Blood and Rust

Lana was in too deep of a sleep to even notice what Balo was doing.

She had just been pinned down by a vampire that looked exceedingly hungry, and she was crying out for her client to lend her a hand. But all he did was throw back his hood and grin ferally, showing off his own set of fangs. He was a vampire as well! Lana struggled even more but halted at the feel of a blade at her throat. Her 'client' then leaned up close to her face and purred at the smell of her blood just beneath the skin, nuzzling gently at her throat. Lana head butted him and he growled in fury, moving her head to the side and sinking his fangs into the tender flesh and immediately began to drink. It was painful...so much more painful than she could have ever imagined. It burned so bad that she couldn't help but release a scream...

Lana Black then screamed as though she were really feeling the pain, tossing and turning in the bed as though trying to escape her dream attackers.

At the sound of Lana's scream, Balo immediately extinguished the black flames he had conjured up. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to. Please don't kick me." Balo closed his eyes waiting for the kick that would never come. He slowly opened then to make sure it was safe. He had them fully opened just in time to have a blanket cover his face. 'What the hell?' Balo shook it off and tried to sit up so he could see Lana over the bed's edge. He looked at her face to see sweat rolling down her head and her breathing unevenly. 'She must be having a bad dream... but then again she doesn't see what I have nightmares about.' He also noticed that the blanket that had fallen was hers.

Balo's face went red and his nose started to bleed. He slammed his head back down on his pillow and slowly rolled away towards the far wall. 'Oh crap the blanket! She might think.... I'm a dead man' He sat there fully awake too scared to sleep and waited there for his fate to arrive.

Without even realizing it, Lana had falled off the bed and was now in a fetal position, whimpering and crying quietly.

"Lana? What's wrong?" Balo was able to loosen the chains to free himself and rushed to her side. He grasped her shoulders and tried to shake some sense into her. "Hey, Lana, what's wrong? Don't worry I am right here. Calm down." He began to embrace her. "It's okay. Everything is going to be okay."

Lana finally opened her eyes and found herself in Balo's arms, and she immediately held onto him. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "It hurts...it hurts so bad..." She whispered and buried her face into his chest.

Balo didn't know what to do or what to say. "Uhhhh..... Don't worry. I am right here for you." Then Balo thought about it. He used to have the same kind of panic attacks for the first few months after his parents died except no one else was there to comfort him. He couldn't let that happen to Lana. He couldn't let her live through the same pain he did. "I am right here to help. I am always here to help. If it hurts I can help make it better."

Lana just cried into his chest until she finally fell asleep, the exhaustion getting to her. She was still against her friend's chest, with her arms wrapped tightly around him. She wasn't going to be letting go for a while...

'Oh crap... what do I do now?' This situation was uncomfortable for Balo on many levels. He wanted to give himself some space before he did something that he would later regret but the truth of the matter is that he didn't want to leave her for fear that she might break down again. He already made a commitment to help her through her struggles. He wasn't about to let that slip through. Best thing he could do was try to sleep.

'It's going to be a long night' Balo looked down at the floor. 'Eh. She need new boots anyways.' Balo thought to himself as he looked at the deformed pile of rubber that was on the carpet.

-THE NEXT MORNING-

Lana sighed contently as she woke up. She felt so warm and comfortable, and didn't feel like waking up...until the scent of something nasty caused her to open her eyes. They nearly bugged out of their sockets. Balo was sleeping next to her...and their arms were around each other...WHAT THE HELL?! "What in the seven hells are you holding me for?!" She shouted as she pushed away...and ended up falling off the bed. "Ow!"

Balo yawned widely so that his fangs were perfectly visible and he stretched out like a feline. "Good morning to you too. Don't hurt yourself. For the record I only did hugged you because you were freaking out and crying in the middle of the night. Had to do something to calm you down. What was I supposed to do?"

"I'm grateful that you helped me out, but that was... Hold up, where are my boots?" Lana asked as she looked around, only spotting a pile of rubber...where her boots once were. She felt a vein pop as she shouted, "BALO FRY, DID YOU DESTROY MY BOOTS?!"

