Chapter One

Secrets

It was dark out. I was in woods on my own. I had been in these woods many times before, but never alone. As a baby all the way up to now as a sixteen year old vampire girl I had never been lost. Never until now. I never should have left the house in the first place. I'd stopped going into the woods ages ago. Or so it's how I remembered it.

Suddenly I heard someone calling my name. "I'm over here." I shouted. But no one answered. They just continued to call my name out here in the cold, wet, dreary woods.

"Kristen, Kristen," was all I could hear over the howling of the wind and the loud cracks of thunder. My hair and my clothes were soaked and stained with grass. I tried to follow the voice but soon gave up. It continued to call my name and I decided to try and follow it again. "Kristen, Kristen," It called again. That's when I realized it was an unfamiliar voice but I knew I would have to take my chances.

"I'm over here." I yelled again. This time it heard me. I heard soft footsteps coming closer and a faint light came along with it. I looked up from my seat on the ground to see a man in front of me and the light of his lantern revealed his image. He was tall and muscular with dark brown hair. He was amazingly tan. His face was friendly but his dark blue eyes were cold as ice. He reached out a hand to help me up.

"Are you alright?" He asked me. "Kristen?"

"Yes I'm Kristen. And I'm fine. But a…" I was hesitant to ask, "Who are you?"

"I'm Nick." No wonder his face seemed familiar. He was my dad's coworker and he went to school with me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Your parents sent me to look for you."

Now I was annoyed. It sounded just like my dad to do this to me. Go and send someone I barely know to come and find me. I should just go off and give myself amanita so he would have to send people I know. Or I could fake the amanita. This was getting too complicated for me.

"Do you know your way back?"

"Of course I do. Do you think your dad would let me come out here in the middle of the night to come to and find his daughter if I didn't know the woods like the back of my hand?"

That much I knew. Dad would never have allowed that. "No," I admitted, "I guess not. But um… Can we get out of the rain now?"

"Sure. You went pretty far though. What were you doing out here anyway?"

I looked away. That was the last thing I would want to tell him. That I ran from the world only to think of a way to stop it all. It wasn't like I had a bad day at school. No. School was perfectly normal. Work was great too. It even looked like I was going to get a raise. So what exactly was wrong? Nothing felt right. Everything was wrong. My life was not this easy and it wasn't just today. It had been this way for a week now and nothing changed. How could I just tell this to someone I'd just met. He'd think I was insane for running from that. A life that seemed too good. I had to lie.

"I just needed to think and get away from everything, everybody. You know, be free."

"I can understand that." It seemed true enough but I still wasn't going to tell him. Even if he may be able to understand. The seconds ticked by and soon my house came into view. It was darker than I had thought. Past ten already. At least life should be a little more normal when my dad heard the lie. All I wanted to do was just run upstairs and lock out the world. It felt like a burning fire was taking over me. It was like I was trapped in a never-ending whirlpool. It just kept spinning me around and around.

We walked into the house. My dad, Danny, was lying across the sofa with his arms stretched out. My mom, Josephine, was at the counter, making Danny's "coffee." Danny hadn't even looked up from the game he'd been watching when we walked in the room.

"Here you are Danny." Nick said after a long moment of silence. "She's alright. Not a scratch." He said it so proudly, though I knew and Danny knew that no matter how clumsy I could be, I would never get a scratch. I couldn't get bruises. I couldn't bleed. In other words, I couldn't be physically hurt. My mom and dad or my two siblings, it was impossible. Of course, no one outside of our family knew that. They never were meant to.

"Thanks Nick." Danny said with an odd but convincing smile. "See you at work tomorrow and you took good care of my little girl. That shows good quality, boy."

"Thank you, sir." Nick said then left. I knew the torture of a million questions was headed my way. It was a never-ending paraded of getting on my case. Once Danny got started, he never stopped. Even three hundred years hadn't shaken that habit off yet, and I had a feeling it never would. I braced myself for whatever was about to come, knowing what was coming anyway.

"Kristen Emily Marie Drew," he began, and I knew I was in for it, "What the hell were you thinking? You could have blown the secret! How would Nick have reacted if he knew what you are, a vampire? Do you have any idea what would have happened if you had exposed us to the world? Any idea what would have happened to them? You haven't been back there in years and never that deep in the woods! What would have happened if he found you in the morning if it were sunny enough?"

"Well if you were so worried about me or the secret than why don't you ever come looking for me yourself? It would be nice to have a break from your search parties. I have the crystal. I don't need my ring."

"It doesn't matter," Josephine said, cutting in for the first time. "Amanda and Kevin are going to be back soon. You really should have gone with them, Kristen. Why did you go back there in the first place though?"

