Thank you so much to all those reading, alerting, favouriting, reviewing, encouraging etc. I am shocked at how well this has done so far, since it was just something I liked the idea of. It makes me so happy when I see how many people are reading. :)


I took my eyes off her, knowing that now Eric had practically forbade her from biting me, she wouldn't attack unsuspectingly.

I looked at Eric, angry, tired, hungry and anxious to find Jessica.

"I thought you needed something." My voice was cold and clipped.

"I do…Pam?"

She rolled her eyes and looked at him, changing hips.

"I need you to…accompany us to the Fellowship of the Sun."

My mouth dropped open and I unfolded my arms in anger - Pam was coming with us?

It seemed the snaky female vampire and I agreed on one thing.

"Chow can go."

He stopped whatever it was he was doing and looked meaningfully at her.

"I trust you more than Chow."

I walked up to his desk and leaned over it.

"Does she have to go?"

From behind me, I heard Pam get closer and I could then feel her presence next to me.

"Yes, do I have to go?"

He looked from me to her with an amused look on his face, before leaning forward.

"Yes."

Both Pam and I sighed and stood up straight, folding our arms again. We looked symmetrical.

Just as I was about to say that I needed some food, Eric spoke to Pam in a foreign tongue - Norwegian, or Swedish, or something.

She just looked at him for a few seconds before departing back to the club and slamming the door behind us.

"I need some food," I told him, sitting on his sofa in the corner.

He looked at me like he couldn't believe I'd spoken, but then said, "Chow," quietly, and, just as I was beginning to think he had not heard me - despite his super senses - a vampire I presumed was Chow walked into the room.

Wow.

"Please bring Miss Hayward some food."

Chow begrudgingly turned to look at me. "Any preference?"

I shook my head. "Whatever's easiest."

He left swiftly, and I turned to look at Eric again.

"Thanks," I mumbled, not wanting to show him I appreciated it.

"I apologize for not thinking…I forget that humans have different needs than I."

I frowned. "You were once human too."

"A very long time ago." His voice was very quiet, and I felt like I'd hit a nerve.

"Can't you remember it?"

He remained silent as if in his head he was reliving his past, and the look on his face didn't look like the sarcastic and emotionless vampire I knew - for a second, he looked like a vulnerable human, afraid of what life would bring and regretful over choices.

He stood up, and before I could register it, he was sat next to me, very close to my face.

"You look full of pity," he told me, bringing his hand up to my face. I flinched back from it, but he only tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

It was almost sweet.

"I do pity you," I spat, and moved further away on the sofa.

He didn't look angry - he just looked accepting.

"I pity you, also."

I snorted. "Why? My life is just fine."

"You are human. You're life is predictable."

I frowned in question.

"You will die when your time comes."

"That doesn't make my life predictable. Life isn't how long you live, it's what you do in the time you have. And I can choose to do something completely unexpected if that was what I wanted."

"When you are as old as I am, humans cannot surprise you."

"You only meet the ones who want to meet you. And I'm sure if you gave them a chance they could surprise you. But you just feed on them or kill them. They don't get time to surprise you."

He looked taken aback at my speech, since it was probably the most I'd talked to him since I'd met him.

The room was tense - with what, I didn't know.

Chow burst in, holding a brown paper bag in an outstretched arm like he couldn't stand to be as close to it as he was. I saw the label - McDonald's.

I swear, I heard the hallelujah chorus.

After eating the delicious food - with much discomfort on my part since I was being watched by Eric the whole time - Pam re-entered and stood with her hand on her hip again.

Eric looked to see if I was ready to go, and after jumping up a little more enthusiastic now I had food in me, he, Pam and I walked out the office, through the club (everyone stared and I blushed and looked at my feet) and out the door.

I breathed deeply, closing my eyes, trying to remember a time that I was extraordinarily happy; I wanted to find my happy place, away from vampires, and prying, nosy fangbangers…

I couldn't. And that scared me.

I'd grown up without being close to my parents, my friends in New York hadn't been real friends, and I'd never had a boyfriend I loved. Love was overrated.

I'd never been truly happy, because I'd never been my true self - I didn't even know who I was, really.

Was I Evelyn, the bitch from NYC who loved to party?

Was I Evelyn, the angel from a small Southern town?

Or was I Miss Hayward, the petulant brat who seemed to amuse a certain vampire?

Surprisingly, out of the three, I think I liked the last one the best. At least I wasn't being someone I wasn't…

I didn't much like myself, if those were the only three options I had as to who I was.

I felt tears sting my eyes as I realized that I'd never been happy because I'd never liked myself.

"Get in." Eric's monotonous voice woke me from my inner mind's musings.

I jumped when I returned to the present, blinked back the tears, and hopped into the car in front of me - a black Audi that screamed Pam.

Indeed, it was Pam who sat in the driver's seat.

"So…Why is Pam coming with us?"

My tone wasn't insolent, like you'd expect - I was just curious.

Clearly, she did not see that. She rounded on me, taking her eyes off the road which scared me - they'd walk away unscathed if we crashed…but I wouldn't.

"I'm coming with you so you can rescue your sweet little cousin." Her voice was sharp, sarcastic and…scary.

She turned to face the road again, which made me feel better.

She scoffed, then said, "does your mama even know you're out here with the big bad vampires?" She smirked at her joke.

