I hate studying for exams. It takes up all your time and you don't have any spare moments when you can type up a story. But anyway, here's the next chapter up at last. Hope you like it.

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Lewis has a cousin called Richard, a couple of years older than him. Now, Richard was what you'd call a no-hoper. He dropped out of school, smoked, drank, lived with his parents and even dabbled in drugs. A few years ago his family had an intervention where a whole heap of relatives trudged into Phoenix to try and get him clean. Among these relatives was Richard's brother, Michael. Michael is a martial arts instructor and was kind enough to teach a bunch of us some really nifty moves that we were 'only meant to use in emergencies'. When you add this to the two years Amy and I spent going to self defence classes on weekends and all the tips my police officer father gave me, I could be quite formidable. That was why I was able to make mincemeat of my attackers.

As soon as the first guy went down, clutching his nose I set to work on the rest of them. One guy got burst eardrums; another got a kick in the stomach and a punch to the teeth; one got a swift knee to the groin. You get the idea. In under ten minutes I was standing in the middle of a bunch of groaning bodies all slumped on the ground. With a quick glance down at them, I tossed my hair out of my face and stepped over a couple of them to get to the lit street.

Just then, there was a screech of tyres and I jumped in shock to see a silver Volvo skid to a stop in front of me and flinging open the door. I leaned over slightly, peering into the dark interior.

"Izzy?"a voice asked, sounding fairly surprised. "Um... Do you need a lift?"

"Sure, thanks,"I grinned. I couldn't see who it was, but at that moment I didn't really care. I was getting kinda tired from beating up everyone and it would be nice to drive to the restaurant. I stepped over a few bodies and walked to the car. Then stopped and hurried back again. One of those people looked familiar.

Leaning over a blocky guy with curly brown hair and a black eye, I said,"Richard? Is that you?"

"Who wants to know?"he mumbled through a bloody mouth.

"I'm Izzy, Lewis' friend. I met you at your intervention."

He looked up at me,his one open eye looking slightly glazed. Then there was a flickering of recognition and he gave me a lopsided grin. "Wow, Izzy. Is that you? You look really different. Was your hair always that colour?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Nah, it used to be red and black."

"Cool,"Richard nodded. Then he groaned. "Listen, Izzy. I didn't recognise you at all before. Believe me, if I did I wouldn't have dreamed of robbing you or... Anything."

"Oh, don't worry about it,"I told him. "It's fine. Nice to see you again."

"Yeah,"he nodded, waving slightly as I made my over to the car. I waved back as the car sped away.

"What the Hell happened?"an annoyed voice asked me from the driver's seat. I turned round and was not at all surprised to see Edward Cullen looking at me with narrowed eyes.

I couldn't help giving him a wide smile. "Oh I was just teaching those creeps a lesson,"I told him with a shrug. "They wanted to rob me or knife me or rape me or something, I don't know."

"They what?!"

"Oh calm down,"I chuckled. "Nothing happened."

Edward screwed his mouth up and gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. "Why were you talking to that one guy?"he asked.

"Oh, I knew him,"I explained. "He's my friend's cousin. Haven't seen him in a while, he ran away from home after his family convinced him to come off drugs. Can you believe we run into each other here, of all places?"

I looked round with a pleasant smile and saw him clenching his teeth and breathing very slowly and deliberately. He seemed rather annoyed, I'm not sure why. Anyway, at that point I spotted Jessica and Angela walking down the street and waved at Edward to stop the car.

"Hey,"I called to them, hopping out and running up to them. "I've been looking for you."

"Oh, hi Izzy,"Jessica smiled. "And... Oh. Hello."

Edward had managed to park the car in double quick time and was now standing just behind me. "Hello,"he smiled, nodding at the two of them.

"Sorry it took me a while to get back, I met some people,"I chuckled, shrugging apologetically. "But anyway, can we go get dinner?"

"Oh, um. Sorry Izzy. We ate when we were waiting for you,"Angela told me, looking at her shoes.

"Sorry,"Jessica added.

"Huh,"I huffed, scratching the back of my head. I looked up at the restaurant we were standing beside, thinking. "Oh well, no bother. I can eat alone. Get a taxi home."

"Oh no Izzy, I can wait,"Angela started, but Edward interrupted.

"No, don't do that,"he told her. "I haven't eaten yet, I can stay with Izzy and then drive her home." The two girls stared at him in shock. I rolled my eyes. Why hadn't I seen this coming? I wasn't surprised, to be honest I was a little glad. I could take this opportunity to tell him my vampire theory. I knew he would follow me eventually and wandered into the restaurant.

It was a small, friendly place with a few empty tables around the edge of the room. A waitress tried to lead me over to a table in the centre of the room, but I wandered over to a quieter area in a corner. Here, I sat down, ordered two cokes and some spaghetti, and waited. After five minutes, Edward entered and sat down opposite me. The drinks came shortly after and I noticed the waitress goggling at Edward, who didn't glance up at her.

"Good evening,"I greeted Edward after the waitress had left. "I got you a drink." I pushed the glass towards him, grinning devilishly. I knew, if he was a vampire, that he wouldn't be able to drink it. Edward held the glass in his hands, but didn't drink. Just as I expected.

"So what happened with those guys?"Edward asked, looking at me.

I shrugged. "I told you all I know. And it doesn't matter, they're taken care of."

"Yeah,"he frowned. "I noticed. Where did you learn to take down a whole group like that?"

"It's just something you pick up,"I grinned. Then I thought of something. "Hey, wait a minute. How did you find me in the first place? Were you just on a casual drive around town when you happened to spot me?"

He was silent for a moment, staring at me. Then he blinked. "It's a complicated story."

"We've got all evening,"I shrugged, leaning back in my chair.

"I don't even think I'm supposed to tell you."

"Sure you're not,"I said, watching him. "You're not allowed to tell me a lot of things, are you?"

He stiffened slightly and didn't meet my eyes. "What do you mean?"

I felt my grin get even wider as I watched his discomfort. "I mean that I know what you are."

"Oh? And what am I?" He wasn't looking at me, but I could tell his mind was turning quickly, trying to figure out what I knew. And I was going to tell him. I leaned forward, leaning my elbows on the table, watching him gleefully. Then, from my pocket I pulled a silver cross on a chain.

Holding it in front of me, I whispered,"Vampire."