Dear diary.

It seems like years ago that I left to go on holiday with the family. Looking in the mirror I can barely recognise myself now. The Nina Schirmer that last wrote in this book is long gone and it's strange to think that it was only two days ago that I was packing for my trip to my aunts farm. Skipping around my room with exciting thoughts of the coming weekend on my mind, not knowing what my body could take or how much I didn't know. I remember wishing that I would never have to come back from the farm, but now I'm trying hard to savour every moment of the last few hours of my life at home before I have to leave again. I would be with my parents but I don't think I can take more time around them without crying. I'm just lying on my bed and breathing in the familiar sent of my room and trying to release some of the tension by writing about the events that lead to me almost dieing. I wish someone could know the truth about what happened this weekend but I know that it's too dangerous. It hurts to think that soon my parents will be reading the paper or watching the news on the T.V. and thinking that I had killed those people and run away without a second thought. And though it causes me physical pain not to tell them the truth before I go, I know I can't.

It all starts while I was at the farm. We had just driven there and I needed to get out of the way while everyone busied themselves cooking, unpacking or, like my cousins, fighting over who got which room in the lodge. So I told my mom I was going for a walk to the river and off I went. When I got there it was just like I remembered it, shallow because there had been a bit of a drought, but still, beautiful. It was very hot out and the water was just right to cool me down so I walked down the bank and slowly immersed myself in it. It was shallow enough that I could lie flat and still have my mouth and nose peeking out toward the sky just above the water. I lay there for a while just breathing and following the clouds that lazily drifted by in the endless sea of blue. After ages of basking in the placidity the sun started to set behind the mountains and I decided to get up and start my walk back, but when I got up something caught my eye. It was the most beautiful woman walking along the river bank. She looked as if she was an actress from an action movie and seemed out of place against the background of placidity with a dusting of ash that covered her from head to toe and torn clothes, but she didn't have a single cut or a drop of blood on her white shirt. Her clothes were skin tight and she had the kind of body that could get any guy following her around like a Labrador without a home. When I stirred her eyes shot straight to mine and I was shocked at the colour. They were blood red, looking unnatural against her pale skin. She looked at me for a while like an animal assessing her pray and then she seemed to snap out of deep thought. She blinked and then the setting sun hit her skin and I almost fell back into the water. Her skin was shinning as though it was made of diamonds. We stared at each other for a while and then I realised that I had stopped breathing. She ran too me so fast she should have been in the Olympics or something. (I know now that that was actually slow for her). She picked me up, put her hand over my mouth and ran though the shrubbery to a small cabin. I couldn't understand how she could be so strong for someone so thin but I was soon distracted by a man standing in the corner of the cabin we had just entered.

"Mike." She said as she walked into the cabin addressing the most gorgeous boy to walk the face of the planet. "This girl saw me at the river. Sorry I didn't mean to- I wasn't thinking- she was under the water. I couldn't smell her." I looked up and saw that her eyes had pulled together in what I figured to be concern. Mike looked at her with what could have been anger but it was very subtle. "Please." She breathed again. "I don't want to kill any one else ever again." She seemed to be fighting back tears but her eyes were not in the least bit glossy.

Mike gave me a dismissive wave and she put me down on a rocking chair that was in another corner of the room.

"Okay, I'm going to move my hand now but I don't want you to scream." I had forgotten about her hand and I wasn't going to scream. They weren't going to hurt me and even if I did scream there was nobody around to hear so I nodded and she moved her hand. "I'm Jenny and that is Mike. We are vampires and..." she broke off when I let out a kind of snorted laugh. It was a nervous reaction to such a ridiculous idea.

"Sorry," I said. "I just thought you said vampire but..." I looked at both of their blood red eyes and shimmering faces and realised that they were waiting for me to shut up and start listening.

"Yes, vampires. We are both in a lot of trouble and you will be too if you run off and tell people that you've seen vampires wondering around." She took a breath without moving her shoulders like a normal person would and looked out the window apparently contemplating what to do next. "Could I change her?" She asked Mike, who wasn't paying any attention. "No, no. That would take too long. Maybe just take her back? No that would be too dangerous and would make trouble for us."

"I won't tell anyone." I blurted out.

She looked at me as if she had just realised I was still in the room and continued. "I think you need to know what we are doing here and then you can decide what you would like to do. Okay?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "But my family will be wondering were I am."

"Sorry I didn't consider that."