Oh no. There was no way to get out of this. "To think," I lied. "To be honest, I don't even remember what it was anyway."

"Oh," she said somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry we were being so accusative."

"No big deal. It's not like I went out there to hide and start a rampage through town or anything like that. I'm prone to guilt, Josephine."

Just then, Amanda and Kevin came bursting though the door laughing their heads off. Most likely they had already heard about my incident or their night had gone really well. Maybe it was both.

Amanda's long blonde hair flew down her back with ease. Her blue eyes sparkled as they always did. Her perfect figure was well…perfect. So her night must have gone well. She was hardly ever cheery like this.

Kevin seemed just as unusually cheerful. His eyes had gone from the deep black to the same liquid blue as Amanda. His short-cropped black hair was as messy as always. His pale skin hard was hard as rock. "So what kind of trouble did you stir up this time Kristen, huh?" When Amanda sensed Danny's tenseness, he trailed off and shook his head.

"Yes Kevin," I` said in a sarcastic tone. "Because I get in trouble so much for almost blowing the secret and I'm always thirsty." He got the message. There was an angrier, more aggressive edge to his face for a second. It pasted. The happy face replaced it again and a loud burst of laughter exploded from him.

What was with him and Amanda lately? They were dating. It was perfectly normal. They weren't really related. Not at all. They had their fights, but they were short. Now it was all lovey-dovey, laugh all day kind of thing. That was so not my brother. Way more out of character for my sister. Amanda was not ever this cheery, even when I messed up like this. Or, at least, Danny thought I'd messed up. Amanda was gloomier, less bright.

"Hold up," I said, suddenly struck with confusion. "What I miss and why is everything so wrong? I don't have it this easy, Kevin and Amanda are way to …happy, and now, Danny, you're not yelling at me? What's with you?"

"Nothing, sweetie." Josephine said with a smile. "Everything's ok."

I stood there looking at my family. There had to be something. Then suddenly it hit me, like a rocket just about to launch. There was something and it was big. They'd never done this before and I knew they were seniors so, it did make sense.

"So you two finally made it official. You guys are getting married." It wasn't a question.

"Yes!" Amanda smiled.

"Wow, didn't see that coming." I really didn't see it coming. When do you hear that your immortal brother and sister who aren't related are getting married? Even when you have forever to prepare for this kind of stuff; it still comes as a shock when they tell you. I can't see the future and I can't read minds, but I still should've seen this coming. I was one of the special ones of our kind.

All of our kind has speed and strength, some more than others. There are those out there that can do more than that. I could sense things that will or are happing. Just like how I sensed the whole Danny thing. I didn't see the future but I sensed it all coming. Kevin was the strongest. Josephine was the fastest. Amanda and Danny couldn't do anything special. Amanda could sense things more difficult than the others could, but I still beat her to the punch.

I was the youngest in two ways. I was sixteen but I'd been sixteen for a hundred years. That was still young. Amanda and Kevin were eighteen. Daniel was twenty-three and Josephine was twenty-one. Danny and Josephine are three hundred some years old. That's why you can call your dad old man. Amanda is a hundred thirteen and Kevin is a hundred twenty two. I am hundred seven was very young. Sixteen is extremely young… to me at least.

I went upstairs to my room and turned on the TV. This was the nightly routine. I don't sleep. Our kind can't. We just don't. I don't know why, but I've been awake for a hundred years and it never bothered me before. Sure I looked like I hadn't slept for a hundred years, but that's because I hadn't eaten anything for a while. My eyes were pitch black, not my usual gold. My throat kept burning with thirst. Could I eat and drink human food? Sure, no problem. It did nothing for me. Water was the same. It wasn't in our diet. It wasn't meant for us.

I propped myself up on the bed and started to flip though channels. My room was like every sixteen-year old girls dream. It was big, covered in posters from BOP and Tigerbeat magazines, it had a flat screen TV, and a walk in closet. I loved my room, even now. It was probably my favorite place. I lived like a normal girl, almost. I had friends at school. I had sleepovers (of course I never really slept but I could fake it) I could dream without sleeping or being in a trance. It was like having visions. You know perfectly well what is really in front of you but you see something entirely different. My friends came over sometimes.

It was amazingly easy for me to have my friends. Amanda was gloomy at home, but was one heck of an actress. She was really popular, prissy, a cheerleader. She was the type of girl my friends and I pretty much hated. If she weren't my sister, I'd probably believe every second of her little show. But me, well I was just …me

I didn't have any kind of act or role to play. I was no actress and I was certainly no Amanda. I never could be. I was honest, most of the time anyway. The most of the time was why Danny was so freaked out about me being gone tonight. I use to be a lot worse. Danny has never forgotten that.

