Chapter 7

The door opened and revealed two butterscotch eyes staring back at me. They belonged to a face as pale as mine. I let out an inward sigh of relief as I took in the woman's figure, noting all the small details. The dim porch light didn't allow for much visibility, well for a human anyways.

The woman was about the same height as me with pitch-black hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her hair was in perfect contrast with her snow-white skin. She had a warm, heart-shaped face that looked very welcoming. All in all she was absolutely gorgeous. If I were still human I would have felt depressed. But knowing that I, as a vampire, am very beautiful it didn't really affect me.

I was so happy to have finally found what I was searching for. Or at least what I thought I was searching for. I didn't know how to tell if these vampires refrained from humans the way I did.

But the thing that really got me was her topaz eyes. As far as I knew vampire's eyes were only one color, red. Maybe she was special or something. Perhaps she was sick. I had no idea.

I probably looked like an idiot, standing out in the cold in the middle of the night. I felt somewhat bad about just randomly showing up here without warning and expecting to take me in.

The woman did a quick once over of me and smiled. "Hi Sarah, I'm Abby! It's nice to meet you!" She said enthusiastically. Then she stuck out her hand.

I took it weakly. I was still dazed from the fact she knew my name. "Um, hi." I stuttered.

She just laughed musically and motioned for me to join her in the house. I stepped inside, slightly wary. I wasn't about to trust some vampire with weird eyes who just happened to know my name.

She shut the door in a flash and grabbed my hand towing me into a large room, with a big dining table in the middle of it. There were six chairs placed around the table.

"Hey everyone, Sarah's here!" Abby said. She didn't even yell. All of a sudden, the room was filled with four more vampires. A woman and a man entered holding hands. They seemed the oldest looking. Followed by them were two boys, well teenagers really. One moved directly to Abby's side and the other just stood against the wall. The one on the wall stared at me so harshly that I had to look away; he was making me nervous. I didn't want to fight any of these vampires.

I quickly checked each of them over. The one thing they all had in common were their eyes. They were all a strange gold color.

The oldest looking male moved towards me and offered his hand. "My name is Langdon. I'm very pleased to meet you." I took his hand and smiled. "It's nice to meet you too." One thing I did notice about Langdon is that he had a hint of an accent, from where I was not sure.


He took a step back to introduce the rest of his family. "I'd like to introduce my family. This is my wife, Kathleen." He motioned toward a petite woman with, chestnut brown hair that was cut to her neck. I smiled and shook her hand too. "And these are our children," he said motioning towards the teenagers, "Well I'm sure you've already met Abby." Abby smiled at me and I returned it. "This is Joshua, Abby's husband." I stepped forward and shook his hand also.

Then Langdon turned to the male leaning on the wall. I hadn't noticed, but I'm pretty sure he was staring at me the whole time. When I looked at him he didn't look too pleased to meet me. My stomach did a nervous somersault.

"And this is Nicholas." He said motioning toward the boy, or should I say man. I didn't really notice how good looking he was. He had reddish brown, bronze-like hair, pale skin, and of course gold eyes. And he had to be at least 6'3".

"Hi." I said, trying me best to sound polite.

He stood there for a moment and gave a weak, half smile back.

Abby appeared at my side and whispered in my ear, "Don't worry about Nicholas. He's just jealous."

I had to stifle a giggle. Nicholas let out a low growl. He had obviously heard what she said. But that got me curious. Why was he so annoyed with me? Did he not like me? What was his problem?

"Nicholas." Kathleen scolded. Even though it was impossible for all these vampires to be related by blood, I still felt a sense of family. Especially, from Langdon and Kathleen. That alone comforted me. I knew I would fit in here even if one member of the family hates me.

Abby took my hand and squealed, completely ignoring Nicholas. "Come on I want to show you your room!"

"My what?"

"Your room silly. We can't have you staying outside all the time. What kind of sister would I be if I didn't let you have your own closet?" She said in mock horror.

"Um." Was all I could manage to say.

Abby beamed at me and pulled me up the stairs. There were many doors at the top of the stairs. Abby quickly identified everyone's rooms. "That is Langdon and Kathleen's room. This is Joshua's and my room. Oh, and that one on the end is Nicholas's." She pulled me down the hall, the total opposite way from Nicholas's room. I was glad that he wouldn't be staying right next to me.

