So here we sat.
Predator and prey.

Oddly enough, the person whom I should be running from is peacefully messing with the ice in his cup of lemonade. He looked up at me through the long hair that fell across his face, head bent over to examine the glass's details. Apparently I was staring at him, for a small amused smirk appeared on his features. "Take a picture, It'll last longer." He said, motioning towards the camera that was about an inch from my hand.

I paused for a moment, deliberating on whether to ask the next question. After a few seconds I looked up at his face, now held up by his hand, elbow on the table. "Will you… show up in it if I print it?" after having asked the question that had been nagging at me every waking moment, I blushed at the stupidity of it.

"Of course." He simply answered.

The blush deepened as I realized he had a smug smirk and was looking down at me.

Curse my shortness. Curse my heart beating frantically. Curse my blush.

Once again I paused. Wouldn't my erratic heartbeat be exiting him? I thought with a grimace. "So-o-o-o," I drawled on, trying to think about what to say to a vampire. Before I had known, things might have started with a heated discussion of books, then to star trek and then to old-styled films. Just a regular adolescent conversation. I wish I was still oblivious to the fact that he yearned for my blood.

But that wasn't going to happen any time soon, no matter how much I wished it. Even if it had been his kind that had killed my dad, I couldn't bring myself to yell at him. For some odd reason I had chosen this particular person to fall in love with.

Jacob had certainly ranted on about how he would endanger my life and all of that. I have to admit, I was laughing by the time she started on the class: 'Living with a Leech 101'.

"What're you thinking about?" he asked, nonchalantly messing with the ice again.

"About a lot of things…" I answered, almost surprised by his presence. Once again I had been lost in my thoughts. Looking up at his eyes, I frowned and tried to think of how I had met him, the boy of my dreams. That phrase was irony embodied in a couple of words.
Every die-hard fan of Stephenie Meyer has one dream boy in mind—Either Jacob Black, Edward Cullen, Emmet Cullen, or Jasper Cullen; and some even like Carlisle Cullen—Vampire Surgeon Extraordinaire.
Edward was my personal favorite, and this particular vampire sitting in front of me resembled him a lot.

I got lost in Solomon's gaze for a minute before I willed my eyes shut; he got that smart look on his face and urged me to keep talking.

"Just thinking about how I'm an intelligent woman." I lied, sipping some lemonade.



I'm also incredibly wise; sitting under a large umbrella in the back yard, wearing a tank and shorts, and sipping lemonade with someone who might as well be the enemy.

I'm a genius, I tell you.

He smiled and leaned over the table a bit, "And what else were you thinking about?" Solomon asked me, his green eyes as clear and deep as the sea gazing into my own hazel ones. The guys who say my eyes are beautiful have clearly not seen Solomon's own.

"And about how I must be dreaming." I admitted the slight blush returning. Subconsciously I had been leaning towards him until our noses were inches apart. He must have me under a spell; I mused the thought over but didn't let it bother me since I trusted him completely. I attributed the faint dizziness that overcame me to the trance.

Solomon closed the space between us and set his lips upon mine. He placed his hand behind my neck to hold me there as the kiss went on. Briefly, he paused, gazing into my eyes, our noses almost touching. I was… Well to put it lightly, downright shocked. An incoherent thought crossed my mind over and over again, waiting to be heard, but I couldn't even hear my own quick intakes of breath over the beating of my heart.

"Did that feel like a dream?" He asked, mind set on my previous statement while I finally grasped at the fleeting thought. This had been my first kiss. Oh, what would Jake say when she got home? I could just imagine her emotions; Happy and Exited quickly changing to worried and sad. She would lecture me about how I'd be the only girl foolish enough to let a vampire take my first kiss. I nodded feebly, still trying to make my heart stop racing.

"What makes you think this is all a dream?" he asked and I took a breath to respond but the words wouldn't come to me. Solomon smiled and I thought he released the mild trance he had me under, noticing that his proximity and the spell weren't letting me think. The dizzy feeling left me for a minute but then came back. "Nothing much apart from lounging with a mythical creature in my back yard, but that's something I do every day." I lightly joked, sarcasm lacing every word.

Solomon's eyebrows shot up above his bangs as I realized the irony of my answer. "Well, at least Jake's a mage, not a vampire. Big difference."

Solomon smiled and brought his other hand forward to cradle my face. In another swift motion the hand that had previously been behind my head now appeared on the other side of my head. He leaned over and pressed his lips to mine again. After what seemed like hours he drew back and looked into my eyes. Even without Jake's kissing experience I knew that this one could have qualified as a 10 in the scale.

