Later that same day...

Upstairs in the Morgan household, their teenage son was doing school work on his desk while playing music out loud, as protest against his parents. Protest against the babysitter that was forced upon him, who hasn't even arrived yet.

Ethan's computer beeped in front of him, so he pulled up his Chatter website to see that his best friend, Benny, had sent him a video chat. He looked ecstatic, and ready to run over to Ethan's at a split second. "Hey man. Any sign of the babe-o-sitter yet?"

"No. I'm staying in my room as a sign of protest." Ethan looks proud as he states his reasoning.

"Well I'm not! First sign of babe-zilla approaching, I am there." Benny had wanted to continue making puns with the word 'babe' but was stopped in his tracks when his bedroom door opened to reveal his older brother, William.

One weird quirk the brothers have, is that Will can always tell when Ben is (trying to) flirt with girls, or just somehow senses when he says the word 'babe' alone. And he does it almost every time.

This just happened to be one of those times, especially since Benny had said the trigger word twice.

"Ben, watch it! What did I tell you about..." The older teen had started off a little upset, but he quickly trailed off when he saw the camera turned on and the computer screen displaying Ethan's amused face. He flushed lightly and stood stiff in the doorway. Liam clears his throat and walks in towards his brother. "Oh! Hey E! Did your parents leave already? Did they need me to come over?"

Liam stopped just behind Benny's chair, before pushing him out of frame entirely, "Hey! Woah!" so it was only the elder teen in the camera's shot. His curious smile was small but it was enough to tickle Ethan's stomach with butterflies. "Uh, no. They got someone else to babysit us- uh, for Jane. But I'm uh in my room as protest against them."

Ethan did not want to mention that the babysitter was Erica, especially after seeing her interact with Lee during lunch at school, he did not want him to come over just for her. No, he wasn't jealous, or anything. He just didn't want to lose a friend... or something like that.

"Do you want me to talk them out of it?" His head tilted, some of his brown hair shifting over to the other half of his head. Ethan shook his head to get rid of the 'awe' feeling that crept upon him. "No. It's fine. I don't mind just staying up in my room. Jane needs her more than I do."

"Gotcha." Liam nodded, before turning to his brother. Still sitting in his chair with his arms crossed and feigning a pout on his face. "Whoops. Sorry for, cutting in on the conversation. I'll uh let ya get back to it." He turned to leave, Benny moving back in front of his desk, but Will had almost forgot.

"Oh wait!" he slapped his brother on the back of his head, as discipline for saying 'babe' which was one of the main reasons he even walked into the room. "Ouch!"

He smiled as he reached the door, "Dinner is ready by the way, Ben. See ya, Eth!" before opening the door wider and walking out towards the stairs down to the kitchen. Ethan watched as Benny rubbed the back of his head, soothing the sting, and Ethan laughed, "Good luck with that." clicking out of the call and going back to work, the butterflies in his stomach having a hard time trying to calm down after the interaction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Growling was heard in the backyards of both the Morgan's and the Weir's. Both Ethan and Benny had heard as such, and started another video chat. One teen stood up to check out his open window, trying to see if he could find what was causing the sounds. While the other was holding up what looked a kitchen dish commonly used for draining out liquids from cooking food, and was trying to use it to better hear the sounds like a satellite dish, because it has a bunch of holes in it...

"Ya hear that? Sounds like ultimate raccoon fighting in our backyards. Sounds huge!"

Downstairs, William had heard the same noise. He just interpreted it differently. He knew it wasn't any animal, it was something bad, something evil.

In the park behind their houses, Jesse growled at Sarah, "You shouldn't have done that" after she gave him a rough kick to his lower gut. He used his vampire strength to throw the female fledgling up in the air and out of the park. To which, she landed harshly on the roof of the very house her best friend was supposed to be that night to babysit, but had ditched to go to a senior party.

She hit the tiled roof with a loud thud before she rolled down onto the bushes that were growing in front of the porch, her shadow passing quickly by in the same window Samantha and Ross Morgan sat before.

Ross stood up at the crashing sound, "Sounds like part of a tree hit the house" as the doorbell sounded through said house. Sam hurried to open the door, only to reveal a dirty, leaf ridden and shocked Sarah.

"Oh! You must be Erica, the babysitter?" The blonde mother asked Sarah, her question seemed to baffle the half-vampire, "Uh, what? Uh, no, um. She's sick, so she sent me. Uh, I'm Sarah. Can I come in? Please?"

Sarah panted while she spoke, glancing behind her towards the park to make sure she wasn't followed by the full vampire. She seemed to be in a rush, so Samantha let her in, since she believed her, "Of course...Jane! Your babysitter's here."

Jane, who had been sitting on pillows wrapped in blankets, stood up from her spot on the floor in front of the television where she had been watching 'Dusk' and walked over to greet the teen. "Hi, I'm Jane."

