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Immunity

Leah POV

It was the strangest place we could have chosen to make love. It was outside – out in the open, here on the beach where my family frequently roamed. I couldn't make sense of how we had come to be here, yet here we were. Lying in the sand, with no clothes in sight. With his eyes only on me. With his smooth, cool finger gently tracing a path from behind my ear to my collarbone.

I shivered. He seemed to take my response to his touch as an invitation, and shifted his weight, sliding easily on top of me. I wrapped my arms around him, adjusting my position to allow him to settle where we both wanted him most. His face disappeared from my sight as he leaned down to kiss the soft spot behind my ear. My fingers tangled in his hair in response. With his face buried in my neck somewhere, he began to purr.

Something inside me was beginning to purr as well. I wanted him now – I needed to make him aware of that so that I could have him. I pulled at his hair, indicating for him to look at me. The moment he did I was stunned, and my quick intake of breath could not have escaped his notice.

His eyes were the most beautiful shade of amber I had ever seen. They smoldered as I stared into them, not only with lust now, but with deep emotion.

There was a strange nagging feeling that had begun to pull at me the moment I saw his eyes. But why would his eyes bother me? They were so beautiful. They belonged to him, and he was looking at me like no one had ever looked at me before.

"You're wondering about my eyes?" he asked. It was strange. His voice was…how could I describe it…blurry? It sounded incredible, unlike anything I'd ever heard. Yet, at the same time, it had no distinct sound at all.

How was that possible?

"I guess," I responded anyway, to hear him talk again.

"I did it for you. Because I love you."

He did it for me? What did he mean? What did he do for me? He planted a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose, and I realized that despite the intriguing sound of his voice, I would rather investigate later. I would end this conversation now and instead focus on the tantalizing feeling of his cool skin on mine.

The nagging feeling continued to pull at me, but I was determined to ignore it. I pushed my head off of the sand and claimed his mouth with mine. He felt…odd. The kiss was sweet, cool and almost perfect, except for one thing – the taste.

It didn't taste bad. It just didn't seem to taste like anything at all. Like his voice, it was all a blur. Barely there, something that I couldn't quite place. But why shouldn't I be able to place the taste if I was here, experiencing it right now?

Was my nose stuffy? Did I have a cold?

I sniffed. And air flowed quickly and perfectly into my nostrils. And his scent filled my head, but not the way I had expected. It wasn't as potent as it should have been from this distance.

The nagging feeling yanked at me.

"What is it?" he asked me, his voice a gentle (and blurred) whisper.

"I don't know," I told him. "Things don't seem…strange to you?" I didn't wait for him to answer. I turned my head to the side, though it almost hurt to take my focus away from the exquisite lines of his face, and appraised my surroundings. This was the same beach. It was, and yet it wasn't. The sound of the waves was a bit off. Each crash seemed to be perfectly timed, sounding strangely repetitive, like the sleep setting of a sound machine that had been programmed to "ocean". And the color of things, the brightness of things wasn't exactly right either. The farther into the distance I looked the blurrier things got, which may have been normal when I was human but not now…

Tug. That nagging feeling again. What was it?

"Won't you look at me?" he purred. Would I look at him? Of course I would look at him. All I wanted to do was look at him. It was just that something wasn't right. How could I make love to him when something wasn't right – was something bad about to happen? Nevertheless, I turned my head and met his amber eyes, unable to deny him anything. "It's alright. Everything is fine."

"Something feels wrong," I admitted.

"Nothing is wrong. Kiss me." He nudged the side of my face with his nose, trying to coax me toward him. The kiss only made me worry more, but I decided to deal with that later. All the blurriness could wait.

I reached down between us and found that it wasn't hard to redirect my attention back to its original goal. He purred again as I guided him closer to me, and then wrapped my legs around him.

He paused. I didn't understand. I was ready for him. We were lined up perfectly, I was panting and I was so desperate to make love to him right now that I thought I would explode. I tugged at him encouragingly, willing him to slide into me the way I wanted. Willing him to understand that, yes, he was in the right place, and yes, I was more than ready.

