Vlad woke up and groaned. Monday. Great. He heard rain pitter-pattering against the window. He groaned again. A Monday plus rain equalled the worst day ever to go to school. He groaned for a third time.

"Vlad, have you turned into a zombie or something?" asked a familiar female voice.

"Go away, Sophie." he said, closing his eyes again. His vampire cousin sat on the end of his bed.

"No." she replied. "Anyway, Nelly says get up." She paused. "Oh, and Otis is here."

Vlad opened his eyes and sat up.

"Really?" he asked. "Why?"

"No idea." said Sophie, shrugging. "Anyway, how should I know?"

"Well, he's your dad."

"That doesn't mean he tells me everything."

That's true. thought Vlad. He got out of bed. "Tell Nelly that I'm up and getting dressed." Sophie nodded, stood up and went downstairs. Vlad started getting dressed in silence.

Why is Otis here? He wondered. He knew that he would get the answer when he saw his uncle. He finished dressing and went downstairs. Nelly and Otis were sitting at the table talking, and Sophie was curled up like a cat on another chair. Otis looked up when his nephew came in.

"Hello, Vlad." he said. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Uncle Otis." Vlad replied, giving his uncle a hug. He sat down next to Sophie. "What is it?"

"Well, due to the problem with the Stokerton council and Elysia, I'm going to take you and Sophie to Forks, where we'll stay with a friend of mine until this all dies down."

"But what about Nelly and Henry?"

"They'll be fine. Anyway, the council are after you and only you."

"This friend of yours." said Vlad. "Vampire?"

"Obviously." said Otis, nodding. "I wrote to Carlisle a few weeks ago, as I had a feeling that this crisis would get worse. He has agreed for the three of us to stay with him and his family."

"A vampire family?" asked Sophie.

"Yes, Sophie." he replied.

"When do we go?"

"Tomorrow." he replied. "You and Vlad can tell Henry." They nodded.

"I'll tell the school that your grandfather has died and that you'll need time off to cope." said Nelly.

"But we don't have a grandfather!" said Vlad.

"I know that." she said. "But the school don't."

"I did have a grandfather." said Sophie. "But he died back in 1908 when I was 7." Vlad snorted whilst Nelly and Otis just smiled.

"You two should get to school." said Nelly.

Vlad and Sophie got up, grabbed their bags and "drinks" and went off.

"Another vampire family?" asked Henry.

"Yes." said Vlad.

"Wow." Henry replied. He turned to Sophie. "Do you know who these vampires are?"

"Probably the Cullens." she said. "Otis once mentioned a family of vampires called the Cullens living in Forks."

"Have you met them?" asked Vlad.

"No, only Carlisle." she answered. "He's the father of the Cullens. He and Otis sued to meet up once in a while. The only time I met him was after I had transformed. Otis took me to meet him so that I understood how to be a vampire."

"What's he like?"

"He's very caring and compassionate. He's a doctor at the local hospital and he doesn't drink human blood, instead he drinks animal blood. The Cullens are what you might call "vegetarian" vampires."

"Veggie vampires?" asked Henry. "That's different."

"Henry, your two best friends are vegetarian vampires."

"How? You drink human blood."

"Yes, donated human blood, not from the actual human."

"Well, Vlad did bite me when we were eight…"

"Dude, we were eight!" exclaimed Vlad. "Can't you just let it go already?"

"Not really." They laughed. Sophie suddenly grinned.

"Race you!" she exclaimed happily and literally sped off.

"Hey, no fair!" exclaimed Henry, as he and Vlad raced after her.

Still laughing, they reached Bathory High.

"Hey, goth boy!" came an all-too familiar voice.

"Just ignore them." said Sophie quietly, as Bill and Tom came their way.

"What do you think I'm doing?" replied Vlad. "Uh oh." Bill and Tom were getting closer.

"Go with Henry." she said. "I'll deal with them."

"Sophie." said her cousin. "Do you know how many times they've shoved me up against lockers and sent my bag up the flagpole?"

"Yes, I do."

"Without reading my mind."

"Oh, shut up!"

"Where you going, goth boy?" asked Tom, jeeringly.

"Away from you." replied Vlad. He was aware that Sophie and Henry wanted him to get away from the two bullies.

Anyway. thought Vlad. At least I've got my vampire cousin to beat up these two jerks if they hurt me.

I heard that. she replied telepathically.

Oh, shut up! he exclaimed.

