Yea!! claps and jumps up and down We made eight! But seeing how I had over one hundred and twenty hits, that does seem kind of low... but thank you all for reviewing.. and to all of you who faithfully review all the time... you know who you are... you guys are so encouraging! Thank you! Lets see now... I know I left it at a cliffy last time, and I tried to do better this time. So... how about we try for eight again... Remember, the next chapter will not go up until I get at least 8! So R&R! Enjoy!

I couldn't believe it. Here I was, in the middle of a near battle scene, and I was the only one who seemed the least bit scared! Even Meg's hand had stopped shaking, and instead, her face showed resolve and disgust. Everyone had on looks of either hatred, determination, or, excitement it seemed. Didn't they know how strong these vampires were? What they could do?

I huddled into Meg's shoulder, trying not to look in Jason's direction again. How could he be fighting with Caleb? Even stand to be near him. And he had promised me that he wouldn't let anything hurt me. Ha. Apparently he didn't think as highly of promises as I did.

Without a moments warning, suddenly half of Meg's group, about 10, leaped towards the group of vampires. I hardly had time to let out a surprised and fearful gasp before something amazing happened, that if I hadn't been watching for myself I wouldn't have believed it. Well, I still wasn't quite sure, even though I had seen. All 10 suddenly convulsed in the air. Their bodies seemed to tear from the inside out, and pieces of cloth flew in all directions. In less then a half second, these people were no longer people; there were giant wolves where their bodies should have been.

A look of surprise crossed Caleb's face, but his cool calm returned just as soon as it had left.

The wolves hit the front line of vampires with such strength the noise echoed through the trees and the yard, sounding like a clap of thunder. I couldn't see anything else. They were all moving so fast that they seemed to be blurred shapes. I looked up at Meg, in utter amazement. She looked slightly concerned, but surprise lit up her features too, just before she pushed me to the ground. Hard. All my previous bruises and aches made the fall worse, once again knocking the breathe out of me.

Something whizzed past my head. Several something's. I opened my eyes, and saw that the last group of people had also joined the fight. Apparently the something's that had almost hit me were arrows being flung towards our group by the vampires in the back of the other pack. But these were easily dodged by Meg's comrades. Instead of falling back, they advanced on the other group. They were armed with silver daggers, and when they were advancing, I could see that they weren't just untrained people. The way they moved screamed out the fact that they were warriors, slayers I guess, if you kept with all that terminology.

Once they had passed us, and had started to fight with the rest of the vampires, well, it looked more like dancing if you asked me, the way that they were circling and sidestepping each other, Meg pulled me to my feet, and pushed me away from all the fighting and the noise, towards the forest. But before we could get more than a couple of feet, Caleb materialized in front of us, on the edge of the trees, with Jason.

We stopped short; Meg looked wary, and she glanced around, trying to find help. But they were all fighting. No one was there to help us. It was just her and me and the two creatures I hated most.

'Leaving so soon? I thought you would stay to watch. Are you perhaps deserting your so called friends?' Caleb sneered at us, his voice laced with malice.

Meg's body was tensed, and the hatred rolled off her in waves. She pulled out a dagger like the ones the other slayers had, and held it loosely by her side.

'Oh, so are we threatening each other now? I didn't do anything that would warrant this kind of reception.'

'Yea? What do you call this?' Meg pushed my hair back to reveal the marks on my neck. 'I think that's plenty of reason.'

A piercing howl followed by a terrible crashing sound caused all four of us to look back at the battle.

Meg, however, turned back to our situation first and took advantage of Jason and Caleb's distraction. She jumped at them, hitting Caleb and sending him crashing into Jason.

'Run!' she screamed at me.

I didn't think twice. He had betrayed me; guess that canceled both our promises. I launched myself into the trees, struggling through the tick undergrowth. Minutes; hours passed as I numbly stumbled along. I was trying to go straight, but I couldn't tell, the trees all seemed the same.

It was starting to get dark and I was barely making progress anymore. My feet had gone numb hours ago; my body was protesting with every step, and my skin was covered in cuts and scratches from the branches and thorns that I had blindly ran through.

I still couldn't believe I had gotten away; that no one had followed me. But my mind was sick with worry about Meg, and all the others who had fought to rescue me. That's what it came down to. If any of them had gotten hurt it was my fault; because without me they wouldn't have been there to begin with.

My legs finally gave way beneath me and I collapsed onto the leaves under a giant oak tree. I laid my head down on my arm and closed my eyes. I needed to rest so bad…

Something brushed across my cheek, causing my eyes to snap open. Oh gosh… how long had I been out? It was completely dark outside now, I shouldn't ever have given in. I just laid there not breathing, listening for sounds, trying to figure out what was around me.

When I felt a hand wrap around my wrists, I struggled to get up, but between the gentle pressure keeping my hands down and the utter fatigue that had taken over my body, I didn't have the energy to fight. Instead, I just turned my head to at least see who had found me.

