Hey guys sorry for the late update! But this is really long so hopefully it makes up for it! :) Please review, review, review! And answer my poll if you have the chance! It would be really appreciated! :D

Chapter 9

When I awake in the morning, Aaron's gone. I can't believe that I asked him to stay with me till I fell asleep. That was beyond stupid. I just gave him a reason to think that I liked him. Who knew how he'd act around me now?

I take my bag down stairs and Aaron's waiting for me by the door. He gives me a smile but when he sees my wary expression, it drops leaving his face blank. Well that was a relief; hopefully he wouldn't bring any of it up.

"Ready to go?" He asks, grabbing my bag for me and opening the door.

"Yeah," I say getting nervous again. I don't know what I'll do if my family rejects me. "Let's go." His hard expression softens slightly.

"It'll be all right Aspen I promise."

"Yeah." I say quietly, wishing I could believe it.

Outside is a small, black, nondescript car. Aaron opens the passenger side door for me before putting our bags in the trunk and hopping into the driver's seat. We start the drive in silence with only the radio on.

"How are we going to find where we're going?" I ask about a half hour into the trip.

"I asked our usual driver where Ian ah got you from. There are only a few villages beyond that town and hopefully you can show me which one."

"Well there's only one road in and it's always heavily guarded. They might just shoot us on sight." Aaron lets out an exasperated sigh.

"And you could not have informed me of this before we decided to go?"

"I forgot, I was just really excited to go." I knew this was too good to be true.

"If I just send you alone could you maybe explain the situation to them?"

"Maybe," I say doubtfully. "They're all pretty firmly with the resistance. They might arrest me as a traitor. Could we ditch the car somewhere? I could try to get us to my house through the woods."

"Isn't that dangerous?" He asks skeptically. "Wasn't that where you were captured?"

"Yes," I answer stiffly. "But I figure that since you're with me, we might stand a chance." He opens his mouth again, about to say something, but shuts it thinking better of it. I really wasn't in a mood to talk to him. Besides, it would be better for both of us if he didn't have any reason to think we were growing closer.

A couple hours later, my stomach gives off a loud embarrassing growl. Aaron turns to me smirking. I glare back; I couldn't help if I was hungry!

"I believe the chef packed some food for you, it's in the back seat." I unbuckle myself and crawl back. There's a blue cooler on the floor, and when I open it I see that it's full of sandwiches, fruit, chips, water, pop, and cookies. How much did he think I ate?

I grab a turkey sandwich along with an apple and a coke before getting clumsily back into my seat. I hear Aaron give a quiet almost inaudible laugh and I give him another glare.

"Sorry, sorry," He says laughing. "You know I could have stopped the car for you."

"I'm fine," I say slightly embarrassed at how stupid and uncoordinated I must have looked. "But should you eat before we get there? Because I think someone seeing that would definitely make them shoot us."

"I suppose so," He agrees face suddenly grim. "We can stop in a few hours."

"Are we going to tell everyone in town that you're you know a vampire?"

"Do you have any other suggestions?" He asks turning towards me and raising an eyebrow.

"How about we say that I was sold at auction but you rescued me on the way and killed my captor? We've been in hiding for awhile but we figured it was safe to come and visit. We can't stay long though because it wouldn't be safe for everyone in town." Aaron stares at me for a second before laughing.

"That sounds like the plot of a book!"

"So," I say annoyed. "Why wouldn't they believe it? I mean, its not like you look like a vampire unless you get mad or something."

"Won't they be even angrier if they find out? Shouldn't we at least inform your family?" Aaron asks, serious again.

"Yeah my family," I say a little bitterly. "My three little siblings and my crazy mother. No, they won't get it. My dad died in the resistance, we're pretty sure they got my brother. I don't want them hating me." I end in a whisper.

"Hey, it's okay," Aaron says gently, his hand reaching across to clasp mine and giving it a light squeeze. "We'll go with your story alright? Everything will work out fine. Why don't you get some rest? I'll wake you when we stop."

"Okay," I say realizing that I actually was tired. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, not caring how stupid it is of me not to let go of his hand.

"Aspen," Aaron whispers, gently shaking my shoulder. "We're almost there." I blearily open my eyes and look around, the sun is much lower in the sky and when I look at the clock, I see that it's four. I had slept for almost four hours? Wow, I hadn't realized how tired I'd been.

"Where are we?" I ask, looking around. I suddenly recognize the road we're on. It's the one I was dragged down after I was captured all those weeks ago. I shiver involuntarily, suddenly freezing and I wrap my arms around myself trying to keep warm.

"We're about a mile from the town you were taken to, about an hour and a half away from your village. Aspen?" He asks worriedly, as he sees me there, staring blankly ahead, tears pooling in my eyes.

All of those other girls, where had they ended up? Were they all even alive? I doubted it. I had really lucked out ending up where I had, with Aaron. I could be dead right now. How many other girls had been captured from their homes since then, never to see their families again? And here I was actually going home.

"Aspen?" He asks again, anxiously. I come back to reality, wiping away the tears.

"Sorry," I say turning towards him and managing a small smile. "I was just—remembering."

He unbuckles himself and pulls me towards him, wrapping me into his arms. For a second I let myself just sit there, safe and comforted before I pull away. I try not to look at his face, knowing the hurt I'll see there.

"They won't ever touch you again Aspen," He says fiercely. "Believe me, if I ever find the bastards that did that to you, I'll kill them myself," His eyes flash dangerously and for a second, I'm afraid. But then, the anger vanishes and the Aaron I know comes back, giving me a smile. "I have an acquaintance who said he'll watch the car for us about a mile from your village. Is that all right?"

