YAY! I'm back from Wales! Hope everyone had a good Xmas! Here's the next chapter, I don't have much else to say exept the begining of the next chapter = cute!

She was a vampire. Grace no longer had any doubt.

"Please leave"

Catalina looked shocked, and once again she reminded Grace of a spoilt princess who had never been told no; Perhaps she had been. But it didn't matter, none of it mattered anymore.

"Just go! Please…"

Catalina glanced at her one last time before stepping delicately out the room. Grace slammed to door shut and let herself collapse onto the bed in a sobbing mess. So, Lorcan had fallen in love with a vampire, just like she had. He had planned to spend an eternity with his one true love, something she could only dream of. But something must have gone terribly wrong, and that's why he wasn't with her any more and that's why he wasn't getting any better. Because his love was gone.

Grace let the tears fun fully down her checks, soaking the bed clothes below her. Why hadn't he mentioned her? Why had he been so cruel, leading her to believe that somehow he might have had feelings for her? She needed to go back and ask him these questions, but how? She had no idea how to get back, she'd just assumed she would return once she had found out what the problem was and she'd figured it out, hadn't she? He was ill because he missed her, that was the answer. But why wasn't she back on the Nocturne yet? This wasn't making any sense….Unless of course, she'd gotten it wrong.

What was it Catalina had said? She struggled to remember

'Lorcan has more important things then family now' - While, those words were chilling they weren't what she was looking for. No, she had said something else, something important…

'I shall always love him and he shall always love me' - Those had been Catalina's words. It seemed she meant them literally…Together and Forever, the beautiful immortal couple…

Only Lorcan wasn't immortal…not yet at least.

Grace inhaled sharply, that was the problem: Lorcan wasn't immortal.

She couldn't see such a spoiled girl waiting for him to die naturally, about half a century later. No she would want him top be young and beautiful…not much older than herself. In Catalina's eyes they would be perfect. But could she really kill Lorcan? Grace was afraid to find out. She needed to tell someone. Anyone it didn't matter who, she had to stop this, she couldn't let Lorcan die. …

"Josephine?" Grace ran down the hallway, calling her friends name, "Josephine?" She tuned the corner, bumping into a solid body, "No need to shout, Grace"

"Josephine!"

Josephine smiled, "I was just coming to look for you, you were acting so strangely before."

Grace ignored her, "I need to talk to you; you said before if I had anything I wanted to talk about I could speak to you…"

"I know, but I need to ask you something first"

She remembered briefly Josephine attempting to question her earlier.

"Can it wait?"

"No, I need to know. I don't mind what your answer is but I need to know." She grabbed Grace's wrist and lead her into her own darkly decorated room, which Grace had been in only once before.

Josephine sat down on the bed and Grace on a ebony chair tucked under a small writing desk.

Grace was puzzled, what could be more important than Lorcan's life…why waste time asking silly questions?

Josephine took a deep breathe, "Please don't be angry with me for asking you this, but….Are you in love with my brother?"

Grace almost chocked with laughter, but even she could hear the hysterical edge to her own voice. Her first reaction was to deny it, she couldn't admit to that but then she realised she didn't have a choice, "I…Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Now, it was Josephine's turn to be confused.

"You see…umm" Grace struggled to explain it. How could she tell Josephine the truth when she herself was so confused, "I…I've met Lorcan before"

"Before? When?"
"Well, in the future…"

She laughed but the sound soon faded and she caught Grace's solemn expression, "Your not serious?"

"In the future the Lorcan I know is dying."

"Dying…?" She echoed softly, "How?"

"Well…he was…he…it doesn't matter. The Lorcan I know is a lot different from the one you know"

"What do you mean, 'different'?"

"That's not important"

"Well, then how did you get here?"

"That's not important either."

"So then, what is important?"

Grace stared at the older girls amused expression in horror, "You don't believe me"

"Would you, if you were in my place?"

"You've got to believe me! Lorcan is DYING!"

"Okay so just say I believed you…what would you want me to do about it?"

Grace felt hysteria creeping into her, why couldn't Josephine see the truth? "You've got to help me! We need to stop her!"

Lorcan's sister chuckled an all to familiar chuckle, "Okay so who is it exactly we need to stop."

"Catalina!"

The smile vanished from Josephine's lips, "Why on earth would you say something like that?"

"Because she's going to murder him!" Even as she said it she knew it was true, only know she had to convince Josephine to believe it too.

"You've lost it. You're mad. She would never do anything so wicked."

Grace could here her own voice ringing in her ears, It was high-pitched and frenetic, she couldn't blame Josephine for doubting her. She tried to calm herself, it didn't work "Look I know how this seems. But you must believe me. Don't you see the way she acts? The words she says, the way she moves…

"Stop it!"

"Think about it, she never eats, she spends almost all day indoors, she isn't even human.

"I said stop it!"

She was shocked at how angry Josephine sounded.

"Look, I know your in love with Lorcan, it was obvious from the beginning. But he and Catalina are engaged, they're going to get married. You can't just accuse her of these horrible lies out of jealousy."

"Lies?!"

"Catalina is the only reason my family are not living in poverty. She has blessed us with kindness and generosity. She and Lorcan love each other more than anything in the entire world, she could never ever hurt him"

Grace felt her theories fade. None of this made sense any more. She wanted out. It would be far easier just to ask Lorcan himself how he had died, she didn't want to deal with this anymore.

Josephine walked towards the door, refusing to look at Grace, and gazing angrily at the floor. She twisted the handle and stepped out of the room

"Josephine, wait" -Grace's voice was weak now, she had to many doubts.

"I'm not speaking to you again until you apologise to Catalina for telling horrible lies about her."

"I'm not apologising"

Josephine slammed the door and walked hurriedly away.

"Josephine!"

The older girl ignored her and followed the staircase all the way to the ground floor.

"Josephine!"

She ignored her and continued to march down another corridor and disappeared from sight.

Grace sunk to the floor as she reached the last step she buried her head in her hands and cried.