VEvans

by F.M. Griffin

V. Evans is about a young girl named Vanessa Evans who comes from a family that is truly unique. At first glance she appears to be like any ordinary seventeen year old but when one looks deeper they will find that Vanessa's is anything but ordinary.

2. Chapter 1 through 3

Prelude: Normal

To be honest I never thought much about being what I am. I was always loved by those around me and never thought twice about what existed outside my sheltered world. I had a loving family that extended beyond my mother and father. I never knew what it would be like on the outside, the pain that exists. If I had known I wouldn't have been in such a rush to see what it would be like to be normal.

I am anything but normal.

Chapter 1 Introduction

The tree branches swished as I ran quickly by them. I felt the warm humid air hit my hot skin as I ran from the one that was pursuing me. I could hear his quick footsteps behind me. I knew he was gaining on me. I saw the green trees flash by through the corner of my eyes. I could hear only his footsteps nothing else. The forest was strangely quiet as I ran urgently from him. My heart beat was irregularly fast as I tried to match my footsteps to its rhythm. I smelled him now; his sweet floral scent was so close. He was getting closer. I could feel his cool body approaching mine. He would have me down soon. I should start panicking now but I only smiled.

I was standing one moment running and the next I was on the ground. His beautiful gold eyes stared into mine. His short black hair touched his face gently. His lips were formed into a large smile that exposed all of his beautiful white teeth. His nose was straight and perfect. His jaw and chin were strong and pointy. He held me down by my arms putting his full body weight into his hold on me. He let out a long cool breath that caressed my face. His breath was so sweet smelling; it made my throat burn with desire.

He lowered his face from mine and slowly lowered his lips to my neck. I closed my eyes letting my other senses take over. I could fill his cool breath hover near my pulse where it was beating so quickly. His scent overwhelmed me. He bit down gently but then released me. I felt his body lift from mine. I snapped open my eyes to stare at him. He was standing over me with a look of triumph on his face. He was standing shirtless before me; his muscular torso was emphasized by the sunlight that shined on his pale skin.

He had one our race. I jumped up to my feet and started to laugh. He was so much faster and stronger than me. Even with a head start he had managed to get me on the ground. I walked over to him and pulled out a hundred dollar bill and sighed.

"Here's your stupid money." My voice was laced with bitterness. I handed the bill over to him which made his smile larger. He laughed then started gloating.

"I don't know why you even bother trying to race me but I'm not going to stop you." He grabbed me into his cool arms and started tickling me. I hated it when he did this to me. I couldn't pull away from him because he was too strong. I started laughing hysterically when he reached my most sensitive spots; my stomach and arm pits. He let go of me gently but I continued to laugh. I felt tears coming to my eyes from laughing so hard. But my laughing stopped when I looked over at him.

He was standing so still. The random rays of sunlight bounced against his pale skin making different shapes on his body. He had his back to me; all his muscles in his back were tense. I walked over to the front of him to look at his face. His eyes had turned red suddenly which either meant two things: either he was thirsty or he was enraged. He didn't appear to be angry or upset so it was the first option: thirst. We'd have to hunt.

He had obviously picked up the scent of something that he wanted to hunt; his prey. I reached my hand up to his face; gently placing my fingers on his cool cheek.

Let's go! My thought shouted out to him. He ran off ahead of me in a streak of white light. I followed behind him; keeping up with his fast run. We ran through the forest; jumping over fallen trees, large holes that were in the ground, and little bushes that appeared here and there. His run turned into almost a stalking posture as we approached a small pond. There were a group of deer drinking from there. He started going towards the largest one, the stag, slowly. He hid himself well in the tall grass that we were in the midst of. When we were less than five feet from the deer he jumped into the air and landed on his targets back.

His teeth sank into its neck. He did this effortlessly. I watched in admiration as he took his large prey down. His arms wrapped around the deer's throat as he drank from its body. The stag tried to buck him off but his attempts were futile. The stag's legs began to buckle as he continued to drink from its body. The stag let out a loud scream of suffering. Its face was contorted in pain as his life was being sucked out of him. My eyes shifted back to the one that was on his back. His body was almost wrapped around the stag. I saw blood dripping from the stag's neck which caused my throat to become inflamed. I swallowed hard.

My attention shifted when I saw the other deer run from the death scene. I stiffened up my body and started running after them. The burn in my throat began to throb. The deer weren't too quick for me to catch up to. Instead of killing the next largest one, the doe, I decided to go after a smaller one. I leaped quietly onto the deer's back taking it down with my weight. He didn't even have the chance to fight against me. I sunk my teeth into its furry neck. I felt the salty, sweet taste of the hot fluid hit my tongue. I took in a large gulp that soothed the burn instantly. I heard the deer scream out in pain as I sucked its life out of its body. He uselessly fought against me but the longer I drank the less it fought. I drank until there was nothing left. I lifted myself off of the deer.

I felt stronger and my insides felt hotter. I stared around at my surroundings. Trees dominated this area of the forest. I couldn't see three feet beyond where I stood because there were so many of them. The ground was covered in dead brown leaves. I hardly saw any grass breaking through the cover of them. The sun peaked its way through the breaking in the tree branches. Rays of light touched the ground in hundreds of places but there wasn't a solid piece of lighting anywhere. The lighting was almost a brown color where I stood because trees blocked out the Sun. I stepped over the dead carcass to head back the way I had come. I walked slowly listening to the silence around me. Not even a bird sang. He had scared away all of the life in the forest with his presence. Animals feared him because he was a predator. I wasn't sure if they feared me like him because I wasn't like him; not completely anyway. I walked into the clearing again from a different direction.

I stepped out from behind the trees and saw him swimming in the middle of the pond. I walked closer to the edge of the cool blue water that was before me. My feet scratched against the rocks on the ground causing him to pause. His head snapped in my direction. I waved at him and he waved back. He started swimming back towards me. As he reached the shore I could see his hips and I turned my head quickly. He was nude; which was something I didn't want to see. I walked towards the grass quickly. When I reached the middle of the field I sat down; waiting for him to join me. I felt a cool breeze pass over me; which stood out in this hot wet air. I turned my head up slightly and saw him standing behind me. The sun light hit his wet hair making a halo form on his head. He seemed like an angel standing before me. Water still dripped off of his pale skin. His jeans hung loosely from his toned waist. He truly was beautiful. If I was a normal person seeing him like this would've taken my breath away but I knew him too well. His beauty didn't affect me at all.

I was about to stand up next to him but he laid down next to me instead. He looked so comfortable. I decided to lie down next to him. I placed my body close to his so that I could cool down. I hadn't realized until down how hot I was; I was sweating. It didn't take long for his body to cause mine to cool off. My mind began to relax along with my body. I was full and safe. I had no worries here with him by my side. I listened to my heart beat quickly and hard against my ribs. It sounded like the patter of rain during a tough thunderstorm. It was so fast, but my heart beat had always been this way. I focused on the rhythm. I looked up at the clear blue sky. The sun was shining right on top of us. I should be extremely hot right now but lying next to him I felt like I was lying next to a boulder of ice.

His breathing became regular and I realized he had fallen asleep. All of the rhythms around me were making my thoughts fuzzy. My eyes became heavy. I nestled closer to his body. His arm wrapped around my body automatically. I lay my head comfortably between the inside of his arm and chest. I closed my eyes. I saw the pinkish light of the sun against my eyelids; then I saw nothing.

We both sat up quickly. My heart began to pound harder in my chest. Someone was near us. I looked over to him as he stood up quickly. I didn't move but only whispered to him.

"Brenden what do you see?" He shook his head silently but continued to look further ahead. He could see further than I could being that his eye sight was so much better than mine. I stood up next to him and looked in the direction he was staring in. I could vaguely see a body hovering over something. I looked at Brenden's face waiting for him to speak but he continued to stare at the person that was about one hundred yards away from us. Not taking his off of the person he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He pressed two buttons then placed it to his ear. A few seconds passed before he spoke into it; his eyes still focused on the person ahead of us.

"We need you out here. Now!" He hissed into the phone barely verbalizing the words. His voice was low as he spoke. There was a pause. "We have a visitor." He hung up his phone and placed it back into his pocket. He looked down to me with his golden eyes. His face was blank so I wasn't sure what we were about to do. He looked back towards the person and then took off in a flash towards him. He ran through the tall grass so quickly leaving a trail behind him for me to follow. My run was almost as fast his. I felt the cool wind being blown back from his body. It felt good against my hot skin as I ran.

I looked around Brenden and saw that we were very close to the person. Brenden didn't stop until he had the person pinned up against a tree. I stopped to stand next to Brenden taking in the person he held captive. The shadows of the trees seemed darker down; signaling the end of the day.

The first thing I noticed was that he was a male. I looked into his face and was drawn to his golden eyes. He was one of us; he fed off of animals. He had black curly hair that framed his beautiful pale face perfectly. His face was blank of expression. He didn't fight back either. This was very odd. Normally one would fight back to defend himself.

I heard Brenden growling lightly as he stared the man down. I took my eyes off of the man and stared at Brenden. His eyes were red and his teeth were bared in a menacing way. He was ready to attack this man. He was being overrun by his instincts to protect not only himself but me. I reached my hand over to his face slowly because I could see his body tremble with frustration and rage. He was frustrated because he couldn't attack this man and enraged that the man was in our territory. I placed my hot hand on his cheek to relay my thoughts.

He's one of us. Please don't hurt him. I pulled my hand from his face and as I did his body relaxed a little. I could see his eyes shift from bloody red to a red-orange color. He didn't release the man though. I watched the two men stare each other down. The man never looked in my direction which eased my tension. I, like Brenden, didn't like him being so close to us but his eyes were like ours; which marked him as one of us. I was memorized by his face. He seemed so masculine but feminine as well. Like Brenden his facial features were very sharp. His lips were full and red.

Suddenly his eyes shifted to look beyond me. I turned to see what he was looking at. I saw them running towards us. In a flash two cold bodies stood on either side of me; one a woman and the other a man. The man appeared to be young, not older than twenty. His hair was short, dark brown and wavy. His face was filled with rage as he stared at the man being held up against the tree. He was wearing a white wife beater which was spotted with dirt and oil stains. He had on a pair of denim jeans and was not wearing shoes. I pulled my attention away from him to look at the woman. Her long sandy blonde hair was pulled up into a lose bun. Strands fell down around her face and rested lightly down to her waist. Her face was calm as she stared at the man; the polar opposite expression of the man standing next to me. Her golden eyes peered deeply into the captured man's eyes. Her pink lips sat calmly on her face. She had such a soft looking face; which made her appear no older than in her teens.

