Eddie's point of view: Chapter one Everything belongs to Richelle Mead!

The sun was just coming up. Beautiful streams of pink and orange covered the sky. I sometimes wished I was normal so I could watch the sunrise and set every day. I wish I could go to college or at least have the choice whether or not I would. I quickly shook those thoughts out of my head.

Truth is I did have a choice. I chose this life to protect them. I chose to protect Mori like Adrian and Jill and to fight strigoi. All the sacrifices were worth it.

I have been driving since seven at night and it was now seven in the morning. I received the message that it is safe for Jill to come home. School in Palm Springs ended since it is the beginning of summer. Adrian was back at the academy already so it was just Jill and me in the car.

She started to wake up once the sun came up. Her brown curly hair was so beautiful in the sunlight. Jill's jade green eyes flickered open and she smiled at me.

"Hey. Did you sleep well?" I asked looking at the road still smiling.

"Yep, thanks." She spoke softly.

She took her cup of water and started making shapes and drawing with the water. She kept laughing and giggling.

"Hey Eddie look." She laughed. I looked over and saw a face that looked like mine that was angry made of water. Jill started giggling making me start laughing too. The water went back into the cup.

"You're in a good mood." I laughed.

"Well I get to go back to court and go back to school at the academy where I'm not an outcast. And to top it off today's my birthday! Sixteen and I get to drive soon and no one can treat me like a kid! I'm sad I can't spend it with my family but still I'm happy." She said happily.

I couldn't believe she was sixteen. I tried fighting the feelings I had for her. Jill deserved someone better than me. I tried to date Angela but I broke it off.

"Happy Birthday Jillian Melrose Dragomir." I smirked.

"I hate my name. It's embarrassing." Jill blushed.

"It's perfect." I said sincerely looking straight into her green eyes. I quickly looked away blushing. I saw her cheeks turn bright pink. I couldn't believe what I just did. It wasn't bad it was how I said it. Now I have made her uncomfortable.

"So are you excited for school in the fall?" I asked changing the topic as quickly as I could.

"Not really." She said quickly. I looked at her puzzled.

"I'm really shy so it's harder for me to make friends." She explained quietly looking down.

"I am insanely shy too. I just pretend like the people I'm talking to is a friend. So I talk to them as I would talk to Rose or someone. It also helps to have a really good friend who helps you not look like an idiot." I laughed trying to ease her. I guess it worked because she started giggling.

"Who helped you?" She asked. My face automatically fell. It was an innocent question and I couldn't be mad at her because she didn't know. She didn't know what happened that day.

"Mason." I choked out. I saw her face fall. And she started panicking.

"Oh my God Eddie I'm so sorry. It's just no one has ever told me what happened and said to ask you. Of course that would be an awful thing to ask so I never did and I just let it go. I figured you would never want to talk about it and now here I am bringing it up. Oh my I'm bringing it up damn. Sorry oops I'm so sorry." She mumbled fast. She was absolutely freaking out. I couldn't be mad at her because she was adorable when she was flustered.

"Jill calm down, it's completely okay. You're a part of this group so you deserve to know what happened." I said reassuring Jill. She nodded and I took a deep breath.

"This was a couple months before we met you about the time we met Adrian. There were many strigoi attacks going on and we were at this resort. Many people died including Mia's mom. Rose and Mason were dating kind of and she told him the strigoi were hiding in Spokane. Dimitri told her this and she told Mason then broke up with him. And we now know she broke up with him because she was in love with Dimitri."

"Mason was upset and Mia was hurt so they decided to go and try to kill the strigoi in Spokane. I was stupid and cocky and decided to go with them. I guess Rose figured out we left and came after us along with Christian. They found us and tried to convince us to leave but then it was too late. The strigoi pointed a gun at Mia and made us get in the car."

"We were in this dark room and I heard a voice telling us that Mia or Christian would have to drink from me, Rose or Mason to become strigoi and the rest would die. Then in a blur I felt sharp fangs in my neck." I took a second to pause my story. The cloudy memories came rushing into my head.

"I felt so defenseless. My world became a blur. He kept drinking from me. I heard Mason next to me. And all of a sudden I am outside in the light and Mason says he will be back and he never came back. The strigoi just snapped his neck without hesitation. Next thing I know I'm in the clinic and Rose's mother is telling me Masons dead."

"I should have died. I should have fought with Mason and Rose but instead I was a helpless bag of blood. I was worse than a blood whore." I started getting worked up and angry and shaking.

"Eddie I'm so sorry. It's not your fault. You made a mistake but it was absolutely not your fault. Mason wouldn't want you feeling guilty. And if the situation was reversed you wouldn't want him feeling guilty. It is okay. Thank you for telling me and I'm sorry for bringing it up." Jill said touching my hand lightly. I nodded and took her soft tiny hand in mine. She blushed and that calmed me down.

"Want to play a game?" I asked. She nodded and I explained the game to her. We would take turns predicting what the next song that would play would be about and see how funny it would be. Like she predicted the next song would be about Adrian's life and No Worries by Lil Wayne came on. Then the next was Christian and it was Great Balls of Fire.

"Okay the next song will be about what you're going to do today on your birthday." I said laughing. The next song came on and it was Birthday Sex.

You have got to be fucking kidding me. What were the damn odds? I thought. I looked into her jade eyes and we both quickly looked away blushing like crazy. Then I started laughing and she looked at me trying to fight a smile. She failed and burst out laughing.

We reached the destination and she looked at me surprised.

"You did this?" She asked looking at her house and her family in the windows. I nodded. She ran inside to her family and they had cake and gave presents to her. I stood in the back guarding her. At the end she led me up to her room where I had to sleep in case something bad happened. Other guardians were outside and in the house. I threw a pillow and blanket on the floor for me to sleep on. She came back from changing into her pajamas. She wore a red tank top with black short gym shorts. I quickly looked away. She was trying to kill me.

I handed her my present to her. She opened it revealing a diamond necklace with jade detailing it. It took me forever to save up money to buy this but I was so proud that I finally bought it.

"It's so beautiful. I love it thank you. Thanks for letting me see my family too. It meant a lot to me." She said softly looking into my eyes. I was lost in those jade green eyes and couldn't fight it anymore. We both started drifting closer and my lips met her soft lips.

I kissed her gently wrapping my arms gently around her. I started building up the kiss making sure she was okay. I slowly pulled away but kept my arms around her looking into her eyes.

"Happy Birthday Jill." I whispered.