Chapter 2:

I cut down the dark alleyway, knowing it would get me home quickly. As I pass one of the doorways, I hear someone start moving and sigh as I know it's some thug.

But the sound of his heart beat soon reaches me and my mouth waters at the blood available. It takes all my will power to not attack his throat right then because after so many years of being a vampire, I enjoy toying the humans first.

He grabs my arm and pulls me back. Well, I let him pull me back, pretending to be terrified. Oh how I love to play with my food. The man pushes me against the brick wall of the alley and holds a knife up to my throat, hard enough to draw a thin line of blood. But not that it really matters; it'll heal in a couple minutes.

I look up at him wide-eyed as he laughs sadistically. "What's a pretty girl like you doing walking down an alley at this time of night?"

"I was just trying to take a short cut home," I reply, acting scared.

"That wasn't a very good idea." He presses the knife harder to my throat and I can feel my blood start to trickle down my neck. "Are you afraid?"

"No," I reply simply. Why should I be afraid of some measly human who could never hurt me if I didn't want him to?

He pauses for a second in shock at my answer. "Well you should be," he eventually says.

"No, you're the one who should be afraid." I smile at him, letting him see my fangs as they extend. I can see the fear pass across his face for a second before I swiftly push his head back, exposing his neck and bite down on it. The blood starts pouring into my mouth and I moan lightly at the delicious taste of it. He struggles against my hold, but as the seconds pass, his attempts to get free get weaker to the point where he doesn't move at all.

I drop his body to the ground when his blood is completely drained. I step over it and wipe the blood from around my mouth as I continue walking to the manor. The scum of the human race are always so predictable but can provide the most amusement for me.

I get to the end of the alley and walk out heading to the right. Sitting only a block away is the manor, surrounded by the high fence. I swiftly make my way over, wanting to get back before my brother starts getting annoyed. At the fence, I punch in my code and the doors swing open. Walking through the garden, I wave at my friend Gabriella who's sitting at one of the benches reading.

The front doors swing open as I start walking up the steps and I know that my brother has been waiting for me. I sigh as I see him standing in the foyer, arms crossed as he glares at me. "What took you so long?"

"I was having some fun, ok Kendall?" I walk past him, pushing him slightly before sitting on one of the couches and propping my feet up on the table.

"Why do you have blood on your neck?" He asks and it almost seems like he's slightly concerned.

"Oh some stupid human tried to attack me in the alley I was cutting through on my way back from the club," I reply nonchalantly.

Kendall sighs as he sits down on the couch across from me with his arms still crossed. "Must you always play with your food?"

I think about this for a second before replying. "Yeah. Kendall, we've been vampires for a while now. You know I'm not going to change my ways anytime soon."

"Yes, I know. But I just wish you would get home a little quicker, especially when you know we have a meeting with the council to go to," he says and is obviously annoyed with me. "So please go get ready. We need to leave in ten minutes."

"Fine," I say with a roll of my eyes as I stand up from the couch and start walking towards the grand staircase. Instead of walking up them, I jump to the second floor and grab onto the railing, swinging myself over.

As I continue walking to my room, I hear Kendall say, "That was unnecessary!" I laugh lightly as go down the hallway to one of the two rooms at the end. What's the point of having all these cool vampire powers if you don't use them?

Stepping into my room, I walk over to my huge closet and throw open the doors. I step in and start searching through the clothes to wear. I pause of some of my dresses from the 1920s, thinking back on that fun time. I keep looking through, trying to find something to wear.

"Wear something nice, Lauren," I hear Kendall say as he passes my room.

I roll my eyes before selecting one of the first dress shirts and pants in my closet. I take of the clothes I have on and throw them in the corner of my room. Looking in the mirror, I examine the results of my encounter before wiping the blood off of my neck. I slip on the dress and throw my hair up.

"Alright, Kendall. Let's go to the stupid council meeting," I say as I walk out of my room. My brother is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed waiting for me.

"Finally," he says before pushing off and walking down the hallway.

"I barely took two minutes," I say as I follow him.

"Yeah and that's two minutes too long," he says and starts heading swiftly down the stairs.

I jump of the balcony ledge and land lightly in front of him. "Please. They won't care if you're late. They can't start the meeting without you."

