A/N: This is a pretty long chapter and I hope you like it. I'm debating over whether or not to make Christie a major character, and I would love some suggests so please review. Once again, thank you so much for all the favs and follows, it really means a lot to me. Enjoy!

Valerie was dressed and ready for the barbeque. She is wearing one of her favorite tops, a plain black tank top with white music notes bunched into the corner. She also has on jean shorts and her usual pair of worn out black converse. Around her neck, Valerie wears her mother's silver cross necklace.

Valerie's phone begins buzzing and she sees that her friend Christie is calling. Christie was a party girl all the way. She had moved to Dallas two years ago from London to come and live with her cousin because her parents found out about her drug problem and wanted nothing to do with her. Christie's crazy behavior often gave people the wrong idea about her; she was actually a very nice person who would do anything for her friends.

When Valerie had lived in Pennsylvania, she had many friends and was actually quite popular in her school. Since the death of her mother and sister and Valerie's move to Texas, she has become a bit of a social pariah. She missed everything about her old life, even the negative aspects. Valerie would always be thankful to Christie for being one of her only genuine friends. The two had even signed up to go to a college in New York together.

"Hello," Valerie says as she picks up the phone.

"I'm on my way to your house pick you up, be ready in like three minutes!" Christie commands from the other end.

"Pick me up for what?" Valerie asks as she puts in her diamond stud earrings.

"We are hitting the mall, huge sales today and only today!" Christie excitedly explains.

"Sorry Chris but this isn't a good time," Valerie tells her friend quietly, not wanting anyone in the house to hear her conversation, "I've got this barbeque thing in like twenty minutes."

"Just get out of it," Christie nonchalantly suggests.

"Sarah's going to be pissed but okay," Valerie agrees.

"Yes, that's my girl!" Christie praises happily, "Meet me in the usual spot." With that they both hang up and Valerie gets ready for shopping. She grabs her favorite black leather handbag with the shoulder strap and packs her wallet, house keys, and her phone.

Valerie walks out into the hallway, creeps quietly past Steve's office where he sits behind his desk looking through paperwork, and she goes downstairs to the kitchen. Inside, Sarah is busy making preparations for the barbeque. Sarah has changed out of her pretty dress for something a bit more casual and suitable to the occasion. She is now wearing a sleeveless red flannel shirt, a black skirt, and cute red ballerina flats.

"Aunt Sarah," Valerie says from the door. Sarah turns away from the meat she is seasoning and smiles at her niece.

"My, don't you look pretty," Sarah compliments, regarding Valerie's outfit.

"Thanks," Valerie replies, walking leisurely over to the food, "this all looks great."

"Yeah it does," Sarah agrees, "I want this barbeque to be perfect,"

"About that," Valerie begins, "do you mind if I skip it?"

"Skip the barbeque, why would you want to do that?" Sarah asks in disbelief.

"Christie called and there's this special sale at the mall or something," she explains.

"Why are you always hanging around that girl?" Sarah demands, "I don't like that girl."

"You don't even know her," Valerie protests.

"I know that she has a drug addiction," Sarah retorts icily.

"It's not fair for you to judge her just based on that. You've never even really talked to her," Valerie argues angrily.

"I don't have to talk to her to know that she's trouble," Sarah stubbornly replies.

"She is the only friend I have out here," Valerie tells her.

"Well whose fault is that?" Sarah asks incredulously, "Ever since you moved in with Steve and me, you have just shut yourself off from the rest of the world."

"Well what do you expect?" Valerie practically shouts at her aunt, "Did you think I would just act like normal, as if nothing even happened?" Suddenly, Steve appears at the door wearing a stupid grin despite the obvious fight going on.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asks, his voice sounded like he was speaking to young children.

"No, I was just leaving," Valerie answers, still staring heatedly at her aunt. She marches to the door and shimmies past Steve who watches her walk away with a curious look on his face. Valerie storms out the front door without being stopped by anyone. Outside a group of the Fellowship of the Sun members jog around the house in perfect rhythm with each other. She makes eye contact with a few of the men but otherwise completely ignores them and keeps moving.