My eyes shifted to Brenden because I saw a hand reach out to touch his shoulder. I saw four more pale figures standing behind him: two males and two females. The hand belonged to a pale blonde man who appeared to be in his twenties. His hair was whitish blonde and curly. His face was calm like the woman's standing next to me. His golden eyes focused on Brenden's eyes as Brenden turned to look at him. Brenden released his hold on the man and then stepped away from him to stand amongst the group that was standing next to the blonde man. The blonde man stood before the black haired man and stared at him calmly. I turned my focus to the rest of the group.

There was a curly red haired woman who appeared to be in her twenties as well. Her face appeared motherly as she wrapped her arms around Brenden's shoulders. Her golden eyes looked him over and then she began rubbing his arms with her hands. She seemed so small next to Brenden being that she was barely five feet tall and also very petite. There was a blond girl standing next to the woman who was smiling gleefully. She seemed excited as she looked at the dark haired man. She was a little bit taller than the woman standing next to her. Her long blond hair was tied back into a pony tail that sat high on her head. She had on diamond earrings that dangled from her ears. A silver cross necklace rested gently on her chest. She was wearing a tight red shirt and black shorts. Like the man beside me she was barefoot. She glanced over to the blonde haired young man standing next to her and continued to smile.

He had a confused look on his pale face. He was a few inches shorter than Brenden but just as built. He was also wearing a wife beater, like the man standing next to me, his perfect muscular chest appearing through the thin shirt. Also like the man standing next to me he wore denim jeans and no shoes. It was silent out here. I felt a cool wind blow against my hot skin. My eyes shifted a little when I realized that it was getting darker. I looked toward the west and saw the sun setting below the horizon. I looked back towards the two men standing closet together. As I did this the blonde man began to speak.

"Young Thomas it's been awhile since I've been graced with your presence." I felt the cool bodies tense up around me. I tensed up as well. He knew this man, named Thomas. But how? Thomas nodded his head silently but didn't move from where he stood. The blond man continued to speak.

"These young people here are my family." He nodded his head towards us. "The young man, my son, standing next to you is Christopher." Chris nodded his head obediently towards Thomas. "The one standing next to him is my daughter, Vanessa." I waved my hand at him quickly. "The lovely woman standing next to Vanessa is my daughter, Christopher's wife, Rachel." He turned his body slightly to face those standing behind him. He pointed to red haired woman. "That is my wife Katherine, the black haired one is my son Brenden, the petite blonde is my daughter Abigail, and the man standing next to Abigail is her husband Jackson, also my son." They all nodded towards Thomas. I returned my focus to him. His eyes focused intensely on Abigail. He didn't shift his attention until the blonde man blocked his view of Abigail. Thomas glared at the blonde man then spoke.

"Gabriel I wasn't expecting on finding you here." He looked our group over suspiciously. "Let alone with a coven in tow." His hissed. He stood up straight and glared at Gabriel momentarily. Gabriel sighed then turned towards Katherine.

"Let us head home. Thomas would like to speak to us about something that appears to be very important." He spoke to us all instead of just to Katherine. Brenden was the first to break from our group into a run. He was already half way across the field heading towards the forest. I took off after him. I felt cool bodies all around me as I ran. I focused on the white blur ahead of me, Brenden, as I ran. The trees flashed by me again. I could hear sticks breaking under my feet. The ground felt moist and warm under my bare-feet as they touched the ground. I heard whispering as I continued to follow the blur. I didn't focus on what they were saying though. I kept my mind blank only paying attention to my surroundings. It was dark outside I could see moonlight peaking through the shadows. The trees blocked out the sky so I couldn't see any stars as I looked up.

Ahead I could see a break in the trees. The closer I ran to the break the more of our mansion that I saw. The large brick mansion took up twenty acres. From the outside it appeared to be two stories but there were actually three. Our basement was shifted into a separate section of the house that Gabriel used as a laboratory.

I slowed to a quick walk as I approached the red front door that already stood open. I walked in and was overtaken by the cool air that hit me upon my entering the house. Brenden was standing outside the living room entrance. I slapped him on the arm as I walked by him which he quickly returned on my arm. I laughed loudly and walked towards the couch in the center of the room. I wanted to see if anything would be on the TV but at that moment several other bodies filled the room around me. I jumped up from the couch when Thomas took a seat next to me. I found a seat in the corner of the room and sat in it. I crossed my legs under my body and stared intensely at him. He looked down at his hands and began mumbling to himself words that I didn't understand. Brenden came into the room and walked over to where I was sitting. He stood behind me and glared at Thomas as well. I looked towards the door. Christopher and Jackson were standing guard to the entrance of the living room.

Katherine came next followed by Gabriel. They both walked towards the TV and stood in front of it. Christopher and Rachel followed behind them; they stood obediently next to them in front of the TV. All of them had blank faces. I looked at Christopher until he met my stare. He quickly shook his head letting me knew that he couldn't say anything, not right now. I looked back at Thomas; he propped one arm on the arm rest and rested his head on his hand as if he were bored. Abigail glided into the room with the grace and stamina of a ballet dancer. She was the only one with a smile on her face. She danced towards the couch and took a seat next to our visitor. She looked like she was excited and could hardly contain it. This only made me even more confused and I didn't appear to be the only one. Everyone was staring at Abigail with confusion. Christopher shook his head; obviously he could see what she was excited about. He leaned over to Rachel and whispered something into her ear. She nodded her head and a frown appeared on her face. I wondered what was going on. Jackson was the last to enter the room. He walked quickly over to take his seat next to Abigail on the couch.

All eyes were on Thomas; we were waiting to hear this man's stories. He appeared to be in no rush. He finally broke whatever thought he was thinking and turned his head to Gabriel.

"Gabriel it is indeed a surprise to find you in this small-town. I was expecting to find you somewhere like Rome or Paris, but never someplace like this." He waved his arms out in front of him and then took in a quiet breath. He looked over at Abigail and stared at her taking in every part of her. He was silent again for a few minutes. None of us said anything until Jackson cleared his throat. Jackson was staring at this man now in a menacing way.

"Well I guess I should tell you my story since you all seem to be waiting so calmly for it." He said not taking his eyes off of Abigail. "I'm sure you all are curious about who I am and how I know Gabriel." He took another deep breath. "And Abigail." Everyone turned their attention to him and Abigail. I had never heard Abigail's story before but that wasn't strange because I hadn't been told any of the others' stories either.

"You see I knew Abigail when we were young children. We grew up next to each other. Our families were well off and were hoping that Abigail and I would eventually marry each other one day." He smiled at Abigail as he told his story. "We were the best of friends as children and very inseparable. We would go off everyday on some type of adventure. We had a secret place where we would go to practice our gifts." He paused and looked at Gabriel. "You see Abigail had the gift of moving objects as a human. I had the gift of healing." He looked down at his hands. "We had to hide these special gifts from those around us because no one would understand them." He looked into Abigail's eyes and reached for her hand. Abigail placed her hand into his. "One day we were at a family luncheon. Both of our families and a few other well off families got together regularly to showoff their wealth and new toys. We were both sixteen at this time. Abigail was in the middle of telling us about her recent dance recital, she was of course the top of her dancing class, when in the middle of her story she froze. Her eyes focused on this gentleman that had appeared as if from nowhere. His eyes were unusually black which sent chills down my spine. He was staring intently at Abigail not paying attention to the rest of us. In a blur he came to stand beside her. He laid his hand on her throat which caused the young ladies at the table to scream. He shifted his attention to the other girls. His eyes turned a horrific shade of red, almost the color of blood. He jumped across the table and lifted two of the girls into either of his arms and right there in front of us he attacked them." He paused. He closed his eyes. He appeared to be in pain by recounting these memories. "He ripped into their throats with his teeth. I couldn't take my eyes off of the horror. Everyone around us were running away from the scene but Abigail and I were frozen to our spots. When he threw the bodies on the table, I assumed he was done, he turned his attention back on us. He face was covered in blood, the young girls' blood. His eyes were bloody red and his face was wild, almost crazy looking." Again he paused. He shook his head but continued. "Then he reached for Abigail and laughed this sickening cackle. He pulled her up with on hand but didn't attack her. He only stared at her but then a second later in a blur he was gone.

My attention then was focused on Abigail who still sat frozen in her seat. Her face tilted up to mine, as I was standing over her with worry; she looked me in the face with horrified eyes. I asked her loudly 'Are you alright dear?'; she shook her head vigorously and jumped up from her chair quickly. She ran towards her house. As soon as we entered her room she ran to her closet and began to throw clothes out onto her bed. She ran over to her bed and reached underneath and pulled out a suitcase. She began throwing clothes into it. I stared at her while she did this confused about what was going on. After she had filled up one suitcase I stopped her before she could reach underneath her bed again to pull out another. 'Why are you packing?' Tears formed in her eyes before she could answer my question. 'That man wants me. I have to get out of here. He wants to hurt me and if I stay here he will hurt my family as well!' Tears started pouring from her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and held her as she cried. That was all I could do. At the moment I decided that if she was going to runaway I would have to go with her because I couldn't see myself living without her by my side. 'If you must go then I go will with you.' I whispered into her ear. 'Thomas you can't put yourself into danger. I won't allow it.' She feebly argued. I laughed at her response. 'Dearest Abigail, do you think I could let you leave by yourself when some mad man is after you? You know me better than that.'

So that night we left our families. We both took as much money and gold that we could put on ourselves without looking like we were carrying so much of anything. We stayed on the run for almost three years. We never crossed the mad man's path and we got into a comfort zone until the night he found us. It was an unusually dark night. We were just leaving a ballet recital. Abigail loved watching ballet even if she couldn't be the star. She noticed him first before I even had the opportunity to protect her. He appeared out of thin air as before. I remember his eyes, they were red as blood. An evil smile appeared on his face as he stared at Abigail. He didn't look at me once. There were a few feet between us and nowhere to run. We had just entered a short cut behind the theatre." He stopped speaking and only shook his head at the memory.

"He had short black hair and porcelain skin that seemed to light up the dark night. Looking at him sent chills down my entire body. He stood almost as tall as I and was dressed in a jacket and pants ensemble. If only for his eyes he could've passed for any young man walking around the town. I snapped out of my fear and stood in front of Abigail. I had to protect her from this man…thing but I didn't know how. The man only laughed at me, maybe at my feeble attempts to protect the woman that I loved. And then he spoke.

'My dear young child, do you really think you can protect this young lady from me?' His voice was unusually melodious for a man. He took me off guard as he spoke and I didn't know how to respond to his question because I didn't know how to protect Abigal but I wasn't going to let this man take her from me. My heart began beating quickly as the man took a step toward us. I knew that he was about to harm both of us and there was no way from me to stop him. But then another man appeared from the shadows." Thomas paused in his story and looked up towards Gabriel. "He was the same color as the man with the red eyes but he looked different because his eyes were yellow, almost a gold color. He looked no older than twenty-five years old and had a calm air about him as he walked toward us. Instead of speaking to us he spoke to the man with the red eyes.