Balo heard Lana screaming just as he closed the door to the room. "That was close but not out of the fire yet." Balo ran down the hall at amazing speed. The thought of an angry Lana put wings on his feet. 'She wouldn't hit an injured person would she?' After thinking about it for a while he came to only one conclusion.

'Maybe there is a nearby shoe store that sells something she might like.'

Lana charged out of the room with her chains at the ready, eye raging. "GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE! YOU OWE ME A NEW PAIR OF BOOTS!"

'Crap crap crap crap crap crap....' Balo ran like his second life depended on it. One advantage he had was that he knew the area better than she did so he could hide easily. He picked a spot to lay low till he figured out what he was going to do.

Lana, senses blinded by her rage, ran right past her friend's hiding spot without even realizing it. "Damn it! Where are you?!"

Picking a route, she charged down it, still very mad and fuming over her lost precious boots.

((Chat?))

"That seemed to work." Balo jumped out into the open when he saw that Lana was out of sight. "Now lets see where it is..." Balo closed his eyes and put his hands on the floor. For several minuted he stayed in that position. Then he opened his eyes again.

"There it is. Now to get her some cool new boots that she will love."

After half a hour of searching, Lana finally gave up and went back to the motel, throwing herself on the bed and sulking. Those were her only boots... They might have been a little dirty, yeah, but they were still her only pair of shoes that were in fairly good condition. And Balo had burnt them to an unrecognizable crisp.

'He is so DEAD when I see him...well, dead dead...'

Balo walked out of the shop with a shoe box in a bag. He took the liberty of putting up a For Sale sign in the window.

"Hope she likes these. If not..." Balo shivered as a chill went down his spine.

He walked back to the motel. Bag in hand.

Lana was still sulking, but perked up when she heard the door open. Turning around, she stopped a very nervous Balo looking at her. She narrowed her eyes and fingered her dagger. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back here after destroying my shoes. Either you're here to repent or I might just find a new scratching post for my dagger..."

She held up the knife, the curved silver blade gleaming wickedly in the light.

Balo was in fact very nervous. He didn't know if this was going to work. "Ummmm. I sorry about the shoes okay. I didn't mean for it to go that far. If it makes it any better, I got some new ones for you." Balo handed Lana the bag then quickly retreated to a safe distance.

With a raised eyebrow, Lana sheathed her dagger and took the bag. She took out the shoebox and opened it, her breath hitching. Inside was indeed a pair of new boots, but not ordinary boots. What Balo had gotten her was a pair of knee-length, black boots with silver buckles instead of laces. The material was a special kind that was made to last through just about any condition, and to say it was expensive was an understatement. These kinds of shoes were priceless! But they went quite nicely with her white shirt, black pants, and trenchcoat.

"Balo...how did you get these? These definitely aren't cheap to get anywhere." Lana asked, her anger slowly fading away as she touched the shoes.

Balo started walking towards the door. "Hey the moon is out. Let's go. Don't want to stay here too long now do we? There are some crazy people in this town." Balo first looked out the window before opening the door.

"You're avoiding the question..." Lana muttered as she slipped the boots on, surprised that they fit perfectly. "But you're right. We've stayed here long enough. It's time to go."

Grabbing her bag, she slipped out the door with Balo, the duo walking side by side in the moonlight. Once they reached the outskirts of the city, Lana couldn't help but turn around and take a look. "Are you sure you aren't going to miss this place even the smallest bit? It's your home after all..."

Balo stopped walking. He had his head slumped down. "They say home is where the heart is. If only I could say the same thing. Seems as if the last bit of heart I had left burned away as if it was set ablaze. Now I have no place to call a home. I will never know what it feels like to have a family to come home to after school let out. Never again it home cooking.... Never again to be able to tell my mother I love her." Balo's hair went over his eyes. "Can I just go visit somewhere before we leave? It's just something I need to do." He made sure Lana couldn't see his face.

"Sure...if it will make you feel better before we head off, then you should do what you need to do. The odds are we might not be returning here." Lana said softly, following Balo to where it was he wanted to go.