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Darkness Times

Chapter 10: Bringing Out The Dead

Freddie Benson

Freddie had hoped that some fresh air would help him calm down after his conversation with Melanie, but he soon found out otherwise.

It was true then; Sam and Melanie had actually been alive all along. There had been a part of him that, in spite of everything he had read and heard, still doubted that could actually be true, and also that feared what would happen to him if he ended up finding out that he had done nothing but fool himself during the past three days, since he knew that all the progress he had made up until that point to get over Sam's death would come crashing down over him and to the ground.

But now that he knew everything he had done to get where he was now had actually not been in vain, he felt extremely conflicted.

The moment he had first seen Melanie, he had suddenly felt thrilled to know that she was alive, because that could only mean that Sam was alive as well. But his happiness was suddenly replaced by an emotion he hadn't been expecting to feel.

Anger.

He felt angry as he thought back at everything Carly, Spencer, he and everyone else had gone through thinking that Sam was dead. Hell, he almost even ended up getting himself killed because of all the pain he felt, and apparently, Sam didn't even care one tiny bit about that. She had been living on the other side of the country, pretending that nothing had happened while everyone she knew almost drowned in tears.

He couldn't understand why she had done what she did. He just couldn't find any coherent or plausible explanation as to why someone would ever fake their own death to simply take off and live in secrecy over two thousand miles away, knowing all the suffering they would cause among the people who loved them deeply.

He had tried to hold back his anger while talking to Melanie, but he knew that he hadn't done it quite well. He couldn't help it, though; the anger was just so intense he was surprised that he hadn't started yelling at Melanie right then and there, in front of everyone.

He sat down on a bench out in the enormous back garden of the mansion, resting his head on his hands as he took several deep breaths in a failing effort to try to calm himself down. There was nothing he could do now apart from wait; Sam was the one who would come to him, not the other way around.

That thought seemed pretty much unreal, especially because of its irony.

Freddie couldn't tell how much time had passed, but he knew it had probably been over twenty minutes, when he suddenly heard the sound of heels clattering against the stone ground. He knew very well who those footsteps belonged to, but he didn't look up. He caught a glimpse of the person taking a seat beside him from the corner of his eye, though, and that was already enough to make his heart begin to race inside his chest.

A few dragged on moments went by, until Freddie finally made himself look up at the girl sitting right next to him.

Sam wasn't looking at him; she had her gaze resting right ahead, probably examining their surroundings. As soon as Freddie's gaze settled upon her, all the anger he had been feeling inside of him up until that moment seemed to momentarily subside. The sight of Sam right in front of him, within arm's reach, suddenly filled him with so much happiness that he had to suppress the urge to pull her into his arms right then and there. Seeing her again, alive and breathing, was exactly what he had wished for the most for the past whole year.

But before he did anything else, he needed to talk to her about what had happened. He needed to understand her reasons for doing what she did, and just then he'd be able to decide if he could even forgive her.

Sam must have felt his gaze on her, because she soon looked up, her crystal blue eyes suddenly locked on his brown ones, which sent a chill down his spine. Freddie felt as if he was hypnotized by her intense gaze for a moment, which caused him to lose his ability to speak for several silent seconds.

The feeling wore off soon, though, and as soon as he found his voice again, Freddie found himself voicing his thoughts, asking her the question that had been haunting his every single thought for the past three whole days.

"Why would you do it?"

Ryan Puckett

Ryan couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.

He had spent the last whole hour trying to get away from a girl who just didn't seem willing to leave him alone. He had already told her that he had a girlfriend about five times, but she honestly didn't seem to care. She just kept openly flirting with him, not even bothering to be a tiny bit inconspicuous about it. No matter how many times he walked away from her hoping that he'd lose her in the crowd of people, she always managed to find him again. It was extremely annoying to say the least.

He had already given up on trying to get away from her and decided to simply ignore her, hoping that she would realize that he wasn't interested in her at all and go away, looking for someone else to bother. But apparently, that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"But it wasn't really my fault, you know?" The girl, whose name Ryan hadn't even bothered to memorize, just refused to stop talking. "But then my brother tried to convince them that-"

"Listen," Ryan interrupted her, his patience long since gone. "How many times do I have to tell you that I have a girlfriend?"

