I told you he was more interesting than you thought. Oh, and I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY. Over a year? Yeah, that's a new record. I would tell you that my computer crashed and that school is really difficult now, but those are really just me taking advantage of things to excuse away my laziness.

Four months ago…

"Hello?" Devon said into his phone, after answering it on the second ring. The caller I.D. had simply said unknown caller, but Devon answered it anyway.

"Is this Devon Preasley?" the voice asked. It was a guy's voice, that much he could tell. He didn't pick up on an age, though.

He hesitated. "Yes…" he drawled out for a moment. Then, he snapped, "Who is this?"

"My name is William. And you're going to do what I say, or I'm going to come to your house, kill your family and then kill you."

Devon clasped the phone tighter to this ear. "Listen, freak, I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be."

For some reason, he hesitated again. "Okay… what do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Do you know a girl named Dawn? She would go by the last name Cullen now."

Devon paused. He didn't want anyone to hurt Dawn, so was he really going to just tell this total stranger that he knew her? "Yeah. She goes to school with me."

"Ah, you want to protect her. You see, I've already done a number on her, but I'm going to need your help. I'm sure you're wondering why she's so strange."

"Well, I wouldn't call her strange…"

"Her body temperature is about sixty degrees, she never eats anything, she disappears without excuses, and sometimes she does things that you don't think are possible. Right?"

Devon gulped. "Yes," he said simply.

"That's because she's a vampire. And I need your help to kill her."

Two months ago…

"Bella and I are going to the bathroom, we'll be back," Dawn said to him, with a smile that Devon returned. He watched her and the other girl walk away. He sank into one of the empty chairs around them at the gate. And he started to recite poems in his head. He had to memorize a number of them for school, and they became useful in times like this, when he was trying to keep someone from seeing his thoughts. He knew that his poetry was keeping Edward out of his mind.

It had taken him a while to warm up to the idea of vampires. At first, he didn't want to believe it. Then, he started noticing things about the Cullens. They were strange people, to say the least. But, then Devon had to remind himself. They weren't people. They were vampires. He kept repeating the poems in his mind. He would have to keep this up until he was safely out of range from Edward. Being near him was hazardous to him and his mission.

He waited impatiently for Dawn's return. Sometimes he forgot she was a vampire too. She seemed so nice, so normal. But then, she would smile that charming smile of hers and he would see the tip of a fang. Or, a rare ray of sunlight might hit her and he would see her skin sparkle.

The worst part was pretending he didn't know. It was taking him longer than he thought to get the truth out of her. He had to play the innocent human and wait for her to tell him. He felt kind of bad, though. In the beginning, he had genuinely liked Dawn. But she was a monster, something that shouldn't exist. He wasn't going to harm the Cullens. No, Dawn didn't need to die because she was a vampire. She needed to die because she was an anomaly.

Devon switched over to song lyrics when he got sick of poetry. Edward didn't seem too interested anyway. He seemed a bit preoccupied. In fact, it kind of looked like he was talking the other girl. Alice. Talking without using words. Which, now that he thought about it, they probably were. He quickly averted his thoughts back to song lyrics. He couldn't get caught.

He turned around in his chair when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The other vampire returned, without Dawn. It only took him a split second to realize what had happened. She had run away, again. She had slipped from his grip yet another time! He masked his anger with fake worry. He stood up and approached Bella. He asked, "Where's Dawn?" with all the innocence he could manage.

She looked around uncomfortably. Finally, she glanced at Edward. Her face fell into an angry, sarcastic expression. "Why don't you have Edward tell you?" she snapped, more towards him than to Devon.

She stepped away from him, joining Alice in hushed conversation as Edward simply stated, "She's not coming back."

Damnit!

Present day…

Devon sat through twenty minutes of AP English before he raised his hand and asked for the bathroom pass. It was a sufficient amount of time, and the teacher didn't think anything of it. But, Devon had no intentions of going to the bathroom. Dawn was back in town, which meant that it was time to get some answers.

He already knew the answers, but he needed to hear them from her. He needed to give her a reason to leave Astoria and find William. What better reason than to spill her secret to a human, upsetting her family? He wasn't expecting the British nuisance, though. He was going to be annoyed and needed to be dispatched as well.

