A/N: Here's Chapter 1! I hope you guys enjoy it! Please read & review!

Chapter 1

Chloe POV

She walked through the forest into a moonlit clearing. The breeze was warm, and she could detect the faint scent of something floral. Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths, completely relaxed for the first time in a long time.

After some time, there was a rustling of leaves behind her, and she turned, expecting, hoping, to see a wolf. Instead, she saw a corpse crawling toward her, its flesh long rotted away. Its clicking teeth were permanently fixed in a skeleton's horrible grin, and she could smell the scent of the death coming from it in waves. She stumbled back, only to hear a sickening crunch as she stepped on a second corpse's bony hand. She whirled to run, but found more skeletons dragging themselves into the clearing, their bones clattering together as they advanced toward her, their angry hissing drowning out her screams as they came closer and closer…

I bolted upright in bed, my heart pounding in my chest as I awoke from my dream. As my breathing slowed, I glanced at the bedside clock. 4:30 a.m. I groaned internally, knowing that I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep after my nightmare.

As quietly as I could, I slipped out of my room and into the silent hallway. The others' doors were, not surprisingly, all still closed, and I could hear somebody—one of the boys—snoring loudly. I made my way along the hallway and down the stairs, wincing when the wooden floorboards of the old house creaked as I tiptoed across them.

Once I was downstairs, I paused, struggling to remember where Andrew had told us the kitchen was on our informal tour of the safe house the night before. After several wrong turns, I finally found it. The walls were pale, though in the dim light I couldn't quite tell what color they were—yellow, maybe? The stove, microwave, and oven looked at least of few years outdated, but the refrigerator was large, and judging by the humming sound it was emitting, in working condition. In the middle of the spacious room, there was a sturdy-looking table surrounded by an assortment of mismatched chairs. The light coming through the windows was just enough for me to make my way over to the refrigerator, my mind filling with thoughts of hot chocolate. I managed to locate a gallon of milk and a mug with little time, trouble, and noise. I was heading to the microwave to heat the milk, praying that it would work, and that I would be able to find some hot chocolate mix, when a deep voice behind me said, "What are you doing up this early?"`

I jumped, startled, and some of the milk sloshed out of the cup and onto the floor. I spun around to see Derek watching me with an amused expression.

"I can't cut a break, can I?" he said as I set the mug on the counter and grabbed

some paper towels. "You'd think that after all we've been through, you wouldn't be so jumpy."

"If you wouldn't sneak up on me…" I hinted. He just rolled his eyes with a snort and headed to the refrigerator. As I knelt on the floor and wiped up the milk, I couldn't help but look at him as he rummaged through the food.

He had obviously been out running in the woods surrounding the safe house. His thin white t-shirt clung tightly to his chest, and I could smell a hint of evergreen mingling with his sweat. The light from the fridge lit up his face, and I noted that he looked better—his acne wasn't so bad, and he didn't look like the subject of a puberty-smackdown anymore. A shock of his black hair fell over one of his eyes, which were glowing brightly in the dim light.

Derek must have felt my stare, because he glanced over at me. I flushed red, and turned my attention back to the floor.

"So what are you doing up this early?" he repeated his earlier question as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"I-I couldn't sleep," I stuttered, not meeting his eyes as he shot me a look. "R-really," I insisted.

"Chloe," he said, exasperated. "You stutter when you're lying. What happened?"

I sighed, mentally cursing my stutter, though some small part of me was glad that he knew me so well. "I just had a dream about r-raising some g-ghosts."

In an instant he was in front of me. "Chloe, what happened? Did you raise any?" His tone was urgent, and his eyes were boring into mine.

"N-no. It was just a dream." I hope.

He nodded, relaxing, his relief showing in his eyes. As he returned to his earlier position of leaning against the counter eating, I thought of a question of my own.

"What are you doing up this early?" I asked him, refilling my mug and popping it into the microwave.

Derek shrugged, muttering something about needing to stretch his legs. I immediately wondered if he was coming up on another Change. Would this be the one? Would he finally complete his Change into a wolf?

When I asked him if he thought he might Change soon, he merely shrugged again.

"I don't know when it's going to happen again," he said, staring out the window.

"Do you think that next time…that it might be the one?" I didn't have to say anything else; he knew exactly what I meant.

He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know." As he finished speaking, he glanced at me, and in his green eyes I could read everything that he hadn't—couldn't—say. He didn't know when he would be able to complete the transformation. He didn't even know if he could, what with the genetic modifications of the Edison Group. He just didn't know.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to reassure him, but Andrew picked that moment to trundle into the kitchen, yawning loudly.

"Morning kids," he mumbled, bleary-eyed, as he shuffled to the counter and robotically turned on the coffeemaker.

