Chris was right, Chemistry was a breeze and so were the rest of the classes. Luckily Chris's schedule was nearly identical to mine so I was able to avoid the annoyance called Kelly for the most part.

And as I sat down with him at lunch I was glad to have met him because he turned out to be a lot like me.

He had been named a child genius at the age of ten and had skipped a lot of grades since then. He was under a tremendous amount of pressure from his parents' to be his very best in everything though which annoyed him to no end.

His only other family was his younger twin brother James who he worried about as much as I worried about Liebe.

James had use to be full of life and friendly with anyone he would see but one night when he was out to dinner with his family he had suddenly disappeared only to be found unconscious in an alleyway two hours later.

He was rushed to the hospital where they discovered that James had somehow lost a great deal of blood although they could find no wounds whatsoever on his body.

And after that night James had never been the same. He became completely withdrawn inside himself and hardly talked at all. Chris tried to talking to him about it but he refused to say a word about it.

It unnerved me but I couldn't shake the feeling that James may have been the victim of a vampire attack. Maybe the vampire had been interrupted in killing or maybe even worse marked him as his own.

Suddenly as we were talking a boy came and sat down so quietly at our table that I would have realized he was there at all if Chris hadn't stopped talking and looked over at him. He was nearly as pale as me with black hair that fell into the same beautiful eyes that Chris had. He had full lips that were stained a brilliant ruddy ruby color that stood out against the paleness of his face. His face was expressionless as he began to carefully dissect his food.

"Hello James," Chris said.

The boy's head rose to stare at his brother. "Hello," He said. His voice was just as soft and vulnerable as the rest of him. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. "Whose he?"

"Ubel Watson, the new kid," Chris said. He turned to me. "Ubel this is my twin James."

"Nice to meet you James," I said politely.

James said nothing but his eyes swept over every inch of me. But when he finally looked into my eyes he gave a start of shock and visibly paled.

"James what's wrong?" Chris asked immediately, concern in his voice.

"His eyes…" James whispered. He gulped before continuing on breathlessly. "His eyes were just like yours."

His words sent chills down my spin. So it had been a vampire after all.

"Do you mean the one that attacked you?" I asked him softly. "The one that bit you? Did he mark you James? Or did he simply leave you for dead?"

"You mean the one that attacked you?" I said softly. "The one that bit you? Did he mark you James? Or did he simply leave you for dead?"

James's startled eyes widened giving me my answer. "You know about them?" He said.

I took a deep breath. Time to take the plunge.

"If you're talking about vampires then yes," I said.

There were a few moments of silence during which James looked away from me and down at his legs.

"Ubel what are you talking about?" Chris said. "Vampires don't exist."

"Yes they do," James whispered.

"What?" Chris asked his attention returning to his brother.

"They do exist," James said looking up from his legs and looking at his Chris then back at me. His eyes were full of tears now. "He said he'd come back," He said in a choked voice, "and he did. I liked him I really did. I liked him a lot. But after awhile I'd had enough. Being with him was taking up all of my time. I hardly saw my friends or family anymore. And they had all become so worried about me. I decided it had to stop when he offered to turn me. I told him no and he couldn't take that for an answer."

"He loved you," I said. "That's why he marked you. To put a claim on you so no other vampires could harm or even touch you without his permission. He wanted to keep you by his side forever. I bet he never dreamed you would say no to him."

"Yes!" James nodded. "That's all true! I keep telling him its over but he won't leave me alone. I just want him to leave me alone!" He collapsed his head falling into his hands as he began to cry.

I shot out of my seat and was by his side in an instant, pulling him into my arms.

"There's something I need to tell you," I said. "You and Chris. But not here with so many other people around. We have to go to the bathroom."

They nodded in understanding and followed me out of the lunchroom to the boys' bathroom.