Devon quickly made his way to the cafeteria. He only had so long before his teacher would notice him missing. He scanned the room quickly before picking out her unmistakable hair in the largest throng of people in the room. He walked over quietly, so he wouldn't register in her mind. They were talking about the mafia and some story about her and the British guy. He eavesdropped on the conversation for a moment. Finally, he found an opening.

"Well, she started out in Italy, didn't you, Dawn?" he snapped, sarcastically. She looked back at him, shocked. Some people in the crowd dispersed. Astoria was small, and word traveled. He slipped into one of the vacated spots next to Dawn and asked, "It was Italy, right?"

The ten minutes that followed were everything Devon needed. He played his cards exactly right and got her to spill the darkest secret she had. It couldn't have been planned any better. Now he just had to wait for her guilt to catch up with her or for Edward to figure it out. Neither of which would take very long, he knew.

He returned to class and handed the pass back to his teacher with a smirk on his face. He doubted she even registered how long he had spent in the "bathroom". The rest of the class flew by, and Devon rushed back to the cafeteria to watch the inevitable pan out. He had a feeling lunch would be more than eventful today. He watched Dawn carefully from across the room. The Cullens seemed to be aware of the fact that she had told him when she joined them in the lunch line. Then, just as he was watching Dawn's face fade into guilt, Edward snapped his head to her. Obviously he heard something in her head that put him on the offensive.

After a few tense seconds of staring at each other, Devon didn't feel like waiting any longer. "Dawn!" he called to her from across the room. She snapped out of her fighting stance with Edward and began to wave when he attacked her. It couldn't have been more perfect. He watched the Cullens react, forming a barrier around the two. Then, just as quickly as it had started, it was over. Max was holding back Dawn and one of the others was holding back Edward. Then, Dawn was gone, Max at her heels like a little puppy.

Devon smiled to himself. This was all so perfect. He pulled out his cell phone and sent a quick text to William saying, "She's on her way." He smirked as he got the green arrow on the display, letting him know that the message had been sent. He looked up from his phone, slipping it back in his pocket, and made eye contact with Edward.

He saw the look on concentration on his face, and Devon freaked out. He tried to stop himself from thinking about it, but he couldn't. Edward narrowed his eyes. Now he knew.

Devon ran out of the cafeteria and to the parking lot. He hopped into his care, purposefully parked near the entrance of the parking lot. He yelled something about forgetting his book in the car to the teacher who was on patrol before he hopped in the car and sped out of the parking lot quickly. He was pushing one hundred on the high way when he saw a familiar car pull up beside him. He looked over at the Volvo and noticed both Edward and Bella in the car. Satisfied that he had seen them, Edward sped off in front of Devon. In a few minutes, the silver car was out of his sight.

Devon slammed his hand into the dashboard, cursing.

---

I slowed down as the trail we had on William faded into nonexistence. How could he just disappear from such a strong trail we had on him? I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I've got nothing," I said, turning to Max.

He shook his head. "I can't believe it," he said. I sat down on the ground where we were and waited for him to join me on the ground. He laid down and laced his fingers through mine. "So, I've been thinking…" he started saying when we were interrupted.

"Dawn!" I heard echoing through the woods. "Dawn!" I stood up, leaving Max on the ground. Once more, I heard, "Dawn!" Then I knew who it was.

"Edward?" I called out. In seconds, he and Bella were standing in clear view of me and Max. Max stood up, but didn't look to happy to see them either.

"Thank God," Bella whispered as she came and hugged me. "I knew something was off about him, but I didn't know if it was right. He seemed so nice…"

"What are you talking about?" I asked them, pushing away from her hug. I didn't want them here. I didn't want them anywhere near me. Especially Edward. "Why are you here? I thought from the fact that we just got into a fight that you wouldn't be following us," I said pointedly.

Edward looked around and simply said, "Things change. Listen, you need to hear us out. Devon is not who you think he is."

I scoffed. "I cannot believe you. You, of all people, should know what this is like for me! Honestly, are you that much of a hypocrite? You did the same thing with Bella! And saying that he's not who I think he is? What are you? A detective now? Jesus Christ, Edward, why don't you just leave me alone?" I practically screamed at him.

Bella took a step towards me. "Dawn, you need to listen to us. We're serious. Devon, he's dangerous."

I laughed dryly at her words. "Yeah, I'm so scared of a human. I've got the entirety of the Volutri looking for me so they can kill me. Devon's no threat to me." I glared at the two of them. "Just go away. I don't need your help, nor do I want it!"

