Welcome to Paranormal Central

I'm woken up by the same loud engine I heard the night before.

"Five more minutes," I answer groggily. A loud crash from above me wakes me further.

"What?! I'm up." I spring up off the floor. I notice that I'm naked. Again. I sigh and look around for my clothes. I spot them on the floor in a heap. I distinctly remember folding them nicely and placing them on the end of the cot.

I scoop up my clothes and eye the cot. It's in pieces. The metal frame is broken and the sad excuse for a blanket is now in tatters. Well, that explains my clothes not being there. I shake out my pants and send a quick prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening that these aren't ribbons like the blanket. My shirt didn't survive as nicely, though. It's still wearable, but there are distinct claw marks around the hem and a rather large bite mark on the back of the neck.

Light hits my eyes as Garrett moves the metal door above my head.

"Damn, dude, you're a loud one." The ladder descends towards me. I scowl at him as I climb the ladder to the barn.

"It was your idea to have me down there."

"I know, and I'm glad there wasn't anyone around. It sounded like you were killing something down there."

"No, just playing. I was bored, so I decided to play with the food cans." He pokes his head down to see. He shakes his head incredulously before he realizes what I said. His head whips out of the doorway in the floor and whirls around to stare at me.

"What do you mean you were bored?" His tone has me concerned. Like I said something wrong. I shrug.

"I don't know. I mean, I wasn't hungry because of the food you got me. And I wanted something to do, so I was playing with the stuff down there."

"You mean, you remember what happened?"

"Yeah," I start to say slowly, then I remember what Joshua said about most changelings not being able to remember what happens during their transformation.

"The only way you could remember is if..." Garrett trails off. Then he snaps out of it, waves his hand, and starts to head towards where the car was parked yesterday.

"Come on," he shouts back to me. I follow him outside. Since my shirt is ruined, I go to the back of the car and get my suitcase out. I grab a new shirt from my suitcase, change, and then throw the ruined one in the suitcase intending to get rid of it once we get to Beartown. I hop in the front seat and we're off again.

"Look, I know about changelings and those that can remember their transformations. But that's no reason for you to get worked up." I tell Garrett once we're back on the highway.

"You don't seem to understand. You say you know about the whole thing. Then you know that only the royal line can remember their transformations, right? Well, my father would stop at nothing to get his hands on a royal line of the changelings. There hasn't been a crowned prince or even a king for as long as I've lived."

"And just how long is that?"

"Long enough." I don't miss the fact that he refuses to tell me how old he is. "The point is, don't let anyone know that you're from the royal line. It could be bad for you."

"Okay. I don't really have any other choice but to trust you, do I?"

"Nope. Better get used to this handsome mug, you're stuck with me." There's his million-watt smile again.

"How much further?" I ask him. I'm getting really tired of being stuck in the car.

"We're about halfway there. So, another six hours or so." I groan. "Don't worry about it. We'll play car games." I give him a yeah, I don't think so look. He laughs and faces front.

I stare out the side window at the passing trees. That's about the only thing out here, trees.

"Slug bug. Yellow. No slug backs." Garrett punches me in the arm. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a bright yellow car fly by in the opposite direction.

"Ow!" I scowl at him, rubbing my arm where he hit me. He grins at me again, flashing his fang.

"Come on, dude, no reason we can't enjoy the drive. It's a beautiful day out and there's like no traffic out here, ever."

"Sorry. I know you're just trying to help. I just miss my family. I miss Max; I didn't even get a chance to let him know what's going on. He's my best friend and we've always told each other everything, but I can't even tell him this." A tear runs down my cheek. Garrett looks over, worried.

"Hey, man. I get it. I mean, I'm a vampire. If anyone can sympathize with you about losing loved ones, it's definitely a vampire." He reaches over and rubs my arm in a friendly, caring gesture. Even at the gentle touch, I feel electricity spark through my arm. He pulls his arm back quickly. I don't say anything and neither does he. He just puts his hands on the wheel and guns the engine again.