'This is my territory sir; you will not hunt here tonight.' He walked quickly towards us at a pace that was too quick for any human. He came to stand in front of me blocking the other man from reaching Abigail and I. The other man stared at the young one with a look of impatience and fury. A loud growl escaped from his mouth, almost like that of a wild animal. 'Do you think I care about territorial rules? I've been searching for this young lady here for years! I will not let you come in between me and my prey!' At that moment he was gone from in front of us and I felt Abigail's warmth being separated from behind me. In that quick second I was left alone. All three, the two men and Abigail were gone." He sighed and tore his eyes away from Gabriel and looked at his hands again. His eyes slowly drifted up to Abigail's face. "And that was the last time I saw you Abigail, until today and I never expected to find you here."

He stood up quickly from the couch and began to pace back and forth in the middle of the living room. He appeared to be thinking hard about something. I looked to Christopher to see his reaction to Thomas' thoughts and as expected he was shaking his head. A look of disbelief was very apparent on his face. Rachel was whispering something into his ear but he didn't respond back. I glanced at Gabriel; his face was blank which was expected because he was reacted that way whenever someone was speaking to him. I looked back at Thomas because he began to speak again.

"So after that night I spent a year searching for the young man with the yellow-golden eyes." He looked back at Gabriel. "I needed to know what had happened to Abigail that night and if he knew where I could find her. It wasn't an easy task to track down that young man because every time I felt that I was near him he would move on. I followed him from South Carolina all the way to a little town outside of New York City. He was working as a doctor in this small town so one day I went into his office pretending that I had the flu. It was the winter of 1900, the beginning of a new century. There were a lot of sicknesses being spread around at this time because people were living in such close proximity of each other. Well I entered the small office faking a hysteric cough and that's when I saw him. The young man and he looked as beautiful as he did that night he tried to protect me and Abigail. I didn't wait for him to speak or to check on me; instead I decided to walk over to him and introduce myself. He was in the middle of a conversation with his patient who did appear to be very sick. I figured the quickest way to get him alone to speak with him would be to heal the young lady he was consulting. I only had to touch her hand to heal whatever sickness was in her body. I knew that I would startle her and him as I did this but I proceeded in my action anyway. She tried to yank her hand away from me when I grabbed for it but when she felt the warmth of healing seeping into her body she relaxed and looked into my eyes with a look of shock and relief. A few minutes later she stood up from her chair and walked out of the small room. I was alone with the young man.

Before I had a chance to speak he spoke to me instead. 'I remember you and I suspect the reason for why you are here.' I only stared at him not knowing what to say so I only nodded. 'Young Abigail is alive but she isn't like what you remember her as. You'd be better off leaving her as she is and returning from where ever you came.' His voice was so calm and consoling almost like a father telling his child a story to chase his fears away. But he didn't know my love for Abigail. I couldn't just turn around and leave her; that was never going to happen. 'No I can not do that sir. Abigail is my world. I can not leave her like this.' The young man took a deep breath and then exhaled loudly. 'She is not like she was young sir. She is no longer human.' He looked me in my face as he said this to see what my reaction would be. I didn't understand what he meant because what could she be other than human? But then I looked at him and realized that he wasn't quite human himself. He appeared on the surface to act like a human but the way his voice sounded, how quick his movements were, how golden his eyes were, and how pale his skin was made him seem beyond human. Then I remembered the other man from that night; his pale skin and those blood red eyes." Thomas stopped suddenly and came to stand right in front of Gabriel. He nodded his head not so much at the man standing in front of him but at the memory he was thinking of. "'You're not human.' I said as a statement rather than a question. 'If she is what you are I then need to be the same way so that I can be with her.' The young man shook his head as he did that a look of terror crossed his face as though what I was saying horrified him. 'I'm sorry but I can't do that to you. You don't want what you speak of and I won't bring that type of pain onto you.' He turned his face from me and walked towards the door as if to leave. I reached out to him and grabbed him by his arm, my tug didn't stop him but he did respond to my touch. He turned to look at me again. 'Young child, you don't know anything about what I am or who I am and yet you seek to be like me to stay with your love.' He smiled at me, a sorrowful smile, 'You must love her more than life itself to want to be like her, me.' He looked up towards the ceiling as if in silent prayer and then gave one nod in my direction. I wasn't sure if he was agreeing to make me into what he was or nodding to a thought in his mind. So I stood silently, barely taking in a breath. My heart was beating rapidly because I was so nervous about what was going on. I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I knew I had to find Abigail and I would do anything to do just that. The young man looked back at me and introduced himself. 'My name is Gabriel.'"

There was a sharp intake of breath in the room. All eyes were on Gabriel now as Thomas told his story. We were not expecting Gabriel to be the man from his story. So many questions began forming in my head. So that's how Abigail was created. Was Thomas one of Gabriel's creations? Before I could answer that question Thomas continued his talking not once taking his focus off of Gabriel.

"'This process will not be easy for either of us but since you seek to be with Abigail, and she will need your protection' He said more to himself than me. 'I will do this favor for you. What is your name young man?' He took one hand and placed it on my shoulder. His hand was very cold; I've never felt such cold even in the coldest of winter. My words came out in a stutter because I was feeling more nerves setting in 'I I I'mmmm TTTThomas Winforddd.' He smiled at me and then tilted his head to the side. His eyes stared out the window that was behind me and once again he let out a deep sigh. 'Follow me Thomas. I can't promise that this transformation will be easy but you do this to protect Abigail and from what I've heard and felt from her she will need your protection.'

"So I followed him into the back room and from that moment on I was changed. But I never found Abigail though. Gabriel brought me to a vacant building a few weeks later after I finally got control of myself." He laughed to himself finally breaking his stare on Gabriel. He began pacing the room again. "She wasn't there. After that night I left Gabriel to search for her but I could never pick up her scent. So I've spent the last century or so alone, much like a nomad but I stuck to the diet of only feeding on animals." He shrugged his shoulders and took his seat next to Abigail on the couch again. Instead of leaning on the arm rest he laid his head in his hands again and let out a huge breath. A few minutes passed and nobody spoke.

I decided I would break the silence this time. I wanted to know the answer to my question, which I'm sure everyone else was wondering too. 'So you're Gabriel's son?' my question was geared towards Thomas but Gabriel answered instead.

"Yes Thomas is my son. I created him just like I created my others." He voice was barely above a whisper. He stared at the floor as the words slowly came out of his mouth. I looked at Christopher to see what he was thinking. He had taken a seat on the floor and he was massaging the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. Rachel was whispering in his ear again both hands were on his shoulders almost in an attempt to soothe him. Christopher was shaking his head slowly. I lifted my head to look at Brenden; he was staring at Thomas with a look of shock on his face. I turned to look at Abigail; she was smiling warmly at Thomas, while Jackson sat next to her with a blank expression on his face. He had his hands were balled into fists and was staring hard at Gabriel. I knew that things were about to get very tense in here and didn't want to stay for whatever words that would be exchanged. I stood up from my chair and walked out of the living room towards the kitchen. I stood by the glass door for a minute listening to the awkward silence in the living room. I slid the door open up quietly and walked outside. I had to get away from the tension.

The warm humid air hit my body nearly taking my breath away. The humidity was so heavy and sticky tonight so I decided to go for a swim. I stared at our small lake that was about twenty yards from me. Going for a swim would help ease the hotness that I felt right now. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a white tank top and denim shorts; these weren't clothes to go swimming in. I took a few steps from the house and turned to face it. I looked up to an open window on the second floor. I crouched lightly and then jumped into the air. I leaned towards my window and darted into it. The moon lit up the room casting white light it. I walked quickly over to my dresser and pulled out my bikini and changed. I ran back towards the open window and jumped out effortlessly. A few seconds later I felt the ground under my feet. I sped towards the pond. When I was five feet away I took a ten foot leap into the air. I felt my body splash into the cool water. I opened my eyes but only could see darkness. I was in the deepest part of the lake, probably in the center of its depth. I stretched out my arms and started swimming. I pushed the cool water back with my arms and pumped my legs to keep going. Soon I could see the ground appear again. I was coming to the shore. I did a back flip under the water. I swam back towards the center of the lake. My lungs began to burn as I swam because I hadn't been up for air yet. I started swimming towards the surface. I could see the moon forming a film in the water. My head burst through the water and I took a deep breath of the hot humid air. I heard slow clapping and turned in the direction I was hearing it. It was Brenden.

I rolled my eyes and dived back under the water. Brenden would be out here to annoy me. I never could get anytime to myself these days. But then again Brenden was the only person in our family that was alone, like me. He didn't have a mate to complete him like the others had. But he could find that person someday and he would be whole. I wouldn't ever find the person that would be my equal though because I was different. I wasn't like my family.

I let out my breath. I saw the bubbles form around my body. Someone was pulling on my legs. I was pulled under the water again. I looked down and saw Brenden smiling at me. I tried swimming to the surface because I needed air. I couldn't stay under water indefinitely like him. He laughed at me as I began to struggle against his hold on me. I could fill the water begin to fill my throat. I pulled harder against him. He wouldn't let go. My head began to burn from the lack of oxygen. I needed air. Suddenly I felt my body being lifted from the depths. My head broke the film of water. I took in a deep breath again, only this time my lungs ached with every breath that I took. I turned quickly to find him right next to me holding me up by arms. I pulled myself away forcefully.

"What's wrong with you?" I shouted at him. I glared at him with as much anger as I could. My body ached to reach out and hurt him. I really wanted to slap off the irritating smile that he had on his face. Did he think me almost drowning was humorous? I swam closer to him. He started laughing at the angry expression that I had on my face. The water was extremely cold as I swam nearer to him. I forced myself to stay put when I was no less than six inches from his face. I used all my body strength and forced him down by pushing on his shoulders. We both dove deeply as I pushed down. I could hear his laugh muted almost by the heavy water that pressed down on us. He grabbed me by my waist and pulled me down further. We sped down to the floor of the lake. All though it was black down here I could still see the plant life that lived there. There wasn't really much else to see. We stood down there for a few minutes, mainly because he held me by waist so I couldn't swim back up. I stared at him furiously. He smiled back but then finally let go of my waist. I began to swim back up to the surface. After I had air in my lungs again I laid on my back and began to float in the water. I looked at the sky. The moon was abnormally large tonight. I could see all the craters so clearly marked on its surface. I shifted my eyes to the sparkling diamonds that decorated the clear black sky. My arms moved up and down to keep me moving. I closed my eyes and continued to float across the lake. Now I could think. Thomas was my brother. He was Gabriel's son just like the others. I wondered how Abigail will handle this situation with her old love coming back. It wouldn't have been so difficult if she wasn't already with Jackson. I sighed. Poor Jackson. How was taking all of this in?

