Strange Fate, The Closest You're Gonna Get.

L J Smith sat at her computer gleefully tapping away, so what she had a deadline, she had just discovered Facebook, and that bejewelled blitz was ever so satisfying.

She flicked her greying blonde hair behind her ear and clicked on another shape.

Hurray! She exclaimed mentally another row erased, she really was good at this. A couple of hours past and she looked at the clock feeling somewhat guilty.

Her cat Keller twisted herself beneath her ankles reminding her that the cat nip did not buy itself and a writer only got paid when books were delivered to the publisher.

She glanced at the shelves stacked with her various volumes. The clock hands ticked by, she stared for another five seconds. Oh screw it! She thought. People have been waiting for Strange Fate for over ten years, the millenium is past get over it already. She picked up a copy of the Vampire Diaries, which ITV2 were paying her a big fat wad of cash for and started to write. She opened a word file and started mindless tapping trash in the computer, she new it didn't have to be amazing, not with the hotties they had cast as Stefan and Damon, plenty of underage girls would be scratching their eyes out to get a hold of it, no matter how shit it was. She grinned and reached down to stroke Keller imagining the large amounts of hippy skirts she could buy.

Then at that moment there was a knock at the door.

LJ scrunched her face into a scowl. She hated being disturbed when she was 'working'. She told everyone to leave her one. Her last agent had been fired for ringing during Jeremy Kyle. She put her hands on her hips and stormed to the door, ready with her best, 'How am I supposed to work under these conditions' speech.

She opened her heavy wooden door, bought off ebay because it had been used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer the Movie.

Standing there in the fading light was the most beautiful group of people she'd ever seen. The one closest to her was leaning against the door frame, his long lanky legs crossed as if he'd been waiting forever. She could only make out their silhouettes against the background of the setting Montana sun. The scene was so familiar, LJ reached for it in her memory. The five teenagers she had never seen in her life. She was sure, but at the same time......

"Can I help you?" She said uncertainly

The boy in the doorway raised his head, his grey eyes looked menacing, dangerous, hungry. "Its you who need to help us"

A petite girl with a storm of red curls edged up beside him. "We've come a very long way to talk to you"

Lisa Jane pulled out her sternest voice "If you're selling something I'm not interested" she took hold of the door as if to close it "Now I'm a very busy woman"

The boy in the doorway laughed "No you're not."

She gazed back at him angrily, his eyes, they were green with scorn, green? Hadn't they been grey a minute a go? "Now just a minute"

Another girl appeared out of the shadows, her hair was red, it flowed down her back in cascades. She wore jeans and a leather jacket and she strode towards the writer as if the world were hers. "I don't think we should do this shouting in the doorway"

LJ struggled as the red head picked her up as if she were made of tinder. Her hand clamped over her mouth stopping her from screaming. Not that it would make much difference, her nearest neighbours were miles away. The girl lifted her cleaning into the living room.

"Nice" A second blonde haired boy commented "Well done, I thought this was supposed to be civilised"

The girl who had hold of LJ turned to the last member of the group a boy with dark hair and even darker eyes. "Why did we bring him again?"

"We were forced remember?" He grunted

"Now" The red head said slowly "I'm gonna let you go okay? But only if you promise not to scream okay?"

LJ nodded and the hand was removed from her mouth, and then she let out the biggest yell her lungs would give.

"Shit" The petite redhead cursed. "She's loud"

The lanky blonde guy took LJ's head in his hands, "Look at me" He shouted over the noise "For God's sake look at me!"

Lisa Jane Smith stopped screaming, and gasped. She looked into the boys eyes, they were water on oil. Constantly shifting, changing colour, from blue to brown. "You're...." She stammered.

He stood up to his full height. "Ash Redfern, nice to finally met you"

"Quinn" The dark eyed boy added.

"Jez Redfern"

"Poppy North"

"Eric..."