Finally reaching the main road, Valerie spots Christie in her cousin's beat up little green jeep. Christie has straight light blond hair that cascades perfectly down her back and thick bangs that cover her whole forehead. Her dazzling blue eyes are framed by Egyptian style eye makeup that she pulls off quite nicely. She wears a loose white tank top with an American flag design with a short jean skirt with black gladiator sandals. She has many different types of bracelets on her wrists, little feather earrings, and her long finger nails painted black.

"About time," Christie greets, happily waving at her friend.

"Hey Chris," Valerie mutters as she climbs into the passenger seat.

"What's wrong babe?" Christie asks, sensing her friend's sad mood.

"Nothing, just had a fight with my aunt," Valerie explains.

"Did you win?" Christie asks with a smile. Valerie furrows her eyebrows at her friend's odd question.

"Neither of us really won," Valerie answers.

"At least you didn't lose," Christie retorts, slipping on her shades. Valerie can't help but smile at her friend's optimistic attitude. Christie turns the key in the ignition and the jeep sputters in protest. "Come on baby don't fail me now," Christie coaxes at the car. It revs to live and begins to shake with power. "That's what I'm talking about!" The car pulls off the side of the road, leaving a cloud of dust behind them.

It was almost midnight when Christie arrived back at Valerie's house. The shopping day had been a great success, despite the feud that began between a sassy woman and Christie over the last of a beautiful blue dress at a store. After the exchange of a few unkind words and a lot of hair pulling, Christie was the victor and now proudly wore her prize.

"Cheers babe," Christie calls out to Valerie from her car. Valerie turns around, arms full of bags and waves at her friend with a smile. Christie's jeep backfires a few times before she is able to drive off.

As Valerie approaches her house, she notices that a few of the downstairs lights are on. With a sigh, she realizes that her aunt is probably downstairs waiting for her to get home, as usual. In a way, Valerie appreciated the way Sarah worried about her, but sometimes she was too protective and it became overwhelming. After all, Valerie was Sarah's last living blood relative, so Sarah's overprotectiveness was understandable. Valerie opens the front door and is surprised to see Sarah and Steve sitting on the living room couch talking. They both stand up and smile when they see her.

"Valerie, sweetheart, we have some great news," Sarah gushes, practically bouncing with excitement. Valerie furrows her brows and looks between Sarah and Steve with confusion.

"What happened?" Valerie inquires cautiously, closing the door behind her and placing her shopping bags on the ground.

"While you were gone, God sent us a message that we are on the right course," Steve tells her in his preaching voice.

"Um okay," Valerie replies.

"Come down to the basement and I'll explain," Steve says wrapping an arm around Valerie's shoulder and guiding her down the hall. Valerie gives a worried look to Sarah who gives her a supportive nod in return. Steve opens the door to the basement and motions for Valerie to walk ahead of him and she reluctantly obliges. "Now, I know this may be a bit frightening at first, but just know that you are not in any danger."

Valerie's breathe catches in her throat at the sight of the downstairs room. A handsome young man stands casually behind thick silver prison bars with only a plain looking bed in the room with him. He has neatly combed brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes that seem sorrowful. He has some strange looking black tattoos that are accentuated by his extremely pale skin. His clothes are plain, just a thin white button down shirt with matching pants and simple black shoes. He just stands there staring at Valerie with his sad eyes as she gawks at him in shock.

"Valerie, this is Godric," Steve introduces, both hands on her shoulders, "he's a vampire."

"Whoa, what the hell is this?" Valerie explodes. She spins around to face Steve, slapping his arms off of her. She grabs a chuck of her hair in both hands, in complete disbelief at what she is seeing, "Did you kidnap this man?"

"The lord delivered him to us as an act of providence," Steve tells her, outstretching his hands as if he is divine.

"Jesus Christ, Steve you sound insane! I can't believe you thought I would be happy about this!" Valerie exclaims waving her arms wildly, "This is a crime, you're a criminal."

"I am no criminal," Steve protests, his smile wavering slightly, "I am an instrument of God. My divine purpose is to eliminate the vampire race."