"Hey Ness..." My eyes snapped open and I adjusted my body so that I was in the water again. I looked at Brenden who was standing a few feet away from me with a serious expression on his face.

"What's up?" I responded naturally curious to what he had to say.

"How do you thinking Jackson's handling this? You know Thomas being Abigail's old lover…" I smiled at him and nodded.

"I was just thinking the same thing." I paused and looked back up to the sky. He had to be feeling quite angry right now. Thomas became an immortal to find Abigail. He gave up his mortality for her so that he could be with her forever. Would I ever love someone that much? I laughed to myself. I was already an immortal; I didn't have to worry about such things but would I ever meet someone that I would give up all that I had for? Was it possible? I was beginning to feel cold. Being in the water near Brenden wasn't very smart because he was making the water very cool. I started swimming back towards our house but I answered Brenden's question while doing so.

"I don't know Brenden. He's probably not taking it well at all. Would you?" I didn't wait for him to answer. I was already a foot from the shore. I could feel the ground under my feet now. I stood up and started to walk. I felt the wet sand go in between my toes. The air was beginning to feel cool but it was still very moist and humid. I walked over to one of our beach chairs and laid down upon it. I closed my eyes and took in the different scents in the air. I could smell Brenden; his floral scent was never to far away from me. I could never get used to it even though we were inseparable. I smelt the pine trees that surrounded our mansion. The scent of the lake, natural water, filled my senses. I could smell the grass, which had recently been cut. I snapped my eyes open because I felt something soft fall on my stomach.

I looked down to realize that Brenden had dropped a towel there for me. I was feeling a tad bit cold right now. I looked over to him and smiled.

"Thanks Brenden." I grinned and continued. "I can't believe you're being so thoughtful." He laughed back at me and responded.

"Don't get used to it." He laid on the chair next to mine. I felt a gust of cool air pass over as he moved. Shivers went down my body causing chill bumps to pop up all over my skin. I pulled the towel around me quickly seeking warmth. I looked over at him with a serious expression on my face. I was wondering what it was like to be in love. How did the others know when they had found the "one"? Would I know? Was there someone like that for me? Even though we were all Gabriel's children, I knew I was different. Mainly because I had an active heart and they didn't. Also because I had an extremely high body temperature and they had an extremely low body temperature. I wasn't even sure how low but I was pretty sure from my experiences of touching them it was in the negatives.

"Brenden…" I wasn't sure how to word my question that I was about to ask him. In fact I wasn't sure what I wanted to ask but I knew it had to deal with being with someone, the "one." Brenden had his eyes closed but responded to me calling out his name.

"What's up?" He asked in a tired voice not bothering to turn his head or open his eyes towards me.

"How did the others know that the person they chose was the "one"? He opened one eye and stared at my face. He smiled quickly but then composed his face to make himself look serious.

"It's hard to explain Ness." He paused. He appeared to be thinking, probably about how to answer my question. I waited patiently for him to continue. He sighed then sat up in his chair. He turned so that he was sitting facing me. He bit his lip before he spoke. Water drops glistened on his body. Moon light reflected off of his skin and the drops making it appear that he had diamonds on his skin.

"You just know." He clenched his jaw very hard. I sat up slowly to face him as he spoke now. What he had to say really intrigued me. I felt my wet hair fall against my back, it felt so cold against my skin.

"I have never met the 'one.'" He laughed. "I've known and been with a few women over the last couple centuries but they weren't the 'one.' They were just infatuations and a convenient way to make the time go by faster I suppose." I frowned at his answer. It sickened me to hear him talk about women like this, as if they were toys to be played with and then thrown away when they no longer amused the one playing with them. He saw my expression and apologized.

"Sorry Ness but that's just me being honest." He said with a little remorse in his voice.

"Honesty is great but you still shouldn't use women like that." I responded bitterly.

He laughed. "Yeah okay, if you had lived for more than two centuries you'd think differently." I didn't respond I just looked at him in an irritated way. But he was right. I didn't know how it felt to have an unlimited amount of time on my hands. I had only been alive for only five years; I was created five years ago.

"So it's like a pull." His words pulled me from my thoughts. I was confused by what he was saying.

"What is?" I asked with a confused look on my face.

"Finding your mate." He replied in annoyed voice. "Focus Ness!" He yelled at me. He reached over and slapped me softly on the side of my head.

"I am!" I reached over and popped the hand he'd slapped me with.

"Anyway!" He rolled his eyes at me, truly annoyed at my lapse of attention. "Back to what I was saying, you know answering YOUR question." He grinned largely at me when he said this. I took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. I was trying to inhale patience. It didn't feel like the breathing was helping but I calmly stared at him.

"Please continue." I requested with as much patience that I could conjure up.

"Thank You." He said in a sarcastic voice. "Like I was saying there's a pull between the two of you."

"A pull?" I asked in a confused voice.

"Will you stop interrupting me?" He hissed at me.

"Sorry." I put my index finger up to my lips indicating that I would be silent.

"Yes a pull. You are pulled to that person, almost like there is an invisible chain or rope pulling you towards that person. And you can't resist the pull either. You fall in love instantly with that person. The feelings are mutual as well." His face became saddened when he spoke this. "In all my years of existing I haven't found that person." He sighed deeply. He turned his body from me and looked towards the lake. "I've watched Abigail and Christopher find their mates but haven't been able to find mine." His voice was filled with longing. "Two hundred years." He mumbled to himself and then shook his head.

I didn't know what to say so I just sat silently watching him stare at the lake dreamily. How long would it be before I found my mate? Was there someone for me out there? Would I have to wait two hundred years like Brenden before I found him? I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I looked up and saw Gabriel smiling down at me.

"Gabriel." I jumped up from my seat and ran over to him quickly. I wrapped my almost dry arms around his cool body. I shivered being so close to him but I didn't let go. He hugged me back and placed a cool kiss on the top of my forehead.

"What are you two doing out here?" He asked calmly with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

I let go of him and stared up into his face. He was smiling at me and then looked over at Brenden. His expression changed quickly to concern but he didn't bother him with questions. Instead he looked back at me and forced a smile back on his face.

"Just talking." I answered back to his question.

"Well it's past midnight." Was his reply. I was shocked. It was that late? At that moment my stomach began to growl. I guess it was also time to eat.

"We were just heading back in." I turned my body slightly so that I could stare at Brenden. He was still staring out at the lake but his attention suddenly shifted to us.

"Yeah we were about to get a little snack and then head to bed." He jumped up from his seat and came to stand beside me. Gabriel reached out his hand and placed it on Brenden's shoulder. He only stared at Brenden not saying a word. There appeared to be an unspoken conversation going on between them yet I wasn't sure how. Gabriel removed his hand quickly from Brenden's shoulder. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead again and then did the same to Brenden. He nodded at us then turned towards the house.

"Goodnight." His voice whispered back to us as he sped quickly into the mansion leaving behind his sweet cool scent.

My stomach growled again. Brenden laughed. He reached for my hand and started pulling me towards the house.

"Let's get something to eat. I'm feeling a little hungry myself." We walked quickly towards the house and entered the glass door silently. I watched as Brenden prepared us both chocolate sundaes. My mouth watered when he placed mine in my hands when he was done. I was about to devour it but then he pulled me towards the living room. I sighed heavily with irritation but followed obediently. When we entered the living room I ran over to the couch quickly. I sat next to him and instantly started eating. It was so delicious. The hot chocolate syrup mixed in with the cold vanilla ice cream. I savored every spoonful. I looked over at Brenden while I was letting the ice cream melt in my mouth. He was eating his so fast that his movements were a blur. He threw his bowl on the floor silently and then burped. He jumped from the couch and walked over to our entertainment center. He turned on our game system and found two game controllers. He walked back over to couch and threw one of the controllers at me. He sat back down next to me. He turned on the TV and started playing the game by himself. This was my favorite game, a racing game. I decided to eat the rest of my ice-cream quickly so that I could play against him and destroy him.

When I was done I placed my bowl on the floor and reached for the controller.

"I'm going to destroy you." I said this as a threat. He laughed at me loudly.

"Yeah you wish." He said in between his laughing.

We played until my eyes became too heavy to see anymore. I could see the sun rising through our front window; the white light trying to shoo away the night's dark shadows. I yawned widely and then shook my head. I had to continue. Brenden paused the game.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at him suddenly feeling all exhaustion leaving my body. He looked at me with a look of pity.

"Ness it's morning and I'm tired, well not really, you're tired." Him saying the word tired made another yawn escape from my lips. I nodded my head without much effort and lifted myself off of the couch. I stretched my ligaments and walked quickly up the stairs. I didn't even bother changing out of my bathing suit as I entered my room. I flopped myself on top of my bed and closed my eyes. It didn't take very long for me to fall asleep.

Chapter 2 An Event to Remember

"Wake up Vanessa!" A female voice yelled at me loudly. I felt a cold hand sweep across my face. If the voice hadn't awoken me the cold hand did. I sat up quickly in my bed glaring at the person who had interrupted my deep sleep. It was Rachel. She had a large smile on her face as she stared at me. She started clapping her hands when she saw that she achieved her goal of waking me up. Her long curly blonde hair fell loosely around her body. She ran over to my bed and jumped on top of it. She started jumping up and down. I stared at her with huge eyes of surprise as she laughed and jumped. She was obviously very excited about something. I wondered what.

"What are you so excited about?" I asked in a tired voice. A huge yawn escaped my lips after I spoke. She continued jumping while answering my question.

"We're going to a formal ball tonight!" She beamed another smile at me. "Which means we get to go shopping today! Yay!" She squealed at the top of lungs. I laid back down on my bed and put a pillow over my face. I really didn't share the other two girl's enthusiasm about shopping. I actually enjoyed being out in the wild with Brenden. I wasn't very feminine which probably explained why I liked being around Brenden who was quiet masculine. "Yay!" I mumbled into my pillow faking my excitement.

Rachel ripped my pillow from my hands and pulled me to stand in front of her. She looked both angry and annoyed.

"Vanessa you will not ruin our girls' day out today!" She started angrily at me. "I don't care what you have to do to make yourself excited about going out with us but figure it out before 11:00!" She squinted her eyes at me and then jumped off of my bed. She started walking towards my door but I stopped her.

"Wait Rachel!" I called out to her. Her back was to me. She turned to face me with a hesitant smile on her face.

"11:00 AM or PM?" I asked slowly knowing she was about to throw another fit. Her eyes flashed red for a quick second but then went automatically back to gold. Her hands were balled into fists which were lying limply against her legs.

