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Jonah said something about finding my dad's belongings by a river. I went with him before the sun went up, and we were a bit too late, because as soon as I had seen the evidence - my dad's shirt - the sun had risen. Jonah pushed himself back on a tree and I wondered how he could go back inside the hotel without getting burned. I stepped closer to him and grabbed his hand, then stretched his arm out, making his hand touch the sun light. His skin sizzled, and Jonah flinched, pulling his hand back.

"Are you crazy?" he asked.

"I wanted to see something."

"What? Me burning?" He looked at his hand, and I saw him heal quickly. I could tell he was staring at me now, but I was staring at his hand. Being a vampire, I thought to myself. Wouldn't be that bad, would it? "Yes, it is," he adds, and I give him a puzzled look. Then I figure it out.

"You read my mind," I said.

"Just that one time. Something as simple as mind reading weakens my abilities. I won't be reading minds any time soon."

I shook my head. "How are you getting back inside the hotel?"

Jonah pulled me to him, scooped me up and took off, running faster than I could blink. He turned, and hit the door with his back, throwing us into Hotel Transylvania. We roll onto the carpeted floor, and once we stop rolling, I land on top of him, and he's breathless under me. I'm tempted to kiss, I don't know why. Maybe because of the fact that vampires are master seducers, or lust or something, but something took over me. He wanted to, I can tell. But then a pair of feet stood in front of me. We both looked up, and I saw Dracula, with his hands on his hips and his eyebrows were scrunched-up.

"Where have you two been?" Dracula asked.

I roll off of Jonah and we get to our feet. "Looking for my dad," I say. "We found his shirt outside and - "

"Did Jonah get burned?"

Jonah looked at me, then at his uncle and shook his head. "No. I didn't get burned. We ran."

Dracula looks at me, straightens his posture and blinks. "I heard from a little bat that you have the ring?"

"The ring?" I ask, looking at Jonah. "It's only a ring."

Jonah shakes his head at Dracula, making him shut up, and takes my wrist and we head his suite. We don't take the elevator, we take the stairs, and we start a short conversation. About the ring, mostly. I asked him why he told Dracula about the ring, that it isn't a big thing, so why bother make it seem like a big deal. He wouldn't answer. When we got to his suite, he made me sit down on his bed and he grabbed my shoulders.

"I can help you look for your father if I had the ring," he said.

"Why do you need it?" I asked.

Jonah looks at me and takes his hands off of my shoulders. "You've seen the Vampire Diaries, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You know how Stefan and Damon have those rings that keep them from burning in the sun? Yeah, well, the ring you found in your house, that's one of two rings in the world. How your dad found it, I don't know. But I need it so I can go into the sun without burning."

I look at him for a second. That's crazy, a ring stopping a vampire from burning in the sun. But I didn't question anything else, because there's nothing crazier than speaking to a vampire. The nephew of the legendary Count Dracula.

"It's in the first drawer," I said quickly. "Inside a little wooden box."

He turns towards my drawers, seeking the golden, scratched-up ring with the black jewel on it. He found the ring. And he slipped it on his finger. A black pulse of light surged through his arm twice, then disappeared.

"Did it work?" I asked.

Jonah looked at his hand, then at me. "I don't know. There's only one way to find out." He walked to his window, grabbed the handles and pushed it open. The sunlight raced into his bedroom, and danced along his skin, but he wasn't burning. I got up and hurried to his side, look at his face and he was looking at his arms. He had a grin on his face, and I swear I saw his eyes sparkle.

"I'm not burning!" He said with a joyful tone in his voice. He looked like he had just won the lottery. "So . . ." Jonah states, looking at me with a massive grin on his face. "Let's go find your dad."

Jonah and I looked all over for my father, but still, like the last five days, we had found nothing. We were being slowed down by Jonah, because he was just standing there, in the open stretch of grass and trees, taking in the sun. I had to grab his hands and pull him in the direction that we were supposed to go. Ironically, Jonah hates the shade now. It was too hot for me, so I sat under a tree with a nice, cool shade to drink some water. Jonah literally threw himself at the ground, laid on his back and let the sun sink into his skin.

"You're gonna get a sun burn!" I called to him, as I took a sip of my water from a water bottle. Jonah shifted and turned his head, looking at me with big, blue eyes. I almost choked on my water. Sweet Moses, Jonah could be the male version of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. I don't know how vampires can look so . . . gorgeous. Is it a vampire thing? Is there one ugly vampire? Do all vampires look this good?

"I don't know," Jonah says.

"What?" I screw the top back on my water bottle and then it hits me. "You little scoundrel! Don't read my mind!"

He rolls over and sits up, facing me. "Well, I'm not sure if all vampires are 'as good looking as me'. But thanks for the compliment." He starts smiling, seeing my cheeks turn red. "What are you? Hispanic? White?"

"Half and half. My dad's American and my mom's Puerto Rican."

"And - - your hair?" He touches it, playing with my tousled curls. "It's dyed, right?" He's talking about the fact that my hair is dark brown, and the tips are blonde.

"Yep. I dyed it dark brown and bleach the ends."

"Well . . . I like it."

I smile. "Thanks."

My phone starts vibrating and I answer it. "Hello?"

"Elora?" the caller says.

"M-mom? Hi, Mom."

"Your father's here. He asked me if I knew where you were."

"He's there? What the hell? How?" I ask that because she lives in Tivoli, an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills. And right now, we're in Rome, Italy. "How did he get there?"

"He won't tell me how. He just asked if you had called."

"I called his cell but he wouldn't answer."

It was silent at the other end for a minute, and when I was about to say something, Mom's voice was replaced.

"Lora, baby?"

"DAD!" I exclaimed, my stomach doing flips. "You're okay! Dad, what happened? How'd you get to Tivoli?"

"Aw, is little Elora looking for her daddy?" The caller's voice was different now. It wasn't my father's voice, nor my mother's. It was another man's voice.

"Who are you?" I ask, looking at Jonah, who has a worried look on his face. He inches closer to me and puts his ear near my phone to hear better.

"I'm sure Jonah knows, sweety."

"Where are my parents?"

"Oh, don't worry. I won't harm them, as long as you cooperate with me."

"Who the hell are you? Let them go!"

Jonah snatched the phone from my hand and put it on speaker. "What the fuck is your problem, Solomon?" he asked.

"I don't have a problem, I have a request," Solomon adds with a relaxed voice.

"What do you want?"

"It's simple." We heard him chuckle. "I want the ring."

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