Chapter 1

Jamie Harriss changed her hair style for the third time in the past 15 minutes. She sighed at her reflection in her full-length mirror. Various dresses and skirts, shoes, and shirts were scattered about her room. Her makeup was thrown on her bed, and colored tissues from the different shades of eye shadow overflowed her trash can. Living in Chicago, you never knew where you would be going on your next date. Jamie laughed at herself. Her last date with Johnathan O'Connor took her to Navy Pier on an all-day shopping trip. Tonight was supposed to be romantic. Supposed to be. But lately, Johnathan was avoiding her. The last time she talked to him was last month, planning their prom night. They both were pumped. She was changing her outfit –again- when she heard the engine of Johnathan's silver and red Mercedes pull into her driveway. A car door slammed. She pulled the dress over her head and quickly fastened the metal clasp. She dug about in her closet for her black heels to compliment her dark blue and silver dress. She strapped them on quickly, rummaging through her jewelry box for a necklace, a silver butterfly her mother had given her, before she died a year ago. Jamie's eyes filled with tears as she remembered that terrible crash. The headline in the newspaper read: "Doctor Killed in Car v. Train Incident." She shook off the thought, hearing her father coming up the stairs. He knocked once.

"Jamie, Johnathan's here."

"I'll be down in a second." She changed her eye shadow one last time and stepped out of her room. Johnathan waited at the bottom of the stairs for her. Holding out his arm, they walked to his waiting car.

Johnathan didn't say a word to her as they drove. The same process repeated when they arrived at school. Johnathan ditched her at the door and found is friends. Jamie ran a nervous hand through her auburn hair and took a deep breath. Three girls ran up to her, her BFFs. Amanda, Katie, and Jessica looked perfect, as usual. They greeted her with happy hugs and "You look great"'s. Their dates were hanging out with Johnathan. They did, after all, hook the two up.

***

When the night was over, Johnathan pulled her aside in the parking lot.

"Jamie, I need to tell you something."

"Umm... Okay."

"We need to talk, about us."

How many times has she heard that one before? "Okay, what's on your mind?"

"I don't think this will work out. Us, I mean."

"Oh." Jamie looked at the ground. This is why he had been avoiding her for the past month. He was putting his lines together to break up with her.

"I'm sorry James." He kissed her, one last time, before he left her standing in the parking lot, alone.

Jamie began to cry. As much as she willed herself not to, she cried. Thunder clouds rolled in, bringing a heavy rain with it. Everyone had retreated to the shelter of their cars and were long gone. Jamie only remained, miles from home. The school was locked again, so she sat on the stairs and waited for a miracle.

***

She had no idea how long she sat there in the rain. It had to have been over an hour, when she heard a motor coming towards the school. She looked up. A black corvette stopped right in front of the school. The driver's door opened. Someone stepped out. She couldn't see his face through the rain, but she knew she had never seen him before.

"Need a ride?" His voice was smooth as ice, calm and cool. How could she resist? She nodded. Usually she didn't take rides from strangers, but she had asked for a miracle, and she was too cold and wet to care. "Well, hop in." He returned to the car. Jamie made her way into the car with her stiff limbs from sitting too long. She shut the door and a sweet smell absorbed her in a mouthwatering mix between sugar and spice. She hadn't even realized they were moving until he asked what her name was. She couldn't see his face in the dark car. Tinted windows blocked out almost all hope of outside light, and with it being nighttime, there wasn't much hope anyways.

"Umm, it's Jamie," she said through the darkness.

"Very nice. My name is Elliott."

"Oh." She wiped her eyes to dispose of some of the makeup running down her face. "Thanks for the lift."

"No problem. Where do you live?"

"2801 Westcott Ave." Her eyes began to adjust to the dark. There was a long pause of silence as she stared. He was gorgeous to say the least! Black hair spiked up tin the front, very muscular arms, right arm resting on the steering wheel. Her eyes drifted down his broad shoulders and followed the contour of his arm. The cuff of his white dress shirt was rolled up to the elbow, revealing the rock solid muscles beneath. Her eyes floated down his beautifully sculpted stomach witch faded away into darkness with the black of his pants. His skin was smooth and white as marble. She was seriously thinking about touching his beautiful face, when he broke her thoughts.

"So what were you doing out there anyways?"

She almost forgot her drenched hair, now falling out of place, her dress ringing wet. She muffled a sob, but a tear escaped, blowing her cover. Elliott reached over to her and brushed it away with his thumb. Something sparked a fire deep within her heart, something that never happened when Johnathan had touched her. She had almost forgotten what true love really was. Johnathan had never really been there enough for her to actually love him. She was used to being alone. Ever since mom had died…

She pulled her face from his hand and looked out the window. She didn't recognize where they were. They definitely weren't going to her house. Maybe it's just a different route, she thought. It was well past midnight. When she got home, Dad would be furious. That was, if she ever got home. But she was too tired and upset to care.

