I do not own Blood and Chocolate, nor do I own Twilight. Characters from these books probably won't be appearing in here, so really the books were only inspiration. I DO own my characters however. While we're talking about inspirations, Ben was inspired by Max in the movie Across the Universe. The chapters are named for Classic Rock songs, in his and Paulette's honor.

Just a side note for anyone stumbling across this fan fic. It is the sequel to my other story 'Obsession' and so if you've never read it, you're likely to be confused. Since I don't feel like recapping, because it would take too long to do that anyway, I suggest you read it.

"Speak to Me/Breath" by Pink Floyd

"For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave."

Paulette:

CRACK!

I turned to look over my shoulder at the sound. There was another person there. He scared me at first. He looked sick. His skin was completely white, making his deep red hair stand out much more than red hair should. But when he turned his head I was startled. He was incredibly handsome. Strong, masculine jaw, perfect lips and a chiseled form you could see through his clothes.

He met my gaze giving me a handsome smile. Orange eyes flashed at me like the headlights of a car. I turned away from him immediately, containing my gasp.

Okay, its night time. You just got off work. You have to wait for the bus alone with a creep. Just stay calm and keep one hand on the trigger of your pepper spray, I told myself. The bus started to pull over when a rush of wind tore through the street, then back the other way again.

The bus ran right along the curb, unable or unwilling to stop. It then pulled away and continued down the street. I stood up.

"Hey!" I couldn't help but shout from the vandalized bench. I sighed and gave the stranger a glance. To my surprise he was smiling. Then he seemed to catch himself and give me a "don't look at me, I don't know" shrug. I turned away from him and started to go for my phone.

"The bus left," said the mysterious weirdo. I had one hand on the pepper spray hidden deep in my purse, the other was desperately looking for my cell phone.

"Crap," I grumbled.

"Looking for this?" said my fellow bus rider. I looked to see he had my phone in his hand. I started to reach for it when he snatched it away. "You dropped it."

"Thank you for finding it. Can I please have it?" I asked withdrawing my hand slowly.

"And let you call for help?" he said. My heart jumped at the threat. Then he gave a smooth chuckle. I forced a smile. But he didn't hand me my phone.

"No seriously," I said nodding to my phone.

"I am serious," he said.

"I'm seriously going to stomp your testicles until they burst if you don't hand me my phone," I retorted sharply. His smile faded. Then he handed me my phone. I flipped it open. The screen was blank. None of the numbers glowed. I felt a ball of panic gather in my throat. I swallowed hard to get rid of it. Then I turned the phone around. The battery was gone.

I looked to the stranger. He was looking at my phone curiously.

"Problem?" he asked.

"There's going to be," I said mostly to myself. This was just an observation, not really a threat. It didn't take a genius to figure out I was in trouble.

"Perhaps I could escort you home."

"Perhaps the police could escort you to jail, Mr. McStalker," I said to the red head.

"How did you know I was Irish?" he asked with a sly grin. I couldn't help it. I giggled at the joke. He smiled a little. I was reminded of his creepiness quickly through. He looked me up and down while inhaling through his nose. "I think you and I are going to be good friends."

"Okay. Good bye," I said turning around, one hand on my pepper spray in my purse. It was times like this that made me wish I was old enough to own a gun. Actually, this was the only time I've ever wished I owned a gun. I looked over my shoulder. It was nine in the evening. I'd worked the late shift at the bookstore.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to pay for a car. I was going to be bussing it until I was thirty. However with my friends suddenly drifting away, I needed a job and to get my mind off of... things. Yes, things was a nice word for it. I put my MP3 player away. I was on high alert now with that guy giving me the heebie jeebies and I figured that I needed all my senses to be wary of him. I looked over my shoulder.

Uh oh. He was following me.

"Okay," I said turning. He stopped a safe distance away from me. "I want you to know that I jog two miles a day, I can scream like a banshee, I've got pointed toe flats on that will do a great deal of damage to whatever sensitive area I can kick, and you have a very distinct look to you that I can very easily give to the police, honestly red and orange eyes? It's not going to be too hard to spot you. So stop following me, or I'll kick your pale ass all over the pavement!"

Red stared at me for a moment. Then his smile spread wide and he started to chuckle softly. I narrowed my eyes. We'll see who's laughing with he was doubled over, squealing in pain, and holding his crotch. I ground my teeth in irritation. Stupid bus, driving right past me and leaving me with the maniac rapist. When I escaped from the homemade dungeon this guy probably had in his basement I was going to give that bus driver a piece of my mind.