Her hand reached out for a greeting handshake, shaking Sarah's hand a tad too rough, before the sounds of footsteps came from above. Ethan had walked down the stairs as a delayed reaction to the door bell that rung a minute prior. At the sight of the brunette teen he had spilled his lunch on earlier that day, his stride staggered to a stop.

He had really hopped it was William, instead of her. But a plan had hatched in his brain. Maybe he could get over his child-like crush on his best friend's older brother with Sarah. Sure, it wasn't the most morally right plan, but it's the only one he has at the moment. Obviously, Lee would never like him back. He probably just sees him as the dorky neighbor kid his brother is friends with.

With a plan set, he knew what he needed to-- "Uh, Earth to Ethan." His mother caught off his thought process, and was brought back to reality. "Um, hello."

He finally acknowledged the new arrival, and was given a hesitant "Hey..." back before Jane interrupted the awkward tension with a question towards the babysitter. "Do you like 'Dance Dance Revolution'?"

Samantha watched the interaction between her daughter and the unknown fledgling with a smile, before noticing some blood on the tanned girl's arm. "Hold on a second honey. Your'e bleeding."

Sarah quickly pulled her apparently injured arm out of the mother's grasp and hid the wound under her hand. "Oh! Uh, it's nothing! I tripped on the way here. Uh, it doesn't even hurt."

Ethan took the opportunity to head back upstairs to change into something nicer, something that will make him look cooler, with the added excuse (well, its actually a reason) of getting Sarah bandages.

Sam set up the rules for babysitting, before grabbing her purse and leaving the home with her husband on her tail. Ethan walked down the stairs wearing new clothes and covered in cologne, a box of the promised bandages in his hands. He spoke out with a (seemed almost forced) smug look on his face, "Found the bandages."

Running over from the kitchen, "And we found dad's secret stash of fudge-sicles!" Jane yells, the already licked and melting fudge popsicle in her hand as she jogged into his direction. What went wrong, was her creamy treat rammed into her brother's clothed crotch, luckily causing no real damage excluding the newly stained cargo pants themselves.

"Ugh! Jane!" The brother grunted and groaned at the impact and its mess. Sarah walked up from around the corner, seeing the brown mess and laughing at the newest addition to the outfit. "Nice! I guess, now we're even."

Ethan sighed before tossing her the box, which she gently caught, when a sudden ring of a doorbell set off the babysitter's paranoia. She grabbed a colorful umbrella to use as a weapon, moving to protect the siblings as the front door opened. Only for another pair of siblings to appear instead of the actual threat that she was scared of.

"We got pop, chips, and the first season of the 'Bloodsucker Diaries', who..." Benny had trailed off, placing the pair of fake vampire fangs in his mouth out of nervousness, with William stuck behind him in the doorway. Surprise shown clear as day on the jock's face, not expecting Sarah to be replacing Erica. He mentally shook it off before nudging his brother forward into the house more so he could close the door. "Hey! Watch it!" "Just scoot in more, dork. I need to close the door."

The brothers bickered in the foyer, while the other two teens watched slightly amused but also with some uneasiness on their arrival as a whole. Sarah turned to the teen she's supposed to be watching over, "Um, where's your bathroom?"

She glanced back at the newly appeared high schoolers as Ethan answered her question, giving her directions with the point of his finger. She walked off in that direction with Jane following right behind her. William finished the small argument by slapping Benny on the back of his head, causing him to sputter to a stop.

The Weirs watched Sarah walk away, and Benny walked up to Ethan. He lowered his voice so no one but his best friend could hear him, "Dude, is that your robo-babe from school?"

Smack—!

The younger brother received another hit to the back of his head. He grunted and looked back with a hazel glare that was no match for the deep green one he got back. Turning back to Ethan, he awaited his answer. "Yes. And I guess Erica couldn't come so, she sent her instead."

Ethan started to head towards the kitchen, Benny following his lead. William instead, walked over to the living room couch, no longer wanting to be apart of the conversation. "So she's like a, substitute babe?"

"Dude-"

"Sweet!"

"No no! Not sweet! Geez, could you be less of a geek for once?" Benny placed the dvd case he had brought on the kitchen island.

"Oh yeah? This coming from the guy who looks like he pooped his pants, from the front. Nice job by the way." Ethan shook his head in offense before disagreeing as Benny rested the rest of his items on the counter. "It's fudge-sicle-"

"Anyway, lets order some 'zza. I'm starving." The striped teen pulled out his phone and calling his usual pizza place, which just so happens to know his usual order just from his voice alone.

Hearing Sarah talk loudly on the phone from the bathroom, Ethan walked over wanting to check on her, but seeing Jane by the door, he sent her off to join her favorite Weir brother in the living room.