"Well, I didn't ask you that, did I?" she said, smirking as she winked at him. "Anyway, back to what I was saying. So the next night, I got my dad's car and my brother and I went to the…" The girl's voice died down gradually as she stared into Ryan's eyes, her face suddenly emotionless.

Ryan usually would only use mind-compulsion in extreme cases, when he could find no other option, and his current situation fit perfectly into that description. He just didn't know what else to do to send that girl away.

"Walk away, please," he told the girl, looking straight into her eyes. "And don't bother me again," he added, and then watched as she blinked several times, as if she had just broken out of a trance, which was kind of true anyway.

She then turned on her heel and walked into the crowd without sending a single glance in Ryan's direction, which made him sigh in relief. He made a mental note to himself not to tell Katelyn about what had just happened, or else that girl would probably not live to see another day. Sure, the girl had managed to annoy the hell out of him, but that didn't mean that he wanted her to have her head bitten off by his highly jealous girlfriend.

Thinking of which, Ryan was suddenly curious to know where Katelyn was. As cheesy as it might sound, being away from her for too long made him feel sort of empty, so he soon found himself making his way through the crowd of people looking for her. It was just then that he remembered she and Sam had gone to the bar to get a few drinks, and he instantly headed there.

Before he could go far, though, he caught sight of a familiar figure walking in his direction, and as soon as he recognized who it was, he suddenly felt anger boiling up inside of him.

"Ryan, long time no see!" Tyler said, a sarcastic smirk playing on his lips.

Ryan glared at him, doing his best to hold back the urge to pull Tyler's heart out of his chest right in the middle of that room full of people, since that would surely draw some unwanted attention from the crowd that surrounded the two of them.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan asked, not even bothering to disguise the pure hatred in his voice.

The truth was that he truly hated Tyler. When he was still human, he had come to highly dislike Tyler because of everything he had done to Katelyn in the past, but back then, he didn't really have a solid reason to hate Tyler like he did now. After he was killed by Tyler, he gained a reason to hate him, but that wasn't exactly the case. Ryan had indeed wanted to turn by then, since he knew that he wouldn't be able to be with Katelyn while he was still human, or at least not for long, so he ended up only disliking Tyler a lot more, but he didn't exactly hate him.

But now, after everything Tyler had done to his sisters, Ryan had a pretty good reason to hate the green-eyed vampire standing right in front of him. Tyler had truly destroyed his sisters' lives, which was something Ryan would reverse at all costs if he could, but he knew that was impossible. Neither Sam nor Melanie had wanted to become vampires, and Tyler should have never taken that choice away from them.

Ryan hadn't tracked Tyler down and gone after him for revenge because both Sam and Melanie had asked him not to. He knew that they both hated Tyler as well, but according to them, he shouldn't risk ending up killed because of them. Revenge was what had gotten them in their current situation in the first place anyway, so nothing good would come from it for sure.

"What, I can't have fun anymore?" Tyler responded, the smirk never leaving his lips.

"I honestly don't care what you do," Ryan said through his gritted teeth, before walking past Tyler, bumping his shoulder into the other vampire's on purpose.

"How is Katelyn?" Tyler called after Ryan, which caused him to pause where he stood.

Ryan didn't even bother to turn around to respond. "She's great, as long as you don't keep running after her, practically begging for her forgiveness." Only then Ryan allowed himself to send a glance over his shoulder to register Tyler's reaction to his words.

An emotion Ryan failed to identify crossed Tyler's features, but it vanished quickly. Hurt? Anger? Ryan couldn't tell for sure, but it did intrigue him a bit. "I'm not begging for anything," Tyler said finally, his voice low. "I just hope that someday she'll give me a chance to explain things."

At first, Ryan didn't know how to respond. Soon, though, the surprise caused by Tyler's words wore off, and he then found himself responding in a cold, hard tone. "I wouldn't hold my breath." And with that, Ryan walked away without a single glance behind.

He then resumed his search, but now he had a whole new purpose in his mind. He didn't simply need to find Katelyn; he needed to find Sam, Melanie and Kyle as well so he could warn them about who was there in that mansion and tell them to be careful.