He didn't move. I knew it. Something was wrong. Was that what the nagging feeling was all about? That he didn't want me?

"What?" I asked him, turning my head to meet his gaze. But once looking at him, I knew I couldn't be correct. He had to want me. Just look at him…

"I just wanted you to know that I love you." I smiled. "So, before we start…" I angled my hips toward him impatiently at the word start. He pulled his face away, as if he knew that this way I could take in his entire expression. "I love you, Leah."

"I love you…" I trailed off. I started to say his name. I tried. But then I realized I couldn't because I didn't know his name. The nagging feeling was back again, and tugging harder than ever. My thoughts were working fast now. Why wouldn't I know his name? How could that be possible when I was so in love with him? And he loved me too! And we were naked and he was on top of me and just inches from…

…killing someone who had wandered too far into the woods but we caught him…

What? Where the hell had that voice come from? I looked around us frantically and finally saw Edward Cullen standing about a mile from us at the entrance to the forest. I started to move, to cover myself, but the weight on top of me didn't let up. I didn't want to use force. I didn't want to hurt him, but why was he not concerned about being seen?

I knew this had been a stupid spot to make love.

I looked up, exasperated, not wanting the moment to end but knowing that it had to. What would I say to him? How would I tell him that we had to stop – stop and get out of sight because we were, most unfortunately, being watched?

But I lost focus of that when I looked at the sky. It was perfect. Too perfect. A solid, even shade of gray. There wasn't a single blemish, not a single cloud. I looked quickly toward Edward and noted the forest behind him. Also too perfect, with trees that were all the same shade of green and much too evenly spaced. As if it was only the idea of a forest…

Just then something sparkly caught my eye. A single, white ray of light was forming on the sand. I looked up again. The sky was no longer a perfect shade of gray. There were thick clouds now, and the sun was peeking out from behind one of them. As they moved, the ray of light on the beach moved, coming closer and closer to us. When it finally reached us I wasn't able to focus on the warmth it created on my face, too distracted by the way it made the body on top of me sparkle.

The nagging feeling was back. My thoughts were racing. Vampire, I realized. He was a vampire.

I jerked my head back toward the forest when I saw smoke out of the corner of my eye. The forest was smoking, and suddenly erupted with fire, as though the heat from the sun had set it ablaze.

Only now did my companion react. Fire, I thought. Of course.

"Leah!" My name sounded different on his lips, now in a harsh whisper. "We have to move."

I knew he was right. And the fact that he was a vampire didn't bother me as much as the idea of him being hurt. So I took his hands once he'd leapt off of me and allowed him to pull me to my feet.

"Where do we go?" I asked. He didn't respond. I looked to my right – the fire was spreading. I wanted to say something to get his attention, to yell his name. But I couldn't, I remembered. I didn't know it. Why? "Come on!"

I yanked his arm. Nothing happened. I looked up at his face, but he was staring into the forest. His eyes were even redder than the fire.

The nagging feeling attacked again, this time pulling me straight out of my dream. I woke up in damp sheets. I could feel the sheen of a cold sweat on my body. There were several voices coming from the window. The mixture of the tones and textures assured me that vampires were here.

Why?

But the thought of vampires reminded me of my dream. And my dream reminded me of reality. And the reality was that I had imprinted on…

Great. I hopped out of bed and started toward the window. If there was some type of meeting going on, I needed to be present. I ignored the tears that threatened to rush down my face as more and more details of yesterday – of reality – came crashing back. I peeked out the window. All of the Cullens were gathered on the shore, with all of the wolves from both packs. Hey. They had actually lit a bonfire. There was food and everything.

Yes, this looked like a meeting. And then a part of my dream rushed into my head. That voice…

…wandered into the woods…we caught him…

My vampire? Suddenly Edward met my eye, his face apologetic. I didn't wait to ask him, mentally or otherwise, if they had hurt him. I just bolted for the door and ran toward the beach as fast as I could.