But when he impulsively opened the already unlocked restroom door, he was faced with a new experience he never thought would happen, and left him at a loss for words. Even when Sarah was accusing him of being an 'incredible perv', he couldn't help but focus on something behind her.

Or rather, the lack of something.

She wasn't able to hold a reflection in the mirror.

He closed the door before he could get a clear vowel out, and rushed to tell his friend what he just saw. "Benny-" But he was cut off.

"All right dude. This new 'Galactica' spin-off is on tonight, and we should totally..." he trailed off at the sight of Ethan's spooked face, "Okay, what's up?"

Ethan glanced back to the bathroom door before he spoke, fumbling for the right words, "I just saw Sarah. She was- she was in front of the mirror, but not in it."

"Okay, hold up," His voice dropped in volume, "How much aftershave did you drink?" he asked, clearly not believing him for a second and showing more concern than disbelief.

"Dude, I'm serious. Her reflection was all wonky. She's not normal, okay? She's like uh-" he rolled his eyes and tried to explain further, and yet again he was cut off. This time by the very person they were talking about.

"Uh, Hey. Look, you guys don't really need a sitter, do you?" Sarah questioned, not wanting to stay in the house anymore and would rather leave to stop Erica from making a bad decision at a party being run by vampires.

Benny replied instead of the actual person she was supposed to be babysitting. "Depends on what you mean by need." He winked and clicked his tongue, in a weak effort to flirt and convince her to stay.

"No no. We're fine. My mom just likes humiliating me to make a point. Plus, Will's here to watch over Jane." Ethan assures the teen, pointing his thumb back to the living room towards the mentioned jock, who totally hasn't been listening to the entire conversation.

"Okay good. I need to find my friend Erica, I think she's in trouble-" She started to explain before getting cut off.

"Uh, maybe, I should come with you. Ya know, for protection." He walks over to join her at the backdoor, but she drops something. They both reached down to grab it, however upon contact, Ethan's eyes glazed over to a pearly white as he experienced something extremely new.

He took in a gasp as he saw flashes of a tree and graveyard, while in the other room, something very similar happened to William. Except he saw something different through his milky eyes.

Instead, he witnessed a man in bright orange cap and coat rise up from the wooden floor, fangs bared and a sliver fork in his forehead. At the bottom of his vision, was a timer that showed it counting down from one hour. When he came to, Liam quickly set the countdown on his watch.

When the other teen came back, Will remained calm as he tried to figure out what to do, and Ethan stood rigid in front of Sarah while scared out of his mind about what just happened.

"Trust me, you don't wanna go out tonight. Besides, save those muscles for protecting yourself." She chuckled, not seeing the frightened look on the boy's face. "Did you just see that?"

"Uh, later guys..." She turned leaving, giving Ethan a weird stare. Nonetheless, the newly purposed seer was speechless.

"Wow, smooth. We get a mad hot babe here and you have to immediately go and weird her out. Well done, I'm very impressed." Benny commented on the interaction with a bored tone.

"I'm telling you, I just saw something." Ethan pointed back to where Sarah had just been. "She's not normal, and I'm gonna find out what's going on."

"All right. Undercover brothers on a mission, I like it." Ben compromised with him, before he paused on their way out. "But, aren't you forgetting something?"

Jane, who had heard them heading out, walked into the kitchen. "Yeah, what are you forgetting?"

"wha-what do you mean? Will is here to watch you." Ethan countered, only to be proved wrong as the older teen walked in. "Hey, sorry. Noah is on his way to take me to the party tonight. I gotta go change..."

Liam had trailed off, looking between the other guys. "Bu- surely you can watch her for a few minutes! We'll be quick. Like twenty minutes!" Ethan rushed out, almost begging the older to stay and care for his sister while he goes out with Will's own brother. As much as Liam loved Jane, he already promised on going to the party with Noah. A friendship with a kid is easier to repair than with another teen.

"Sorry, E. I really can't. I promised Noah that I'll go. Maybe you should just stay here and actually watch over Jane." He tried to negotiate, until he came up with an idea that shown clearly on his sun kissed face.

Benny opened the back door for the new babysitter for Jane, "Thanks grandma, your'e a life saver."

"Anytime dear." She waved him off as she headed to the island in the kitchen. Will had left to send her over earlier and was quick to change into something a tad more presentable than a band tee and basketball shorts. Ethan stood next to a grumpy Jane, who is really hating the fact of her being a child who has to constantly have some supervision. He tried to comfort her as much as he could, but still in a slight rush.

After his hair was gladly fixed by his grandmother against his wishes, he gave her the low down. "Alright, now. If the pizza isn't here in, twenty-six minutes, you do not pay a dime." He checked his watch and confirmed the plan with the elder woman.

Ethan grabbed his denim jacket and was putting it on while explaining to the woman in animal print, what the actual plan was. "We will be right back, promise."

"I hate being eight." Jane grumbled.

(edited 7/23/23)

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