Sam Puckett

"Why would you do it?" Freddie's voice was just as low as a whisper, and the single sound of it was already enough to send a chill down Sam's spine.

Sam stared at him for a brief moment, suddenly unable to find the right words to say. She still didn't know if he knew she was a vampire, so she couldn't tell what exactly he meant by that. She looked down and shook her head lightly, trying to clear up her thoughts, but her mind came up blank.

At Sam's hesitation, Freddie spoke once again. "Why would you fake your own death?" Freddie rephrased his question, his eyes never leaving her face.

She was silent for a moment, still having trouble in how to respond. Apparently, Freddie didn't know about what she had become, but that didn't make it any easier for her to find the right thing to say. "I didn't…" she started, but quickly changed her mind about what she'd say. "It's a really complicated story."

"It's not like I'm not willing to hear it, is it?" Freddie replied, his voice low and with a hint of impatience that didn't go unnoticed by Sam. "You've been living on the other side of the country for whole year, while everyone thought you were dead!" Freddie shook his head lightly. "Why did you leave like that?"

"I just…" Sam's voice got caught in her throat, and she shook her head lightly. She had no idea how to tell him anything without giving away something she shouldn't. "I had no choice but leaving," she said after a long, silent pause.

Freddie frowned lightly at her, exasperation suddenly taking over his features. "How could you not have had a choice?"

"I had to leave!" Sam exclaimed, standing up from the bench.

Freddie stood up as well. "Would you stop doing that?" he asked, the volume of his voice suddenly becoming louder than he had intended to, but at the moment, he apparently didn't care.

"Doing what?" she asked, trying to sound as if she really had no idea what he was talking about.

Freddie stared at her with a look of clear disbelief on his face for a moment, before finally speaking up again. "Beating around the bush and never giving me any kind of solid answer!" he said, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration.

Sam sighed, running her hands through her golden hair. Freddie was making this a lot more difficult than she had thought it would be, but she had to admit that she shouldn't have expected any less coming from him. She couldn't even imagine what was going through his head at that moment, but she knew there must be over a million questions he wanted to ask her, and it was clear to her that he was extremely frustrated that she apparently wasn't willing to give him any of the answers he was craving.

The truth was that she was still afraid of telling him what had really happened to her a year ago, now even more than before. Seeing just how angry he seemed to be at her made her even more sure that he would never forgive her for leaving, and maybe he'd even be so afraid of her that he would never want to see her again. She wasn't willing to take that risk, but she couldn't just keep avoiding answering every question he asked her either. Deep down she knew that he'd somehow find out the truth sooner or later, but no matter how many times she told herself that, she just couldn't stop herself from being hesitant.

"I just…" Freddie's voice suddenly broke Sam out of her trance. He closed the distance between the two of them with two steps and came to a stop when he was standing right in front of her. His tone was suddenly so low, calm and soft that it even surprised her. "I just want to understand why you would pretend to be dead and take off to the other side of the country. Do you have any idea what Carly, Spencer, me and everyone else went through because of you?"

Sam had been aware of what Freddie had just said since the exact moment she had decided to leave Seattle forever and forget about the life she used to have, but the fact that she was actually hearing those words coming from him of all people made her suddenly question if what she had done had actually been the right thing to do. She had done her best to avoid those thoughts when she had first left, but during the twelve months she had lived as a vampire in Jacksonville, she found herself unable not to wonder how everyone had handled her 'death'.

She suddenly felt horrible as she thought about all the pain everyone she loved had gone through because of her, just like every time she let herself go through that same line of thought.

"I…" Sam started, but paused for a moment, trying to figure out what she should say. She didn't have the chance to say anything else, though, since a familiar mocking voice suddenly broke the silence, making them both turn around in an effort to try to spot whoever had spoken.

"Well, isn't this an emotional conversation?"

A chill went down Sam's spine as soon as she heard those words, believing that she knew who that voice belonged to, but hoping with everything she had that she was wrong. She just couldn't deal with that at the moment; not with the predicament she suddenly found herself in.

But much to her despair and annoyance, there, leaning against a tree just a few steps away from where she and Freddie were standing, was the person she had hoped she would never have to see again, and who could have disappeared from the face of earth for all she cared.