She heard the click of the car going into cruise control. Elliott stretched his legs and rolled his shoulders. He looked straight at her. He had the most hypnotizing blue eyes she had ever seen.

"So do you want to tell me about it?" His voice was sincere. She returned her gaze to the trees flying by.

"Not really. It's just been an all around horrible day."

"I know. Tell me about it." His voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"You've had a bad day too?"

"More or less, yes," he returned his eyes to the road. Suddenly, Jamie had to know.

"Where are we?"

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to go back home and face your family after all the trouble. So I'll take you to my house. You can spend the night and leave tomorrow morning if you wish."

"But it's not the night anymore," she stated matter-of-factly. And it wasn't. It was 2:30 am. "I should probably call home and tell them I'm safe."

"The cell phone is in the glove compartment."

She dialed her number, knowing nobody picked up at night. The voicemail kicked in. "Hi, Dad. It's Jamie. I know I'm not home yet, but Johnathan broke up with me and, this guy's taking me to his house for the day, until I cool off. I don't want to come home in a rage in front of Cassidy and Jake. I love you and I'll be home ASAP. Bye." She hung up the phone and slid it back into the glove compartment. Elliott looked at her, a question in his eyes.

"You should get some sleep. We'll be there in about a half an hour."

Without protesting, Jamie curled up against the leather of the seat and closed her eyes. She let the sound of the rain on the windows lull her to sleep.

Chapter 2

Elliott Shadager pulled into the driveway of his Victorian house. He pulled under the car canopy and opened his door. He got out, walked to Jamie's door and scooped her up into his arms. Effortlessly, he carried the still sleeping girl into the house. She felt so right in his arms. Her head was against his hard masculine chest. Her clothes were soaked, her face was smeared with makeup, and her hair was completely destroyed. She looked like a fallen angel in his arms.

She was shivering from the cold and she had a fever coming on. Elliott carried her into the master bedroom and stripped off her clothes. He slid her under the covers and left the room to get extra blankets.

For 200 years, he walked the world never loving anybody. Sure, he had sex with girls here and there, but never loved anybody. But now he felt different with Jamie. He was so confused with his emotions and it made him angry. And when Elliott is angry, you don't want to be around him.

He went back to where Jamie lay sleeping. He laid the blanket down on top of the rand sat on the chair next to the bed. He would have to go underground soon and leave Jamie for awhile. Elliott hoped that when she found out what he was, that she wouldn't leave him.

He decided to let the beauty sleep in private but would send someone in to check every hour to see if her fever had broken, hopefully it would soon. The first hour, it was reported at 99.7 °F, now a mid-grade fever, then at four am it was at 98.5°F, just a little under normal. He would leave instruction for her to wait to leave, not that he wanted to control her.

Chapter 3

At around 11am, Jamie awoke to the sound of a door knob jiggling. She immediately sat up in bed. After a few seconds it stopped, so she decided to lie back down. For a while she had a massive headache. She had no idea as to where she was, or what had happened. She knew that she wasn't in her house, and she knew that Elliott had taken her home, but that's all she remembered. The door knob jiggled again. Nothing happened for a while, so she decided to give in and got up. She found her clothes hanging on the back of a chair, fully dried. She washed the makeup off and brushed her hair out with her fingers. She left her shoes in her room and decided to walk around the house. Something deep inside her told her not to leave, but she knew she had to get home soon.

The house was big, so she spent most of the afternoon wandering around, curiosity getting the best of her as she opened every door, discovering new rooms and new hallways. The last door she came to, sort of an out-of-the-way room, made her want to run back to her room and hide herself under the covers. But she opened the door. There was a long, sloping hallway, barely lit. Jamie cautiously and slowly walked down the corridor, closing the door behind her. It gave her the feeling of a horror movie, the kind she would watch at Amanda's house with the girls, eating popcorn and screaming, "Don't open the door!" at the television. She smiled to herself, but that didn't help he fear welling up inside her. If she were in the movie, her friends would be throwing popcorn at the screen, screaming those lines at her. She twisted the door knob, holding her breath. She heard the latch retract, and she pushed the door open.

***

The room was large and open and sort of oval-shaped. It must have been the oldest part of the building, because there was a dirt floor. The room was empty. She ran her fingers along the cold, wet stones lining the walls. The door shut unwillingly, and wouldn't budge when she tried opening it. She panicked for a moment, but calmed down, sitting against the wall, hugging her knees, knowing that Elliott would find her when he came back from—wherever he was.

Chapter 4

Elliott woke up hours before he should have, sensing that something was wrong. It was about 5 in the afternoon, judging by his energy levels. He was hungry and needed to feed but he had a couple of hours before the sun went completely down. Because he had the windows tinted very dark so he could get up early and the sun wouldn't get through and burn him, like so many of his friends had because they were less intelligent than he.

