I'm back! I am sincerely sorry for making everyone wait for so long, but honestly you have no idea how much stress I've had over the past few months. I'm lucky I've even found time to write this chapter.

Since it's been a while, let us recap things we need to remember shall we?

-Holly's "vision" as she read the vibes- the male and female she picked up

-the fight between Cassidy and Holly

-the woman in the yellow t-shirt at the bar

Thank you for sticking it out, guys! Love you more than anything and special thanks to all my reviewers, especially E.M. Morning. Your reviews make my sunshine come out to play!

There is a part 2 to this chapter and if things seem confusing, it's intentional. Your questions will be answered!

-Sunny

{***}

The fluttering of birds' wings broke the silence of the dimly lit cavern. The flock of pigeons glided across the cave, flustered, and perched on the fountain centered in the middle of the grotto. They watched the empty furniture as if expecting its owners to suddenly appear and begin laughing and conversing like they always did at that time of night. Instead, there were only shadows standing stock still as a single barrel of fire lit the tunnels. The pigeons began to calm, one or two of them ducking their heads to clean their wings. If they could form coherent thoughts, they would have been wondering where the boy with the vibrant jacket was, the one who always fed them around midnight. He was nowhere to be found. The only being nearby was the woman; the one with hair curlier than the boy's who never spoke a word unless requested of. She never disturbed the pigeons and they never bothered her. Beside her, a small child of nine years slept soundly, his hair falling over his face like a dusty brown veil. Normally, the two would be out scoping for new faces to study, new places to go, out of reach of the others, but his orders had been strict. The chief, the one the pigeons did not particularly care for, made sure that the two stayed in the cave. And when orders were given, they were to be followed out; they had no choice.

Gradually, without even the pigeons noticing, one shadow began to crawl its way across the jagged wall towards the fountain. Slowly, it picked its way through the remains of old trinkets and embroidered scarves until it rested upon the pigeons. All became as still as petrified bone as the entirety of the shadow covered their bodies. The birds' eyes watched the figure before them; the shadow's owner. He was tall, towering over them as he turned still as stone. His presence was so powerful within the cave that even the woman, in the midst of her dreaming, shivered from the thrill of his unrealized company. When the figure moved, the birds rapidly took to the air, pumping their way to safety from the looming predator.

The figure remained in front of the fountain, taking in the ominous backdrop of the oversized fissure. His eyes pierced ferociously through the darkness, luminescent blue. A flicker of a smile passed across his lips, but was gone before any living being could have seen it. He slowly pivoted until he was facing the woman, watching her sleep as if her tranquility was more beautiful than the pastoral countryside that loomed just miles from there. He took a cautious step forward, ignoring the loud clank that his steel toed boots fashioned and found himself standing over the woman. She took no notice of his impending form hovering over her nor did the child at her side. He watched her chest rise and fall with each gentle breath.

"So Star, you want out, do you?" he said softly, bending down to brush a strand of hair behind her ear.

She shifted in her sleep, mumbling nonsense before pulling an animal skin blanket over her shoulders. He watched her hungrily, his hands itching to feel every inch of her figure, yearning to taste her skin on his lips, wishing for the tang of her half-breed blood on his tongue.

"Has being David's porcelain doll become too boring for you?"

His words reached her ears and she mumbled, "David", quietly in her sleep.

"Yes, yes, your keeper with the draconian rules that you can't stand," he laughed under his breath, "a free spirit confined to the abnormality of a hellish prison. But do I detect a sense of attachment, Star?"

His nose nearly touched hers and he knew she could not hear him. "He does not love you. He cannot love," he paused, "what is left of his soul belongs to someone else."

Without any warning, a sudden, subtle noise echoed through the cave as a second figure loomed in the darkness. She glided forward with the grace of a feline and the face of a wolf. She glanced at Star and then at the man and curled her lip.

"Speaking to the dead, again?"

"Only half dead."

"You love the pretense that she can be innocent, that any of our kind can be saved," she snarled, showing her pointed fangs at her partner.

He met her infuriated gaze with a simple word and calming eyes. "Believe."

"What?"

"I believe in the pretense. That doesn't mean I feel lightly for it."

The woman abruptly left the man's company and grated her penetrating eyes across the expanse of the cave. Enraged growls bounced off the stone walls as she tore through the cave with a ferocity that would have made even the most well composed vampire shrink in size. The man merely stood in his place and watched her dig through the fountain for items that she had originally come for.