Abby finally stopped in front of my room. She opened the door and tugged my belongings, and me behind her. The first thing I noticed was the large bed in the middle of the room.

"Um, Abby why is there a bed in here?"

"Oh, well we haven't really used this room since we got the house, and the previous owners just left it here. But don't worry, Kathleen, you and I are going shopping for new furniture and paint!" She seemed giddy with the thought of shopping.

"You guys don't have to spend money on me. I mean you don't even know me."

"Oh that's not entirely true. First off, seeing as you are now an official member of the family, it is my duty as older sister to make sure you have an appropriate wardrobe. And this room needs a lot of fixing up. And well, I kind of already know you." She said.

I heard the faint sound of a low growl and a door shutting. But I pushed it aside.

"But how?" I asked, genuinely curious.

She just giggled lightly. "Come on leave your stuff here and we'll go talk to the rest of the family. I'm sure you're a little confused."

"Just a little." I smiled at her. I dropped my suitcase on the floor and was immediately towed out of the room and down the stairs.

When we entered the dining room I was surprised to find one less vampire. Nicholas was gone. So he was the one who stomped out of the house. God! What did I do to him!? Abby just sighed probably realizing what I just had.

The rest of the family was sitting at the table. Abby sat down next to Joshua, and motioned for me to join her in the empty seat next to her.

After I was comfortable Langdon was the first to speak. "Sarah we're so happy to meet you. You are very welcome here and we would be happy to have you become a part of our family."

I couldn't help but smile at him. They were being so nice to me. "It's great to meet you too. I would love to become a part of your family."

"Yay!" Abby squealed.

"Abby dear, save your excitement for a little later." Kathleen scolded, and then she turned to me. "Sarah feel free to ask us anything you like."

Finally I could get some things sorted out. "How did you know my name?"

Abby opened her mouth to say something but Langdon stopped her, "Abby perhaps she would understand it better coming from me."

"Fine." Abby huffed.

"Sarah I'm sure you're aware that certain vampires possess gifts that exceed normal vampire capabilities." I nodded. "Well Abby here possess such a gift." I looked to Abby who was smiling.

Before Langdon could stop her Abby blurted out, "I can sense the names of others and their powers, if they have them."

Well that explained a lot. "Wow that's really cool."

Abby smiled. "Well so is yours." She said.

I felt my mouth drop so low I thought it would hit the table. Everyone chuckled at my apparent obliviousness. "I have a gift? Really?"

"You didn't know?" Now Abby was shocked. I shook my head. "Well I'm guessing you used it to get here. You can sense where things are. Kind of like a compass or a navigator. I'm guessing that since you really wanted to find us you could sense where we were."

Now that made a lot of sense. I remembered after I ran away from Alex and Daniel that I wanted to go home, and I felt like I was being pulled east. And also when I had the map at the bus station. All I had to do was set my finger on the map and it pulled to where they were.

"Oh ok. Now I see." I laughed at myself for being so stupid. "Do any of you besides Abby have a gift?"

"Yes, although ours aren't as recognizable." Langdon spoke up. "I suppose you could say mine is restraint. And it comes in very useful at the hospital. Kathleen here can be very, persuasive." He smiled at his wife and took her hand. "And Nicholas can read minds."

"Hospital. How can you work at a hospital?" I wasn't really curious, I just had to keep from thinking about Nicholas. I couldn't believe he was a mind reader. Great, now I was going to have to watch what I thought around him. That should definitely be less stressful.

"I'm a doctor. It would be very hard for other vampires, but like I said, my gift is restraint. I am almost desensitized to the smell of humans now."

"Wow." Was all I could say.

Langdon got very serious all of a sudden. "Sarah, have you drank from any humans? I don't mean to be rude, but you are a newborn."

All gold eyes were on me. "Only once. But it made me sick to my core. After that I made myself control my instincts." I shuddered at the old memory.

"Well it is expected. No one has a clean slate. But it is still very impressive that you only had one slip up all the way here." Langdon smiled at me.