I looked down. "My mom's dead, so I'm guessing not."

Neither of them said anything, but I saw Eric turn as if he wanted to look at me, but he decided better and faced the front again. I did, however, see him looking at me in the wing mirror.

I felt very childlike sitting in the back, and it only reminded me of the other night…when Jessica was in the car instead of Pam…

"So tell me, Evelyn," she said, "how did Eric come to bite you? I do feel like I missed an... opportunity." She licked her lips hungrily.

"He…took a bullet for me, and then he just…bit." I huffed as I remembered. He'd not even asked.

Eric spoke up, "if I didn't, I wouldn't have healed as quickly. And we'd both be dead, as would Jessica. And it was…unbearable to be so close to your neck and not bite."

"God, you're presumptuous," I told him, wrinkling my nose.

He turned to me and raised a eyebrow.

I sighed. "You just thought I wouldn't mind! Well, Eric, I did! I don't want to be someone's…meal."

"Oh, I knew you'd mind."

I frowned. "Then why did you bight me?" My voice indicated that I thought he was idiotic.

"Because I could."

"Why are you so egotistical and…dictatorial?"

"Why are you so argumentative and…differentiating?"

"Differentiating?"

We were spitting out short sentences now, our limits being pushed. I was getting irritated as of now…he'd bitten me, then been arrogant towards me…And I was tired and when I was tired I got aggravated easily.

"You go from being angry to being understanding and conversational. It's disconcerting."

"Oh shut up!" I was nearly shouting now, whereas he was as cool and calm as he always was.

"You just can't stand losing, can you, Evelyn?"

I sat back and folded my arms petulantly. "Neither can you, Eric."

"I do not mind admitting I am wrong when I am…which isn't often…"

I grumbled, "that's what I mean! You just love being you!"

Pam sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm getting tired listening to your bickering. You're like an old married couple."

I grimaced at the idea. "He brings out the worst in me," I told her through gritted teeth, glaring at the back of Eric's head.

"And her, I," he said also, running a hand over his face absentmindedly.

I scoffed again. "No, I'm sure you're always like this. I hardly have the power to aggravate an ancient vampire."

"Oh, but you do," Pam said, raising her eyebrows. "Maybe it's that blood of your's."

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

I decided that since it was two against one I would shut up.

I didn't know what came over me when he talked to me. It was like he flipped a switch inside my body or brain that turned me into an angry bitch … and I didn't like it. He had power over me, the power to aggravate me. And any kind of power he had over me I was sure he used to his advantage, just subtly. He was that kind of person.

If he and I would have to be together for God knows how long…Well, I couldn't handle it. I just couldn't be near him if he was always like this.

But if he returned to the vulnerable human like he was in his office…then I could see his appeal and attraction (beside his obvious attractiveness physically…), but I knew that person was hidden deep inside him.

I remained silent for the rest of the trip, and as we got closer to the church, I became a little nervous. What if Jessica had been harmed, or if we were harmed this time, and no one could save Jessica, or us?

And after our arguments, I was positive that if I was shot at again, Eric would not throw himself in front of me again.

Which reminded me…

"Eric?" I asked as we got out the car and entered the woods that led to the church. We couldn't park in the Car Park, for obvious reasons.

He didn't look back but I knew he'd heard me.

"Why did you take that bullet for me?"

He didn't say anything for a long time, but he eventually said, "because you wouldn't have healed."

"I know."

That made him stop, and he spun to face me.

"Then why did you ask? Aren't you grateful?" His voice was back to being dull and…emotionless, not like it had been in the car. He may have been calm, but his voice held some excitement, like he hadn't had a good disagreement for centuries.

"Of course I'm grateful…but you hate me. Why would you take it?"

"I heal."

"But still…"

"Why do you presume I hate you?"

I scoffed at him, and picked up my pace to catch Pam up, but he just flew in front of me, and gripped the tops of my arms.

I sighed and arched an eyebrow. "I think it's obvious."

"I do not feel anything. Not hatred, not love…"

"Now that I don't believe."

He blinked, and I elaborated.

"You can feel them…you just choose not to. You can't remember because you've not tried. They're there."

"How do you know what I've felt, even as a human?" His voice was gaining emotion, even if he believed he didn't feel anything.

I seemed to bring it out in him - just like he said, only he thought emotion was 'the worst'.

"You must've loved something as a human, or someone."

He must have.

"You know nothing." His eyes flared and I'd touched the nerve again - his human life was an area he kept closed off…and it was the human side of him that had emotions. He would feel them if he delved into that side of him.

"Maybe. But I know that you must've felt something in order to take a bullet for me."

He leaned forward so his breath tickled my ear. I froze, and stopped breathing all together. He was too close, and I wasn't pulling away.

Why wasn't I pulling away?

"Because it would have been a waste if I didn't. And not just of blood…"

He then ran to Pam at vampire speed and left me alone, out of breath from lack of oxygen and confused.

Not just of blood…What the hell did that mean?

I sighed, and trudged off to catch up with them and face the FotS once more. And he called me differentiating.


Sorry it's short. It seemed like the right time to end it. It's still over 2300 words.

Oh, and if you think her sudden changes in...feelings toward Eric are confusing...they're meant to be. All in good time, m'lovies.

Review for a preview of Chapter 8?