"Remember, take what you need and only what you need," she reminded him, placing an old record and a chain of shark tooth necklaces in her arms.

"And stop mingling with the half breeds," she spat, kicking an empty can out of her way.

He stood erect and began to back away from Star, his face blank of emotion. When he reached the fountain she had been searching through, he found the flock of pigeons to have returned and reached out to one. As if hypnotized, the bird perched on his outstretched hand. He began stroking its feathers, mumbling incoherent words as if speaking to a child. The pigeon remained calm until the man's grasp became tighter like a constrictor's and the bird began to suffocate.

"Shhh," he whispered, clenching his fist so tight the bird's neck was crushed and the veins erupted onto his pale hands like ripe grapes. He licked the blood off his fingers, grimacing. He blew the feathers from his hand, keeping the crushed corpse of the bird and glanced around the cave in dark curiosity.

"What are you taking?" the woman reappeared and asked more gently this time.

He held up the crush bird, but sighed and shook his head. "He keeps nothing of value here. Everything can be easily replaced."

"David is a curious vampire. I'm not surprised you can't find much."

The man thought in silence for a moment, feeling his partner's eyes on him and the presence of Star not too far away. "I can only think of one thing that is of some value to him."

They locked eyes and nodded to each other. "The girl," the woman stated.

"Yes."

"I saw her today, with him."

"This confirms it then. One more way to…watch their power wane over Santa Carla."

"Then you will find them and make sure you get a good look at her face. Know just how and when we will kill her."

"And you have the other females?"

"I know how to eliminate them."

"Then our duty is in progress."

Star began to stir underneath her bed sheets, mumbling dream words to the autumn air. The man and woman froze for a second before darting up the stairs towards the cliffs surrounding the cave. The man kept his partner's yellow shirt in view as he reached the end of the staircase. He paused for a brief second, imagining Star's voice, her real voice and decided that he would hear it, if not tomorrow then next day or the next.

What was left of their thick, impacting presence was the bloodied pigeon feathers that glided with the autumn breeze across the gritty, cave floor.

{***}

Shadows; a glimpse of what lies inside a vampire's heart. The night is their sanctuary, the moon is their goddess, and the stars are their siblings. They were, in a sense, similar to humans. A fraction of them live a hedonistic lifestyle, never living to have any regrets or dark memories and others were unbelievable multi-faceted, pursuing an unending life of sinister adventures and mysteriously fast adaptations to what was happening around them. However, the differences from humans multiplied like the plague on filthy sewer rats. Vampires didn't need a tangible reason for living, for exploring the unexplained meaning of life; they were already dead. They didn't require late night rendezvous with friends or feel the ache of loneliness that eternity would bring them.

Sometimes they lived in packs, sometimes they lived alone. Fiercely protective of their family, they would do anything to keep them away from deaths arms a second time. For the most part, or from what I assumed, vampires lived in gender packs, meaning males with males, female with females. One or two of the opposite sex might slide in there with the rest, but that was a rare occurrence.

So where did I fit in with all of this?

I guess I was the interloper, honestly. I didn't fit in with the supernatural genre of Santa Carla so I found myself questioning the reason for my being on the back of David's bike. I was trying to avoid him, wasn't I? My actions puzzled me greatly and even more so when I couldn't recall even saying yes to riding the bike.

Why couldn't I remember?

We pulled off the main road and flew past a 45 mph sign, ignoring the set speed limit for the narrowing back road. At this speed, if we crashed I could be killed instantly, but I guess David wasn't thinking about that; he couldn't die.

I couldn't decide where he was taking me, but as the trip lengthened quite a bit and it seemed we weren't planning on stopping anytime soon, panic slowly burrowed its way into my nerves. Who's to say he wasn't going to finish me off right then and there?

My first thoughts about the speed (which, by the way, was increasing by the minute) was that he was trying to impress me, that perhaps he still thought he could "win me over", but I quickly excused that theory when I noticed how uptight he was. His whole body was tensed and that made me nervous.

What reason would David have to be anxious?

By now, the alcohol had little effect on me. I could think clearly, thank the gods, and I wanted off this bike. Either I was going to die from the speed or from David himself, I was sure of it. I had to stand up for myself, no more backing down from my fears.