…

"Tell me again," I spoke the words slowly, more for my own benefit than for that of anyone else. "Where is he?"

"He's…" Edward lifted to cloth bag in his hand as he spoke. It seemed empty at first, but I could see the bag shifting a bit, as if something were poking around inside it. "He is inside the bag."

"Do you think this is funny?"

"Perhaps it would be clearer if I said this – he is the thing inside the bag. We haven't opened it. Whatever it is that's in there, it's moving much too quickly for us to control if it were to get out."

I wasn't sure that I was hearing all of this right. Okay, no, that was a lie. I was absolutely sure that I was hearing everything right. It was just that none of what I was hearing made any sense! What were they trying to make me believe, exactly? That the vampire I'd seen in the woods was now in that cloth bag? All six feet and five inches of him? Impossible.

Suddenly Edward was charging toward me. I didn't want to move back an inch, unwilling, in spite of recent events, to concede to any vampire. He was taller than me, though, and I did have to lean back slightly and tilt my chin up in order to look him in the eye. His words were rushed as he spoke in a rough whisper.

"If you got too angry, you could tear a small building to shreds. Not because you'd exert any sort of force to accomplish it; not because you'd make an effort. But because the sheer size of you would be too much for the average enclosed space to handle." I wasn't following. Edward rolled his eyes. Then, "You stand here before me, an average sized girl. Yet when you phase, and I mean this without offense, you become huge. Massive. Towering well over me, unlike now, where you're breaking your neck to look me in the eye. I'm not telling you anything unimaginable right now. The vampire you saw is in this bag. He may not look the way he did in the clearing, but it is him. It is not impossible."

"So what are you telling me, that he phased? That's – " I bit back the word impossible. "How could that be?"

"I'm not sure if 'phase' is the right word in his case. Whatever we'll find in the bag, it isn't a wolf."

"Maybe a fetal wolf," Jacob jokingly interjected. We continued to talk as though he hadn't spoken.

"It must be the extra power. He can shape shift."

"I thought that too, at first. But –"

"But that shouldn't be possible," Bella jumped in. "Vampires are frozen. They…" she paused, "…we…can't change. Shape shifting is a change that our bodies shouldn't be able to accommodate."

"Well done, Bella." Carlisle all but crooned the words.

"That too," Edward continued, after a brief smile in Bella's direction, "but there's more than that. This can't be an extra power. Not one like the rest of ours. I heard his thoughts while he was changing. I hear his thoughts now. He is – and was – in a complete state of panic. I don't think it had ever happened to him before – the change, I mean. He wasn't aware that he was capable."

There was a sudden stab in my heart. Anger was the trigger for us "werewolves". For my vampire, it must have been fear. Whatever had happened between him and the Cullens in the forest must have triggered a power he didn't even know he had.

He must have been more scared than he ever had been in his life. Or…existence. Whatever.

And he was still scared? Well duh, Leah, of course he's scared! He probably couldn't see much of anything from inside that bag. He had no idea what was going on right now.

"Let him out!" I screamed.

"Leah, wait. We don't know – "

"Let him go!" I swung at the bag, desperate to free it from Edward's grasp. His infinitesimal movements continued to miss my frantic – though well aimed – swings. The bag remained closed, tightly in his hand. I was shaking, but I didn't care. Jacob's clothes would be shredded to bits. I didn't care. He would not continue to contain my vampire. My vampire would not be confused or scared or hurt. Dammit, what is his name! I didn't try to keep my distance when the change took place and ignored the tearing-metal sound it made as my fangs grazed Edward's neck. The rest of the coven flashed to their feet, ready to take me down. My instincts kicked in quickly, noting the positions of the seven other vampires and contemplating ways to eliminate them. Nessie suddenly looked particularly lethal, even with Jacob holding her back. I made a mental note to avoid hurting her.

