Images, memories I think, swirled around in my unconscious. My mother's ocean eyes, the two extremely pale figures that had to vampires picking apart my already mangled body. I was vaguely aware that I was awake now, but I couldn't move, speak, or even form thoughts really. I could only form simple images that were rather recent. The only one that was "old" was the picture of Page's face. I could almost hear his footsteps running by me while I had hidden in the trees the night I ran away. Something moved me.

No, I had just shuddered. At least, I thought that was it. I was right because I heard someone say in heavily accented English, "I think she's coming around, Father. Go get her child."

"I will be back. Explain to her everything, Bayolina," said a deep man's voice. I heard him zoom out of where ever I was.

I realized that I was lying down, and I could feel something covering me. My abdomen felt very sore and even though I had the sudden desire to sit up, I resisted. I couldn't even open my eyes. I wasn't as panicked as I should have been. After all, I had no idea who anyone was and it was evident they had pumped me with some kid of sedative. But they had also saved my life, if I was still alive after giving such a treacherous birth. This meant they had also saved my baby's life…

My Baby!

That thought made me force my eyes open. The first thing I saw was the vampire with the long, straight, white-blonde hair. Only, she wasn't a vampire. She couldn't have been. She had these, light, hazelnut brown eyes and cheeks that flamed like mine did. Her skin was a perfect, pale canvas. She was a hybrid, like I was.

Her face was fierce and beautiful, but her eyes were soft. She wasn't smiling, but that was okay because she was warm and I knew I could trust her. She brushed a lock of dirty-blonde hair from my forehead gingerly.

I looked around the room and I was in a stony room with bare walls and a single dresser vanity on the side. The bed I was lying in was facing a thick, wooden door.

"My name is Bayolina," she said. "I am named after my father's mother. I was born to him, as a vampire, and the woman he loved. My mother's name was Charmesa..."

"Did you kill your mother like I did?" I blurted out, my voice sounding like I had a cold. Bayolina sighed sadly.

"I did. You know what I am. We are the same thing. And the child you gave birth to is the same as we are."

"Where…where is she?" I asked groggily. I tried to sit up but Bayolina gently pushed me back down. Even if she hadn't, I would have gone down in a second because of the pain that flashed up my sides.

"My father, Verschacci, is getting him," Bayolina said. "He is a happy, healthy child."

"Verschacci?"

(It's pronounced Ver-sa-chi)

Bayolina nodded. "That is his name, my dear. Your son will be here soon."

I felt a shock at the word son. But I decided it didn't matter if I had boy or girl. But I couldn't call a boy Hannah. I was racing through boy names in my mind, when a relatively short vampire with red eyes and the same white-blonde hair as Bayolina came in. But I wasn't focusing on him. I was staring at the smiling, deep blue-eyed boy in his arms. He was bright as the sun, with thick, curly black hair. He was heart-breakingly the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. He had my curly hair, but his father's color. He had my mother's eyes. I loved him so much that it scared me.

He laughed as he saw me and I teared up. I didn't bother with whipping them away. Verschacci handed him to me and he fit perfectly in my arms. It was like they were put on my body simply to hold him and nothing else.

He was just as hot as I was. He smiled up at me. It must have been his eyes I had seen when I was dwindling in that between space of black and consciousness. He let out another giggle and I pressed him to me.

"He knows who I am," I whispered. Bayolina and Verschacci both laughed.

"Of course he does," Bayolina said in her heavy accent. "His first memory is of your face."

I looked at her, confused.

"How do you know that is his first memory?" I asked.

"The boy has quite a little gift there," Verschacci laughed. "He can show you, I bet."

"Can you?" I asked my little boy. He nodded, his curls bouncing. Bayolina touched my shoulder.

"Look into his eyes," she murmured.

I did as I was told and looked into his blue eyes. At first, I didn't see anything, but as I looked on, I noticed something in his eyes moving. His irises were getting smaller, turning black, his pupil taking over. I was entranced. Looking on, I saw that a little thing was reflecting in his eyes. It was me, I think. My eyes, with wisps of dirty-blonde hair in their way. It must have been his first memory of me. My eyes were much unfocused and the pale green irises were almost gone due to my pupils going huge. Then the edges of the memory began to fray blue. I wasn't looking at my son's gift anymore, but his eyes, my mother's eyes.

He was smiling triumphantly.

"You know who I am," I whispered. He nodded vigorously. Bayolina and her father laughed.

"Yes," said Verschacci, "but he does not know who he is."

"I do need to name him," I mused.

I hadn't planned on a boy. What a stupid mistake. I only had Hannah picked out and that wasn't going to be good for a boy.

I thought. I knew a couple of boy names from different languages.

Cunnawabum was Native American for The One that Looks at the Stars, which I just thought was beautiful. I liked Loren, which meant Literate. I think that one was English. I looked down at my child. I didn't want to give him a meaningless name…

And I loved him more than anything I had ever had. Love…

Nalo.

Nalo meant Lovable in African.

"Nalo," I said quietly. He looked up and me and laughed. I laughed with him. "You like that name?"

Bayolina smiled.