Tyler.

Jorge Puckett

Jorge scanned his surroundings nervously.

It hadn't been hard to find the mansion Tyler had mentioned, and, much to his surprise, it was even easier to get inside said mansion. He guessed it was because whatever celebration that was going on in there had already been happening for several hours, and right now, the host of the party didn't really care who entered the place anymore.

A part of him couldn't help but think of how dangerous that was – the cop part of him, of course. But the worried father part got the best of him, and he ended up being glad that practically anyone could go inside, for it meant that he'd have no problem getting inside the mansion as well.

But as soon as he stepped inside that mansion, his heart started racing like crazy, since that was the exact moment when he actually realized what being there really meant. That was the place where Sam, Melanie and/or Ryan could be, and he was about to come face to face with them once again.

And he wasn't sure if he was ready for that just yet.

That moment had always seemed extremely surreal and distant in his mind - the moment when he'd actually see Sam and Melanie again. But now that it might happen in just a matter of minutes, he began to actually freak out on the inside, since he had absolutely no idea how he should even act around the two.

He sure wasn't expecting any kind of father-daughters bonding time. He just wanted to have the chance to know if they were okay and to tell them that even if he had spent the last six years of his life hunting down vampires, he'd never hurt them. They were still his daughters, no matter what.

But what truly made him freak out was the fact that he might also be about to meet his son, who had been supposedly dead for the past six years, but who might have actually turned into a vampire and lived in secret from his family since the night he had been killed.

Jorge still didn't know how he should feel if that was actually true. The thought that Ryan might actually still be alive – well, kind of alive, anyway – made him feel both insanely happy and angry at the same time.

He felt happy for obvious reasons. Ryan was his son, and his death had actually managed to break him. He guessed he could even say that it had broken him in a much worse way than Sam and Melanie being turned into vampires had, since even though the twins had also died, he still had hope that he hadn't actually lost them forever. But with Ryan, there was no doubt that was true. He had permanently lost him, and there was no possible way to get him back. The thought that Ryan might actually still be among the living was at the same time thrilling and unreal.

But he also felt angered. Hadn`t Ryan thought about what would happen to his family if he pretended to be dead? Jorge could have never felt any stronger and deeper pain in his whole life, and he didn`t think he ever would. The pain of losing a child could not compare to anything, and he somehow found himself unable not to feel angry at his son for making his family go through so much suffering.

And yet, his mind briefly registered the fact that Sam and Melanie had done pretty much the same thing to everyone they knew just a year ago. He knew that there was no comparison between the pain resultant from the loss of a child and the one from the loss of a friend, but both situations were still pretty similar in various ways; there was no way to deny that.

Jorge shook his head lightly, trying to break out of his thoughts as he kept nervously scanning his surroundings, trying to spot any one of the three familiar faces he had come to deeply miss during the past few years. His eyes kept darting between the dozens of faces that belonged to total strangers as a bitter thought suddenly crept its way into his mind before he even had the chance to stop it.

It was pretty ironic how the three children of a vampire hunter had been turned into vampires.

He shook his head once again, having to remind himself that he wasn`t even sure that Ryan had actually turned six years ago for what he guessed was the hundredth time in the past whole hour. Tyler could not be trusted, so Jorge would only allow himself to actually believe what the vampire had told him when he saw Ryan with his own eyes.

Jorge sighed as he kept walking through the crowd, and soon, another thought crossed his mind - one that he hadn`t considered up until that very moment.

What if Tyler was actually just trying to trick him? What if neither one of his children were actually there?

That thought made Jorge pause where he was, not being able to avoid calling himself a fool. How had he not seen it before? They couldn't be there. And even if they were, why would Tyler tell him about it? It was just then that Jorge realized how foolish it had been for him to believe what Tyler had told him. This could even be some kind of trap to get him killed for all he knew.

Jorge let out another sigh, suddenly fully convinced that everything Tyler had told him had been a lie. He was already prepared to just turn on his heel and leave when his eyes suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure standing by the bar on the other side of the huge hall he currently found himself standing in.

A blonde girl with straight hair and sparkling blue eyes was smiling and laughing at something whoever was sitting right beside her had probably said. She looked like she was about seventeen or eighteen years old, but Jorge knew that she'd turn twenty in just a few months.

