Hope:

"There!" Randolph said, pointing. "I told you I could find him!

"I admit I had my doubts," Josie retorted, drawing laughter from the small group riding on the short, faded yellow bus.

Josie winced when the brakes squealed loudly as they pulled alongside the solitary figure walking along the highway. She pulled the door open and glanced down through the opening. A crooked, sarcastic grin curved her lips.

"We have room for one more if you need a lift," she called down.

"I'm good," came the short response.

"Yeah, well, I sure the hell not," Josie retorted. "Do you have any idea how many back roads and potholes I've driven over the last two weeks? I'm surprised this thing is still running."

Dust stopped in his tracks and released a deep sigh. He still didn't look at Josie, or any of the others. He could feel their eyes on him as they hung out of the windows. Instead, he stared straight ahead down the road. Deep down, he was afraid that if he turned and looked at them, they would see how much he was hurting.

"Dust," Sammy's soft voice called.

He turned when he heard Sammy's soft footsteps on the steps. A soft groan escaped him and he stumbled back a step when she jumped down onto the road. Drawing in a deep breath, he started to lower his head when his gaze locked on the small box in her hands. It was wrapped in the comic strips from an old newspaper.

"What's that?" He asked in a husky voice.

"It's your birthday present," Sammy whispered, holding it out. "You weren't there, so we had to come find you."

Dust swallowed and reached for the box. His fingers trembled when they brushed against her knuckles. He gripped the package and pulled it close to him, blinking back the tears burning his eyes.

"What is it?" He asked, shaking it gently.

"Open it," Sammy said with a nervous giggle. "We all kind of worked together to make it. It isn't much."

Dust glanced up. His gaze ran along the line of faces staring back at him. He could feel his cheeks flush at their encouraging smiles. Looking back down at the package, he carefully pulled the paper back. He glanced back up at Sammy. She bit her bottom lip and stared back at him with a quiet intensity that made him nervous.

He pulled the lid off. Inside was a colorful necklace. It looked like glass, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Each tiny section was a different color, but they were all fused together.

"The green one is mine," Todd called out from the front window. "I found it."

"I like the brown one. It reminded me of your eyes," Sammy added in a soft voice. "Josie melted them all together. Denise did the design."

"Raymond and I found the silver. We figure you could use it if you ever meet the She Devil again," Randolph said.

Dust's gaze flashed to Josie. She was leaning against the steering wheel grinning down at him. He saw her give a small shrug.

"We miss you," Sammy said.

Dust jumped when he felt her warm hand against his chilled skin. He looked back at her in confusion, unsure of what to say. His gaze ran over all the faces again before it returned to Sammy.

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"Sammy, I don't think," he started to say.

He swallowed when she lifted her hand and gently placed her fingers against his lips to silence her. She had that fierce, determined expression on her face again. The one he had come to love.

"Then, don't," she said. "You are a part of this family. We love you."

"There's something you should know," Dust muttered against her fingers.

"We'll figure it out in time," Sammy replied with a shake of her head.

"Okay," Dust replied.

He released the breath he was holding when Sammy suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. He could feel her hot breath and warm tears against his neck. Her body trembled. His arms moved instinctively around her waist and he pulled her close.

"Happy birthday, Dust," she sniffed.

"Thanks, Sammy," Dust replied. "Thanks for finding me."

"Always," she whispered, leaning back and pressing a kiss against his lips.

"Aw, man, their kissing again," Todd said in disgust, sitting back in his seat. "I thought vampires just drank people's blood."

Josie's laughter drowned out the muttered hushing the others were trying to do. "Come on, you two. This circus has a long way to go if we are going to try to find your relatives, Dust. We're running short on gas, short on food, and I think we might just get some snow tonight."

"That's okay," Dust retorted as he climbed up the steps into the bus. "I know someone who loves to play with fire."

Dust sent a crooked grin to everyone as he made his way to the back of the bus with Sammy. He didn't have much choice considering she still had a death grip on his hand. He slid into the seat next to her, grinning when Todd quickly changed to the seat in front of them and turned to stare at him with wide eyes filled with awe.

"So, can you do any really cool stuff as a vampire?" Todd asked, resting his chin on the seat as Josie pulled away.

"Yeah, I can do some really cool things now," Dust replied with a smile, holding onto Sammy's hand.

He listened as the others talked back and forth to each other. For a moment, his gaze shifted back to the darkness outside. He'd had a lot of time to think over the last three weeks. This world was a lot different than it had been two years before. He was a lot different. Every day was a new one and you never knew how it might end. The only thing you could do was make the best of it, try to make the world a better place, and hope that you got a chance to try again tomorrow.

"Happy birthday, Dust," he murmured.

****For those of you that might be interested an extended version of Dust is available on all major distributors. That version has been edited and I flushed out a lot of the scenes and added more. I'll only be leaving this version up for a week before I take it down. I hope that you have enjoyed Dust, Sammy, Todd, and Josie's journey. I plan on writing the next story which will continue their journey. ~Thank you for reading Dust! S.E. Smith