Note: How unfair am I, leaving you all without an update for so long? Honestly, I've been overwhelmed with school finally ending and summer beginning, but I'm not trying to type up excuses. So I, after eating my favorite snack of fried eggs with onions and garlic, give you the next part of the unfolding story.

Chapter 10 – Secrets

The rest of the night, after the chaos that erupted in the drive-in movie lot, was a quick blur that came back to me in small measures over the next few hours. After fleeing the scene, Daniel and Lucy insisted both Luke and I were taken to a hospital, but Luke cautioned against it since no one had been injured. (He had healed quickly and Lucy never noticed he was injured in the rush). Instead, he offered to safely take me to my apartment since I was still in a shock-state. She was obliged to let him and he assured them both they would hear from me tomorrow.

The blond vampire carried me into my apartment, which happened to be unlocked although I remembered locking the door, and set my body gently under the sheets of my bed. What Luke had told me about the vampire mirror image, or Courtney, had drawn my mind into a secluded state; and I wouldn't come out until I could process every detail and wrap my mind around it without going clearly insane. Courtney was my mother's killer, I had looked right at her! The vampire Luke knew this as he rested his cool hand on my cheek.

Nothing was said as I stared blankly up at his wonderful face, the only life in mine a blink of my sapphire eyes every now and then. His gaze was strong but I knew he was holding back a certain urge, the blood lust that was building since his slaying of the fledglings.

He said something to me in a low voice. I didn't care to understand what, but the completely soothing sound of his voice calmed my restless mind. His cold palm rested on the back of my neck and then tilted my head up so he could place a kiss on my forehead.

The moment his lips touched that spot, I fell into a dreamless sleep. The first dreamless rest in too long.

The next day... Headlines were ablaze with endless versions of the same story, but only one newspaper's rumor was enforced by some of my photos. How? The disposable camera film, that had captured the scene's aftermath with, I had given to a close contact of mine, Thomas. Tom was probably the best article writer I'd ever known and I knew I could count on him to make any preposterous story seem believable.

I had taken the photos to him the moment after my eyes opened in the morning. I knew I had to get the proof out before the vampires could cover it all up. I sat quietly at a table outside of a small cafe' on the corner of the street, sipping a hot herbal tea as I looked over Tom's article on the front page of the newspaper, which was printed only an hour after I'd given him the photos. I was very pleased with the amount of readers it had received in that short amount of time; most news stands were sold out by now. Of course I asked him for the photos to be anonymous for my safety, which he obeyed. (Couldn't tell him exactly why, though).

The morning was warm with sunlight but a bitter wind from the final days of winter struck a shiver all the way to the bone. I took another gulp of tea and reread the article several times. "Witnesses have confirmed sighting of the creature and slaughterings in the parking area of the drive-in movie... More than one creature... claims to have killed the beast have been reported but no bodies besides the victims have been found... thirteen were killed and seven injured..." I set my cup down with a steady hand. "Described as neither human nor animal..." That was my one quote Tom wanted to put in, anonymously. "Good luck trying to cover that up..." I whispered under my breath; a smug grin on my lips. I would have to go by Tom's office later and thank him for being able to use my stuff under such short notice.

I suppose my unconcern for the victims of the events should have been realized, but I had entered too deep to this "dark side" to be welling up in tears over a few casualties and, as Luke mentioned, I hadn't known them well enough to feel remorse. If I had ever stuck with seeing someone professional about that lack of care towards other humans, they probably would have told me it started back when my mother was killed and I hadn't let myself be upset about it yet... Ah well.

For now, the absence of a rose this morning told me that Luke was occupied with last nights events, probably with whatever vampire 'community' he was a part of. My mind wandered to the vampire named Taylor and if he was trying to find the killer of Felicia and my mother right now and clean up her mess. Obviously he was an important vampire, from what I deducted of him myself that one night, but he was dangerous too. And in a different way than Luke, was since Luke decided he liked to care about me instead of kill me.

I needed to deal with my own community, which involved calling Daniel and Lucy and assuring them I had made it home safe and was fine today. I called Lucy when I went back to my apartment.

The ringer counted barely one before she picked up. "Ally?"

I set the folded newspaper on the counter and smiled at her concern for me. "Hi Luce. ... Yes, I'm fine. I actually just went out for a drink this morning to calm my nerves, so I'm holding up great. Just in shock last night, that's all ... Yeah, I read the articles too. I hear that the city is going to go to extreme measures for the wolf extermination next, but the environmentalists and animal communities won't let the city kill an endangered animal without a fight."

