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Chapter 25: Are you sure it's not just nerves?

Lacey's POV

What is with her?! I should have been able to take her down easy. I know that I'm not the best fighter but it still should have been easy. She moved so fast. I looked at the files and nowhere did it say that she was able to move as swiftly as a vampire.

This is ridiculous. I made my way back to my apartment, making sure that I covered my sent. I would be a dead man if they all attacked me at once. This is going to be harder than I thought.

It took the rest of the day to figure out how to get her. Take one of her friends as hostage? That might work but I don't know if they also have the same abilities as Maximum. I thought of so many ideas but there was always some flaw to them. At nine pm I got a call. It was Aro. Before I could even greet him he has already started speaking.

"My dear, how is retrieval going?" He asked. I can't really say that it was going smoothly.

"I should have her soon. She is proving to be more difficult than I thought."

"Hmm... Well I advise that soon is in the next couple of days. The maximum is one week." His voice sounded sweet but I felt chills going down my spin. Not the good kind.

"Yes, of course." I said.

"Good, good. I hope to see you soon." The line went dead. One week. I better hurry. I dress up warmly, so the humans don't think it strange for someone to be walking out in the cold in thin clothing, and go for a walk around the block.

I would often go for a stroll when I felt stressed and right now I am feeling plenty of that. Forks is a very simple town. It actually reminds me of my home town. Most of the vampires I've meet tell me that they have very vague memories of their human life.

Some of them just plain forgot. I haven't though. I don't remember everything but I do remember my family and the place I grew up clearly. Six months before my 'change' my whole family was burnt to death in a house fire.

This all happened while I was at my friends fifteenth birthday party. The police believed that the fire was cause by a leak in the gas pipes. Four people. My parents and younger sisters. Other than them, I didn't have any other family.

Because of that I stayed with my friend until I could support myself. I didn't want to believe that my family was gone just because of an accident to I looked into it. I wanted something to get revenge on.

I looked through newspapers and books on fires. I then examined the house when all the cops were gone and found traces of arson. The fire was no accident. When I figured this out I nearly became obsessed about it.

I performed an amateur investigation to find out who took my family away from me. Six months later I became depressed because of my lack of results and to cheer me up my friend that I was staying with invited me to go to Italy with her and some other friends.

I almost denied but she said that she already bought airfare for me and I had to accept. Now fifty years later I'm considered to be a missing person and the house fire that was printed in the papers became forgotten.

While I was going down memory lane I bumped into something. Or someone. I stumbled a little. I must have really been distracted for me not to notice this human.

"Oh. Sorry." I said. I look up and my eyes widened. This boy was with Maximum. I'm sure that they call him Iggy. He looked down at me with a slight frown.

"It's okay. I didn't see you either." He said, a slight smile twitched on his mouth. He started to walk away. I followed him. We walked for about a block before he stopped and turned around.

"Are you following me?" He asked. I looked at him, surprised. I read in his file that he is blind. I was walking as quietly as possible and he still heard me. He must have trained his ears to hear at an abnormal level.

"Umm, no. I live down this street." I said lamely. Its the truth but the look on his face told me that he was a little suspicious of my statement. He looked away and continued walking forward. Not very smart. I could kill him just like that.

I don't though. This guy knows the subject I have to bring in. I'll use him to get to her. It's the cleanest and slyest method at the moment. I walk right next to him.

"My name is Lacey. I just moved here." I said. He got an annoyed expression on his face when I started speaking to him.

"Haven't your parents ever told you not to talk to strangers?" He asked.

"All the time, but if I didn't then I would never have any friends." I said. "Besides if you tell me your name, we won't be strangers anymore."

"Hmm... I guess you have a point." There is a moment of silence.

"Well..." He sighs.

"Jeff" He said. I couldn't help laugh in my head. Maybe it's because my mother would often tell me stories about a coworker named Jeff. They were always so funny.

"Well Jeff, how long have you lived here. I only ask because I just moved here." I explain.

"I just moved here myself. Less than a month ago." I looked at his face carefully. He had a slight furrow on his brow. I'm guessing he went on a walk to get away from his problems. His face was actually nice to look at.

My type is usually tall, dark, and dangerous so looking at his lightness was kind of refreshing. He had pale skin and and strawberry blond hair. He was actually kind of cute. It'd be a waste if he got in my way and I had to kill him.

"Perfect! Would you like to accompany my on a tour of the town?" I asked. His face said he'd rather not. "Please! I can't go alone." I said, trying to sound as desperate as possible. The way I'm talking is starting to annoy even me.

"Fine." He said, a little exasperated. "I have to warn you though. I'm not sure I will be able to help you. I'm blind, and since I haven't lived here long, I don't know where anything really is."

"Well that's even more of a reason to go out. Where do you want to meet?"

"Forks High School. I'll meet out front at three." Wow. High school. How nonstalgic. I never liked high school but I do miss sitting in a class room and messing around.

"Okay. That sounds good." I say. He nods and heads back in the direction of his home. I head back to my little apartment at vampire speed.

I felt somewhat guilty that I was using that poor boy just to get someone else but this way is much neater and much easier than going against the bird family and the Cullen clan. If everything goes according to plan, I should have Maximum by the end of the week. Maybe even by tomorrow.