I finally found something to watch. It was just some lame chick flick but I didn't really care. When you don't sleep, you get much more done and much more time to think. Tonight was a thinking night. I began to think of my friends. Then I started to think about Amanda. Why had they kept the marriage a secret? Who cares? That was just Amanda. She kept almost everything a secret. Would they ever get their own place?

Then I thought about why Danny had gotten so mad at me. I didn't want to think about that. It hurt me too much. It was why I didn't have a boyfriend. I'd promised myself I'd never love anyone again, forever. It was the worst moment of my life. I was ready to kill myself. I never wanted to hurt anyone. It was the most horrible thing in the world. I sickened myself. It made me feel like a monster.

I knew I shouldn't complain. Amanda's story was bad. So was everyone else's. None of our stories were happy. But I still thought my story was the worst in the world. Because of me, I'd lost the one man in the world I loved. It had all been my fault. He died because of me. Amanda's story was almost the same. Only she was saved.

The next day I was on the edge. It was like I couldn't breathe. I needed food. They all called to me. It was endless. I had almost killed my best friend. What was so wrong with me? Now I would have given anything to have that prefect life back again. The life that had been agonizing and torturing me yesterday suddenly seemed as if it would be the perfect miracle or dream. Worse my friends had noted that there was something wrong with me.

"What's wrong with you today?" Madison hammered at me at lunch. "You've gone completely insane! When was the last time you slept, a hundred years ago?"

"You have no idea." I muttered under my breath so only I could hear. I really had to concentrate on not ripping of her head. Usually I could handle her outburst, but today I was so not in the mood to have her yell at me.

She went on and on about how there was something off about the whole school day. When she finally figured out no one was listening, she just dropped the whole subject. Andrew was talking to Natalie and I was talking to Abby and Caroline about the thing with Danny last night.

"It was weird." I told Abby and Caroline. "He totally flipped out!" I had a tense, harsh feeling Abby would find out about me sometime and better sooner than later. She was my best friend and at the moment, she and Caroline loved vampires. I was lucky their obsessions lasted a few months to about a year and a half. Most of the time it was a year.

"Really," asked Abby. "Danny? I just can't see it. He's always so nice."

"He's not your dad." I added. "He doesn't have to be yours, as much as he might want to be." Danny had always said she'd make a good vampire. I knew he was right. Abby would make one heck of a vampire. She was smart, pretty, graceful, and impossible to fool. She'd shown that she would be a great vampire from the first time I had met her. She was strong and fast too.

"Oh and get this guys. I think the whole school knows that my brother and sister are dating. Well now they're getting married and I just found that out last night! How unfair is that right? Kevin and Amanda don't ever tell me anything ever! No one does!"

"So is that why you don't have a boyfriend?" Abby asked me. "You could go out with Andrew. He's kind of cute. Or Josh. I love his hair. Or maybe you could date Alex or Connor or Nick or…"

"Wait did you just say Nick? He works for my dad. That would be a little weird; don't you think so, Caroline?"

She wasn't listening to me but judging by her answer she had clearly listened to Abby. "What about Logan? He's cute, in most of your classes, he's cute, brown hair, he's cute, brown eyes, he's cute, he's so strong, oh and did I say he's cute? He is so totally your type."

"I still think she should go with Nick. You guys would totally be the school power couple! And you'd be so super cute together."

"Not Nick. I heard he's of limits."

I looked across the room. There was Logan. He had great hair, better than Josh's. He was strong. I did love his eyes, chocolate brown. He wasn't really tan but he wasn't pale either. He was every girl's dream. As if by some miracle, he looked right at me and smiled. By more of a miracle, he got up and started to walk torrid us.

It's okay. He might just want to talk to Abby or Maddie. Maybe he doesn't want to talk to me. Be positive, Kristen. Positive.

"Hey Kristen." Oh crap. "So I was wondering, this is probably a stupid question, but um do you want to hang out tonight? We cloud go to Wild Wood."

I couldn't answer. I was completely frozen and I was pretty sure I wasn't breathing, but I didn't care. It was like they had planned this. We went from a conversation about my brother and my sister getting married to me getting asked out by Logan Williams. This couldn't be happing to me!

"She'd love to." Abby answered for me. I was going to kill her, but I nodded. I was still frozen with shock. Logan didn't seem to notice.

"Cool. I'll pick you up at eight. See you later, Kristen."

"Great." I managed to choke out. Abby was so dead.