Edward exchanged a look with Bella. "You see, we thought you might say something like that." Catching me off guard, both he and Bella ran towards me and grabbed me. Max stood there shocked. I struggled, but the two of them held me tightly. "We're going back to Astoria now. We'll explain things on the way."

The two of them dragged me through the forest and to where their car was parked, near the treaty line where I had met Jacob just hours ago. Max was quick to follow us, already resigned to returning after our short-lived adventure. They threw me in the back seat of the Volvo and told Max to get in as well. We were going back to Astoria whether we wanted to or not.

Nobody said anything as we drove away from the forested area and into a small town. Bella seemed enraptured by the town, but Edward looked at it with cold nonchalance. Edward was speeding through the town, not wanting to stay too long and look at it. I caught a glimpse of the sign. Forks, Washington. Didn't Alice say that this was where Bella and Edward first met? Where Bella's dad still lived?

Edward took a turn too quickly and slammed into a mail box. He stopped and hesitated for a moment. Bella turned to him slowly and hissed, "Do not get out of the car."

"I just hit the mail box, I have to get out of the car."

"I swear to God, Edward, if you get out of this car I will—"

I never found out what her threat was because Edward was already out of the car before she finished her sentence. She jumped out of the car as well, joining him on the grass of the house and screaming at him.

I began to panic when the police car rolled around the corner. Obviously, both Bella and Edward did too, because they stopped fighting when they saw the car as well. The car pulled over in front of the Volvo and the officer stepped out. I heard, through the doors of the car, Edward greeting him as Mr. Swan. Bella's father.

A welcome distraction. I hit Max's arm and opened my door slowly. We both slipped out of the car, unnoticed by the three that were on the grass of the house, still talking. Mr. Swan was interrogating Edward as to why he was in Forks again. That was when Max and I began running.

"Dawn," Max yelled. I was a few paces ahead of him as we ran through the forest, back the way we came. I ignored him. "Dawn!" he yelled again. I heard him make a disgruntled noise as I continued to ignore him and, next thing I knew, he had tackled me to the ground. We struggled, he, trying to hold me down, and I, trying to gain control. He gripped my wrists tightly as I flailed out towards him and pinned me to the ground, straddling my stomach and effectively holding me down. After a few seconds, he hissed, "Are you crazy?" He nodded back the way we had just run from. "I don't think we should be so quick to ignore them," he said quietly.

I glared at him. "Judas!" I spat, renewing my struggle. He only pinned me tighter.

"Geez, will you listen?" he asked. "Maybe… just maybe, there is stuff you don't know about Devon. I mean, you've only known the guy for like five months, and you've only been around him for about a month. I think you're letting your feelings for him cloud your judgment."

I relaxed for a second, pretending like I was listening. "Fine. Okay," I said, sounding defeated. He released his hold on me, but stayed sitting on top of me. When I didn't fight against him, he got up and offered his hand out to me. I gratefully took it and he helped me up. We brushed ourselves off for a moment. I looked back towards the place I knew Edward and Bella still were. "I suppose we should head back."

Max nodded and turned his back to me, walking towards the entrance to the forest we had taken. I walked behind him carefully. Then, as he began to speed up, I took my chance. With as much speed as I could muster, I ran the opposite direction. By the time he noticed, I was long gone. I couldn't believe them. They were doubting my judgment of character! Devon was a good guy. A bit stupid, but a good guy nonetheless. He had no idea who I was before I told him. And why would he? It wasn't like there were many vampires who would take the time to explain it to him and leave him alive.

Speaking of vampires…

I caught the scent and wondered why I hadn't picked it up earlier. I took off in that direction and was excited to find that it kept going and going and going… The more I followed it, the stronger it got. I smelt the salty air and knew I was close to the beach. Then, I slowed as I heard voices. I approached slowly, and saw a figure standing behind some trees. I cleared the trees within seconds and got a clear view of the person.

I knew it was him before he even said a word. I would never forget his face. This was William. This was the vampire who turned me. I heard a twig snap to my left and, before I could say a word to William, I looked over.

"Devon, get out of here!" I screamed and ran over to him. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to force him backwards, back into the forest, so he might get to safety.

It was only after I felt the knife at my neck that I knew I was in trouble.