I'm sooooooo sorry it took me so long to update. Computer issues, lots of school work (ugh), I'm a sloooow typer, and this month has been crazy. I don't think I like this chapter very much because my writing was so choppy, but it could have been worse. I had to cut the chapter in half so it wouldn't end up being rambly, too.

If you like this chapter, then it is dedicated to FireE21, ..x, CloudedMindx, LOLhaily, crazyperson17, Eb17, and Phoenix Rain for reviewing. If you hate this chapter its dedicated to that rabid bunny from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Or maybe the moose...

By the way, Lucas isn't crazy. He just thinks a lot. But sometimes he thinks hes crazy.

Disclaimer: I'm on FANfiction. If I owned Evernight I wouldn't be on FANfiction.

I'm running, faster than I ever thought I could. I don't know why, but my life depends on it. Insanely, there's a part of me that wants to turn back.

I realize I'm in the woods somewhere. Weaving in and out of trees, feeling branches scrape my face and arms. I can't stop, can't ever stop. Then suddenly, I do. My legs have stopped moving, and it's like they're caught in cement.

I look down, and realize that I'm sunk in mud up to my ankles. Sink farther, now it's up to my knees. I try to pull them out, but it only makes me sink even more. It's up to my waist now. I want to shout for help, for anybody. But if I do, they'll kill me. In a minute, the stuff is up to my elbows. That's when I realize; I'm going to die anyway.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes, glaring around me. I was in the forest surrounding Evernight, and I couldn't help but think how much it looked like the woods in my dream. Then I sighed and marched forward. When you're about to walk straight into the lion's den, flashing back to nightmares you had while dozing on a bus is a pretty dumb move.

My mom, Dana, and Mr. Wantanabe had gotten up early (well, stayed up late, actually) to say goodbye, give some last minute advice, and in Dana's case, make sure to remind me of a certain bet one last time. Then I'd gotten on the bus and after a six-freaking-hour-ride made it to Riverton, the town near Evernight. School didn't start for hours, so I decided to do a little 'exploring'.

Focus Ross, you're here on a mission. Act like it! Crap,don't you just hate it when the little voice in your head starts to sound like your stepfather? And I just now realized how insane that sentence sounds. I almost told it to go away, too, but I thought that would make me even crazier than I already was.

If only I knew.

Trickle, trickle. Trickle. Running water. I tried to find where the noise was coming from. Sure enough, there was a small river running between the trees. I filed that away for future reference. I decided to start walking east and see how far the river went. Trust me, things like that can mean life or death when you're hunting vampires. Not having a plan was how Dad…

But I'm not going to think about that. I thought firmly. Wow, I really need to stop talking to myself. Maybe Dana has a point. That was when I heard the running.

Instantly, I went still. Barely breathing, I strained my ears. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd really heard it or if I was just being paranoid. Then the noise got louder, like whoever it was, was getting nearer. It was still pretty soft, though, and I could only figure out two things:

1) There was only one runner;

2) The person was either a very heavy vampire out for a morning jog or a human running for their life.

Crap, I thought.

I sank into the shadows and waited. Soon, a girl came into view. At least, it looked like a girl. She was still pretty far off, and all I could see was her red hair, practically the color of blood. She got a little closer.

She's not a vampire. She can't be. I'm not sure why I thought that. Maybe it was just the way she ran. Vamps have a certain way of running—and of walking—and of moving in general. Like the hunting animals you see on Discovery Channel, always ready to pounce. This girl, though, she ran like a girl. Not very gracefully, and not very well, either. As far as I could tell, there was no way in hell she was a vamp. But if she wasn't a vampire, then….somebody's chasing her.

And I shot off after her.

Looking back, I'm not sure why I followed her. Black Cross training tells you not to run after the person being chased. Common sense, Mom, and my step dad/boss/biggest-pain-in-my-ass Eduardo would have told me to wait for what was chasing her and ambush it, but obviously, none of them were there. I decided to follow my instincts. For once.

I chased after the girl, cussing mentally when she suddenly picked up the pace. And she was fast. But I was faster; I tripled my speed.

Closer, closer…Yes! I thought as I tackled her. "Unh!" She squeaked. She fell down and I landed on top of her, covering her mouth. I didn't want whatever was chasing her to notice us.

After I checked the direction we had come from for any nearby vampires, I looked down. The girl's face was flushed and her eyes were wide and terrified. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the thing she was running from was right on top of her. I looked back behind me to see if the vamp had caught up to us yet. It hadn't. Weird.

