All I can hear is the roar of the engine as we race through the night. She is painfully quiet. She doesn't move. She looks straight ahead squinting at the passing road signs. I can barely hear her heart beat. She smells like cinnamon and it fills the entire car. It is intoxicating.

"Thank you." She readjusts herself. Pulling at the seatbelt.

"No problem." I clinch the wheel. Clear my throat. "What were you doing?"

"Hm." She says in a half dream.

"What were you doing in the woods all alone? It seems pretty far." She was miles from her house. The night was cold, and it was no easy walk, or jog, for that matter. There are dangerous things that stalk the night. Myself included. What if an passing Omega had chanced on her? An Argent? The Argents do not take kindly to any human that shows an attraction to the night.

"Oh, I wasn't home. I was at Allison's. I'm surprised she hasn't tried calling me." She reaches into her pocket checking the digital screen on the front of her phone. 1:40 shines but no missed calls. "Probably still asleep." She got out of the Argent house? Undetected? Allison's house may be closer, but it is still too far away to be taking a night stroll.

"I get restless when I am away from home. Walking makes it better." She mashes her lips together and her eyebrows. "You didn't hear me scream, did you?"

"How do you think I found you?" The scream still rung in my ears.

"I get these headaches sometimes," she lifts her finger to her temple. "Usually when I am around other people I have to keep it in. But not when I'm alone like that. Or what I thought was alone."

"Letting off steam?" I can relate.

"Yes," She smiles. Her eyes glisten as we pass the streetlights. "Exactly. Sometimes screaming can help."

"Migraines?" I ask as pull into Allison's neighborhood.

"I don't know what they are." She looks at her hands. They are folded delicately over her lap. She is lying. "I just tell people that. It's easier." She gives a nervous laugh. I park in front of the Argent house. All the lights are out. Like a sleeping monster. '"You haven't told me why you were out so late?" I look at her. She is so ordinary. But under the filtered light of the street she is like no creature I have ever seen. I can smell the blood rushing to her cheeks, and I get a new whiff of cinnamon as she pulls her hair behind her ear.

"Letting off steam," I say without much thought. I don't know why but it brings a smile to my face. Livia gives a small laugh.

"I better go." She looks nervously at the house. "Allison's mom sort of creeps me out. Don't want to wake her." She opens the door and the mixture of her and the moment rushes out into the night air. "Next time I see you, I hope it's not in the night." She smiles but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. She closes the door before I can respond. I don't think I could have.


"Where have you been?" Erica asks with anger in her eyes.

"Following that girl again, Derek?" asks Isaac. They exchange glances.

I throw him against a table and growl in Erica's direction. It is easier to act like I know what I am doing.