

"When did we turn into the pity party, and you turn into the little lantern, Maple Leaf?" David asks, his playful smirk back on his face. 

"When you guys decided you were going to throw a pity party." I say back. 

"I like our family dynamic." Emma says, smiling a bit. 

"Me too." David says. "So, we going to play Garbage or what?" 

"So long as you are prepared to lose." Emma says back. 

"In your dreams." 

"You didn't rig the deck, did you?" I ask. 

"Me? Never." 

"You tried it a month ago, when we found out we were moving." Emma says. 

"Whatever." David says. 

"Oh, and Matthias and Baigail wanted me to bring up lunch, and some extra blood." David pulls out brown sacked lunches for us, as if we were packing for a school field tri[

"Thanks." Emma and I both say at the same time.

"Freaky." David raises both of his eyebrows. "Now, who's ready to draw eighty-five?" 

I like our family dynamic, too.