A snarl ripped from Edward's lips the minute I thought of Renesmee. I stalked forward, ready to take him out, when suddenly I was knocked across the beach into a cliff. The part of rock that I hit fell off as a result of the impact, landing neatly on top of me, onto what would have been my good side. I quickly pulled myself to my feet. A rib was broken. I twisted back toward the shore to see who had hit me. Sting. Correction: a rib on each side was broken. Six of the seven candidates seemed concerned. Only one met my stare with eyes that were, for once, bloodthirsty. Bella.

Her first, then. I'd take her out now. Edward would come to help her; I'd eliminate him next, and then it would be easy to ignore Renesmee. She'd be focused on her parents – on putting Mr. and Mrs. Humpty Dumpty back together again. Meanwhile, I'd…

Leah.

Shit. Jake had phased. I wasn't counting on that. I assumed he'd stay out of it, for Renesmee's sake.

This is for Renesmee's sake. Do you think I'd let her watch her parents get hurt?

Oh, thanks! Thanks so much for being on my side, for once. It's all about her then, is it?

Not just about her, Leah. For you, too. We'll let him go. I huffed, and sat back on my haunches. Jacob sat too, opposite me. The Cullens and the rest of the packs stepped back to let us negotiate. Only Edward's eyes were still trained on us. He just couldn't resist listening in, could he? His eyes flashed to Bella, then Renesmee, then back to me, his expression stern as ever. For once, he seemed un-phased by his invasion of my privacy.

I realized that another pair of eyes was focused on me. Carlisle, the leader. His expression was less intense, though. He didn't look like he was preparing to fight. He looked…confused?

Leah.

Right. I'd deal with that later.

There's nothing to deal with, Leah. Jacob's thoughts were a snarl.

Fine. Then tell me, what did they do to him in the forest?

Nothing –

That can't be true! What was he so scared about, then?

Edward said they tried to talk to him. It would have gone fine, but right in the middle he smelled human blood and made a run for it.

Who? The Quileute tribe wasn't big. It had to be someone we knew…

Sue. Well…and Charlie. Or, it would have been, if he had gotten that far. I was speechless. What were they even doing that far in the woods? Charlie was coming to watch the game with my father. Sue was in the car. Somewhere along the trail she saw a bunch of ripped clothes all together. She figured if we all phased in a hurry, something was wrong. So she jumped out of the car, planning to run straight to Sam's to talk to Emily, but she tripped. She cut her knee.

But they stopped him.

Of course they did. They just held him back, but Edward says he was so sure he was being kidnapped by some vampire mafia – I snorted. Vampire mafia? Come on. – that he freaked. Then he started shaking and running a…well…for him I guess you could call it a fever. And then it happened.

He phased.

Or, um, changed? Whatever you want to call it. Okay. At least they hadn't hurt him. I had pictured a confrontation much worse than that. Still, it was time to let him free. He shouldn't be cooped up like that. Leah, I agree with you. Still, considering what almost happened to Charlie and your mom, aren't you the least bit worried about letting him go? He could hurt someone.

Jake was right.

But then…on second thought. He had come back, just like my brothers had promised. He didn't come to hunt here. He came back for me. So now that he was here…

That's true. Jake was on his feet now. All four of them. He probably won't leave again.

And the Cullens are here now, so…

Also true.

Jake knew my intentions, and now he was as ready as I was to get my nameless vampire out of the bag. The Cullens were here. The packs were both here. We had plenty of "man" power, should anything go wrong. And on the other hand, we had eight and a half vegetarians that could start convincing my vampire to change his feeding habits. So maybe, just maybe, this could work out for me. My mind wandered to my dream before I remembered to try and censor my thoughts…

Ugh! Okay, Leah. I'm phasing…

I snickered. Or at least I meant to snicker, but in my wolf form it sounded like a sneeze. Fine, I guess I could phase back too and get this over with.

Wait! My clothes…

A big t-shirt landed at my front paws. When I looked up, Jacob was in his human form again, dressed in only shorts. I thanked him with a nod.

"You're welcome, brat. Go phase, get dressed, and get back here."