"AM Ness." She spoke calmly to me. She turned her back to me, then walked out of my room slowly; closing my door quietly behind her. I sat down on my bed afraid to lay back down. I still felt tired. I figured I had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep before Rachel had woken me up. I looked over to my computer desk to find the time on my alarm clock: 9:00 AM. I sighed heavily. I had only gotten two hours of sleep and now I would have to go through the torture of shopping with Rachel and Abigail. They would spend hours trying on dresses, shoes, and make-up. I had only gone with them twice before and each time I came back feeling extremely exhausted and annoyed. But the bright side was I would be attending a formal. I had never attended a formal before because I was too young then so now I was extremely excited about being around other people that weren't related to me.

I forced myself to get off of my bed. My skin was beginning to itch. I realized that I hadn't taken a shower last night after swimming in the lake. This was on the top of my list of things to do. I looked at my reflection in my full length mirror; I shook my head. I was still wearing my bathing suit but what really bothered me was that I looked so tired. My eyes were swollen and red. My hair was clumped up from drying before I could get a comb through it. Once again I sighed but forced myself to walk over to my bathroom. I took a quick shower which helped wake me up. I felt completely rejuvenated after I stepped out of my bathroom. With my towel wrapped around me I sought out denim shorts and a simple yellow spaghetti strap shirt. I found a pair of yellow flip flops to match. I dressed myself quickly and did my hair and make-up. This all took me less than five minutes. I took my time walking downstairs. I knew I was about to walk into a disaster zone made up of pure estrogen. I kept my head down towards the floor; my eyes were focused on the steps that my feet were descending. I really wasn't all too excited about this shopping trip. I had only slept a couple of hours and now I would be dragged around to several elite clothing boutiques. I curved down our staircase slowly. Without even looking up I could hear their excited voices.

"Rachel we have to go to Mitel's." Squealed Abigail's voice.

"I know he has the most beautiful and original gowns at his boutique." Rachel responded with excitement in her voice.

"Oh and let's not forget Andrew's."

"I know! Umm…have we figured out what we're doing about our hair and make-up?" A loud laugh came from Rachel. "We really don't need to get either done but since we're getting dressed up maybe we should do the others?"

"Umm we can do it ourselves. Besides I really don't like other people messing with my hair or face."

"Shh…" Rachel shushed at Abigail.

"What?" Abigail asked curiously.

"Vanessa's taking her time getting down here. She's on the stairs."

With that comment I slowly descended the stairs and turned towards the living room. I stood in the doorway staring at the two of them. They were standing near the back floor length window staring at me. The sun shined through the glass showering the two of them in its bright morning light. They looked like blonde goddesses both with their flowing long hair let loose today. Rachel's curly blonde hair touched down to her waist. She had on khaki shorts and a simple beige short sleeved blouse. She stood elegantly in a pair of beige high heels. Abigail was of course wearing a tight red tank top but instead of black shorts she had on a short black skirt. She also still had on her necklace with the cross charm but this was always something she wore. I wondered what that cross stood for; one day I would have to ask her about it. Her straight blonde hair touched the middle of her back and part of it was draped across her hip. Her feet were laced in black stilettos. Both were smirking at me; they knew that I was nowhere near as excited about this shopping trip as them but I also knew they would enjoy dressing me up today. Abigail sped across the room to stand by me. Her quick approach sent a large cool wind to flow over my body. Her honey scent rushed over me as well. She looked so excited right now it was almost annoying. She started clapping her hands.

"You ready?" She asked happily. I kept my face blank as I stared at her because I didn't want her knowing how ridiculous I thought all of this was. I really didn't want to ruin their day but at the same time I didn't want to fake my excitement either. Instead of answering I shrugged my shoulders. Her excitement faded when she saw my indifference.

"You know I really don't know why Gabriel insists that Rachel and I bring you on our shopping trips! I mean seriously we would be happy going by ourselves but NO he wants us to BOND with you!" Her eyes flashed red when she said this but that lasted for less than a second.

"Abigail be nice." Rachel spoke slowly as she glided slowly over to us. "Vanessa isn't use to how we do things." She came to stand beside Abigail and placed both of her hands on Abigail's shoulders. "You must remember that Vanessa is still young even though she is fairly intelligent for…well. She's young." She spoke these words so calmly that even I seemed comforted by them. Abigail sighed loudly but smiled excitedly again.

"I'm driving!" She chirped loudly. She jingled her keys in front of us and headed towards the garage. We followed behind her; Rachel walked calmly with a content smile on her face. I had a confused look on mine because of what Abigail had said. Gabriel was forcing them to take me along. This bit of news didn't surprise me because Gabriel made us all do things we didn't like to do; I'm fairly sure had I not agreed to go he would've been a little peeved. It was the bonding part that confused me. Did Abigail not want to bond with me? Was I being overly dramatic thinking like this? Rachel reached for my hand and placed mine in her cool hand. She laced my fingers with hers and then smiled at me as we walked towards the garage. I immediately felt a wave of calmness and relaxation flow over me. A soft smile formed on my face. Suddenly this day didn't seem so horrible. Maybe getting out with my sisters would be more enjoyable than the last few times. As for Abigail; I knew that she liked spending time with me. It was my attitude that had annoyed her moments ago.

We walked into the garage passing the other's vehicles to reach Abigail's red GT8. Her car was not a normal red color; it was the color of blood. There were black flames on both the driver and passenger sides. Her car matched her personality to perfection; it was fast, flashy, and full of surprises. On the outside it looked like only two people could fit in it but the inside with big enough for five. Abigail had the car running before any of us reached it. She got in first; I jumped into the backseat, while Rachel sat up front. Abigail backed out of the garage and then set off in a flash down our long driveway. I didn't pay attention to where she was driving because I had closed my eyes. I decided I would take a nap while Abigail drove wherever we were going.

"Good idea Ness! We've got a couple of hours ahead of us!" Abigail shouted back to me. I grunted in response. The low hum of the car's engine helped me drift off into a soft sleep. I guess I must've been really tired because not even their conversation could keep me awake.

A car door slammed loudly which startled me from my nap. I sat up quickly in my seat and looked around. Rachel was holding the passenger door open while Abigail was laughing, probably at the startled look on my face. I pulled myself out of the car and stood next to them. I took in my surroundings as I stretched. We appeared to be at a shopping complex but none of the stores were open; all of their lights were off.

"Where arrrrre weeee? I asked while yawning.

"A friend's letting us shop at his store during closing hours." Rachel answered quickly. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know anything about shopping or stores so I would just go along with whatever they did and said. We started walking towards the buildings. They both continued talking about tonight not really trying to conceal their excitement.

"Oh Ness you'll get to meet Hayden tonight." Abigail yelled back to me. I was walking behind them reluctantly.

"Who's Hayden?" I asked with curiosity in my voice.

"You'll see tonight. His dad is good friends with Gabriel. You'll like him because he's a lot like you." Abigail said with a hint of teasing in her voice. Rachel reached over and slapped her hard on her arm and scowled at her. Abigail growled softly under her breath but didn't retaliate.

"What do you mean like me?" I was definitely curious to know what she was going on about now. Before Abigail could answer Rachel placed her hand on Abigail's shoulder. Abigail took a deep breath but continued walking in silence.

"Stop asking so many questions Vanessa!" Rachel threw back at me. At that moment we stopped in front of the door. Rachel removed her hand from Abigail's shoulder but gave her another warning look and then knocked on the door. Abigail started hissing but stopped when the door opened a few seconds later. A short man, probably an inch or two shorter than me stood in front of us. He had long wavy black hair that reached down to his ribcage. His eyes were a deep black color; which was strange for me because I had always been around people with golden eyes. It was hard for me to pull my gaze from his dark deathly eyes but I somehow managed to when he looked over at me. I shifted my gaze down to the ground as I felt his eyes take me in.

"Truly unique." He muttered quietly to himself. He coughed loudly and then spoke loudly to us.

"Hello Abigail, Rachel, and I'm assuming this new one is Gabriel's big secret. Hmm…" I snapped my head up quickly to stare at him. Gabriel's big secret? I squinted my eyes at him as he continued to observe every part of me. Abigail stood in front of me after a few uncomfortable seconds. "Yes, this is Vanessa. She is our SISTER!" She said with a warning tone in her voice to him. She reached for my body with her right arm and me wrapped close to her; pulling me towards her body. We pushed past the man and then entered the store.

"Enrique are the dresses ready?" Rachel asked in a cool professional voice as we stopped in the middle of the store at the counter. I assumed that Enrique was the guy who had opened the door for us and eyed me widely. He appeared behind the counter and smiled warmly at us with three dresses in his arms. He already was beginning to place them gently on the counter.

"Yes and they are exactly as you imagined and wanted them to be." He responded smugly. "This dress is yours Abigail." He handed the dress over to Abigail. "This one is for you… Rachel." Rachel reached for the dress quickly but removed it slowly from Enrique's hands. "And this one is obviously yours…" I stood frozen in place. We wouldn't have to try on five hundred dresses because Rachel had specially ordered them. This was great news but at the same time that meant that they had known about this formal in advance. I turned towards Rachel and eyed her with suspicion.

"How long have you known about this formal?" Rachel had already pulled her dress from its bag and was eyeing it. She didn't pause to my answer question.

"Rachel!" I yelled at her to get her attention.

"What?" She yelled back with annoyance in her voice.

"How long have you known about this formal?" I asked again with annoyance in my voice.

"Why does it matter?" She finally looked at me but I wasn't expecting her to look so, so torn. What was she torn about?

"Well…I can't answer that Ness because Gabriel would like to tell you about that himself." She had a look of pity on her face. She shook her head and continued on with looking her dress. "Sorry Ness I wish I could tell you more."

I rolled my eyes but didn't continue on with my interrogation. I walked towards the counter and pulled my dress off of it.

"Thanks." I mumbled to the man. I stared around the room for a minute. There were rows of formal gowns that lined up and down the store. There appeared to be hundreds maybe thousands off gowns around us. Rachel and Abigail were eyeing their dresses for imperfections. Since they were busy observing their gowns I decided to try my dress on and see how it felt and looked on me. I turned back to the counter towards the man.

"Where can I try this on?" I asked him as politely as I could muster. He smiled warmly at me with his bottomless black eyes. I felt an urge to ask him about his eye color but I held it back. Right now wasn't the appropriate time to ask such questions. He came around the counter in a white flash and came to stand next to me.

"Follow me." He said with a soft smile on his face. He walked in front of me and led me down to the back of the store. We walked through a maze of dresses of multiple colors: pinks, yellows, blues, greens, whites, blacks, and beyond. I focused my attention on Enrique who was appeared to glide, instead of walking. He walked like he was on air instead of the ground. From behind he appeared so small, but I was comparing to him to the men that I knew who were all tall and muscular. He appeared to be more feminine; almost delicate. His soft long black hair bounced softly against his back as he walked. He was wearing a tailored black suit which made him appear very professional and stylish. He stopped abruptly in front of a set of beige shiny doors and opened them for me. He waved one hand towards the inside of the room he stood in front of.

