YAY! I'M THE FIRST TO WRITE A STORY FOR THIS… WELL, STORY. I LOVE THESE BOOKS. HOPE YOU ENJOY. R&R. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM IS ACCEPTED, BUT FLAMES ARE NOT. 8 ) THIS STORY TAKES PLACE RIGHT AFTER "CIRCLE OF BLOOD".

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Cameryn Mahoney continued to scream as she pushed herself to the wall farthest from the window that Kyle O'Neil had just disappeared from. 'Get a hold of yourself' she told herself as she forced herself to stop screaming. Her breathing still came in sharp, unsteady rhythms, and she could hear footsteps racing up the stairs toward her room, drawing closer until the door burst open, and her father, Patrick Mahoney, crouched before her. He pull her toward him, in an attempt to calm her, but her brain could scarcely put together the words to describe what she had just witnessed.

"What's wrong, Cammie?" he asked urgently, but there was a softness in his eyes. She could only shake her head. "Cammie, you've got to calm down. What's wrong?"

Closing her eyes, Cameryn found that thinking came easier. She pointed weakly toward her window and mumbled a single word. "Kyle." 'What is wrong with me?' she asked herself. She was usually able to keep her head in any other situation, but the return of Kyle seemed to shake her, and she felt weak. Her father quickly made his way to the window and searched the shadows for any sign of Kyle. Mammaw took her sons place at Cameryn's side, fear and concern showing deep within the old woman's loving eyes.

"Do you see anyone, Patrick?" she asked when Cameryn's father remained silent.

Patrick only shook his head his eyes still searching the dark yard. He grabbed his cell phone from the back pocket of his pants and fiddled with the numbers before pressing the phone to his ear and combing his fingers through his graying hair. "Jacobs," he said quietly glancing over at Cameryn, she kept her eyes to the floor but listened intently to every word he said, "It's Patrick. Yeah. I need you and that deputy of yours to come over. Cammie says that she just say that Kyle kid outside her window. Yeah…Okay…alright, see you then." He placed his phone back in his pocket and walked over to where she sat, huddled, knees to her chest in the corner of her room.

"It's gonna be alright." He said pulling her close and rubbing her arm comfortingly. "help's coming."

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Jacobs and Justin arrived at the house, only a couple of minutes, after Cameryn got her head back together. "Pat" said Jacobs casually, knowing full well that he wasn't going to be catching any serial killers that night. Justin stood close behind the sheriff, never taking his worried eyes from Cameryn's face, even after her father and the good sheriff had moved on to the place in the yard where Kyle had disappeared to.

"Are you alright? Is there anything I can do?" he asked even though he knew she was to independent to take any help.

Cameryn shook her head and said, "I'm fine. I just got a little spooked." She felt so stupid for telling Kyle, even though she was under the impression that he was actually Jo Ann Whittaker, all those things about the 'Esther Childs Case' so willingly. She had been so easily tricked…so trusting, and all just for a phony scholarship. Cameryn felt like she needed to wash herself. She shook her head and exhaled.

"What's eating you?" Justin asked.

"There is no scholarship. Kyle was pretending to be Jo Ann Whittaker the whole time. I feel so stupid."

"You're not stupid. Everyone, even Moore, thought Kyle was the real deal. You can't blame yourself for believing he was, too."

"Are you comin', Deputy?" Jacobs called from the backyard.

"Yeah," Justin yelled back, "I'm glad your okay." He said awkwardly, turning back to Cameryn. He started to reach out to touch her arm, but seemed to think better of it and turned back around and made his way to place were the sheriff and her father crouched searching the grass for footprints.

Cameryn leaned against the kitchen table and put her face in her hands. Why was this happening? It was like a bad dream that she couldn't get out of. She didn't know how long she sat there like that before Jacobs said to her, "I'm gonna need to see those emails that he sent you, Cammie." She led Jacobs, Justin, and her father to her room, embarrassed. Her room was a mess. She was usually the type of girl that kept her room nice and clean, she just didn't seem to have the time anymore, but none the three men seemed to notice the mess.

Sitting at her computer, Cameryn opened up her email page and attached all the email she had received under the name 'Jo Ann Whittaker' on a word document and printed it out while the three men searched her room, even though she was fairly certain that they were not going to find anything in there.

"Hey Cammie, what does "Anam Cara" mean, and why is it written on every page of this notebook?" Justin asked, holding normal looking, grayish notebook, while Cameryn's blood ran cold through her veins.

"Where did you get that?" she almost whispered.

Looking from Cameryn to the notebook and back, Justin said "it was under your bed. It's not yours?"

Slowly, she shook her head and grabbed the notebook from him. Flipping through the pages, in neat, precise script on every line of the note book were the words 'anam cara.' Her breathing quickened and she threw the notebook on her bed, wiping her hands on her shirt. He had been in her room. He had touched her things. He had been under her bed. She wondered if he had ever been in there at the same time she was. If he had ever spent the night in that room with her, being only inches from him. For the second time that night, she felt the urge to wash herself. "That's his." She said quietly. Anam cara means soul friend, or soul mate. He called me that more than once when we dated. That's his hand writing. I…I…oh..." and at that she was making her way to the bathroom, closing the door behind herself and, doubling over, she was sick.

When she was done, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. It wasn't that she was scared, she was disgusted. She felt unclean, like he had touched her. And he may have. She didn't know. He was obsessed and had been so close, and she hadn't even known. The door creaked open and she heard Justin's voice, soft and comforting, "Cammie, are you okay?" he asked for the second time that night.

She nodded and he stepped in, closing the door behind him. He took a step toward her as if making sure it was alright to approach her. "Everything's going to be alright, Cammie. There's going to be people outside this house at all times. He's not going to get in again. I promise. Your going to be safe." She did feel safer and she opened her eyes and looked at him. He smiled, and his smile sort of charmed her, causing her to smile back at him. "Plus," he added, his usual character coming back a bit, but the worry still holding in some features, "I've got first shift."