Kieran loved winter, for many reasons. The first and perhaps more important was the long night hours. He could be out for over 12 hours and there would be absolutely no light. Only restriction to a vampire, can be out in the daylight. The second was the long mall hours with the approach of christmas. He could shop for a while if he felt like it.

He was dressed in a dark blue shirt and black clean pants. To complement the outfit by a long, winter style clean coat. He wore a forest scarf to cover his pale neck. It was his usual style of dress and his hair was up in the traditional ponytail. He was off to shop and get more shirts. The only ones he had where in different shades of blue, he needed a more versatile wardrobe. He found a store that seemed up to his normal caliber of clothing. Unlike most vampires he actually paid for what he bought.

He walked into the store and looked at different shirts. He saw people in the store give him looks and he flashed a mom and her daughter a smile, getting blushes from both of them. He winked at the daughter and continued his way in the mall. He should come to the mall more often.

William entered the mall still wondering how on earth he got talked into a black tie event. He had given those up years ago, but he made a promise and they knew he was in town for a while so all there was to do was admit defeat and get him a tux.

Stopping at the directory he reviewed the map and found the tuxedo shop that his acquaintance had told him about. After finding that he took note of a few of the other shops around the mall of interest. He saw Hooters for a bite to eat, a boot shop to maybe find a new pair to replace the more than broken in ones on his feet at the moment and all the book shops.

Set on his plan he decided to cross the mall to knock out getting fit for his new tux first so then he could lounge about the mall for the rest of the afternoon and evening, it would be hours until the club he liked would be open anyway.

As he walked through the mall, he noticed that he was getting a few looks. He smiled as he remembered that he was the only over 6 foot tall cowboy to be seen.

Kieran got a red shirt and a forest green shirt. He held them out and placed them against his upper body, giving them a critical look. The red one looked good on him and the green looked interesting. Maybe it was because he wasn't used to wearing those colours that they looked awkward. He tilted his head to one side as he placed the green against his chest again and looked into the mirror.

He finally nodded, he'd take both. He moved to the cashier when a man caught his eye. He was over six feet tall and quite easy to see from his view. He rapidly paid for the shirts, thanking the man at the cashier with his scottish accent and quickly exited the store.

He followed the man and watched him closely. He made sure he wasn't too close nor too far behind. The man had his interest, that was for sure. He was extremely tall too, you didn't see men that tall very often. Who was this man?

Stopping in front of the tuxedo store storefront he hung his head slightly shaking it with a grin on his face as he held his one last private protest for having to wear such clothes.

With a deep breathe he stepped into the store and was greeted by a leery attendant who was sure this man might be lost, but acting like that was bad for business so he politely asked William how he could be of assistance and the story was unfolded.

The attendants face lit up when he heard that this was going to be a cash purchase and of the quality of tuxedo being demanded. For the next hour the clerk and William proceeded to assemble the suit.

As he was left to wait for material and the like to be brought out from the back, William would take the opportunity to look out into the mall to people watch.

Kieran saw him walk into the tuxedo store and sat one of the benches across from the store and crossed his legs, keeping an eye on the man, without being obvious. He placed his bag at his feet and kept a close eye on it as well.

He relaxed and knew that the man inside would be busy for a while, so he let his eye wander to the multiple people walking across the mall. He caught talk about the cute guy with the ponytail and looked towards the group of girls. He grinned at them and they dissolved into giggles. It was so easy to please women, especially younger ones.

Life was good, he could seduce women and get a meal out of it. He wasn't going to argue, if he wanted a coven, he would be a Nephim, pure and simple. He loved there lifestyle and followed it perfectly. So how long was this man going to take inside the tuxedo store?

William made a subconscious note of the youth that lingered on the bench from across the store as he noted the consistency of his position as others came and went, a habit formed earlier in life during the war.

All was figured out and in order. William stood up on the platform as instructed as the tailor took his measurements. With that done, he stepped up to the counter and paid them in cash and took the fitting date slip and receipt he was handed. Pushing the paper into the upper breast pocket of his jean jacket he stepped out of the store and into the life the flowed in the main mall corridors.

