By the time I neared Philadelphia, I was nervous, despite the reassurance of my premonitions. It was a little after midnight, so the diner wouldn't open for a couple of hours. I grimaced when I realized that I would have to hunt once again - even though I wasn't as hungry, that my people would make the risk too high. My thirst had to be almost nonexistent if I was going to walk out of that diner without blood on my hands.

I walked into the city, freezing my muscles at every small breeze to avoid acting on the tempting smells that filled my nose. I crossed into a shadowed alleyway and effortlessly scaled the brick buildings around me, reaching the roof in just moments.

Though most of the restaurants were closed and the people asleep, I smelled a group of drunk young men stumbling down the street. I saw an image of them coming down the alley very clearly and knew that they would be my victims. As they all turned the corner, shouting disruptively into the air and slurring their words, I shifted into a hunting crouch and let my senses take over.

I pounced from the rooftops and landed nimbly in front of the first man. He had knotted brown hair and an unshaven face, and his breath smelled of alcohol. Despite the pungent stench, his pulsing heart still drew me in and I sunk my teeth into his neck.

Two of the other men with him didn't notice - they seemed thoroughly engrossed in a nonsensical conversation - one man yelled in horror. I quickly silenced him, though, and made sure to drain him quickly to avoid additional screams from his friends before I could get to them.

The intoxicated blood tasted sour and bitter, but it still soothed my aching throat. On my previous hunting trips, I'd drained two people during each. Now that I'd indulged in double that amount, I felt completely satisfied despite the bitter taste.

Another breeze wafted more smells into my nose, but they weren't nearly as tempting as before. I remained still, though, as a precaution, and slowly relaxed when the wind ceased.

The dark night sky was lightening to a deep purple, and I knew that it was almost dawn. I focused once again on the scene showing Jasper and I in the diner, but it kept flickering in and out of focus. Perhaps I wasn't concentrating enough.

But then the image completely changed for a moment, sending a wave of dread through my body, and then returned. That was when I realized that it wasn't me to blame for the inconsistent vision. Jasper must be constantly changing his decision to come.

I was suddenly afraid that he would decide not to meet me. What if he didn't want to? I sank to the ground in anguish and sat amongst the limp bodies around me, waiting for the image to change once again.

It was early morning by the time Jasper decided to come again, and the wait was agonizing. Any time that he changed his mind, the diner scene vanished and a thousand others replaced it, all blurry and confusing and unlikely. I wasn't sure if that meant that we could meet in a million ways, or that we would never meet at all. The thought of never uniting with my true love made all of my excitement for the day vanish. Nothing was certain, and all I could do was wait until the diner hopefully reappeared. And perhaps, if I was lucky, it'd show me when this scene would become a reality.

I waited in that alley for two weeks, constantly searching for that familiar diner over and over again until my head ached. The squeeze of thirst tightened every couple of days, which I reluctantly quenched with any humans that were stupid enough to walk down the street too close. The memories of my possible lonely futures were still fresh in my mind, making me feel worse and worse every day. I must've killed a dozen people.

Then, the miracle that I was waiting for finally happened. Tomorrow, 3:00 pm. Jasper would be at the diner six blocks down.

The clarity of the image made me shout with joy. It was finally happening - Jasper had chosen to meet me. He had chosen me.

I apologize for the late and short update, but I'm currently working on a pretty long one shot story and it's taking up a lot of my time. It'll be out in a month or so, so stick around for more announcements regarding it if you'd like, but my chapters will be shorter and more spread out for a while as I start focusing on the one shot.