I traced the headline of the article over with my finger. Monster under Moonlight. My thoughts were consumed with what Luke had to tell me; everything about this entire situation which I knew I was a part of whether he admitted it or not. Lucy was talking more about what I had said and how people thought the wolf wasn't a wolf at all, it was a werewolf. "Rubbish." I heard Daniel's voice in the background. The two began arguing about how fantasy creatures like werewolves didn't exist. I was very silent, grave and amused by them at the same time. After Lucy remembered I was still on the phone, she asked if I wanted for her to come over and talk. Most likely about the non-violence related part of the night; the date part.

"No! I mean, I'm still a little tired. I've already asked for the day off. I'll be fine, but I just need to rest. I'll talk to you later." I made my tone believable and she understood my want of privacy. "Thanks for the concern. Bye."

I set my cellular device down and looked at the front page article again. Indeed Courtney, as Luke said she was named, was a monster under the moonlight. From observations I made last night, she transformed into the wolf animal under moonlight. Was the change required, or at will? I couldn't know that and proving it was required could be useful if I ever met her again; I could know if she were a woman or a wolf by what the night was like. Of course it would be suicide to go out and look for her. She also made it clear she had and has intent to make fledglings, minions, which would be a serious threat if she ever targeted me. The way she looked at me last night; my mortal flesh couldn't stand it. I gulped just remembering the experience and being in her presence. It was breathtakingly frightening and I had a sixth-sense like feeling that I would have that fear in me again.

I moved the newspaper from my sight, threw it on the stack of paper I called my research in the living room table and didn't look at it for awhile. The mess Luke had made from the other night I had cleaned by then; I took the time to set each book back on the shelf and actually put a little organization into my tiny living room. I could see the floor and walk through the place without stepping on anything, so it was a small improvement.

As for the research and note-taking I had made my one and only pathetic hobby over the past three years, well, I looked at the notebook and different stacks of paper clipped together and thought about what I should write down. I recalled Luke telling me about how I'd barely scratched the surface of vampires, and knowing he was right I decided it was a waste of time to record something I already had in my head. I turned away to my bedroom.

For the first time in a long while, Ally Lovett's preserving nature of doing things wanted to subside. She was always so reserved, always taking the safe road instead of taking a hold on her destiny and daring to be ambitious as Allison Lockett was wired to be from the blood on her veins. So now, instead of wanting the vampire Luke to leave me alone, leave me safe and never-changing, I wanted him to come to me and tell me what he had to say.

I did, after all, want answers. I had always wanted answers but didn't know who to ask or what to ask them. And now that Luke had been delivered to me, a dangerous package of knowledge and temptations, I couldn't complain. I settled myself into my blanket on my bed with this thought and fell back asleep, waiting for night to come.

I slept through the afternoon and when dusk was sprinkled over the city's portrait I had awoken in the darkened day to discover the power went out. Figuring it wasn't just my apartment, I went down to investigate.

I found the power was out in my building, and the rest of our street. I heard from neighbors downstairs that it was a simple fuse or something somewhere and the maintenance crew would have it back in a few hours when they got to our division. "Great." I told myself, and ended up lighting candles all over my apartment. I set old newspapers down for the wax dripping, but besides the mess the entire candlelight atmosphere was rather enchanting and romantic.

Which called for a new type of atmosphere between the people in the fire's light. I waited for darkness and after the stars had come out to play I caught myself rather anxious for Luke's arrival. There was no promise he'd even come at all, but I knew he'd be there. He and I had made it very clear with our actions the night before we were not going to simply ignore the other and go on with our separate lives.

I knew he'd arrived inside my apartment before I even saw him.

I understood his special ability was some sort of mind game; seeing thoughts of mine or possibly seeing thoughts of his. As the seer had suggested a few days ago, he could have the ability to draw emotions or images from himself and set them onto me.

His mind was projecting to mine now; I saw Taylor, the vampire from the alleyway that night awhile back. He was angry, so angry, and yelling at Luke. "You let her live!" he shouted and the phrase echoed in my mind. "...you don't have the valiance to put an end to her." Luke growled at him. A female vampire next to Taylor with orange hair was scratching notes into her notebook. It was getting hard to see and hear things in the vision. "We don't know where she is, where she is hiding or how many fledglings she has. You could tell us these things, Mr. Hawthorn." she said. Luke frowned and turned away from them, leaving Taylor and his assistant in anguish. Then the vision blurred into darkness... It was as if Luke was trying not to let me see what he'd been through.

My normal vision cleared again after that had happened and Luke's gorgeous marble features lit by candle was the thing in my sight now. I shifted on the couch uncomfortably, all of my thoughts in disarray since I was trying not to think about him and the way he looked, but failed.

