Vampires of the Sun by Kathyn J. Knight

it.”
                  “I don’t want to. I’m so angry at them. How could they keep this from me? How could they allow Mauve to treat me so badly? No, I’d like to be as far from them as possible. What can I do to help?” Throwing the empty blood bag back into the sack it came from, Norah stood up. She was ready to get her hands dirty metaphorically and stop acting like a damsel in distress.
                  “I’m almost done actually. And as for what you can do, it’s whatever you want. As long as you don’t go into the sun, you’ve got an eternity to decide. Even then, after a few thousand years I hear that the sun won’t even be a problem. I’ve never met a vampire who has lived that long. It’s just a rumor really. We can go anywhere from here. We should leave this town honestly. Austin isn’t a safe place for you anymore.” Stepping on the dirt to smooth it with his feet, Jack threw down the shovel and turned to look back at her.
                  “Can we stop by my old condo? I need to find Maxine and I could get money for clothes or whatever we need. I can’t keep wearing this. It’s not exactly Halloween so I think a blood soaked dress might make waves.” She really needed to get cleaned up.
                  “We can’t. Even if it wasn’t likely to be watched, it’s completely empty. I’ve already went there when I was first looking for you. They cleared it out. I guess your parents never intended to keep living there once you were turned. They had you in captivity for over a month. As for you dog, I already rescued her. She was wandering around outside your building looking hungry and dirty. She bit me a couple of times but I managed to take her back to James’s place” Jack motioned for her to follow him and she did, surprised when her feet weren’t in pain from her bare feet stepping on rocks and stickers in the sparse patches of grass. It felt like she was gliding and in control of her of her arms and legs in a way she hadn’t been before.
     
     
                  The ground Norah had been buried in was an empty patch between a church and parking lot belonging to an old, already-shut down convenience store. Everything around them looked run down, and the dark didn’t mask the rustic nature of the scenery. It was sparse, empty, and on the outskirts of Austin.
                  Jack headed for the only car in the parking lot; a black Hyundai Genesis. Norah followed him in, claiming the leather passenger seat after making an attempt to dust herself off. When Jack started up the car, softly playing jazz filled Norah’s ears.
                  “I didn’t take you for a jazz person.” She offered up to break the silence that had set in.
                  “I listen to everything almost. Anything that can make me feel something inside.” His hand reached out and turned the volume up slightly with a smile on his face.
                  “Where are we going then? I know you want to get away from town. I agree that we should leave but I wouldn’t know where to go.” Before meeting Jack, Norah had thought about just disappearing from her current life. She could have run off to meet keira10001 and begun to live in NYC. She tossed around the thought for fun, thinking about what it would be like. But she wasn’t discontent with her life so it was only a passing fancy. “What if we went north? Way far north, I mean up to Idaho? There are woods there and a beautiful lake near the Canadian border. I saw some pictures once on my social media.” She wanted to say that they should go to New York City but the reality of what they both hit her hard and she no longer thought it would be a good idea to meet keira10001 until she knew she was in control of herself.
                  “I don’t think we need to bother going that far. The U.S. is a large place. Even searching for you one