"Yeah," I agree. "I can get us to it from there. Here," I say rolling my sleeve up and giving him my wrist. I take my seat belt off and turn to face him. He grabs my wrist and his fangs slide out, indenting his lower lip. I brace myself for the sting and then comes that weird electricity.

Aaron? I ask cautiously. We usually refrained from speaking like this. Well I did at least.

Yes? He asks, clearly surprised.

I know you know what this electricity thing is. But are you ever going to tell me.

Aspen… He starts and trails off.

What are you trying to buy time to make up a good lie or excuse? I accuse.

No. He says giving a frustrated mental sigh. Look, it's true that I know what it is or at least have a pretty good idea. But I don't think now's the time to tell you. You'll only get upset. And you won't believe me.

If it involves me I have the right to know!

I promise that I'll tell you. But not now, you won't understand. Just trust me on this okay?

"Fine," I say with a scowl as he pulls back. "But you will have to tell me soon."

"I promise I will," He says clearly relieved. "Now why don't you get something to eat?"

I grab another sandwich, hamthis time, and we continue the ride in silence. I had a right to be mad didn't I? He was obviously keeping something pretty major from me and whatever it was; he knew I wouldn't like it. What could be so bad that he'd be scared to tell me about it?

An hour and a half later and the sun has almost set as, he pulls off onto a narrow dirt road that leads into the forest. At the end of it is a huge two story log cabin. The driveway is full of expensive looking cars, every light is on, and loud music is blaring. Apparently we had walked in on a party.

"Stay here." Aaron orders, before getting out of the car and leaving me baffled. Did he seriously think he could just order me around like that? Oh hell no. Defiantly, I hop out of the car and follow him to the front door. He has already gone inside and I begin to second-guess myself. Maybe there was a good reason he had told me to stay in the car. These people, if they were even human which I doubted, could be really dangerous.

I push the door open into a sea of people and pounding music. Couples are plastered against each other, people are dancing to the music that shakes the floor and there's hardly any room to walk. I can't help bumping into people as I navigate across the room.

"Hey honey," A man slurs, throwing an arm over my shoulders. "Why don't I get you a drink and we can sit and talk for a while."

"No thanks," I say disgusted by his alcohol drenched breath. "I'm looking for someone." I try to throw his arm off of me but his grip tightens and he pulls me against him.

"Well you just found him. Come on lets go have some fun." He says yanking along as he stumbles into a nearby room. I call out to people as he shoves passed but either they don't care or they think its some kind of joke.

"No, let go of me!" I say beginning to panic. Why did I have to leave the car again exactly? I try to shove him off but his hold is unrelenting and his fingers dig painfully into my shoulder. This room is darker and most of the other people in here are passed out or look totally out of it. "Help!" I scream, hoping to get someone's attention but there's probably no way I'll ever be heard over the pounding music. "Aaron!"

"Ah-ah-ah," He chides, placing a damp, sweaty hand over my mouth to muffle my screams. "We'll have none of that." He leans over and places a disgusting wet kiss on my cheek. Oh my God this guy is really going to do something to me. I have time to think in complete shock.

And that is when I am ripped from his grasp and I tumble to the floor. The lights snap on to illuminate an enraged Aaron, his sapphire eyes glowing red and gold. All of the previously dead looking occupants of the room jump awake and scatter. Aaron's fist then proceeds to connect with the drunk ass hole's face and send him flying across the wall where he collides with the wall, leaving a sizeable dent. Plaster rains down and I stand there with my mouth agape as Aaron rushes forward to deliver another blow.

"Wait!" I shout, shaken out of my daze, scared Aaron might actually kill him. I mean he was a total creep and deserved the first punch but I didn't want him dead! He hadn't even done anything! Yet. An evil little voice whispers in my head. But he was going to. He deserves what he's going to get. I firmly tell it to shut up, even though I'd like to see him get hit another time.

Aaron whirls around to face me, dropping the man who he'd been holding up by his collar. For a second, I'm terrified. I see no recognition in his face. I see a monster, a vampire, intending to kill. His eyes are more red than blue and his fangs out are out, gleaming sharply in the light. But then the red fades some, although the fangs don't disappear, and he looks at me worriedly.

"Aspen are you alright? He didn't—do anything did he?"

"What? No! I'm fine. Let's just get out of here."

"Fine," He says, teeth gritted. The man groans on the floor, attempting to push himself up. Aaron rolls his eyes before turning back to him and punching him in the face. He slumps over again, unconscious. "Now do you mind telling me why the hell you couldn't just listen to me and stay in the car?"

"What made you think you could just tell me what to do?" I shoot back, completely mad at him now and all fear forgotten.

"Aspen, so help me God," Aaron starts threateningly and his eyes flash red and gold again. Then he stops, sighing and rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Just go to the car I'll take care of this." I turn around to do just that, when I run into a wall, or well, it feels like a wall.

"Wow," The guy, who is definitely not a wall, says as he puts his hands on my shoulders to steady me. "Careful there." I look up into a pair of amazing green eyes who might belong to the hottest guy I've ever seen. He's not that tall, around five eleven, with straight dark brown hair an even white smile.

"John," Aaron says addressing him. "You have the worst party guests ever."

"Sorry," He says smiling sheepishly as he releases my shoulders. "But believe me; I don't even know the guy."

"I'm sure," Aaron says dryly. "Thanks for watching our car for us. We'll be back to pick

it up in a week or so."

"Anything for an old friend," John says still smiling. "I'll deal with this jackass here; you two should be on your way before it gets too dark."

"You're right," Aaron says suddenly looking worried. "Come on Aspen," He says reaching for my hand which I refuse. He gives me a scowl before walking out the door, and I follow him a bit reluctantly. What had him so worried? I mean he could take anything that tried to get us. Right?