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Cara:

I was feeling oddly calm the next morning. As if there hadn't ever been a strange dream, as if I'd actually managed to sleep a full eight hours. I woke up with a weight I hadn't known I'd been carrying lifted off my shoulders and I didn't wind up in a pile on the floor. The big, grey, puffy rain clouds and overcast sky couldn't even keep me down.

My shower seemed perfect, my hair dried straight, Dad had actually remembered to do the laundry and when I came traipsing down the stairs, breakfast was ready and waiting. Two waffles, buttered with syrup, sat on the kitchen counter and my father was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. The sight was all around enough to make me believe something was seriously wrong. Like maybe the world had ended without me knowing it and this was his apology.

"Good morning" I said, though it sounded more like a question. I slid down onto the old wicker chair and took a hesitant bite of waffle. It tasted non-toxic so far…

"Morning, kiddo" Kiddo? What was the world coming to? He hadn't called me that in… well, he called me that last week. Maybe my paranoia and suspicion were getting the best of me. With a shrug, I dug into my breakfast, special made by Dad and decided that maybe it was just going to be a really good day.

Or so a girl could hope.

"So, the Rangers over at the national park are closing it down for the season. Too many wolves and other wild animals lately…" Dad glanced up at me when he said wolves. His voice was casual but the underlying message in the words made my hand freeze halfway to my mouth. The syrup seemed to be coating my throat suddenly.

He wouldn't…

"That's… unfortunate" I said. In an instant my appetite was gone replaced by a nervous fear of what he was going to say next. I could just hear the words he was about to say, as he'd said them so many times before. Please, I silently begged, please do not bring out the boxes.

Dad set aside the newspaper which I now realized he probably had never been reading in the first place and folded his hands on the table. All business. I pushed my plate to the center of the table and crossed my arms over my chest. For a while, nobody said a word. This wasn't happening, because in my new world, things like this just didn't happen. Masochistic vampires, sure, but this? Not anymore. My thumb fiddled with the engagement ring on my right hand and images of Jake flashed behind my eyes, causing that annoying ache in my throat.

"This is a warning, Cara. If things get any worse, if the risk of being exposed gets out… you know I don't want to, you know I just want you to be happy-"

"Staying would make me happy. Very happy actually" I cut him off, my voice shook just enough. It was just a warning, a heads up of what would happen if the situation over at the stupid national forest got worse. It wasn't my fault if those hikers got into trouble, if they weren't smart enough to... My hands balled into fists as a thought occurred to me.

I'm going to kill David.

"It's just a warning" repeated Dad and the conversation apparently ended because I pushed back my chair, flinching as it scraped against the wood floors, and ran out the back door. It slammed behind me and I jumped at my own anger. David was attacking people and Dad wanted to move us away again. To Alaska, the next option in a list that was getting shorter and shorter.

Like my day, which just kept getting worse and worse. Without glancing back I starting walking, slowly, towards Jake's house, letting my feet carry me along the paths I knew by heart. The sky disappeared behind a thick layer of treetops, a few rain drops made their way down to me through the leaves up above and I wondered if it was really raining heavy. The forest was dim and musty without the sun, my shoes squished in moss and dirt. But none of it really bothered me, just the impending possibility of having to leave and what that would mean.

I couldn't let that happen, couldn't let David go on attacking innocent people. If it got any worse… the thought of leaving behind the one place I'd really called home made my head spin and my heart ache. If it wasn't slightly embarrassing, I might have stomped my foot and thrown a fit to get out of it but the odds of that actually working with my father were practically nil. Not worth the effort.

Before I knew it, I was standing on Jake's porch, my hand outstretched and ready to knock. Or maybe I already had, because a second later, Rebecca swung open the door and smiled with wide, warm brown eyes. I don't think she even cared that I was soaked from head to toe, I'd barely noticed myself.

"Hey, Cara. Jake's still sleeping and we were sort of scared to go in there. No man's land to us, but go on up. Sweeten him up a bit" She winked and I smiled and brushed past Jake's older sister. I'd only just met her, would I have to leave before I really got to know her?

The thought just added to my growing depression.

The stairs creaked under foot, voices and laughter came from the kitchen downstairs and it hit me how much like home the Black house had become. It felt so comfortable and warm to me, it was almost as if I'd never lived anywhere else. I know I didn't want to anymore. My chipper attitude from this morning was gone, replaced by something more somber and anxious but the thought of seeing Jake, after what felt like so long suddenly, quickened my step a little bit.

His room is two sizes too small for a guy his size. His bed made up three quarters to begin with. Add a dresser and a small desk and there was barely any breathing room, but he never complained. When I opened the door, he was sprawled on his stomach, one arm slung over the side of his bed, his dark shaggy hair a mess. I smiled and my heart melted at the sight of him.

"Jake…" I sat on the edge of the mattress and rubbed my hand on his muscular back, felt the heat radiate off of him. I had to hold myself back from curling up next to him, folding into his arms and forgetting about the world. "Jacob"

He's adorable when he's tired. Really. Like a lost puppy realizing where he is. Jake groaned and rolled over, his hand ran down his face as he yawned. I noticed the dark circles under his eyes and worried about what he was doing at night. I brushed hair out of his eyes making him blink when he realized he wasn't alone.