I trotted off to find some cover. My heart began to race in my oversized body. They were going to let him free, and soon he would be calm enough to change back. I was going to see him again! Soon I was running so unnecessarily fast that it took a small tree to stop me when I reached my hiding place.

I phased quickly and slid into my shirt.

"Sorry," I muttered to the tree as I picked it up and carried it toward the beach with me. I supposed it would do if we needed more firewood at some point. "I guess I got overexcited."

…

Strange looks from the packs found my face as I carried my mysterious baby tree toward the shore. I shook my head, not wanting my excitement brought to anyone's awareness just yet. I dropped my forest trophy just a few feet from the bonfire.

"What happened, Leah?" Seth teased. "Did you crash?" Jake grinned. Count on them to bring everyone's attention to my souvenir.

"I should carve, 'I phased, and all I got was this lousy log' into the side."

"Shut it, Jake," I snapped. I wanted to get this over with. I wanted my vampire to phase – or change – back. I wanted to ask him some very important questions. Like his name, perhaps, so I could stop referring to him as my vampire. Not that he wasn't. Mine, that is. Or a vampire, actually. But I guess it would help my situation, even in the most miniscule way, if I weren't reminded of that inconvenient fact every second that I tried referring to him.

I looked around at my brothers and the Cullens. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Maybe for Edward to walk to the top of a cliff with the bag in his raised arms, the sun positioned perfectly behind him, and proclaim, "It is time." I shook my head to myself.

"What?" Jake wondered.

"Nothing," I smiled to myself, "I've just been watching too many Disney movies lately."

"Okaaaayyy…"

"Whatever. Let's just focus. Don't we have something to do?"

Not yet, apparently. The wolves looked fine. It was the vampires whose demeanor I couldn't figure out. Carlisle was shaking his head, mostly to himself, but glancing around him hesitantly. As if he was thinking something important, but wasn't sure whether now was the time to mention it.

"Is there a problem?" He looked at me. Despite the venom (for lack of a better term) in my tone, his expression was warm. Filled with worry. "There is, isn't there? What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure if now is the time," he spoke softly. "Why don't we do what you'd like, for now, and talk about it later?"

I thought about that. I did want to see my vampire. I wanted to meet him. But after what had almost happened to my mom and Charlie, I was done being irresponsible. If something was wrong, I needed to know. We all did.

Edward nodded. Whoops…

"Uh, Edward. I'm…"

"I know. It's fine," he spoke quickly. His tone wasn't harsh, but it was a bit dismissive. I didn't blame him.

"And Leah," Bella started, "well. You know."

I nodded. When our exchange of apologies for nearly killing one another had reached its apparent end, Carlisle stepped forward a bit. Our group had seemed to unconsciously form a circle, which he was now nearly at the center of. Not too close to the fire, though.

"I don't mean to hold us up. It's just…Leah, when you phased and accidentally bit Edward…" he trailed off. I was beginning to get worried. It wasn't like their type to be so lost for words. "Leah, you feel fine, don't you?"

"Yeah, fine. Why?"

"Edward's teeth grazed you just a bit." I froze. His teeth? But then…the venom. I should be poisoned. I should be…

"Yes, but you're not." For once I was grateful – Edward interrupted me before I could utter, even mentally, the word that would have almost accurately described me. "He's been wondering about this since it happened. You've got a scar, which means my teeth penetrated your skin. My venom had to have gotten in."

"Maybe it wasn't enough," Bella offered.

"I haven't known that to make a difference before." Carlisle's voice was almost a whisper. He paced in his spot, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Are we really complaining about this?!" Jacob's voice was louder than the rest of ours. I was surprised at his intensity. "She's alive. And we're all trying to figure out why it didn't go the other way?!" Carlisle flashed to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. Jake didn't shake it off. I would have. Or at least…before today, I would have. Now I wasn't so sure.

"Calm down, Jacob," Carlisle spoke slowly now. "It isn't that I'm not grateful for the way things turned out. I'm just curious, now. Either Edward is no longer venomous, or Leah is immune."