Jorge suddenly felt as if a thousand pounds had been lifted off his shoulders as soon as he laid his eyes upon her. He had feared that maybe the twins wouldn't make it as vampires, a thought that had haunted him for the past whole year, but now, seeing Melanie there, smiling and laughing, he felt almost relieved.

But the feeling didn't last long, because he then noticed the dark haired girl Melanie was talking to. The girl had long straight black hair and clear green eyes, and the resemblance between her and the vampire Jorge had practically tortured just an hour ago was so striking that Jorge suddenly felt anger boiling up inside of him once again.

Now that he was actually seeing Katelyn, he remembered the only time he had ever met her, back in 2007. Ryan had introduced her to him as his girlfriend, and back then, Jorge had actually liked the girl. If he had known what she was, he'd have done everything he could to keep her as far away from his family as possible, even if he had to stake her himself.

But there was no use in thinking about what he should have done in the past, so he finally made himself focus back on the present. He managed to tear his eyes away from Melanie and Katelyn and scanned his surroundings once again, assuming that if Melanie was around there, then so must be her twin sister.

But instead of finding Sam, he ended up catching sight of someone else walking toward the bar, their gaze completely focused to the two female vampires. Jorge couldn't see the man's face, but he could tell that he couldn't be older than eighteen – or at least that was the age he looked like. His hair was golden, about the exact same colors as the Puckett twins' hair was, and his frame was thin and slightly muscular.

Jorge's heart began to beat like crazy as he watched the figure curiously, his eyes wide with shock. For a brief moment, the young man merely a few steps away from him let his eyes wander over the crowd, but much to Jorge's relief, the figure didn't notice him. And the moment Jorge managed to see the man's face, his breath got caught in his throat as his world seemed shatter and crumble down all around him.

Ryan.

Melanie Puckett

Melanie caught sight of someone approaching the bar from the corner of her eye, but she didn't even bother to check who it was, judging it as unimportant at the moment. Even though she was trying to have fun with Katelyn, she was extremely worried about her sister.

Melanie was the only one who knew everything that had happened to Sam during the past whole year, including how she felt about Freddie and what she had done to him the night she left Seattle. And she was also the only person who knew just how broken Sam was after they left and how much she struggled in order not to go back.

Sam had turned off her humanity for about three months after they left Seattle, hoping that it would help her ease the pain and make things easier - that it would help her forget the ones she had left behind. Melanie could tell it had worked in the beginning, but just as Ryan had told them both, humanity was a vampire's greatest weakness; no matter how much Sam tried to run away from it, it always found a way to crawl its way back to her.

Because of everything Sam had told her, Melanie knew just how much Freddie suddenly showing up in Jacksonville meant to her sister. She knew that Sam had been afraid of losing everyone she cared about if any one of them ever found out she was a vampire, that being one of the main reasons why she had decided to leave Seattle in the first place, and Melanie knew that Sam would have to either tell Freddie the truth or erase his memories once again.

That was a pretty tough predicament, and Melanie couldn't even imagine how her sister must be feeling at that moment, considering just how much she'd lose if she made the wrong decision.

Melanie just hoped that Sam would make the right one.

Melanie suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she realized that whoever had been walking toward the bar had come to a stop right next to her and Katelyn, and when she looked up, she realized that they weren't any kind of random person. They were, in fact, her brother.

"Hey, are you two alright?" Ryan asked as soon as he reached the two, who couldn't help but frown at him.

"Uh, yeah," Katelyn replied, eyeing him curiously. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Tyler is here." The sound of the glass that had been in Katelyn's hand during the past whole hour shattering into pieces was muffled by the loud music that was playing, which was fortunately enough to distract the people who surrounded them, or maybe they were just too busy having fun to care.

"What?" Melanie found herself asking, realizing that Katelyn was apparently too shocked to do so. "What is he doing here?"

"I have no idea," Ryan answered, shaking his head lightly. "Where's Sam?"

"Out in the back garden," Melanie replied quickly.

"If that bastard really thinks that I'll forgive him for what he did just because it's been over thirty years, he'll only earn several bloody wounds," Katelyn said through her gritted teeth, hatred clear in her voice.