"Blondie, I really suggest you just let me walk you home. I have no intention of doing what you think I'm doing," he said.

"Red, I really suggest you back the hell off before I'm forced shove my thumbs into your eyeballs," I responded darkly. "Because I don't think that would be too pleasant for either of us."

"I have a motorcycle parked a few blocks away. I can give you a ride," he said.

"If you have a motorcycle why were you waiting for the bus?"

"I wasn't waiting for the bus. I was waiting for the bus to realize its brakes had been cut so it can roll right by you and leave me to pick up the abandoned rider," he said. My brows raised. Okay, now I was horrified. He must have seen the look on my face. I had nothing more to say that I hadn't said. I had no more threats within me, mostly because I was slowly started to realize what he seemed to know.

I was no threat to him.

So I turned and quickened my pace. The Montana streets were freezing. It was the end of November and it was going to start snowing heavily any day now. The telephone polls were wrapped with red and gold ribbon. Garland swung from the street lights, posters were on every shop's window advertising their Christmas sale.

It was going to be our first Christmas without... Well, I didn't want to think about the things I've been trying very hard not to think about. I shook my head of the thought. I turned around quickly to face my stalker. He came to a sudden halt.

"Look, McStalker, I really wish you wouldn't do whatever you think you're doing. My family's going through a really hard time right now and my death/disappearance is just going to be devastating. Not to sound conceded or anything," I said. Red cocked an eyebrow at me.

"If you don't want your family to suffer from your death I suggest you let me give you a ride home. It's very cold and it might take people a while to realize the frozen statue on the sidewalk is you," he said.

"It's not that cold."

"But you can get sick."

"I'm already sick! I'm sick of you freaking me out! I'm going to say this one more time. BACK. OFF," I said.

Then something strange happened. I seemed to have teleported out of nowhere. I mean, one second I was staring at the weirdo red head and the next I was on the sidewalk outside my house. My eyes were wide and my legs shook. All of the sudden they gave out from beneath me and I fell flat on my butt.

Red giggled softly. I jumped away. He was standing beside me facing the same direction as the house. Inside I could see my family, parents were home for once. Layla was sitting at the table with them and Jonas seemed to be joining them trying to be polite, but he was still too shy.

"Look at them," he said. "They look happy."

"You weren't here six months ago," I grumbled under my breath.

"Your sister looks a lot like you. Besides the brunette hair and glasses," he said.

"We should look a lot alike. We're identical," I said. We stood outside looking in as my mother rattled on with her cell phone pressed to her ear craning her neck to talk and dishing out mashed potatoes at the same time. The scene was kind of reminiscent of a modern day 'A Christmas Carol'.

"Are you the ghost of Christmas present?" I asked Red.

"Oh, Blondie. Just get inside and eat a late night dinner with your family," he said.

"No! Wait a damn second! How did you teleport us here?" I questioned getting flustered again..

"Teleport?" Red asked turning around. "Dammit girl! I'm supernatural, not part of the Starship Enterprise crew," he said in a very Dr. McCoy tone.

"How do you know where I live?"

"How did I know where to find you after work? I've been following you Blondie," he said that might as well have added, "Duh." I gave another one of my freaked out glares. He'd been following me. For quite a while if he already had my routine down pat and cut the brakes to my usual bus. Which brought me to my next question.

What was I doing standing here talking to this maniac?

"Riiight," I said slowly. "Well, it's been fun and everything, but I'm going to go inside and call the police." He grinned and cocked his head to the side.

"And who's going to believe you?" he asked.

"Well, I won't tell them about the teleporting. I'll just say I'm being stalked. They'll be looking for you and my sister's boyfriend's a big guy. He'll kick your ass, if I am unable to do so," I threatened wagging a finger at him.

"Uh huh. Right. Go inside and eat. You've had a long day and we wouldn't want you going hungry," he said glowering at me with a strange predator glare. With that I shivered, half because it was freezing outside, half because of him.

"Hey Blondie!" Red said as I made my way up the pathway to the front door. I turned to face him as he was down at the sidewalk. All of the sudden, in a gust of wind he seemed to magically appear just inches away from me. I gasped and took a step backward tripping on the first step to the front porch. He grabbed my arm with an ice grip to keep me from falling.

"Be careful. I didn't come this far for damaged goods."

Then he disappeared, taking another gust of wind with him. I tried to regain my balance and found myself unable to. So I sat down right there on the porch. He was right about one thing though. The police was never going to believe me.

:-) Welcome to the show.