Looking around, he noticed the boy still sitting over across the way but paid him little mind. Crossing the way he began walking towards the boy until he was able to turn left and flow with the others that were heading in the same direction.

Kieran knew that the tall man had seen him, he watched him from the corner of his eyes and kept a relaxed position. The man simply fascinated Kieran, he had never seen a man so tall, dressed that way. Perhaps he should dress that way and try it out. He doubted that it would suit him, but it was always worth a try.

Kieran saw him fill out a form and saw him leave the store. His eyes didn't flicker as the man came towards him to eventually turn into the crowd. Kieran waited a bit and then stood to follow the man.

Teenagers giggled as he walked by, it was somewhat exasperating, yet he enjoyed it. He loved the attention and gave a smile to a group of them. He had one of those charming smiles, that pushed to its full potential would make a woman feel extremely flattered. Thought now wasn't the time to be charming, he had a target to follow, he wondered what would come and if the man would find him a threat or not.

The first book store after the tux store was relatively near by. Turning into it, William smiled as he saw the books that lined the shelves. It had been ages since he had taken the time to just wander book stores.

He immediately started with the history section, a favorite of his, looking for any new books on Vietnam he did not have. He found a couple that he picked up for purchase and he wandered the aisles lingering in the new age section.

The new age section was always amusing and a sincere curiosity for him. William had seen many things he could not explain over the years and not being one to bucket them in good or evil looked for other explanations. He fingered the spines of the books stopping at a book on vampires that was on sale. Opening he turned the pages with a smile. He closed the book with a snap and put it back on the shelf, “What a load of crap!” he said while replacing the book.

Picking his purchase back up he made his way to the cashier to pay.

Kieran saw him enter a store and followed him, skiming the books himself, keeping an eye on the tall man, he wouldn't lose him easily. He took out a few books on the history of scotland as well as ireland, fingering through them a bit to get an idea of what was in them, replacing some. He nonchanlantly followed the man, maybe getting closer than he should but he liked a bit of risk.

He saw him pick out another book and smothered a smile as he called it a load of crap. Vampires a load of crap? If only he knew, if only. Kieran grabbed the book as the man walked off and flicked through it rapidly. He rolled his eyes and snorted. Vampires did exist but most books about it were crap. These people knew nothing.

He replaced the book and returned to the history sections to replace the books and waited for the man to pay and exit. Was this guy truly that oblivious, or did he simply not notice him? Kieran was itching for a confrontation, though he wasn't dumb enough to start one. Time could only tell.

William continued to walk the mall on his way to the second store. He thought in the back of his mind that it was odd that this boy kept appearing. Was someone having him watched? It was possible.

He continued to walk. Ahead he noted an elevator with people getting off. Timing it William walked onto the elevator as the doors closed and rode it to the next level and got off with the crowd and waited.

Kieran saw him move off, lounging carelessly as the man got on the elevator, Kieran waite a bit and then he vanished into the crowd. He vanished in a hallway and looked around, Making sure that no one was watching him, Kieran let himself melt in the shadows. Using the power he reappeared on the floor above in a another small hallway.

Kieran strolled out and smiled at the man. He knew that Kieran was watching him and that provided Kieran with intense amusement. He leaned against the wall next to a store and simply watched the tall man. He wondered how he would react to him disappear to simply reappear on another floor. This could finally be entertaining.

William noticed that the kid did not come up the elevator after him, but rather seemed to take a set of stairs in one of the side service hallways.

The brat was actually smiling at him and that was enough.

He made his way across the crowded hallway to where the kid was standing. “Son is there something I can help you with?”

Kieran watched him as the man strode up to him. He smiled a grin that any 15 year old would give, saying that they wanted to cause trouble. Son? Him? He could be the man's great grandfather many times over. Mortals only looked with their eyes, that was their problem.

"Something you can help me with? Oh no. I'm simply amazed to seeing someone so tall. I've never in my entire life seen someone your size. It simply baffles me how someone grows so tall." Kieran looked up at him, eyes now wide with innocence, he was mastering it so well now. As long as the mortal bought it, he was in the clear.