"I want off the bike!" I shouted in his ear, inching closer to his face to make sure he could hear me.

I didn't hear any response come from him and I thought perhaps it was lost in the wind. So I repeated myself.

"David!" this time he seemed to notice me, although I was quite sure he had before. He turned his head slightly to give me a short, one sided glance.

"I want off the bike!"

He turned back around, completely ignoring my request. I snorted angrily.

"I'm serious, David, right now!" I tried to yell even louder.

In response, he turned back onto a main road and I could see the glowing mass of lights that was Santa Carla due north. A small sliver of my internal panic was cut away; at least we were heading back towards the city.

He slowed the bike down to a manageable speed as we came upon a few cars in front of us. I could sense that he was agitated at the reduced speed of the motorcycle, but me? I couldn't be any more enthusiastic. Now I could stop worrying about dying in a collision and more on getting home.

"Just take me back to the boardwalk!"

I'm sure you'll be heading there anyways…

To be honest, now that I finally was getting a grip on what had happened, I was a little pissed. Scratch that, a lot.

Was I seriously stupid enough to get on the back of his bike? Really?

Regretting the decision I didn't even remember, I was about to yell at him again when he suddenly took a sharp right turn, forcing me to strengthen my grip around his waist so I wouldn't fall to my death.

"What the hell are you doing? I said I wanted to go back to the boardwalk!"

"And I already told you I didn't ask what you wanted!" he shouted back.

I felt the urgency in my hands to just smack him on the head, but that would result in my immediate death…and probably not from a crash either. I weighed my options heavily, but really…I had none. I had no choice but to stay on the bike until he stopped.

"If I jumped, would it kill me?"

He jerked his head back violently to look at me and a warning glare was shot my way.

"If it didn't, I would."

"Well, that's comforting! I'm glad you care for my overall wellbeing."

He took another sharp left turn, stopping me from saying another word. The bike's speed decreased as we came upon an old railroad track, but he didn't stop at the warning sign. The bike coasted over the tracks and, however pessimistic it may seem, I was waiting for the train whistle to break the silence and sentence me to my untimely death. Fortunately for me, luck was on my side and we eased over the tracks with our heads still intact.

Up ahead, a large sign read Seabright Medical and my heart dropped to my stomach. I didn't like doctors, not one bit. The bike lurched forward as we came into an occupied parking lot and he parked only a few steps away from the entrance. As we stopped, I became aware of the stinging in my ear and the dark, massive blood stain on my T-shirt. All around, my face was sore, my ear hurt like hell and I just wanted to go home.

I dismounted the bike and backed away to a safe distance of four feet. No way was I going in just because of a stupid cat fight. My ear would heal and sure it would be scarred, but who cares? It was better than going in there.

He cut the ignition and before I could even blink, he was off the bike. I stepped back another two feet and he chuckled softly.

"Happy?"

I cocked one hip and crossed my arms. "Well, this isn't the boardwalk."

He rolled his eyes. "Are we going to have to fight again or are you going to make this easy?"

"That depends on your definition of easy."

"Cooperation."

"Fresh out."

He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. Surprisingly though, he said nothing in response. Silence, at least coming from him, made me a nervous wreck. I stuffed my hands in my jean pockets and rocked back and forth on my heels, earning me a terrible sense of vertigo.

"You're going to pass out, you know."

I glared at him. "No I'm not."

"You've lost way too much blood. Trust me."

"Why should I?"

"I brought you to a doctor, didn't I?"

"I don't like doctors."

I felt myself begin to sway and took a deep breath through my nose and out my mouth. I hated it when he was right. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I waved him away as he tried to steady me. "I'm fine."

"Look, I don't want to have to be responsible for you if you pass, so let's get moving."

"Wow. Sorry, I'm not looking to buy any negativity today. Come back tomorrow."

He growled and grabbed my arm, earning a squeal of surprise from me. "We don't have all night."

"Quite literally."

He pulled me forward and from that moment on, I knew I should have never pushed his buttons. Walking inside the doctor's office was probably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, let alone walking in with a vampire. I have a fear of doctors, a major one, ever since my surgery when I was a kid. I knew he could feel my heart rate increasing, hell he was a vampire. Wasn't he supposed to notice things like that?

