Author's Note: This is a sequel to the story Bleeding For Winter (for those who don't already know) though the first book doesn't have to be necessarily read to understand this one in my opinion. I just wanted to add a bit of warning. Bleeding for Winter was written in 2008 and finished in 2009. I didn't want to write in the sequel because I wanted to wait until I could completely understand Hailence now that she's a completely different person as a vampire herself. You'll find because I am older and different, my writing may be and so might Hailence (though mostly her difference is because of the being she is now). That said, I don't want you to feel disappointed if you don't find the same Hailence you once knew (to those who read the first one), if the writing seems a bit rushed or unorganized (it's the first draft without much editing), and I'm sorry if it takes a bit for me to finish this story. I originally was going to wait until I completed it, but I decided to go ahead and post this. Review if you want! And I hope you enjoy~

Winter's Freeze

Chapter One

Lost

I had quite severely forgotten my purpose in life. Or rather, in death. In fact, I was pretty sure I had forgotten everything I was supposed to remember. It was like I was doing something, but then I forgot why I was doing that something. And now I'm not doing anything because I've forgotten exactly what was going on. I was completely lost. But not because I didn't know where I was. In fact, I knew exactly where I was. I knew the exact pinpoint of my location on the Earth. To put it quite frankly, it was because of this knowledge that I was completely lost, and due to being lost, I had forgotten what I was doing and why I was doing it.

At the moment, I was doing quite nothing. Well, besides being completely lost. I was standing in the middle of a massive amount of trees, not moving at all, looking something of a statue. I was wearing some of my favorite orange pajama shorts, along with a spaghetti strap shirt without any shoes or socks on. The November wind normally would have been extremely cool against my skin, sending goose bumps over my back, except at the moment the cold atmosphere of an approaching winter didn't seem to have any effect on me. Neither did the cool ground with protruding rocks and sticks that was heartless against bare feet. I could step on glass and it wouldn't affect me. It wouldn't, would it, considering the previous events that had taken place not even over a day ago.

Only at the moment, the previous events that had occurred were no longer in my mind. In fact, nothing that had happened before this very moment was clear in my head. I was lost, and being lost, I was forgetful. I had forgotten my purpose, my reason for being here in these massive amounts of trees, where I had been walking as if to a destination. But that had been before the world changed, before I had suddenly known exactly where I was on this very planet. My senses were wild to be satisfied, spreading out around me like fingers, trying to feel everything possible. It reached from the area around me, to beyond the normal sight range, latching on to every inch of this planet as far as my senses would allow. It reached upward even, to the sunlight that poured leisurely through the tree leaves to bathe me so sweetly. I loved the sunlight the most. My mind was so enveloped in this process that my body was even forgotten, and I was lost.

I may have looked like a statue, but not because I was as solid and cold as a rock; like most vampires. In fact, I looked extremely human. I could hear my own heart beating normally, pulsing warm blood through me that was being emitted through my soft, feminine skin. I had originally looked rather pale due to my predicament within the Draele household, but now my skin was flushed and pleasantly darker, full of life. My hair was a strong copper, flowing wild down my back at great length due to being allowed to growth forth without impediments. Normally, it would be cursed with split ends and dry damage, but at this point it was thick and strong, almost glowing in the sunlight. As for my eyes, which were fixed on the bark of a tree, dissecting it so thoroughly it would be unnerving to see, they were a sharp light brown. They seem to cut through whatever they looked at, the color being brighter than ever.

Something was nagging me in the back of my head. It was like a minor thought that I should be doing something, and it told me the only way I could stop being so lost would be to move forward. But the moment I stepped forward one foot, the whole world shifted with me, opening more areas for my senses to latch onto, and I was lost all over again. It distracted me, this world. Though I was sure that the world hadn't changed at all, but rather I had. The moment Evanen pressed his wrist to my lips, letting the key to immortality slip into me. As if I was supposed to do something with it besides live. But then that's all Evanen wanted, was for me to live.