Mike laughed from his corner were he was busy working over something I hadn't noticed before. "Family is not something you would consider. Is it Jen?" His voice was gruff but still somehow soothing. I hadn't noticed how perfect his lips were.

Jenny shot him a look of acid and then turned to me. "I'll take you home and then at 10:00 pm I'll bring you back here." She said softly and then more sternly. "You won't run away will you?"

"No." I said trying to look innocent. I knew I was telling the truth but I couldn't believe she would put such trust in someone she had only just meat. But she wasn't looking at me, she was looking at Mike. Who nodded and then I was suddenly being whisked out of my chair and being shot along the path and to the farm as fast as if ridding a missile. She dropped me a little way away from the front gate and before she could shoot off into the night I asked. "Why do you trust me? What if I did run away?"

"As you may have noticed I am very, very fast and strong. These are things that you gain when you become a vampire. Mike has both these abilities plus another that only a select few of our kind obtain. He is able to tell if someone is telling the truth or not. I'll explain the rest later." And with that she was gone leaving only a small disturbance of the sand in her wake.

I got back to the lodge to find that no one had missed me. I found a small room with only one bed and settled myself in, unpacking my things on the bed so that there would be no questioning that this room was taken. I remember that the time I spent playing pool and reading in the presence of my family, waiting, seemed to go on for ever. When the clock informed me that it was 8:45 I told everyone that I was tired from the travelling and that I was turning in early. Nobody protested so I went up to my room. I could still here them laughing, the kids squealing and my grandmother shouting at my mom for making up a word in scrabble while I lay on my bed wondering how Jenny was going to get me out without drawing attention. After exactly fifteen minutes she was in my room. The door didn't slam or creak. There was nothing but a slight wind that moved my curtains that would suggest she had ran rather than just appeared in my room.

"Let's go." She said holding out her hand. I grabbed it and then she was shooting me through the window and away. Nobody saw us, amazingly.

The brightly painted cabin seemed a funny contrast to the serious use we had for it. She set me down in the same chair and immediately began to tell me how her father had started a secret society that was bent on world domination. At which point I laughed at the truth in all those idiotic cartoons I had been watching since I was young. She explained that when her father was young he had been rased to become a vampire. She told me that the cult that he was a part of had existed for many years and they were rearing humans and then once they had had children, changing them into vampires so that they could become an unstoppable force. They wanted to come out from hiding and put humans in their rightful place.

"If I hadn't met Mike when I was very young I would have become part of their little cult." She then went on to explain how Mike had found her when she was young and scared her almost to death. He had purposefully frightened her so that she wouldn't want to become part of her father's conspiracy.

"The thing that everyone forgets is that we were humans once. I may be dead but I still feel the same emotions as a human, they've just been put into hyper mode by the venom." She explained in a voice that would make it seem like the most obvious and easily drawn conclusion in the world.

"So if this has been going on for so long why haven't we seen anything?"

"Because we have a sort of royal family that don't want our kind to be exposed and they are very powerful and will kill anyone who steps out of line, the Volturi. It would have been nice to have them on our side but I don't trust them. A couple of years ago they tried to take out this family that were starting to get big by finding any excuse to prosecute them."She sounded absolutely disgusted by this and so I didn't ask any questions about it.

"So why are you here and in trouble now?" I asked.

"David is getting ready to attack and Jen got into a fight with one of the men from the clan about her loyalty." He looked at her and I knew that this question of allegiance was brought about by something Jen had done.

"So, do you have a plan?" I was getting a bit worried about my fellow humans. I kept seeing images of a world run by vampires and it was not a delightful picture.

"Yes, we are going to kill as many vampires as we can at a meeting that is happening tomorrow night in an abandoned power station a little way off. Most of them will be leaders and they may be well trained and ready for us but we're counting on the 'new-borns' to throw them into chaos."

"Well, I'm not going to let you get on with it by yourselves. This is my world we're talking about. What can I do to help?" This was the stupidest thing I had ever said in my life. I guess I did it because I had seen so many of those cartoons. It seemed an impossibility to loose. There was always glory and happiness in the movies and I wasn't equipped for the real world's state of affairs. I didn't fully understand the difference between reality and fiction and being surrounded by vampires wasn't helping me find the line. But whatever the reason I was now part of the plan to attack and there was no turning back.