He was about to rise when he sensed Jamie in the same room as he. How she got in there he didn't know, he didn't want to scare Jamie, but he couldn't emerge anywhere else other than the spot he had buried himself in. The room was dark enough so maybe she wouldn't see him pop up. It was the only solution. Elliott freed himself from the soil he had planted himself in and looked around. He saw Jamie, sitting with her head buried in her knees, and rocking back and forth. She was humming a tune that was unfamiliar to him, but then again, he wasn't keeping up with the latest music trends of society.

Elliott swept across the room to where Jamie was and placed a hand on her shoulder. Jamie screamed with surprise and Elliott jerked his hand away. "Jamie, it's just me, relax."

"You scared the crap out of me." She cried and slung into his arms. He rubbed her back soothingly, calming her crying.

"I'm sorry Jamie. I was just wondering what you were doing in here."

"I was just looking around and I stumbled across this place and I guess I locked myself in. I'm sorry for intruding. Am I supposed to be in here?"

"Not really," he said.

"I'm sorry. But—how did you get in here? The door was shut and it locked and there are no other doors."

"You must be hungry, let's get you something to eat." He ushered her out of the room. He didn't know how to answer the question so he completely ignored it.

Jamie thought it was weird how he changed the subject so quickly and knew that something was up. She tried again as they walked down the hall towards the kitchen. But Elliott was silent and ignored her yet again. He just kept walking. But he wasn't walking, he more of glided down the hallways. Jamie shook off the thought and focused on keeping up with Elliott's long stride. When they had reached the dining hall, food was set out for them. Jamie looked up with a question in her eyes. "My cook" was all he said and sat down. Jamie sat across from him and noticed that a plate wasn't in his place.

"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked while she dished up some food for herself.

"No."

Jamie tried several times to start up a conversation with him but all she got was a blank expression on his lovely face. She decided to drop all hope of a conversation with him. The man was undoubtedly stubborn. She didn't like it one bit. Questions swirled through her brain, and it was all she could do to keep from asking him. She silently ate her food. When she had finished, she caught him staring at her. She met his hypnotizing blue eyes, and her stomach did flips. Her cheeks turned a flushy red and she turned her head away. "Can you take me home?"

He nodded and then stood, Jamie following his lead. He led her to his car and they got in.

***

Elliott was quiet the entire ride home, afraid to talk. He glanced at Jamie every once in a while. She had her arms crossed over her chest with a big frown on her face. She was mad at him for not answering her question, but he couldn't. He didn't know how.

Elliott pulled into Jamie's driveway. Before he stopped the car, she had jumped out and ran into her house. Elliott watched her go and told himself that this was for the best and to just let her go. He backed up and pulled away from Jamie's house and drove into the sunset, off to a nightclub for his supper.

Chapter 5

It had been a week since Jamie last saw Elliott. She was at the supermarket getting groceries. She couldn't concentrate at all. The whole week, her mind kept drifting back to him. She kept seeing his beautiful face. It was haunting her. Dangit. Why did Italians have to be so hot? She wished she could just see him again, just to gaze in those big blue eyes one last time. Jamie shook her head. She was like a silly schoolgirl, falling head-over-heels for someone she didn't even know, and probably never would know. She looked out the glass doors. It was dark outside. She had been shopping for hours, but didn't seem to get anything in her basket. She sighed. Dad had taken the others to a school dance, and she would be alone until late. Maybe she would stop at McDonalds or something instead of cook. She was about to go back to her car when someone walked through the doors. Her heart thudded in her chest as she gazed at a perfectly built Italian god. She hid behind the nearest shelf and sunk to the floor. "Omigod," she muttered, "Elliott's here." She didn't know if she was happy or sad to see him, nor did she have the time do decide, because of that smooth, clear voice resounding only a few feet away from her.

"Hello Jamie"

Omigod! Omigod! Omigod! Omigod! OMIGOD! That Italian sexbomb, the one she kept thinking about was now standing right next to her, leaning casually against the shelves. She had to keep her cool. She slowly got up from her hiding place. "Hello Elliott." She tried to keep her voice calm. She desperately wanted to reach out and touch him. Then he did something that made her temptation even harder to resist. He smiled. A flash of white teeth, so perfectly white, he couldn't be human. As quickly as it had appeared, it vanished. There was a long awkward moment between them.

"Listen, would you like to um…have dinner sometime? I'd love to have you…over for dinner I mean. Not like eat you or anything…"

The blubbering fool had no idea what he was saying to her. She'd love to have dinner with him. "Sure, how about tonight?"

His expression lightened with those words. The corner of his mouth lifted. He nodded once in acknowledgement of his acceptance. "Alright."

They left the supermarket together, but drove in their separate cars. Jamie hummed to herself in the silence. Something she did only when she was very happy.

***

Elliott drove in silence, glancing in his rear-view mirror to make sure Jamie was still keeping up. He had her. His little act at the supermarket had convinced her. But he was no blabbering fool. He knew how to get the ladies… He shook he head, clearing it of those horrid images. "Tonight I'm going to try," he told himself. He looked in the rear-view mirror just in time to see the black figure run into the beam of her headlights.