"Christ! You scared the hell out of me" Jake shot upright, brought a hand up to his head. He looked down at his dragon pajamas and flinched. "Wow, this is embarrassing"

Without even thinking about it or caring about his orange dragon pants, I wrapped my arms around him, pressed my face into his solid chest and breathed him in as if I didn't already have him memorized. He froze for a fraction of a second before Jake's arms wound around my shoulders, holding me closer. Suddenly, I wanted to cry, a country lodged in my throat and it was hard for me to swallow. I made a sound like choking as I tried to fight back a sob. If he thought dragon pants were embarrassing, crying was even worse.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked in that husky, deep voice. His hand stroked my hair and I remembered my dream, David's face with Jake's voice. And that just made me cry harder because really, it had been a nightmare, worse than most I'd ever had. "Whoa, I'm not equipped for this, Cara"

"Sorry" I mumbled, rubbing my knuckles over my eyes, cringing as I blushed. I felt Jake's fingers curl around mine, felt him kiss my hands, then my cheeks, and my forehead. Each one chased away the helpless feeling bit by bit.

"Don't be sorry. Just tell me what's wrong" But I couldn't do that, not without making him worry and wear himself out. Not without dragging him into David's world too. I wanted to tell him, but I didn't want to ruin his happiness. It just wasn't fair.

"I missed you" I said instead, and it was true, just not the full truth. I had missed him so much, I realized, that I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt really okay and not on the verge of a breakdown. "I missed you a lot"

For a split second, I noticed something like regret and guilt flash before his reddish brown eyes as if this was his fault, saw the color darken before he blinked it away. His face was a perfect mask of ease. Next thing I knew, I was in his lap, with his strong arms wrapped securely around me like a barricade against the world, soaking in every ounce of warmth I could. It felt like some fight neither of us knew we were having had just ended and everything had gone back to normal. Everything felt suddenly right for a little while.

"I missed you, too, love"

--

By the time I got home that night I was feeling better than I had in a while, having put my conversation with Dad that morning behind me. Seeing Jake always makes the world seem brighter and better, and less filled with mythical creatures who were actually way too real. So, instead of staying out of trouble as my most likely wiser boyfriend had said when I'd been forced to go home after dinner, I went looking for it. That same night.

I opened my window and waited, left the light on so he'd see. I paced, sending shadows flickering. It was a warm night, full of warm breezes and the comforting sound of waves on the cliffs in the distance. If I knew David's character as well as I thought I did, he wouldn't take long to show his conceited face or pass up the chance to ruin such a perfect night. And turns out I was right. ( sorry for the rhyme, just caught it)

At midnight, footsteps thumped on the roof outside. Along with the steady, measured steps, I heard the swish of his long coat and froze with my back to the window. Breath caught in my lungs as I waited a full two seconds. Then his voice filled the room.

"Funny running into you here" said David, my most recent annoyance. I wondered if he would turn into a pumpkin or something, his obsession with showing up at midnight and all. Or maybe he was just a fan of the dramatic which seemed the more likely option. He already turned into something and it was not a pumpkin.

"Whatever you're playing at, stop" I said, cutting straight to the chase. I whipped around and saw his momentarily surprised face back dropped by the black/blue sky and shadowed forest, but it evaporated as quick as lightning, replaced by a smug grin I knew too well already.

"I thought this cat and mouse thing was fun, no?" David sat on my window sill, dangled one patent leather foot over the ledge. His elbow was propped on his other knee, and I wanted nothing more than to slap that falsely innocent grin off his face.

It took some self restraint to keep from actually doing it.

"I mean with the hikers. You can't go attacking innocent people" My teeth were clenched, my voice came out strained. "… or any people actually"

For a second it was dead silent, crickets chirped in the yard and the sound of my heart beating made it seem like there was a pillow over my ears. I jumped when his feet hit my floor with two heavy thuds. With tense shoulders he stepped away from the window, his grin was completely gone.

"I don't know what you're talking about" David's voice was cold as ice. In two strides, he was in my face, so close I could feel his breath when he spoke. Every ounce of whatever light- taunting as it might have been- in his green eyes was gone. "But I don't like being wrongly accused"

"You're not wrongly anything. I know it was you and you better stop" At least my voice was under control. Imagine the humiliation a squeaky, cracked voice would get me. But my heart was starting to pick up speed, starting to hammer in my rib cage at the sight of a very angry werewolf.

The look David gave me was enough to kill. His green eyes darkened from grass green to forest green. For a minute we just stood in silence, tense and angry- and partially scared on my side of the emotional line. I'd forgotten that this wasn't a friend of mine, but a werewolf I didn't know, someone who would have no problem killing me right here and now. Was "oops" an accurate enough expression for this situation? My sources said no.

"You don't know nearly as much as you give yourself credit for, Cara. In fact, you know nothing about me" said David in a deep, growling voice that sounded so much like it had in my dream. I shuddered remembering it and for the first time, considered the possibility that David hadn't some hikers...

Right, and I'm Oprah.

"I know enough. You're the only one around who could have done it" I countered, hoping that there weren't any more vampires I didn't know about. I'd had my fill last winter and didn't need anymore bloodsuckers for at least the rest of my life.

"That's where your wrong, sweetheart. I'm nowhere near the only one" David snarled the "sweetheart" making me hate how it sounded and he stormed to the window, his coat snapping out behind him. He swung out onto the roof in one graceful motion before whipping back around to throw me the deadliest glare ever. People in Tibet could have felt it's after shock. "Get your facts straight before you go throwing accusations. At least she has enough decency to do that"

Before I could say another word, or process his own, he was gone, silent as a shadow, disappearing into the night. My hand clutched the back of my chair, I felt woozy and sick as his words came floating back. He wasn't the only one? There were more? And I still didn't know who she was. This wasn't something I could fix on my own apparently, not that I'd been doing a stupendous job anyway. And now, on top of having a dangerous werewolf mad at me, my dad was set on moving us away if there was even the slightest trouble from the supernatural front, which I had feeling there would be judging by David's dramatic exit. With a heavy sigh, I threw myself down onto my bed and stared at the ceiling as the sound of my heart faded, replaced by the steady chirp of the crickets.

It was just a migraine and heartbreak waiting to happen.