I am a human and therefore a food source for the vampires and as Mike explained it was painful for vampires to be around me without drinking my blood. The new-borns weren't used to practising restraint and they would loose sight of all else if presented with fresh blood. This was a great advantage to us so I was told to walk into the power station with Mike and Jen, not to get in their way but still distract the new-borns while Mike and Jen killed as many as they could before fleeing the seen. It was a rough plan but that was all they had to work with. I was to meet them at the river at 07:30 am the next day. But before that I had to go home and get some sleep, if possible.

I lay in bed for a long time before I fell asleep and when I did my dream was frightening. I forgot it as soon as I opened my eyes but I do know that it brought about the realisation of the gravity of what I was about to do. There was a huge chance I was going to die and if we failed the world would surly spin into madness. There was also no chance I would be able to just come back from this unchanged. I couldn't go home and live the same as I had before, not after fighting a coven of vampires, whether we succeeded or not. But I also couldn't just leave it to Jen and Mike. I couldn't just run away and let what happens happen because if they failed it would be partly my fault and the world would have me to blame for their suffering. So I had to go whether I was scared to death or not.

When the sun came up and I could hear the smaller kids running around outside I got up and went to the kitchen to make myself some cereal. No one thought it was weird that I was leaving at 07:00 am for a walk because I'm an early riser. While I was walking down the sand road I tried to take in as much of my surroundings as possible. I made sure to walk a little slower than I usually would have and take note of every bird and plant all the while thinking about all the things that I was happy about in my life. I thought about my family and I was glad that they were going to miss me. I was happy that there were people that would remember me. I was sad that my parents would be sad but I knew that they would be happy again one day. But despite my efforts before I was ready I found myself at the river and Jenny on the other side, waiting for me.

She had changed her long and torn-up jeans for a pair of shorts but she still wore the same white shirt. At the cabin Mike had finished whatever he was doing the day before and was now standing, staring out the window, in apparent indecision. His eyebrows were pulled together and his fists were clenched. He was wearing a tight brown, long sleave shirt and just a simple pair of jeans.

"Hi." I said in an attempt to break the silence. He turned and stared at me causing me embarrassment, realising that it was not the time for an ice-breaker.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I wasn't. I knew he could tell when I was lying so I took the political way out and didn't answer the question.

"I'm here, aren't I?" it worked. He looked away and then spoke to Jenny.

"I think we should go now."

Then we were off. We sped through the shrubs too fast for my liking. My stomach was going mad. The butterflies in my tummy had mutated to something like bulldozers rolling around inside me. But before I could even take a steadying breath we were outside a huge building with a few huge chimneys in the background. The walls were dark and had huge burn marks that licked there way up to the roof. They made it apparent why the station had closed down. A fire had done it's damage. There were no windows only frames with bits of broken glass dangling from the corners. I could hear a very light buzz from inside the station but it didn't sound like hundreds of angry vampires meeting to discuss how they were going to take over the world. Jen whispered in my ear so quietly that I had to hold my breath to hear and then I ran forward. Her words stripped me of my fear. I stopped thinking about everything I was leaving behind and just ran. I was at the door within seconds and then I was violently swinging them open to reveal hundreds of blood red eyes turned to me. It was like I was watching myself do these things from far away rather than doing them myself. Then I waited. I waited for Mike and Jenny to come in but they didn't. I stood there frozen and unable to think straight. The only thing I could see was a sea of sinister eyes boring into me.

Suddenly all the vampires moved at once. About a hundred started for me then a hundred more tried to keep them back. I saw about fifty fighting each other about who would get me first and heard a sound of tearing skin. Body parts flew past me as new-borns killed each other over my blood. Some older looking vampires had caught some of the others and were holding them back. Then I watched as four big strong arms carried in Jenny and Mike. They were thrashing and kicking but they couldn't get loose. Arms rapped themselves around me and I waited for my life to end but it didn't. The arms picked me up and carried me into another room in the building where they tied me to a chair and left me. Outside had gone silent, I sat very still listening with bated breath for some sign of what was going on out there and then the door opened again. Jenny and Mike were dragged in. They were not tied to chairs but kept still by the arms of four huge and muscly men with nothing but pants on. I laughed at the sight; they looked like four pale white versions of the Incredible Hulk. The sound was strange in the silence of a bad situation but I didn't care. I had done my part. I had accepted that I was going to die ages ago and at least I was going with honour.

"Thanks to you, kiddo, a hundred and fifty new-borns are dead. Well done." Mike said with a grin on his face. My smile didn't seem so unnatural any more. Jen was smiling too. But then another vampire entered the room and all of us went serious.