William smiled slightly. The smile said that he thought the kid may very well be full of it, but time would tell that.

“Okay then kid, I guess there is no harm in that. Have a nice day.”

With that he spun on his heel and continued on his way to the other book store that he had in mind to visit. He decided to keep a cursory eye out for the youth for the next couple days though just in case someone was having him followed.

Kieran full of it? Now why would anybody think that? Of course he was full of it, he was a vampire that had lived six centuries, he needed to find entertainment somehow, and this was his way. He watched the man walk away and smiled ironic, bag still in hand.

A second smile, mischevious this time, crossed his face. "Hey, wait up." He ran to catch up with the man. He looked up, still amazed at the man's size. "How does someone grow so tall?" He was still mortal it would probably have occurred to him to ask that question. Perhaps because he was playing a mortal boy, he pretended that he did care.

William kept walking. “Kid I don’t know. It just runs in the family I guess. All my uncles, brothers and father were over 6 foot tall.”

After a few more steps he spoke again, “Look I wasn’t born yesterday. You cannot possibly be this inquisitive about my height, is there something you want? It isn’t to get money or food from me. You obviously have money because I can see you are buying things. So what is it you want?”

At that point he stopped walking and turned to look at the boy who was following him.

Kieran stopped and paused at the man's question. Kieran hid the smile that threatened to crack his face and kept his eyes wide with innocence. "Well if you had been born yesterday, I would also ask how you aged so fast, but that is not a question to ask, now is it?"

He looked at the man standing in front of him. "I'm simply bored, looking for entertainment. It was interesting to pretend to be a spy for a bit and wonder if you would catch me. It was fun, can we do it again sometime?" The child at heart, that was what he was. He loved to play and everyday found new games to entertain him.

William had a weakness for strays, hookers, orphans and the like. It was just something that he developed during the war.

“What is your name kid? Don’t you need to be getting home or something?”

He waited to hear what the kid had to say.

Kieran watched the man still looking innocent, though he was really amused. "My name? I'm Kieran Taran Blair." He was proud to be Scottish and it was clearly obivous in his voice.

His eyes opened wider at the mention of home. "What would be the point? I live alone, no one's waiting for me." He was so glad that he hadn't spend his money on the cross over to Canada. He had kept it and now had invested. Now he had enough money to probably buy a small country, if he actually wanted to though. He continued looking at the man, simply looking.

A slight smile came across William’s face. He knew this game. He had lived this game.

“Alright then, come on kid. I have some shopping to do.”

He continued through the mall on his book store journey finding books of interest and wandering the aisles. Again he found himself in the new age section and again he found himself making negative proclamations on the undead and other topics that had been glamorized for those willing to give their money up way to soon.

After putting another book down that happened to be an encyclopedia on vampires he began to wander off into another stack.

Kieran beamed up at him and tagged along. He followed the man listening to his comments and smiled, trying to not make it too obvious what he thought about vampires. He was one, the living proof that vampires exist.

"You don't believe in vampires? Why not?" Kieran was always curious about why people thought that vampires didn't exist. This city was covered in vampires, he was surprised that there was enough food for all of them. Well the fact that he didn't believe proved that the Amman were doing a good job.

The question stopped him before he left the book stack. Turning around he looked down at his new companion.

“I didn’t necessarily say that I didn’t believe in them. I just don’t think they exist. Whatever a vampire is, if it exists, it would have to feed. If it was human, or still is in some way, it would seek to reproduce and interact with others. That would leave me to believe that there would be great numbers of vampires roaming the planet—even this city for that matter if books like the one I just put down were half right.

Traveling the globe for as long as I have has let me see a lot of things, but nothing that left me believing in the living dead.

I’m hungry, let’s go eat.”

Kieran frowned at the thought. "But wouldn't vampires try to hide their presence? I mean what would happen if vampires did exist and we found out about them? It would be utter chaos." Kieran looked up at them. "I would think that if they were vampires and they were suppose to have some semblance of humanity they would have service to keep them under wraps." He shrugged his shoulders. "That's what I would do, anyways."

