HI EVERYONE! I'm back (obviously). And I worked all day to get this chapter done. I'm a little rusty in the writing department now that it's been over a month since I've written anything. Thank you for all those great reviews. You guys are amazing. I can't think of much else to say so I hope you guys like this one. :)

ONE MONTH LATER

"Hey there," Anthony greeted me in the school parking lot. I smiled upon seeing him and leaned into his embrace.

"Hi," I replied feeling content.

"Do you want to go out today?" he asked.

"Sure, where?" I wondered excitedly.

"Evelyn?" called a disturbingly familiar voice.

I froze when I heard the voice. This was not happening. We weren't this careless. I looked up to see Anthony looking at me sadly, and then I turned to face Ethan.

I couldn't hide my guilt from him. He looked furious. For a full minute no one moved. Then, all of a sudden, Ethan and Anthony were fighting. I'd almost missed the exact moment when Ethan attacked Anthony. I wanted to run between them, but I couldn't move.

I woke up feeling disoriented and upset. Maybe the fact that my relationship with Anthony hadn't been discovered by anyone so far was making us sloppy. It was possible that my dream meant something. It could be that the cosmos were trying to warn me so I wouldn't be caught. Or perhaps it being three o'clock in the morning was making think weird thoughts. I managed to fall back asleep and convince myself for the time being that it was just a bad dream.

I woke up again at a reasonable hour, and of course the first thing that came to mind was my dream. Maybe I was paranoid, but a month without getting caught was more than I'd dared to hope for.

My life at home had been busy. We still have no idea where Emily or Lucas is. Lucas disappearing isn't so surprising. He's been in hiding for years, but Emily is another story. No one has had success at finding her. In the beginning, I panicked a little about this, and it may have freaked Anthony out a bit, but I made sure to get a solid promise from him that he wouldn't interfere. I didn't want him mixing with the hunters' world; he could get hurt.

Today, Ethan picked me up for school. A month of my indifference to his crush hadn't made him any less persistent. I felt guilty about it sometimes, but there really wasn't much that I could do about it.

We traded ideas about where Emily and Lucas were located as Ethan walked me to my locker. On the way there, we walked past Anthony. Ethan shot him a glare and I urged him to walk faster.

"You know," started Ethan, "all this business with Lucas and Emily hasn't given us any time to deal with that vamp. He really shouldn't have been in school so long."

"What do you think we should do?" I asked, keeping a straight face.

"I think we should kill him as soon as possible. It's the simplest and the easiest solution," he said with a determined tone.

"Easy? Haven't you sensed how powerful he is? Killing him will be anything but easy. And don't you think it's weird that he hasn't caused any problems since he's been here?" I asked.

Ethan's eyebrows pulled together as he thought about that. "Hmm, I wonder if he's planning anything. Think he could be in league with Lucas?"

"No," I answered a bit too quickly.

Ethan looked at me strangely for a moment and then asked slowly, "why not?"

"Because when my dad died, my mom studied and analyzed every move Lucas made. He always works alone. He likes to work alone. Even when it would be easier or more beneficial to work with another vamp he prefers to be by himself," I said evenly. At least what I was saying was true.

Later, in Trig, I noticed Anthony was missing. In the middle of class I received a text message from Anthony.

It read: "I need to see you. Can you skip English and come to my house?" I sent my "yes" to him and anxiously waited for Trig to be over.

I said a quick goodbye to Ethan and once everyone was out of sight I teleported to Anthony's house. I walked into the living room and was surprised to find Juana sitting with Anthony. She'd been here a whole month now, and she didn't show any intention of leaving. She had the strangest grin on her face which made me uneasy. Juana seemed to be happiest when I was upset. I grew even more worried when I noticed the grim look on Anthony's face.

"What's the big emergency?" I asked walking in. "And how come you weren't in class today?"

Anthony took a deep breath. "It's about your friend Emily," he started.

I tried to process that in my head for a moment. "What about her? And I thought I asked you to not get involved?"

Juana's smile grew wider. "Oh, don't worry; he wasn't disobeying any orders. I was the one who found your friend."

"You found her?!" I asked excitedly. "Where? What happened? Is she okay? And I don't give him orders I –" I stopped midsentence sensing something new.

There was another vampire in the house and it wasn't one of Anthony's brothers. This was a new, turned very recently.

"I told you she'd sense her," Juana said knowingly to Anthony.

Anthony stood up and went over to hug me. "Listen, don't panic, okay?"

"Someone else is here," I finally acknowledged out loud.

"Evelyn," a familiar voice said to me.

My mouth dropped open, and Anthony hugged me tighter. "Emily," I whispered. "You're a vampire." I'd said the words with enough distaste to feel Anthony stiffen from behind me and to notice the frown on Juana's face. However, shock prohibited me from giving apologies. "I don't understand," I said. "What happened?"

"I wish I could remember," Emily answered. "I remember being with Jack, and then he made me leave." She was quiet for a moment, and then she started again. "There was this female vamp. I can't even remember what she looked like. I think I hit my head. I woke up almost a week later. And when I woke up I was a vampire. I was in an abandoned house, and no one was there."