And there I told them everything. About how Liebe and I had snubbed the wizard and his companion and been cursed for it. How despite our parents best efforts we had been discovered and they had died saving us. The fire that came next making us flee to the orphanage that kept us hidden until sending us into foster care a few months later. And we had been moving from foster house to foster house until eventually I came to be right here standing before them in a boys' bathroom at Duke High School.

"And so there it is," I said, leaning back on one of the sinks. "The story of my life."

"Wow," Chris said, his voice thick with pity. "I'm so sorry Ubel."

"I am too," James said and I could see the tears in his eyes. "That must have been horrible."

"It was," I said quietly. "But it was a very, very long time ago. One learns to…deal with such…pains." I diverted my eyes from them turning my attention to the bathroom's tiled floor.

"But you shouldn't have to deal with pain like that Ubel," James said.

I heard their footsteps as they moved towards me and then their arms were around me.

"Ubel…"

I met my eyes slide shut as the memory of that terrible night returned.

Mother had just been tucking us into bed when Father ran into the room. "We've been discovered," He said. "They've formed a mob and they're coming for us."

Liebe was still too young to really understand what was going on but he could understand the tension of the moment and clung onto me for comfort.

Mother's face was more fearful then I had ever seen it and she fathered us quickly into her arms. "What should we do?" She asked.

"Keep the children with you and run," Father said. "I'll hold them off."

"But—"

Father stopped her from arguing by pressing his lips firmly against hers in what was to be their final kiss. "Please just do as I say," He said. "I won't let you die."

He hugged us all tightly then and though we clung to him begging him to come with us he shook his head. "I love all of you. Forever."

And then he was gone.

Mother rushed downstairs with us but people were already swarming into our house in masses like insects. The caught sight of Liebe and me in our mother's arms and started yelling names at us.

"Vermin!"

"Abominations!"

"Leech!"

"Blood sucker!"

"Stupid mutt!"

And then came a word that scared me more then all the rest. A word spoken quieter then a whisper by them but containing so much malice and fear in it that it was like a curse.

"Demons…"

Mother turned to run but the grabbed her and dragged her back down the stairs, yanking us from her arms. They surged forward then to attack us but Mother cried, "NO!" and threw herself in front of us.

I watched in horror as one of their knives plunged into her heart and her eyes went blank.

"MOTHER!" I cried. I grabbed hold of Liebe as he tried to run to her, tears streaming down his rounded little cheeks.

Mother's body fell unceremoniously onto the ground as the knife was wrenched free from her breast.

Liebe threw himself into my chest sobbing loudly and I held onto him tightly, shivering as I looked at Mother's body.

"See what damnation you cause?" A man asked and I was shocked to recognize him as the local priest. His eyes were as hatful and angry as the others but when I looked into him I saw a faint flutter of fear pass through them. "You are demons!" He hissed at us. "You are unfit to walk this world and so we shall take you from it so your corruption can spread no further!"

At first I thought, Yes he's right I am a wicked thing. I must be stopped so this can never happen ever again. Then suddenly anger bubbled up in me and I thought, No he's wrong! We did nothing wrong! It was them! They did this! They are the demons!

They drew their weapons again and I looked down at Liebe who was trembling in my arms. I wouldn't let him die. I would not them kill the only person left in my family!

I was up in an instant, running past them so fast that I was a blur. I could hear them rushing after me but with my vampire powers I was far too fast for them. We were going to get away.

Then without warning someone grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

"Your not getting away you little leech!" He growled.

I saw red then and Liebe fell from my arms as I launched myself at the man. My arms wound themselves around his neck and before he could pull me free my teeth had sunk into his neck.

I had never had human blood before and the instant I tasted it I couldn't get enough of the rich, coppery taste of it. I drank mouthful after mouthful until there was nothing more to drink and I pulled away to discover that the man had fallen to the ground and was dead.

My hands flew to my mouth only to be yanked back in horror when I felt the blood on my lips. I felt like screaming and tears were burning in my eyes.

I hadn't meant to kill him!