That's what was being done in the vampire society. The Amman, the police of the vampires, keeping the Tarepha and Ishak killings under wraps. The reason why he would never want to be an Amman, it was too much work for someone as young as him. He let out a smile and continued to follow, now curious to what he would answer. "By the way, what's your name? You never told me."

With a smile, “My name is William. You can call me Billy, if you like.”

After a brief pause, he continued, “I would respond that a criminal, or terrorist, or even an undercover cop seeks to hide their presence. These types of individuals in comparison to vampires would share the same trait, but in the end we know the first three exist because eventually they are discovered and proven to exist and do not fall into the same bucket as vampires who feed myth and legend.”

Fingering the spine of the vampire encyclopedia, “All of the entries in this book do not prove their existence, but rather human nature’s desire to believe. Now I will submit that most legends are based on some level of truth, but I am more likely to believe in the exaggeration of real life historical figures than that you see in an Anne Rice film or the like.”

Taking another pause, “To your point that they would have a service to cover their tracks; again I would have to say that I believe that there would still have to be a sizable population and that even in this make believe society of vampires that there would be a sub-culture that would care little for living in the shadow so to speak. It would have to be a pretty impressive and selfless secret police shall we say.”

“Now I have a question for you. Why would you have such a theory about vampires at your age?”

Kieran listened attentively. "What if the secret police for the vampires, were vampires in themselves? Wouldn't that make them wanting to protect themselves as well as every other vampire? So theoretically it wouldn't be totally selfless."

Kieran shrugged. "I simply think that vampires have less of chance of being caught. I mean if you think about it, they have things as superspeed and high strength, some even have telepathy. Wiping out a person's mind wouldn't be that hard if you think about it."

He shrugged again. "I simply find the subject fascinating. Humans have so much imagination. Sometimes I even believe what they are talking about. You simply have to find the right material." He then smiled, his fangs hidden. After 600 years he had praticed enough for that.

“Kid that is what I am talking about, super speed and strength, come on for all we know a vampire is soft and gushy. Why are you talking like this is fact? How many vampires do you know personally?”

William, at this point, was shaking his head at the enthusiastic and matter of fact nature that this teenager had just informed him about “real vampires.”

Kieran paused thinking it throughly, he could tell him, but that could be problematic. He didn't have telepathy, so he couldn't erase his mind. "I'll tell you want, if we go somewhere quiet, where we can be alone, I'll let you on a secret that even the state doesn't know." Kieran didn't know what he was doing but knew that this man would need visual proof and personally Kieran thought that the man was ready not to blab to the entire world.

"The world can hide a lot more than you think. Trust me on this one. I would know." Kieran was confident on his ability, after living 600 years he probably knew more than this man. He had fought in wars and had been trained as one. He had lived the precarious life of a vampire, yet now was perhaps the time to tell someone.

Kieran seemed desperate to prove his point.

“Okay then, you got it. Where do you want to go? But after we do this can we go eat? I had planned on going to Hooter’s.”

Kieran shrugged. "We can eat now, I'll show you later." That'll give him time to figure out how to say what he wanted to. Perhaps he'll think of how to use his powers to prove this vampire point. He had a few things at his disposal. "I'm not hungry and later I'll prove it to you."

As they walked to the restaurant, William mused on.

“Did you know that I was in Clearwater, Florida the day they opened Hooter’s back in October 1983. I forget why I was in town, but there it was calling to me. Well long story short, I have been a faithful patron ever since.”

It was like he had already forgotten the topic of vampires and had moved on to what was obviously paramount in his mind.

They entered into restaurant and were promptly greeted, “Hey hon, you and your handsome son can sit anywhere you like.” Seeing a particularly curvy red head working a section William sat at a table in that area.

Kieran lifted an eyebrow, noticing the change in subject though he said nothing, but continued to follow him. "The first Hooters? REally? I've never been to hooters before. It'll be an experience."

He raised and eyebrow at the comment but said nothing. Once they were both seated he looked at Billy. "Do we even look alike?" He asked him. He couldn't see the ressemblance, unless they both had some common ancestor, which he doubted greatly.