Garrett distracts me and gets me laughing as we drive with stupid road games, really bad jokes, and funny stories of him and Jamie as kids.

"I kid you not," Garrett is in the middle of telling me about the first time he tried to drive a car. "Those first cars only went like 25 maybe 30 miles an hour, and, still, I managed to almost drive me and Jamie in a ditch." He's laughing wholeheartedly as he tells the story, which, in turn, has me laughing with him. "Since then, Jamie refuses to get in a car with me." He laughs again. "And it's been over a hundred years."

"Damn," I chuckle, playfully shoving his arm, "You musta really pissed her off."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault," he says incredulously. I give him a Uh huh, yeah right look. "Okay," he concedes, "it wasn't entirely my fault. The damn car, or automobile as we called them then, was faulty. The steering was off, and they certainly didn't drive like the kick ass cars we have now. Besides, she shouldn't have yelled like that. It was distracting."

"I wish I could have seen the look on her face when the side of the car tipped like that."

"It was priceless. Of course, she totally got back at me later."

"What happened?"

"Let's just say, there's a reason I drive everywhere I can instead of taking a plane."

"Oh dear." I giggled.

"Hey, you getting hungry?" He says suddenly. I nod as I realize that my stomach is indeed growling. He must be able to hear my stomach long before I can feel it. He signals, moves over a lane, and gets off the highway.

"At least you don't have to scarf it down today. No more changing till next month."

"What about you? What are you going to eat?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine for a while. I have all the supplies I'll need for the trip. What do you want?"

I scan the roadside to see what's available. There isn't much out here, but I spot a familiar fast-food restaurant with a friendly little girl as their mascot. I tell Garrett to go there.

We get my food from the drive-thru, and Garrett is back on the highway heading East.

"There's something I wanted to ask, but I forgot to ask Joshua." I say between bites of my bacon burger. I seem to be craving meat increasingly.

"Ask away, but if it was intended for Josh, I can't guarantee I know the answer."

"How come Joshua can shift so quickly, but it takes me forever? I mean, I know we're different species, but I'd think that shifting is relatively the same. Especially, considering both of our species were created in almost the same way."

"Oh that. Well, that's an easy one. The more a shifter, or even a changeling as far as I understand, transforms, the smoother it will go. Josh has been shifting for hundreds of years. So, it stands to reason that he can shift quickly and relatively painlessly. I asked him the same thing many years ago. That's what he told me."

"How long have you known Joshua?"

"Oh, about 150 years. He was pretty young when I met him. I wasn't too seasoned myself at that time."

"Are you ever going to tell me how old you are?"

"Does it bother you? Not knowing."

"A little."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just really want to know how old you are. You look like you're 18 or 19. It's kind of weird. I mean, you've told me stories dating back almost two centuries, and I still don't know how old you are."

"Well, maybe one day, I'll tell you." I sit back against the seat in silence and finish my food.

"We're almost there," Garrett says after what feels like hours. "Just about another half an hour."

Suddenly, I'm nervous. Will I fit in alright? Will the paras there accept me? Will I hurt someone on accident? Purpose? All these questions start swirling around in my mind. I voice a few of them to Garrett.

"Don't worry, man. They're gonna love you there." My heart skips a beat at hearing him say "love." I think I hear him say, "I know I am." Of course, it could just be my wishful thinking. I feel myself being drawn increasingly to this mysterious vampire that only lets me see parts of himself.

I'm lost in thought so long that, in what feels like a few seconds, Garrett announces that we've crossed the town border of Beartown. I look out the window. The main street of the town looks like any other main street of any other town in America. The closer I look, however, the more that I see that it's not like any other town.

The shop names are so cutely named so that the average passer-by would think they're just a clever play on names, but to someone in the paranormal community, it's more obvious.

There's the general grocery, Hawk's Eye Groceries. The pharmacy, Witch's Brew Drug Store. The ice cream parlor, Polar Bear Scoops. And many more incorporating the other factions of shifters, vampires, fairies, even the trolls. The one faction I don't see represented is changelings.

