We waited for the doors to open, waiting by the loading dock, trucks ready to take on their vast loads. The doors opened and the trolleys were pulled out and every vamp grabbed one, taking a section each, raiding it for everything they could fit in the trolleys. I moved through the department store. One of the vamps took the book section, taking every single book he could fit in. I went to the baby section, knowing it would be a necessity, baby clothes - every single article was taken from the racks and by the time I had finished the trolley was full. I raced it back to the doors, collecting another trolley to get toys, nappies, feeding equipment. The shelves were bare as I took the last trolley load to the doors, the other trolleys were being loaded out the doors into the waiting truck. I grabbed another trolley and raided the entertainment section, CD's, DVD's, games, the glass windows got smashed and the consoles were taken. I watched as another vamp raced past with a trolley load of toys, then rushed back with an empty one. Everyone was in a hurry, knowing that we could hit the shop over in an hour and get the truck on its way to the compound after a few shops. Once I had finished with the entertainment section, I went down to household goods, things that I would never have thought of. Being that I have maids to tend to my household duties, I had not thought of something as simple as a clothes peg. But there it was, the laundry section, the kitchen utensils, bed linen. For a second I thought I was out of my league, but then my mind snapped at me, telling me that Jonah would be waiting for this. As the last of the things was removed the head of the king's guard did a final check with me, whilst the storage area out the back was raided. The truck doors shut, the driver and his guard were sent on their way and we took another truck to another store, this time it was a baby specialist store that we were going to knock over.

Two days of knocking stores over had passed. There were a few stores that had already been raided and were very empty. Some places had been trashed, graffiti all over the walls, things smashed to the ground. I had wondered if there would be enough space for all of this at the compound because every single department store, baby store, libraries, arcades, clothing stores, furniture stores, electrical stores that we could find was raided. The trucks would leave and we would move on to the next store. The last on our list was the grocery shops. We couldn't get too much from these ones, just the non-perishables, everything else was rotten. But it was worth it, every single item that we could take, we did, right down to cleaning products. As the boxes of cloth nappies were loaded onto the truck I wondered about the babies.

"We should raid a maternity wing."

The head kings guard nodded at me and once the supermarket had been emptied of everything we could use, we moved onto the hospital. I wasn't sure of what was needed, none of us had any clue. So, again we took everything. Cribs, blankets, equipment, even the beds. Thank the stars we have the big trucks to haul this stuff. When we had filled the last truck that we had stolen, we discussed the next move. Trying to think if there was something that we may have missed.

"I suppose we could always come back, once the trucks have been emptied."

"Of course and next time we raid a hospital we could bring a nurse with us to advise us."

"Yes, that is a good idea."

The last of the things were loaded onto the truck and we were on our way, we were going to the compound.

**********************************

I dreamily gazed out the window of the truck, watching the landscape was monotonous. It was the same, minute after minute would pass and all I would see was dark red dirt, ripples formed in the ground as the wind had carved its path. Something glinted in the rear vision mirror, a flick of light from the sun as it hit something metal behind us. It was enough to get my attention, I focused in on the person on the motorcycle.

"We have company." I said to the driver. "My side, motorcycle."

"Human?"

"I don't know but it's gaining fast."

I was worried for about a micro second, something jumped onto the motorcyclist, taking it down quickly.

"Humph." I snorted. "Something got it."

I kept watching, not there was a lot of point, the driver was going too fast to keep the figure in the mirror for too long. But I was glad that I kept watching, whatever it was that jumped on the motor cyclist was now chasing us, and it didn't look human. I hear a thump sound on the back of the trailer.

"Shit, what was that?" the driver says.

I crane my head trying to look at the roof of the trailer, not really wanting to wind the window down.

"Hey." he taps on the window scaring the shit out of me.

"What the hell are you doing out there Finn?"

I wind the window down and let him in.

"Jeepers, you scared the crap out of me."

He chuckled. "I was on my way to the compound, saw what you naughty vamps have been up to and decided to hitch a ride. Then I saw your friend back there and decided you might need a bit of help."

"Friend?"

"Rogue."

"Oh, was there only the one?"

"Yes, lucky for you."

We reach the compound about an hour after Finn decided to make his presence known. Jonah was relieved that we had made it, obviously someone had told him that we were almost attacked by a rogue. Then he delighted in giving me the grand tour of the compound, the trucks sitting to one side, waiting to be unloaded, the building was fully complete and the interiors were well under way. Once the building was fully done, the workers would be able to stay in the building rather than the caravans. Jonah said that made them work faster, knowing that a building was far better than a leaking caravan. An internal wall had been put up around one end of the building, this was to be the area for the humans to get their sunshine. There would also be gardens for them to tend but as we turned the corner to an open field I was stunned. A brilliant idea of Jonah's, growing their own crops. The humans could tend the field and in return they would be rewarded either with money or maybe a donation free day, that part he hadn't thought about yet. The ground looked like it was ready for the crops to be sown, the land had been tilled and looked better than anywhere I had seen.

"I want to stay here with you, help you."

"Ivy, you should be at home where you will be safe."

"I will be safe here, you know I will. My place is here, setting up the building, getting those trucks unloaded and getting this place ready. The humans will grow suspicious if we take too long with this."

"How so?"

"The gates to the northern rim are one way now." I grin.

"Oh." he says with a smirk. "Well then, best get on with it."

The rest of the day was spent in the new building, anything that could be done by someone with no knowledge about building was given to me, like painting. By the evening when everyone decided that they had had enough I was beat. My hand had a permanent pain, the muscles had constricted into one position. I climbed down the ladder in total pain, as I turned around Jonah was standing behind me.

"First day is always the worst."

"Especially if you are a princess who has spent her entire life in total luxury, never lifting a finger."

He chuckles.

"You'll get used to it." he tugs my hand. "Come with me."

He leads me to the end of the room, there is a set of stairs. Two flights up there is a vast area, at one end is a large wall with one door.

"This will be the main office area." he opens the door. "My... our office?"

I grin at him.

"Being given a promotion on my first day?" I giggle until I turn into the room and see a mattress and a pile of blankets on the floor. He had tried to tidy it, but this was Jonah's usual effort at bed making. Lacklustre.

"I was thinking more along the lines of bribing your way to the top." he sniggers.

"Oh you cheeky boss man."

He closes the door and led me to the mattress.

"I have missed you."

The breeze was cool as the storm set in, it began to howl. I snuggled into his embrace, my head on his chest. I could hear the workers complaining about the weather, trudging their way into the building, out of the bad weather. It might be terrible weather but I didn't want to be anywhere else. This was where I found my happiness, with him, right here.