The woods blurred by as we flashed toward Carlisle's house. I knew that the wolves were near, but they kept their distance. I knew that Carlisle had matched his pace to mine because I was not as fast as him. I could feel the hunger building in me and I knew that I would have to stop soon. I would lose any energy that I had if I didn't eat. It would be better if I fed on a human, but I knew that I would never allow that to happen again. My strength was not worth the cost of that.

Carlisle must have noticed my energy dropping because he said, "I think that we should stop and eat. There is a town nearby and it is dark enough for me to go out with you."

This statement confused me for a moment before I realized what he meant. My parents didn't worry about what humans thought of them. They would just kill anyone that saw them. It had to be difficult keeping your identity secret from the human world when you couldn't just kill off the witnesses.
"That sounds like a good idea. I am getting pretty hungry and I am sure the wolf boys back there need to eat too." I smiled, but quickly dropped it.

"I don't think that they will be coming with us." He shot a look into the darkness, "They will be keeping their distance from you."

We exited from the woods and onto a dimly lit street. I wondered what small town this was, but wouldn't get to find out. The little dinner was close and there were no markings that gave away the location. The woman sitting at the counter looked bored and was shocked when we walked in.

"Hello there. You can have a seat wherever you would like." She grabbed some menus and followed us to a booth, "Can I get you something to drink?"

Carlisle cleared his throat and surprised me by ordering a coffee. He turned to me, "I think that I will have a soda, Coke or Pepsi is fine."

"Alright, I will be right back with those and to get your orders." I watched as she walked away.

"You drink coffee." I couldn't keep the shock out of my voice.

He shook his head and smiled, "No, but I thought it would look better if I ordered something." A curious expression crossed his face, "I guess this is something I should have asked you earlier, but what would you like me to call you?"

I smiled in response, realizing that I hadn't told him my name, "You can call me Lexi. My name is Alexandria."

"That's beautiful." He glanced over at the waitress and sighed, "Do you know your parents?"

This took me a bit by surprise and I answered without thinking about it, "Yes." I shook my head, "They don't know that I am in trouble and do not want them involved. It is better if they stay in the dark. I am not really sure that they would even care if they did know."

"I think that they might. They are probably worried about you."

He had it all figured out didn't he. I asked him about himself and was even more shocked to find out that he was a doctor. I was starting to wonder if he was really a vampire or something else entirely. He talked about his family with a love that I didn't really understand. I was sure that my parents never really talked about me like this and I was their real daughter. He was so full of life, more life than most people were.

He didn't order any food and expressed that I should order whatever I wanted. I decided to go light and not eat too much grease before continuing on our journey. I needed to make it all the way there without having to stop for sleep. I didn't think that I would be able to sleep with them near anyway.

I ate quickly and pulled out my money to pay, but was thwarted by Carlisle. He looked at me disapprovingly and paid for everything. As we walked back toward the woods he asked, "Where did you get all that?"

I knew that he wouldn't like my answer so I shrugged and danced around his question, "I work."

We made it into the darkness of the woods and we stopped talking as we ran. I knew that he was thinking about my response and I wondered if he believed it. It was partly true. I had worked for some of the money and he didn't need to know about the stealing part of my life. I knew that he wouldn't understand.

After we had traveled into the morning light, I felt my eyes starting to droop. I had slowed down, but I kept pushing myself to keep going. I didn't want to stop right now. I needed to keep going. Carlisle's voice sounded like he was a million miles away and the light dropped away and I was in complete darkness. Nickolas stood smiling at me.

It was a familiar sight. Every time I fell asleep he was there taunting me, reminding me that he was out there and that he would eventually find me. His thick black hair disheveled like it always was and his deep red eyes searching me. I cried out and tried to run, but there was no use. He was everywhere. He chased me into his trap and I was lost to the world again. I knew that this time I wouldn't be escaping and that it would be much worse than it had been the first time.

His voice was like honey, but I knew what was under that voice, a heartless evil vampire. I knew that his smile was not meant to be sweet, but to cause fear. "You shouldn't have left me. You know that you belong to me now."

The scream filled my head and my eyes flew open. I was sitting on the ground under a large tree. Carlisle was knelt in front of me watching me carefully. I also noticed that both wolves were standing close by. "Lexi, are you okay? You lost consciousness and I think maybe you had a nightmare." I watched as he assessed me with his eyes.

"I am fine." I stood and brushed off the dirt, "I should have told you that I needed to stop, but I pushed myself to hard."

He nodded and stood up next to me. He turned to the boys and nodded to them too, "Okay, well we made good time and I carried you some, but you started fighting against me. The house is right over that hill."

"Well what are we waiting for then." I met Jacob's eyes and he immediately turned away.

I knew that I could wait much much longer, but it would only be putting off the inevitable. I would meet his family and have to answer a hundred questions about myself and what I was. Not many vampires knew about my kind and they always seemed fascinated by it. I followed behind him and tried to think of a way out of it. Nothing came to mind before the house came into view.