The glass doors automatically slid open and a sickening smell of anesthetics hit my face like a semi truck going 75. "God, I think I'm gonna puke," I groaned, clutching my stomach.

He stopped me in my tracks. "Do you need to sit down?" He sounded rather annoyed, but I could apologize for wasting his time later. At the moment, I was focusing on keeping the beer I shouldn't have drunk inside of my stomach and not on his boots.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and pushed past him. "No, I'm just going to fill out the papers. The sooner we get out of here the better."

As soon as I started walking, he grabbed my arm and directed me towards a chair, the only one in the waiting room that seemed to be empty. "Let me."

I raised an eyebrow at him, scowling and he mirrored my expression.

"I told you, you'll pass out."

He turned away, the bottom of his coat brushing against my jeans. The nurses at the check in saw him coming their way and their faces echoed that of my father when I went through a rebellious stage; drained and tired of dealing with unruliness. They obviously didn't have the energy to handle David. I didn't blame them.

"Well, you don't have to be sassy about it," I muttered, plopping myself down in the empty chair. He waved my response away with his hand like a parent would do with a child. I saw him conversing with the nurses, but I couldn't hear their conversation and I didn't suspect it to be anything of monumental value. The waiting room, which I tried to study before feeling queasy again, was filled with disastrous looking people who probably had all sorts of diseases.

Eww…

I swear, David must have been going crazy with all the blood. Not that people were bleeding out on the floor, but I assumed that if they were in "primitive world" and in their weak states, they were susceptible to being attacked. David was a predator, I had to remember. Personally, I didn't remember the Doctor's office being so…gloomy. Perchance, my memory wasn't so reliable. At that moment, I could not even remember what I had fixed for breakfast that morning. My brain felt foggy and maybe it was because of my injuries from the fight or maybe it was something else. After all, to add to my memory loss, I could not seem to remember ever agreeing to ride on David's bike. Something suspicious was going on, that was for certain.

After pondering over things I couldn't quite seem to recall, I became acutely aware of my injuries and just how much they hurt. I had only been in a cat fight once before and even then, it hadn't been this severe. And, I wasn't so sure that the bite Holly left on my arm was going to leave me unchanged. Speaking of, I wondered just how bad her punishment was going to be when David returned. I let a ghost of a smile pass across my lips at the thought and resumed watching the waiting room. She deserved every bit of whatever came her way.

To my left, a woman of perhaps twenty years was holding a large bandage to her forehead and groaning quietly. It looked as if she was having horrible migraines and I felt a pang of sympathy for her. I knew the feeling quite well. To my right, a man in his late thirties sat with his eyes closed, breathing as calmly as if he wasn't actually waiting for the doctor. His face was pale however, so he must have been somewhat ill. All the infirmity made me sick to my stomach again. I started nervously tapping my foot.

"It's not as bad as it seems, you know."

The voice startled me. "What?" I asked, staring at the man. His eyes remained closed, his face even paler than before.

"I said, it's not as bad as it seems. You look pretty nervous. You're only making it worse for yourself." He looked more alive now than when I had glanced at him before. His eyes had opened to display a set of cornflower colored irises.

"Yeah, well I don't particularly favor being stuck inside the doctor's if you know what I mean."

He nodded and ruffled his cropped hair; it reminded me of chestnuts. He sat up a little straighter and leaned towards me, tapping his steel toed boots. "After about sixty times, you get used to it, if you know what I mean."

I blinked in surprise. "Sixty?"

He shrugged. "Just an estimated guess. I'm not entirely sure."

I rubbed my hands together and winced at the ache in my joints. "Why so many visits?"

"Why so many injuries?"

I smirked. "Cat fight."

"High fever."

"Sixty times?"

He smiled. "They can't figure out why it keeps happening. Disease, I'm guessing."

"Are you here to find out?"

"Yeah. I've got another fever. 101, I think."

"Gosh. How did you get over here then?"

"My girlfriend drove me."

I nodded and coughed as we sat in somewhat of an awkward silence. David was still getting the paperwork filled out and that worried me. How he could figure out all of my personal information was a mystery to me.

"You said you got into a fight, yeah?"

"Sure, not pointless though, I assure you."

"Aren't they all?" He grinned. "My girlfriend gets in them all the time. I keep telling her she's going to mess up that pretty face of hers, but she won't listen to me."