All eyes were on me now. I guess everyone was assuming I was the freak of nature. Surprise, surprise.

"What if it's neither of those?" I spoke up. "What if it was a fluke?"

"If you wouldn't mind, I could take some samples." I didn't follow. Carlisle continued, "Your DNA. Edward's venom. All of ours, in fact. Including…" he gestured toward to bag.

I nodded.

"I guess we'd better do this, then. So we can turn me into a science experiment."

Edward placed the cloth bag on the floor, then lifted it, revealing its contents. The little red and yellow bird hopped excitedly for a few moments, then made a b-line in the air that ended on my shoulder. I gasped.

"Leah's got a pet," Paul laughed.

I didn't bother telling him to shut his fat mouth. I looked toward my shoulder in wonder. The little bird had sky blue eyes and a tiny golden beak. Chirp. Chirp, chirp. The sounds were chirps and yet there was a distinct texture to them that I'd never heard from an animal was singing to me. Okay, snap out of it. It wasn't a bird, and it wasn't singing. Probably he was yelling how badly he wanted to kill me.

"He recognizes your scent." Edward's voice was a whisper. "He knows you're the wolf from the clearing. He's much more relaxed now – he's been focusing on our conversation and, in turn, on calming down. In which case, you might want to get him off your shoulder before – "

"Right." I started to reach for him myself before I realized I wasn't sure how to hold him. Would he feel like a small bird? Would I crush him?

"Just ask him to hop down."

"He can hear you, right? But he hasn't already, so what makes you think he'll do it if I ask?"

"He'll listen to you."

"See?" Paul nudged Jared. "Told you she had a pet."

"You don't want to change back on my shoulder, do you? Hop down." The bird looked at me, then at the floor. It looked at me again and chirped. "Hop down."

"He doesn't want to go back in the bag." Edward was actually pretty useful in this situation.

"Not so you can get in the bag, silly. So you can change. We need to talk to you," I crooned. I raised one finger slowly, intending to pet his back. I half expected him to snap at my finger. He didn't. He closed his eyes and made a humming sound, then hopped to my feet as I'd asked. I wondered if it would be this easy once he was a full blown vampire again.

I doubted it.

*~*

Vampire POV

She was the most beautiful thing I had seen in all my years, though in this body, especially from this vantage point, she looked particularly huge. I assessed her body quickly so that I could move on to more important things. Once I'd memorized her from the neck down, I made use of my newfound wings and sped to her shoulder.

I regretted it immediately, expecting to be swatted from my perch by one of her exquisite hands. Instead, she turned to face me, an awed expression on her face.

Her eyes were brown, but so deep a brown that they almost looked black. Almost, except that little flecks of gold shimmered in them when she turned her face. Her skin was a deep cinnamon. Her hair was cropped short, but it was styled, like some woman I'd seen in the movies recently – Halle something. Her scent was exactly right. It was odd; the more I smelled her, the less I minded the undertone of wet dog to her aroma. I could find it, only if I concentrated, but mostly I smelled all the things that made her smell so different from the awful stench of the others.

She asked me to get back on the ground but assured me they wouldn't capture me again. When her finger made contact with my…well…whatever she was touching, I lost the will to move. But she stopped, and I realized she was waiting for me to comply. Oddly, I trusted her, so I hopped onto the sand.

It was strange. I had come to find her, to kill her. Yet now, I couldn't imagine doing such a thing. I understood my purpose better, it seemed, now that I was actually here. And all of the talk the other wolves and the yellow-eyes had been having about imprinting seemed to click nicely in place with this revelation.

It wasn't her extra hunting power that had brought me here. There had never been an extra power in the first place. The ache I felt in the forest, the pull, it had been her, just not in the way I had thought. She had changed me, changed my reason for existing. I had laid eyes on her and all the ties I had to this world had been cut from their previous owner's and tied inextricably to her. Gravity had brought me here, and she was the source from which it pulled. A part of me was furious and reluctant. I hadn't asked for my life to change; I didn't want my life to change. Especially with all this talk about animal blood. Did that explain the yellow eyes? Never. A greater part of me, however, was accepting this all with astonishing grace. At least, where she was concerned.