"Morning," I replied, returning my attention to my cooling cup of milk. I rummaged through the cabinets until I managed to find a tin of hot cocoa mix that looked as if it had been through both World Wars. I resisted the urge to check the expiration date and spooned some of it into my mug.

Cradling it in both hands, I walked over to the table and slowly lowered myself into one of the chairs. Derek had sat down a few chairs away and was staring absentmindedly out the window at the grounds. Following his gaze, I looked out over the lush, somewhat uncontrolled grass, growing thickly out to the edge of the forest. The forest itself was cloaked with a layer of mist; the tops of the trees, which were mainly evergreens, just barely visible emerging from it. I could see that there was much undergrowth; I briefly wondered how Derek had run through it all. The sky was overcast, the clouds dense. I shivered involuntarily at the thought of the rain they would bring, and Derek looked my way, eyebrows raised. I was spared formulating an answer, however; Andrew had finally gotten his coffee, and was sitting down across the table from us.

"So how did you two sleep last night?" he asked after a few sips of his coffee.

"Fine," I answered, glancing at Derek as I did. If Andrew noticed this, he gave no indication of it, just nodded and turned to Derek.

"Alright," he rumbled. I could hear a strain in his voice as he spoke the word, and immediately remembered the awkwardness of the previous day, when Andrew and Derek had first been reunited. The disbelief, shock, and fear mingling on Andrew's face, and the pain and hurt masked under Derek's gruffness. My heart ached as I pictured the scene, and I cleared my throat, hoping to dispel some of the tension.

"You told us last night that this was a supernaturals' house. Are there other supernaturals here too? Or is it just us?" I questioned Andrew.

"To the best of my knowledge, there are two sorcerers, one witch, and two half-demons here at the moment, though I'm not entirely sure," he said, rubbing his chin. "I haven't been here in awhile, and others from the supernatural community who are against the Edison Group come and go at will. However, I believe the house is relatively empty at the moment."

I nodded, secretly relieved that there were few other people in the safe house, although I did feel a twinge of disappointment that there wasn't another necromancer here. I could have used somebody to show me the ropes.

The three of us sat in silence after that—not exactly a tense silence, but not an entirely comfortable one either—as Andrew and I sipped from our mugs, and Derek resumed staring out the window, lost in his thoughts.

At some point, Derek left, saying that he was going to take a shower. Andrew soon followed, intent on discovering exactly who else was occupying the house at the moment. I stayed at the table, thinking about all that had happened since that first fateful day that I had begun to see ghosts. If somebody had told me three weeks ago all that we would go through, I would have laughed them off, telling them that it would make a great plotline for an action film. Now I looked back on our adventures with something like awe. We had escaped, and we had survived. We had made it.

Now if we could only keep it up.

"Chloe? Are you ok?" Simon broke into my thoughts.

"W-what?" I blinked and looked over at him. His blond hair was damp and spiky, as usual, and he had on jeans and a blue t-shirt.

He chuckled. "I walked in and you were zoned out. I was worried that you had fallen asleep again." I laughed and stretched. "So how long have you been down here?"

Simon asked as he sat down next to me with a plate of toast.

"I don't know. What time is it?"

"About 7, I think."

"Then…about 2 ½ hours. Andrew and Derek were here earlier."

He nodded. "That's what Andrew told me when I bumped into him on my way to shower."

"Speaking of showers, is anyone in there at the moment? I want to wash this out of my hair," I said, indicating to the dull black dye in my hair.

"I don't know. Tori headed in there after me, and knowing her, she'll be in there for awhile."

I grinned. He had her pegged.

"So," Simon said, finishing the last of his toast. "Any idea what the plans for today are?"

I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn't know, but Andrew walked through the doorway and answered for me.

"Today you're going to meet the other supernaturals that are here, rest, and recuperate. Tomorrow we'll start planning for our attack on the Edison Group, but you guys need a break after all that you've been through."

"How about a shopping trip? I need some new clothes," Tori said, appearing in the doorway. Simon rolled his eyes at me, and I resisted the urge to giggle.

Andrew sighed. "We can't really afford to risk being seen in public at the moment, Tori. The Edison Group is on high alert, and if they see any of you…" he trailed off.

Tori rolled her eyes. "So we wear disguises, and be careful. It's just shopping." She glanced at me. "Chloe needs more hair dye anyways."

"Tori, I don't think—"

"Oh, lighten up, Andrew. A shopping trip wouldn't hurt anything," a bright voice said from behind Tori, who jumped, startled.

The speaker slipped around Tori and into the kitchen. She was a petite and had short, messy brown hair that was colored a shocking pink at the ends. Her black jeans were stylishly ragged, and there was a diamond stud in her nose. She bounced over to Andrew and gave him a quick hug.

"It's good to see you again, Trace," Andrew said with a tired but warm smile.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it? You need to visit us more often," she said with a laugh, a light tinkling sound, before to turning back to Tori. "So you want to go shopping, huh?"