I laughed, flipped my hair back and took a hair band out of my pocket. My curls were already getting bloody, why not save what was left of them?

"Is it that your boyfriend up there?" He gestured towards the front desk where David was scowling at the insurance papers. I wanted to laugh.

"Ha! Actually, my ex."

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not in the least."

He looked back at David, taking in his appearance with wary eyes and grunted. "He seems like a shady character."

I clapped my hands together, laughing loudly. "Why do you think we broke up?"

"Then why are you here with him?"

"He was my only ride."

That was far from the truth, but he didn't know that right? "I'm Cassidy, by the way," I said, holding out my hand.

He smiled and smacked his hand against his forehead. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, clearly embarrassed. He shook my hand. His palm was oddly cold.

Didn't he say he had a fever of 101?

"I'm Casper."

My lips quirked in a smile.

"Go ahead, say it. Like the friendly ghost."

I laughed a little, but stopped when I received a pounding headache in return.

"Ouch," I mumbled, trying to rub my forehead. I noticed that we were still holding hands and I tried to pull mine away. He wouldn't let me budge an inch.

I coughed nervously. "Uh…Casper?"

His grip tightened for a fleet second before releasing my hand. I stretched out my fingers in pain as the joints ached not only from the fight, but now from his handshake as well.

That's not…strange…

"So Cassidy, how long have you lived in Scotts' Valley?"

"Oh, nearly all my life."

He smirked, as if he'd completed a huge accomplishment. "I heard it's real pretty down there with the forests and cornfields."

"Yeah, especially during the fall-"

"Casper DeCardo!"

His eyes shot up to stare at the nurse lingering in the waiting room. He stood up on shaky legs and nodded benevolently to me as if the handshake had never even happened. "It was nice meeting you, Cassidy. Hope you feel better."

"You too."

Just as Casper was walking away, David was coming back. They passed each other in the aisle and both visibly stiffened. They stopped walking, holding each other's eyes with malicious stares. A stalemate erupted between them as neither moved. The elephant in the room was suffocating and even the other patients seemed to notice it. I could tell David was about lose his temper, for whatever odd reason, and Casper looked…pretentious. Did they somehow know each other?

"David?"

I couldn't find half my voice, so his name came out as a whisper. He did not respond immediately, but after I said his name again he began to turn away, still eying Casper with a dark glare that seemed to tear at his throat. Casper said something inaudible and David snarled something back. I could feel myself shrinking in the chair.

When he came back, he sat in the chair Casper had been in, his face twisted in disgust. Casper went through the door and disappeared. "Do me a favor, don't make any more new friends tonight, alright?"

I blinked. "Why?"

"Just don't."

"Did you know him?"

He didn't answer and instead, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit up, ignoring the large No Smoking sign hanging near the doorway. I wanted to ask him more about Casper, I really wanted to, but my brain seemed so foggy I just…I couldn't even focus on one thought stream in my head. Soon, even my vision began to blur. I rubbed my temples and released a heavy breath.

"What time is it?"

"Eleven."

When I glanced up at the clock, I felt a horrible ringing in my ears and all thoughts that were running through my mind, especially the ones of Casper, vanished.

"David, tell me I didn't lose that much blood. What are you doing to me?" I slurred, my eyes growing heavy.

It all made sense now. The reason why I got on the bike, the reason why I wasn't elaborating on Casper, it was all because of him.

"Did…did you use mind tricks or…or something?" I felt like I was about to drop dead. My vision started to blur. I figured maybe the blood loss was causing that, but his mind tricks were causing the confusion.

"Just sit still and don't ask questions."

"It's…not like I can. I can't think of anything."

"Cassidy Reeves!"

And just like it had never happened, the fog disappeared and I could think clearly again, although my vision was still shifting in and out of focus. David was suddenly in front of me, easing me out of the chair.

"Just walk slowly and I'll explain later."

We reached the nurse then and she gently patted me on the shoulder. "Looks like a nasty tear there," she gestured to my ear, "we'll fix that up in no time, dear."

She seemed to notice David then and arched an eyebrow. "Young man, I hope you're related. Only family is allowed back."

He was about to retort with a nasty comment, but I cut in before he could ruin it. "He is! My, uh, my brother."