"So" Ash cut Eric off, not caring that he pulling a face, lets be fair no one cared about Eric. They had only brought him because Thea had refused to do the spell unless they did. "Now you know"

"But this is impossible" LJ stuttered starring in dumbfound at her creations, "You're in my books. YOU ARE IN MY BOOKS" Her chest started heaving.

"Just breathe" Poppy said, who knew a thing or two what it felt like to have your entire world turned upside down. "Just give it a minute"

Eric brought her a glass of water, but LJ ignored it, and just stared at Ash, she couldn't take her eyes off him. "Why are you here?"

Ash shrugged and sat down.

Quinn stood up, he had a annoyed expression on his face, which was pretty much his natural state of things anyway, but since they had all got stuck....well. A whole world off ticked off vampires was about as much fun as a foam party hosted by Hunter Redfern "Have you any idea what its like being stuck constantly in 1998? I mean, there is the fashions, skorts? I ask you. And furbys annoying the hell out of everybody. And ofcourse that damn Titanic song"

A groan uttered from the entire room.

"I mean" Quinn's eyes widened, like a man on the verge of maddness "If I hear that canadian chick and those panpipes one more time, I might start wiping out all man kind just to make life interesting do you know what I mean!"

"Easy Quinn Easy" Poppy took his arm "That song's hard on all of us"

Eric shrugged "Actually I don't mind...."

"Shut up Eric" They all chorused

Poppy looked LJ straight in the eye "Its hell, you've trapped us in hell"

Lisa Jane Smith sat up straight. Keller, the cat poked her head into the room and soon decided she was better off and went off in search off mice. That's right, leave me with a bunch of irritated vampires. "Why are you trapped in 1998"

"Because you haven't written the last God damn book yet" Ash shouted. "I've not seen Mary-lynette, in over ten years, we've got Wild Powers and Dragons not sure whether to fight each other, plus poor Sarah Strange is some floating apparition floating round Circle Daybreak because you only wrote her a blurb! And don't even get me started with the trouble your short stories on your website have caused!"

"Ohhhhhhhh" Suddenly it clicked. "Sorry" LJ muttered into her lap.

"Well" Jez stood with her hands on her hips "Are you going to do it?"
LJ looked at the annoyed faces of all the vampires in the room, but not Eric because no one gave a crap about Eric. "I would, its just.....well the Vampire Diaries"

"The Vampire Diaries" Ash slumped down in a wicker chair not quite believing it "You are sacking us off for ELENA. A blonde who needs a good slap and a vampire who needs to grow a pair"

Quinn nodded "LJ the guy is right, she should have ended up with Damon, at least he wasn't always getting beaten up"

Ash slumped further down in the chair "Am too weak to move, too weak to stop my girlfriend flirting with every guy in shitty backwater town"

Jez sniggered "Yeah but the guy playing him in the series is super hot"

Poppy's eyes glazed over "Yeah"

Jez turned her head "But seriously I would call eight books on that bimbo flogging a dead horse"

LJ nodded, she had been milking it slightly but the cash was soooooo good. She sighed again "But Strange Fate, well I've kind of passed my deadline now, plus I got ill. I just don't know that its the... what do we say in the business....the right time" Meaning Channel Five were doing a CSI marathon.

Ash glared. "Make it the right time. Explain whatever you've got to explain. I can't take it anymore. Otherwise we leave Eric"

LJ sighed, Eric was annoying. "Oh all right then. I see what I can do. My publisher has been on my ass anyway. We'll say April 26th"

Jez flashed a brilliant smile "Yes"

Poppy danced around "Hurray, I am so sick of frosted flakes!!!!"

Quinn sighed "No more celine dion"

LJ stood up "Now you better go so I can get back to work!"

Ash grinned with bright blue eyes "Ofcourse"

Her Night World characters walked out the door, vanishing into the night. LJ watched them go with a strange expression on her face. She walked to her computer and sat down.

"Suckers"

She opened facebook and went back to Bejewelled Blitz, she only had a few more hours left and then it was time to order Chinese food!