Leah was her name? Leah. Pretty, I thought.

A distant chirping sound invaded my thoughts, but I quickly realized that the sound was my own, echoing back from the cliffs.

I was still a tiny bird, standing at the feet of my reason for existing. And she was my life now – as much as I didn't understand it, it was blatantly obvious. Though I'd been listening as well as I could to the conversation, especially where I was mentioned, I wasn't entirely sure of what sort of relationship we were meant to have. But I did think, at the very least, that we should meet. Properly; both of us in a human form. Or, as human as I could manage.

But how?

The bronze haired vampire – Edward, I'd heard him called – murmured something. Suddenly many wolves were surrounding me. So they were capturing me. Edward sighed deeply.

"Oh, would you relax! They're trying to help you," he explained.

"Sam," a wolf spoke, "you want to do this?"

"Fine," the wolf called Sam answered. He looked down at me, but didn't hover. I assumed he was keeping his distance, both to keep me calm and to prepare for the change. "You need to breathe deeply and focus on the heat you felt before the change." I did so. "Now, concentrate on pulling the heat back from your extremities, into your center. Concentrate, but keep calm."

I felt the heat rescinding back and back from my unfamiliar body. Without instruction, I focused on the body I knew, on my human (well, not precisely human) form. It didn't feel like an explosion this time. It was smoother and faster.

I looked up before I got to my feet, anxious to find the only pair of eyes that mattered to me. I was faced with the back of her head, though. Before I could worry, my own clothes were being thrown on top of me by my captors, who then turned their backs to give me privacy.

I was on my feet and dressed within the same second. My eyes found her again. The sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds, creating a crimson shimmer in her hair. I cleared my throat. Her heart began to quicken. I smiled.

"Leah?" I made sure to keep my voice calm and gentle. I didn't want to get attacked, and I had no doubt that this group would do just that if it appeared that I meant her any harm. She turned toward me slowly, as though she was reluctant to see me, but her eyes were searching for me the whole way, as though she was eager at the very same time.

Finally we were standing face to face. Neither of us spoke. I didn't breathe. We just stood there, appraising each other. I wasn't sure how much time had passed before my questions re-entered my mind, but once they did, I took my first breath in however long and prepared to get my answers.

"Wait," she spoke. Her voice was music, and it took me an extra couple of seconds to process what she'd actually said, as I was so caught up in the way she sounded when she said it. "Tell me your name."

It amused me that she'd demanded my name rather than asking it. It said a lot about her character. Though, the fact that I'd neglected to supply the information myself said a great deal about mine. Where were my manners?

"Tobias," I told her, slowly and softly, careful not to alarm her or anyone else. She didn't respond. She continued to stare at me, at my eyes particularly, and after a while her gaze became scrutinizing. "Is there something wrong with me?" I wondered out loud.

"Your eyes," she whispered, though her tone remained stern. "They're blood red." Of course they were. I was a vampire. This was how we looked.

Although, the others here had strange yellow eyes. Is that how she would have preferred me? I wondered what it would take for me to look that way, though I was afraid I already knew the answer. As much as I wanted to please her, I was not willing to do what obtaining those eyes would require. She gasped.

My gaze had drifted away from hers while I was deep in thought, but snapped back to her at the sound. She didn't appear to have been hurt. Still, I asked.

"Are you alright?"

"They're gold now," she breathed. Her tone had changed. She sounded amazed, but also confused. Suddenly, she looked away from me. I hated it. The loss of eye contact almost physically stung. I followed her gaze immediately, with some strange emotion compelling me. I landed on a male vampire, who seemed older than the others in more ways than one. Maybe even older than me. "How did he do that?"

The vampire looked me over quickly. When his eyes found mine, they grew wide with wonder.

"It seems our new friend is more powerful than we thought."