She saw the similarities in hair and eye color and took it as enough evidence to let us both pass. "This door on the left. You've got minor injuries so it won't take long."

We went through the doorway and into a stark white room with a metal sink and parchment paper covering the examination table. Hazard signs covered three different boxes on the sink, warning children to keep away from the needles and other tools and basic chemicals used to clean wounds. I entered fully into the room when David (his arm somehow tightly, almost too tightly, around my waist) shoved me into it. I took a seat on the cushioned table and David sat in an extra chair next to me.

"Doctor Morgan should be with you in ten minutes," the nurse stated before closing the door behind her.

I immediately glowered at David. "What the freakin hell was that?"

I hadn't noticed that he had already put out his last cigarette and when he pulled out the pack for another one, my anger got the best of me. I slapped it out of his hand and growled when he looked up at me furiously.

"Are you trying to antagonize me?" His eyes were tingeing yellow around the rims of his irises and that was the warning that told me to back off a little.

"No, I would just please like to know what you were doing back there."

"It would help if you would be specific. I did lots of things back there."

"What you were doing to me. I couldn't think, I could barely speak! What was happening?"

We were at an impasse. He wasn't speaking, I wasn't speaking, neither of us moved. Our eyes were chained together, two shades of blue mixing like oil paints on a canvas. Silence was the brush and I was afraid if I spoke, I would ruin the perfect color.

But it wasn't me who spoiled it; he looked away. "Has anyone ever told you, you ask too many questions?"

I let forth a monstrous groan and fell back onto the table and covered my eyes. "You. Are. So. Stubborn."

"And you're not?" I opened my eyes and jumped back. He was standing right in front of me.

"Don't do that!"

"Do what?"

"Be all," I motioned with my hands, "vampirey!"

He chuckled and shook his head. "By far, this has been the most interesting night of my year."

"Oh yeah?" I crossed my arms. "Well at least you didn't beat up and get your hand practically squeezed off my some stranger!"

All humor vanished from his eyes. They were icy now, back to their normal color. "He touched you?"

"We shook hands and my hand practically suffocated."

I leaned back, lying down and closed my eyes while trying to ignore his fluctuating attitude. One minute he was angry and the next he was laughing.

"Let me see your hand," he commanded.

"No, I'm quite enjoying lying here."

I was suddenly wrenched up from my horizontal position by my wrist and was forced to sit upright. "Hey!"

He fanned out my palm, surprisingly very gently, and studied it like a book. I felt an undesired blush stain my cheeks and I could tell he noticed it.

"You know, just because I touch you doesn't mean you have to be embarrassed about it."

My face turned red. He looked up, smirking. "But I guess it's inevitable. Just face the facts that you're attracted to me."

I wrenched my hand back. "Excuse me!" I yelled.

He laughed. "Kidding, just kidding. Now seriously, let me see your hand again."

"That was not funny, David."

"I thought it was."

I slapped my hand back into his and huffed angrily. "Well I didn't."

He was quiet for the longest time. His eyes seemed trained on one smooth spot on my palm. He traced an invisible line along my skin and my face erupted in red. And suddenly, as if his touch was magic, a long red burn-like scar began to appear on my palm.

"What is that?" I asked, startled.

He frowned grimly and met my eyes with fiery regard. "He marked you."

"What? Who?"

"Casper or whatever his name was."

"Casper? How the hell did he make that happen?"

"Come on, Cassidy. I thought you would have already figured that one out."

I put all the clues together.

Pale Skin, cold hands, a tad bit…enigmatic…

"He's a vampire?"

"And he obviously wanted a claim."

I gulped.

"He thought you were with me," David growled, dropping my hand.

"Oh."

"This mark however….it's a warning I think."

"What does it mean?" I asked in a small voice.

He suddenly looked tired, like he already had enough on his plate. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about? I'm the one who he just marked!"

"I'll handle it, alright?"

"I think I deserve to know if a vampire wants to drain me of blood or not, David! It's my life, not yours."

"Look, what did he say to you?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Just," he rubbed his face, "tell me what he said to you."

I recapitulated everything for David from why we were at the doctors, to the introductions to the end of our conversation. "And then he asked me how long I'd lived in Scott's Valley."

We both froze.

A cold, paralyzing fear grated through my stomach. "God…I-I didn't think anything of it."

"And you never-?"

"No….I never told him where I lived."