"Don't give me the divine purpose speech, you sound ridiculous!" Valerie shouts, sick of his crazy ideas and bizarre interpretations of the Bible. Her mother had always taught her that God was someone to be loved and praised. However, Steve preached that God wanted nothing more than the extinction of all vampires. "How could you possibly think that keeping a man prisoner in our basement is God's will?"

"This thing you see before you is not a man," Steve says, his smile disappears and is replaced by a scowl, "he is a spawn of the devil!"

"When did you even build this prison?" Valerie demands. She rarely went down to the basement but surely she would have noticed a big silver prison down here.

"We have had these plans for a long time," Steve answers vaguely.

"What plans?" Valerie cautiously asks cautiously, her heart filling with dread at what he will say in response.

"To have a ceremony in which we return one of his kind to hell where they belong," Steve ominously answers, his eyes dark with hate.

"You're going to kill him," Valerie's voice is barely a whisper. Her heart feels heavy with dread as she looks at the vampire behind the bars. He is still in the same position and stares at her in stony silence; his expression is a mixture of curiosity and grief.

"He is already dead, but when all the preparations are complete for the ceremony, he will meet the sun and his ultimate demise," Steve confirms. Valerie takes an unsteady step back, her chest tightens and she is having difficulty breathing. She looks up at Godric and her stomach lurches at the image of him burning in the sun.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Valerie whispers to Godric, who only cocks his head at her apology to him, "I have to get out of here." She clambers up the stairs, ignoring Steve calling her name as she bursts through the door and practically runs down the hall. She is about to go out the front door when Sarah grabs her ar.

"Valerie, where are you going?" Sarah asks concerned.

"Anywhere but here," Valerie answers angrily. She shakes Sarah's grip off and storms out the door, slamming it in her aunt's flabbergasted face. As Valerie stalks across the grass, she whips out her phone and calls Christie, not knowing what else to do.

"Miss me already?" Christie says from the other end.

"Where are you?" Valerie asks.

"I'm almost home, why?" Christie answers.

"Can you come pick me up, I need a place to stay tonight," Valerie answers with a sigh.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Christie asks, sounding genuinely worried.

"I'll explain in the car," Valerie tells her.

"Alright, I'm turning around now," Christie assures her, "be there in a bit."

"Thanks," Valerie says as she hangs up the phone. She approaches the side of the road and waits for Christie to arrive. As she stands there, Valerie tries to clear her head and figure out what she is going to do about the situation. There is no way she is just going to sit idly by while Sarah and her sadistic husband commit murder. But what can she possibly do to stop them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sarah asks suddenly. Valerie spins around and is surprised to find that her aunt followed her all the way to the road.

"I'm leaving, I can't stay in a house where there is a man living being held prisoner in the basement," Valerie responds.

"He is a vampire!" Sarah explains exasperatedly.

"But he's still a person," Valerie protests, shaking her head.

"Are you forgetting that vampires took your aunt Amber away from us?" Sarah demands, her eyes filling with tears.

"No, a vampire killed Amber," Valerie corrects, "You can't blame an entire race on the crimes of one person."

"They aren't people Valerie!" Sarah retorts, "They are evil creatures of the night that will kill us all unless we fight back."

"We have coexisted with vampires for thousands of years before they came out of the coffin. Now we have Trublood and they don't have to live off human blood. The world is changing but you refuse to let go of your hate and anger. Do you think this is what Amber would have wanted, for you to be a hateful person plotting murder?"

"Everything I do is for Amber," Sarah shouts, her voice cracking slightly as a few tears escape her eyes and slide down her cheeks, "If I can't cause some kind of change then her death meant nothing."

Suddenly, Christie's car pulls up; blasting eighties rock and roll music. She lowers the music as she puts the car in park, then smiles at Valerie.

"Hi, Mrs. Newlin," Christie calls out to Sarah who just gives her an obviously disgusted look in return.

"I'm leaving," Valerie plainly states, "I hope you understand."

"I'm very disappointed in you," Sarah coldly replies, putting emphasis on the very.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Valerie whispers, turning away from her aunt and climbing into the passenger seat of the jeep. Christie winks at Sarah and turns up the music, just for the sake of pissing her off. They drive away in silence, Valerie crying silently and Christie keeping her eyes on the road, not wanting to press her friend with questions.