We only stayed with Bayolina and her father in Denmark for a while. They wanted to stay with me, but I didn't want my father to find them. He did work for a man who had definitely had enough time on earth to o insane. I didn't want Bayolina falling to his measures. I also didn't want her father questioned. I was sure he had enough on his plate. They came as far as Switzerland with me and Nalo.

When we went our separate ways, I decided that I wanted to live away from people. I would have to hunt animals, but how hard could that be? Well, catching them was a breeze. It was consuming them that were the hard part.

The blood was much bitterer than and not as thick as human. I wanted nothing more than to provide the best for Nalo, but honestly, how many more meager meals could he take?

I guess a lot, because he not only thrived on them, but accepted each one with exuberance. For me, it was hard to accommodate to the new source of food. I had always had suffrage to my meals, and now it was the opposite.

But that was just one weird thing about Nalo. We took to sleeping in a clearing in the woods that resembled a meadow. Wild flowers grew and the grass was thick, although it would be Winter soon. But Nalo didn't seem to notice. He was so innocent. He laughed at things that no one else would laugh at. A flower swaying in the breeze, a butterfly fluttering, a leaf falling from a tree. Things just worked like that for him. It made me happy to see him like that.

Another strange thing was that I thought of Page frequently. I had a never ceasing fear that he would find us somehow, that he would try to hurt Nalo or me. I would never let him near my baby, not even over my dead body. I hoped fervently that he would never come back. His life was consumed with the pain of the loss of Marshall. I was pained by the loss, too. My best friend was killed by a vampire and now I hated and had a child with his brother, who was half-insane. I really and truly wished it had in fact been Marshall. Maybe… Maybe if Marshall had lived, if that vampire hadn't killed him, that crazy South American vampire who had changed Page, Juanita,… maybe she would have changed Marshall instead. And maybe Marshall would be with me, and Nalo would be his, and it would be the tree of us together and happy and good…

But it just wasn't going to be like that. Marshall was dead, and Page was Nalo's father, and it had been my choice to make it that way. We stayed in Switzerland for a while, enjoying the pleasant country. But then I started to miss my father and my cat. I had a feeling Indie had been found by the right person. But that meant Dad also had no idea what happened to me.

I frowned.

"Nalo," I called out. "Come here."

Nalo turned from the butterfly he was staring at and ran over to me. I held him in my arms tightly and leaned to kiss his cheeks.

"Nalo, we need to go home," I said to him. He looked at me, not understanding. Of course, the child was only about two weeks old, so I hadn't yet told him about my own history or Dad's or about Page. I would need to someday, but not today.

"This isn't our home, Nalo," I said gently. "Home is all the way in a different country, and we need to go there."

"Where?"

I looked at him. The little, sweet voice had clearly come from him. It was definitely Nalo who had spoken. His first word…

But he was waiting for an answer. I cleared my throat.

"It is in Itali," I said. "I was born there, and my father, your grandfather, was born there, too. Oh, Nalo, you will love Itali. I'll show you Grandfather's castle and my cat."

Nalo's eyes were now bright, excited. He bounced in my arms and cried out, "I want to go!"

I giggled and poked his nose.

"We will go soon," I said. Then I heard a snap of a twig behind me. I bolted up and looked back. "Or maybe now…"

I took off running.

Itali and Switzerland were right next-door to each other, so it only took about four or five hours to reach the boarder. It took a few hours more to reach Volterra, on the coast. I didn't even bother to go near the remains of my scorched house, and all my other clothing had been left with the family back in Norway. I went right to the castle.

The moon was shining bright and proud as we neared the wall of the garden. I hopped right over it and immediately knew something was wrong. I looked all around then heard a yowl.

I looked over by this thick rose bush and saw something moving in it. Nalo looked on with me in curiosity.

"Indie?" I called out. A small figure darted out of the bush and jumped up at me. Nalo jumped onto my back and my cat landed with ease in my pale arms. She purred and nudged me with her head. I started to tear up. I nuzzled her soft fur to my face.

"Oh, baby," I whispered. "I've missed you so much."

Nalo peeked over my shoulder.

"Mam?" he said. "What is that?"

"This is a cat," I said as he moved to touch Indie's head. She sniffed his fingers then rubbed them affectionately. "Her name is Indie. I named her after my mother, your grandmother. She died when I… when I was just a baby."

"She's pretty, Mam," Nalo said, crawling to touch her again. I nodded. I hooked Nalo in one arm and he held Indie on him. I walked over to the side of the castle, where a wooden door was. I opened it slowly, just in case. I walked in, the place dark. I shut the door behind me. I was tempted to call out to my father, but I couldn't hear anything. My best bet was that nobody was home. I walked slowly and slinky down the hall way, holding Nalo and my cat tight. I was ever tentative, alert to any shadow or sound. No way was I going to let anything touch my babies. Ever.

I looked down the other hall way to my right.

Something was so wrong. Dad would have found me by now, or I would've been heard.

"Dad!" I called in a loud whisper. "Dad!"

"Granddad!" Nalo called out. "Granddad!"

He wasn't there. In fact, no one was.

Then where the hell were they?