"Yes, the distraction your human friend provided has proven to be most useful." He said. He looked old despite his young and glossy black hair, prominent jaw-line and smooth skin. It wasn't his actual appearance that made him look old it was just the way he walked and talked. He turned to Jenny and nodded. "Juniper."

She nodded back and said, "Father."

"Now there are a few reasons why I will not kill you today. One of them is that I would like to perhaps bring you to your senses." He was smiling but it looked peculiar on his face. "You know I need more troops and I think I could persuade you, young one, to become quite faithful to us." He said to me. "Take those two out and bring in Jane. I'll deal with them later."

There was a sudden outburst of laughter from Jenny. "So you've finally crept into the Volturi." She said as a young girl walked into the room. She was wearing a placid expression. She simply turned and smiled at Jenny and suddenly the room was filled with screams of pain from Jen. Then Jane turned to me and the screaming stopped.

"Hallo, Jane. This human is in need of persuasion." And with that he left the room. Only Jane and I left, staring at each other.

"Before we start I would like to say that if at any time you want the pain to stop you just have to say so and once on our side you will never feal this pain again." Then she looked at me. The smile faded slightly as she concentrated and I was on fire. Every fibre of my being was in agony beyond description. I was just about to scream out when I remembered her words…if at any time you want the pain to stop…I tensed my muscles and forced a smile onto my face. I was not going to let her win. I forced myself to image the world ruled by vampires and then relaxed. The pain that was going through me stopped for a short second but I knew it would come back. She was trying to catch me off guard. I was right. It shot through me again but a hundred times worse. I wanted to scream but I didn't. I didn't budge. All I did was laugh. I pictured this monster in power and refused to give in. I let my shoulders slump a bit and the smile on my face became less forced despite the increasing level of pain. I was beating them. I was proving my strength and was saving the world.

After hours of this pain she finally left the room. My whole body slumped in my chair as I embraced the few minutes I had without being in such agony that I was almost ready to die. Then Jenny came into the room. She untied me so fast that I didn't fully understand what was happening until we were sprinting away again.

"What's happening? Where's Mike? How-" she cut me off there.

"We've won, Nina. I escaped and Mike's at the cabin. I managed to get the guards to loose interest. It's a long story but we killed more than half of the coven. They won't be able to do anything now." She sounded happy enough to skip the way home, but I wasn't. I would never be the same. They would eventually gain the numbers and they knew who I was. What about my family. What if they found out who they were and hurt them? That Jane woman was still alive and she could do that to other people. I had seen hundreds of people die. It was horrible. Watching people tear themselves and others to shreds because they had been forced to believe that it was a good thing. How could Jenny stand to see so much death and be happy? "Why didn't I hear you screaming? How could you stand that pain without so much as a whimper?" she was asking me but before I could form the words to answer I had fallen asleep.

I woke up in the cabin. The sun was just setting and Mike and Jenny were hastily packing. I could hear them whispering vert quietly and so fast it sounded as if they were humming to one another.

"What's the time?" I said sleepily.

"Almost 5:00. You were out for about an hour. You better get back to your family. You can't stay with them though. Sorry Nina, but we are going to come and take you away with us. We burnt down the power station and there is a lot of evidence pointing to you about those murders in there. The police won't know how many people were in the station or that they had been dismembered... Mike made it seem as though you set it alight by mistake and that the new-borns' bodies are people that just happened to be in the building at the time. You will go home with your parents tomorrow morning and then we'll fetch you there." She stopped packing for a second and looked at me. "I'm really sorry that this had to happen but it did and it would be safer for everyone if you took the blame and disappeared." Her eyebrows were pulled together in concern and that let me know that she really did regret it. But what was done was done and she was right. It would be safer for my parents to be left alone. So I got up and went back to the lodge. I got in the shower before anyone noticed that I was sweaty and had been crying.

I packed my bag and when I was asked where I had been all day I just said that I had fallen asleep at the river and lost track of time. This could have been true due to my absent minded personality so nobody commented except for a few sighs and playful "Nina, Nina, Nina" s the rest of the night I spent with my family. We played pool and laughed and joked and I felt really happy. I wasn't about to waste the only time I had left with them.

We left early this morning and now there's nothing for me to do but wait for Jenny and Mike to come and get me.

The next day Nina's parents woke to find her bed empty and a note that simply read sorry.

The End