Not a chance! She smiled cheekily at him and turned to Bill and Tom. "Hey, are you two actually going to leave my cousin alone?"

"No." replied Bill. "Unless you're going to stop me."

"Which I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Why not?" she asked, stepping forward. Her dark brown eyes flashed with anger.

"Because you're a girl!"

"So?" she asked. "What's wrong with being a girl?"

"Girls don't punch." he said. "Boys do that."

"Oh?" she asked curiously, feeling her fangs coming out. "And what do girls do?"

"You know…girl stuff." She swallowed hard to get her hunger out of her head. It didn't work. Henry put his hand cautiously on her shoulder.

"Come on, Sophie." he said, well aware that his friend could go all vampiric at any moment. "Let's go."

She nodded and turned towards him, then quickly spun back round and punched Bill in the face. When she brought her hand away, his nose was bleeding. There was also blood on her knuckles. She sucked it off hungrily, and then quickly tried to distract herself.

"What was that you were saying about girls not punching people?"

"My nose!" exclaimed Bill, trying to stop the bleeding. "I think you broke my nose!"

"I certainly hope so." Sophie smiled. "Yeah, you better run!" she called out as Bill and Tom ran quickly towards the school. She turned back to Vlad and Henry.

"Wow." said Henry. "Remind me never to get on your bad side." She giggled.

"Sophie." said Vlad. "Your drink."

She got the hint and took several big gulps of her blood drink.

"You ok now, Soph?" asked her cousin.

"Yeah." said Sophie. "I'm fine."

"Great." said Henry. "Now, let's go."

Vlad spent the rest of the day waiting for either Bill or Tom, or both of them, to corner him at his locker, but it seemed that Sophie's punch had warned them to stay clear of Vlad, which he was fine with. He had sneakily peeked into the sick bay, where he saw Bill holding a tissue to his bloody nose. Vlad smirked and carried on walking.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Sophie, if you want to know what I'm thinking then just read my mind."

"I don't have to, silly!"

He put his arm round her affectionately all the way to Geography. They went to their usual seats near the back.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning, Miss Brooks." She was tall and had short blonde curly hair. She wrote the title on the board then turned back to the class.

"Today, we will be learning about the 1916 Chicago Earthquake." Sophie stiffened and stared at the board with a serious look on her face. No one noticed but Vlad.

Sophie? he asked telepathically. What's wrong?

What's wrong? she replied. She kept a poker face but her voice was high-pitched. That's the same earthquake that I "died" in!

Oh. he said. There was a pause. Well, this is awkward.

Tell me about it.

"Now, does anyone know anything about the earthquake?" asked Miss Brooks. There was a small pause. Sophie put up her hand.

"Sophie?"

"The 1916 Chicago Earthquake occurred on Monday 17th January 1916 at 9:00am, and destroyed most of downtown Chicago." she said, remembering the last day of her human life.

"That's right." replied Miss Brooks. She turned back to the class and the lesson went on. The only time when Sophie felt uncomfortable was when Miss Brooks showed the class a video about the earthquake. Seeing the disaster that had "killed" her made Sophie feel sick. And hungry. She put up her hand.

"Miss?" she asked. "I'm not feeling too well. Could I please go outside?" Her pale white skin helped the excuse and her politeness was one of the traits left over from her human self.

"Of course, Sophie." said Miss Brooks.

"Thank you, miss." Sophie packed her stuff as she knew that she wouldn't be back and went out into the corridor, where she sat down on the floor and quietly cried. She heard the door open and close and then someone crouched down in front of her.

"Sophie." said Vlad, pulling her into a hug. "It's ok."

She carried on crying, the memories of being in the earthquake gradually fading.

"You ok now, Sophie?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Vlad."

"That's good." She smiled at him.

"I'm hungry." she said.

"Me too." he replied. The lunch bell rang.

They headed to the cafeteria where they met up with Henry.

"What's up with you guys?" he asked. "You look pale."

"Oh, ha ha," Sophie said sarcastically, at the usual pun.

"Seriously, though. What is it?" His friends didn't answer. "You just had Geography, right? Something in that?"

"We were doing the 1916 Chicago Earthquake." said Vlad.

"And?"

"I was born in 1901 and my human age is 15." said Sophie. "What year would I have "died" in?"

"1916," answered Henry. Then he realised. "Oh."

"Yeah, I died in the 1916 Chicago Earthquake." she said. They found an empty table and sat down.