I shifted a bit. We were in a pretty awkward position, with her on her back and me laying on her. Still, I wasn't going to let her up until I was sure we were safe.

"Did you see who was after you?" I moved my hand to let her answer.

She stared at me. And raised her eyebrows. And stared a little more. "You mean, besides you?"

"Me?" I asked, totally confused. I checked behind us again. Still nothing. "You were running from someone," I thought, "Weren't you?"

She shook her head. "I was just running. There was nobody after me but you."

Well, Damn. "You mean you thought—" I jerked back. "Oh, hell. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to—Man, I must have scared you to death." It made sense, now that I thought about it. No wonder she had looked so afraid when I tackled her.

"You were trying to help?" It didn't sound like she believed me.

I leaned in close. For some reason, I felt the need to convince this girl that I was one of the good guys. "I know I must've freaked you out, and I'm sorry. I really thought…" I probably would have kept apologizing for at least fifteen minutes if the girl hadn't tilted her head up, pointed her finger at me, and said, "You—just—shut—up."

I shut up.

She leaned back and pressed her hands over her eyes. I decided that that was probably just her way of dealing with what had happened and left her alone. I studied her while I waited.

Hey, she's hot. Then I mentally slapped myself. I was here on a mission, and when it came to Black Cross, girls were never anywhere close to a priority. Still…

It was actually pretty surprising that I hadn't noticed before. I mean, it wasn't like she was supermodel gorgeous or anything, but her face kind of reminded me of the old black-and-white movie actresses. And she may not have been a size zero, but she had plenty of curves without being fat. I liked that more than I probably should have. She wasn't much younger than me, probably sixteen or seventeen, and almost definitely a student. Sucks for her.

That was a very poor choice of words.

She kept laying there for a long time, taking deep breaths. I felt extremely guilty. Poor girl must have been freaking terrified. Eventually she sat up and looked at me.

"Why did you tackle me?"

It's a good thing I don't blush, or my face would have turned as red as her hair. "I thought we needed to take cover. To hide from whoever was chasing you, but that turned out to be, uh, nobody."

I looked down at my shoes. She didn't say anything for a second. "You're a student here at the school."

"About to be, anyway. You?" I mumbled, even though I already knew the answer.

She nodded again, then shook her hair down. Before she could pin it back up, I saw that it was pretty long. "This is my first year." I'd already figured that part out, too. "My parents got jobs as teachers here, so I'm stuck."

Wait, what?! I tensed up instantly. If her parents were teachers…

…and all the teachers were vampires…

…but the vamps couldn't have kids, could they? ...

…what if the whole family was turned…

I studied her face again, wary this time. There was something in the way she was looking at me made her seem sweet and innocent—vulnerable, even. Total opposite of a vampire. Every instinct I had told me that she needed to be protected. Taken care of.

I bet those "parents" of hers stole her when she was a baby so that they could play house. The thought made me see red. But the girl was starting to look at me funny, so I shook it off and held out my hand. "Lucas Ross."

She shook it, looking bemused. "Oh. Hey. I'm Bianca Olivier." Her hand was small and warm.

"Your pulse is racing." It was. I felt terrible. Might as well get down to business. "Okay, if you weren't running from an attacker, why were you running like that? Because that didn't look like a morning jog to me."

Bianca looked sort of embarrassed. "I got up early to-well, to try and run away."

Bingo. Abusive vampire parents. I tried to look for bruises (or bite marks) but she had on that long sleeve shirt and jeans. "Your parents treat you bad? Hurt you?"

"No! Nothing like that." Now Bianca looked mad. She narrowed her eyes and gave me a death glare. It took her as sec to calm down and explain. "But I don't want to go to school here. I liked our hometown, and besides, Evernight Academy is—it's so—"

"Spooky as hell." I offered.

"Yeah."

I didn't blame her. Going to a school full of vampires, whether she realized it or not; I'd run away, too. "Where were you going to go? Did you have a job lined up, something like that?"

Part of Black Cross training is to notice even the smallest details. That's how I couldn't help notice that Bianca's eyes sparkled when she blushed. "Um, no. I wasn't really running away. Just making a statement. Sort of. I thought if I did this, my parents would finally get how much I don't want to be here, and maybe we could leave."

Something about the way she said that made me flash back to when I was little and I grinned. Looks like me and Bianca were more alike than I thought. I grinned even wider and watched Bianca's face light up. "Like me with my sling shot."

Review, or this chapter will be dedicated to the red telletubby *shivers* God, I hate that thing.