"Here you go Ms. Evans." He said politely in his soft voice. He looked me over again with his deep black eyes and smiled.

"Thank you." I said with a polite smile and stepped in front of him into the dressing room. I felt his strong gaze on my back as I walked in front of him. From the mirror I saw him turn to leave from the room while he closed the door behind him.

"So tempting and yet no urge." He mumbled under his breath as he walked away. I felt chills go down my back as I took in his words. I was tempting to him; in other words he wanted to drink from me- I was his prey and yet he felt no urge to do so. Why would he think of me as his prey? I was an immortal; wasn't I? I stared at myself in the floor to ceiling mirror. My seagreen eyes still looked tired, which didn't surprise me since I had only gotten a few hours of sleep, but for the most part I looked presentable; not as beautiful and exotic as my sisters but I border lined on attractive looking. My curly brown hair rested still on my back; I had part of it tucked behind my ears. My skin had a golden shade to it, something none of the others had because they were all so abnormally white; their skin almost glowed from being so pale.

I pulled myself away from my reflection and stared at my dress that was still wrapped safely in its bag. I walked over to the door and placed it safely on the hook attached to it. Then I proceeded to unzip the bag. I smiled at the dress before me because it was astonishingly beautiful. Somehow Rachel had designed a dress that represented every part of me; or that I at least thought it was gorgeous. It was sea green, which matched my eyes. Its bodice was glittery and it appeared to be strapless. I was beginning to feel my sisters' excitement now because I really wanted to try on the dress. I took my clothes off quickly and slowly removed my gown from its protector. I unzipped it quickly and stepped into it; pulling the dress up on my body. It felt cold against my skin, almost like it had been in a freezer- like ice. Little goosebumps formed on my skin not only from the cold but from how breathtaking my reflection appeared. The dress hugged tightly to my body accentuating all of my curves, which I was surprised to have had. I had amazing cleavage in this dress which made me feel more womanly. The gown was long in the back but in the front stopped about seven inches above my knees, which was cut in a v-shape. I couldn't believe how beautiful I looked, how much like my sisters.

Knock-Knock-Knock. I turned towards the door.

"Yeah?" I asked to whom ever was knocking.

"How does your gown look?" Rachel's voice called out to me.

"Absolutely gorgeous." I honestly responded to her question.

"Can we see?" Abigail shouted out to me.

"Sure." I walked over to the door and unlocked it leaving it open so that they could get a good glimpse at me. They both smiled excitedly at me. Rachel actually had tears forming in her eyes which made me feel slightly awkward.

"Rachel…" I complained about her tears.

"I'm sorry…" She sobbed loudly. "It just looks so…" She took a deep breath as the tears became into a cry. "Beautiful!" She wiped the tears from her face quickly. Abigail rolled her eyes at Rachel's overdramatic moment and all I could do was shake my head. Rachel was truly proud of herself for creating such a gorgeous gown. I stepped back into the room and slammed the door in their faces.

"Real nice Ness!" Abigail yelled out at me with sarcasm in her voice. I only smiled and started taking my gown off. I pulled myself together quickly and raced out to meet up with Abigail and Rachel; they were already standing outside waiting for me. I didn't stop to say goodbye to Enrique partially because he was really weird.

"Took you long enough." Abigail mumbled under her breath when I met up with them outside. I only grunted at her in response. We sped to Abigail's car quickly and were out of the parking lot in a flash. Now that we weren't around him anymore I could ask what had been bothering me about Enrique the whole time we were there; his eyes. Luckily neither of them were talking and so I didn't have to feel rude about interrupting their conversation.

"So what's the deal with Enrique's eyes?' There was a tense pause when neither answered my question instantly. I waited for a response but neither said anything so I asked again but in a different way.

"I mean his eyes were black. I've seen your eyes change from gold to red when you're angry or thirsty, but I've never seen your eyes black like his. Why were his eyes like that? I mean he was clearly an immortal because he was pale and moved quickly like us…"

"He's different from us Ness, primarily because he feeds off of a different prey than we do." Rachel finally answered while I was in mid-sentence. Her voice was strained as she spoke as if she was finding it very hard to speak.

"What is his prey?" Once again neither answered but this time tension grew thicker. They both kept their eyes on the road ahead of us but they didn't respond to my question. I sighed heavily and sat back in my seat. I crossed my arms into my chest and let my mind wonder. Enrique was an immortal but he fed off a different prey than us, but what could that prey be? I mean we fed off of animals, I didn't think there was any other type of prey out there besides the ones we fed off of, deer, bear, mountain lions, and exotic creatures that we order now and then to get a taste of the world outside of our lovely town. What else could there be?

"When we get home I'll start Vanessa's make-up and hair and after I'm done with her I'll start on yours Rachel." Abigail interrupted my thoughts with her words. I pulled myself away from them and focused on their conversation.

"Okay and then I'll do yours when you're done with me." Rachel nonchalantly agreed with a small hint of frustration in her voice.

"Ness I'm so excited for you tonight! You'll get to meet all of our good friends and some of Gabriel's extended family."

"Don't start that again Abi." Rachel warned Abigail.

I was about to respond to what Abigail was saying but instead I stared out the windows of the car. I watched as we sped past the thick forest around us. There wasn't much else out here but trees and more trees and mountains. Tonight was going to be different and I couldn't help but feel excited. I was going to meet this guy, Hayden, apparently Abigail was very excited about this. I wondered who he was and what he was like. I mean I

was surrounded by extravagant men who were all different but extremely attractive and yet none of them pulled me in like Brendan said I would when I met him. Oddly enough though over the last few months I was beginning to get closer to Brendan. I spent most of my time around him and didn't feel the need to be around anyone else. He made me feel safe and secure when I was with him and I also could be myself around him. He was the only one in this family who was honest, as honest as Gabriel would allow anyway, with me but I didn't feel that pull and neither did he.

My eyes focused on the outside again when I realized we were pulling onto our long driveway. This day turned out better than I had expected. I didn't have to try on a bunch of dresses and Abigail would have my make-up and hair done in no time. I would at least have a few hours to relax after Abigail was done with me. Wait a minute! I just had realized I had no idea when what time we were going to this formal!

"What time are we leaving?" I asked cautiously. I had a feeling we'd be leaving sooner rather than later.

"Well…Samuel wants us to be there early so that we all can play catch up." Rachel spoke quickly and then paused obviously to tease me.

"And…" I urged her on with her answer.

"We have to leave in an hour." I looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was already 5:00. I couldn't believe how much of the day had already flown by but we had spent most of that time driving from here to there and there to here. Once again we would be rushing. Abigail parked the car in her spot in our garage. We all got out of the car and

raced into the house to begin our preparation for the night. I followed behind Abigail obediently into her bathroom upstairs. She already had everything out on her counter. She had dozens of bottles of make-up, hair products, hair clips, and other hair styling tools. She pushed me down into a chair that was sitting in front of her sink. I closed my eyes and felt Abigail begin to work her magic on me. I felt her comb through my hair quickly and then started feeling her pull large strands of my hair. Then I felt heat touch very close to my scalp and then smelt my hair burning but I didn't open my eyes to inspect. I felt her comb and the heat repeatedly touch my scalp but she was done a few moments later. I began to feel her place cool foundation on my face. Then I felt a brush sweep across my cheek and face. Next she played with my eyes brushing make-up onto my eyelids. Lastly she played with my lips brushing something onto them as well. I felt her cool presence pull away from my body.

"All done!" She chirped happily to me. I opened my eyes and stared at my stunning reflection in the mirror. I was shocked because Abigail made me into one of them but more so. I had their beauty but my golden skin made me more beautiful. She had taken my tight curls and turned them into larger loser ones. She twisted several rows at the top of my head and then placed what appeared to be tiny rhinestones in my hair. When I reached up to touch them she spoke.

"Their diamond hair clips." She said smugly. I formed my lips into a silent O and continued to touch them. My reddish brown hair was gorgeous. At that moment I looked into my eyes which popped out because of the great job she had done with my eye make-up. My eyes appeared more significant and pronounced because of how she used several different colors. The rest of my face was in perfection which didn't take much effort on her part but still I was amazed at how quickly she had turned me into an immortal.

"Thanks Abigail! Now I look more like you and Rachel." I jokingly said but meant every word. She beamed a smile at me but then pulled me up from her chair.

"Come on. I've got to do Rachel and then she has to get me ready. Go get dressed!" I scowled at her for a second but walked out of the bathroom relieved that the torture was over. I reached for my dress that I had placed on her bed and then walked towards my room which was right down the hall. After I entered my room I took my dress out and then placed it on my body. I walked over to my floor-length mirror and stared at myself. If only for my golden skin I could pass for an immortal. I didn't understand why I was so different for the others. They had such pale white skin and I didn't. They were so cold and I was so hot. They had no heart beat but I had a fast beating one. I didn't understand but I knew eventually I would know why I was different. It was obvious that Gabriel didn't want the others to tell me because he had forbidden them from saying anything to me about their lives in general. Whatever Gabriel was keeping from me had to be big because he was controlling every word that had to say pertaining to being what we were. I jumped quickly when I saw Brendan standing behind my reflection in my mirror. I turned around to face him. He was wearing a black formal coat and pants ensemble which made him appear so handsome. I was so used to seeing him shirtless and wearing jeans; seeing him like this took my breathe away. He was so much more attractive like this at that moment I did feel a small pull to him but only because he smelt so good. He had recently hunted I could smell the scent on him. My throat began to burn at that moment. He smiled at me and then handed me a cup which had a strong sweet scent to it which made my throat burn even more. I snatched the cup from his hand and took a large sip. I had never tasted anything like this in my life this drink tasted so much better than the animal blood that we drank. The burn in my throat instantly soothed when I took my last gulp.

"Thirsty?" He asked through the large smile on his face.

"Yeah I was. What was that?" I lifted the cup towards him.

"Something Gabriel would frown upon if he ever knew I'd given it to you." He shrugged his shoulders but didn't continue with his explanation. I pulled the cup to my face and inhaled deeply which wasn't very smart because I wanted more now. I hadn't eaten all day or hunted either so I was starving. I stepped closer to Brendan taking in his masculine body. I looked up into his golden eyes with a begging look on my face. His smile washed off of his face as he stared into mine. I reached my hand up to his cheek; instead of speaking my thoughts to him I silently sent them to him.