It was less cold than usual during the nights now but that still didn't call for spring apparel. Luke's shirt flowed open and his faded jeans let his hip bones become visible to my eyes. He had ran here and fed on the way. I could tell because his hair flowed in a yellow wind-blown mess and his pulse under pale skin was beating with the fresh kill. His eyes adjusted from red to blue in the couple of times he blinked and came towards me slowly, not to startle me. He had a hard frown on his face and he ran a hand through his hair. I could tell he didn't want me to see what I'd just envisioned and now he was trying extra hard not to let anything flow from his mind by the look of concentration on his face.

I shifted again on the couch, but the powerless feeling I received from being looked down at bothered me and I stood up to meet his gaze, save the couple of inches he had on my height.

The next thing I knew I was knocked back into the couch with a newspaper in my hands. It was the front page article from this morning, the large picture of a mangled body over the text. "I know you took this." he told me in a tone less than pleasant. He wasn't happy. At all.

"And?" I replied a little too cheekily. He made a quick movement to strike me; I closed my eyes with a tiny bit of fear as Luke's hands darted to either side of me on the back of the couch and he leaned very close to my face and growled. He was just doing it to scare me. I didn't let it work as I opened my deep blue eyes to his angry frozen ones; candlelight danced over our cheeks.

"And you're asking for a death wish." he replied harshly.

"And what that other vampire, Taylor or whoever, is doing by covering up murders and getting rid of entire existences is wrong." I told him just as sharply. He pushed off of the furniture and began pacing around the room. I think he noted it was cleaner than last time because he looked thoughtfully at where he stepped.

"I cleaned since the last few times you walked in here to make deliveries." I told him blandly.

He glanced at my form on the couch and looked over my body before he turned away, laughing. This angered me. "You still know so little." he muttered. "But I give you points for coming this far. Not many have."

"I'm flattered." I bit back. "So why don't you start letting me know what I know so little about, hmm?" Insolence radiated from my voice with every word. 'How about we start with my mother's killer...' I thought bitterly to myself.

He ignored my tone and picked up a marble ball that sat on one of my bookshelves. Was it me or was he easily distracted? "It's not just about me telling you. Some things I have to show you." His eyes darted straight back to mine and my breath hitched as I was caught. Whatever his mind ability was, it was working now. He showed me images of his latest kill; as they weren't expecting him, a man who stood and then ran, terrified... He cried out for help before Luke caught him in the shadows and devoured his blood...

When the vision ended I was at his feet on the floor. Apparently I'd fallen from the couch and my eye sight was blurry, my head was foggy but slowly regained it's levelness. "Human minds have a harder time processing what my vampire mind can show you, so every time we do this you'll be a little dizzy."

But I wasn't just dizzy from the vision itself, but what the vision was about. I saw a man murdered through the eyes of the hunter. It took my breath away, in a good and bad way. I grabbed his pant leg and yanked several times until he bent down to my level on the floor. "Why...are you showing me this?"

"You don't understand the concept of death and those who deal it." he told me simply. I looked up at him and my vision cleared more. Candles were making monsters of every object's shadow in the room. He touched my shoulder and moved my hair over it to ease me and waited for my senses to come back to normal.

"Vampires hunt, because we need human blood to survive. Some vampires make their living from blood packets taken from hospitals, others, like myself, prefer the live hunt and the kill. It's probably the most satisfying sport in the world, next to sex, anyway."

I shrugged his touch off of me. "Justify murder with survival, fine, but why the cover then?"

"Vampires have been around for a long time, my dear." he started, pulling my form up off of the ground. "It gets harder to hunt and get away with it every decade, especially in the modern era. You smart humans have discovered several ways to pin the right man to a crime. Vampires do what they must to survive, that is that. Even if that means silencing a few people, or burying a few bodies." I didn't argue with him. His teacher-like tone didn't allow me to think otherwise.

I crossed my arms and turned away from him. He grabbed the newspaper from me and hit the front cover as he grew more hostile. "Secrecy is the number one rule in the vampire society. Taylor Halling's job is to make sure vampires stay a secret and to make sure things like this does not ever make it to the news in the vampire's name!"

I stood my ground and continued to look away, acting quite stubbornly considering what he was capable of. My eyes lay at his feet and did not come up until a cold hand forced my chin to look up at him. He was frowning and stared directly into my eyes because he knew I couldn't look away when he did this.

"I won't always be there to protect you."

"I never asked for your protection." I replied obstinately.

Anger flared in his voice. "I've been covering your ass the past few days and still am! I removed all of those ludicrous posters about the model from the city walls, kept you and your interest with exposing vampires out of Taylor's sights, and watched over you each night just in case someone has seen you snooping around." My eyes widened as he confessed this. He conveniently left out the parts about messing with my mind as I dreamed and leaving me roses every morning to boggle my mind during the day. "Do you even know what you're doing, what you are causing?" he asked me.

