Me: I was pleasantly surprised that most people enjoyed my last chapter even though I didn't really have anything going for it. Yay bloodpops! Well, this one actually has a purpose to the story.

I felt another strong impulse to go forward. I didn't know where I was going but I wanted to get there. There was something I yearned for.

It was more than a yearning. I needed it.

"Lila?"

"Shhh... I shouldn't be here. My father warned me not to see you again."

"Then you shouldn't be here. Hat if your father learns of your whereabouts?"

"It won't matter. You'll be gone y then, I had to come say good-bye to you," Lila's eyes reflected an icy glaze and I knew she was about to cry.

I breathed in, feeling guilty about leaving. "I told you I'll see you again after the war is over."

"What if you're killed? What if you never do come back?"

My heart jumped slightly. I tried to come up with an answer.

"I'm sorry. That was so horrible for me to say. Just come back to me. I need you..."

The same attraction pulled me onward. I continued with an increasing feeling that something was wrong---but nothing could stop me.

I wished I'd told someone where I was going.

I stopped suddenly and realized exactly where I was. This was the battle field. I looked around once and guessed this was hat had attracted me.

I recalled gun shots and ditches to hide in while firing.

I heard yelling and explosions. I smelled blood but it wasn't the delicious sensation I had been used to for so long.

In fact, it was slightly sickening.

I knew I was imagining everything as it had been then...

My thoughts flashed again.

I saw the vampire near me. He was ravenous but younger than me and inexperienced.

"You've got to be the strongest to survive."

That was what Maria had told e in the beginning. That was what she told me when she rewarded me. That was what she told me before every battle. I had learned it well.

I ran at the newborn and held its throat.

He went crazy and threw me off of him.

I picked myself up and came toward him again.

I kicked at his head. He stopped for a minute to realize I had hit him.

He was enraged. He grabbed my arm.

I tried to twist free and although I knew fighting tactics, he had more energy. He bit down.

I held back a gasp. A shout. Anything was a sign of weakness.

I lunged at him again like an animal. I punched his stomach and grabbed his arm. If I could only rip it off...

I heard it dislocate and I felt his pain. I touched my own arm lightly then turned back to him. I felt his anger, also, which urged me on.

He growled and came toward me.

I moved fast and hurried behind him. I grabbed his hurt arm and brought it to my mouth in one quick motion.

I tasted the blood. Not real blood---not like human blood...it was not as full and tasty.

Once again, the pain was overwhelming. I pushed the newborn back and pressed my weight on top of him.

He lay on the ground and I knew he was dead.

I wiped the blood off my mouth and went to find Maria...

My mind snapped back to the now. I had been foolish back then but I had learned no other way.

If I had been taught to resist the blood, if I hadn't been taught to be an animal, I could fight the temptation when I smelt blood.

I was always the one to be looked after. I was always the first to crack when I smelled a hurt human. I was weak because of it, and I hated it.

I hated Maria for making me like this. Not a vampire, but uncontrollable.

I closed my eyes and tried not to remember any other fights I'd had on this battlefield.

I felt a throbbing in my arm as I recalled the fight with the newborn whose arm I'd dislocated.

I pulled up my sleeve. I fingered the bite marks up my arm but it was nothing compared to what I'd done to most of them.

Suddenly, I gasped in realization of what had brought me to this battlefield in the first place. Although it seemed impossible, a single name came to mind...Lila.

Perhaps the battlefield had brought back memories of her. Of writing letters to her. Of her face the last time I'd seen her before I left.

That was when I heard a scream and I knew it was coming from the present time.

I ran toward the cry.

"Alice!" I called instinctively. I knew it was her.

"Alice, where are you?" I asked but as I expected, there was no reply.

Then I reached the corner covered with trees. The leafy branches reached out to me but I beat them out of my way.

"Alice!" I called for a third time.

Then I spotted her. Although I think it would have been better for me if I hadn't. She was lying on the ground. She looked scratched and beaten up.

"Alice! Alice, get up!" I called.

But there didn't seem to be much of a chance that she would reply. There wasn't a chance that she would be getting up soon---or ever.

Me: Whoop! Doesn't everyone love happy endings? Oh yeah and my friend looked up 'whoop' the other day and it's actually in the dictionary!