I want more. He nodded his head slowly, grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. I wasn't sure where we were going but his grip was strong so I didn't even bother fighting him. We walked down to the garage and walked over to his yellow Camero. He unlocked his trunk and opened a black case that was full of glass bottles that were full of a thick red fluid. He pulled one out and dangled it in front of me. . My throat flared up just looking at it. I reached for the bottle instantly but he blocked my path.

"Do not even think about this when you're around Christopher or the others. They would burn me alive if they knew I had this and especially since I let you drink some of it." I nodded my head vigorously waiting impatiently for him to give me the bottle. I snatched it quickly from his hand and drank it down just as fast. My body felt oddly powerful as I stood next to him. I felt extremely hot and aware of myself. My eyes traveled over Brenden and I automatically felt something click inside of me, something I had never felt before, an attraction to him. I let the glass bottle fall from my hand and heard it break as it touched the ground but I didn't take my eyes off of him. I closed the gap that was between us and inhaled his scent deeply. He smelt delicious, like various flowers and that all familiar scent of honey. He took in a startled breath.

"Your eyes." He whispered to me. The spell broke. I shook my head and stepped away from him.

"What about them?" I felt so weird at that moment not really sure what had just happened. I wanted for a brief moment to get very close to Brenden but I wasn't sure in what way. He touched my face gently with his hand and smiled at me worriedly.

"That's the first I've ever seen them change colors." My eyes widened with surprise. That was another thing that was different about me; my eyes didn't change colors like theirs did when they thirsted or felt enraged. Mine just stayed sea green.

"What color did they change?" His worried expression deepened but he didn't say anything.

"I shouldn't have given you that to drink." He gestured towards the broken bottle with his hand. "They turned black." I stared at him with a blank expression. My eyes had turned black; black like Enrique's had been. So I had taken in whatever Enrique preyed upon. The fluid tasted so delicious; just thinking about it made little prickles form down my throat. I suddenly felt an urge to go out and seek whatever animal had this type of blood. I wanted it more than I had ever wanted anything else in my life. I started to walk around Brendan but he grabbed me by arm and stopped me.

"Where are you going?" He asked with surprise in his voice. I didn't look at him. I was intent on hunting down the creature that Brendan had gotten the blood from. I needed to do this. I tried to pull my arm out his hand but failed miserably because his grip got tighter. A sudden wave of rage came over me. Brendan was preventing me from hunting and I was not liking it one bit. A low growl started in my throat.

"Let go of me!" I hissed lowly to him. He glared at me with his golden eyes. All humor had evaded his face being replaced by a blank look.

"Can't do that Ness. I'm sorry. I know what you're planning on doing. I won't let you hunt right now." The low growl grew into an outright cry of rage as I used all of my strength to pull myself free from him. Once I felt his cold hand release from mine I bolted out of the garage. I knew from previous experience he would catch up to me in no time but I ran anyway. I wasn't sure where I was going so I just ran away from house. I kept my sense of smell open as I trampled the soft warm ground with my bare feet. The air was cool tonight which felt great against my hot skin. I could see the trees thinning in front of me. I had reached the end of our driveway; soon I would be hitting pavement. Instead of breaking through the trees I ran along the trees that lined the highway that ran adjacent to our house. I listened for his footsteps but I didn't hear him yet so I continued running. I felt unbelievably strong right now almost like I could run forever. Then I heard it; the Camero's engine. Instead of following me by foot he was going at it by car. I heard his car break loudly right by where I was running so I put more strength into my run; he would be following me now. I continued down the same path I initially started out on. I could hear footsteps behind me and also the Camero following along on the road. The footsteps were gaining on me effortlessly; they would be catching up with me shortly but I continued on. I could see bright lights forming ahead of me and the faint sounds of laughter, voices speaking, and oddly enough low heartbeats; not quite like mine though because they were slower. This time I put as much strength as I could into my legs and sped towards the sounds. I also could smell that scent so similar to the concoction I had drunken earlier. My throat began to ache with desire and my desire fueled my flight towards my prey. The lights were getting brighter and larger as I sped towards the voices and scent. I needed and so desired to feed right now. My body longed to sink my teeth into this new prey; this was something I had never hunted. I was close now, the scent from my prey was overwhelming my senses. I smelt that sweet coopery scent which caused my throat to become inflamed. The heart beats were all around me; so close to me as well but before I could get closer to those bright lights and the scent someone pulled me back. My body tensed up in rage preparing itself to fight against the one that held me back. My skin felt like it was on fire and my vision went completely red. I didn't take the time to see who was holding me I only attacked. I bit down into his throat not really caring if I was hurting him. Then I felt a burning sensation form on my arms almost like I was being set on fire; I could also smell my skin burn. The pain was unbearable. I started to scream but my voice was gone. I felt another set hands being placed on my shoulders and instantly felt my mind and body relax. My vision went from red to black and then I saw nothing.

I heard voices whispering quietly around me and the loud roar of Brendan's Camero engine.

"What were you thinking giving her that stuff Brendan? Gabriel is going to kill you!" Rachel's voice hissed lowly at him.

"I didn't think she'd be affected like that. I mean I never had a reaction like hers." His voice was full of guilt. What was he feeling guilty about?

"She's not like us Brendan; not completely. Besides human blood has that affect on most Immortals. Why do you think Jackson had such a hard time adjusting back to our way of living? That type of blood causes our kind to become Vampires." Rachel paused. "You're such an idiot!" She mumbled under her breath.

"I just wanted her to try something new. I mean I drink the stuff all the time and I have never had that type of reaction." Once again his voice was full of guilt as he spoke.

"As I said before, Vanessa isn't like you. Even if she was completely like us that was her first time drinking human blood so she would've had that type of reaction regardless." Rachel spoke these words calmly to Brendan but didn't say anything else neither did he. I laid there silently slowly going over their conversation about me. Human blood, that was what I had drank but what were humans? I had never heard this term spoken before so I wasn't sure what to think. That blood gave me a boost in energy like I had never felt before but I also felt an urge to hunt like I had never felt before also. I had run so fast and gotten so close to my prey before they had gotten to me. Now I was laying down in Brendan's car feeling slightly exhausted. My throat was dully pounding from me not completing my hunt. I needed to hunt soon so that I could rid myself of the pain that I felt.

"Ness, we're almost there." Rachel's voice gently spoke to me. I opened my eyes slowly and found her to be staring back at me. I sat up and turned to look at her more clearly. She smiled at me when she saw that I had gone back to normal. I took my eyes off at her and looked out the front window. I could see a huge mansion forming in front of us; it was actually larger than ours. It looked like it was made up of all glass because I could see light shooting out from all of its ceiling to floor windows, which the entire house was made up of. Even the front door was glass.

"Amazing huh?" Rachel asked me.

I nodded my head in agreement.

"Show offs." Brendan countered to Rachel's comment.

I smiled to myself because I also agreed with him; these people were show offs because their mansion was extravagant. Brendan pulled up to the front of the house just outside their front door and we were all bathed in bright white light coming from inside. Brendan got out first and held his seat up for me to get out. He grabbed my hand quickly and laced his fingers through mine. We started walking towards the house following close behind Rachel who had just been joined by Christopher. He was dressed very similar to Brendan black coat and pants ensemble. I noticed that his reddish brown hair had been shaved off leaving only a little behind but he still looked extremely attractive. When we walked into the mansion a wave of cold air struck against my body but instead of feeling cold I felt relieved because I was feeling hot at the moment. As we continued walking into the foyer I heard my feet go click-clack against the floor. I looked down and realized that I had a pair of silver heels on. I hadn't even noticed the difference they made as I walked. I smiled to myself amazed that six inch heels didn't cause me any pain.

We stopped walking when we caught up to the rest of our family. Gabriel and Katherine were both ogling me down; Gabriel more so than Katherine. I felt his disappointment and anger wash over me but he didn't say anything. Abigail and Jackson were standing comfortably by each other whispering into each others ears. Thomas was nowhere to be seen. Gabriel took his eyes off of me, wrapped his arm around Katherine's arm, turned towards the archway we were in front of and stepped into the room. Abigail and Jackson followed after them, then Rachel and Christopher walked after them, and then we entered lastly.

This room was darker than the foyer we had just exited; if it wasn't for the candles burning we would be in pitch black. My hand began to sweat next to Brendan's ice cold hand. My nerves were beginning to set in when I noticed how many other immortals were in this room; at least a hundred. My heart began to beat faster and my throat began to ache more because I could smell that all too familiar copper scent. I pulled Brendan into the direction the scent was coming from and quickly saw a fountain of red liquid shooting up on a table in front of us. It took me less than a second to reach the table and fill a cup with the warm liquid, even less time to drink it. The throbbing was finally gone and suddenly the shadows were lifted from my eyes. I could also hear the voices around me get louder. There was also piano music being played; a composition I had never heard before. Something else caught my ear. In a room full of bodies with silent hearts I could hear a slow heart beat. Even through all the conversation around me I could hear the slow thump…thump…thump…thump.

I twisted my hand free from Brendan's to find the source of the slow rhythm; he didn't try to stop me. Through the tangled webs of people around me I followed the source. I could hear it get louder as I walked quickly across the room not really caring whom I pushed out of my way. I needed to find the one and only other heart beat in the room besides my own. As I got closer to it the composition got louder; I was getting closer to the piano. And there he was; the owner of the slow heart beat. He was sitting at a large mahagony piano. The music that flowed from his long fingers was beautiful; only his beauty outshined what he was playing. No longer focusing on his heart beat I was drawn to him. I stood about ten feet away from him; far away enough as to not make myself known to him. His short brown hair was lightly touched with red streaks. His hair stood in many directions; as if he had been running his fingers through it obsessively. His face was bent towards the piano keys but I could still see his eyes, which were a beautiful shade of ice blue. He appeared to be concentrating hard on the music that flowed from his fingers. This was music I had never heard before; exquisite but also saddening at the same time; a sorrowful song. I took another step towards him. For some reason I felt like I was being pulled toward him and I couldn't stop myself from going near him. Instead of standing beside him I decided to stand behind him so that he wouldn't see me. I stared at his back which seemed oddly muscular under his starched baby blue blouse. I was less than three feet away from him now; now I could smell him. He smelled oddly like me; that same unusually sweet scent that smelt almost like blood but not as strong.

"That's my son Hayden." A cool strong voice whispered into my ear. I jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." I turned to look at the man that was speaking to me. He had short wavy brown hair and looked very similar to Gabriel; everything but the dark hair of course. Also unlike Gabriel his eyes were black, he obviously had a diet made up of human blood, whatever that meant of course. He was wearing black pants and had on a white blouse; he wasn't wearing a jacket over his blouse. He smiled at me warmly and then looked over towards his son who was still playing beautifully in front of us.