"I don't think he'll try to talk to you, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still here," Ryan said, sounding just as angry as Katelyn.

"I'd better go find Sam," Melanie said suddenly. "Someone's gotta warn her." She earned a nod in response from both Ryan and Katelyn, before taking off toward the closest door that led to the back garden she could find.

And in just a matter of seconds, Melanie found herself walking out of the mansion, the huge garden surrounding her in all directions as she desperately looked for her sister.

Sam Puckett

Sam clearly tensed up as she stared at the vampire who had destroyed her life one year ago.

Tyler had a smirk playing on his lips as he studied the two of them carefully, as if he found their current situation completely amusing. Sam felt the urge to jump on him and rip his heart out right then and there, but she didn't do it because she knew Tyler was older than her and could probably overpower her without making much effort, and also because Freddie was standing just a few steps away from her, and the scene would surely not have a very positive outcome concerning what Freddie thought of her.

"By all means, carry on. It was getting pretty entertaining," Tyler said, his tone of voice extremely malicious.

Sam felt anger boiling up inside of her, and she had to use every single ounce of self-control she had not to try to bite his head off. "What are you doing here?" she found herself asking, her voice cold and hard, making it obvious just how much she disliked him.

"I'm here to give you a warning," Tyler replied, the smirking vanishing from his lips as he took a few steps toward the two.

Sam quickly stepped forward and in front of Freddie, as if shielding him, since she had no idea if Tyler intended to attack either one of them. "What kind of warning?" she asked.

"Your father broke into my house tonight." Tyler made a short pause, as if letting the meaning his words sink in, before speaking up again when he was standing right in front of Sam. "So if I were you, I'd try to put some sense into his head, before things get..." Tyler hesitated for a moment, glancing briefly at Freddie, before focusing his gaze back on Sam. "Messy." Tyler's tone was icy cold during his whole speech, and it was extremely easy for Sam to tell that he wasn't lying or simply trying to scare her.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you," Sam said, her gaze filled with pure hatred.

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that, then," Tyler said, his gaze just as intense as hers.

The two vampires simply glared at each other for a moment, until Tyler suddenly tore his eyes away from Sam's and walked past her and toward the mansion without a single glance behind.

Sam was frozen for a moment, her mind suddenly racing. Her father was there, in Jacksonville? But what the hell was he doing there? Had he been looking for Tyler? Or had he been looking for her and her sister? There were millions of questions running through her head at the moment, but she didn't have time to try to figure out the answer to any of them.

"Who the hell was that?" Freddie's voice brought Sam back to reality abruptly.

Sam turned around, suddenly remembering that Freddie was there, and also realizing that he had witnessed her and Tyler's little exchange. "He's just..." she started, but found herself unable to finish. What could she say to him? That he was the vampire who had turned her one year ago? Someone she had met there in Jacksonville and highly despised? She knew Freddie well enough to know that he wouldn't buy any kind of story she made up, which was exactly why she suddenly found herself speechless, with absolutely no idea what to tell him.

"There you go again, avoiding telling me anything," Freddie said, the confusion that had been clear in his face suddenly replaced by annoyance and impatience.

Sam sighed in defeat, trying to organize her thoughts. "Freddie, I... I'm sorry. I just... I know that if I tell you the reason I left... You're gonna hate me, or never want to see me again." Sam's voice was just as low as a whisper.

Freddie seemed confused for a moment, until he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if trying to calm himself down. "You don't even seem willing to tell me," Freddie replied in a just as low tone of voice. "I just want some kind of explanation. That's all I'm asking for."

Sam was silent for a few seconds. She somehow managed to hold Freddie's intense gaze with her own, but she felt as if she had lost her voice, and even if she still had her ability to speak, she wouldn't know what to say to him.

Realizing that Sam wouldn't answer, Freddie let out sigh. "Okay, fine. Don't tell me anything," he said. "Just know that no matter what it is that you're keeping from me... I could never hate you." And with that, Freddie turned on his heel and walked away, heading back to the mansion, not even giving Sam a chance to respond, or to even process the meaning of his words for that matter.