Garrett doesn't miss the look on my face as we pass through Main Street. He doesn't say anything, but he does take his hand off the steering wheel and place it on mine, which is resting on my knee. I swear I feel a jolt before he takes it off my hand and puts it back on the wheel.

He makes his way past the main buildings and into an area that is set up like a suburban subdivision. He pulls into the driveway of one of the townhomes and shuts the engine off.

"Here we are." He says but doesn't make any move to get out of the car. I look around, slightly stunned. He laughs. I could listen to that sound all day.

"What were you expecting? Towering mansions with spires reaching to the clouds and lightening flashing in the background?"

"Well, maybe not exactly that." I blush because I think a part of me was thinking just that. He chuckles again and, this time, opens the door to get out.

"Well, we should get your things out of the car and into the house."

"Whose house is this?"

"It's mine," he says and thankfully his back is to me, so he doesn't see my step faulter.

"I'll be living with you?" I try to sound casual.

"Not really. I mean, I own it, but I don't live here." I can't even say how disappointed I am about that. "You can stay here as long as you need to. You can find another place that suits you or whatever you want. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

I don't comment. I don't want him to know just how much I was thinking, looking forward to really, living with him. Part of my brain reminds me that I've only met this guy a few days before. Then the part that doesn't give a shit tells that part to shut the hell up. But that part of my brain just doesn't stop and reminds me that I don't even know if he'd be into me at all. Once again, the doesn't give a shit part of my brain is fighting with the more rational part.

"Dude? You okay?" Garrett asks, waving his hand in front of my face. I shake my head.

"Huh? Yeah. Sorry. Uh, just spacing." My cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"Uh huh. Okay. Well, you wanna see the place?" He walks to the front door and unlocks it, throwing the door open wide so I can see inside. It's nowhere near as lavish as Joshua's, but I don't think even Buckingham Palace can compare with some of the pieces that Joshua has. It's small, comparatively, but not in a claustrophobic way. It's more cozy, intimate.

I walk into the entryway and look around at the living room to my left and kitchen to my right.

"It's perfect. Thank you." I smile at Garrett, which gets him to smile back at me.

"Awesome. Let's get your things inside." He heads to the car and opens the trunk. He grabs the bigger of the two suitcases and hefts it on his right shoulder. Then he grabs the smaller suitcase and tucks it under his left arm. He then leads the way into the house.

I grab the box from the backseat and follow him in.

He passes the living room and kitchen and starts up the stairs at the back of the house. Upstairs, he leads me to one of two doors in the hallway. He shoulders it aside and enters.

"This is the bedroom. We can get some furniture for the house. I only keep the basics here." I peak my head through the doorway. There's a bed and a nightstand in the middle of the room, but that's it. The bed is just a mattress and box spring on a metal frame.

"It's cool. This is fine. I can get some sheets and stuff later."

"Nah, don't be silly. There're sheets in the closet." He walks over to the closet and sets down my suitcases. He then opens the closet door to reveal a chest of drawers. In the top drawer is a pile of white sheets. He takes out a fitted sheet and tosses it onto the bed. Then he goes into the drawer underneath the one with the sheets. From there, he grabs a blanket and tosses it onto the bed with the sheet.

"That should hold you for a little while. If you want, we can move this dresser out of the closet."

"It's fine there."

"Okay, I'll just leave you to get unpacked. If you need anything, my number is on a pad on the fridge downstairs. Welcome to Beartown." He says with a smile, flashing his fangs again. I stumble over my good-bye as he leaves.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I tell myself, hitting my forehead with each word.

Since there's not a damn thing I can do about it, I attempt to put my bumbling, school-boy actions out of my mind. I crouch down and open up the first suitcase.

After I finish unpacking, I get changed into some clothing that isn't dirty and smelly from travel. Then, I decide to head out and check out the town.

I get halfway down the stairs before I realize that Garrett never gave me a key to the house. Thinking I need to add finding Garrett and getting a key to my list of things to do, I walk into the kitchen. On the counter next to the fridge, is a notepad with a letter written in a beautiful sprawling script and a set of keys, one silver, one brass.