"You must be Vanessa. Gabriel has been holding back on us." I continued to look at him without responding because I didn't know who he was. His smile only got wider.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. I'm Samuel. I guess you could say that I'm your uncle." I smiled at him finally knowing from past conversations that Samuel's family was very close to ours. I then turned my attention back on Hayden. This was the guy Abigail talked about earlier; the one that was like me. I could understand what she meant now, he had a heart beat like me, something the others didn't have.

"He's wonderful pianist." My voice came out very low as I spoke because I was truly mesmerized by Hayden's musical capability.

"Yes he is. I'm happy to finally meet you Vanessa. I've known about you for years but Gabriel never let any of us come and visit you. Even though Hayden is just like you. Gabriel has always been very protective of you; can't say that I blame him though. I use to be that way too when Hayden was younger." The music stopped at that moment. Hayden rose from his bench and walked slowly over to us. He kept his eyes on mine as he closed in the space in between us. I felt my body begin to warm up the closer he stepped over to us. My heart once again began to beat faster; my breathing also sped as well. His blank expression suddenly broke into a wide smile which exposed all of his stunningly white teeth.

"Father must you harass our beautiful guest here?" He teased of his father who only smiled back and then bowed his head towards Hayden.

"I think I'll leave you two alone I've got a few more guests to harass." With that comment he stepped away and set off towards another group of people. Hayden continued to stare at me and I was having a hard time not staring back. I couldn't take my eyes off of his exquisite ice blue eyes. I stepped closer to him wanting to take in his scent which was strong; not as strong as the scent I smelt earlier tonight but he smelt just as intoxicating. The music started up again. He pulled me into his body and we began to dance. His hands felt extremely hot against my skin as we moved across the floor. At first neither of us said anything which didn't bother me at all. I was overwhelmed by how attracted I was to him; His entire being pulled me into him.

"Today I turned 100 years old." He began slowly as I titled my head up to look into his face. "I've lived a century and never have I been so attracted towards a female like I am to you." I didn't know what to say to him so I just nodded my head in response. "Vanessa you are truly beautiful and unique." So was he. I didn't know what it was about him but I was completely mesmerized by him. While dancing with him I forgot about everyone around us and it felt like we were the only two people in the room.

"Maybe it's because you're so much like me. I mean we both have one parent who was human." I stopped dancing when he said this and stared at him with a frustrated look on my face.

"Human parent?" I asked really not sure what he was talking about.

"Yeah my mom was human when she gave birth to me and so was yours." I shook my head when he said this. I didn't have a mother, other than Katherine but she couldn't have children.

"I don't have a mother." I simply stated.

"Of course you do. I mean you have to otherwise you wouldn't exist. All the immortals in this room came from a mother, when they were human." He explained as if what he was saying was common sense. I only shook my head at what he said. I didn't understand or even comprehend what he was talking about. I didn't have a mother, at least Gabriel never told me that I had one. If my mother was human, whatever that meant, then I would be half human. What were humans? I was about to ask him that but my question was interrupted by loud laughter. The music stopped at that moment as well. I looked over to the source of laughter and saw a black haired woman standing in the center of the room. Brendan was standing tensely in front of her as if he were trying to block her from moving past him.

Hayden pushed me behind him and stood protectively in front of me. I quickly stepped to stand beside him; I didn't feel the need to have anyone protect me because I could protect myself. Who was this woman that caused the whole room to become quiet? She was extremely beautiful. Her black hair flowed down to her hips. Her skin had a bronze tint to its paleness. Her eyes were the same black color that the others had as well. She had a perfect set of red lips that fit comfortably on her perfect face. She wore a tight fitting black dress that was short, it stopped about six inches below her hips but it showed off all her perfect curves. She was truly stunning and very exotic looking.

"You think you can stop me Brendan." Her accented voice sneered out to him. "You couldn't block me when we were together and you won't be able to do so now either." She laughed again loudly. "Besides I'm just curious." Her voice sounded so innocent when she that. She tried to get around Brendan but he moved along with her. That's when I saw the others crowd around her which caused her to laugh louder.

"It's so sad to see our kind protecting humans. In fact it is quite sickening!" Her eyes flashed red when she said this. She tried to push past Brendan but I knew from personal experience trying to push past him was like pushing against a cement wall; he was impossible to get by.

"It infuriates to see our kind mating with humans. It's unnatural! Humans were created for our kind to feed upon not to be with!" Her voice was full of rage now. "My father didn't create the Immortals to be with humans; in fact I know he would be highly irate if he knew what you pathetic excuses for Immortals were doing here." Her voice turned cold suddenly as she said this.

"Enough!" Samuel's voice rang out from across the room. He broke through the crowd. He gently pushed Brendan aside from standing in front of the black haired woman so that he could stand in front of her. I tried to walk closer to their group but Hayden grabbed me with one of his hot hands and prevented me from doing so. I sighed heavily but continued watching from where I stood. I could only see Samuel's back but I could see her face. The rage was watched away and was replaced by fear as she stared at Samuel.

"I will not have you speak disrespectively about my family Adelita." Samuel's voice sounded so calm as he spoke to her. "I will ask you only once to leave here peacefully and not to return. Your kind is not welcomed here." All fear washed off of Adelita's face and once again rage filled every inch of it.

'My kind?" She hissed at him. "My kind Samuel? You mean what we all naturally are?" She stepped closer to him leaving no space in between them. Her eyes were blood red as she stared into his face.

"There's nothing natural about what you do to humans Adelita. You are the most barbaric of the Immortals, a true vampire, even worse because you don't just feed off of humans you torture them. Leave Adelita." He still sounded so calm as he spoke to her even when she was so close to him.

"Why should I respect anything that you say? I come from a family that is above yours. You don't have authority over me." She hissed at him.

"I respect your father and all that he has done for all our kind but you have no claim to my territory around here. This is my land and you will do as I say." His face stood less than six inches from her as he spoke his next words. "Leave now!" I could feel the tension between them from where I stood; it was that powerful. She stared at him with her red eyes for a few more seconds but then turned away from him.

"My father will be hearing about this." She threw back at him.

"Please tell him. I will be expecting to hear from him and if he doesn't get into contact with me then I will contact him myself." He threw back at her with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Let's go!" She yelled out and a group of ten Immortals gathered around her and followed her out of the room. I let out a deep breath and could feel my heart beat excitedly in my chest. Brendan appeared beside me instantly. I smiled at him warmly as he placed a cold hand on my shoulder.

"Who was that?" I asked out of curiosity. He stared intensely at me and then looked over at Hayden who still holding me by my wrist.

"Can you excuse us?" Brendan asked politely of Hayden.

"Of course." Hayden's deep voice responded. I grabbed for Brendan's hand and placed it in mine. Neither of us said anything as we walked out of the main room and headed back towards the front of the house. Adelita seemed so beautiful but horrific at the same time. Those black eyes brought chills to my skin as I thought about them. And then there was Hayden who was truly unique in his beauty. I couldn't wrap my mind around what he told me about being human. I wanted to know what humans were and whether was I one of them. We had made our way to Brendan's Camero; he opened the passenger door for me and quickly got in on the driver's side. He started up his car and we were on our way. We drove in silence for a while but then Brendan started up a conversation.

"Adelita is an ex of mine." He began. "She and I were together when I tried to live like a true vampire, which wasn't as easy as I thought it would be." I stared at him with confusion.

"What are vampires?" Samuel had said something to Adelita tonight about being a vampire. I had never heard of that term before so I wanted to know what it meant.

"Vampires are the most barbaric of us Immortal." He started to explain.

"Barbaric?" I interrupted of him.

"Don't start with the interrupting, please." He said with an attitude.

"Sorry." I said quickly and quietly.

"Anyway…vampires feed off of…" He swallowed hard as if in pain before going on. I stared at him with wide eyes because he really looked like what he was saying was causing him pain. "They feed off, man this is hard to say, damn that Gabriel!" He paused again. "They feed off of HUMANS!" He finally blurted out with excitement. "Man that felt good to finally say to you! You don't know how long Gabriel has forbidden us from saying anything about this to you!" I'm surprised I was able to say anything to you though." His face was full of excitement and relief as he spoke to me. I smiled at him warmly but still felt confused about what he was saying, mainly about the human part.

"What are humans?" I asked innocently. The relief faded from his face and was replaced by tension.

"Sorry Ness I definitely can't answer that for you. Gabriel wants tell you all about the Human world by himself. I'm not going to get my ass chewed out just because you're curious. Just know that Adelita likes to feed off of humans and actually likes torturing them as well. She's actually quite sickening." He stared off in space as if lost in time. I sat back in my seat disappointed that he was forbidden like the others to tell me anything about myself. I felt so irritated knowing that Gabriel was keeping a lot from me. I decided to try another direction with Brendan to get him to talk.

"I know that I'm half human." I blurted out.

"What?" He said dully.

"My mom was human." I was going off of what Hayden had told me earlier. I wasn't even sure if what I was saying was true but from the agitated expression on Brendan's face I could tell I was right.

"Who told you that?" He asked angrily.

"Hayden did." I answered honestly. Brendan didn't respond he just drove. Well that didn't work. I would have to wait for Gabriel to tell me about myself, my history, my mother. Tonight had been a fun filled night, well exciting if not fun. I nearly hunted down a new prey and would have if Rachel and someone else hadn't stopped me. I got to meet Hayden who was truly magnificent, and I found out I was human even if I didn't understand what that meant; it felt good knowing there was someone else out there like me, Hayden. Brendan took one hand from the stirring wheel and brushed a finger gently on my cheek. I turned and found him staring at me rather than the road. He was smiling at me which warmed my face. His smile got wider when he saw me blushing.

"I forgot how cute humans could be. It's been awhile since I've seen one blush." I rolled my eyes at him but continued to smile. Suddenly a large yawn escaped from my lips which caused me to feel extremely tired.

"I'm tired." I complained to him. He looked back at the road.

"We're almost home." He was right I could see the break in the trees that led up to our driveway. Less than five minutes later we were pulling into the garage. I opened my door quickly and got out of the car and stretched. After stretching all of my muscles I started walking towards the house. I could feel Brendan's eyes on me as I walked but I didn't stop to ask what he was thinking.

"Sorry about making you leave early Ness." He said as he came to walk beside me.

"It's okay. I'm not mad." I really wasn't. I was actually happy to be home because the only thing I wanted to do right now was sleep. I felt myself get wobbly on my feet and I started to sway, then I felt my feet being lifted from the ground. I opened my eyes and found my face very close to Brendan's and realized he was carrying me. I closed my eyes and snuggled closer to him as he carried me up to my room. It had been a long day. I wanted to think and sort everything out but that could wait until tomorrow. I closed my eyes again and focused on inhaling Brendan's sweet floral/honey scent. It didn't take me long to fade into dreamland where I dreamt off the best hunt ever.