Sam watched as Freddie made his way back to the mansion, her heart suddenly heavy. She wanted to tell him the truth; she knew that she owed that to him after everything she had made him go through for the past whole year, but she was still afraid of how he would react to what he would hear. She had no way to know what he'd think of her, and she was afraid that she'd lose him forever if she told him the truth.

"Sam!" a familiar voice broke Sam out of her trance, and she quickly scanned her surroundings, only to find her sister approaching her in a hurried pace.

"What now?" Sam asked, afraid of what she might hear. The last time her sister had walked up to her like that had been to tell her that Freddie was there at the party, and seeing the scene repeat itself right in front of her eyes made her wonder if whatever her sister had to tell her could make her night even more complicated than it already was.

"Tyler is here," Melanie blurted out as soon as she reached her sister, who couldn't help but give the other twin an annoyed look.

"You don't say," Sam said sarcastically, and Melanie frowned at her,

"You knew it already?" she asked, sounding a bit taken aback.

"Well, let me see," Sam began, hint of impatience clear in her voice. "He showed up while I was talking to Freddie, threatened to kill our father because, apparently, Dad thought it would be a good idea to break into Tyler's house to try to kill him, and basically made things even more screwed up than they already were."

"Oh..." Melanie seemed unable to find a way to respond to that for a moment. "Wait, Dad is here?" Melanie's eyes widened slightly as the meaning of Sam's words really sank in.

Sam nodded lightly in response, but didn't feel the need to say anything.

"Do you think he came after us?" Melanie asked when she realized that her sister wouldn't say anything.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Sam replied, shaking her head lightly. Sam really couldn't make herself think about her father at the moment, though; not with the conversation she had just had with Freddie still so fresh in her mind.

Melanie soon realized what was going through her sister's head. "How did it go? Your conversation with Freddie, I mean," she asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

Sam sighed. "Horrible," she replied, shaking her head lightly. "He wants me to tell him the truth, but I just... can't do it."

"Why can't you just tell him?" Melanie asked, eyeing her sister curiously.

"You know very well why not," Sam replied, looking away from her sister and back at the mansion. Freddie was nowhere in sight now, and Sam briefly wondered where he had gone. Had he left? Had he decided to stay and try to get his mind off things at the party? Sam couldn't know.

"You think he might be afraid of you," Melanie said, and Sam nodded lightly in response, but didn't say anything. "Well... Maybe you could compel him again."

"No, I'm never gonna do that again," Sam said quickly, shaking her head lightly at her sister's words.

It had truly hurt her to erase Freddie's memories one year ago, and that certainly wasn't an experience she'd like to repeat. But above all, she hated to think of him as someone she could manipulate so easily; she didn't want to have to mess up with his mind ever again.

But she couldn't just keep avoiding telling him the truth, either. But then, what was she supposed to do? She'd be putting too much at risk if she decided to just open up to him, but she was risking just as much by not telling him anything. She knew that he deserved to know the truth, no matter how painful it might be for her to watch the way he looked at her change completely the second he found out about what she had become.

Even if he didn't hate her or fear her to the point of never wanting to see her again, she knew that he'd never be able to look at her the same way ever again. He'd look at her and see a vampire - a monster, a murderer, - and not the best friend she had been to him during the past few years.

It was no secret to her that her chances of being with him were doomed, but above all, she didn't want to lose his friendship.

But deep down she knew that it was useless to keep it all from him. The fact that he had somehow found her was already enough to prove to her that he was more than capable of finding out the truth on his own, and Sam knew that things would be even worse that way.

"Then what are you gonna do?" Melanie asked her sister, abruptly breaking Sam out of her thoughts. "You can't just keep lying to him forever. He'll find out the truth sooner or later."

Melanie was right, and Sam knew that; she guessed she just needed to hear it to finally be able to make a decision. Lying to Freddie would only make things even worse than they already were, and since erasing his memories again was completely out of the question, all that left Sam with only one possible thing to do.

Sam tore her eyes away from the mansion and rested her gaze upon her sister. "I'm gonna go look for him."

"But what are you gonna tell him?" Melanie asked, frowning lightly, but she was met with silence for a few seconds.

Sam took in a deep breath, as if trying to steady herself before answering, "The truth."

Author's Note: Please review! =)

xxiCarlyFanxx