I paused and looked over his stone face. "Something big and serious, I'm sure." I hit his hand away now and tore myself away from his gripping gaze. "You don't understand anything about my reasons."

"Yes, I understand. Running away from your responsibilities. That's what all of the grand leaders-of-nations do in this age, that's what you're doing by staying here in America and playing the blame game instead of leading your country."

I stopped right where I was and spun around in a flurry; and when I did, he was not there. For just a moment I was confused just as well as angry at him, and then his voice from right behind me made me spin around again, this time directly into his face. I didn't even want to question how he knew me, the real me, not right now anyway...

"Allison Lockett, the runaway heir." he breathed.

"Lucas Hawthorn, the vampire." I replied hotly.

"Looks like we both have a huge secret about the other, doesn't it?"

"Looks like it."

He began to circle me, but I followed his face with my own; the proximity was close enough to see the lashes of his eyes. My mind, curse it, fluttered to the intense kiss shared between us the night before. He smirked and I knew he'd seen that thought. He stopped his circling and I followed; I knew he was playing a game with me, but suddenly I rather liked games...

"I don't have time for anything else here tonight. Thanks to you, vampires everywhere in the city can't hunt out in the open for awhile. But you probably knew that." It was my turn to smirk now. "Come to my mansion tomorrow, the earlier the better. And I'll walk you through everything you want to know about us."

The offer was the same as a few days ago; come to him and he'll let me know what I want. I cursed inwardly but the annoyance was lost as barely warm lips touched my own, then broke off quickly. I was embarrassed to admit I leaned forward to follow those lips but he shifted himself upward and put the newspaper in my hands again. "Don't try something like this again." he warned, but in a much gentler tone than before. "I'm serious, Allison."

"I know." I replied innocently.

Luke made a growling sound. Apparently he wanted me to take the warning to heart.

"Fine. I won't try to expose vampires in my free time."

"Good girl." He smiled widely, flashing his fangs before disappearing.

I sighed dramatically and was suddenly annoyed with the vampire Luke. One moment he threatened me, the next I had butterfly kisses for goodbyes. That was a roller-coaster I didn't need for a relationship. And with a vampire! It was taboo, doomed to fail, totally forbidden and not to mention...

possible and so very desirable.

He admitted he had been protecting me all along, after all. I didn't doubt him; I wondered why I hadn't been confronted by a more deadly vampire by now for all of the strings I pulled concerning the exposure of vampires.

I snuffed the remaining of the candles that hadn't burned out and traveled to my room, where a fresh rose rested in the vase sitting on my night stand. Had no time my ass; he had enough time to make quick stops at flower shops every night, he had time for double dates, he had time to argue with other vampires, hold a human career and feed on top of it all...

My mind wandered, thinking about just what did Luke do with his immortality. And not to mention, how old was Luke and what was his story of becoming a dark one? I pulled the blankets over my body and closed my eyes. Every question I had now was complicated and unanswered... But for another night, I slept dreamlessly, and oddly felt safer than before.

Problem was, with the power out, my alarm wasn't going to go off and I would have been late to work. Had it not been for the noisy workers down below working on the street, who woke me up before the sun had come up. Oh, joy.

I thought as I woke up to a dark sky and knew I wouldn't fall back asleep. But I made the best of the situation; I had to go into work early anyway, and after shower and tea, I could go by Tom's office and thank him before I went in. Lord knows that man gets into work at a good 5am to make sure he has the top story for the morning.

This sounded like a marvelous plan as I walked up to his office with a hot cup of mocha. One of his secretaries said he was on a lower floor and would be back momentarily, so I decided to go to his office and wait. Another problem was, there were already people in there the secretary failed to mention. Their voices echoed from the jarred door.

"You're a lunatic! Dawn is coming soon." a woman's voice implored very impatiently.

A man's voice came next, and he didn't sound like Tom. "Quiet! I need to check this quickly..." There was a pause. And I felt that was my cue to look inside Thomas' office.

"Hello?" I asked carefully, opening the door.

The woman's bright green eyes darted directly to mine and she might have gasped, but I supposed it was too quick for me to catch. Orange hair jerked off her shoulders as she tapped the man and pointed to me expectantly. The man who spoke earlier turned; he was tall with dark hair, dressed in a black overcoat; and the pale skin on them both struck me as familiar...

"That's her." he muttered lowly, narrowing his eyes in my direction.

"We don't have time..." The woman argued, a grave worry was struck in her body.

"Just take her with us. Now." he ordered quickly, and they both advanced towards me. I tried to escape or scream, but failed. The orange headed woman was strong and binded my limbs as the male threw his jacket over my head and they stole me together, in ensemble. The secretary looked up but just a moment too late; I was in foreign arms and had disappeared from her sight before anyone noticed I was gone.