"Care to remind me why I wasn't able to visit earlier?" he asked me with a smile. Even if I wasn't currently under another trance the words took a while to come to me.

"Because my mother is officially a vampire hunter." I managed to explain before he frowned and looked at me significantly.



"Do you honestly think she can get me?" he challenged.

"She has been trained by the FBI and the CIA. If she were just another human I wouldn't worry, but mom's pretty agile." I countered.

He paused for a minute, probably debating on whether carrying on this conversation was a good idea. "So the only way I'll be able to come is when she's off in Tasmania on assignments?"

I nodded in agreement and he chuckled.

Solomon let go of my head and took one of my hands in his, twining the fingers together. "What are the possibilities of me being introduced to your mother as your boyfriend?" he asked, looking down at the sharp contrast of my flushed skin against his pale own.

I sat still as he played with my other hand. Since when was he my boyfriend?

I couldn't say I didn't like the idea, and I had to admit I did like him; but I didn't know squat about his feelings. I guess if he was proposing the idea then he was okay with it.

Even after my mental battle I couldn't keep my heart from skipping a few beats. I looked up at his amused smile and could almost predict what he was about to say.

"Y'know," he pronounced each word slowly, "If your heart keeps missing beats you might go into cardiac arrest."

Solomon's such a hypocrite since he teased my heart after he said that by giving me another kiss. Afterwards I voiced my thoughts out loud and tried to keep his laughter down to a minimum.

"Anyways," I rolled my eyes as he minimized his laughter to a mere chuckle. "What do you want to do now?" I asked looking at our intertwined fingers. His hand was cold; I guess that's from being a vampire. But it was a pleasing feeling, not ice-cold.

"Whatever you want to do." Solomon replied with a smile as he took a stray strand of my hair and played with it. "I'm okay with just staying here though." He added, leaning down to give me another kiss. "We've never had free time before."

"That's because over the last two weeks that we have known each other I've been plagued by work, bears, vampires and mages." I idly lifted his hand up and pressed it against my cheek, smiling when his cold skin cooled down my flushed cheek. We had a whole week of vacation from the academy, during which mom was off training in Tasmania. The library also let me take my first break from work, and all those days I've been leaving stocked up from all my years with the library amount to about a couple of paid months. I only took a week though.

"Erika, are you feeling dizzy?" Solomon asked me and I looked up into his eyes which were worried.

His question almost slipped by me as I mentally planned out the week, a perfect week with Solomon and Jake. "A little lightheaded but not that bad." I replied and eyed Solomon carefully as he moved his cold 

hand from my cheek to my forehead. Apparently what he felt didn't please him since his frown deepened and he paused for two minutes, I counted.

"What's wrong Solomon?" I asked wondering what had him so worried. Sure I felt dizzy, but wasn't it like that because he previously had me in a trance?

"You've got a fever." He noted, eyebrows shooting up as he looked down at me. "What exactly did you and Jacqueline do yesterday night?"

I let my head fall onto the table. My perfect week had been ruined. Mildly I thought back to the previous night, Jake and I had a small party. First we re-painted my room, Solomon had just helped me put all of the furniture back inside. Afterwards she and I had a midnight barbeque like usual. When I described it to him, Solomon wanted me to elaborate.

"Well, we took a couple of dives into my-" I paused and I realized the stupidity of my actions.

"Pool." He finished for me. I audibly groaned and he smiled. "Don't worry; I'm not mad or sad. Right now the number one thing on the agenda is getting you to feel better."

I felt like crying.

Or at least screaming. I made a face in response to his smile that widened after a few seconds.

"What?" I asked flatly, not in the mood for much anything. I was silently destroying all of the plans for the week. I bet he had read my thoughts just by the look in my face.

"You thought you were under a trance, didn't you?" Solomon asked, the amused look in his eyes telling me he knew more than he let on.

After nodding glumly he laughed again.

"From what my mother has shown me, being under a trance makes you feel nothing," he explained and gently helped me up. Now I felt like screaming, crying and like a bloody moron.

He led me through the double doors and into the kitchen. There he sat me down on a booth and turned back to the kitchen, even though he had been in here only a couple of times, Solomon found what he was looking for and turned on one of the electric stoves.

"What're you making?"

"Soup. It's good for you."

I nodded and chose to remain sitting since the air inside cooled the counter top and made my forehead feel good. For a minute there I almost fell asleep, or possibly almost fainted, I couldn't tell the difference. I noticed him turn around and then it all went blank.