"That must have been awkward." said Henry.

"It was." she said. "Could we please stop talking about it?"

"Sorry."

They spent the rest of lunch and the day talking about the Cullens.

"So, anything else you know about them?" asked Vlad.

"Ok, this is all stuff I know from Otis." she said. "Carlisle has a wife called Esme, and they have five adopted children: Edward, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper. Otis said that the sunlight doesn't burn them but it affects them in another way."

"Do you know what that is?"

"No, I don't." she replied. "But no doubt they'll tell us." The two boys smiled. By this time, they were walking home.

"Hey, Nelly." said Vlad. "Hey, Otis."

"Hello, kids." said Otis, smirking. He knew that Vlad and Sophie hated that.

"Seriously, Otis." said Sophie, putting her hands on her hips and pretending to be annoyed. "We're immortal vampires, not kids!"

"I'm half vampire." Vlad reminded her.

"You know what I mean,"

"Ok, you two. That's enough." said Nelly, smiling.

"Sorry," Vlad and Sophie said in unison.

"You know, it really weirds me out when you do that 'talking at the same time' thing." said Henry.

"Shut up, Henry." they said.

"You did that deliberately, didn't you?" They nodded and laughed.

"Vladimir, Sophie." said Nelly. "Stop annoying Henry."

"He's annoying!" Sophie replied, defensively.

"So are you." replied Henry.

"I second that." said Vlad.

"I third that." said Otis.

Sophie rolled her eyes and Nelly shook her head. Vlad, Henry and Otis were trying not to laugh.

Later that night Vlad was lying in bed, thinking.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Sophie, just read my mind."

"I'd rather hear you say it." Vlad sat up in bed.

"I'm worried." he said.

"About D'Ablo?" she asked, this time reading his mind.

"Yes." he said, nodding. "What if he finds us again?"

"He won't." she reassured him. "We'll be in Forks. We'll be safe."

"Anyway." came Otis' voice from the doorway. "If he does find us, we'll be with the Cullens. They'll help us."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Vlad. "What if they don't like me?"

"Nonsense." replied Otis. "I explained to Carlisle about your parents and he is ok with that, and says that the rest of the family will be too," Vlad relaxed. "Don't worry, Vlad. You are going to be fine." He smiled at them, his eyes twinkling. "You should get some sleep, both of you. We have an early start tomorrow."

"Ok." Otis closed the door and went downstairs.

"If you don't mind..." said Sophie. "...could I sleep in here tonight?"

"Of course you can." replied Vlad, smiling. She smiled back and curled up like a cat on the end of his bed. "Er, Sophie? Don't you need a blanket or something?"

"I'm a vampire, Vlad. I don't feel the cold." She closed her eyes. "Now, shut up and go to sleep."

"Ok. Night, Sophie."

"Night, Vlad." Vlad closed his eyes and went to sleep.

The next morning they did indeed get up early, earlier than they did for school.

"Sophie, how are you not tired?" asked Vlad, yawning.

"I'm a vampire, Vlad." she replied. "I'm just naturally nocturnal."

"But you sleep."

"Yes, I also sleep." He detected the sarcasm in her voice and decided to stop.

Sophie went back to her room and changed then they went downstairs, where Nelly was preparing a batch of fresh blood for Vlad, Sophie and Otis to take with them.

"We're going for quite a few weeks." explained Otis, seeing their faces. "If we run out, we'll be able to get some more."

"Well, you weren't kidding about the early start." said Vlad.

"Drink some blood, Vlad." said Sophie. "It'll wake you up." Vlad went into the fridge and took out a blood bag. He ripped it open with his teeth and swallowed the warm liquid until he was full.

"That feels much better." he said, wiping his mouth.

"At least your t-shirt didn't get covered in blood this time, Vladimir." said Nelly, smiling. Sophie giggled and Vlad playfully punched her on the arm. She responded by elbowing him in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, laughing. "Sophie!" She gave him an innocent face and he laughed some more.

"Ok, you two. That's enough." said Otis, smiling. "We should get going."

They packed the car with clothes and blood.

"Sophie, keep an eye on Vlad." said Nelly. "You know what he's like."

"I have a feeling that Vlad's going to keep an eye on me." replied Sophie.

"That's going to be hard." said Vlad.

A few minutes later, they were in the car and heading towards Forks. 6 hours later they drove into the small dull, grey town.

"Welcome to Forks." said Otis.