Kendall pauses before walking out the door to look at me annoyed. "Yes, but I like to stress being on time. And they're not going to do that if I don't even follow my own standards."

"Whatever," I say as we leave the house. We walk in silence for a couple minutes as we head to the council building.

"So," I eventually say. "Why are you bringing me to this meeting with you?"

"You're my sister," he replies simply.

"Really? I didn't know that! Thanks for the update!" I say to him sarcastically.

He glares at me out of the corner of his eye before continuing. "As I was saying, you're my sister. Which means, someday you might be the leader of this clan. And it's about time you got over your silly ways and started to learn some responsibility so you can one day run this clan."

"Ugh these meetings are so boring!" I sigh in frustration and pout at Kendall.

"Don't give me that face," he says without even looking at me. I guess that's what a couple thousand years of knowing your brother can do.

I cross my arms and look away from him as we pass another block, nearly at the council building. A guy turns out of an alley way and looks up from tucking something in his jacket. A look of recognition crosses his face as we make eye contact.

I start panicking, thinking James will say something in front of Kendall. I lightly shake my head and nod over to Kendall, who hasn't noticed at all.

James glances at him briefly and I see the recognition pass on his face as he realizes Kendall is a vampire. He turns his head down slightly as he walks past me. His hand brushes against mine and I feel the flutter of paper. I grab it and quickly put it in my pocket before Kendall can notice.

I look over at Kendall and see that he's still looking ahead, not having noticed the exchange at all. He stops in front of the ornate building and opens the door, letting me walk in first. A butler is standing at the door, waiting for us, and leads us to the meeting room.

We walk in, and the six vampires already sitting in there look up at us. Kendall nods to them as he walks over to the chair in the center of the room. A chair has been placed next to it for me.

We take our seats and Kendall starts talking to the council members. I zone out and think about the slip of paper that James gave to me. I discretely put my hands in my pockets and run my fingers over the paper, feeling the indents from James' writing on it.

I try to pay attention, but most of what they talk about is politics. The only thing I really pick up on is that Kendall has some plan to unit our clan with the clan in Spain.

It's not until they start talking about vampire hunters that I start paying attention. I listen to what the war advisor Demetri has to say. "We've received new information on the vampire hunters. Their leader is a man named Logan Mitchell." A picture of him shows up on the screen on the one side of the room. "As you know, his group has been increasing in numbers lately. But we've also found out that he has a brother, James."

If I still had a beating heart, it would have stopped as James' picture appears on the screen. I keep my face blank, but inside I worry about the vampires knowing about him. Surely if they see him, they won't let him go alive.

"Interesting," Kendall mutters mostly to himself.

Demetri turns to me. "Lauren, you've always shown an interest in being part of the Dark Hunters. How would you feel about joining us to help a bit?"

I glance over at Kendall who's looking at me expectantly. It's obvious that he already knew about this and wants me to say yes.

I turn back to Demetri. "Sure," I reply coolly.

He nods his head at me and smiles as Kendall addresses the council. "Alright. Be on the look out for these two hunters. They could mean a lot of trouble for us." He stands up and I follow his lead. "This meeting is dismissed."

The rest of the council stands up and starts to leave. Demetri approaches me though, instead of leaving. "So, Lauren, I was thinking that we should start your training soon. I can start teaching you in two days. Does that work for you?"

"Of course," I reply and smile at him. He has always been nice to me over the past centuries that he has been part of the clan. I glance over at Kendall and see him waiting impatiently at the door for me. "I have to go. My brother is getting impatient. You know how he is."

"Best not to keep him waiting. Which I'm sure you've already done tonight."

I shrug and smile at him. "Hey, I was out having fun. You know me, I like to have fun before I eat."

"Yes I know. Now go," he says, lightly pushing me towards the door.

Kendall starts walking out of the door when he sees me walking there. I take this time to quickly read over the note James gave me. Tomorrow night, meet me at Basguetti's restaurant. 8:30 pm.

I crumble the note into a ball before putting it back into my pocket. I smile at Kendall as we start walking out of the building, back towards home.

I can't help but be happy about meeting James tomorrow. Now I can warn him about the council knowing who he is.