Hi, guys! I am SO sorry for the long wait. I've been very, very busy. Please forgive me! I love all of y'all. Please enjoy this chapter. :)

Chapter 4

I stood up from my seat and walked across the room to where Vladimir and Meredith were. I awkwardly sat down next the brunette Barbie doll and squirmed uncomfortably in my chair. Meredith smirked. "Oh relax, Raven. I won't bite," she said in that sickly sweet voice of hers.

Yeah, but I certainly will, I thought to myself. But, I gave her a bright smile anyway. I caught Vladimir looking at me. He raised an eyebrow. He had read my mind.

You know, I find it very rude that you were going through my thoughts, Vlad, I told him angrily inhis mind.

He smirked and replied: My bad. It won't happen again unless I have your permission to.

I smiled at him. Thank you.

"You know, the sooner you guys stop staring at each other, the sooner we can finish working on this," Meredith said impatiently.

"Why of course, Your Royal Highness," I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?"

I looked up from my paper and raised both of my eyebrows. "What? Oh, I said that Number One is 'C'."

Meredith nodded. I heard Vladimir chuckle and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head as he circled the answer for the first question.

•••

Vladimir and I had taken a seat in the first row of the class when had put on Psycho Slasher Chainsaw Guy From Hell 2. It was a very good movie. It made me wish I had seen the first one. The scenes were very murderous…..and absolutely bloody. My stomach growled when the crimson liquid splattered all over the screen. I heard Meredith yelp in the back row. I turned around and saw she was covering her eyes. There was a nail filer in one of her hands. I silently laughed to myself and went back to enjoying the one movie that was making me hungry at the moment.

The bell rang and almost everyone groaned in annoyance. "We were just getting to the good part!" A boy, Tyler Marks, said.

I sighed in disappointment. I grabbed my stuff and started to walk to gym. I heard heavy footsteps and looked behind me. I saw that Vladimir was trying to catch up. I laughed when he reached my side. "Coach would never believe me if I told him you could run this fast."

He ignored the comment. "So, it turns out that your dad and my aunt work at the same hospital."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Really? That's cool."

"Yeah. Nelly invited you and your family over for dinner tonight. She knows about the whole vampire thing. You said your family does to right?"

"Um, just my parents and my brother. Everyone else doesn't know."

"Oh, okay. So, I guess there will be no interesting conversations then, huh?"

"I guess that depends on our parents. They may decide to tell embarrassing stories about our childhood."

Vladimir laughed a bit. "I guess. Oh, and since today's a Friday, you can come home with me and we can have a horror movie marathon with Henry. If that's okay with your parents. Also, Aunt Nelly wants to get to know you some before the dinner."

"I'll ask when school ends." We both walked into the gym just as the bell rang.

" . Mr. Tod. So glad you can join us. Put your gym clothes on meet us outside. We'll be running the entire class. Move!" The coach said. I hate gym class.

"You must be Vladimir's friend. Raven, right?" Henry's cousin said as he ran up to me. This was the fourteenth lap and he didn't break a sweat. I was jealous. My back was soaking and my hair was flat against my face.

"Yes, why?" I asked between breaths.

"I'm Joss."

"I know."

"Let's get to know each other, shall we? Starting with you. Any favorite hobbies?" he asked. He sounded like he wasn't even running.

"Um, I like ice skating. Do video games count?"

"Sure. Are you good at them."

"Some would consider me a pro. You? Any special talents?"

He seemed to ponder for a bit. "I'm a very good hunter. I'm good at combat skills and can throw knives. I have amazing aim."

"A hunter you say? What's your prefered weapon? I like using my bow and arrows at home." I knew he was a Slayer, so I tried to come up with something to say after he would tell me his answer.

"I prefer using a wooden stake," he said as if that were the most normal hunting weapon.

I did my best 'That's hilarious laugh'. "So you hunt vampires? That's a new one. I've heard of people killing vampire bats for fun. Have you found any of those blood suckers yet?"

His chuckle made me very uncomfortable. "Yes, actually, Vladimir is one."

"Stereotypical, are we?"

He shook his head and laughed. "You're one, too."

I tried to act surprised or something. "I-I am? How can you tell. I think I would know if I were a vampire."

"Your pale skin. How you always bring your lunch from home every day. How Vladimir doesn't act strange around you. And, I can smell the sunblock on you."

I glared at him and he smirked. Then I laughed. "You're funny, Joss. I like you." What am I doing?! I should've just ignored him from the start.

That's exactly what you should have done, Raven, I heard Vlad's voice in my mind.

What did we talk about earlier?! I scolded.

You're with Joss. And I'm on the other side of the track. Do you really expect me to ignore him being around you when he has a wooden stake hidden in the sleeve of his work-out jacket?

I then realised for the first time that Joss hadn't moved his right arm at all while we were running. I went through the thoughts in his head. I guess he felt my presence in his mind because he snapped his head in my direction and gave me a death glare/stare that was deadlier than my own. He was planning on killing me later that day!

"We really shouldn't be walking from school today. Not with Joss on the hunt," I said looking around. "You should call your aunt and tell her to drive us the rest of the way."

It was winter and the sky was already darkening. It was only 3:45. This had to be the weirdest day of the season. "My aunt's house is not that far. It's the sixth one to the right."

"Fine. But-" Just then, all the air was knocked out of me and I flew into a tree. My back hit it's trunk hard. Luckily, my bookbag save me. I stood up and stumbled, blinking dots out of my eyes. I looked up and saw that Vladimir was knocked out unconscious.

"A hit like that should have knocked you out." The Slayer kicked my stomach and I fell to the ground. I looked up and saw that it was Joss standing over me. His stake ready to draw blood and death.

"What did I do to you?"

"You're a vampire. It's my job to kill your kind." He grabbed me by my neck and pulled me up against the tree. His grip was strong. "Look, you seem really nice, but don't take this personal. It's just business." He grinned evilly and raised his stake.

The last thing I remember is everything turning green, and me screaming in rage.