But Liebe's frantic tugging on my arm brought me back to reality. "They're coming!" He cried.

I hurriedly scooped him back up into my arms and ran out of the house as fast as I could. I sunk to my knees then in relief. We were away; away and safe.

I felt a sudden heat on my back and turned around to find our house in flames. I let out a cry of rage and pounded the ground with my fists as I sobbed.

Liebe whimpered nearby before throwing back his head and releasing a painful howl into the moonlit sky.

"Ubel?"

"Tell me am I what they called me that night?" I asked refusing to open my eyes. "Am I vermin? A leech? A…demon?"

The arms around me tightened their hold.

"No!" James said. "Ubel no! You are none of those things!"

"They're the vermin," Chris growled. "What they did was pure evil. But you're not like that, Ubel. You weren't responsible for what happened. You or Liebe."

Tears tinted red with blood burned in my eyes. Angry with myself for allowing for letting them come I reached up to swipe them away but a hand caught mine.

"Don't," Chris whispered. "You can cry if you need to. We won't think any less of you."

Those words were what made me lose it. They were just too sweet damn them and in a second they had me breaking down in their arms.

When I finally stopped, I gave them a grateful smile. "Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," They chorused with matching grins.

"Now let's get back to lunch before our lunch is stone cold!" Chris said.

James's eyes widened. "Oh right I forgot all about food!" He said and Chris and I laughed at him.

Luckily our food wasn't stone cold but he finished it up quickly so it didn't become that way.

We had just thrown out our trays when Kelly and some of her many lackeys made their way over to our table.

I was surprised to see James shrink back against Chris when he saw them but my anger flared as Kelly smiled viciously at him.

"Aw is the little weirdo scared?" She cooed.

"Leave him alone Kelly," Chris glared. "What do you want?"

"I came here to talk to Ubel," She said.

"And why's that?" I said. "I was quite comfortable before you came."

From the look on Kelly's face you would have though I had just told her that I was quite comfortable in hell.

"But you don't have to set at the loser's table," She said. "You can come sit with me and my friends."

"Thanks but no thanks," I said. "I'd rather stay here with these 'losers' seeing as they're my friends."

"You have got to be kidding me," Kelly laughed. "You actually like them? Don't you know about them?"

"Kelly shut the hell up!" Chris said.

"Oh, so they haven't told you!" Kelly said, her eyes sparkling cruelly as Chris's mouth snapped shut in horror.

"Told me what?" I asked. Kelly and her followers giggled. "Just tell me already!" I snapped.

"Fine," Kelly frowned. "You're going to be so disgusted when you find out." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Chris and James who were damn near cowering. "James may act all innocent but he's fooling around with a guy who's like twenty-seven. And as if that's not enough his genius twin—"

"That's enough Kelly," James hissed and for the first time I heard real anger in his voice.

Kelly just sneered and opened her mouth to continue but I held up her hand cutting her off.

"You just really like to hear yourself talk don't you?" I said. "How many times have you been told to shut up already?"

"I'm just telling you things you need to know," Kelly said.

"More like things I don't' want to know," I said. "If Chris has something to tell me I'd rather hear from him not you."

Kelly glared at me and the girls behind her like the dutiful little sheep that they were did the same. "Fine," She spat, turning on her heel and leaving her followers scurrying after her.

"Thank God!" I sighed with relief. "I thought they'd never leave!" I turned back to James and Chris only to find them looking at me fearfully. "What's wrong guys?" I asked worriedly.

"Aren't you wondering what Kelly was talking about?" Chris asked quietly.

"Not really," I said. "I'm pretty sure that the twenty-seven year old James was caught 'fooling around' with was just his vampire stalker getting a little to frisky.

"But what about…" Chris began but I shook my head.

"Whatever it is you can tell me whenever you feel comfortable," I said. "I'm not going to force anything out of you."

"Thanks," Chris grinned.

"No problem," I said, grinning back. "After all what are friends for right?"