"Anything else you'd like to know?" Kathleen asked. I was glad for the change of subject, and I was very curious about their eyes.

"Why are your eyes gold?"

They all chuckled. "Well as you probably know that most vampires have red eyes." I nodded. "That is because they drink from humans. However we have chosen an alternative lifestyle. We refuse to drink from humans. So we choose animals. Which is why our eyes are this color."

I let out an inward sigh of relief.

"We do have one request though." Langdon said. "We ask that you try not to drink from humans."

"Of course. I'm not saying it won't be struggle, but I will do my best." I said smiling back.

"That's all we ask dear." Langdon replied.

"Should I go get Nicholas?" Joshua asked. It surprised me to hear him talk. He was so quiet this whole time I forgot that he was there.

"No give him time to adjust." Kathleen said. Something in her voice made me want to do what she said and leave him alone. I knew that it was her power working, but it was impressive nonetheless.

"Is Nicholas mad that I am here? Because I don't have to stay here if it's a problem." I didn't want to drive a wedge between this family, they were too good.

"Don't be silly dear. Nicholas is just a little nervous about having a newborn around. That's all. He will come around though." I know Kathleen was just trying to comfort me. But it still made me a little mad that Nicholas was so convinced that I was bad. He had no right to be angry with me.

Langdon decided to change the subject. "If I may ask Sarah, how was it you were changed?"

"No it's fine. Well I'm from Goddard, Kansas. I was at school one day and I was running late so I took a short cut around the back of the school. There were two vampires waiting there for me."

"They were waiting for you?" Abby asked.

"That's what they said, and they knew my name."


"Did they give you their names?" Langdon asked.

"Yes, they said their names were Daniel and Alex."

I saw my family instantly tense as I said their names. My family. It was weird saying that, but it felt right at the same time.

Joshua startled me by speaking. "And did they change you?"

"Alex did, yes. Is something wrong?" Every single one of them had a worried look on their face that they were trying to hide with a mask of calm.

Langdon spoke quickly, a little too quickly if you ask me. "No it's nothing. Please continue."

"Um ok well anyways…" I continued on with my journey telling them every piece that I could remember. They were all impressed when I talked about my time with my mother. And they were also understanding about the only two murders I committed and will hopefully ever commit.

I never noticed how late it was until I glanced at a great grandfather clock pushed up against the wall. It read 4:30. "Wow it's really late." Or really early.

They all quickly check the clock.

"It's not too bad, but we probably should get cleaned up and ready for school." Joshua said getting up.

I was confused. "School?" I asked.

"Yeah we go to the local high school. Oh my gosh you would love it! And the best part is there are no uniforms!" I realized then that nothing in the world made Abby more happy than shopping, except maybe Joshua.

"Um I don't think I'm going to be ready any time soon." I really didn't want to think about being around humans right now.

"Yeah you're probably right. But as soon as you are ready, you are coming to school with us!" Abby said refusing to back down.

I groaned internally. "Can't wait."

"Good!" She said. She bounded up, kissed me on the cheek and went to her room. Joshua followed after her giving me an apologetic look.

Langdon kissed Kathleen and then came to kiss me on the head. "I have to go to the hospital. I'll 

be back around 9:00 p.m."

Kathleen and I replied in unison, "Goodbye."

He smiled at us both and then left.

"Well I'm sure Abby has told you that she's planning a shopping trip soon. I just thought we could get a head start while the kids are at school." Kathleen said.

"Um I don't know if I'm ready to be around humans for a long time yet." I didn't want to risk anything.

"Oh of course not. We won't go anywhere until you're ready." I smiled. "But it doesn't hurt to look online. Oh and just a little heads up, Abby tends to go a little overboard, so if she gets to be too much just tell me." I nodded. I was really warming up to Kathleen.

"Let me just go get some magazines I have. Oh and you probably want to unpack too." I nodded again and Kathleen smiled at me. Then she flew up the stairs.

I didn't really want to stay alone in this room, so I turned to go to my room. I heard fait footsteps approaching the house. I turned to find Nicholas walking into the house, covered in mud and soaking wet. He stopped abruptly when he saw me.


Author's note: I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for all the reviews! I would like to congradulate Eullyne, for actually guessing what Sarah's power was!