Thanks to my first reviewer, Iznil. You've made my day.

For all those out there who've been reading, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy…even though it's quite the volatile chapter (Amber and Jamie fighting). Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Mrs. Carlyle set out the futon on Amber's floor and Jamie topped it with a sleeping bag and a pillow. The distraught expression hadn't left the mother's face since the moment she had received the bad news. She had wanted to know every last detail Jamie had to offer. Finally, she had thrown up her hands in frustration. "And you have no idea where he could have taken her?"

Jamie shook her head. "It's my fault. If only I'd gotten there sooner. If only I hadn't left her in the first place."

She tried not to transfix her eyes on the other woman's throat, where the collar had shifted. There were incision marks, swiftly healing with her lycanthropic blood. In the matter of a few minutes, the marks had become mere blemishes, nearly indistinguishable.

"No, Jamie," Mrs. Carlyle had said. "You're not to blame."

Amber's mother smoothed out the sleeping bag almost fretfully, trying to make everything as perfect as possible. She fluffed the pillow.

Jamie's eyes deftly slid to Mrs. Carlyle's neck and quickly snapped back to her face. It was smooth and unblemished.

Jamie reached out and touched the woman's arm. "It's okay," she assured her. "It's absolutely perfect. I'll sleep fine."

Mrs. Carlyle smiled weakly. "You sure?"

"Positive," Jamie replied. She slipped beneath the covers to demonstrate just how comfortable she'd be. She pulled the sleeping bag up to her neck. It was a sign of peace and trust. She didn't keep her arms free for rapid movement in the event of a disaster. The Colonel would have said she was losing her touch.

"Why don't you sleep on everything?" Amber's mother suggested. "Maybe in the morning, you'll wake up with an idea. Maybe you'll know where Bella is."

"Maybe," Jamie offered. It was a small chance if any. She had already racked her brains to the point of exhaustion.

"Right," Mrs. Carlyle dropped her hands to her sides. "Well, then I hope you have a good sleep. We'll figure this out one way or another."

"Thanks," Jamie said.

Mrs. Carlyle shot Amber a warning glance before she left the room. The girl lounged on the bed with her covers draped over her. Her long, painted nails turned the page of a magazine slowly. Her silver eyes darted to the door that sat slightly ajar.

Jamie closed her eyes, determined to fall asleep immediately. She suspected Amber's company wouldn't be very polite. The overhead glow shone through her thin eyelids, leaving an imprint of light on the back of her lids.

"They're do that all the time," Amber said as soon as her mother was out of earshot. She didn't clarify very well when she added, "Mom and dad."

Jamie's eyes cracked open a peak. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," Amber insisted, the ruffle of pages resounding in Jamie's ear. "I saw you looking at my mom's neck. Mom and dad bite each other all the time. For comfort; for excitement; for love."

Jamie turned over to face the wall with an almost too exaggerated yawn. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Sure you weren't." Amber snorted derisively. She summed Jamie up in a contemplative voice. "You're always watching. I noticed, you know. You always made me feel a little uncanny, and tonight I found out why. Who would have thought you were a disgusting Werewolf hunter? Ever watching and always alone."

The comment hit her, ricocheting through her mind. Always alone. She turned to give Amber a disgruntled look. "And you think I don't like it that way?"

Amber shrugged. "I don't know and I don't particularly care."

"Tell me," she added, "how did you trick Porter into thinking you were only our side? How did you do it?"

"I didn't do it," Jamie replied succinctly and turned to face the wall again. She tried not to show the other girl how irritated she felt. "Now, good night."

"And I'm sure you're going to come up with the perfect answer in the morning to tell mother," Amber added sarcastically.

"No I won't," Jamie said tiredly, "because I've already wracked my brains out."

"Where is my sister?" She seethed.

"I don't know."

"Where is she?"

Jamie sat up, just about ready to hogtie the girl and slap something over her mouth so she wouldn't have to hear her anymore. "Why don't you go to my house and check? I'm sure you'll find it empty."

"But you know where she is."

"For the last time, I have absolutely no clue where she is! And why are you smirking so much?" Jamie added in a snappy tone. "Think you're so good? Like when you go walking around Brighton High walking on everybody's egos?"

"Oooh! Jamie's metaphorical."

"You're the worst thing that happened to that school. You know how many people hate you?"

"How many people would love to be me?" Amber interjected smartly.

"You have no idea about the things like decency and respect. They're a foreign language to you. You could nearly knock a person down in the hall and all you would do is laugh about it."

"Life is for laughing."

Jamie took a deep breath. Amber would cut in no matter what she did, but at least she had said her piece. She was about to turn over and get a poor rest if any when Amber got onto her own spiel.

"I've seen you in school," Amber said calmly, but Jamie could imagine a smirk was playing across her features. "I've seen the way you intimidate poor little misfits who try to be your friend. One moment, they're coming up to you with shy, sweet smiles. The next moment, they're scurrying away as if you've set some devils on them. I don't suppose you were having happy, polite conversation."

Jamie didn't reply, keeping her stiff back to the other girl.

"Let me ask you something, do you enjoy it?" Amber continued, seeing she had caught onto a raw nerve and ran with it. "Does it give you pleasure to rip apart their frail little self-esteems? You're scarring them, Jamie."

Jamie bit her lip, blinking rapidly.

"That's the last time they'll walk up to a complete stranger and offer friendship."

Jamie didn't turn as she replied. If she had, Amber would have seen the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. "I get it, all right?" She snapped. "I'm a jerk. I hurt people for a living."

Amber let out a satisfied chuckle. "That's right," she said. "You're no better than me. You don't know anything about decency and respect. So don't you lecture me on how to treat other people."

She added one last time for emphasis. "Don't you lecture me."

Jamie nodded off into a restless sleep, the light above her still burning bright. Amber stayed up nearly all night, riffling through the same pages over a hundred times. Jamie liked to imagine Amber's guilt was eating at her, but more than likely, she was just trying to make things harder on her. At what must have been two o'clock in the morning, the light finally switched off.