The next day , 1920

I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep. But before I'd been able to come to any sort of conclusion about what happened (except that I'm pretty sure it did actually happen), I got another vision thing.

Nathaniel and I were running. Actually he was half carrying me, but I seemed to be trying. Nathaniel's glasses were gone and his eyes were a dark burgundy, like the Lucien from his story. Another ...one was following us, jumping with catlike agility and moving much faster than we could hope to. His eyes were bright and clear, but red as well. This red was far more terrifying than Nathaniel's more muted color.

And then it ended and I fell asleep. I slept solidly, but I'm still tired. However, the vision convinced me that there is something to Nathaniel's story (I do trust the insides of my eyelids, however strange that is). Possibly the fact that useless pictures dance in my head (clog dancing, to account for the headaches) makes me more amenable to strange stories about ...dammit, why can't I write it?

Vampires.

I don't know. If I am going crazy, at least it's pretty interesting. It would be terribly frustrating to be bored by one's own mind.

I made up my mind that, even if I couldn't quite trust Nathaniel or his story, I would at least talk to him--frequently if possible. He was much too interesting to let go of.

But if he's so dangerous?

You weren't going to get out of here anytime soon //Mary Alice Brandon// Alice, just Alice.

So I'm going to go look for him.

---

The next day, 1920

I found him. He was doing the floors in one of the hallways. The hallways are so white it sometimes hurts to look at them, even the floors, but you can see it's just cheap wood panelling underneath. I hate it.

We just stared at each other from about 20 feet away in the empty hall. Seconds dragged on. It became clear that he wasn't going to say anything. That meant I had to.

"I think I believe you. Or I could get to believe you," I told him. "What now?"

He still said nothing and I started to wonder if he had heard me. I opened my mouth to repeat myself.

"I don't know," he said finally, as if he was surprised at his own answer. "I don't know."

"You could tell me a story," I said. I had taken my morning meds already and had nowhere to be for hours. "You told that story rather well, even if you did change from 3rd to 1st person partway through. I have nothing better to do. Tell me about--" It's just word "--Vampires."

And he told me.

A/N: As per usual, sorry for the delay. I won't write more until winter break, probably. I have a ton of school work and I want to re-edit what I've got to submit to pel and her fancy twilight fanfic site (check it out). However, I have another chapter written that I'll post sometime between now and then. This is the second time I've tried to post this; grr. And I really want to be able to do strikethroughs! A huge thank you to Vechababe, TooMuchLoveForEdward, NellieGURL, and Linnea Leitner for your reviews!