Jason's face swam above me, concern written across his features. I turned my head away in disgust, and then felt him lifting my chin up; his thumb stroking my cheek. I recoiled, squirming as far away as I could, seeing as he still held my wrists.

'Shea, look at me.' When he got no response, I heard him sigh and settle onto the leaves beside me.

'I know your mad. Furious even. And your probably feeling betrayed and crushed, and hurt. You have every right to feel the way you do. But you need to understand, Shea. I didn't have a choice. I had to stay on his side.'

'You did have a choice. You promised me, you'd never let anyone hurt me again. But you lied. By hurting Meg's friends you hurt me.' I spat at him, without opening my eyes.

'But don't you see love? I couldn't openly join your side. They would have killed me the second I tried. But by staying I guaranteed your safety. Caleb wouldn't dare hurt you.'

I opened my eyes to look into his. 'How can you know? How do you know he won't hurt me?'

Jason sighed again, putting his hand in my hair and holding my hand with his other one rather than grasping my wrist. 'I didn't want to tell you this, but Caleb, as you've probably figured out, is the leader of the council; sort of like the vampire king I guess you could call him. Well, that was supposed to be me.' He looked down and a look of regret crossed his face.

'By birth, it was my job. But I refused it, so Caleb, my cousin, was next in line. He's always known that if I wanted, I could take it all from him. But I don't want it. That's why I gave it up in the first place. I hate what I am, so how could I just give into that lifestyle? I couldn't, so I gave it all up. I have almost no power now, but Caleb always listens to me when I give him a direct order. So when I say he won't hurt you, trust me, I mean it.'

The anger had drained out of me, seeing the sadness and regret that was eating at him.

I struggled to sit up and lifted my free hand up to his face and he leaned his cheek into it.

His eyes opened to stare into mine. They seemed to be looking right through me and I fell into them. My heart sped up, the blood rushing up to my face. He leaned his head in towards mine and gently pressed his lips to my forehead. I closed my eyes, and he kissed each eyelid, then trailed his lips down the bridge of my nose to the tip. Gently he kissed each corner of my mouth before pressing his lips against mine.

The kiss was gentle, unrushed; as though he had all of eternity. He put one hand behind my head and the other tangled in my hair. My arms wrapped up around his neck and my fingers settled into the soft hair at the base of his head.

When I ran out of air, I broke away, and he put his forehead to mine, looking across at me. My face was flushed and warm, and I was breathing heavily. He chuckled, putting his cold hand to my cheek.

'Your so warm… it's nice to feel warmth like this again.' He smiled, but then he pulled back and I was confused as his face became slightly annoyed.

'Your sister's on her way. She'll be here in less than ten minutes. It's probably better if I'm not here when she comes.' He grimaced slightly then looked back at me seriously.

'I need to ask you something very serious, Shea. Remember, its totally up to you, and I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to.'

I waited as he paused, looking at me, gauging my reaction.

'Shea, would you let me bond you to me?'

I just looked at him, confused. Bond? What the heck did that mean?

'All I would do would be bite you, and leave a bit of my venom in your body. I swear it wouldn't hurt, it would just let me know where you are, and make sure your safe.' He said this nervously all in a rush, as though afraid that I would react violently.

'Okay.'

'Okay? That's it? No… no, oh gosh your gonna kill me? Or no way? Just like that? Do you trust me that much?'

I though about it for a minute. I realized that no matter how mad I had been at him earlier, it hadn't changed how I felt about him. I was more positive then ever that he wouldn't hurt me purpose, and I trusted him with my life. I didn't know how Meg would react if she found out, but this was about me right? I'd just deal with that later, if I needed to tell her at all.

'Yes. I'm sure. I do trust you, now, just don't you go breaking that trust.'

'I won't, I swear.' He kissed me quickly, and then took my arm.

'Now, I've never don't this before, but at the most all that will happen is you'll feel a sting, I promise it won't hurt like the last time.' I shuddered at that thought.

'Are you sure? After I do this, you can't take it back.'

'Yes, I'm sure,' I smiled encouragingly at him.

All the time watching my face, be brought the inside of my elbow up to his mouth. I felt his fangs pierce my skin but the pain was dulled almost immediately by a cold numb. After a minute, he pulled back, and still holding my eyes with his, he whipped his mouth.

'Are you okay?' he asked anxiously.

'Yea, I'm fine. Didn't hurt at all.' It was the truth. I did feel fine, No different than I had a minute ago.

He turned his head over his shoulder again, looking into the trees.

'She's almost here, I should go.' He looked back at me, and getting up he placed a kiss on my forehead. I watched as he melted into the forest, blending with the trees.

No more than a minute later, in the opposite direction as Jason had gone four shapes emerged from the gloom. The one if front, spotting me, broke into a run. I struggled to stand, and Meg hit me, enveloping me in a giant bear hug, her sobs echoing in my ear.