I couldn't do anything but stare at her disbelievingly. She looked like one big mess. Her red hair was frizzy and it stuck out in all different directions. Her clothes were dirty and ripped. Still though, despite all this, she had a vampire's beauty. She was very pretty prior to the change, but now there was that undying, unnatural splendor that all vampires had in her. I also noticed her dark green eyes had that captivating look that always drew humans in.

I tried to organize all my questions and comments in my head, but it was all a messed up jumble. "We were looking for you all month. And what female?"

"That wouldn't have worked. You guys were tracking me as a hunter, not a vampire," she explained. "I didn't know what to do. If I went back I knew I'd be killed. I thought about killing myself, but I couldn't go through with it. I refused to drink human blood, but then when I was so hungry, I realized I could drink from animals. And I can't remember anything about the female, just that she had brown eyes, and I know that's not very helpful."

She stopped talking and Anthony picked up. "I took Juana hunting. We ended up not too far from Emily, we sensed her, and that's when I brought her here."

"Evy, he told me how it's possible to be a vampire and not be evil. I can do it. I don't want to die," Emily said almost desperately. Her eyes were begging for me to understand.

I knew what the Administratio would think. She was being weak. Vampires normally didn't turn hunters. It was very rare for them to do so. When they did, those former hunters either killed themselves out of disgust, or the Administratio killed them. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. There wasn't any record of a hunter turned vampire living more than a few months. "It's okay," I said after a while. "I understand."

She smiled at me brightly. "Anthony said he'd help me." Then she seemed to notice for the first time that Anthony was actually hugging me, and I wasn't making any effort to get away. "How exactly have you been keeping that from everybody?"

"I'm good with secrets," I said. "Which is lucky for you because now I have to keep your secret too," I said playfully.

"I don't want you to be in trouble because of me. Make sure and tell me about any problems; I'll turn myself in."

"I'd never let you do that," I told her.

"Why don't you get cleaned up?" Anthony suggested. "I'm sure Juana has clean clothes that would fit you."

Emily nodded. "Okay," she paused, "and by the way, thanks for everything."

"Don't worry about it," he said.

I sighed and turned to Anthony. Juana just sat there staring distastefully as Emily walked away. "How is it that you don't mind housing the former hunter who would have loved to kill you just one month ago, but you consider me a huge thorn in your side?" she asked Anthony.

"Because you're annoying," he answered bluntly. "Now, could you please leave?"

"Oh sure, I'll give you two lovebirds your time alone," she said getting up.

Once she was out of the room, I stood on my tiptoes to give Anthony a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for helping my friend."

"It's no trouble," he said.

"I wonder how come she can't remember anything," I said.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. It's pretty common for us. I don't think there's a single vampire out there who can remember exactly what happened while he was being changed. Add that to the fact that she hit her head…"

I leaned against him. "Why is my life so complicated?"

"I think most the complications are my fault," he said. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "You make my life happier; if that comes with complications then I'll take them." I looked at my watch. "You know what? I don't think I'll go back to school for the rest of the day. Too many things on my mind to concentrate anyway."

"Would you like for me to help you take your mind off those things?" he asked with a smile.

Before I could even say anything he leaned in and kissed me, and of course I forgot about all my new problems. Embarrassingly, Eric and Mark walked in on us.

"Whoa, sorry," said Eric, playfully shielding his eyes. I looked down wishing that my blush wouldn't be so obvious. Anthony didn't seem bothered at all. "Didn't you say there was something important you wanted to talk to us about?" Eric wondered.

"Yes, remember what I told you about Evelyn's missing friend?" Anthony started. Eric and Mark nodded. "Juana and I found her today. She's a vampire now." Eric and Mark's eyes widened at this piece of information.

"And what do you think about that?" Mark asked me.

I bit my lip and then answered honestly. "I'm not sure yet."

"Fair enough," he said. "And let me guess, you offered to help her," he said to Anthony.

"Yes," Anthony confirmed.

Eric shrugged. "Okay, no problem. And speaking of houseguests, am I the only one here who thinks that Juana has overextended her stay?"

"You were the one who invited her," Mark reminded him.

"I didn't invite her, she invited herself," Eric corrected.

"This is irrelevant," Anthony cut in. "The only thing that matters is who is going to kick her out."

Juana walked in the room that moment with her haughty, I'm queen of the world look. "You know it hurts that you let the hunter participate in your family meetings, but you don't even let me know when they're taking place."

Eric sighed. "What do you want Juana?"

"I just wanted to see you. I heard you come in, but you didn't even bother to say hello," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered walking away.

Anthony took my hand and led me away. Once we were safely away from the crowd he kissed me again. "I love you," he whispered his lips brushing lightly against mine.

I froze for a moment. Neither of us had said that before. He was kissing my neck now, making it very difficult for me to wonder why we hadn't said it before. "I love you too." Why did my voice have to be so shaky?

I could feel his lips form into a smile on my skin. The moment was ruined two seconds later when Juana barged. "Your friend wants to see you," she informed me.