Tori nodded, unsure of what to say.

"Excellent! I've needed a shopping partner," Trace said with enthusiasm. "No one else around here ever wants to go."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Trace, it's really too—"

She cut him off. "We'll be fine. Like my new partner said, it's just shopping." She smiled at Tori, who actually smiled back. Who knew? That girl was so unpredictable sometimes.

"Besides," Trace continued, "I can take care of us if anything happens to go wrong. And I'm sure she—Tori, right?—will be able to help, if the situation arises, as well."

"What powers do you have?" Simon asked, curiosity strong in his voice.

"I'm a half-demon with the power of fields—force fields, magnetic fields, protective fields—you name it, I have it. I also have the extra gift of being able to sense relationships between people; the fine details of people's interactions. It comes in handy quite a lot," she added with a wink.

Andrew sighed. "Fine. You guys can go, but at least take one or two of the others with you. There's safety in numbers."

"Thank you!" trilled Trace. She gave Andrew another quick hug, then looked him in the eye and said, "Don't worry so much, Andrew. It gives you wrinkles!"

At that, everyone had to laugh, even Andrew.

Eventually, Trace and Tori managed to talk Simon into going with them, mainly because they didn't know what to get for him or Derek. The pair then dashed off, no doubt to wrangle someone else into their shopping scheme. I, meanwhile, decided to take advantage of the house's running water and water heater.

The hot water pounding down on my shoulders felt incredible. I think I may have actually groaned with pleasure. It was great to be able to finally wash the greasy black dye from my hair, and to scrub off all the grime I had=d acquired over the past few days. As I toweled off, I evaluated my cuts and scrapes. None seems too serious; the cut under my eye didn't look infected, and while the stitches were beginning to come out, the wound on my arm seemed to be healing fine. I made a mental note to keep an eye on it though. My hair also looked better, I noticed, as I ran a brush through it. Most of the black dye had washed out, leaving my hair a light dishwater color. I smiled as I wrapped my towel around me and went to my room to change.

Derek POV

From my room, I could hear Chloe sighing with enjoyment as she took a shower, I was glad that she was happy, even briefly—she deserved it after all she had been through these past few days. I knew that it had been hard on her, discovering that we Edison Group experiments, learning of Rae's betrayal, and seeing her aunt possible killed, and I also knew that I hadn't helped that. I had yelled and gotten pissed at her, and then I had dragged her into the fiasco following my partial Change. Not to mention putting her in future danger from the two werewolves that we had met, Liam and Ramon.

Liam and Ramon…of our entire encounter with them, several things stood out, and kept running through my head. One of them was their remark regarding my likeness to Zachary Cain. Could he have been my biological father? Ramon had said that I was around the right age, and had his look. Could I really be a Cain? I wasn't sure if I wanted to be one or not, for one thing, if I was, it certainly wouldn't put me on better terms with the Pack.

The second thing that kept cropping up was what Liam had said about Chloe being my mate. All I had done was defend her, shield her from them as voice screamed a single thought in my head: "Keep her safe!" I tried to see how, from my actions, they would have come to the conclusion that she was my mate, but failed. Maybe they were mistaken—they didn't understand that anyone who knew Chloe would protect her; that she was too good not to save. Deep down in me, though, there was a part of me that liked that Liam and Ramon had mistaken her as my mate. I attempted to determine why I liked it, but I couldn't come up with anything, just a nameless feeling that felt some pride at their words.

The third item whirling through my brain was very closely related to the second, and was the one that came up the most. The sound of Chloe's voice as she defended me against Ramon's assessment of Cains, and how I fit the part perfectly, replayed endlessly in my head. The anger that laced through her words as she immediately faced off against Ramon for me. The same small piece of me that like her being mistaken for my mate felt hope at each remembrance of this. Hope for what? I asked myself again and again, each time getting no answer except for an instant replay of the moment, accompanied by a jolt in my chest when I heard her voice.

As I thought about it now, I tried futilely to squash that part of me. I didn't understand it, but I knew that if I let it stay, it would only complicate further our already complicated lives. Chloe was Simon's girl, and she had only defended me the way that she would have anybody else, even Tori.

At the thought of Tori, I laughed. She had found a fellow shopper here among the other supernaturals, and they were already planning an excursion for later today. The other supernatural, Trace, had persuaded one of the sorcerers, Xavier, and the other half-demon, whose name was Adrian, but went by Age, to go with them, as well as Simon. Chloe, along with Andrew, opted to stay home, though Chloe did give Tori specific instructions on what to pick up for her. I had done the same with Simon—I wasn't keen on going shopping, partly because Tori would be there, and especially since Ramon and Liam would still be looking for me.

And partly because that tiny part of me wanted to be close to Chloe.

A/N: How was that? I promise that the next few chapters will be more exciting!