"C,

I realized I forgot to give you these upstairs, but I didn't want to interrupt your settling in. The brass colored one is for the deadbolt and the silver one is for the bottom lock. I locked the bottom on my way out, but I had no way of locking the top since this is the only set of keys.

If you aren't too busy later, stop by the Blood Bar. It's a bar and restaurant near the edge of town closest to you. We can have dinner and I'll introduce you around. If you don't feel up to it, no big. If you do, I'll see you around six.

Again, welcome to Beartown, and I hope you like it here.

G"

My face lights up in a smile as I reread the note. I tuck the note and keys in my pocket, check to make sure I have my phone and wallet, and head out the front door, making sure to lock up behind me.

I look around, first down one way of the street then down the other. I know which direction we came from, so I decide to head that way, back into town.

I take a left from the end of my walkway and follow the sidewalk till it gets to the main road we drove in on. There are no sidewalks on the main road and, while this causes a bit of an inconvenience, it's not too big of a deal. I turn right, keeping to the side of the road, and head into town. I make sure to keep my bearings while walking by noting certain trees or marks in the pavement.

I've only been walking for about fifteen minutes and already I can see the edges of town. I check my watch and I have about an hour and a half before I'm supposed to meet Garrett. I decide to check out some of the stores along Main Street.

The first store I come to is Hawk's Eye Grocery. I figure I'll probably spend quite a bit of time in there, so I head in to look around.

The store is small, as many small-town grocery stores are, yet there are quite a few patrons in here. There are two checkout lanes up front by the big window advertising the specials. There's a worker at each checkout wearing bright reddish-orange aprons with the store name embroidered on the fronts.

"Hello. Welcome to Hawk's. If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask. Anyone of us wearing a red apron can help you." The chippy, bubbly voice belongs to one of the checkers. She's a pretty girl, who looks to be in her late teens. Of course, as I've learned, she could look nineteen and be two hundred and nineteen.

I wave at her and respond, "Thanks. I'm just checking out the local stores for now, but if I need any help, I'll be sure to ask."

Her customer service smile changes and recognition hits her.

"You're Caleb, aren't you?" she asks me, closing her register down since there's no one else in line. My mouth drops open.

She comes out from behind her register and grasps my hand. Her olive-colored skin is soft, but her grip is strong as she pumps my hand enthusiastically. Her dark brown, short hair should make her look like a boy, but it has the opposite effect. The short hair just accentuates her femininity and soft jaw line.

"It's wonderful to meet you. Let me show you around the store."

My mouth finally snaps shut as I find my voice.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry. Josh called his brother, Walter, and let him know that you'd be coming. He said to not worry about you paying for groceries, just to put it on his tab."

"Oh. Okay. I'll have to call him and thank him."

"My name is Cindy by the way. That there," she says pointing to the other checker, a guy in about his mid-twenties with long, blond hair dyed sporadically with just about every color of the rainbow pulled back in a ponytail, "is Tony. I'm a hawk, in case you were wondering. Tony is tiger. Yes, I'm serious and yes, he hates it. So, I wouldn't say anything to him about it."

"They, if you don't mind. Also, I was born long before that cereal munching bastard. Fucker took my name, not the other way around," Tony says from behind the register with a scowl. They shake their head. On their cheek is a tiger's paw with the claws angled towards their neck. The claw marks wrap to the back of their neck. I meekly wave. Between is scowl, long hair, and their species' mark, they look like someone I wouldn't want to mess with. The guy he is checking out is obviously used to their ramblings because he just chuckles and says to Tony, "Yeah, Tone, we know." He then turns to me and says, "Hey, Caleb. I'm Walter, Josh's big brother. We're happy to have you here in town." He's large, bigger than his brother, but I can definitely see the family resemblance. "Why don't you come by the station in the next day or two so we can talk?"

"Okay. Sure thing. Thanks, Sheriff Smithin."