“Kid they get paid to flirt. If she even looked at us I would be surprised.”

At that moment, “Hey there I’m Kim.” She sat down beside William and squeezed up next to him. So what looks good to you fellas?”

William taking a look at his menu through the obvious route of her cleavage said, “Oh I will take one of these with fries and a beer,” as he pointed to the menu. “The young man here is not hungry.”

“Okay babe, be back in a bit.” She walked off putting on the expected show. Turning his attention back to Kieran, “So tell me more about your theories,” and suddenly William was back on topic.

Kieran watched the other woman come and siddle up to William. She obviously went to the man with the money that much was clear. Kieran shrugged, she was too curvy for his taste and she had too much of everything, it couldn't be real. He liked real and she wasn't real.

"My theories?" He looked startled and frowned at the man, caught off guard, then he remembered what he meant. "I have more than simple theories. I have proof, I can even tell you where they congregate in this city. It's amazing what you learn, when you work behind the scenes." He paused and smiled, making sure that his fangs were hidden. "For the proof there are too many people here."

Kim came back with his burger, fries and beer and walked off.

“So are you telling me I should call you Mr. Giles,” William said with a laugh and taking a bite of his burger.

“Sorry. I know you are being serious, but I couldn’t help it. So where are we going after this?”

Kieran frowned. Mr. Giles? Oh, Buffy the vampire slayer, right..."See in those shows they exagerrate it a bit, some vampires do act like that, but they are not all like that."

Where would they go? "A park or something. Somewhere that we won't be bothered and where I can show you proof of the existance of vampires. You are going to be amazed." A closed smile drew across his face and then he looked at the food, almost longingly. He wondered what it tasted like, it smelled real good.

Taking his beer down in what appeared to be one swallow; William threw what was obviously too much cash down on the table and got up from the table.

“Okay then. Let’s go see what you have to show me. You have me intrigued.”

He walked out into the hall and looked around. Looking over at Kieran, “I parked in Blue Lot which is…that way. Come on.”

He led the boy out to the parking lot and through rows of cars towards a semi-tractor that was parked in the back lot in the truck parking spots. “Get in.”

Kieran looked at the cash he threw and returned to look. "You made one happy waitress, I can tell you that much." He sighed looking at other people being served. Only downside to being a vampire, you couldn't eat.

Well at least he was intrigued. He stepped into the car and sat down in the cushy chair. "Comfy." He turned to William. "What do you know about vampires, and I'll show if what you know is wrong or right. Start listing."

“I know what I said in the book store. I know anything you can read in a fiction book or watch in a movie.”

Pushing back into his chair a bit, “Let’s start with origin. The source, the original vampire—Is it Dracula, or a mother vampire, or is it a disease as some theories suggest? I would suspect if there are vampires it is based on a virus being an educated man.”

Turning his head towards Kieran and starting the big rig. “Tell me the answer to this question while I drive us to a park as you suggested they congregated earlier.”

With that the truck lurched forward onto the streets.

Kieran thought it over. "From what I know and heard, vampires come from a single source named the Father. He isn't the first, but he is the eldest recorded vampire. He's something about 30,000 years old. He isn't completely sane, according to some records." He frowned. "Dracula perhaps was a vampire, though it was never proven, but he wasn't the first, nor the last."

He shrugged. "I have no idea, what causes a vampire to change, virus or otherwise. That question is still debatable." There was perhaps one place where he could figure it out, but frankly he didn't want to walk right into the Ishak coven.

As they drove along, William thought about Kieran’s answer. “How does a teenager come to know the true origins of vampire’s? Who did you hear this from? When did you hear this? What are these records called and where are they kept?”

Shaking his head, he realized that this kid may be a little more than quirky. Kieran may be a bit disturbed. A slight frown came over William’s face, “So you have this first hand knowledge of lineage and patriarch vampires, but you can’t say how a vampire is created. Can’t you see how that would not line up for me as argument to supporting your side of this little debate of ours?”

Briefly letting those words hang in the air, he continued, “Well the park is not to far up the road now, maybe you can show me better than you can tell me; assuming that we actually find any real vampires.”