Iggy's POV

I just got home from my not so relaxing walk and went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. The new neighbor is nice and all but I kinda worry for her. I hope she doesn't do that to every stranger she meets on the street.

It's shows that she is very friendly but that is a good way to get kidnapped. It's still strange for a girl to just ask some random stranger out. At first I was going to decline but she sounded so desperate that I just couldn't.

I knew that I would feel bad if I refused. Or maybe worried would be a better term. She probably would have asked someone else. I went upstairs to my room.

"Hey. Where you been?" Gazzy asked. He paused doing his homework.

"I just went for a walk." I said. I sat on my bed and unscrewed the cap off the water bottle. I didn't realize that I was so thirsty until the cool water went down my throat. I drank half the bottle in one go.

"With a girlfriend?" He asked jokingly.

"Well, I did meet a girl." I said.

"Well aren't you Mr. Popular."

"I guess. I'm meeting her tomorrow after school."

"Wow. First meeting and you already have a date with her. What's her name? How old is she?"

"Her name is Lacey and I don't know how old she is. I guess she is my age if not younger."

"So where are you going on your date?"

"It's not a date. I barely know her. She's new and she wants me to tour the town with her." I explained tiredly. Then the door burst open.

"You're going on a date?!" Nudge and Angel shouted as they walked in.

"It's not a date." I argued.

"What's she like?" They asked, ignoring my defense.

"I don't know. I just met her." The girls quieted down, obviously not having been satisfied with my answer. Then I heard Max's footsteps walk by, probably hearing all the noise.

"What's going on in here?" She asked.

"Iggy's going on a date." Nudge answered.

"A date?"

"It's not a date." I denied.

"Hmm... Well, okay. Just let us know if you are going to be here for dinner." She said with an amused tone.

"Okay everyone!" I exclaimed as I stood up.

"I'm going to sleep. Goodnight!" I shoved anyone who didn't sleep in this room out into the hallway. Jeez! They are like a bunch of nosy parents.

"So..." Gazzy started.

"Please don't start." I warned. He didn't say another word. I laid on my bed and put on my head phones. I fell asleep and started to dream. Well, maybe not dream. It felt kinda like one of those visions I've been getting. I am in the class room of my last period of the day.

I am actually in my body tthis time. all of the other times I was a just a spectator. I had no control of my body though. My head turns towards the white board at the front of the class room. Tomorrows date is written at the top left hand corner of the board.

It was still incredibly unbelievable that I could see again when I had these dreams. One could get addicted to them. I looked up at the clock above the board and noticed that it was the end of sixth period. I started to finish what I had been doing in class.

The bell rang and I jumped. My nerves were all over the place for some reason. I know that I shouldnt be nervous meeting with that girl but somehow I was in the future. I say bye to Fang and head to the front of the school.

I was amazed that in twenty minutes most of the students had fled the campus. I waited so long till there was not a soul to be seen. I almost gave up when I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Iggy." It is Max. I turned toward her.

"You're still here?"

"Yeah. That girl, Lacey, is late." I said.

"What are you still doing here?"

"I left something here and came back to get it." After she said that I felt an awful presence and... BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! I woke up with my heart halfway out my butt. I am drenched with sweat and am breathing so hard someone would think I had just ran a marathon.

That was defiantly a vision. While I got ready for school I could still taste the leftovers of the vision. I smelled cooking food while I walked down the stairs. Fang must have started on breakfast. I put my stuff on the couch and headed to the kitchen.

"Hey Fang. Need any help?" I asked.

"No. Its almost finished."

"Okay." I proceeded to set the table and put whatever was ready on the table. Everyone come down the moment everything was ready. Breakfast was normal like any other day. We dropped off Angel and The Gasman off at school and then drove to our own school.

We were running late so I never had the chance to tell them of my dream. Actually, it was like the whole school was trying to stop me from telling them: no talking in class, staying in during lunch to fix an assignment, doing my own thing for gym class, someone needing to talk to me or ask me a question during passing periods. Its like I became popular over night. After school I finally had the chance to tell Fang about the dream.

"You had a dream and had an awful feeling? Are you sure it wasn't just nerves?" he asked me.

"No. None of us get nervous. We used to fight big hairy dog mutants and didn't have any real feelings of nervousness." I said a-matter-a-factly.

"Meeting girls wasn't something that was ever normal for us either y'know."

"Fine. I'll still meet with her. Oh, and ask Max if she left anything here at school so she doesnt forget what she did forget in the vision."

"Sure." he said and walked away towards the parking lot. I took out my earbuds and my iPod since I knew she was going to be late. I sat on the stairs in front of the school. I stood up ready to give up waiting on her when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I yanked the earbuds out of my ear ready to attack but then I remembered the familiarity of the hand that touched me. It was Max.

"Woah there! Its just me. Fang told me about the dream you had last night and I came to see if you were okay." she explained.

"Oh, sorry. I'm fine. I don't think you should be here though." she did a fake, exaggerated gasp.

"Well, then. If you really don't want me meeting your girlfriend, fine." she said a little amused. I gave her a face that told her that she wasn't my girlfriend. "Fine, fine. I'll leave. I just wanted-" then I heard her grunt before I lost consciousness.

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-wingedvampire4ever