My name was Hailence Wyn Truit. "Was" being the key word. I didn't feel like I used to. Therefore, I figured I should no longer assume myself to be that girl I used to be. I preferred to be known as just Hail Draele, now. Draele of course being the name of the family I had recently been residing with. But mainly Evanen Draele, who had taken me to claim as his own slave during the summer between my junior and senior year in high school. I had stayed with him for nearly half a year, where I had met and fallen in love with Mikel Draele, who had starved himself by feeding on dead blood so that he would be able to stand being around me and wouldn't have to kill others at the same time. It was this same house where the Rising occurred, when Evanen's blood completely evolved so that he could pass on the key of immortality to whomever he chose. Only, he happened to choose me.

Evanen had been the strangest creature. He never knew what it was to be human until the moment he had died as human. He had been born from two humans as a vampire, with a prophecy over his head as being the one who would bring the rising of vampires about by holding the key of immortality in his blood. Only the One of Questions was also spoken of as a human who would stop this rising with its powers, which turned out to be the ability to have Evanen fall in love with them. So of course I turned out to be that so called person. And in a way, I was stopping the rising by not continuing to bring the downfall of humans and spreading the key to immortality like I was supposedly supposed to do.

The key to immortality. Why would vampires want that when they were supposed to be already immortal? Well, we all know that vampires can die. The true immortality led within my blood. The ability to walk in the sun. Probably withstand silver. I wasn't sure about my head getting chopped off, though. And there were probably a million other things about these powers that I didn't know about. After all, I was the first person with them, and I had never even been vampire. I hadn't wanted to; for it was the only promise I had given to Mikel. To die human. And now I was a vampire… more than a vampire, I was something else.

I couldn't be sure how long ago the Rising occurred. It hadn't turned dark since then, seeing as the sun was going at such a slow pace, I could almost hear it. Everything moved slower. The wind blew so lightly, and yet the trees bent and groaned for the longest time, sounding like a yawn. It was so peculiar of a world, and I was no longer sure how far I had gotten from the Draele house. I had forgotten where I was going, why I was in such a hurry, and what I was running from, if anything. Why would I be running from anything? And why hurry? The world was moving so slowly, I could take my time. All day felt like a year. I was sure I could run circles around the Earth over and over and have it still be the same day, if only each place I moved to wasn't as interesting as the one before. I could no longer imagine being human, and being in the same world. This place was… magical.

Being human. Being human. Why had I wanted to be human so bad?

I looked human enough. Vampires would no doubt mistake me for one, with my warm skin and rushing blood. I looked weak, actually. But I could feel the power in my body, masking itself so deviously. My skin was unflawed; all the scars seemed to have blended in with my body smoothly. Instead of being smoothed out like marble stone, it was like a rosy cream, soft to the touch. No doubt I looked as flawless and beautiful as any vampire, but so human as well.

My senses were heightened to new levels. Things I'd never heard, smelled, seen, touched, or tasted even were suddenly everywhere, shoving themselves on me desperately. So lost in them. So lost. I couldn't remember being human in these woods. Emotions themselves seemed different within me. Thoughts, fleeting thoughts, would bring about a confusion of emotions. I'd remember Katha attacking me, hitting me, trying to destroy me, and I'd feel suddenly rage boiling within me unlike ever before. Then I'd remember killing her, and I'd feel such relief and evil happiness at the revenge. Maybe this was what Evanen had felt. But there was also something more.

Deep, deep grief for everything. For Mikel's death. For his child's. For Evanen. Kyler. D.J. Their lives flitted through me, hurting me deeply. But it was fleeting, for the world was so distracting. I'd forget. I'd suddenly remember my father, Bart Truit, but that was Hailence's father, not mine. Hailence was dead. I couldn't feel her anymore. But how was the possible if I was her? I was so confused. So confused. So lost.

I stood like a statue, something telling me to move forward. I had to move because things might be after me. Remember? Remember? But one step and the whole world shifted again, allowing more senses of new things to flood my mind. I'd forgotten what I was doing. I was lost all over again.