"Oh, sweetie, we're not that formal around here," Cindy tells me waving a delicate hand dismissively. Walter rolls his eyes at her and smiles.

Cindy drags me around the store pointing out where this and that is. The best days to buy fruit and vegetables or which times to avoid the store because of kids from the local school come in.

By the time I leave the grocery store, forty-five minutes later, my head is buzzing with information. Since the store is only about ten aisles, most of that time was spent with the ever chippy Cindy going on about who's who in town.

I stumble out of the store while waving behind me at Cindy and Tony. I seem to have won Tony's approval by agreeing to that they're much cooler than the cereal tiger. I chuckle a bit remembering Tony's face when I declared that any cereal that holds that traitorous feline will not be gracing my cabinets. It was an easy promise to make, I'm not a fan of the cereal in the first place.

It's become common for me to stop in Hawk's for a chat and a soda over the last few weeks before meeting up with Garrett at the Blood Bar.

This day has been like any other. The sparks between me and Garrett have been flying, but he hasn't so much as made a move. I'm too scared he'll reject me if I'm the one to make the first move.

I'm lost in thought so much, I don't notice the person walking towards me with their head down till the last minute. We collide before I have a chance to dodge them, spilling their bags and papers on the sidewalk. I bend down to help them pick up their belongings.

"I'm so sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going," I apologize quickly, bagging up empty pill bottles.

"No harm done. Thank you for your help," comes the reply in a deep, masculine voice. I look up and I'm struck by just how gorgeous he is. His blond hair could use a trim as it hangs in his face. His icy blue eyes, which are set deep in a chiseled face that surely Michaelangelo himself had carved from marble, look at me quizzically. His skin is nearly as white as the marble I imagine.

He stands to his full height and straightens his shoulders. He stands just a head taller than me. I look away from his face as I realize I've been staring.

"I'm heading right in here." He gestures to the door we're standing in front of. I look up at the sign above the door. We're currently blocking the entrance for the pharmacy. That explains the pill bottles.

"Here, let me." I fumble to open the door for him.

"Thanks." He passes by me through the open door, and I get a whiff of clove and lavender. My mouth waters, but not for food. Get ahold of yourself, Hemming, I tell myself. For good measure, I give myself a slap on the cheek to get myself out of this daze.

"Come on in," he invites me before I have a chance to shut the door. I follow him in, silently. He makes his way through the cough medicine and Ace bandages to the back of the store. To the right, it looks more like a new age shop than a pharmacy. Directly in front of where he leads me, he ducks behind a counter with a sign on it "Your pharmacist is in: Alexis Corey" and pops back up on the other side. My heart stutters. Alexis is Garrett's ex. I can meet his ex without the awkwardness of having Garrett there to judge how I react.

"Uh, excuse me." I say to him.

"Yes? Is there something you're looking for specifically? If not, I can show you around the store in a minute. Just let me put this stuff away."

"That's fine. I was just wondering when the pharmacist was going to be in."

"Oh. That's me." I do a double take.

"You're Alexis?"

"Yeah." He chuckles. "Let me guess, you were expecting a female. Don't feel bad, most people do. Including my parents, which is how I ended up with my name. Call me Lex."

"You're Garrett's ex?" He looks at me and cocks his head to the side. "I'm sorry," I say backing away from the counter, "I shouldn't have said anything." I continue backing away, not paying attention where I'm going, and I run into a stand-alone display of stuffed animals. My feet get tangled in the display's metal rack and it and I go down. I smack my head on the floor hard enough to see stars.

"Oh, my goodness," Alexis, rushes out from behind the counter to check on me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry. I'll pay for anything that broke."

"Don't worry about that. Are YOU okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Just my pride and a small bump on my head. I'll be fine." I sit up and start to clean up my mess. He puts his hand on mine and my cleaning ceases.

"Don't worry about the display. I'm more concerned about you."

"I'll be fine. I swear. Just please don't say anything of this to Garrett. Please." I plead with him. He sits back and crosses his heart in an "X" motion.

"Cross my heart. I won't say anything."