MAGE ; benny weir [1]

four

"What is all that stuff?"
Ellie gestured towards the numerous items that were falling out of Benny's messenger bag and onto the dimly lit sidewalk. 

"Night vision cams and infrared. You can't possibly expect to be investigating the supernatural realm without the proper equipment," he responded, louder than Ethan wanted him to be.
"Dude, just keep it on the downlow," Ethan advised. "She already thinks I'm a perv."

"I don't blame her," Ellie pursed. 

"Okay, you said that her reflection wasn't all there, right?" Benny asked. "Here's a thought: what if this is a prank for that stupid Dusk movie?"

"If this is a punk, I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" Benny yelled into the street trees. Ellie and Ethan shushed him as they continued to make their way into town. 

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"It's hopeless. We lost her," Benny panted. "Must. Have. Pizza...!"

"She's out here. I-I feel it," Ethan responded.
"What does that even mean?" Ellie groaned. Ethan ignored her question and Benny's hungry complaints as they continued into a rustling alleyway. The space between the two buildings was covered in trash and old garbage bags... and smelt absolutely gross.

"Wait, stop," Ellie said, pointing to the piled trash bins. "There's something in there."
"Night vision engaged," Benny said, grabbing his digicam and lifting it to his eyes.

Ethan and Ellie grew confused as they watched Benny's face suddenly contort from curiosity to horror. It wasn't until he began to hyperventilate when Ellie came to his aid.

"What? Benny, what is it?" she kept asking. Benny wasn't moving an inch as he stood in frozen fear. Ellie tugged the night vision goggles from Benny's hands and inserted her eyes into the binoculars.

Her eyes went wide like Benny's. She couldn't even say what she was looking at.
"We should leave. W-We should leave right now," Benny choked, barely getting any words out. Ethan finally grabbed the goggles to get to the bottom of Benny and Ellie's reactions.

The sight of Sarah ready to eat a rat, accompanied with glowing eyes and fangs, engulfed Ethan's sight. The three geeks finally succumbed to their fright and did what any normal person would do... scream in terror.
Sarah bared her fangs and hissed at the group, causing a chain reaction between the three to shove one another until they were fully booking it down the street.

"We are so dead!" yelled Ethan, who led Benny and Ellie down the block as they joined hands in fright.
"Speak for yourself! Skinny guy coming through! WARP NINE!" Benny screamed. 

"Remember Halo? Level three? Evasive maneuvers!" Benny panted. "Alpha, phi, strike, delta six, engage!" he yelled before hitting a giant pot on the side of the street and landing on his back.
"You both missed the pattern..." he groaned in pain. 

"Sometimes, we just skim through your emails," Ethan said followed by Ellie nodding.
"Fair enough."

Ellie helped him up before Sarah suddenly jumped in front of them, leading them all to scream once again. "What is your problem?!" she yelled, angry that these nerds were following her. 

"If you ate us, that would be so not cool!" Ethan begged as Benny shoved Ellie behind him. If he was going to get eaten, he wanted to at least protect her in his final moments.

"If I wanted to eat you, I would have done it by now," Sarah stated, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders.
"See, she's gonna eat us! We're dead!" Ellie cried.
"No, no, I just want to talk to you guys!" she tried saying before Ethan grabbed a branch from the sidewalk and snapped it in half, creating a cross.

"Demon of the night, be gone!" he yelled.
"Guys, whatever you saw was not what it looks like," Sarah tried to explain.

"You're a freaking vampire who eats animals and drinks their blood!" Ellie yelled from behind Benny. He held her back more in fear.
"Okay, so it's kind of what it looks like... but-!"

"I'm warning you now. I had garlic bread for lunch and I'm not afraid to use my breath," Benny said before Sarah finally got fed up with the nerd squad. 

"Would you all just shut up?! I'm just a normal girl, okay? Well, I was before I got bit by my crummy ex-boyfriend," she explained, crossing her arms in defeat. 

"Wait, are you talking about Jesse?" Ellie asked, picking up an eyebrow.
"Yes, and I'm technically still a fledgling until I drink human blood, which I really don't want to do so..." Sarah said before trailing off her sentence. "I have a couple of days to drink human blood or my mortal body dies."

"So, you're sure this isn't some stupid thing for that Dusk movie?" Benny asked.
"I wish. I'll get you three home and if I'm lucky, I can find Erica before it's too late," Sarah told them. 

"W-What's about to happen to Erica?" Ellie stuttered.
"The same thing that happened to me."

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"Ugh, finally!" Jane exclaimed when all four of them walked in. "Grandma passed out like five songs ago and she has about zero boom-boom-pow! Can we please play now?" she asked Sarah, grabbing her hand and trying to drag her to the TV.
"Sorry, but I gotta go."

"Just be careful and please don't tell anyone about... you know," Sarah told Ethan, Benny and Ellie.
"We'll be fine, and no one believes anything Benny says, anyways," Ellie assured her.
"It's true," Benny agreed. 

"I'm serious. And whatever you do, DO NOT let a vampire into your house. It's your only safe haven," she warned them, hoping they could remember that for the future.
"We've got it," Ethan said, giving her a thumbs up.

Sarah ran out the front door, leaving the three standing awkwardly in Ethan's foyer.
"Dude, a thumbs up?" Benny joked. "After all that? A thumbs up?!"